《Lone Wolf - LitRPG Series - Book 1 Ascension - Book 2 Rebel - Book 3 Uprising》 Book 1 - Lone Wolf - Chapter 1 If you were a bird, a creature many believe to be more myth than reality, something to be featured in the holo- and VR dramas, or even a drone and approached the planet-spanning city from a distance, you might think that it was an entirely solid entity. As you draw closer however, or maybe use magnoculars to zoom in, you¡¯d see that it was composed of thousands, hundreds of thousands, possibly even millions of towers. And not the towers of ancient times with crenulations, or what the ancients laughingly called ¡®skyscrapers¡¯. No, these towers were miles high, crowded together so that sometimes it was hard to tell where one started and the other ended. Some were meagre little things, drab, the colour of rotten concrete and mould, resembling broken teeth more than high-rise dwellings. But others, and especially the tallest ones, were true wonders. Gold and precious stones reflected the sun as their spires punched through the ever-present layer of pollutant-laden clouds. Getting closer, you¡¯d see that the towers were all linked by walkways, plazas, roads and even parks. People, in numbers far too great for the human mind to even comprehend, went about their lives. Those in the higher towers, those that were above the clouds were far, far different tothe ones below. The ruling class was known as the Ten-Milers due to the fact that they lived above the masses in their gilded spires. Their clothing was light and airy, bright colours making the most of the sunshine, shifting designs at every whim. Up there a change in clothing made statements as clear as the spoken word. Indeed, some people spoke not a word, their clothing changing so rapidly it made them appear as if they were spirits. A shift to all black during a heated conversation spoke of a person overstepping the mark. And in a society where duelling was very much a thing, it was often enough to bring forth an apology with the offender changing into tones of light green. Diving beneath the clouds, natural or due to millenia of pollution, reveals another world. A duller, drearier, and much danker world. Whilst the upper layers just below are still much more resplendent than others whose size is more diminutive, the denizens wear more muted clothing, the colours never quite matching those of the Ten-Milers. Keep going lower, and more and more people can be seen wearing wide-brimmed hats or carrying umbrellas. Some, the richer, have drones floating above them. And all of them wear water repellent clothing. The air seems to be thicker here, although that might be caused by an overactive-imagination, but the presence of breathers on the faces of those that choose to wear them does seem to imply that perhaps the air isn¡¯t as clean as one might like. And this was still high, eight miles or so. Keep diving, weaving through the walkways, zipping along tunnels and pipes, twisting and turning as you drop lower and lower into the city below. Until, finally, you end up in the Five-Mile district. A place where an unlikely hero resides. The steady drip, drip, drip, of the never ending condenrain from thousands of storeys above drove Mai Xio mad, yet again. Grabbing a stick she thrust it up at the canopy above her, unleashing a torrent of water onto the people in the concourse below. Screams and curses mingled with the laughter of those who hadn¡¯t been drenched. FINE -5 UC -5 SOCIAL POINTS WARNING - WHAT COMES AROUND GOES AROUND WARNING - BALANCE -9985UC 15UC UNTIL MANDATORY SERVITUDE Buddha¡¯s nut sack! She thought as she waved the message that appeared on her retinal display away. Taking one last tug on her nicostick, she coughed as she burned the last of the tobaccky and inhaled burnt filter. Grimacing she flicked the butt out into the mizzle, watching as it arced away into the ever-present gloom. LITTERING -5UC -5 SOCIAL POINTS WARNING - BALANCE -9990UC 10UC UNTIL MANDATORY SERVITUDE Slamming the door on her balcony open as hard as possible she stepped into her government- Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.allotted apartment, before turning and opening the door in what she knew was a vain attempt to cool the inside. It wasn¡¯t much. Space was always at a premium in a city with a population of one hundred and sixty billion and counting. It was less than fifty years since the War of Traitors and population levels were twice that of pre-war. Incentives such as universal credits and social scores had helped encourage families to have children, but so had the banning of any form of contraception. As a result, the population had soared. More loyal citizens to feed the ravenous Empire¡¯s appetite. She was too young to remember the war, but her parents had talked about it and every single lesson in school had referred to it. Traitors, jealous of the Emperor¡¯s Celestial Court, had attempted to assassinate him and the royal family. Units loyal to the emperor had foiled the assassination attempt, but even that had set the wheels of a far greater conflict into motion. Nano-bombs, kinetic strikes and even good old-fashioned chemical, biological, nuclear, and radiological bombs had been detonated planet-wide whilst supporters of either side fought in a bitter struggle for control of the planet-spanning city. Legend had it that once the Traitors were defeated they took those of their ranks still alive and retreated down. Down past the One-Miles and into the guts of the city that was once, Nether City. It was thanks to the War of the Traitors that the Emperor had introduced the Karma system, gamifying every living moment of his subjects. Making their lives a constant grind as they tried to keep their karma, also known as Social Score, high enough to keep being viewed as a good and loyal citizen. At birth, every baby was injected with self-replicating nanites that would help ¨C or hinder ¨C the citizens depending on the lives they lived. These could be enhanced with newer abilities as they progressed in life. Even those that stumbled and paid the price could eventually attain those same ¡®rewards¡¯. The more social points a citizen accrued, the better their lives. Naturally, it wasn¡¯t easy to accrue social points, and those who were already in the higher echelons of society had been granted more social points than those in the lower levels from the get go . Those with higher social points would find their lives enhanced. Those with poor social points levels would find their lives getting hard and harder. And Mai hated it. She knew it was self-destructive to buck the rules. But still, she fought. And now she was reaping the ¡°benefits.¡± Sitting on her bed she snatched a pack of lichen noodles and tossed it into the rehydrator. Lying down she flicked on her holodeck, sighing as a vista of blue skies above white clouds appeared before her. As if the sky was blue! Everyone knew it was a light grey at best during the day, and a sickly orange at night. Still, it was relaxing to think about something so vibrant. The rehydrator tinged next to her. Reaching out she popped open the door and took the sachet out. Grabbing a couple of chopsticks she started to shove the noodles into her mouth, sucking hard and letting the juice run down her chin. The sound of the Wongs arguing once again punched its way through the finger-thick walls; the screams of Mrs Wong, the sound of slap after slap as Mr Wong cursed her for all the wrongs in the world. Her mouth twisted, knowing that he was able to get away with it because he owned his wife. She¡¯d defaulted on her debts to one of the local gangs, loan sharks, and he¡¯d bought her. Didn¡¯t mean it was right that he could get away with the obvious abuse. For some reason, today she hit her breaking point. ¡°Shut the fuck up! Leave her the fuck alone!¡± She slammed her palm against the wall as hard as she could. He responded with a muffled curse and a blow to the wall of his own. Given how thin the walls were, it was surprising that neither actually broke through the wall separating them. ¡°Fucker!¡± Leaping to her feet she stormed out of her apartment and into the cramped corridor beyond disregarding any thought as to what her actions might cost her. ¡°Wong! Open the fucking door you buck-toothed son of a kama!¡± She smacked her palmrepeatedly on the door, toe punting it for good effect. The noise would upset her sister Li, but it couldn¡¯t be helped. A door opened further down the corridor, the apartment¡¯s inhabitant poking her head out, ¡°Stop that noise this instant! I have to be back on shift in six hours!¡± Mai stopped. Tuning, she stared at the woman, squinting. ¡°Fuck you, you lardy sloth!¡± The words slipped past her lips before she even knew what her brain intended. ¡°You rude peasant!¡± Gasped the woman, ¡°I¡¯m reporting you!¡± Mai¡¯s stomach sank as another message appeared before her eyes. NUISANCE - 5UC -10 SOCIAL POINTS DISORDERLY BEHAVIOUR - 10UC -20 SOCIAL POINTS Her mouth dried, she knew what was coming next. SERVITUDE NOTICE YOU WILL BE ESCORTED TO SEWER LEVEL 65 FOR PROCESSING She startled as Wong¡¯s door opened, the buck-toothed man wearing nothing more than a stained white vest, shorts, and flip-flops. Blood speckled the front of his vest. Calmly he inserted a finger into his nose, rooting around as he looked at her, ¡°What the fuck do you want?¡± Shaking, sick to her stomach at the thought of her sentence, Mai could only stare at him. He withdrew his finger, looked at it, popped it into his mouth, chewed, swallowed, sneered ¡°Fucking thought so,¡± then slammed it shut. Book 1 - Lone Wolf - Chapter 2 The next morning Mai sighed as she finished off her breakfast. Holding Li tight she kissed her on tear-slick cheeks. ¡°It¡¯ll be fine, it¡¯ll be fine,¡± Mai whispered into her sister¡¯s ear. ¡°I work in the sewers for a while, and I¡¯ll be back in no time. At least I wasn¡¯t sent to the Tea Gardens or the military.¡± ¡°But they never let you go,¡± stammered Li through sobs. ¡°They¡¯ll charge you for everything. Clothes. Food. Even the bed you sleep in. You¡¯ll never clear this debt. And there are monsters down there!¡± Mai shook her head, ¡°Don¡¯t you have any faith in me?¡± She asked. ¡°The monsters are a myth. Our Glorious Emperor wouldn¡¯t allow such a thing.¡± IMPERIAL PRAISE +1 SOCIAL POINT Mai ignored the prompt appearing on her retina. All loyal citizens were awarded a maximum of ten social points a day for vocally praising the emperor. Considering it took over one hundred thousand social points to even be able to apply for an apartment, it was a pitiful amount. And considering the number of complaints she¡¯d had from her neighbours, she was fighting a losing battle. She¡¯d been warring with Wong for as long as she could remember, back before the death of her parents, whose social score had seen them getting this apartment. Fortunately, if fortunately was the correct word, she couldn¡¯t lose the apartment through incurring a bad social score. Nor even through her debt. The Emperor recognised the importance of established families, and so inherited homes couldn¡¯t be seized. But those who didn¡¯t own their apartments, who were forced to rent them, could find themselves homeless, forced out to cheaper housing lower down. If she¡¯d been trying to get onto the property market herself, she¡¯d have found it hard to get even a box. And if I¡¯m perfectly honest, I¡¯d be a ground-dwelling One-Miler. ¡°All the faith in the world. I¡¯ll be waiting for you to come home,¡± her sister solemnly swore. There was a knock at the door. Heavy, hard, and slow. Another two followed, then they stopped. Letting go of her sister, Mai stood and walked over to where her rainslick waited. There were more thuds on the door. "I¡¯m coming," she yelled. Keying the door open, she took a step back when she saw two huge men waiting for her in the corridor. Muscles upon muscles bulged, their heads seeming to be too small for their oversized bodies. They reeked of testosterone and her hackles rose in primitive response to the threat her body perceived. Mai turned, holding out a hand to stop her sister from following her, blew a kiss, stuck out her tongue and stepped into the corridor. A door hissed open and Wong stuck his head out of his door and grinned toothily, jeering at her and jabbing a finger every time he spoke. ¡°Stupid bitch couldn¡¯t leave well alone. You forget that my fat cow of a wife was mine? I bought her fair and square,¡± he sneered. ¡°You¡¯ve been assigned to the sewers.¡± One of the thugs laid a heavy hand on her shoulder. If they hadn¡¯t been wearing slightly different coloured tops, she wouldn¡¯t have been able to tell them apart. ¡°Not going to have any trouble, are we?¡± ¡°No,¡± she replied, leading them down towards the lifts. It was a small act of rebellion and stopped them from being able to frogmarch her. As she passed Wong he poked her with a finger, ¡°You¡¯re going to die in shit up to your neck. Shame to see you go, I¡¯ve always wanted to tap that ass.¡± He slapped her butt hard, cackling as he did. Without thinking she jabbed her left hand into his nose. Wong screamed, staggering back into his apartment blood squirting from the hand clamped over his face. A broken nose on top of the fine he¡¯d have got for slapping her arse was far less than he truly deserved. ¡°Wasn¡¯t expecting that,¡± laughed the second. ¡°This one¡¯s got some fight in her,¡± chuckled the first. A message popped up onto her retina. ASSAULT UPON A LOYAL CITIZEN ¨C 200 UC FINE APPLIED. Mai sighed, but she felt a hint of satisfaction at finally giving Wong what he deserved. Then she realised that he would probably take it out on his wife once he¡¯d returned from the clinic, and she immediately regretted it. Seems like I can¡¯t get anything right, she thought, inwardly cursing herself. No matter how hard she tried not to, she¡¯d bucked the system her entire life. It was as if breaking the rules was second nature to her. In fact, her true nature. She¡¯d never been able to truly fit in. Whilst her parents had been alive that hadn¡¯t been too much of an issue. As a mid-level bureaucrat and policeman they¡¯d held down good jobs and been able to earn enough social score to offset her penalties. Karma was a social indicator, a way of rewarding or punishing behaviour. Monetary fines were often added to punishments. And then they¡¯d died in an elevator failure and Mai had self-destructed to the point where now she¡¯d left Li having to fend for herself. They stood in silence in the lift, muzak playing, holographic infomercials stuttering into and out of life as it slowly descended more than 500 levels. Sweat started rolling down her back the further they descended. They were into the maintenance levels where creature comforts were an urban legend. Fresh air was a thing of the past. From now on it would be recycled air and even more pollution. She¡¯d done a quick data hunt, trying to find out as much as possible about the sewers, not wanting to go in blind. She wished she hadn¡¯t. What she had been able to find was a mix of public record and urban legend. Due to the size of the city, sewers as small as a pipe, or large enough to hold a parade in - should anyone want to wade through rivers of shit and piss - riddled the miles-high towers, often taking up whole levels. She even watched as effluent flowed over the edge of a pipe to fall miles as a noxious waterfall before hitting a toxic lagoon on a level of two-mile. Sewer beasts, she mentally scoffed. However, the pictures she¡¯d seen of workers wading in filth, backs hunched, had been official. They¡¯d been seared into her brain. With the population being as large as it was, the city didn¡¯t need to rely on expensive and hard-to-maintain machinery. And with idiots like me, why would they? Sewer workers waded through the waste of those more conforming than them, filtering out the detritus that should never have made it into the lower levels. Just one look at someone neck-deep in human waste had been enough for her. With a shudder she¡¯d cut the holo, wiping sweat from her forehead. She faced a life of drudgery, boredom, pain, and misery. Despite the brave face she¡¯d put on whilst talking to her sister, she¡¯d been unable to work out how to pay off her debt and get back home quickly. As she stood, the weight of her sentence weighed heavily, literally forcing her head down and hunching her shoulders. She¡¯d been sentenced to life in the sewers and her heart and mind raced at the thought of Li having to fend for herself when she had neighbours like Wong. The elevator stopped and the doors juddered open. Light flickered in the expanse that greeted them. Mai slapped a hand over her nose and mouth as the stench of the sewers greeted them like a slap in the face with a warm fart. It was vile and sweat beaded on her forehead whilst her breakfast felt as though it was going to reappear any second. With a not-so-gentle nudge she stepped through the doors. It was as if she had some sort of disease, a leper. Everyone moved out of the way as the first thug led the way and the second thug walked behind her, heavy hand still on her shoulder. Every worker bowed as they passed, offering greetings to her guards. None would meet their eyes. She paused as a particularly noxious gust of wind made her urge. Vomit filled her mouth and her cheeks bulged before she was able to force it back down, wincing at both the taste and the acidic burn. The guard¡¯s hand tightened. It felt as though if he just squeezed a little bit tighter her collarbone would snap, crumble to powder. She prayed to Buddha that he wouldn¡¯t feel the need to demonstrate his strength. She knew there was no way she could escape from them at that moment and found that she didn¡¯t really care. Her mind was racing as she tried to work a way out of the situation she found herself in, as a whole. She accepted that immediate escape wasn¡¯t a possibility, there was no quick fix. Everything she did would have to be longer term. Unless a short-term fix presented itself that was. She knew there was no one else to blame but herself, she had always bucked the system. And it was the system which had well and truly bucked back. You¡¯d have thought that with a government which gamified every single aspect of a person¡¯s life, which inserted nanites into people at birth, took their DNA, fingerprints, and footprints, that she would have played the system and done her best. But in a city of one hundred and sixty billion people, where you could never be truly alone, and where you knew that the government was always watching, the urge to fight the system, to give them the finger, was strong. At least for her it was. Not everyone felt the same way, or acted up as much as she had, but enough people did that the sight of a young girl being led to the induction rooms wasn¡¯t something to elicit comment. Plus there were always those who were never destined for greatness, or even lives worth living. A wrong decision here, a poor bet there, and they found themselves indentured. The thugs guided her to a moving pedway which stretched away into the distance so far she couldn¡¯t tell how many people were using it. As with any pedway in the city it was packed. Maintenance trucks and drones flew overhead, throwing dim shadows over the people below, and person after person passed by on the pedway in the opposite direction. She hated the Social System. For every action, there was a reward, or a punishment. Get sick too many times, start to lose social score and suffer fines. You¡¯d find the system would start removing any upgrades you¡¯d earned, making you work harder to try to earn them back. If those nanite upgrades had been helping you hit work-related targets, then losing them would see your productivity fall, you¡¯d be placed into less-skilled and less-rewarding jobs. Which might, in turn, see you lose more nanites. And then you get sick again and the cycle repeats itself until you find yourself indentured. Not many people managed to earn their way out. ¡°We¡¯re there,¡± grunted thug one. ¡°Step off at the intersection.¡± She followed him as he stepped off the pedway and led her towards an archway with a broken neon sign which read WELCOME TO SEWER COMPANY 55. She snorted, a pig-like sound which caused the guards to look down at her. Whether it was from amusement at the poor attempt to lift morale, or because she was going to start crying, she didn¡¯t know. The second thug¡¯s hand gripped tighter, this was clearly the time when people like her would try to make their escape. But there was nowhere to escape to. The system would find you, bounty hunters eager to make a few credits or eager to raise their social scores, happily hunting down anyone who defaulted. Mai followed thug one into a dank tunnel. She flinched as someone roared angrily behind the wall to her right, the words muffled by the thick brick, the tone unmistakable. The music thudding from the barracks above only served to add to the sensory overload she was suffering. They entered what passed for a courtyard, it was three or four stories tall and covered by another level, a holographic sky lighting the space. Before them was the entrance to the barracks, built in a traditional Chung Kuo style, red pillars with golden writing on their front, red curved tiles on the roof, and faux bamboo sliding doors the full length of its frontage. Two other thugs, dressed in traditional Imperial Chung Kuo outfits, stood at the front entrance, standing to each side of the stone steps leading up to it. She was impressed at the intricacy of the embroidery and the amount of silk which had gone into making them. Even though they had wide sleeves indicating that they didn¡¯t need to do manual labour, she got the impression that they were more than capable of changing them in a second should any trouble arise. Between them was a diminutive woman. Mai couldn¡¯t put an age on her, there was far too much makeup on her face. She wore clothes which, at one time, had cost a pretty penny. But now they were faded, and she could see as they drew closer that the cuffs on her sleeves, and the hem on her dress were frayed. The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement. Her clothing was in direct contrast to the utilitarian clothing worn by all of the other people she¡¯d seen so far, bar the guards. It was clear that this was a person to fear. ¡°Welcome to Sewer Company Fifty-Five,¡± the woman smiled, her voice surprisingly rich and deep. ¡°It¡¯s rude to not say thank you when someone welcomes you to your new home,¡± snapped the woman, heavily painted eyebrow arching, and the second thug¡¯s hand tightening painfully on Mai¡¯s shoulder. ¡°I¡¯m sorry,¡± she gasped in pain, tears making her vision suddenly misty. ¡°Thank you for your kind welcome, Madam.¡± ¡°Sun,¡± replied the woman. ¡°You will call me Madam Sun and I shall be your overseer for the next month. By that point, you should be a level one sewer worker.¡± Mai nodded, keeping her tone polite, she replied, ¡°Thank you Madam Sun. I am Mai.¡± Sun sniffed and beckoned her with a tilt of her head, ¡°Let¡¯s get you inside.¡± She didn¡¯t wait for a response, setting off at a surprisingly brisk pace for someone who looked so old. Mai followed her, stepping between the two thugs guarding the entrance with the original two thugs who had picked her up following closely behind like malevolent shadows. They were so close that she felt as though they were stealing the very air from her lungs. Every step was crowded and because they were taller, she felt as though their shadows were blocking the light from reaching her. It was as if she was dropped into a hole. Her pulse quickened, breathing getting shallower and quicker. Sweat started to bead on her forehead. And, as if they were able to read her like a book, they moved even closer. The only option she had to get away from the oppressiveness was to walk faster towards the one place she didn¡¯t want to go. She¡¯d heard stories of people like them being deliberately modified so that they projected auras designed to deliberately unsettle people. If that was the case with these two, it definitely worked. It only took a few quick steps to regain her own space before she stepped between the two guards waiting for them at the main door and entered the barracks fully. To her surprise, it wasn¡¯t as bad as she had thought it could be. It was clean, well lit, and all the upholstery on the chairs looked to be in fairly decent condition. In fact, if she was honest with herself, the room was probably in better condition than her apartment. To her relief there were no other workers in the room, and the knot in her stomach loosened somewhat. She wasn¡¯t prepared to meet her company members. It was all she could do to hold back the tears as it was. ¡°The other members of your work detail have already deployed,¡± Sun waved her hand at the empty room. ¡°We use the early morning to gather up our new inductees.¡± Sun smiled showing teeth which had been fashionably darkened. Mai never quite understood why anyone would want to look as though they had rotten teeth, but she wasn¡¯t about to ask why Sun had done so either. Mai had the clear idea that to ask Sun a question which might be deemed to be impertinent, might well end up in pain, something she was keen to avoid. ¡°This way,¡± Sun set off without waiting for Mai to respond. The thugs didn¡¯t follow, and Mai realised that it was because they clearly believed she was a flight riskno more. Dutifully, she followed Sun through the open-plan common room. It was surprisingly full of comfortable chairs, podiums with poles on them, and booths which looked as though they could be sealed should the occupants so wish if they had enough credit. Privacy was a currency of its own. Surrounded by a constant mass of human beings, seclusion booths were the only way someone could truly step away from society. Sun led her through a door in the wall. As it hissed open, she could see that it was made of steel, and more than a hand¡¯s palm-width thick. ¡°Fire and gas proof,¡± Sun gestured at the door before rapping her knuckles on it, ¡°and other times we have had to defend ourselves against attacks by various unruly elements. No one, or no thing gets in or out unless we want them to,¡± she said with a simper. Mai took the not-so-subtle hint. She wanted to ask about what sort of things could be found in such an awful place, but she could tell that Sun was a woman of limited patience. And, if she was honest, she just wanted to be left alone. ¡°I understand Madam Sun. I look forward to being the best worker I can,¡± she promised, trying hard to keep the quaver out of her voice. Whilst she¡¯d thought it would be difficult to escape, she hadn¡¯t thought she¡¯d be in a building which had such stringent security measures inside. She could understand the security for doors leading to freedom, but internally she expected more freedom of movement. Once more your pride bites you on the butt, she thought bitterly to herself. ¡°Oh I¡¯m sure you will,¡± Sun smiled, exposing those awful teeth once more. ¡°They all say that. Some actually mean it. But no one who¡¯s indentured truly does, not until the skills they need have been uploaded. Not until they truly accept the situation.¡± There was a sadness, a bitterness to her tone. Mai cocked her head as she realised that Sun too was indentured. She was surprised. Not having thought about it, she had assumed that the people in charge would be free citizens. Ice ran down her spine as she realised that from Madam Sun¡¯s former glorious clothing, she would have been considered to be successful in her past life. And here, she made herself into a respected manager. And yet that, and this current success, still hadn¡¯t prevented her indenturement nor seen her freed now. ¡°May I ask a question?¡± She asked, praying to the Six-fingered God that she hadn¡¯t overstepped the mark. ¡°If it¡¯s not rude or insulting. Then yes,¡± nodded Sun. ¡°How long have you been here?¡± Sun sighed, as if she was remembering a better time. ¡°I was inducted at the age of twenty. My family were eight-milers, but my father was an alcoholic and a poor gambler. Losses led to heavy loans, which my father then gambled away leading to more loans. And my parents were unable to pay. Desperate, my father turned to working for the loan sharks, becoming an even more useless criminal.¡¯ Sun¡¯s mouth twisted at that, her anger painted across her face. And because my father had me running errands which I didn¡¯t know were for the loan sharks, I got sucked in. His crimes and debts became mine. I¡¯ve been here 35 years. I¡¯m a level 50 Sewer Manager.¡± Sun gave herself a shake once she stopped talking, ¡°Although why I felt the need to tell you that I don¡¯t know. Apologies.¡± Mai stared for a second. So shocked that she forgot to keep walking. Sun took a couple of additional steps before stopping herself. Fifty levels in any profession was astoundingly high. Whilst working hard would gain a person experience points which could be used to buy better upgrades, sometimes even new skills if the employers didn¡¯t award them, levels were both an indication of a person¡¯s social standing within that profession and their skill. Up above, in the real world, a level fifty manager would have been truly respected. ¡°Come now,¡± Sun waved Mai forward, putting on a brave face. ¡°It¡¯s not that bad. As you level up you will get full upgrades, you¡¯ll gain Social Standing and experience points from working hard and being a productive member of society, and you¡¯ll be able to earn a few credits to pay for your living costs as well as some of the nicer things in life if you find anything valuable in the night soil. The rules are simple to adhere to. After which, well, we¡¯ll see.¡± Sun paused, laying a hand on Mai¡¯s arm. ¡°It¡¯s dangerous work. No doubt you think we just stand in shit and push it through. It¡¯s far, far more dangerous than that.¡± She started walking again, the hand on Mai¡¯s arm giving her no choice but to follow. ¡°We¡¯ll load up the skills expected of a low-level sewer worker. Such as basic health and safety, time management, decontamination procedures, first aid and CPR. For the first month, you¡¯ll learn how to work in the sewers alongside a mentor assigned from one of the staff here. You¡¯ll be entering the sewers shortly and should hit level one quickly. By that point, you¡¯ll have everything you need to enable you to do a good job. We¡¯ll also see how well you fit in. If you do well, you¡¯ll be eligible for Primary Company, the best we have. Do badly, and you can find yourself in the Sewer Rats. You really don¡¯t want to be part of that.¡± ¡°What are the costs?¡± asked Mai. Her head felt like it was spinning, everything was just too much to take in. The only things she could focus on were Sun, and the fact that she needed to escape as soon as possible. It was irrational, but she needed to get back to Li. She had to at least try.Yet again her stpuid need to buck the system was biting her in the ass and, whilst she was the one indentured, it was Li who was the one ultimately paying for her sister¡¯s stupidity. It was Li who had been left completely without family. ¡°Food, lodgings, all non-nanite clothing, emergency BIO-MASS boost to replenish nanites, level upgrades, and all skill downloads, will be added to your debt. The food, lodgings, and clothing will be charged on a monthly basis with the first month deducted in advance.¡± Mai¡¯s jaw dropped at that. Intellectually she had known this was coming. But that¡¯s all that knowledge had been, almost metaphysical. A thought. But now it was existential, and the reality hit home. Her debt was large enough. Adding yet more was just ¡­ her mind scrabbled for the words before giving up. Wrong. How can I ever earn enough to get myself out of here if I¡¯m going to keep adding to my debt! Sun¡¯s been here for decades! ¡°May I ask another question?¡± asked Mai. ¡°Of course.¡± Smiled Sun exposing the awful black teeth. She was the picture of attentive patience, and Mai hated her. ¡°How much will it cost me monthly?¡± ¡°The initial month will be 3000 universal credits. After that it¡¯s 500 credits per month. We have a range of roles which we perform as Sewer Workers and which are all tied into quotas. All of those will earn you a certain number of credits. If you do not hit 500 credits¡¯ worth of work within a month, then we will add the difference to your monthly bill.¡± Mai bit her lip hard to stop herself from crying out. She¡¯d known it was going to be hard to escape the clutches of the sewers, but she hadn¡¯t realised just how hard. How the Hells was she going to get back to Li? ¡°What if I get ill?¡± Sun tilted her head, narrowing her eyes. ¡°You¡¯ll be charged for any medical care, and for any lost work.¡± Surrounded by the waste of one hundred and sixty billion people, Mai knew she was guaranteed to get sick. It was enough to make her want to puke. ¡°Access the skills menu,¡± continued Sun. ¡°You¡¯ll see the work we do, and what work you will be offering at level one.¡± Mai did as she was told, blinking open the Sewer Worker¡¯s menu. Because it was her latest job, it was fortunately at the top of the menu. The list of jobs she¡¯d had previously was embarrassingly long. Her retinal monitor was programmed to recognise location and role, prioritising them so that accessing was easier.The first thing she saw was the pay structure. Mai¡¯s mind raced; as a level one sewer worker she¡¯d be hard pressed to earn 500 credits a month, and the fact that she wouldn¡¯t be earning anything in the first month as she levelled up meant that another 500 credits would be added to her debt. Level one workers were truly the bottom of the rung, and everyone knew it. And the fact that she¡¯d been slapped with a 3000-credit penalty on top of the credits she already owed made her stomach sour. She did the maths quickly. On any normal day she¡¯d have the potential to earn 10 credits, earning 300 credits a month depending on the number of days. Which would mean she¡¯d add an additional 200 credits to her debt. However, if she exceeded her quota by ten per cent every day, then she would earn 600 credits. 500 of which would go straight to paying off her monthly costs, and 100 of which would go to paying off the initial 3000 credits. Mind racing, she realised it would take her thirty months to clear the initial three thousand credit debt, nearly three whole years. And then she¡¯d be able to start trying to clear her 10,000 credit debt. At which point, she gave up even attempting to work out how long she¡¯d be stuck in the sewers for. Mai bit her lip as Sun turned away to wave at someone. She was starting to realise that no one escaped their debts despite what the holocasts claimed. In order to get back to Li, she would have to hit and exceed target every single day. Her mouth dried at the thought of Li being alone for thirty months as she cleared the new debt she¡¯d been saddled with. The thought of then having to work off the other ten thousand before she could see Li made her knees buckle. How the hells is she going to cope for that long? At only fifteen, Li was just about old enough to get a job after school, but that would barely cover food costs. If there was one thing she could genuinely thank the Emperor for, it was the fact that every citizen was provided with a place to live for free based on their social skill. She pounded a fist into her thigh. Stupid, stupid, stupid. Why the hells did she act like this? Why was she so driven to fail? Was it arrogance that she thought she could just get away with her behaviour? Was she somehow broken? What made her so different? ¡°Use the debt as an impetus to be as productive as possible,¡± encouraged Sun, laying a hand on Mai¡¯s arm. ¡°Make yourself popular with the other workers, learn from them, and you¡¯ll be earning bonuses in no time. Your room is this way.¡± Sun led her down a faux-bamboo-lined corridor in complete silence. Mai felt as if she¡¯d entered a dream. She felt as though she were walking in a haze as she followed Sun. They came to yet another hidden security door which hissed open, it too was as thick as the first. The room beyond was roughly 15 paces by 15 paces square and filled with tables, and comfortable sofas and settees. She was surprised to see workers of all ages sat around, playing games such as chess and Go, reading, or waving their hands in the air as they played any number of virtual reality games. ¡°These workers are off-shift,¡± Sun explained, waving her hand around the room. ¡°This is a common room, but there are also plenty of other avenues for entertainment in the town. Doors led off the room every few yards; each one with a name plaque above it. Looking at the far end of the room, she saw one which had her name crawling across it. ¡°I see you¡¯ve noticed where your room is. I¡¯ll let you get acquainted with it. The pad has been keyed to your DNA and your fingerprints. When you¡¯re in that room no one can get to you. Unless of course it¡¯s one of the senior staff. You are guaranteed complete and utter privacy within your room. Apart from when you are sleeping, you are allowed one hour before breakfast, and one hour after shift. At all other times you are expected to socialise with your fellow workers. You can hire a privacy booth in the common area should you require, but that will cost ten credits an hour.¡± Sun paused, making sure that Mai was paying attention. ¡°However, if you do anything against the best interests of the company, or which goes against your indenture contract, we will be notified, and you will be fined further credits. Each infraction, each incident of disobedience, will result in a 1000 credit fine. If you are asked to do something by anyone of a higher rank which falls under your level¡¯s list of duties, you may not refuse it. To do so will be counted as disobedience ...¡± ¡°And I¡¯ll be fined. Thank you for your guidance Madam Sun, I shall do my utmost to follow them,¡± Mai promised as she bowed deeply towards her boss. Head spinning, sick to her stomach, she prayed she wouldn¡¯t collapse, or worse yet throw up on Sun¡¯s feet. ¡°We appreciate that this is a massive life change. Some inductees spend their first night and day weeping. Or being sick. We expect you to struggle to adapt. But we are here to help.¡± Sun laid a hand gently on Mai¡¯s shoulder. ¡°Use your retina display to identify mentors. They have exclamation marks above their heads. Chevrons with stars indicate team leaders.¡± ¡°Just like in real life.¡± Mai nodded. ¡°No. That isn¡¯t real life, this is real life,¡± Sun¡¯s grip tightened painfully for a moment. ¡°Don¡¯t forget that. You have one hour, then I want you to find the Skills Mistress. She¡¯ll help you get the skills you need to get started¡± Mai nodded; throat tight then stepped into her room. ¡°Remember, one hour.¡± Book 1 - Lone Wolf - Chapter 3 Whilst not spartan, her room lacked any personalisation, clearly having been reset since the last unfortunate occupant, erasing any sign that they had ever been there. Although that did raise a thought. If it was so hard to earn your way out, why was there a spare room? Had they earned their way out? Had there even been a previous occupant, the room being created for her upon her arrival? There were nan-screens on the wall where she could add photos, pictures, even change the colour of the walls if she wished. Calling up the personalisation menu on her retinal monitor she sighed at the cost of adding even one picture. Herself and Li, in a small holopict no more than a hand¡¯s length and height would cost ten credits. A day¡¯s work. Many of the options were also greyed out as she wasn¡¯t of high-enough level to pay for them. Clearly, individualism was also now reduced to a reward. Even to add a picture of her sister was a price that was far out of her reach. She realised she was relieved at that. It was hard enough being separated from Li, having a picture of her would only hammer that home. That, and the fact that this was entirely her own fault. She couldn¡¯t blame her parents for getting her into a debt that had carried over like Madam Sun could. It felt as though a spike of guilt was driven into her heart every time she even thought of Li. The bed was functional, and she was pleased to see that both the foodmat and the shower were actually better than the ones in her apartment. Scrolling through the menu on the food dispenser she sighed once again. Not only were all of the meals going to eat into her debt, pun not intended, but they were all incredibly bland and geared more towards providing sustenance than enjoyment. She kept scrolling and then sobbed as she saw that anything approaching decent was again restricted by level. Even her damned taste buds were being punished. Stop it! She thought. She was acting like a victim, something she¡¯d never done in the past and it was something she wasn¡¯t going to do now. Opening the in-wall clothes printer she cycled through the clothing designs that had been provided. Her retina displayed various prices for each piece of clothing as well as short descriptions. Nearly all of it was functional. Work clothes, protective masks, and armour. However, there were a few which were clearly designed for public holidays such as Emperor¡¯s Day. Picking one at random, she pulled out a qipao. It was black, with a stylised wolf in silver thread. As soon as she touched it, the description leapt out. LONE WOLF ¨C A STYLISH QIPAO FOR SOMEONE WHO KNOWS THEIR OWN MIND AND IS WILLING TO STAND OUT FROM THE PACK AND FORGE THEIR OWN DESTINY. BEWARE, THIS WILL MARK YOU OUT AS ONE TO BE WATCHED. Fuck it, bastards are never going to let me go she thought, and selected the dress, taking the credit hit. LONE WOLF SELECTED ¨C 50 CREDITS DEBITED. +50 SOCIAL SCORE ADDED The nanites in the short top and trousers she already wore immediately set to work, changing her clothing to match that of the Lone Wolf. As soon as she looked down at herself she regretted her purchase. She¡¯d added nearly three days of having to hit the ten per cent bonus mark. And she still didn¡¯t really understand what sort of work she¡¯d be doing. Nor how hard it was going to be. Stupid, stupid, stupid. Stick to the boring food, the boring clothes, work hard and get back to Li! She tried to check her personal STATISTICAL ANALYSIS and SOCIAL SCORE sheet ¨C known as a SASS for short - to see how this affected her social score. Sighing, she closed it just as quickly. She was so far in debt that it barely even registered. A chime sounded and a message popped up. MAI XIO ¨C PLEASE ATTEND THE SKILLS MISTRESS IMMEDIATELY. DO YOU ACCEPT YES/NO? She reached up and tapped the YES floating before her eyes. A golden guideline appeared, leading out behind her. She quickly had her clothing revert to what she came here wearing. That way no one could see what she had so frivolously bought having not even completed an actual day of work. Turning, she opened her door and followed the path. Walking through the main room, she returned the nods and smiles of the other workers as best she could. There were a couple of other inductees, indicated by the LEVEL 0 INDUCTEE tags above their heads followed by their names. Mai didn¡¯t bother reading their names, she could always get to know the others once she had skilled up. Skilled up. The thought made her mouth twist sourly. I¡¯ll be out of here before that, she thought, making a solemn oath. She was determined not to die neck-deep in shit. She could hardly get back to Li if she was dead, could she? Another message popped up. FIRST WARNING: ALL WORKERS MUST HAVE A PLEASANT COUNTENANCE WHENEVER IN PUBLIC. PLEASE CONFIRM YOU UNDERSTAND YES/NO Thank fuck they can¡¯t read minds! she thought as she tried to school her face into an emotionless mask. Jabbing the YES, she followed the guideline out of the common room and through a door which glowed with a golden outline. A sign, both physical and virtual, hung on it. PERMITTED STAFF ONLY ALL OTHERS WILL BE EJECTED Mai stepped through the door as it opened automatically, dropping straight into the floor so quickly she thought for a moment that it had been a hologram. She found herself in a corridor which was in stark contrast to the room she¡¯d just left. It reminded her of a medical centre. Granted, it was much cleaner than the ones she¡¯d ever been at. But the walls were a stark white, the lights were far too bright, and it smelt clean. Cleaner than anything she¡¯d ever smelt in her life. In a world-spanning city with buildings over ten miles tall,only the richest of society, the top 0.0001%, got to smell anything anywhere near fresh air. Even those with access to the public parks didn¡¯t really get to breathe fresh air. This corridor though, was practically aseptic. There were no smells of body odour, cooking or pollution. It was the freshest air she¡¯d ever smelt. Opening her mouth she sucked it in, relishing how it didn¡¯t taste of pollution. The guideline ended a few yards down on the left of the corridor. A flashing exclamation point hung over the lintel. Mai stood before the door, took a deep breath, and then keyed the door open. ¡°Mai Xio, welcome. I¡¯m the Skills Mistress.¡± The woman stood in the middle of the room, a pulsing exclamation mark above her head. She was plump, stood shorter than five feet, and had a pleasant smile. A horrific image of the tiny mistress standing submerged in one of the sewer pipes popped into Mai¡¯s head. In direct contrast to her welcoming smile was the large and very intimidating nano-programming chair she was standing next to. It looked like an ancient torture device depicted in the holos and the very sight of it dried Mai¡¯s mouth. ¡°Come on, don¡¯t be shy!¡± the Skill Mistress smiled whilst patting the chair. ¡°Time for you to get upgraded. Have you done this before?¡± ¡°A couple of times,¡± replied Mai, cotton mouth making it hard to speak. ¡°For my old jobs.¡± She didn¡¯t say that in her old jobs the chairs had been a lot more inviting than the one currently looming before her. Not that she¡¯d spent much time in them. Nor in the jobs. Yet another bad trait of hers. ¡°Well, don¡¯t worry. This won¡¯t hurt,¡± laughed the Skill Mistress. ¡°You¡¯ll get to keep all of your old skills as well. Sit.¡± The smile disappeared for a second to be replaced by a face suddenly hard and threatening. Carrot and stick seemed to be a common tactic here. Mai sat, settling back into the soft chair. ¡°Let¡¯s just take a look at your SASS,¡± the Skill Mistress said. Mai tried to hide an instinctive wince. She knew her skill sets were nothing to write home about. ¡°An underachiever,¡± the Skill Mistress drily remarked. ¡°Well, let¡¯s see about skilling you up.¡± Mai gritted her teeth. It was like her mother was alive again. Always prodding. Always picking away. Never encouraging. Was that why she was such a rebel? ¡°Bitch¡±, she breathed out, barely knowing she was even speaking as the Mistress gave her a condescending smile. Her head rocked. Pain flared in her cheek. DAMAGE! 5%! ¡°Never, ever, insult me again,¡± snapped the Skills Mistress. Mai gasped. Hand rising to her cheek she rubbed at the burning flesh, eyes watering from the sudden pain. ¡°Sorry. It wasn¡¯t you. I was thinking of my mother,¡± Mai sniffed, fighting back the tears. It felt as though one of her teeth was loose. For a small woman, the Mistress had an impressive right hand. Mai was definitely not going to mention she was reminded of her mother. Who also had a mean hand when required. ¡°Well. Apologies. I didn¡¯t have the context,¡± the Skills Mistress didn¡¯t sound too apologetic. A list of skills started to scroll before Mai¡¯s eyes. It was too fast for her to read, but the Skills Mistress didn¡¯t slow down until she reached Level 1 skills. In the blink of an eye, the Skills Mistress selected the skills Mai would need, leaving their descriptions open so that she could read them. Health & Safety Health and Safety is paramount in ensuring that loyal citizens are able to perform their daily duties in a manner conducive to living a long and healthy life. The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there. Waste Management Waste Management ensures that a worker knows how to safely deal with the waste created by others more successful than them. Use Armour This allows workers to use their nanites to form armour and opens up the armour sub-menus. There are many different types of armour available and they all have a high BIO-MASS cost. For those in the culling, armour is used to soak up damage inflicted by opposing cullers long enough for the wearer to either close with and kill their opponent, or to make their escape. Treat Serious Wounds -Heal is an umbrella term, Treat Serious wounds is a much more specific term. You wouldn''t use this to treat a slight bruise or a broken bone. This is for real trauma. This is a skill vital for workers in dangerous environments. As long as a citizen follows and utilises the Health and Safety skill, Treat Serious Wounds should never be needed. Accidents happen, however. Treat Light Wounds -See Treat Serious Wounds, only you would use this to treat broken bones, nasty cuts etc. Light wounds are to be expected in all manner of working environments, even if said injury is merely a slipped disc. ¡°Brace yourself.¡± Mai gasped as if a bucket of ice had just been thrown over her. The skills loaded into her skull in an instant, the nanites that coursed through her blood accepting the new programming. NEW SKILL! HEALTH & SAFETY! NEW SKILL! WASTE MANAGEMENT! NEW SKILL! USE ARMOUR! NEW SKILL! TREAT SERIOUS WOUNDS! NEW SKILL! TREAT LIGHT WOUNDS! ¡°Right. We¡¯re done. Naturally, you¡¯ll have been charged for those skills as part of your initial debt total. Additional skills will be charged to your account as you progress.¡± Mai stood, still shocked at the sudden dump of information. Her brain raced. Musical scores interspersed with words from stories danced across her vision. She hadn¡¯t had so many skills unlocked at once. ¡°You might find yourself slightly discombobulated for a few minutes. Just remember that these skills, aside from the healing ones, are all PASSIVE, and you don¡¯t rank up in them.¡± Mai nodded, head feeling as if it was going to burst. She felt sick, faint, and facts and figures raced through her brain unbidden and unstoppable. Having knowledge dropped directly into her brain made her feel as though she¡¯d just been spun in a centrifuge. This was a much different experience than she had had in the past, that was for sure. ¡°Try not to throw up. That¡¯ll be a five-credit clean up charge.¡± Warned the Skills Mistress. ¡°Why are all my skills at twenty per cent?¡± Mai choked out, trying to get back to some semblance of normal. ¡°Child, that¡¯s the base skill for all skills that are downloaded. Didn¡¯t they teach that at school?¡± ¡°I used to clean and such at home as a kid and then after my parents died, I had to look after my sister, Li. I didn¡¯t really get much of an education, managed to graduate, only just though. And because of that I started to skill up before I had any downloaded, so I never actually had any skill register at only 20%.¡± ¡°Ah, that¡¯ll explain the skills such as Street Smarts, Freerunning, and other more nefarious skills. Larceny and Spot Hidden?¡± She squinted over at Mai. That, or you didn¡¯t pay attention..¡± Mai tried to keep her thoughts hidden, choosing a lizog puppy as something positive to focus on. They were popular companions in the city as nothing they ate was passed through as waste. No house training required. Although they did have to be trained as to what they could and couldn¡¯t eat. ¡°Now, remember. For every level, otherwise known as a percentage, you have in a certain skill, you have a second of activation. So at twenty per cent, you have twenty seconds. Every skill also has a cooldown. The base of a cooldown is two hundred, minus whatever per cent you have in that skill. So at twenty per cent, the cooldown for any given skill is one hundred and eighty seconds.¡± Head still spinning, Mai gave a jerky nod to show that she understood. This was all stuff she should have known, but she suspected that most people just took their skills for granted. But having actual targets meant that this knowledge was now more important. Knowing how to time activation was also going to be important. She didn¡¯t want to hit a cooldown when she was close to earning a work target bonus. A burst of speed at the end of a shift could be all that made the difference. ¡°What about skills in the other areas?¡± ¡°You¡¯re a level zero sewer worker. You won¡¯t be granted any further until you¡¯re a level one sewer worker. You¡¯ll just have to rely on natural talent. If you don¡¯t work hard, you won¡¯t progress, and you won¡¯t be rewarded with new skills. Won¡¯t be able to improve your life.¡± *** A gentle buzzing that grew louder and louder until she couldn¡¯t stand it any longer woke Mai the next morning. REPORT FOR DUTY IN THIRTY MINUTES DO YOU ACCEPT YES/NO? She accepted and hurriedly got ready before eating a bland meal of lichen noodles and protein, not willing to pay the credits it would have taken to add even a modicum of taste. Steeling herself, she keyed the door open arrayed in her new worker clothes. She detested having to spend the credits to get these after making the purchase earlier for clothing she didn¡¯t need and having only done so out of spite. As far as she could determine. ¡°Mai Xio,¡± a man in his mid-twenties stepped forward, an exclamation mark pulsing over his head. ¡°I¡¯m Andries Louwe, we¡¯ll be buddying up.¡± Mai blinked up his SASS. It was impressive. He¡¯d maxed a couple of work-based skills but what was interesting was a Title in red writing. MOGWAI BANE What the fuck? She read through the list of skills he had as quickly as she could. Sewer Combat This is a specific environment-based skill. Usually only Sewer Workers and Urbexers have this skill as no one in their right mind would wish to enter the sewers. Whilst sewers resemble tunnels and vice versa, the conditions in sewers are vastly different to those found in tunnels. SPADE MASTER and PUGILIST were also listed. As quickly as she could, she read through them. Spade Master A spade master is capable of wielding a spade with grace and precision no other can ever hope to match. They''re able to move 25% more waste than any other and do so consistently. This is a PASSIVE skill. Once a day they''re able to ACTIVATE it for thirty minutes. Doing so results in a 100% increase in their speed. After the thirty minutes they are then locked for one hour at a normal person''s speed. Pugilist Pugilists are experts in the use of the fist and elbow. They can duck and dive, bob, and weave with the best of them, throwing out crashing blows that will put any opponent onto their rear. Pugilists are able to SPECIALISE in one specific strike such as JAB, CROSS, UPPERCUT conferring a base 10% bonus to all damage. Each additional level in PUGILISM confers 1% to the damage. Once, during each fight, they are able to ACTIVATE the SPECIALIZATION, conferring +20% to damage, and +10% to CRITICAL HIT Then she moved onto the achievement. Mogwai Bane As all loyal citizens are aware, Mogwai are demonic creatures of myth and legend. Some workers in the more undesirable sectors, such as Waste Management, claim to have fought such creatures. Upon killing more than 20, they achieve the title of Mogwai Bane, conferring a number of additional skills upon them. This is all fictional however, and workers should not expect to achieve this title. ¡°It¡¯s rude to SASS someone without their permission. You should know that,¡± his tone was cold, his naturally friendly voice now set in stone. ¡°I suppose you have questions?¡± ¡°MOGWAI BANE? Aren¡¯t they urban legends?¡± ¡°They are. Ancient history from before we colonised this planet. But the name fits the creatures.¡± ¡°Demons? We have demons in the sewers?¡± He shrugged. ¡°Like I say, it fits. Don¡¯t sweat it though, they¡¯re not common and shouldn¡¯t be in any of the areas I¡¯ll be taking you to.¡± Mai could hear the lie in his voice. You didn¡¯t get to be the bane of anything unless you¡¯d killed a lot of it. Palms sweaty, she wiped them on her work trousers. ¡°But if we do come across one. Run. I¡¯ll kill it.¡± *** Mai sucked air greedily through the filter-mask the nanites had built over her face the moment they left the habitation area. Even that split second had been enough to have her heaving. It had felt as though she could cut the air with a knife, and the stench had her eyes watering. For a brief moment she worried if she could catch a disease from those few breaths. They stood on a platform roughly one pace above a vile morass. Blocked by a small chain-link fence, steps leading down into the mess. ¡°Watch your footing,¡± Andries handed her a long pole. MULTI-USE SURVIVAL STAFF -5UC DO YOU ACCEPT YES/NO? Resisting the urge to shove Andries into the waist high shit before them, Mai selected yes and thanked her mentor. Another notification popped up. MULTI-USE SURVIVAL STAFF TEMPLATE ADDED BIO-MASS REQUIRED ¨C 1% She¡¯d be able to create one at will from now on. The BIO-MASS cost was nice and low, which she appreciated. All she had to do was add the staff to her favourites and then she¡¯d be able to form it easily. Just another way that they add to my debt. Keeping me here rather than letting me get back home. To Li. There was a crust of excrement covering the river before them. It was roughly thumb-thick which broke easily as she tentatively stepped forward. Underneath was a liquid soup that bubbled up out of the hole she¡¯d made. ¡°It¡¯s warm!¡± she gasped, surprised at the heat through her clothes. ¡°Chemical reaction. Make sure you¡¯re hydrated at all times. You¡¯ll be drenched with sweat by the end of a shift.¡± Wading further in they continued along the sewer with Mai struggling to push against the flow since the level was at her waist. ¡°Always move upstream if you can. If you slip it can be hard to regain your footing and you do not want to go through a macerator. And if you¡¯re walking with the flow it¡¯s much easier to slip.¡± Something brushed past her leg. ¡°What the fuck! Something just touched me.¡± ¡°Probably a piece of rubbish. People throw all sorts of things into the sewers. Including pets.¡± He waved a hand dismissively. ¡°Is that what Mogwai are?¡± ¡°Pets. NetherCity dwellers. Escaped Vat-troopers. Faulty droids. Like I say, don''t ¡­¡± There was a ripple in the sewage ahead of her. ¡°What was that?¡± Mai asked, having to consciously relax her hands from their death grip on her staff.¡°Probably nothing.¡± That didn¡¯t put her mind at ease. ¡°Gases build up and burst out of the sludge. The current can also cause things to happen if there¡¯s a blockage.¡± Mai still didn¡¯t feel particularly reassured, but when nothing happened, she put it to the back of her mind. They continued to wade for a while before stepping up into a tunnel where the level of waste dropped considerably. ¡°Since this is your first day, we¡¯re going to take things easy. There¡¯s a fat-berg up ahead which is why the gunk here is so shallow.¡± Shallow? It¡¯s up to my bloody knees! Mai thanked every god there was for the mask covering her face. She¡¯d chosen cherry blossom as the scent to mask the stench of night soil around them. Well worth the one UC. ¡°What¡¯s a fat-berg?¡± ¡°It¡¯s like an iceberg only made up of fat and anything else that gets stuck to the fat,¡± his tone implied that he felt it should have been obvious to her. ¡°Fat?¡± ¡°Yeah. Look, people are pretty crap at following the rules,¡± he laughed and waved his hand at the both of them. ¡°And so a lot of restaurants and citizens tip fat into the sewers. The fat congeals and, through some weird science stuff, gradually builds up until it¡¯s too big. Some of these things can be hundreds of feet long and as tall as the sewer.¡± Looking up, Mai found that hard to believe. The pipe they were in was at least three times her size. ¡°Fat bergs are also good places to find cool things as they tend to gather up artefacts and the like as they move along the sewer.¡± ¡°How do artefacts get into the sewers?¡± ¡°People are dumb I suppose. Also, one man¡¯s rubbish is another man¡¯s treasure. Something gets broken up in the nine-mile levels. The owner¡¯s rich enough to just buy another one and dumps it instead. Somehow it ends up in the sewer. We find all kinds of weird things.¡± ¡°Like what?¡± ¡°Armour, weapons, droids, robots, jewellery. It¡¯s crazy. One lad managed to clear his entire debt on his first day when he found a molecular-bladed Jian.¡± She licked her lips at the idea of being able to find something which could clear her debt in one go.¡°What¡¯s a Jian?¡± ¡°A sword. Buddha knows how it got down here.¡± ¡°Anything else I should be worried about?¡± ¡°Well, aside from cullers who are only dangerous to us when they¡¯re trying to kill each other and we¡¯re caught in the crossfire, there are also gangers, bounty-hunters and people who like to call themselves urbexers.¡± Mai stopped walking. They¡¯d already been wading upstream for a good thirty minutes and the resistance from the muck surrounding them was nothing like water. ¡°And why are they dangerous?¡± ¡°Because they want the artefacts for themselves. We¡¯ve lost a few people to them when they wouldn¡¯t hand over what they wanted.¡± ¡°As if things aren¡¯t bad enough!¡± snapped Mai. Andries shrugged. ¡°If you have something they want, even if it means you can buy your way out of here, just give it to them.¡± Mai resumed wading, determined to find a way to keep anything she discovered to herself. There wasn¡¯t a chance in the five hells that she would let anything stop her from getting away. ¡°We¡¯re nearly there.¡± Andries pointed at an intersection, ¡°Your first fat-berg.¡± Mai was just about to reply with something incredibly witty and sarcastic when a terrible screeching filled the sewer. ¡°Brace yourself! Mogwai!¡± Book 1 - Lone Wolf - Chapter 4 Mai wasn¡¯t sure what she expected when Andries shouted out his warning, but the creatures that swarmed out of the intersection didn¡¯t meet any image of a Mogwai she¡¯d thought of. There were at least five of them. Bodies as large as small dogs, they were six-legged and covered in scales and patchy fur, with hideous heads easily as large as their bodies. How they didn¡¯t constantly tip over she couldn¡¯t understand. Milk-white eyes and huge ears told her that these were blind. Health bars popped into existence above them, signaling their intention to attack, fully green. She would have preferred it if they were near solid black as that would have meant the fight would have been easy. Snouts as long as her arm opened to reveal teeth as long as her fingers. ¡°Clem Fandango!¡± she swore. She was glad the hazmat suits she wore came with a catheter and waste collection nappy. ¡°Use your staff. Keep moving. They¡¯re using echolocation.¡± He was following his own advice as the mogwai scuttled towards them. Somehow they were able to walk over the surface of the gloop. Twirling her staff she waded over to him so that they could cover each other. ¡°Thank Buddha they¡¯re only small ones,¡± Andries thrust with his staff, knocking one of the mogwai into the path of one of its packmates. Mai didn¡¯t know whether he was being sincere or just trying to make her feel good about the horrors they were facing. Target boxes highlighted areas to strike, and the percentage chance she had of getting a critical hit. Running the streets as much as she had, she¡¯d been involved in the odd fight and had used Street Fighting so was used to seeing them, even if she wasn¡¯t that good at hitting them. ¡°I thought you said they weren¡¯t that common?¡± She batted away another mogwai, aiming for a target box but missing. It screeched, and she gulped at the sight of a double-row of teeth. A dolphoshark would be jealous, she thought. ¡°Yeah. Well. Wanted to make you feel a bit safer on your first day.¡± They fell silent then. The mogwai circled them, just out of reach of the staffs. How they¡¯d managed to work that out, Mai neither knew nor cared. She was too busy looking from one mogwai to another. Looking at their spider-like legs, she realised that the front two had evil looking hooked toes, whereas the rear four legs had dinner-plate sized feet, allowing them to spread their weight and thus walk on the surface of the foul river. ¡°What are they doing? Why don¡¯t they attack?¡± Mai was finding the tension unbearable. ¡°They¡¯re trying to wear us out. They might be animals, but they¡¯re clever.¡± ¡°Can we take the fight to them?¡± she jabbed her staff, more for the sake of doing something than in actual hope she¡¯d hit one of them. ¡°We could, but then we¡¯d be split, and they could concentrate their attack on just one of us.¡± ¡°Do they ever just leave?¡± ¡°Nope. Not unless you fuck them up.¡± Mai sighed. The adrenaline coursing through her body was making her knees tremble and her arms feel weak. She couldn¡¯t work out if she wanted to fight or just make a run for it. Looking at those awful legs she decided that running would be a very bad idea indeed. ¡°Get ready,¡± Andries set his feet. The mogwai had stopped circling them and were crouched low to the surface. She was facing two. The other three were out of sight, presumably facing Andries. Mai activated the only skill she thought useful, STREET SMARTS. Granted, she was in a tunnel and facing monsters, but the skill had attributes which might at least let her read the body language of the creatures she was facing. Right now if the CLEANING skill had a chance of helping she¡¯d have activated that. She hadn¡¯t felt this scared for a long time. The mogwais she was facing down suddenly decided to move, in concert. They used some unseen signal to coordinate their attack. Despite having activated STREET SMARTS, or at least she thought she had, she never received any information on her attackers before they moved. So much for bloody STREET SMARTS. She thrust instinctively at the one that had managed to get much closer to her. The attack had taken her completely by surprise and she was on the back foot both literally and metaphorically. Mai wasn¡¯t sure who was more surprised when the staff struck the creature on its snout. Its own momentum inadvertently added power to the blow, but she was still pleasantly pleased when the damage notification popped up. HIT! 5% DAMAGE Its health bar was still near-solid green, but there was a small square of black at the right-hand side. The other closed in, maw open wide. Just in time she brought her staff back and rapped it across the snout. Off-balance, and still trying to work out how to fight with her legs encased in human waste, it was a feeble blow. HIT! 1% DAMAGE ¡°Dammit, I¡¯m barely hurting them!¡± ¡°Keep it up. Any damage is better than no damage. I just ¡­¡± Andries grunted as he fought his own mogwai. Her first attacker tried again, barging past its fellow, knocking it off its feet in its eagerness to get at her. This time it attacked her staff. Teeth snapping shut, it took a good third of the staff into its mouth. For a second they struggled. She pulled whilst it tried to pull the staff out of her grasp. See how you like this, she gave one last pull towards herself, forcing the mogwai to set its feet and resist. Then she shifted her hands to the end nearest her and thrust with all her might. In the split second before they attacked, she¡¯d seen that its teeth curved inwards, meaning that to pull the staff out of its mouth would be nigh on impossible. Pushing in though was a totally different matter. Her staff moved more easily than she thought it would, causing her to lose her balance towards the creature! Which only put even more force behind her attack. CRITICAL HIT! ¨C DOUBLE DAMAGE ¨C 150% DAMAGE The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.KILL! MOGWAI BANE 5% ACHIEVED NEW SKILL! TUNNEL FIGHTER 20% +20UC As the health bar completely filled with black, the tip of her staff burst out of the mogwai¡¯s rear end before she was able to regain her balance and stop her forward momentum. Pulling her hands away before they too entered the dead mogwai, she released the staff and flailed for balance, arms extended. The next second a screech from her right gave her a split-second of warning and then her right arm erupted in agony as the second mogwai clamped onto her arm, hand disappearing into its maw. it must have circled around whilst she fought the first mogwai. DAMAGE! ¨C 20% BLEED @1% PER SECOND HEALTH 80% She screamed. Pain like nothing she¡¯d ever experienced washed over her as the mogwai shook its head from side to side threatening to cause her to lose her balance, and she did not want to end up in this muck with her arm hanging from the creature''s jaw. DAMAGE 5% BLEED @2% PER SECOND HEALTH 72% ¡°Andries! Help!¡± She tried to pull her arm free. Forgetting in her fear and pain that the mogwai¡¯s teeth curved inwards. DAMAGE 2% BLEED @3% PER SECOND HEALTH 66% ¡°Little busy!¡± She was now bleeding at six per cent per second. In eleven seconds she¡¯d be dead. As the mogwai set its feet and started to pull back, Mai finally realised what she was doing wrong. Although it went against every one of her instincts, she set her feet better and shoved her hand forward. Her mogwai mewled as her arm went elbow deep into its body. Gagging, she opened her fist and closed it again as soon as she felt something brush against her fingers. Screaming, she squeezed with all her might. There was a second of resistance, and then whatever she was holding popped. CRITICAL HIT! 50% DAMAGE BLEED @10% PANIC! The effect on the mogwai was instant. Squealing, it released its grip on her arm, noxious lime-green blood gushing out of its mouth. A blood drop and exclamation mark appeared over it, showing the negative status effects she¡¯d just caused. She¡¯d seen them in the holomyths, but never caused one herself before. It was a handy way of knowing what was what in the chaos of a fight. Why the government chose to do it was beyond her, however. As soon as she was free it turned tail and scuttled off, wailing the entire time, health bar filling with more and more black with each second that passed. It turned the corner of the intersection with one final wail and was gone. Mai didn¡¯t want to look at her arm. She was still bleeding and had lost another 15% of health. Shit, shit, shit, is this a serious wound? She decided it was and activated her TREAT SERIOUS WOUNDS skill. BIO-MASS 70% ¡°Oh that¡¯s fabulous,¡± she gasped as the pain stopped immediately, the nanites in her body blocking her pain receptors as they set about fixing her torn flesh. There was a sudden flash of light from behind her which raced away in a strange ring of light, a clap of thunder and a roar from Andries. Spinning she gasped at the sight of exploded mogwai body parts raining down. ¡°What the hells was that?¡± ¡°MOGWAI BANE. I have to cause a cumulative seventy-five per cent of damage to all targets before I can activate the SONIC BOOM attack. It¡¯s pretty damn effective. Good job on yours.¡± As the nanites did their job, she opened up her SASS to look at the TUNNEL FIGHTER skill and see what the SONIC BOOM could do. She figured that if she was going to have to keep killing mogwai that it was something she could at least work towards getting. Tunnel Fighter Fighting in a tunnel is completely different to fighting in an open space. Combatants need to be aware of their confines and adapt their fighting skills accordingly. Blows become powerful but short. Damage is cumulative rather than dealt in one powerful blow and GRAPPLING and DIRTY BOXING can certainly play a large part. Workers with TUNNEL COMBAT gain a 20% passive defence bonus against workers without the skill. Similarly, workers without the skill suffer -20% on their defensive ability when fighting in tunnels. She wasn¡¯t too interested in the DIRTY BOXING skill for now, having already built up some experience in STREET FIGHTING in her previous life, which she felt was more than dirty enough. Then she opened up the Titles menu, selected MOGWAI BANE and opened up the sub-menu for attacks attached to it. Sonic Boom This skill is only conferred once a worker achieves the non-existent title of Mogwai Bane. Once the worker has damaged every similarly non-existent Mogwai by 75%, Sonic Boom is activated, causing an instant kill against all opponents within five paces. NEW TITLE - MOGWAI HUNTER MOGWAI BANE - 5% ASSIST - +10UC She continued reading through her updated SASS, which helped take her mind off the last few minutes for previous seconds. Sewer Combat This is a specific environment-based skill. Usually only Sewer Workers and Urbexers have this skill as no one in their right mind would wish to enter the sewers. Workers with SEWER COMBAT gain a 20% passive defence bonus against enemies without the skill. Similarly, workers without the skill suffer -20% on their defensive ability. ¡°What¡¯s the difference between SEWER COMBAT and TUNNEL COMBAT?¡± she asked, closing her menu. ¡°Lots of people get confused about that,¡± Andries replied. ¡°It¡¯s quite obvious really. Tunnels are either man made or made naturally. Both of them are prone to collapse. Sewers are only ever man made. They have different environments, but which can also be similar. Both might have slippery footing, gas build ups and so-on. But whilst subtle, the differences are still there. The main and most important difference of a sewer fighter compared to a tunnel fighter is they know how to use the environment of a sewer to their advantage. Due to our work, you will learn how to move through all the shit down here, thus you will be able to use the flow to your advantage.¡± ¡°Okay, thanks, I understand,¡± she nodded, realising that at some point she¡¯d stopped paying attention. The important thing she took away from his explanation was that they were similar skill sets, but different enough that she would have an advantage over someone if she had to fight them in a sewer and they didn¡¯t have the same skillset as her. He reached out and gently took hold of her arm. ¡°Looks like the nanites have got things in hand. I¡¯ll use my FIX ARMOUR skill to get your hazmat suit back to working order.¡± ¡°I take it we head back now?¡± ¡°No,¡± he laid a hand on her shoulder. ¡°We¡¯ve still got a day¡¯s work to do. Look on the bright side, you¡¯ve managed to earn some additional credits.¡± KILL! MOGWAI BANE 10% +20UC ¡°Forty to be precise. Just got a second credit notification, so the other one I was fighting must have bled out.¡± She grinned at that, two days¡¯ pay in one kill. If it wasn¡¯t so damned dangerous I¡¯d forget working on the bergs and just hunt. ¡°Good job! Although you know you won¡¯t be earning money for the work you¡¯re doing, not for the first month anyway, killing mogwais and other nasties isn¡¯t considered to be part of your job. So you can earn bonuses for doing it. And, as you¡¯ve seen, earn titles such as Mogwai Bane.¡± He paused until she nodded to show that she understood. ¡°Right, onward. I¡¯m afraid we¡¯re going to have to head to where they actually came out, but I don¡¯t think we¡¯re going to find any more. Who knows, you might even find their nest. There¡¯s sometimes good stuff to be found in them.¡± ¡°Let me guess, all the others that come down into the sewers like to look for nests?¡± ¡°Yes. One of our workers found a few thousand credits once. Didn¡¯t help as the mother mogwai tore him to pieces just as he was showing the rest of his work party.¡± ¡°Clem Fandango!¡± gasped Mai. It was the foulest curse anyone could make and not one to use lightly. ¡°Language!¡± warned Andries. ¡°Swear as much as you like, but you will not use that one around me. Clear?¡± Nodding contritely, Mai followed him as he strode through the thick slurry towards the tunnel the mogwai had attacked them from. ¡°How about I just stand back here whilst you check it¡¯s safe?¡± she joked as he approached the corner. ¡°I have a better idea.¡± He turned to face her and pointed over his shoulder, ¡°How about you go first? I insist.¡± Book 1 - Lone Wolf - Chapter 5 Fortunately, there were no more mogwai other than the body of the one she¡¯d killed. It looked pathetic as it floated on top of the brown river. ¡°I don¡¯t know why anyone would want a pet that looked like this.¡± She jabbed the corpse with her staff. It rolled slowly, pathetically even. ¡°No one did. These are the by-products of different pets breeding, or certain pets being affected by the toxic waste down in other tunnels.¡± ¡°What toxic waste?¡± ¡°People dump stuff.¡± He shrugged as they started walking again, ¡°And sometimes older tunnels carrying toxic waste to the sumps in the negative levels break. And unfortunately, people also dump pets that they can¡¯t afford, or can¡¯t train, or which don¡¯t look as good as they want them to. Sometimes I really hate people.¡± ¡°How do I recognise toxic waste?¡± She started stirring the muck in front of her. It all looked the same to her. Shit. Piss. More shit. Tons and tons of shit. ¡°You start dissolving. Or one of your friends does.¡± She couldn¡¯t tell if he was joking or not. ¡°And that¡¯s it?¡± ¡°Usually the toxic waste glows. Radioactive you see. Don¡¯t worry. Your suit will give you at least a minute to get away. Sometimes though you¡¯ll see gas rising. That¡¯s a good sign that you¡¯re in bad shit. That and your friends start dissolving.¡± Mai felt like screaming. She¡¯d incurred a debt to society which was looking more and more like a death sentence. All conversation ended when they took another curve in the tunnel. ¡°Wow,¡± there were no other words for it. The fat berg was massive, utterly dwarfing the work crew that was carving chunks from it and passing it into some sort of machine. It was the colour of maggots, glistening, utterly revolting. Stick, bones, and a myriad of other pieces of trash jutted from it at all angles. Her stomach flipped at the sight of it. She hadn¡¯t seen anything quite so disgusting in her life, and this after both wading in and subsequently fighting in literal shit. ¡°Yeah, she¡¯s a beauty. A baby really, but a good example,¡± sighed Andries. She gave him a side-eye, yet again confused as to whether he was being serious or leading her on. It seemed that he was being serious. Andries led her up to the crew and introduced her to them. It was unnecessary in a time where everyone¡¯s name and job role could be seen hanging above their heads, but it was still deemed polite to introduce yourself before you started using someone else¡¯s name. The leader, indicated by an upward chevron with a star in the middle, was a chap called Fat John. She wasn¡¯t about to ask why he was called that, just shook his rubber-gloved hand, and tried not to wipe her hands on the legs of her trousers. He smiled, eyes crinkling as if he knew exactly what she was thinking. The introductions didn¡¯t take long. Most of the workers just gave her a brief nod before returning to their task, carving chunks out of the berg as quickly as they could. ¡°Right. All you need to do is get hold of a fat cutter. Cut a piece you think is big enough for you to carry and drop it into the machine over there.¡± Fat John pointed to a track-mounted machine. From the front it looked like a huge trumpet horn. If trumpets had rows and rows of grinding teeth. ¡°What¡¯s that machine do?¡± She knew it was probably a stupid question, and that was confirmed when Andries sniggered beside her. Still, if she didn¡¯t ask, then she couldn¡¯t learn. And the more she knew about what she was doing, the quicker she could get back to Lin. ¡°Breaks the fat down into molecules which can then be released back into the sewer. Just make sure you don¡¯t fall in, eh? I hear it¡¯s quite a painful death,¡± Fat John said with a strangely wistful look on his face. If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. Gritting her teeth, Mai picked up a fat cutter a good three paces long. Now that she had the template for her staff, she was able to absorb the staff rather than having to worry about it falling over into the morass surrounding them. She accepted the five credit charge for the new fat cutter with a snarl and walked over to the fat berg. ¡°What happens if the berg moves and releases the build up?¡± she asked a woman next to her. She had been introduced to her as Jin and had been one of the workers keener to work than to actually get to know her, barely even grunting when they¡¯d been introduced, whereas others had been far more willing to greet her, and even take the time to have a quick chat. Having seen how hard the work was, Mai couldn¡¯t blame her. ¡°You swim.¡± *** By the second hour of work, Mai¡¯s arms felt as though they were going to fall off. Only a couple of the other workers were of a high enough level to be able to use nanite tools, and so she and the rest of the workers struggled along with the unwieldy fat cutters. Earlier she¡¯d been forced to put her tool down and looked up Fat Cutter on her Tools Menu. It showed that she had to hit level 1 before she could unlock it. Which surprised her as out of the twenty or so workers around her, the majority were using cutters. So many people failing in life, she thought as she looked around at the sweat drenched faces around her, workers sucking hard for air as they tried to cut as fast as they could. Sucking hard on her suit¡¯s internal water bladder, she worked the liquid around her mouth. As she drank she tried to work out the knots in her shoulders. ¡°You should keep working. Break isn¡¯t for another hour and you need all the time you have to meet quota,¡± warned Jin, she¡¯d gradually warmed to Mai as they worked. She had nanite tools and was an absolute demon at cutting. Not only that but she was able to carry a far heavier load than Mai would have thought possible for someone so small. Each shift was precisely eight hours long. Workers got one break at mid-shift for thirty minutes where they would eat. That gave them seven and a half hours of back-breaking work. Her daily quota was one thousand units of fat per hour of work, with thirty minutes for lunch after the first three and a half hours. Given that she hadn¡¯t worked in any other area of the sewer she didn¡¯t know how that compared, only that hitting seven thousand five hundred for this task would earn her ten credits. Considering the amount of work they were doing, that was an utterly paltry amount. Yet another way of ensuring indentured workers struggled to free themselves of their debts. Calling up her progress bar she sighed as she saw that she¡¯d only managed to carve seven hundred units in her first hour, and five hundred in her second, she closed it before she saw the stats for the present time slot. ¡°I¡¯m not going to make quota,¡± she groaned. ¡°No one ever does on their first day. Hells, not even in their first month usually. You need to build up the skills first, and that takes a long time,¡± Jin said without breaking stride, nanite tool parting the fat like a hot knife through butter. ¡°How long have you been here if you don¡¯t mind me asking?¡± ¡°Not at all. This is my thirteenth year.¡± Mai was glad her helmet stopped her jaw from hitting the floor. By her reckoning, it should take her around twelve years to get free if she hit her ten per cent quota target. She¡¯d thought that would have been easy after a few months of working to get the skills and tools required. Possibly even hitting higher bonuses some months. ¡°You¡¯ve got to accept one hard fact. You¡¯re never leaving unless you hit gold with an artefact, or you die.¡± The woman turned back to carving fat. ¡°I suggest you talk less and work faster.¡± Mai took the advice, tears streaming down her face as she started to carve at the noisome mess in front of her. *** Mai groaned in pleasure as the hot jets of the shower pummelled her sore shoulders, although all workers had showers in their rooms, she¡¯d been told it was expected they would use the showers by the exit to the sewers so that they didn''t tramp filth through the company¡¯s quarters. If she was honest, her entire body was sore. Carving the fat and walking through the waste was a full-body workout. She dreaded to think what she was going to feel like the next day. ¡°Good job today. You managed to get four thousand units,¡± Andries congratulated her as he stepped into the stall. He was as naked as the day he was born. ¡°What?¡± he asked as Mai shrieked and tried to cover herself whilst desperately trying to look anywhere but at him. ¡°Didn¡¯t Sun tell you that the showers were communal?¡± He laughed as he sudded up. He was amazingly well-toned, and her eyes were drawn to his .. ¡°No,¡± gulped Mai, desperately trying to look anywhere but at her friend. ¡°I thought this was the women¡¯s showers.¡± ¡°Well, get used to it. The others will be here in a couple of minutes.¡± Washing as quickly as possible, she snatched at her towel and left just as the others from the shift were entering. ¡°Is that a blush I see?¡± one joked, and the rest burst out into laughter and jokes at her expense. Face burning she ran to her room. Book 1 - Lone Wolf - Chapter 6 ¡°You¡¯ve done well for your first week,¡± Andries said as he led Mai into the sewers. She was used to the stench of them now but suspected that if she were ever to leave she¡¯d be a pariah. No matter how hard I wash, I¡¯ll never get this stink out. ¡°That said, I¡¯m going to take you on a new assignment. Hope you¡¯re up to a bit of excitement.¡¯ ¡°Excitement? Thought you¡¯d never ask,¡± she grinned. Shovelling shit got repetitive. It was understood that she¡¯d need to learn the basics of working in the sewers, but it wasn¡¯t the most demanding of jobs, no matter how dangerous Andries and the others claimed it was. CLEAR THE FAT PLUG FROM THE PIPE DO YOU ACCEPT YES/NO? She pressed YES without thinking. A guideline appeared, leading out of the sewer they were in. A countdown showed that they had over five hundred paces to go before reaching their destination. ¡°How¡¯s your climbing?¡± ¡°Basic, don¡¯t mind heights either,¡± she said, raising her eyebrows inquisitively. ¡°Good, we¡¯ve got a plug. We¡¯ve got to head down Sewer Pipe 165 and clear it.¡± ¡°Plug? What¡¯s that?¡± although she had an idea as to what it might have been and was dreading the answer. ¡°From the look on your face, you already know what it is. Or have an idea at least. It¡¯s a large glob of fat, waste, and excrement that has caused a blockage. Whereas bergs will move along the tunnels, plugs just ram things up. We¡¯re going to have to enter the pipe, and then clear the blockage.¡± He laughed at the look on her face, and she found she had to join in. It was too ridiculous to not. ¡°Do we need special equipment? I¡¯m guessing we won¡¯t be able to hold our breath all that time?¡± His smile disappeared. ¡°Ah, yes. You¡¯ll need another suit. I¡¯ll unlock it now. As your mentor, Madam Sun has authorised me to give you whatever tools you need.¡± He paused, clearly going through the relevant menus. ¡°It¡¯s going to cost though. Like everything here.¡± HAZARDOUS ENVIRONMENT SUIT UNLOCKED 500 UC TO PURCHASE DO YOU ACCEPT YES/NO? Five hundred fucking credits! Her mouth dried at the thought. That was fifty whole days of hitting quota. Not paying off a debt, but just hitting quota. And there was absolutely nothing she could do about it. It felt as though a fire had been lit in her belly. It went beyond anger, and there was only one way she could direct it. The Celestial Court, the Emperor, the Empire. Even though she was trying her hardest to work, to be a good citizen and get back to her sister, she was being held back. Punished even. Still, as she opened the menu to look at it she had to admit that the suit looked the business. It was composed of an all-in-one suit with a hood which also incorporated a full-face visor and breathing equipment. Over that went shin-high boots, shin pads, knee pads, thigh armour, breast- and back-plates, armoured gloves, vambraces and shoulder pads. Looking at its stats she saw that it had one called ¡®SOAK¡¯. Blink-clicking, she quickly read up on it. Soak Certain items give a degree of protection to the user. This is called SOAK. Every item has a SOAK value, and this indicates how much damage the item is able to absorb before being rendered useless. SOAK on armour that the user is wearing does not stop users from all attacks. A Flak Jacket will not stop a 3-finger-wide laser blast but will absorb up to 95% of all damage from a light pistol bullet. Conversely, a light pistol round won¡¯t cause any damage to the user of a mecha suit but will still continue to contribute to the SOAK being reduced (albeit at a negligible rate). Once the SOAK limit has been reached, 100% of damage will get through to the wearer. Okay, totally understandable, she thought as she looked at the BIO-MASS cost of the suit. At 5% it wasn¡¯t too expensive, and she¡¯d remembered to pack some energy bars so would be able to replace the lost BIO-MASS easily. This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. Bracing herself for the pain to come, she selected the suit, pleased that she only let out a slight squeak as the nanites in her formed the suit around her body. Hopefully she would get used to the pain associated with the nanites making things from her templates and eventually not notice them. ¡°Suits you,¡± Andries said approvingly. ¡°Now you¡¯ve formed it, you should be able to see a sub-menu under ¡®Personalise¡¯. You can change the colours of the various armour pieces, as well as the base colour of the suit over-all.¡± Mai took a quick look, shutting the menu just as quickly as soon as she saw that each one of the colour combinations had a cost from a couple of credits through to thousands for a particularly garish neo-pink and gold combination. ¡°I¡¯ll stick with this,¡± she gestured at her suit which was a sickly yellow with red armour. Easy to spot against the never-ending river of brown surrounding them. Andries shrugged, changing his suit to a bright red cover-all and yellow armour, almost a direct opposite of hers. ¡°Okay, let¡¯s crack on. The plug won¡¯t clear itself and we¡¯ve got a long day ahead of us,¡± he rubbed his hands together as he spoke. ¡°Why are you so excited?¡± Mai asked, slightly worried to see her mentor quite so excited about clearing what was essentially the equivalent of a large turd blocking a pipe. Or so she hoped. ¡°Because there¡¯s a better chance of finding something worth finding, if you know what I mean. Everything coming down that pipe is currently hanging there. Once it hits the sewers it can flow in any direction. We¡¯ll split whatever we find, seventy-thirty. And yes, I¡¯m the seventy.¡± Mai opened her mouth to protest but closed it with a snap when Andries tilted his head. It was clear there was no chance of negotiation, and thirty per cent of nothing ¨C her cynicism remained unbowed ¨C wasn¡¯t something she was prepared to argue over. But she felt a sense of pride at the trust he was showing in her. She¡¯d watched other mentors and their charges and they¡¯d only really shown the basics before leaving them to it. They never seemed to mix, or hang around like Andries. She liked that. It showed her that Andries viewed her as something more than just a job, but as someone he liked to be with and who he genuinely wanted to help her be the best she could be. ¡°I kinda thought they¡¯d have closed the pipe off,¡± shouted Andries as they stood watching a river of human waste pour past the pipe entry hatch they¡¯d just opened. Mai looked at the guideline for the mission. The plug was another fifty metres below them. She didn¡¯t want to risk poking her head out to see how far the trapped waste had risen. Andries started shouting, she couldn¡¯t quite hear what he was saying over the roar of the effluent, but from the look on his face, he wasn¡¯t being very polite. And like that, the torrent stopped. The absence of noise was shocking. Mai hadn¡¯t realised just how loud it had been in the tight confines of their service corridor. ¡°That¡¯s settled,¡± Andries said rather smugly as he leaned through the hatch and looked down. ¡°Still, looks like it¡¯s going to be pretty deep.¡± ¡°How deep is pretty deep?¡± asked Mai as she poked her head out next to his. The pipe was massive, easily thirty paces across. Which she hoped meant that the effluent wouldn¡¯t be too deep. ¡°Waist high. Maybe more,¡± he rubbed at his visor as if touching his chin. ¡°We¡¯ll secure our lines to here, rappel down and use a staff to gauge depth. After that, we clear the plug.¡± ¡°How the hells are we going to rappel down there? We can¡¯t dig out a plug that large all by ourselves!¡± She wasn¡¯t fussed by the height, she¡¯d been higher, but she hadn¡¯t rappelled before, so couldn¡¯t work out how they¡¯d make their way down. ¡°I¡¯ll create a rope, it¡¯s only going to be one per cent BIO-MASS or so. It¡¯s not too far, and you¡¯ll most likely get a new skill by the end of it. And the explosives will be created by accessing the explosives menu. Here, I¡¯ll unlock the menu. No weapons though, so don¡¯t even go asking for mono-wire bouncing mines.¡± ¡°That¡¯s a thing?¡± she asked, hoping she didn¡¯t sound too eager. Just the name had her imagination conjuring up all sorts of images. ¡°That sounds amazing, I would love to see that in action!¡± ¡°But unfortunately you¡¯re just a sewer worker. Not a Culler, not a soldier, not even a bounty hunter. A shit sweeper. And all we get is blocks of explosive to do our job. Mind you ...¡± he paused and lowered his voice. ¡°They are such fucking fun! Plus you can stick stuff into the explosive which makes them really good for trapping mogwai and such. Don¡¯t tell anyone I said that, mind.¡± ¡°My lips are sealed,¡± Mai drew a line across her visor before opening up her items menu and scrolling down until she reached EXPLOSIVES. ¡°Five per cent per kilo. How big a bang is that?¡± ¡°It¡¯ll vaporise you, and three generations of ancestors. But,¡± he formed a block of explosive and quickly tossed it to her. Fumbling, she hugged it to her chest. ¡°It only explodes if a detonator is in it. You can drop it, cut, even burn it, and it won¡¯t blow.¡± ¡°Not. Fucking. Funny,¡± she slammed it back into his chest, making him grunt in pain. HIT! 1% DAMAGE ¡°Oops,¡± she simpered as Andries rubbed at his chest. ¡°So sorry.¡± FINE ¨C ATTACKING FELLOW WORKER -10UC That wiped the smile off her face and put one on his. ¡°Just to say, I get informed of any transgressions. Needless to say, in this instance that notification was a tad redundant.¡± What the hells? He knows every single time I do something wrong? Fortunately, she¡¯d kept her nose clean since arriving at the sewers. Everything she did wrong not only punished her, but also punished her sister, and there wasn¡¯t a chance she would jeopardise her sister intentionally. ¡°You look like a lizog licking piss off a cactus. Don¡¯t do anything wrong, I won¡¯t hear about it. And you¡¯ll clear your debt faster too.¡± ¡°Whatever,¡± she groused back. ¡°Shall we just do this?¡± Andries didn¡¯t reply, just set about forming a thin rope with carabiner then attached it to a stanchion, giving it a firm tug. Creating another rope, he followed the same procedure before passing it to her and showing her how to attach it to herself. ¡±I¡¯ll give you the template as well, but I¡¯ll make the rope, I¡¯ve got a better eye.¡± ¡°Ready?¡± and before she could answer he dove head first through the hatch. Book 1 - Lone Wolf - Chapter 7 Mai stood for a couple of seconds, utterly stunned at what she had just witnessed. ¡°Mad as a box of frogs,¡± she muttered to herself as she looked out through the hatch to see Andries running face down the side of the pipe in a controlled measure. ¡°Not a chance I¡¯m going to be doing that.¡± Opening her SKILLS menu, she tried to see if she had rappelling, but it was greyed out. ¡°Emperor¡¯s teeth!¡± she stamped her foot in frustration. The only skill which might actually help her get down the pipe was FREERUNNING. Activating any skill was better than trying to rappel and wing it. She didn¡¯t even have the BASE 20% in it, so would essentially be winging it. Not something she really wanted to do, but Andries seemed to think she could do it, and she didn¡¯t want to fail him. In at the bloody deep end, she thought. Here goes nothing, she activated FREERUNNING, sat on the edge of the hatch, pushed herself over the edge and gingerly lowered herself down. ¡°Oh come on! My mothers can move faster than you!¡± Andries¡¯ voice crackled in her earpiece, startling her. Foot slipping, she face-planted into the side of the pipe, the world suddenly spinning, body bouncing. DAMAGE 1% SOAK 99% ¡°Don¡¯t thrash! Just stay still, I¡¯m coming back up!¡± Mai didn¡¯t have to look down to see Andries coming towards her, she was head down, blood rushing from her boots to fill her head.The pressure continued to build, head pounding with each heartbeat. ¡°I don¡¯t feel so good, can you come closer?¡± she groaned. ¡°Feeling quite sick.¡± ¡°If you puke, don¡¯t you dare raise your visor, there¡¯s enough poison gas to melt your lungs in seconds!¡± Andries continued to climb towards her as quickly as he could. Mai swallowed down the bile that rose into her mouth as she swung back and forth on the rope, gyrating as she did. Just as her stomach rumbled and started to contract he reached her. Grabbing her foot he expertly spun her the right way up. Too late. Vomit raced up her throat, punching through her pinched lips and decorating the inside of her mask. She breathed in. Vomit washed straight back into her mouth and throat. Gagging, she vomited again, her reflexes kicking in and taking another breath. DAMAGE! 1% CHOKING! PANIC! HEALTH 99% ¡°Breathe out! Your mask will clear! Breath out!¡± She could barely hear Andries, the hammering of heart, the pounding of her lungs filling her head. Arms flailing she reached for her visor¡¯s release. ¡°Breathe out!¡± Andries slapped her hands away, fighting her each time she reached up to try to open her helmet. CHOKING @5% PER SECOND PANIC! HEALTH 94% Stars exploded in her eyes as she breathed in the acidic goop and threw it back up again. Her throat burned and she tried to scream, but there was no air and yet more goop flooded into her mouth. CHOKING @10% PER SECOND! HEALTH 84% She was completely blind, unable to open her eyes, screwed shut against her own stomach acid. Time ceased to exist. Her world boiled down to one desperate need, to breathe. CHOKING @15% PER SECOND HEALTH 69% Whether her eyes were shut or not, the notifications kept coming, there was no escaping them. No escaping the vomit-filled prison her helmet had become. DAMAGE! 10% STUNNED! HEALTH 59% Barely conscious she felt her visor lifted from face, replaced before her mind even truly registered what had happened. DAMAGE! 5% WINDED! HEALTH 54% Pain exploded in her belly, blasting her lungs clear before she drew in a breath of mercifully vomit-clear air. She hung, whooping, and wailing as she gradually returned to normal. Finally able to open her still-stinging eyes, she looked over at Andries. ¡°Next time, maybe unlock the skill I need, yeah?¡± *** It took nearly half an hour before she felt able to continue, her health restoring as soon as she¡¯d stopped CHOKING, oxygen starved brain returned to what Andries tried to jokingly refer to as ¡®the Mai we all know and love¡¯. From the look on his face he knew it was in poor taste before he¡¯d even finished speaking. ¡°Don¡¯t ever fucking do anything like that to me again,¡± she shissed, pointing a shaky finger at him. ¡°I don¡¯t care how you think it¡¯ll improve me if it nearly bloody kills me!¡± She tried to shout that last sentence, but her throat was dry and it came out as a rasp instead. ¡°Sorry I had to hit you,¡± he said, looking genuinely ashamed. ¡°As soon as I got your visor off and flicked it clear of puke, I needed you to breathe out and clear it of the poison. Best thing I could think of was punching you in the bread basket.¡± Mai flapped her hand, he¡¯d saved her life after all. A punch was nothing compared to that. ¡°How about you give me rappelling now?¡± ¡°Sure, it¡¯s a niche skill, only fifty credits. Normally a company would bring ladders. You happy with that?¡± He flinched as though expecting she might do him some damage. She couldn¡¯t deny it wasn¡¯t tempting. ¡°No, I¡¯m not okay with that, I just don¡¯t have a bloody choice, do I?¡± RAPPEL SKILL UNLOCKED PAY 50 UC? YES/NO She selected YES without even thinking about it. Just another five days of work to carry out a supposedly simple task. ¡°This better pay out or I¡¯m five hundred and fifty credits down!¡± she snarled as she checked her SASS to see what the skill actually gave her. Rappel The act of attaching oneself to a double-coiled rope affixed at a higher point and using it to descend vertical or near-vertical surfaces. It was all perfectly reasonable. She closed the menu as there wasn''t much else that she needed to know. The skill was PASSIVE, meaning that she wouldn''t have to activate it, although there were some sub-skills listed such as ''SUICIDE DIVE'', ''BUNGEE AWAY'', and ''FACE FIRST'', which she would be able to unlock the more she used the skill. Not that I''m looking to use this any more than I have to. I mean, just how many times am I going to abseil down a shit filled sewer blocked by a plug of fat? Now that she had the skill, despite the fact it was at only twenty per cent, she immediately felt a lot more confident about completing the task. She adjusted her rope, changed the tension here, added more slack there, and got herself comfortable. Her heart rate immediately started to return to normal, and she realised just how scared she had been just hanging there. Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. "Good, ready to go?" asked Andries, who had silently hung next to her whilst she got things sorted. "Yeah, much better," she even managed to smile as she kicked off from the side of the sewer and dropped a few paces. Landing both feet against the side of the sewer, she flexed her knees automatically, absorbing the impact easily, transferring what could have been a jarring blow into a relatively soft landing. As soon as she was ready she boosted away from the wall, a little bit harder this time, and dropped even further. Andries matched her jump for jump, offering advice as he did so, clearly still guilty that he hadn''t done this in the first place. In what seemed like no time at all they were knee deep in shit and releasing themselves from the ropes. FIRST TIMER! FLAWLESS! "You''re a natural! Must be all that FREE RUNNING you''ve done," Andries clapped her gently on the shoulder. "I managed to add a couple of percentage points, two per cent to be precise, on that drop as well," she grinned back, just glad that she''d made it all the way down without a repeat of earlier. "Ah, that''s because certain skills reward you for flawless uses of them. Did you get a FLAWLESS notification?" "Uh huh," she nodded. "Yeah, you basically performed every move as perfectly as possible at your level, which is the base of twenty per cent. Otherwise you''d have earned experience for each jump you did well, but that experience would have been a sliding scale. I don''t have a clue how that actually translates into figures, don''t really care either, but hey, you levelled it up two per cent!" He gave her his signature big grin and a double thumbs up. "So, let''s blow shit up!" She grinned back, unable to resist. Out of everyone in the Sewer Worker Company, he''d done the most to make her feel at home and she had the feeling that it wasn''t because it was his job, but because he genuinely cared about all of his fellow workers. She hadn''t heard a bad thing said about him, which was in marked contrast to a lot of the workers in the company. "How do we do this?" she peered over as he started making blocks of explosive. "I''ll make the explosive and tell you where to stick it," he chuckled before continuing, she didn''t bother asking what he was laughing about, his humour could be somewhat childish at times. Another thing she liked about him. He didn''t take things too seriously when there was no need. "And make sure you do, otherwise the explosive won''t blow properly." "Do I get social score for placing the explosives?" she asked as she took the block he handed her. He paused, cocking his head. "Ummm, yes? I can''t give you the skill because it''s too advanced for your professional level right now. We don''t want everyone knowing how to blow things up. It can lead to unfortunate incidents. Touchy subject," he added as she opened her mouth to ask about those very incidents. "No worries, tell me where to place them, I''ll do it, and we''ll see if I get the skill or not," she hated this about the way nanites, and skills worked. Everyone took for granted the fact that they had nanites in their system just waiting to activate knowledge, but the actual mechanics of the whole thing were a mystery to everyone. Granted, you carried out an action you had no skill in, and you''d earn experience points which would see you slowly gain expertise in the skill. Or, as the Skills Mistress had explained before, you were granted the skill by your employer and immediately started at a base of twenty per cent. "Okay, take the block you''re holding and place it over there," a red target block appeared now that she was in possession of the explosive and was essentially attacking the plug. "Take this." She turned to see what ''this'' was. It was a thin cylinder of metal with what looked like a small antenna attached to it. "Place the explosive into the red target box, then carefully, and I mean carefully, push this into the block of explosive. Don''t push too hard and don''t hold it for too long either." "Why not?" she asked, although she rather suspected she knew the answer. "It''s a radio-controlled detonator. If you snap it, it''ll blow your hand off. If you snap it whilst it''s in the explosive, it''ll vaporise you and most likely kill me too. If you hold it too long it''ll get too warm with the same results. Chop, chop!" he made a shooing motion with his hand. Sighing, Mai waded through the knee-deep brown slop to the target. Kneeling down, she placed the explosive carefully, trying to ensure she got it as central as possible, hoping to maximise the amount of social score she''d earn once the mission to blow the fat plug was over. It took them another thirty minutes to place all of the explosive required, with Andries having to pause and eat protein paste to top up his nanites. "It''s the fact that the blocks of explosive, detonator, and radio antenna are all counted separately. I can''t just make a block of remotely detonated explosive. God knows why." Mai thought she had an inkling. Making each took time, not long, but long enough. It also cost in BIO-MASS. Giving workers access to something so powerful in one go might give some of the less desirable elements bad ideas. Bad ideas which Andries had already hinted at. She didn''t say this however, just shrugged as she slurped down her own protein paste. Wading through the thick morass of excrement was tiring, and she was glad for the rest and a bite to eat. Not that eating was easy with a visor on. There was a small attachment which allowed her to push the nozzle of the protein paste tube through, from there it was a simple matter of squeezing and sucking at the same time. It wasn''t as good as a proper meal, but she was so hungry it didn''t matter what it was. The coolness of the paste also helped soothe her throat. "Right, time to ascend and blow this bad boy," Andries tossed his paste tube into the pool. "Once it''s blown, we''ll rappel down to the bottom of the pipe and see what we can find before we tell them to turn it back on." *** The climb back up was much easier than Mai had expected, and far less dramatic than her first descent attempt. She didn''t gain any Social Score worth mentioning however as it wasn''t her first attempt. Pausing to rest her legs, she opened the menu and saw that she''d get a boost every 10, 20, 50, 100, and 200 uses of the skill. Since it was unlikely she''d ever use it that much, she pushed that to the back of her mind. Once they were at the top, Andries carefully closed the hatch, ensuring that it was snugly secured before leading her to a dog leg in the corridor. "You can never be too careful when using explosives. Always, always put something between you and the explosion. Preferably more than one thing as well. Here goes." Lifting a small clacker device, Andries grinned then squeezed. There was a pause, then a dull thud. It was, Mai decided, utterly underwhelming. MISSION COMPLETE! NEW SKILL! USE EXPLOSIVES! RANK 1! USE EXPLOSIVE BONUS +5% FAT PLUG DESTROYED +10 SOCIAL POINTS ¨C YOU HAVE DONE THE EMPIRE A GREAT SERVICE! She was happy with the new skill, but her mouth soured at the suggestion she¡¯d done the Empire a great service. "Right! Let''s go see what we''ve got," and with that Andries was sprinting towards the hatch. It caught Mai off guard as she was just about to access the USE EXPLOSIVE skill description. Instead, she was forced to blink-click the notifications closed. "What''s the rush?" Mai called, cursing as she scrambled to catch up. "Well, now we''ve blown the fat berg and it''s dropped, it''s fair game for anyone down in that tunnel. We''ve got to beat them to it to stake our claim." "Shit!" Mai snatched her rope and clipped herself on. "What the Hells are we waiting for?" Andries didn''t answer, pulling open the hatch and launching himself through the opening just as he had before. "Oh for Buddha''s sake!" groaned Mai. Reaching the lip of the hatch, she launched herself out backwards, bounding down the sewer wall, cursing each time she landed badly or slipped slightly. Glancing down the badly-lit pipe she caught glimpses of Andries as he raced down the wall, dozens of paces ahead of her. "Come on! I''m nearly there. You''ve got at least another hundred paces. Hurry!" Mai sighed, kicked off hard and loosened her grip, plummeting towards the bottom of the pipe. Tightening it, she slammed into the side of the pipe harder than she planned, her soles stinging with the impact despite the heavy boots she was wearing. Another few descents and she splashed down next to Andries who was busy sorting through the blocks of shattered fat berg. "I''m using SCAVENGER, which I can''t grant you as it''s not technically a work-based skill. You''ll have to learn it yourself. It''s both a PASSIVE and ACTIVE skill. When ACTIVE it helps you spot stuff much quicker. Like ..." he paused, head scanning left to right. "This!" He practically pounced on a piece of fat berg which looked like practically every other piece of fat berg. Cracking it open, he revealed an old copper bottle. "Um, wow," she offered. "How much is that worth?" "Ah, well according to my skill, it''s worth about one credit. Give or take," he tucked it into a backpack she hadn''t seen him with before. "Try it, just hunt through the blocks. If you feel drawn to one more than any others, crack it open. Toss the ones you don''t feel drawn to over to me and I''ll make sure we don''t miss anything." Mai sighed, teeth gritted in frustration as she weighed the one credit that bottle was worth against the five hundred and fifty she''d spent to get to this stage. And looking at the huge piles of fat before them, her shoulders slumped as she realised just how long they were going to be there. *** "Berg claimed by Sewer Company Fifty-Five!" yelled Andries as a troop of other workers appeared around a bend in the tunnel. Mai straightened, back clicking after hours of stooping as she shifted through the fat. Andries had been forced to expand his backpack at least twice. There was a chorus of groans and the odd curse as the workers turned around and traipsed back the way they had come. Mai was surprised they hadn''t put up more of a fight, in fact she''d been geared up for a fight. But it seemed that rules were rules and the Sewer Workers respected them. Despite having earned the SCAVENGER skill after finding her first bit of what Andries called loot, she was unsure as to how much their bounty was worth since her measly one per cent in the skill gave her ballpark figures with the result that each one pretty much stated a value of one credit all the way up to one hundred for a crystal she''d found. When she''d asked why in the Emperor''s name would someone throw away a crystal potentially worth so much, Andries had just shrugged. And so had she once she''d thought about it. Why they did it didn''t matter. That they did, did matter because it meant she could use the loot to clear her debt quicker. "Why didn¡¯t I get SCAVENGER when I was working on the fat berg last week?" "Were you drawn to anything, or did you find anything?" he asked as he tossed away the last piece of fat berg she''d passed him without a second glance. "Nope," she looked around and sighed in relief as she saw there were no more pieces of fat to sort through. "That''s why. Like I said, it''s not guaranteed that you''ll find something. And if no-one told you, you wouldn''t have known to even look if you had felt that one piece was different to another. And," he twisted at the hips, making his back click loudly, "being a noob, no-one would have felt inclined to make it easy for you. But if you had spotted something, then you¡¯d have got it at one per cent." "Bastards," she said, although she couldn''t really blame them. When the whole system seemed designed to keep them trapped in the sewers, helping someone they barely knew to get out would have gone against their own interests. "Why are you so keen to help me then?" Andries opened his mouth to answer, then paused, as if unsure of what he was going to say. "I''m your mentor. That''s my job. I mentor you. Get you up to scratch and get rewarded for doing so. I take a cut from your salary by the way. So you better hit target, okay?¡± He laughed, but she could sense an underlying current of seriousness. "Yeah, but you could have done that without bringing me here. Today alone I''ve gained RAPPELLING, USE EXPLOSIVES and SCAVENGER. I''m a bit shit at the last two, but all of them are skills I don''t really need." He didn''t say anything for a while. Then shrugged. "Let''s just say, I feel compelled to help you. I like you, and I want to see you progress. So I¡¯ve been taking you on extra missions, rather than just sticking with the day job." "I''ll take that," she smiled as he shouldered his backpack. "Time to go home?" "Oh yes, and on the way I''ll introduce you to the Scavenger Queen.¡± Book 1 - Lone Wolf - Chapter 8 As they walked back towards their barracks, Andries moaning incessantly about how heavy the backpack was and how he thought they should renegotiate the share each would receive, Mai opened her skills menu and read the descriptions of her new skills. USE EXPLOSIVE was the first she opened. She only had one per cent in that skill since all she''d done was stick the explosive where Andries had told her. She didn''t mind as at least she had the skill now. A skill that she knew most other workers didn''t have. This means I''ll be able to work on more special projects and gain more ranks in that skill as a result. She felt quite smug about it. The title of the skill was pretty much self-explanatory, and the description did little to expand upon it. Use Explosive The user of this skill will be able to craft and place explosives in such a way as to safely remove obstacles with as little explosive as possible. Safely is a subjective term and should be taken as a guarantee that using explosives isn''t without considerable risk. Not exactly reassuring, she thought. Probably deliberately so. People were stupid and common sense was often distinctly lacking in the general population. Afterall, she was stuck in the sewers due to a distinct lack of common sense herself. Next she opened SCAVENGER. Scavenger Those possessing this skill have the ability to sniff out even the most well-hidden treasures. When PASSIVE the user will feel a gut instinct calling them to go a certain way, lift a certain stone. When ACTIVE the user will be able to accurately pinpoint the location of an item, as well as correctly assay its true value. Out of all of the skills she had gained that day, Mai was particularly pleased with SCAVENGER. If Andries continued to take her on special missions she''d be able to amass far more spare credits than if she just hit quota. "Why did I get Karma for that mission? What''s the point of ranking in skills now that we¡¯re indentured?" she asked as they entered the barracks area. "I''ve never had that come up before. And how do I rank up?" "Probably because you''ve never completed a mission like that before," Andries stopped next to a public bench and sat down with a contented sigh. "Park your butt here for a few seconds." She did as ordered, happy to let her aching legs finally get a rest. "Growing up, you''ve always done task related things. Even when you were FREERUNNING you were doing it because you wanted to, so you gained experience, or Ranks, in that skill. When you were working as a cleaner, you gained Rank in that skill, or should have. But none of them had generic karma attached to them because they didn¡¯t necessarily serve the Emperor.." "What made this mission so special then?" interrupted Mai as she massaged her thighs. "Fat plugs aren''t fat bergs. Basic Sewer Workers, especially noobs such as yourself, don''t get to clear fat plugs normally. Only workers like me, advanced, trusted, handsome," he flashed a grin, "get to work on fat plugs. So it was a task that was outside of your normal work duties. Therefore, when you completed it, you got generic karma." "Great. But what¡¯s the bloody point?¡± "If you ever get out of here, by paying off your debt you¡¯ll hopefully have a higher karma level than when you entered. Which means that you can hopefully avoid being sent to One Mile. Accrue enough karma and you can possibly live a good life.¡± She could tell by his tone that he didn¡¯t think it was a likely prospect. And she fully understood. They could accrue as much karma as they liked, but if they weren¡¯t able to buy themselves out of indenture, it meant nothing. Absolutely nothing. ¡°What''s your SCAVENGER skill at? Rank One, plus five per cent bonus?" She nodded and opened up her skills menu. Clicking on the title, she then selected the Rank sub-menu. "Says I''m one per cent, or level one in SCAVENGER and that I need another sixty experience points to progress to level two, or two per cent base skill," why she''d never even thought of looking into her skills in such a way she didn¡¯t know. It hadn''t ever felt as important to know what skills did and didn''t do, and how to progress in them before now. I didn''t have a sister sitting alone in our apartment because of my poor impulse control before, she thought somewhat ruefully. The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. "Great, only spend the amount you need to, otherwise you''ll lose the rest. Only ever progress in whole increments as you''ll never have one point five per cent in a skill. It''s either one per cent, two per cent, three per cent, or nothing." Mai nodded and selected the small upward pointing double chevron next to her skill, bumping it up to two per cent by spending the fifteen experience points needed for the boost. "What do I do with the spare forty points? Will I lose them?" "No," he patted her thigh as he started to put his backpack on once more, "you never lose experience points. Just keep them until you have enough to progress a skill and spend them then. It''s called banking. Come on, let''s go sell this junk." He stood up and led her through the various tunnels and side passages of what the Sewer Workers jokingly called Excretiaville. Despite the joke, it was indeed a full-sized town. Mai hadn''t even started to scratch the surface of learning about it. As far as she could tell, there were at least five hundred sewer worker companies, and as far as she knew there were many more Excretiavilles, like this one, throughout the city. Gradually the tunnels and side passages started to get narrower, dirtier, less crowded. Those workers that they passed quite often tried to hide their faces as if they didn''t want anyone to know what they were up to. "This Scavenger Queen, she''s above board yeah?" she asked in a low voice as they passed through a small square filled with men and women bunched together in small groups. Four-legged chickogs squawked and barked at each other. "Keep walking, don''t make eye contact, chickog-battles aren''t exactly against the rules, but they''re frowned upon. And a lot of money can change hands," Andries placed a hand in the small of her back and kept her moving. "And don''t even think about placing a bet. You get into debt with these people and you''ll totally regret it." They stepped through into a side street with dirty water cascading down the entrance, Mai shuddering at the touch of the slimy water. "So, this Scavenger Queen, we''re not going to get in trouble selling this stuff to her?" "She''s completely above board. Not sure how she got here, but every man and their dog sells their stuff to her. You can also buy some cool stuff from her if you have the money." "What sort of stuff?" "BIO-MASS BOOST, templates that aren''t covered by the usual things Sewer Workers are offered. Booze, drugs, pretty much anything you want she usually has or can find for you," he stopped by a rust-stained hatchway. A glyph shone faintly, marking it as a General Store. "Remember, knock three times, pause, then knock four," Andries raised a fist. "Seriously?" she asked, heart pounding with excitement. "Lol, no. It''s a fucking shop, noob," Andries roared with laughter as he led her into the shop. "Twat," Mai muttered under her voice as she followed him in. She paused, stunned by what she saw. In direct contrast to the dimly-lit corridors and passageways they''d been walking through, the store was well-lit. Ordered rows of shelves filled the entire store with barely enough room to squeeze between them. At the end of each row was an index sign, immediately allowing her to see what was on offer and where. "Welcome to the store!" an old woman, hunched over so far that she was barely able to look up, came out from behind one of the shelves. "No food or drink allowed in the store and you buy what you break. Other than that, please feel free to browse. " "Thank you," Andries replied, shrugging off his backpack. "But we''re here to sell." "Sell?" her head jutted forward just like a turtle¡¯s. "Lay it out over there." Mai determined this must be the Scavenger Queen herself and not some lackey by her obvious enthusiasm. They walked over to the long counter she indicated. Marble-topped, it was as spotless as the rest of the tables. Opening his pack, Andries started laying out the items they had found. It was utterly random, no rhyme nor reason as to what they found. Crooning, the Scavenger Queen started poring through the items. Hands moving faster and faster, she sifted the items into piles. As they grew, Mai was able to determine the categories they were being sorted into. One was containers, metal. Another was containers, glass. Those were the biggest of the piles. In no time at all, the piles were sorted, and the Scavenger Queen was busy clacking away at an abacus, muttering under her voice and making copious notes. Finally, just as Mai was about to ask her what they could expect to get, she turned around. "One thousand credits. That''s my best offer. Try to haggle and I''ll start charging you for my time," she gave a smile, revealing blackened teeth as she lifted her head as far as she could to look at them. Mai shot a look over at Andries, "Really?" He looked down, scuffing his feet, face colouring. "Perhaps, ahem," he cleared his throat. "Perhaps we should renegotiate the terms of our deal." "You fucking think?" she hissed at him. "Seventy, thirty. And you''re the bloody thirty!" she jammed a finger hard into his chest. Mai was absolutely shocked with herself after the last time she did something like this to Andries, yet...no fine came up. She counted herself lucky. Then again, it wasn¡¯t as if prodding someone sharply was going to hurt them. Not like punching them, or ramming a heavy block of explosive into their chest. "Seems fair," he muttered, rubbing at his chest. "Sorry, didn''t hear that," she jabbed him again, knowing she may very well be pushing her luck, but not caring at this point. "Do you, in front of our fabulous vendor, agree that I should get seventy per cent of what she''s offering?" "I do! Stop bloody jabbing me!" he batted at her hand, too slow to stop her getting a final poke to his chest in. "Lovely," Mai turned to face the Scavenger Queen. "We''ll take your gracious offer." SALE COMPLETE! +700UC DO YOU WISH TO PUT THIS TOWARDS YOUR DEBT? YES/NO? "Oh hells no," she blink-clicked the NO, smiling as she saw the money enter her virtual bank. In the bank it would earn interest, allowing her to accrue even more credit for when she did finally use it to pay her debt. Damned system isn¡¯t going to trick me into impulse-based decisions, she thought, wondering how many other workers just clicked yes without a second thought. Book 1 - Lone Wolf - Chapter 9 Mai looked up as Andries walked into the company canteen, pausing to look around before spotting her and making his way over to where she was busily slurping away at noodles. ¡°Morning Mai, I¡¯ve got a special task for you today,¡± he plonked himself opposite her and took a couple of prawn crackers from her bowl. ¡°A good bit of training for you.¡± ¡°That costs me money you know,¡± she growled, not impressed with his cavalier attitude. She¡¯d had a bad night¡¯s sleep, plagued with dreams that knew hadn¡¯t made sense at the time, but which she couldn¡¯t clearly remember. As a result she was feeling more tired than when she actually went to bed. ¡°It does,¡± he crunched down hard on a cracker, ¡°and I do. But this job will be worth it. We¡¯ve had reports that Sewer Company Twenty-Five, the Decemberists, have been losing workers out in a junction tunnel. I was impressed by the way you handled yourself with the fat berg, and thought you¡¯d be up for helping me out.¡± Despite her tiredness, she was interested. Slicing up fatbergs was a never-ending task. Even with the hope that she might find something worth selling, it still slipped into mindless tedium. She slapped his hand away as he reached for another cracker. ¡°So we¡¯re just going to do a patrol?¡± she asked before cramming every remaining cracker into her mouth as she stared unblinking into his eyes. ¡°Yeah. Might have to kill some things. Or find that the workers have run away, gone rogue. Or just got lost.¡± ¡°Run away? How the Hells do they get lost?¡± ¡°Yeah. Doesn¡¯t happen much, but people crack and try to make life away from here. It¡¯s not a great life and they have to live in constant fear of being tracked down by Urbexers and bounty hunters, but they claim at least they¡¯re living free.¡± He rolled his eyes, clearly not thinking much of free life in a sewer. ¡°And as for getting lost, the Celestial Court sometimes closes off sewers to change the flow, opens up new ones. You¡¯d know that if you actually read the Sewer Worker¡¯s Primer beyond chapter five. Complete it, and you get a new skill.¡± He stared morosely at the empty cracker bowl. Mai waited for him to continue. He merely continued to stare. A quick toe punt to the shin brought him back to his senses with a yelp. HIT! 0.5% DAMAGE FINE ¨C ASSAULT OF A CITIZEN 10UC Gritting her teeth at his knowing smirk, she raised a questioning eyebrow. ¡°Fine! You get a cartographer level one skill. The primer gives you all the basic information you need to know about the sewers and those that complete it are rewarded. It means that you¡¯re able to wander the sewers and build up a map of where you¡¯ve been in greater detail than most people can, and you can then sell any new maps you make.¡± ¡°Sell new maps? Why the Hells didn¡¯t I know about this?¡± Mai leaned forward, all tiredness banished at the idea of being able to map sewers new and old alike and sell the maps. Having been practically led by the nose by other members of her work party since she''d arrived, she hadn¡¯t really paid much attention to her minimap. Back home she had never needed one either as everywhere was so well signposted and within easy walking distance. Opening up her minimap she blink-clicked on the app summary, reading that it was only filled in when she actually walked through an area or had a clear line of sight. Well-lit corridors and rooms would automatically populate, but parks or larger areas, as well as those with poor lighting would still remain unmapped. It would mark her direct position as well as a ten-pace diameter. Zooming in she saw that she¡¯d passed a set of rooms three corridors back. For areas further out, the map would be fogged until she closed the distance. Flipping the map, she saw that it mapped upward and downward as well as outward. ¡°Probably because you didn¡¯t get to chapter two. Ready?¡± FIND OUT THE CAUSE OF THE MISSING SEWER WORKERS DO YOU ACCEPT? YES/NO ¡°Give me a couple of secs,¡± she raised the bowl to her mouth and sucked the noodles in as quickly as possible, ignoring the soup running down her chin. Chewing furiously she looked over and saw disgust written all over his face. ¡°Wha? Payforitgonnaeait,¡± she said, scooping a couple of noodles up as they fell from her mouth. *** ¡°Okay, we¡¯re nearing where the group was sent to work,¡± Andries whispered. ¡°Be ready to activate your combat skills, while using anything you have that¡¯s passive. No need to worry though, walk in the park!¡± he flashed her a toothy grin and then his sewer worker clothing suddenly sprouted armoured plates and linked metal rings. ¡°Hey! How do I get that?¡± ¡°You can¡¯t just yet, you have to hit level X in SEWER WORKER and also be involved in at least ten fights. This is called DELVER¡¯S SHIELD. Just take a look on your menu, it¡¯ll be greyed out.¡± He waited as she used the search option to take her to the item. It was truly impressive. Less impressive was what she needed to do in order to get it. Not only did she have to level up to X, she also had to be involved in ten battles against creatures at least two levels above her, defeat those creatures in less than three minutes from the start of the battle and do so using a SPECIALISED weapon. A quick search told her that a SPECIALISED weapon gave her a ten per cent bonus in all skills related to that specific weapon, but a minus five per cent debuff in other weapons, as well as a minus one per cent in experience gained with those weapons. Still, she decided that it was worth it. The suit would give her plus fifteen per cent protection against all BLUNT, CRUSH and BITE attacks, plus five per cent against HAZARDS such as gas, acid, acid gas and all the other nasty surprises that the sewers presented them with and had a SOAK of two hundred points. Achieving it was a passive mission. All she had to do was hit the criteria, and it would be automatically awarded. ¡®All¡¯. It gave her something to aim for, however. If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. ¡°Are you ready? No wonder you¡¯ve not finished the Primer, you read slower than a blind man with no fingers!¡± Chuckling at his own joke, Andries set off down the sewer, clearly frustrated with her. Grumbling, she closed the menu and followed in his footsteps. The flow of waste wasn¡¯t too deep here, but she had learned by keeping close to him, she could cut down on the effort needed to push through the liquid. Using her LARCENY, and SPOT HIDDEN skills she tried to look around the sewer to see if there was anything different. Nope, still the usual shit-filled tunnel with crappy lighting and strange splashing sounds. ¡°Do you hear strange splashes?¡± Andries asked, as if he¡¯d just read her mind. ¡°Yeah. Splash, then a pause, then another splash. Are they getting closer?¡± Mai tilted her head, trying to work out whether the splashes were moving towards or away from them. ¡°Away I think?¡± she didn¡¯t know if that was an answer or a question. The acoustics in here made it impossible to tell, but her gut told her it was moving away. She took a little longer then gave a firm nod. ¡°Away.¡± ¡°Huh, yeah,¡± Andries moved off, slower this time. ¡°It¡¯s really regular. What the Hells would make such a noise?¡± Not sure I really want to know, Mai thought, but didn¡¯t say as she wasn¡¯t going to give Andries an excuse to rib her. Every splash was interspersed with a regular pause. Without meaning too, Mai counted the pause between each splash to be roughly two seconds. Rather like someone hopping instead of walking normally. As they proceeded, the splashing got louder and closer. ¡°We¡¯re catching up to it,¡± whispered Mai, wincing at the sound of her own voice as it echoed slightly. The splashing stopped. ¡°Do you want a drum and cymbals as well? Maybe shout it loud enough for the Celestial Court to hear?¡± hissed Andries. She didn¡¯t say anything, straining her ears to listen. Had the thing making the noise heard them? *splash*, *splash*, it was coming towards them. ¡°Stay behind me,¡± whispered Andries, twirling his staff as it grew a blade from each end. ¡°Cool eh?¡± he said as he looked over his shoulder and winked. He¡¯s enjoying this far too much, but Mai couldn¡¯t help smiling back. Adrenalin started to course through her body as the splashing continued to get louder and closer. ¡°Still can¡¯t see anything, going to throw a flare,¡± Andries said, crafting the flare and throwing it as far as he could. ¡°Clem fucking Fandango!¡± he swore as the flickering light of the flare revealed the creature before them. Dressed in tattered sewer worker¡¯s clothing, one eye dangling down its cheek, mouth open in a perpetual scream, mould rippling over its face, it hopped towards them, arms stretched out. ¡°What the fuck is that!¡± shrieked Mai, ice running through her veins as it took another hop towards them. Hope *splash*, each hop easily covering two paces at a time. ¡°Jiangshi! It¡¯s a Qi vampire!¡± Andries twirled his blades before settling into a fighting stance. ¡°Get your skills up!¡± Mai cursed, she¡¯d allowed her fear to freeze her. Activating SEWER COMBAT she added a blade to her own staff, pushing away the nanite pain. Now it was closer, Mai could see a glyph over the Jiangshi, it was three levels higher than her, at least ten lower than Andries. It¡¯ll be a challenge for me, but not if he tanks, she thought as she tried to push down the fear that constantly tried to keep her frozen. ¡°It¡¯s got an AURA OF FEAR, fight it or you¡¯ll be PANICKED!¡± warned Andries. Mai tried to answer but her tongue was stuck to the top of her mouth. She could only watch as Andries leapt into action, thrusting a blade straight into the jiangshi¡¯s chest before pulling it free and spinning into a rearward thrust that went straight into the first hole. Shrieking, it leapt through the air towards her ignoring Andries for the moment. Mai felt the very breath in her lungs being sucked out, the shriek being an attack. Feebly she thrust her staff at it, missing by a country mile as the creature bent backward at ninety degrees to avoid the blade. ¡°Help!¡± she managed to gasp as the creature came straight back at her, pistoning its rigid hands towards her, nails as long as her thumb darting at her heart. Staggering back, she was able to avoid the attack more through luck than anything else. A blade appeared from the side, scything the creature¡¯s leg off at the knee. With a shriek it fell into the foul morass swirling around their feet. Another flashy twirl and the creature was pinned to the ground. ¡°Finish it, I don¡¯t get enough experience to need it,¡± Andries said, kicking sewage into the creature¡¯s mouth, cutting the shriek off. Now that it was down, and no longer shrieking, the feeling returned to her limbs and she found herself able to move and think easily. ¡°That thing is horrible! Thank the Five Gods of the Third Heaven you were here,¡± she moved closer to it, hefting her weapon, unsure where to strike. ¡°How do I kill it?¡± ¡°Place your blade on the middle of its forehead, thrust down, then cut through the nose straight down through its lip. Only way to kill them. Since I have it pinned you should be able to easily kill it.¡± Licking her lips, mouth still dry, Mai did as she was told, blade shaking as the adrenalin from the encounter continued to flow through her. ¡°Take a deep breath, push the fear away, and kill the bastard.¡± Mai drove her blade through the creature¡¯s forehead with a loud crunch before pulling the blade down towards its mouth, a sickly green mould pouring out of the wound. As soon as she cut through the top lip, its skull popped open and a pale vapour drifted away. INSTAKILL! VAMPIRE KILLER! VAMPIRE SLAYER 5% +50 UC! Mai¡¯s heart leapt as she saw that notification. 50UC for a kill meant she only had to defeat ¡­ two hundred more. Two hundred! Her initial jubilation quickly soured. ¡°Careful, don¡¯t let any of that mould get onto you, it¡¯ll turn you into an egui, a creature with never-ending hunger.¡± She flicked her blade, then drove it into the sewage to get the remaining residue off. ¡°How many more have we got?¡± Andries had the grace to look embarrassed. ¡°Apparently twelve. And the one that created them, the Progenitor. I really thought this was just meant to be a bug hunt. Didn¡¯t expect this at all,¡± he waved a hand at the corpse. ¡°No guarantee that they were all turned though. They could just be normal dead.¡± She wasn¡¯t convinced by his tone and could tell that he wasn¡¯t convinced of his own argument either. Besides, how does he even have a count on how many we may face? she thought to herself. ¡°Don¡¯t you think we should go and get help? That¡¯s a lot to kill.¡± ¡°No, this is a good opportunity to get you even more skilled up. We¡¯ll hunt them one-by-one, I¡¯ll tank, you¡¯ll then finish them off when I give you the nod. Craft a helmet, make it with sound-cancelling earplugs.¡± Adding a blade to her staff had only cost one per cent BIO-MASS, so she was happy with the thought of spending a couple more on the helmet, especially if it meant she had a little bit more armour on her head. Don¡¯t fancy those damned fingernails puncturing my face. She found a nice helmet which would only cost five per cent BIO-MASS, it offered her fifty SOAK points, active noise cancelling, and also resembled a helmet from ancient history, a time lost in myth. Besides, it had a special visor which acted as both protection and respirator. This visor was carved to resemble a Temple Lion so that when it was opened it looked as though the helmet was snarling and when closed it was staring at you menacingly. The carving of the fur and ears was intricate, making the helmet look almost as if the creature were actually alive. This was seriously cool. And, at only five per cent BIO-MASS, she couldn¡¯t refuse. Active noise cancelling was perfect. It meant that she¡¯d be able to hear normally, but that if there was a sudden sound-based attack such as the jiangshi shrieks, her helmet would kick in and protect her from the effects. How well it would protect her waited to be seen. ¡°Suits you,¡± he said as she formed it. ¡°Now, let¡¯s go level you up.¡± Book 1 - Lone Wolf - Chapter 10 Mai moved slowly behind Andries, her legs fighting every step. Still shaking from the previous encounter, she wasn¡¯t keen on meeting another one of the creatures. But pride, something she hadn¡¯t realised she had much of, kept her going. Not a chance I¡¯m going to let Andries know I¡¯m not up for this, she thought as she pushed on. Aside from the usual drips, burps, farts, and gurgles caused by the gas rising from the river in the sewer, it was silent. She purposefully kept her skills deactivated, as there was no point in risking them deactivating the moment she actually needed them most. They came to a junction in the sewer. Left, right, straight ahead, it¡¯s all the same, Mai thought as she cast her eyes about, trying to work out the best way to go. ¡°Straight on?¡± Andries pointed with his staff. ¡°If we go straight on, then anyone coming out of left and right would be able to follow and the same if we took either of the other tunnels. Damned if we do, damned if we don¡¯t,¡± Mai groaned, not happy with the possibility of two tunnel¡¯s worth of jiangshi being able to follow them. Not that she was happy with a single tunnel¡¯s worth of jiangshi. ¡°I guess let¡¯s just keep going forward. Is there anything you can do to stop them following us?¡± Andries nodded, the movement slight in his helmet. ¡°I can craft a couple of things, nothing special. They don¡¯t like us setting traps as they could be lost, or the location forgotten, and other workers would trip them.¡± He paused for a while, obviously going through various menus before crafting a series of wires and stakes. ¡°What are those?¡± ¡°Hunting traps. We sometimes use them in older sewers to keep them free of rats, and spiderwasps. Things like that.¡± Mai shuddered, she didn¡¯t know what a spiderwasp was, and didn¡¯t want to know. Probably something else in the damned Primer. She decided there and then that she¡¯d read the book next time she had a break. If I live. ¡°Okay, let¡¯s continue in this tunnel. If they come from behind we¡¯ll know because they¡¯ll trigger the traps. They won¡¯t kill them, but I¡¯ll get the damage notifications.¡± ¡°Makes sense,¡± Mai shrugged, half in agreement, half because she still thought it was a hare-brained adventure. *** ¡°We¡¯ve been at this for hours and haven¡¯t seen hide nor hair of another jiangshi, can we just go home?¡± moaned Mai as she tried to work some feeling other than pain into her legs. Walking through a sometimes near-solid morass of shit was one of the worst workouts she¡¯d ever had the displeasure of experiencing. Besides, she didn¡¯t even want to think of what this may have cost her in regards to her ¡®daily quota¡¯ she was missing out on. Stupid special assignment of his! ¡°Well if you¡¯ve got a notification that the mission is over and haven¡¯t told me, I¡¯m going to be damned pissed off,¡± snapped Andries. ¡°But since you probably haven¡¯t, the mission is still on.¡± ¡°But we don¡¯t even have a counter as to how many of these ¡­ these ¡­ things there still are dammit!¡± ¡°So it¡¯s still on!¡± Andries yelled, arms out wide, voice echoing along the dark tunnel. The lighting had completely failed, leaving them only with the light cast by their lamps. Even though the light was comforting, it also made Mai distinctly uncomfortable as to how visible it made them to any enemies. A shriek sounded, then another, building on each other, the sound turning Mai¡¯s blood into ice water, but at least her helmet was providing protection against the shriek''s possible attack function. Then a pregnant silence which was only broken by the sound of rhythmic splashing drawing closer and closer. ¡°Shouldn¡¯t have shouted so loud,¡± Mai said as they stared at each other in horror. ¡°Some mentor you are.¡± ¡°Like you¡¯re perfect. Knee deep in shit and debt,¡± he glowered for a moment, then laughed and shook his head. ¡°Sorry, I¡¯m just as tired and stressed as you. I shouldn¡¯t have taken it out on you.¡± You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version. Mai stared for a second before giving a smile. ¡°It¡¯s fine, I was being a whiny little cow.¡± Another splash, closer this time. Closely followed by a second. ¡°Definitely two coming, have your skills reset?¡± Andries took up a fighting stance. ¡°Activate them if they have. Get ready with your staff. I¡¯ll tank like before, but there¡¯s a chance that one will get past me. If that happens you¡¯ll have to fight it until I can help.¡± ¡°Fine,¡± adrenalin was surging through her system, reducing her to monosyllabic responses. She licked her lips, mouth dry. Knowing what they faced was actually making things harder than easier. She was also glad that she had avoided keeping her skills active while they had been searching. Now her skills would be at their fullest for time. The splashing was definitely getting closer, Mai was surprised that she couldn¡¯t see their enemy. From the sound, they should have been in the light cast by their lamps. ¡°Where the hells are they?¡± Andries whispered, crouching low. ¡°I ¡­¡± A shriek blasted into the tunnel as a jiangshi appeared from a side tunnel, the weak lamplight failing to pick it out from the shadows, and the tunnel¡¯s acoustics having made it sound as though the jiangshi were to their front and not to their flank. Mai shrieked in response, lashing out instinctively with her staff. HIT! 10% DAMAGE Health bar suddenly blocking with black, the Jiangshi¡¯s momentum carried it through the strike, its claws striking her hard, driving her backward. SOAK! 5% DAMAGE! 1% HEALTH 99% Even through her protective gear the strike still hurt. It was all very well wearing armour, but unless it was a mecha, she was going to feel hits. Even a strike against hardened armour was going to hurt. SOAK! 5% DAMAGE! 1% HEALTH 98% Her ribs groaned as the jiangshi struck her again. Activating her SEWER COMBAT, she tried to parry the next attack, only partially succeeding. Whilst it did no damage this time, it still knocked her backward. Where¡¯s Andries? She couldn¡¯t take her eyes off the jiangshi before her. This one was more hideous than the last. Both eyes were completely gone, as was the whole of its left cheek. Rotting flesh hung in tatters from its forehead, and yellowed teeth clacked, the creature¡¯s overly long tongue falling out where its cheek used to be. ¡°Hold on Mai! Nearly done!¡± Andries shouted as Mai¡¯s back slammed into the wall of the tunnel. With nowhere to retreat to, she positioned her staff for a thrust. The end of the staff jammed into the wall behind her, very nearly jarring it loose from her grip. The jiangshi pressed home again. INSTAKILL! VAMPIRE SLAYER 10% +50 UC! Mai stared in confusion at the impaled jiangshi, its health bar completely drained.The tip of her spear blade jutted out of the top of its skull, skin, hair, and rotten brains dulling its blade. ¡°Headshot!!¡± yelled Andries somewhere to the right of her, and a jiangshi head sailed through the air past her to land with a dull splat in the morass off to her side. ¡°That¡¯s three, including the one we killed earlier. How many workers were in the group? Didn¡¯t you say twelve?¡± Mai said, turning her lamp onto Andries, whose visor immediately darkened so that he wasn¡¯t blinded. Despite that, he still managed to look embarrassed as he gave a slight shrug. ¡°Twelve¡±, his helmeted head bobbed. ¡°Must say that I didn¡¯t think things would be this hard. I was expecting nothing special. Should have been a simple training mission. Still, you must be levelling up in SEWER COMBAT quite quickly!¡± he gave a double thumbs up. She responded with a double-vee. Still, he has a point she thought, opening up her SASS. Smiling, she saw she had indeed leveled up in SEWER COMBAT, with side experience gained in SEWER WORKER as well. Mai pointed that out to Andries. She also looked for anything related to luck, as she seemed to be having a whole lot of that lately too. ¡°That¡¯s because you¡¯re working in the sewer. Just because you¡¯re not slicing up a fat berg doesn¡¯t mean you¡¯re not putting in the hours as a Sewer Worker. We¡¯ve been at this for ¡­ wow. Eight hours. A minute more and we¡¯re into overtime. Therefore any experience gained doing something as a Sewer Worker also goes towards skills that help you improve your ability to work as a sewer worker.¡± ¡°Do we get paid more for overtime?¡± She held her breath as this might be the answer to her earlier fear of having missed out on her quota for the day following this ¡®training¡¯ opportunity. ¡°Seriously, Chapter Three! Yes. We get paid more. Time and a half. And that applies for everything. Jiangshi now count as 75UC.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll be home to Li in no time!¡± crowed Mai, rubbing her hands at the thought of so much money. ¡°Let¡¯s not get too carried away. We¡¯ve still got to find the rest of them. And live.¡± ¡°Hang on, I thought you said we don¡¯t need any help after we killed the first one? The way you¡¯re talking, we might not get out of this alive.¡± Book 1 - Lone Wolf - Chapter 11 Andries hadn''t said anything in reply to her more than obvious statement. Instead he''d just cleaned his staff off and started walking into the sewers once more. Unwilling to stay there on her own with gods knows what coming for her, she''d had no choice but to follow him. Cursing, she''d pressed on, wading as quickly through the muck as she could. "Glad you could join me," he chuckled. ¡°Seriously, piss off¡±, she snapped, not willing to let him get away with any attempt at humour. Like with the fat plug, he''d made a serious misjudgement in a mission he thought she was capable of, and now she was paying the price for that mistake. Unlike the last time where she''d vomited and nearly drowned in it, this time it looked like she was going to be torn limb-from-limb and the marrow sucked from her bones by whatever creatures the Emperor had seen fit to place upon this earth. Why does the Celestial Court even let these damned creatures exist? Why haven''t they purged the sewers? It wasn''t as if they didn''t have the resources to do it. An army of trillions, weapons capable of erasing life utterly from existence in the blink of an eye so thoroughly it would be as if they never existed. "I can hear something," Andries crouched down, cocking his head as if he''d be able to hear better if he did. "Like what?" she asked after a few seconds of listening herself. She hadn''t been able to hear a thing, bar the usual noises of a working sewer. She''d never thought that she would have got used to hearing such sounds and then considered them to be normal. It was surprising as to how loud the sewers were. Gurgling, echoes, the squeak of rats, popping of bubbles. There was never anything that someone would really call ''silence''. "Sub-sonic almost," he whispered. "I don''t know what it is, but I can almost feel the damn thing. It''s making my bowels vibrate. You seriously can''t feel that?" She tried to feel what he was describing. There was no vibration, but now she was actually trying to feel what he was talking about, she could feel her guts unsettled. She''d put that down to nerves. But if he was feeling the same thing, and didn''t think it was his own nerves, then she was willing to bow to his superior experience. "Where''s it coming from?" she whispered. All she could feel was butterflies in her stomach. And butterflies didn''t have a particular source. "Can''t tell," he laid a hand onto the surface of the river of effluent. "That way." "How the hells did you work out what direction that was coming from?" "Put your hand on the river, you''ll feel it vibrating, and for some reason it feels as though it''s coming from that direction," he slowly raised up from his knees, staff before him now, ready to strike at any moment. "Best we find whatever it is before whatever it is finds us." She couldn''t argue with that logic. She didn''t like feeling as though she was prey and turning the tables on whatever the damned creature was could only be a good idea. Right? "Let''s do this, all I want to do is finish this damned mission and get back to the barracks. I''m fucking knackered, and this is looking like the fat plug mission all over again. And we haven''t even agreed a split on the profits. If there are any profits to be made," she said pointedly. "I''m sure there will be something that you''ll be happy with," he snapped back, clearly getting tired of her constant griping. "These things usually drop at least something of value. And yes, we''ll split it, fifty-fifty this time. The Scavenger Queen will be happy to see you again, she hasn''t stopped talking about you. Was rather taken with the way you renegotiated our deal." "How often do you go and see her?" she asked, both surprised and pleased to hear that the Queen had approved of her. She''d liked the bowed old woman. "About once a week. My SCAVENGER skill is up to ninety-five per cent. That''s the highest skill level you can get to in any skill. There''s always got to be a factor for failure after all. I manage to find something every time I go out and hunt. That, and she''s my mother." That stopped her in her tracks. Whilst she knew intellectually that Andries must have had a mother, after all no-one sprang into existence unless by miracle. But she had never considered the fact that his mother would be down here with him. "Mother?" "Well, adopted mother to be honest," he said. "I came down here when I was quite young. She took me under my wing. Must have been my winning smile. Taught me everything I knew before I got transferred to the Sewer Company when I hit sixteen." The way he spoke surprised her. There was no bitterness, no sadness, just an acceptance of the circumstances and a willingness to do as well as he could given those circumstances. It was at that moment that she realised just how much she respected him. Okay, so he could be annoying, and constantly seemed to put her in danger without giving it a second thought, but he had an approach to life she couldn''t help but admire. "Same as before, I''ll tank, fight, you work around and see if you can get them from the flank or rear," he ordered. "Makes sense, want to craft some explosives?" she asked hopefully, knowing in her heart that if it had been a good idea he''d already have done so. "I''d bloody love to, but not here. These sewers haven''t been explored for a long time, which means that the air won''t have been flushed for just as long. Set off an explosion here and we could bring this whole sector down upon our crisped heads from accumulated gasses." "Well, okay. That''s reasonable. Would have been nice to have a little bit of boom," she sighed, gripping her staff tightly. Her stomach felt as though it was made of jelly, the vibrations getting stronger with each step. "You got nothing in your primer, or past experience to let you know what''s making this noise?" "Nope, not a clue. I mostly kill mogwai, and the occasional jiangshi ," she turned to see that he was gripping his own weapon just as tightly. "If I had to make a guess, I''d say it was a ghoul, since we''re hunting jiangshi and ghouls hang around with them. Or so I¡¯ve been told." "Ghoul, you keep saying that, anything about them in the primer?" she made to open it, placing her hands together as if she was praying before hinging them at the blade as if opening a book from legend. "Well, it''s not really a good idea to start reading it now. Just make sure you do some reading when we get back, okay?" The author''s narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. The vibrating was stronger, it felt as though her eyes were dancing in her skull, a visual migraine. She stumbled, her balance off. What the fuck''s happening? "It''s coming!" That was all the warning she had before a maggot-white creature, tooth-filled maw open so wide it looked like even Andries¡¯ head would fit in, barrelled towards them out of the darkness. Arms outstretched it reached for Andries, fingers as long as her arm tipped with nails longer than her hand hooked into claws as it charged. "Ghoul! Definitely a ghoul!" She could feel the anxiety in his voice as his earlier conjecture proved correct. The vibrating was stronger, and she realised that it was some sort of sonic attack. Her balance was off, and she saw Andries stagger, shaking his head as he did so. Not wanting to leave Andries vulnerable she counter-charged, meeting it just as it was about to strike her friend. Up close it was even more disgusting. Milk-white, with cream-coloured pustules covering its body, its limbs were all out of proportion. Arms longer than its legs, spine jutting from its tightly-pulled skin. Just as visible were its ribs, if she had the time she would have been able to count each and every one. It looked as though it was starving. All this took a split-second to register. Staff jabbing forward she blocked first one, then another claw, batting them away but doing no damage to the creature itself. It spun, faster than her eyes could register, almost as if it reversed itself through its own body. Stunned, she barely blocked its follow up attack. This opening allowed Andries to leap into the fray, slashing his blade across its back, sending milk-white ichor spraying through the air. It reversed again, the cut on its back now facing her. This is worse than the damned jiangshi! Still, she wasn''t about to look a gift horse in the mouth. activating SEWER COMBAT, she thrust at the nearest target box. HIT!10% DAMAGE BACKSTAB! DOUBLE DAMAGE! She''d managed to not only max out the damage of her staff, but the fact that she was attacking its back meant that she''d doubled it. It screeched, its health bar dropping much further than it had when Andries had attacked it. The vibrating stopped, as if it couldn''t use its mouth for more than two things at the same time. I''ll count that as a small blessing, she thought just as a claw slashed across her visor, nails shrieking as they carved deep into the visor, crazing her vision. Although her face wasn''t cut, the blow rang her head. DAMAGE! 5% SOAK 10% STUNNED! KNOCKED BACK! HEALTH 95% She didn''t need the notification to tell her that. Could have done without it to if she was honest. Pressing home its attack, the ghoul thrust both hands out at the same time, aiming for her midsection. Blocking one, she shrieked as the iron-hard claws of the other punched into her midsection. DAMAGE! 20% SOAK 20% BLEEDING @15% PER SECOND HEALTH 75% Her suit had now taken thirty per cent of the damage she would have if she hadn''t been wearing it and was down to seventy per cent integrity. And the more it was worn down, the more damage she''d receive. Clutching at her guts, she dropped to her knees, unable to focus beyond the pain. "Mai! Keep fighting!" Andries'' voice seemed to come from the end of a tunnel. Bile rose into her mouth as her probing fingers reached into the gaping wound in her stomach. Whilst it hadn''t done as much damage as she¡¯d thought due to the pain she was experiencing, it had still well and truly opened her up. The effluent splashed as the creature spun to fight Andries, covering Mai in a shower of unmentionables. At least if I die from being eaten, I won''t die from sepsis and whatever nasty diseases are floating around in this fucking sewer. The urge to lie down as shock started to set in was nearly overwhelming. She just felt so tired. Pain pulsed up and down her body. Her thoughts were scattered. "Treat your fucking wounds!" It was as if Andries was shouting into her ear his voice was so loud. Without thought she triggered the skill, gasping in relief as the searing agony was stopped in one blessed moment. Finally able to focus on something other than her own misery, she pushed herself to her feet, snatched up her staff and leaped back into the fight. With her SEWER COMBAT skill still running, she targeted the box offering the best chance at both success, and a critical strike. Noting with satisfaction that Andries had reduced its health bar to less than fifty per cent, she rammed her staff forward. It hit dead centre. CRITICAL HIT! 30% DAMAGE BACKSTAB! FLAWLESS STRIKE! +10% DAMAGE! The change in its health bar was drastic, dropping a full third of the way down. Wailing, the ghoul clutched at where her staff had struck. Hitting with such precision had shattered its ribs with a horrendous crunch. Such was the power of her thrust that the ghoul was forced forward, stumbling, and wailing, clearing space for both Andries and Mai to attack simultaneously. KILL! GHOUL HUNTER 5% "Fuck me!" Mai dropped to her knees, utterly exhausted. Sweat dripped from her forehead onto her visor, the helmet''s internal fans doing little to dry the moisture. "They''re harder than the damned vamps! We can''t keep doing this. We need a party." She panted out the words, drawing a breath nearly every other one, limbs shaking, chest heaving. Barely able to raise her head, she looked over at Andries. He too was slumped over, his hazmat suit looking as if it needed to be scrapped. The red SOAK bar showed his suit was down to only ten per cent SOAK. Another couple of hits and it would have been useless against the ghoul. "And to get a bloody title, I have to kill twenty of those! How many have you killed?" she gasped before sucking on her suit''s internal water bladder. It was warm and slightly salty, but at the moment it was the best thing she''d ever tasted. "Um, that''s my first. I''ve killed a couple of jiangshi before, but this was my first ghoul. Primer said nothing about them being able to reverse direction through themselves. I mean, that''s utterly fucked up!" He leant on his staff, looking down at the corpse of the ghoul. "Still, I hear their teeth are worth a good few credits. Something about the poison stored in the ..." Mai glowered as he trailed off. "You. Fucking. What," it wasn''t a question. "You knew they had poisonous bites and forgot to tell me?" Groaning, she pushed herself to her feet, raising her staff. "Well, hang on," he held a hand palm out towards her, "I thought that if I mentioned that you might not want to come on the mission." HIT! 5% DAMAGE WINDED! ASSAULTING A CITIZEN ¨C 10 UC FINE Mai looked down snarling in blind fury as Andries gasped for air, both hands clutching his stomach. Best damned 10 UC I ever spent. "We''re going back, and we''re going to get some help. Understand?" As he wheezed and nodded, still unable to speak, she opened up her items menu, scrolled down to TOOLS and selected PLIERS. Accepting the one per BIO-MASS cost, she formed them, knelt down, and proceeded to carefully extract the dead ghoul''s teeth. "These are mine. You don''t get a share in this." She watched as he nodded, clearly knowing he wasn''t going to win that argument. Book 1 - Lone Wolf - Chapter 12 The journey back was far shorter than the journey out. Marking the tunnels they hadn''t been in with warnings, they found themselves at the fringes of Excretiaville in what seemed like the blink of an eye. It was jarring to see people moving about as if nothing happened. Which, for them, nothing had. And Mai still had a feeling in between her shoulder blades that she was being watched. Followed. Entering the airlock to their barracks, they sighed in relief as the dirt of the day was cleaned from their hazmat suits and groaned as they unzipped them and let them fall to the floor. It felt as though she was shedding a rotten skin or pupae, emerging like a slightly wrinkled and incredibly smelly butterfly. "I don''t care what it costs," Mai said as she rolled her shoulders and cracked her neck, "I''m going to the bathhouse and I''m going to pay for a massage. I feel as though I''ve been hit all over by a brick-filled pillow." Andries chuckled for a moment then looked over. "Why did you take so long to heal yourself? You could have died," the seriousness, and worry, in his voice made her look over. His face was lined with worry, and he also seemed to be angry at her. "The pain. I wasn''t used to the pain. I''ve never felt anything like it. I know that HEALING is passive for small things like stubbing a toe, or getting a splinter, but I thought SERIOUS WOUNDS would kick in automatically when I took damage like that as well. It was just so damned painful1." She rubbed at her stomach where the nanites were still doing their work. Her fingers ran over the raised scar tissue beneath her top. If she was to lift it she''d see the ragged red lines running across her skin. It made her shudder. Thinking back to the way the claws felt as they ripped through her flesh. It was something she never wanted to experience again and wished she could scrub the memory of it from her brain. "If you''re going to make it through your indenture alive, or just get through life, you''re going to have to get used to using your skills properly. You can''t die because something hurt so much. Activating a skill is as easy as taking a breath or thinking about the grey sky. Think, as it''s done." "It doesn¡¯t'' make sense though, you''d think something like that would happen straight off. Why doesn''t it?" That feeling of being watched was back again. Andries shrugged theatrically, both hands outstretched. "Who cares? That''s just the way this shitty world works. Get hurt, activate. Okay?" He rubbed at his arms as if suddenly chilly. "You feel that?" "Nope," she replied, carefully turning around to see what on Earth had them both so damned spooked. "But I''ve got a constant itch between my shoulder blades. We''re probably just being paranoid. We were fighting nightmare creatures after all." "True, but still ..." he too took a careful turnabout, casting his eyes all over, hiding it by appearing to stretch, "can''t be too careful." "I forgot, can you assess how much these teeth are worth?" she opened her bag, showing him the teeth she''d yanked from the ghoul''s mouth. Looking into the bag, and gently prodding them with a thin rod he''d crafted, he slowly counted them, lips moving as he did so. "SCAVENGER says you''ll be able to get one hundred credits for them. Five per tooth." "And how much does the Scavenger Queen sell them for?" One hundred credits was ten days¡¯ worth of shifts. And even if she had to spend five on getting a proper massage and bath, she''d still be up. It was looking as though the trial they''d been through might actually have been worth it. "Oh, if they''ve got poison in, each tooth sells for about fifty credits. If they''re mounted on a weapon, like a Ghoul Blade, or Maw Fist, then you''re looking at about five hundred for the whole thing." Jaw dropping, Mai opened up her WEAPONS MENU and did a quick search. The first she found was Maw Fist. Maw Fist 500 UC to purchase if non-template. Ten per cent BIO-MASS if bought. Causes SERIOUS WOUNDS, POISON @1% PER SECOND, PANIC and BLEEDING at a minimum of 5% per second. Utilising teeth taken from a ghoul, the MAW FIST is a truly terrifying weapon. Popular with Pit Gladiators (rather their owners) and Close Combat Specialists, this weapon will reduce even the toughest opponent into bloody chunks. The picture which accompanied it showed a metal gauntlet with the hooked fangs mounted on the tops of the knuckles. It was a raking weapon with zero subtlety. Next up was the Ghoul Blade. "Holy Gods! Who the fuck uses weapons like these?" She''d thought that the Maw Fist was bad enough, but the Ghoul Blade was truly horrendous. Carved from what looked like a ground down human thigh bone, it had ghoul teeth embedded along both sides. It was listed as being a sword, but she''d never seen anything like it before. Ghoul Blade 600 UC if not crafted from a template. Instantly causes SHOCKED. Upon striking it causes SERIOUS WOUNDS, PANIC, POISON @2% PER SECOND and BLEEDING at a minimum of 10% per second. A truly terrible weapon made to not only kill your opponent but make them quake in fear as soon as you face them, the GHOUL BLADE is forged from the thigh bone of a powerful warrior, with GHOUL teeth carefully affixed to the edges. Despite her horror at what the weapons could do, and especially at how the GHOUL BLADE was manufactured, she was just as impressed at the amount of money they could go for. "How do I unlock the ability to make these?" she asked as she scrolled through other weapons, finding at least another ten that used at least one piece of a ghoul. "You don''t!" Andries snapped. "You''re a sewer worker. The skills needed to do that aren''t going to be granted to you. Didn''t you read the part about the human thigh bone? Who you going to go and hunt down to make that? Know any warriors do you?" "No need to take that tone! I just want to be out of here. Six hundred credits is two whole months of not having to worry about hitting target!" Andries rubbed his hand over his face. "Mai, if you haven''t realised already, you always have to hit target. They''ll find a way of screwing with you. Even with my SCAVENGER maxed out I''m still stuck here. Every time I do well, I''m given more tasks, more SKILLS to do those tasks and I''m charged for them. And they get more and more expensive as I progress." His hand dropped to his side, shoulders slumped. "You either live, or you die, Mai. I''ve never known anyone to get out of here that wasn''t dead." She shook her head, trying to deny every word, trying to believe that she''d get out of the sewers and back to her sister. "You might think that, but I''m not going to give up. Never! Now, let''s go sell these fucking teeth." If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. *** The whole of the walk to the Scavenger Queen''s shop Mai could have sworn they were being followed. It was as if she was seeing things from the corner of her eye which disappeared when she tried to look at them properly. Emperor''s balls, I''m jumpy. Bastard ghoul must have hit me so hard not even the nanites can fix me, it was absurd to think that nanites could fix anyone if they had enough BIO-MASS. Even the scars on her stomach had disappeared. It was as if she''d never had to try to push her guts back through the torn flesh. Still, she was more than happy to step through into the store. "Ah, Andries, so good to see you, and Mai, welcome, welcome!" crooned the old crone, as she hobbled over to the counter. "What delights do you have for me today?" "Ghoul''s teeth," Mai tipped the teeth onto the counter with a chorus of clacks. They fell heavily, not bouncing like a normal tooth would, the poison in the roots weighing them down. Leaping forward like a cat pouncing, the Scavenger Queen sorted through the teeth, separating them into two different groups. Muttering to herself, the Queen took a much closer, and careful, look at the larger of the groups. "These have full poison sacs. I''ll give you four cre .." "Six," Mai interrupted. "There''s enough to make a MAW FIST. Like that one over there," she''d spotted the MAW FIST in a locked cabinet labelled ''EXOTICS'' the moment they came in. "And you''ve got that fist listed at seven hundred credits. Six each for the ones I''ve brought you is fair." "Five! Not a credit more, and only because I like you!" glowered the Scavenger Queen, raising her head as far as her bowed back would allow. Mai hid a smile, having pitched higher than offered, she''d got the amount Andries had told her to expect. NEW SKILL! BARTER! Whilst the Scavenger Queen grumbled and paid her the money, Mai accessed the SKILLS MENU. Barter An important skill to learn if you want to get the best deals. Those with SMART MOUTH receive a PASSIVE 0.5% bonus per level of that skill. She paused at that, never having had to barter for anything in her life before, she hadn''t realised that her SMART MOUTH could have helped in such a way. She continued reading. When active, SMART MOUTH confers +5% to all item values. Dammit, wish I''d known that before I started bartering. It didn''t matter though, she''d got the price she wanted, and from the look of it, the Queen was also somewhat pleased. "I want five for the rest. They''re nearly all full," she said as the Queen reached for the slightly larger pile. As she spoke, she activated STREET SMARTS. "You can still get at least five hundred for them in a MAW FIST. Don''t pretend you can''t. And five credits to someone such as yourself is nothing, that''s half a day of back breaking work for me if I hit target." "They''re not worth that much!" "No," Mai replied flatly, "they''re worth many times more than that. Take the deal or I''ll just keep them myself." Andries stepped forward as if to intervene but stopped as both women turned their gaze upon him. "Stay out of this young man, the adults are talking," the Queen cackled at the crestfallen look on Andries'' face as he stepped away, hands held out as if to protect himself. "Fine, five credits for all of the teeth. I''ll even chuck in a five per cent bonus. How''s that?" "Deal," Mai held out her hand and they shook. "Pleasure doing business with you." "Piss off," the Queen scooped the rest of the teeth into a silk bag and tightly knotted it. *** "Did you hear?" one of Mai''s company slid onto the bench next to her, placing down a steaming bowl of lichen noodles and protein cubes. "A worker in company ninety-three was found dead this morning." "You don''t say?" Mai replied around a mouthful of noodles. The previous day''s mission still had her utterly ravenous despite having eaten, what she thought was a lot, after they had returned to the company. Thankfully, it was a rest day, and she was planning on spending it getting a proper bath and even a massage at one of the Tea Houses later that day. Yes, she knew it was an expense that could go to paying her debt to ensure she got back to her sister sooner, but damn she felt she needed this. That was too close of a brush with death. "Yeah, drained of blood. Looked like some creature had torn their throat out. Both eyes missing as well I hear!" The worker didn''t let those gruesome facts rob him of his appetite, using chopsticks to aid him in slurping one of the biggest mouthfuls she''d ever seen crammed into a mouth. It wasn''t as if he even had a large mouth, just that his cheeks bulged out far more than she thought was naturally possible. "I heard that too," said a woman sitting opposite her. On her work uniform was the Number 15, indicating that she was from Work Company 15. Some of the workers had been sent to join Mai''s company due to a larger than normal number of fat bergs in their assigned sewers. "People keep saying that they feel like they¡¯re being watched as well." Mai''s chopsticks paused in front of her open mouth. "Say that again." "People are saying they feel as though they¡¯re being watched. Kinda funny in a spooky way. Then again, these tunnels get to people. Otherwise, why would they go missing?" Mai dropped her chopsticks, slopping soup over the table as she stood up. "Where was the body found?" "Over in Tunnel Two-Five-Niner-Alpha. Worker was doing some sly overtime." It was a common thing to happen. Workers, desperate to earn a few more credits would often sneak out later after their shift was done to either try and earn more credits or find something they could sell. It sounded as though this worker had found a lot more than they bargained for. Shit, shit, shit, Mai thought as she left the table without a backward glance. I''ve got to find Andries. Palming the canteen door open, she was just about to exit when her mentor slammed into her, driving the breath from her lungs, and sending her careering across the canteen to jeers and laughter. "Shit! Sorry, Mai, I came to find you, we need to ..." "Talk about the spooky happenings?" Mai gasped, grabbing Andries by the arm and leading him back out of the canteen. "You heard about the dead worker?" she said in a much lower tone as they entered the street. "Yes, drained of blood. Forget the rest of the details, they don''t matter. The eyes were probably taken by critters, nice and easy to eat you see." "And people are complaining that they¡¯re being watched all the time," Mai added. "You don''t think that the jiangshi and ghouls followed us back here do you?" Andries glanced furtively around, leading her down a small dead-end side alley. "I don''t know what to think," he whispered, still glancing about. "But I think we have to consider the possibility that yes, the bastards followed us." "Does this sort of thing happen all the time?" Mai whispered back, as she too started to glance all around. His paranoia, as well as the thought that there might be a small chance that the vampires had followed her was getting her well and truly on edge. "I''ve never heard of it. Well, there were rumours, but you know what people are like. They get bored and they make shit up. Post it onto a forum and all of a sudden there are pink elephants and they have wings." Mai brushed away the questions that this imagery brought. The first being, what was an elephant. Probably some other thing he''d made up. "So, you have actually heard of this happening?" "Well, yes, but no. There were just stories shared by people around the odd glass of sake or five. I thought they were just joking. There''s been nothing recently. As in, nothing since I started living here, and that was over twenty years ago." Mai dropped down onto the dirty floor of the alleyway and rested her head on her knees. Yet again she was neck deep in shit. "Who do we report this to?" she asked, not looking up at him. "Report it to? Gods, no-one! We have to deal with this ourselves. Otherwise, if word gets out that we brought vampires and ghouls into Excretiaville, we''ll be fined so heavily we''ll barely make a scratch on it before we die!" That raised another question, if they would be punished by Madam Sun and the other bosses of the Sewer Companies, why hadn''t they been punished already by the system? She raised her head and asked him. "Because we haven''t technically done anything illegal. We took on a mission, found it hard and retreated. However, our actions have caused a death, whereupon the vampires and ghouls followed us into town. Which our bosses can punish us for because well, they''re our bosses and we''ve put everyone in danger." Mai thought it was all rather semantic but couldn''t be bothered to work it out. To her it seemed as though the whole system was broken and none of the rules made any sense. "So what do we do?" she whispered, voice catching as a tear ran down her cheek. "We find them, and we kill them. Going to need some help though," he said, rubbing at his chin. "Going to have to call in some favours. Mine, not yours. This isn¡¯t your fault. It''s mine." He paused, as if he expected Mai to jump in and deny it, but there wasn''t a chance she was going to do that. This was well and truly his fault. "Okay, let''s do this." Book 1 - Lone Wolf - Chapter 13 Mai was stunned to see the motley crew that Andries had put together. Despite nanites being freely available to Sewer Workers, at least three of them had scars, missing eyes, fingers, even a limb. All of them were much older than her and Andries, at least in their forties or fifties, and all of them looked like they knew not only how to kill her quickly, but also how to get rid of her body in such a way that no-one would ever know. "That''s Bob," Andries pointed to a man with a bulging body and a facial scar that made him look as though he was permanently sneering. "To his right, is Virtus. She''s a longer-term shift supervisor of my old crew, the Blazing Fifties, Bob was a foreman. Winston, formerly of the Twelfth, and now supervisor elect of the Thirtieth." He continued to speak, but Mai''s attention wandered as she stared at the first three. They were the ones she truly felt were going to help them with this mission. Of all of them, they looked the most battle-hardened of the bunch. Their eyes were cold, like those she''d seen on the most experienced members of the street gangs. There was absolutely no mercy in them. And they never stopped moving. She''d been sized up and categorised in under a second by all three as soon as she and Andries had entered the Wandering Inn. Andries had been expected to pay for the rice wine, three large carafes sat in front of them, and he''d done so without even blinking. It was a miracle, as he''d never reach into his pockets if he could avoid it. In all there were ten other workers that he''d recruited. He''d worked with all of them at some point and she was surprised that he''d moved across Sewer Companies so often. Although looking at the scars these workers sported, it might have been due to heavy casualties. She''d heard of the Blazing Fifties, they were legendary amongst workers. Having been trapped by a methane explosion in one of the sewers they had not only dug their way free, but they had also put out the blaze and rescued several other companies whilst doing so. As a result, they''d been given the honour badge of the number fifty wreathed in flames. All original members had it emblazoned on their uniforms and some even had it hovering above their heads as an Honour Glyph. Not these members though. Aside from their company numbers there was nothing to indicate they were considered to be elite. Maybe that was the best way to go about things though. If no-one could see you were something special, then they''d be certain to underestimate you. She filed that thought away for another time. Wool-gathering in the presence of people such as these wasn''t a good idea. Her stomach knotted at the sudden pressure she felt. If she''d had the balls to SASS them, she was sure she''d find skills she''d never imagined existed, and levelled up to the max. All that just before they killed her with their thumbs. "So," rasped Bob once Andries had finally lapsed into silence. "You and your little one ''ere went into remote sewers to find a bunch of lost workers. You found and fought jiangshi and a ghoul. Got your arses pretty much ''anded to you, then returned back ''ere following the same fucking route you took in?" His huge hands cracked as they formed into fists. "Didn''t I teach you nothin'' of use?" "Yes," said a very much subdued Andries. Winston chuckled, his whole body shaking. "Man, you fucked up. And you were this close to getting out too!" he pinched his fingers so that they almost touched, shaking his head, lips pursed. Mai shot a glance to Andries, who had hung his head. "How close were you?" she asked. "I just needed one thousand to pay off my debt to the Celestial Court. After that, I''d have been a free man," he muttered, wiping his eyes. "Only you wouldn''t have been. You still owe, what, three thousand to No-Knees? One kay to Hood. And how much to Little Sue?" sighed Virtus. "That doesn¡¯t matter though, does it. I''d have been a free man working off debts I chose to incur. Not debts caused by my shitty family. Fuck it. Will you help or not?" "Only when a bounty has been offered. None of these pussies," Bob jerked his thumb over his shoulder at the rest of the canteen, "would even dare to attempt it. And it''ll take the urbexers a little while to get here and sort their bearings." "But we can''t just let them keep killing people!" gasped Mai. "Yes, we fucking can. Nearly everyone here is here because they made shitty life choices. They could have changed their minds and improved their lot, but no. They had to be dicks. And not even clever dicks at that. Most people are able to do good and bad things, soak up the punishment and keep going. I mean, just look at you. You''re barely an adult and you''re indentured. Your choices put you here. As did mine before you try and point that out." He glowered at her. Mai closed her mouth with a snap. His glower was enough to make even the bravest of the brave balk. "And so," Bob continued when he was certain he wasn''t going to be interrupted. ¡°We wait until there''s a bounty. And it has to be a good one. There''s twelve of us in this party. We''re going to split it evenly by the way. No negotiation." "Fine," sighed Andries. "Even shares. Shares of dead members go to their families if they have them, if not they get split between the survivors. And we wait." *** It turned out they didn''t have to wait long. Panic spread like wildfire after a whole sewer party of ten workers was found massacred in a relatively well-used part of the sewers. The hallmarks of jiangshi and ghouls were there. A particularly popular boss was also killed. BOUNTY MISSION - HUNT THE HUNTERS 500 UC PER BEAST DO YOU ACCEPT YES/NO? TRACK PROGRESS ON SCOREBOARD There was a collective gasp in the canteen Mai was in as the message popped up. Everyone present knew that if they were able to solo the bounty there was the chance they would be able to clear their debts. Looking around, Mai could see people already selecting the YES option, hope shining in their eyes. They''re dead and they don''t know it, she thought as she opened up the scoreboard. It was filling quickly. The first set of names were solos. It listed the first and last name of each signed up sewer worker along with their number. Then parties started to appear. Bad Apples, Blazing Unicorns, Extra-terrestrials, Scavs. She blinked it off as it started to flicker, updating so quickly she couldn¡¯t track it. ANDRIES LOUWS, #32059234 HAS INVITED YOU TO JOIN HIS PARTY - DESPERADOS DO YOU ACCEPT YES/NO? She selected YES. WELCOME TO THE DESPERADOS, YOU NOW HAVE ACCESS TO PARTY CHAT. Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings. DO YOU ACCEPT BOUNTY MISSION - HUNT THE HUNTERS? YES/NO? Again, she selected YES. A guideline, purple in colour appeared, showing the fastest route to get to Andries and the party. Opening her minimap she saw other members of the group already heading towards him. Taking one last look around at the people in the canteen, she set off. *** "I don''t understand, with everyone signing up, how''s the work going to be done?" she asked as the party entered the sewers. ¡°Those that aren¡¯t going on the bounty hunt mission will be reformed into work parties and sent to deal with the worst of the fat bergs. Everyone else will be docked pay for every day they take off,¡± replied Bob. ¡°I guess they think the reward is worth the risk.¡± Mai looked at the others with her, they looked utterly amazing. Bob had a shockingly vibrant pink and white armoured hazmat suit with cat¡¯s ears on the top which he¡¯d said doubled as comms antenna and cameras, whilst also wielding a Fat Cutter he''d called Sue. "Take a look," he''d said when he spotted her ogling it. Somewhat gingerly she''d taken it. It vibrated gently, blades at both ends. It was also much lighter than the one she used. Her retinal HUD listed it as FAT BANE. Opening up her menu, she did a quick search. Fat Bane An unrivalled tool which is marvellous for carving through fat - and mythical beasts - as if they were made of paper. The dual blades vibrate on a molecular level, meaning that they can cleave through fat bergs with ease, and even metal. Their lightness means a worker can harvest +20% more fat per shift. And if it has to be used to fight mythical beasts such as the fantastical Mogwai, it causes BLEED @10% PER SECOND, and PANIC. Twenty per cent extra per shift! That meant even if she was struggling to actually carve out enough fat, she could hit target. And if she actually hit target without using that bonus, then it would give her an additional. twenty per cent which would be twenty extra credits. With this she could earn thirty credits a day. Three days of work in one. Her mouth practically watered. With that much money, she could be home and back with her sister far faster. "How the hells do I get a tool like this!" she had asked as she had handed it back somewhat reluctantly. "Level up your Sewer Worker''s skill. That, and a few others. We don''t have time now, but if you take time to look at the tool, then click on the sub-menu for REQUIREMENTS and you''ll see it. Haven''t you read your primer?" She''d gritted her teeth at that and made a mental note to read the primer as soon and as quickly as she could. "Body," Virtus'' voice brought her back to the present. Originally sporting a massive Afro, she''d swapped it for a much shorter cut in order to fit her helmet on. Her suit, jet black, meant that she was nearly totally invisible in the darker sections. If it wasn''t for the minimap marking her, Mai would have walked straight past her a couple of times. Virtus and a couple of others had taken point, pushing ahead of the main group by up to one hundred paces at times depending on the depth of the river. It meant that they could warn of any impending attack, and still hold off long enough for the rest of the workers to reach them. Looking around as the party advanced to where Virtus waited for them, Mai was impressed by the skill of her fellow bounty hunters. They moved as if the river of effluent was actually water, melding with the darkness as if they were part of it, no matter what the colour of their armour. She had thought that Bob''s would have made him stand out, but it didn''t, he was just as hard to spot. Compared to them, she was like a Gorbull in a china shop as the old saying went. "What we got Virtus?" asked Andries as they finally joined the scouts. "Solo, they were scratched off the scoreboard about thirty minutes ago," Virtus'' head didn''t stop moving as she continued to check the area, the other workers fanning out to provide a cordon. "Good news for us is that it means we''re on the right path. Bad news for them though. I''ll tag the body for retrieval. She had family." "Won¡¯t everyone who''s accepted the bounty be coming this way?" Mai felt stupid asking the question in the presence of the others, but it had been niggling at the back of her mind ever since they set off. "No. The guidelines only point to a vague area, just like last time. And," Virtus paused, hands waving through the air as she checked her minimap, "that area''s just been expanded. Heads up people, we''re in the BOUNTY ZONE!" You could have cut the tension with a knife. All around, the members of the party took on a stillness that spoke of contained violence which would explode at the drop of a hat. "Virtus, you and your scouts push forward a maximum of twenty paces from now on. Rear-guard, drop back ten paces. If we reach a side tunnel, the scouts hold until the main party reaches it, then push forward. The main party holds until the rear guard reaches it. Understood?" ordered Bob. He was de-facto leader. She and Andries were there for the ride. Secretly, Mai wished that Bob had been assigned to her as a mentor. As much as he both scared and intimidated her, he was far better suited to mentoring than Andries appeared to be. Maybe Sun had paired him with her to help him clear his debt? Everyone acknowledged the order in their own way, Virtus moving ahead with her scouts whilst the rest of them waited for the gap to be sufficiently large enough. Then the main body, six including her and Andries, started moving again. Shortly after, Mai heard the rear guard start to follow them. Not a word was said, everything was done by hand signals using the Sewer Worker sign language. Good thing I at least got through that portion of the Primer! Limbs shaking, mouth dry, Mai sucked on her suit''s straw, drawing in the warm water. "Incoming!" Virtus'' warning went across the entire party chat. She pinged the approaching enemy and two red dots appeared on Mai''s minimap. In addition, a red diamond with a red dot in the middle appeared on her retinal monitor. Moving swiftly, the enemy creatures reached Virtus and her scouts mere seconds after her warning. "Ghouls!" "Rear guard move up, hold here," a green dot appeared on Mai''s minimap as Bob marked where he wanted the rear three members of their party to go. "Main group, arrow formation, Mai and Andries left and right rear." A diagram appeared on her retinal monitor, showing her exactly where she should go. Without a word the others formed up, a gap of a couple of paces between them so that they could wield their weapons safely. "You okay?" commed Andries over private chat as the whole group moved towards the battling scouts. "Shitting myself, you?" "Ditto, stay frosty." "Always." The scouts were making short work of the ghouls. Virtus was dual wielding what looked like small pickaxes, and she appeared to shimmer as she moved around the ghouls. The other two scouts were using a fat cutter and a strange-looking maul with a hook on its head. Both ghouls were looking the worse for wear, each one''s health bar had dropped out of the green zone and into the amber, indicating that they''d already taken forty per cent damage. Mai was impressed, it had taken those three scouts far less time to fight two ghouls than it had for her and Andries to fight just one. It wasn''t all one-sided however, one of the scouts was limping, his SOAK bar firmly in the red and his health pulsing. PANIC, POISON and BLEEDING glyphs hung over him as he tried to hobble out of the combat and let Bob''s team move up. Just as the point of the arrow reached him, he slipped. It took only a second for him to regain his footing, but a second was all that was needed. Screeching in triumph, the nearest ghoul launched itself onto his back, maw opened wide. As soon as it landed, its mouth totally enveloped his head. In one fell move, the ghoul bit and immediately the man died, his health bar totally redding out before his now headless body even hit the floor. "No!" roared Bob. He dropped to his knees, sliding towards the ghoul as it spat the worker''s head to the ground. Leaning back under two vicious swipes by the ghoul''s claws, Bob continued to slide straight under and between the ghoul''s legs. His blade flashed, white ichor filled the air, and the ghoul''s nearly bisected body dropped lifelessly to the ground. KILL ASSIST! +50UC She felt slightly guilty at that. So far she''d done nothing to help the party, and yet she was being acknowledged. Then again, neither had Andries and he''d no doubt received the same acknowledgement, and bounty. "Wings, push forward!" Bob ordered. Mai blinked, unsure what he meant until the rest of the main group moved forward until they were in line with Bob, completely sealing off the tunnel. "This bastard''s mine! No one attack!" Ordered Virtus, dancing circles around the lone ghoul. Every strike was calculated to cause as much pain and fear as possible, BLEEDING, STUNNED, and PANIC, glyphs appearing over the creature''s head. And it couldn''t even run. Every time it tried to escape, she put herself in front of it. White ichor leaked from countless wounds all over its body and one arm hung limp. "Just kill the fucking thing or I''ll do it myself," ordered Bob. "The more we fuck about, the bigger the chance that we''ll get caught by the short and curlies." "Fine!" Virtus launched herself into the air, clearing a good three paces, pickaxes above her head. As her knees slammed into the ghoul''s chest, the pickaxes descended, burying themselves up to the haft in the ghoul''s face. "Done." KILL ASSIST! +50UC "Buck, move up from the rear guard, you''re a scout now. Everyone else, maintain formation. There isn''t a Buddha''s right nut chance that battle wasn''t ''eard by the rest of them." "Twelve originally. Me and Mai killed two, these two make four. That means eight left. And the Progenitor," Andries said. "Boy''s got it right. Move up, stay frosty. They''re not going to attack us piecemeal from now on. We''re too strong. Scouts, advance." Book 1 - Lone Wolf - Chapter 14 Leaving the dead ghouls behind, not even stopping to remove the teeth, but pausing to mark the dead scout, the rest of the group moved on. Now that they had finally engaged with the enemy the tension had lessened somewhat. As if the build-up was worse than the actual event. "Movement up ahead," Virtus warned. "Getting multiple shadows on the wall. Lighting appears to be good." "We''re approaching an old pumping station. I heard that some urbexers were using it as a base," Winston commed over the group chat. "They''ve kept it up, expanded it slightly. Called themselves the Snow Leopards. They were good. Experienced. Helped us out once. Not good if they''re dead." Mai found the way that Winston spoke especially jarring. It was as if he didn''t truly know how to construct a natural sentence. Not even the most basic of robot speech modules spoke like this. "Scouts, pull back, rear guard join us. Three lines extended. Three fighters in front, six in the middle, two at the rear" Bob ordered as he marked the lines on their retinal monitors. Mai and Andries were at the opposite sides of the main line, and Mai realised that it was deliberate. He and Mai were the two weakest members and having them in the centre of the line made no sense. Where they were meant that they could carry out flanking and back stabbing attacks whilst the rest acted as tanks. Thank fuck I''m not in the centre, she thought as she realised the implications. If the attack was too heavy, the scouts would fold back, allowing Bob''s line to advance. "Lines, advance ten paces." Bob indicated the spot. They advanced, then paused. He pushed them forward another twenty paces. Now everyone could see the shadows dancing on the walls. One of them was massive, at least three times as tall as the others. "Progenitor. If they attack, scouts and rearguard deal with the jiangshi and ghouls. Main line, deal with the Progenitor. We¡¯ll kill that, the others automatically take a fifty per cent hit to their health on top of any damage they¡¯ve already received. You¡¯ve got skills, activate them now." Mai activated SEWER COMBAT, TUNNEL FIGHTER and FREERUNNING, hoping that the bonuses they would infer in the battle to come would keep her, and her friends, alive. The lines continued to advance, not stopping now that they had a clear plan. As they got closer, the vibrations of the ghouls started, and Mai realised it was less of an attack and more of a form of communication. There was a deeper, bone seeping, vibration that started to make its way through her body. "Song of the Progenitor. How they communicate. She''s singing to her children," said Winston over the party chat. "Ignore it. Can''t harm." Mai felt better knowing what was causing her bone marrow to feel as though it had been turned to jelly but was slightly unsettled at the thought he might have been reading her mind. Coming to the bend where the light was coming from, Mai spotted glyphs sprayed onto the walls, announcing to all and sundry that this was Snow Leopard territory. And then they rounded the corner. "Oh fuck me," breathed one of the other hunters. Mai wholeheartedly agreed. there wasn''t really anything she could have added to that statement to make it any more meaningful. Two ghouls and six jiangshi were arranged in a loose circle around the most hideous creature she had ever seen. And considering how gruesome ghouls were, that was saying something. It was as if someone had crossed a wasp, spider, and a baby, merging them into a slime-coated beast. STATUS EFFECT - INTIMIDATED! -5% TO HIT The status popped up onto her retinal monitor and she cursed at the reinforcement for what she was already feeling. There was no need to tell her things like this. "Looks like we''re on a bug hunt!" cried out the man next to her. Taking a quick look, she was surprised to see that he actually looked eager to get into the fight. The brood ahead of them paused, the vibro-song of the progenitor coming to a sudden stop. Replacing it was a silence that went beyond palpable and which took on an entire identity of its own. Both groups stared at each other for what seemed like an eternity, but which her retinal monitor informed her was only seconds. It ended just as abruptly. Roaring, bass tones making her teeth feel as though they were going to fall out, the progenitor sent its children into battle. Leaping into action, the two ghouls, able to move much faster than the jiangshi, surged along the tunnel. Behind them the jiangshi took great leaps through the air. "Scouts! Take the ghouls! Rear guard move forward!" Bob ordered. Virtus raced through the effluent in this part of the tunnel so quickly it seemed to part as if a ship passed through it, leaving her fellow scouts struggling to keep up. The rear guard passed through the main line''s ranks and took up position. "Advance! Rear guard to help the scouts." Legs trembling, wanting to be anywhere but in the tunnel at that moment, Mai forced herself to take first one, then another step. And then, strangely, she found it hard not to charge with the others already moving. To not meet the challenge offered by the hideous creatures before them and charge into battle whilst screeching out a war cry. There was a clash as the scouts and rear guard met the ghouls head on, SOAK bars on both sides taking hits immediately. Only seconds later the jiangshi hit the small group, and battle was well and truly joined. "Main line! Charge! Get to the progenitor!" Bob didn''t wait for an acknowledgement, just started running as if he had no doubt they''d followed. Getting caught up in the energy surrounding her, Mai charged forward, finally giving voice to a visceral scream that felt as though it would tear her vocal chords. Charging past Virtus and her people, dodging blows when necessary, Bob led his line into battle with the progenitor. Up close, the progenitor was even more intimidating. A musk filled the air, which somehow managed to penetrate even her hazmat mask. It was both heady and disgusting at the same time. It confused her to be both attracted and repulsed. She didn''t know whether to laugh or cry. Wings buzzed as the progenitor rose slightly off the floor, a large stinger hanging from its body, poison glistening in the light. Its eight legs ended in large hook-like claws with serrated edges pointing away from the tips. Its baby-like face giggled and made cooing noises and it opened the two pudgy little arms beneath its head as if asking for a cuddle. If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it. "If this is a nightmare, wake me the fuck up now," commed Andries. "Line split! Flank around it!" Bob ordered, angling towards the left, whilst the other three with Andries went right. And then the progenitor struck. It was as if Mai had blinked, but then time had sped up whilst her eyes were shut. One moment the progenitor was over twenty paces away from them, the next it was in their midst. Eight spider-like legs striking out in all directions, the stinger jabbed forward, its entire body folding in ways Mai wouldn''t have thought possible to drive the stinger deep through the throat of one of Andries'' colleagues. The woman didn''t even have time to scream as the pace-long stinger was ripped back out, her SOAK and HEALTH bars immediately dropping to zero. "Blink leaps! It can only do them every ten seconds! Interrupt by striking the moment before it does it!" Bob''s voice was still calm, if a little out of breath from their recent charge. Mai thrust her staff at one of the legs, hoping to hit the knee, but another shot out and blocked her staff. It was a powerful blow, completely spinning her and sending a shock down the staff which made her hands sting. Without thought she dropped low, narrowly avoiding its follow-up attack. Pushing herself back up and around she tried to attack again. HIT! 0.1% DAMAGE Its health bar didn¡¯t even move, the amount of damage so miniscule. Bollocks, I''ll be long dead before I manage to do any real damage! she thought as she looked at its HEALTH and SOAK bars, both of which were still up at the top end of the green. "Explosive!" Andries'' warning came just before a shockingly loud explosion filled the tunnel, shockwave knocking her back onto her arse. Another member of the group threw what looked like a bottle with a burning rag in the neck. Smashing against the progenitor, which now had a STAGGERED glyph showing, it showered liquid over the slimy carapace before the rag ignited it. "Molotov¡¯s don''t work!'''' The worker reported, "that slime''s fire proo .." he didn''t get to finish as a leg hooked into his back and pulled him straight into the arms of the baby. A tongue shot forward, punching through his nose before a stomach-churning slurping noise audible over even the sounds of the battle reached her. Another explosive detonated and the progenitor screeched in pain, its HEALTH and SOAK bars dropping by roughly five per cent. It was too hard to tell. Its limbs flicked out towards her once more and she activated her FREERUNNING, flipping over one attack before rolling under another. A third limb brushed her as she rolled, the impact knocked her under the progenitor. Whereas the back and sides of the beast were covered in slime-coated carapace, the belly was soft, the colour of pus and blood. She could actually see veins pulsing with purple blood. Fuck it, she thought and thrust her fat cutter up as sharply as she could. It struck, the hideous skin dimpling further and further inwards until, with a pop she felt more than heard, her blade sank deep into the creature''s underbelly. HIT! 10% DAMAGE BLEED @5% PER SECOND Seeing its health bar jump towards the left gave her a surge of energy. Pulling her blade free, she was blinded by the gore that flooded out of the wound she''d opened in its body. "Drop!" Mai didn''t recognise the voice, but she wasn''t going to ignore it. Throwing herself into the shallow sludge, she felt the cloth of her hazmat suit ripple as something large passed over-head. "Get under the damned thing! It''s how you hurt it!" she screamed over the party chat. "Explosives, underneath!" "Roll to your right now!" ordered Bob. Yet again she didn¡¯t stop to think, just followed his order. She kept rolling until she hit the side of the tunnel. There was a series of explosions and the sound of a child in mortal agony, then a silence broken only by the sound of panting over the party chat. KILL ASSIST! PROGENITOR SLAYER! 500 KARMA! THE EMPEROR SMILES UPON YOU! BOUNTY +1000 UC "Quick! Virtus needs help!" Winston sounded hurt. Mai pushed herself to her feet and charged towards her. Virtus was the only one of her group still standing despite HEALTH and SOAK bars in the red, along with BLEED and POISON glyphs hanging over her head. Ducking under a blow from a jiangshi, Mai skidded to a halt next to Virtus. Placing her hands on the woman she activated her own HEAL SERIOUS WOUNDS, willing her nanites to help the woman, assuming that if she''d been able to heal herself she would have by now. It hurt far more than she thought it would as the nanites raced out of her body and into Virtus. Nerves burning, Mai gave a slight cry as the nanites continued to flow from her. Checking her retinal monitor she saw that her BIO-MASS was taking a massive hit, she was already down by fifty per cent and there didn''t seem to be an end in sight. "Stop Mai! Save some for yourself," gasped Virtus as her HEALTH bar leapt back into the green. NEW TITLE! BENEFACTOR! YOU HELP THOSE TRULY IN NEED! Screeches filled the tunnel as the rest of the party finished off the creatures that Virtus and her scouts had been fighting. Laying there, the scout patted Mai''s hand as she slowly regained her strength, her own HEALING skills kicking in now that she had enough nanites. "You look tired, the both of you," Bob said from behind Mai. "That was quick thinking young''un. You saved her life and risked yours to do it. Always make sure you know how much you''re willing to HEAL someone before you actually heal them. And make sure that you have enough BIO-MASS, otherwise the nanites will completely leave your body and you''ll have none to HEAL yourself." His large hand rested on her shoulder. "I''d be proud to have you on my crew." Mai said nothing, she was too tired but her heart burst with pride at his words. Coming from someone as high a level as him, and with such experience, those few words were the highest compliment she''d ever been paid in her life. She opened her pack and pulled out a couple of protein bars. Offering one to Virtus, she ripped the packaging off her own and wolfed it down, barely taking the time to chew. It only gave her a two per cent BIO-MASS boost, so she pulled out another and ate that as quickly as possible. "Here, try this. It''s special. I owe you," Virtus said as she handed Mai what looked like a water bottle. "It''s a special-brew rice wine. Warms the cockles of your soul, whilst giving you a ten per cent BIO-MASS boost. Sorry I can''t offer you more." Mai waved a hand, she didn¡¯t think they''d be facing another battle now that they''d killed off the HOST, but it was nice to get the wine into her. Not only did it boost her BIO-MASS, it also took the edge off the massive adrenaline rush she''d gone through, soothing her, stopping her hands from shaking quite so much. "Damn, that''s good," she handed the bottle back, enjoying the long, peppery finish. "If you two have finished boozing, we need to get back,¡± Andries stood looking down at them. With weary sighs, and pained groans, the two women let him help them to their feet. Book 1 - Lone Wolf - Chapter 15 Mai¡¯s whole body hurt. She¡¯d discovered muscles she hadn¡¯t known existed and they were all telling her just how much they hated what she was doing. She was in complete agreement with them. She hated what she was doing, but it was the only way she would ever get back to her sister unless she could land a lot more missions like hunting Jiangshi. She was also secretly hoping that now she had the SCAVENGER skill she¡¯d be a lot better at finding items she could sell. Only that morning she¡¯d watched one of her team pull some weird-looking jug out of the fat. It had been worth two hundred credits minimum, and now he was happily sitting watching them working away on the berg. She couldn¡¯t blame him if she was honest. Finding something like that would have been worth ten credits of not having to work. And then she realised that was another way the system kept them indentured. Yes, he¡¯d found twenty days of hitting the daily target, but if he¡¯d kept working, he¡¯d have had twenty one days. Judging by the look on his face, he was going to be spending most of that money either lounging around or drinking and eating the finest he could find with no thought for the consequences. Not unlike what she had been willing to ¡®waste¡¯ on her massage, but at least she knew the consequence said action would mean. It was sad, but she realised that there was no point in educating him. He knew the rules, he knew what he needed to do to get free, and yet there he was lounging around happy as a pig in shit. She gave a mental shrug and returned back to her body¡¯s complaints. Still, as she took a quick breather to rub some life back into her thighs, she could tell that it was doing her some good. Already her strength was starting to improve, and her health bar had grown by a tiny amount. Carving the fat had become second nature to her in a short space of time. Once you shut off your brain and just let your body carry out the actions, time started to flow quicker. Having made sure she was settling into the team, Andries had started to take a backseat, moving on to mentor some new arrivals. They still hung out after shift-end, though not for long as she was often bone tired. She regretted that as she¡¯d come to truly appreciate his company, especially as he had a different perspective to most of the people she worked with. For one, he¡¯d been here since he was a child, whereas a lot of her company had joined recently, or had only been working in the sewers for a couple of years. They were still mostly bitter, whereas Andries had a completely different outlook most of the time. In her first hour she¡¯d hit just over one thousand units for the first time, something the rest of the crew had cheered at. It felt strange to be so happy at receiving praise from people she wouldn¡¯t have given the time of day back in her real life. But at the same time it felt good. It made her feel accepted. ¡°Urbexers!¡± Mai spun to see a squad of four humans and what looked like a cyber-mastiff enter their tunnel. She¡¯d only seen cyber-mastiffs in holomyths. ¡°Shit, they¡¯re scarier in real life,¡± she whispered to Jin, the woman she¡¯d spoken to on her first day and who she now competed with to see who could carve through the most fat in an hour. Jin didn¡¯t know it was a competition, mostly because Mai still hadn¡¯t managed to beat her. ¡°Urbexers or the mastiff?¡± ¡°Mastiff,¡± Mai pointed at the beast. It was far more impressive than a holocast version, but in real life it exuded ¨C no it ¨C oozed - menace. Her veins felt as though the blood in them was ice-water. Pheromones. I bet they¡¯re used to intimidate people. Make them panic. She fought her own rising fear. First she concentrated on slowing her breathing, only then realising that it had sped up. Then, she started to tap her foot, to use up the nervous energy which was a sign her body was getting ready for either flight or fight. And finally, she took a long and careful look at the mastiff. Its skin had been replaced by armour grafted onto certain vital areas and the light glinted off its augmented eyes, telescopic lenses, jutting at least a thumb¡¯s length out from its skull. Its metal head wasn¡¯t that much bigger than the mogwai¡¯s. Without the pheromones, it certainly wouldn¡¯t have been as scary. Keeping that thought well and truly in her head, she turned her attention to the mastiff¡¯s owners. Although upon consideration the urbexers looked damned scary in their combat armour, she could tell it wasn¡¯t of the best quality. None of it seemed to match, and it was poorly looked after. Rust and scratches dulled the metal parts, and the composite pieces were just as dirty in their own way. Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more. Whilst the leader looked absolutely huge, it seemed as though his armour was actually composed of pieces from at least six different sets, cunningly combined to form something big enough for him. Some parts even looked as though they were made from mogwai hide. Each of them had at least three weapons mounted to the armour. The weapons themselves looked well-cared for, but were worn all the same. A couple moved jerkily as they switched from target to target. She now had doubts as to whether the urbexers had access to any nanite weapons. Mai blink-clicked and tried to read their SASS but for some reason nothing happened. What the hells? I thought I could read everyone! ¡°Right you peons,¡± shouted their leader. ¡°Let¡¯s have whatever you¡¯ve found. Hand it over and there won¡¯t be any trouble.¡± His lackeys laughed at that, turning Mai¡¯s blood to ice. A couple bounced on their feet, clearly excited by the prospect of a fight. ¡°We haven¡¯t got anything,¡± said Fat John, her work party¡¯s leader. ¡°Honest. Nothing of interest. Just lots of fat and faeces.¡± ¡°Save it you skinny arse.¡± Fat John wasn¡¯t actually fat. He was the skinniest man Mai had ever seen, hence the nickname. She¡¯d always thought he could probably have made a good living touring with a circus if he hadn¡¯t accrued so much debt. It was as if he was a living skeleton with skin crudely stretched over his bones to create a semblance of normality. It had freaked her out at first, especially when he grinned. In fact, now that she actually thought about it, he should have been assigned to a circus. Maybe he wasn¡¯t always skinny? The work they did was hard, and she was far fitter than she had ever been before. A shout brought her back to the matter at hand. The urbex leader had grabbed Fat John by his suit. The man was massive, and the armour he was wearing made him look far larger than he actually was. ¡°Shit,¡± whispered Jin. ¡°This isn¡¯t good. They¡¯re low level, look at the state of them. Shit birds, everyone. They reckon Fat John¡¯s lying.¡± ¡°Well we can¡¯t bloody fight them can we?¡± Mai gestured with her fat cutter at the nearest urbexer. It was clearly a female as they¡¯d chosen to exaggerate their breasts in the design of their armour. It was stupid in Mai¡¯s opinion. Armour was designed so that attacks would just glance off. Giving armour actual breasts would just mean that a lot of blows would glance inwards to the centre of the wearer¡¯s chest. And the seals at that point would also be a weakness, allowing attacks to crack the armour where it was most needed. Neckbeard¡¯s gonna neckbeard, she thought ruefully. It was a common term when items were designed for form rather than function in the Lower City. She had no idea where the saying came from. It was like when someone said something was ¡®gammonsense¡¯ to mean utterly stupid, bordering on the cretinous. ¡°Look,¡± said another of the urbexers. His suit looked as though it was designed for stealth and speed. A recon suit. ¡°Just lay out everything you have, and we¡¯ll take that and be gone. No one needs to get hurt.¡± ¡°We don¡¯t have anything!¡± yelled Jin, making Mai jump. ¡°We¡¯ve been stood in shit and carving lumps of fat for days. The only other things aside from you we¡¯ve seen were a few mogwai. And they¡¯re long dead. Piss off of you utter gammon.¡± Mai stepped away from Jin¡¯s side, angling so that she wasn¡¯t directly in the mastiff owner¡¯s line of fire. There was a pool of shadow which she stepped into, using it to hide the change in her suit as she activated USE ARMOUR. ¡°Cocky little peon aren¡¯t you?¡± Growled the mastiff owner as she stepped up to Jin. ¡°What, you think you can disrespect us and get away with it?¡± ¡°No disrespect intended,¡± said Fat John as best as he could. His face was turning red due to his suit being so twisted up in the leader¡¯s huge fist. ¡°We all just a little tired. Been working on this berg for a month.¡± ¡°She was rude,¡± said the mastiff owner, jabbing a finger into Jin¡¯s chest. ¡°She should kowtow. Get real low.¡± Although the level of waste was lower here than in other tunnels, the act of kowtowing would see Jin going under the surface. Kowtowing was an ancient way of demonstrating subservience and involved kneeling down, and then lowering your face to the ground, arms outstretched. It was rarely seen outside of the holomyths. ¡°I¡¯m not kneeling in that shit,¡± snapped Jin. Mai admired her for her bravery. Despite having fought mogwai, jiangshi and ghouls, the fact that she couldn¡¯t read anything about the bullies before them had her nerves jangling. ¡°You will. I¡¯ll make you.¡± The urbexer stepped forward to follow up her threat, hand reaching towards Jin. And then all hell broke loose. Jin screamed and thrust her fat cutter into the inside of the mastiff owner¡¯s thigh, right at the top where the leg and torso met, the opening all too big due to the mismatched armour. The mastiff owner screeched as the blade went deep into her crotch, blood jetting out of her wound. A BLEEDING glyph immediately appeared over her head. It wasn¡¯t all one-sided however as her mastiff launched itself at Jin. Desperately, more with a hope and a prayer than true intent, Mai overcame her initial shock and thrust out her own fat cutter. With a roar the rest of the workers leaped into action, and battle was well and truly joined. Book 1 - Lone Wolf - Chapter 16 HIT! 7% DAMAGE Mai snarled in frustration as the curved point of her cutter struck the powerful musculature of the mastiff before glancing up and off the creature¡¯s armour. Still, the health bar filled with a section of black. And that could only be a good thing. Just as she had with the mogwai, she activated her STREET SMARTS skill. Now that she wasn¡¯t fighting creatures from myth and urban legend, she felt a lot calmer entering this fight. This time she decided to try her STREET FIGHTING skill. She hadn¡¯t thought it would apply against the monsters, but now she was up against what she thought of as ¡®real¡¯ opponents, she was confident it would work. Her confidence was rewarded with the appearance of target boxes. Whilst the former didn¡¯t appear to do anything, the latter immediately lit up a series of locations on the mastiff. She was surrounded by people she got on with, possibly even liked, and they had the advantage in numbers if not weapons and technology. Giving a mental shrug, she prayed that she wouldn¡¯t have to resort to unarmed combat. Whilst the target boxes listed the percentage of her being able to hit and cause damage, the best chance was listed as being the centre of the cyber-mastiff¡¯s chest. The armour there was particularly worn, a piece hanging slightly lower than the rest. Even though the skill wasn¡¯t being used as intended, and the CRITICAL HIT markers were meant for unarmed strikes, they still pointed out the weak points. *Awhoooo* howled the mastiff, its artificially enhanced voice slamming into her. Ears ringing, heart pounding with fear, she barely had time to dive to the side as it charged. STUNNED! INTIMIDATED! -5% to hit A claw clipped her shoulder, snagging the cloth of her suit as it sailed over her head. The blow wasn¡¯t hard enough to actually harm her, but the momentum caused before her suit tore was just enough to send her sprawling into the soft filth. SOAK! 1% Squirming, she rolled over, the night soil slowing her down. The mastiff had hit the berg and was just regaining its feet, giving a couple of plaintive whimpers as it wiped at its nose with a paw. Gunshots rang out, quickly followed by screams of pain, and cries of anger but Mai didn¡¯t dare take her eyes off the now crouching mastiff. It held itself low, gathering power into its already considerable muscles as it prepared to launch itself at her. ¡°Bring it,¡± Mai snarled as she rose to one knee and settled the fat cutter under her arm like a knight with a lance. Its blade low and covered in human waste, she kept it pointed at the target box. HIT CHANCE ¨C 25% If anyone had offered her those odds on a bet she¡¯d have told them where to go. But now she was betting her life, they looked decidedly better than any of the other targets. Most of which she couldn¡¯t even hit from this angle. *awhoo* Its voice battered her again and she felt the thin veneer of her calm start to break. The mastiff was a weapon of terror designed to break its opponent¡¯s will and send them into a blind panic. INTIMIDATED! -5% CHANCE TO HIT She cursed as the second INTIMIDATION notification popped up. She was now facing a ten per cent penalty to hit. Knowing what it was doing didn¡¯t help and probably only served to increase its effects. Her mask was starting to mist up as her breathing sped up and came in gasps. Tunnel vision narrowed her focus down to solely that of the hound before her. ¡°Raaaaargh¡± she screamed back at the hound. ¡°Come on then!¡± It came on. One second it was crouched before her and the next it was flying through the air. It was as if she had blinked and missed the point in time it moved. The aiming point for the vital spot moved as it sailed towards her. Desperately Mai tried to keep the point of her cutter centred directly on the middle of the target box. Aim small, miss small, despite her desperate situation she smiled at the memory of her father. He¡¯d been a low-ranking policeman and had taken her to the firing range on the odd occasion he had time, hoping she¡¯d follow in his footsteps. Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon. An image of him smiling, her mother stood next to him, arms wrapped around each other filled her mind and all of the fear left her at that moment. HIT! 50% DAMAGE BLEED @5% PER SECOND POISONED @1% DAMAGE PER SECOND A block of black appeared in its health bar, almost completely filling it now. The impact punched her backwards as the mastiff impaled itself on her blade. Tangs at the base of the cutter¡¯s blade prevented it from charging down the shaft to get to her. Howling, it¡¯s agony broadcast to everyone, the mastiff writhed on the end of her cutter. Frantic to get away from the pain of the blade, the mastiff only succeeded in widening the horrific gash in its chest. Pulling itself free, Mai was finally able to see the blood drop and green skull and crossbones that had bloomed over its head. Blood and oil poured out of the hole, and electrical sparks flickered. She wasn¡¯t sure why it was poisoned, but considering the environment, she wasn¡¯t surprised. It tried to attack her with another howl, but nothing more than a pained whimper came out. A clot of blood was hacked up with yet more whimpers. Poor thing. It has as much control over its life as we do. Mai actually felt guilty at hurting the animal so badly. Until it tried to set itself for another attack that was. ¡°For Herne¡¯s sake hound, just go away!¡± She jabbed her cutter at it, buying time so that she could get to her feet. STREET FIGHTING went back to passive at that moment and she tried to fix in her mind where the other target boxes had been. It shocked her to know that over half a minute had passed since she activated it. Her STREET SMARTS had just less than thirty seconds before it too entered the cooldown period. Damn it, she cursed. She couldn¡¯t remember which offered the next best chance of a good hit. Might as well go for the same place. The wound was massive, the flow of blood and oil increased with each second, the BLEED and POISONED status symbols pulsing faster and faster. I need to finish this, now. Screaming, she went on the attack. A massive overhead attack sent the mastiff hopping away. As soon as the cutter plunged into the goo she stamped forward and thrust upward. Covered in dripping excrement, the tip of the spear was hidden from the mastiff. It erupted from the noxious liquid a mere finger¡¯s length from the dog. Far too close for it to react. Her attack struck true, the full eight inches of her cutter¡¯s blade sinking deep into the mastiff¡¯s body. CRITICAL HIT! ¨C INSTANT DEATH The mastiff collapsed into the excrement without a sound, its health bar a solid black. Now that it was dead her tunnel vision cleared, and she looked around to check on her colleagues. Bodies lay all around. Some still moved weakly, but most were as still as only the dead could be. Two of the urbexers were down, including the mastiff¡¯s owner. Fat John was still alive, dodging here and there, jabbing one-handed with his cutter at the urbex leader. To her surprise, Fat John¡¯s other hand had been changed into a nanite spear. Both of the combatants had BLEED and POISON indicators above them, but Fat John was clearly losing. Let¡¯s see about evening the odds, Mai activated her LARCENY skill. Whilst it wasn¡¯t designed for combat like this, it did allow her to move quieter than normal with a sub-skill of SNEAK. She tightened her grip and angled her approach to attack the urbex leader from behind, going unnoticed from everyone in the fight. Fat John had done considerable damage to the urbexer. His movements were slow, breathing clearly laboured even under the armour. All of his suit-mounted weapons were damaged. He¡¯s favouring his right leg. The urbexer could barely lift the limb, shuffling awkwardly every time Fat John attacked. His defensive work was impressive. Fat John¡¯s dual wield attacks were blindingly fast. So fast that Mai wondered just how many mogwais her boss had killed. Or what he¡¯d done before he¡¯d been sent into the sewers. Fat John caught her eye for a brief second. Moving to his right, he forced the leader to follow him and allowing Mai to close in. Mai snarled as her STREET FIGHTING skill replenished. She activated it, focussing on the leader¡¯s injured leg. HIT CHANCE ¨C 50% CRITICAL HIT CHANCE +10% BACKSTAB BONUS +10% HIT CHANCE, +5% CRITICAL HIT CHANCE LARCENY BONUS +20% HIT CHANCE, +2% CRITICAL HIT CHANCE She didn¡¯t have time to work out all of the maths. All she knew was that if she got this attack right, she could end it with one good blow. Flexing her fingers, she licked her lips nervously. Catching Fat John¡¯s eye she jerked her head up. Without a second¡¯s hesitation he attacked high, and to the right, forcing the urbexer to plant his weight on the injured leg. Mai charged, ramming her cutter straight into the middle of the target box. There was a moment where she thought she¡¯d missed, and then the already damaged armour gave way and her blade sank deep into the leg. Twisting the blade, she ripped it out horizontally, cutting towards the inside of the thigh. CRITICAL HIT! 60% DAMAGE BLEED @50% PER SECOND Arterial blood jetted out of the urbexer¡¯s thigh, before pulsing in time with his heartbeat. ¡°What? Damn that hurts,¡± the leader staggered around to face her. His helmet¡¯s visor opened to reveal a face as dark as the night with blood-red eyes. ¡°You sneaky little bit¡­¡± Two blades punched their way through his chest armour. Mai blinked in shock as blood splattered onto her visor. Coughing up blood, the leader stared back just as shocked as his hands lifted to touch the blades. ¡°Shit.¡± he managed to gasp. Fat John pulled the blades out of the leader. As the corpse toppled into the muck, her boss flicked the blood off his weapons. ¡°Good job, Mai. Good job.¡± KILL ASSIST +2% TUNNEL FIGHTER Turning, Mai readied herself to continue the fight. There was no fight. Less than half of her work party still stood. But none of the urbexers had survived. Counting the bodies, she realised that the stealth-suited urbexer was nowhere to be seen. Seriously hope he doesn¡¯t come back for revenge. Pushing that worrying thought to the back of her mind, she set about helping the wounded. Book 1 - Lone Wolf - Chapter 17 The weeks after the battle passed quickly. New inductees joined the company, bringing it back to strength, and Mai¡¯s assistance to Fat John had made her a trusted member of the company, even if later it turned out she was somewhat envied. Andries continued to help mentor her, and the day before she¡¯d finally managed to hit her daily quota for the first time, levelling up as she did. She smiled at the memory of the cake the rest of the company had brought out for her. They took any opportunity they could to celebrate the good things in life. A brief pang of longing passed through her as she realized with having hit that goal, her time with Andries as her mentor was close to being finished. She felt she still had so much to learn though. Flexing in front of her room¡¯s mirror, she admired her body while avoiding those thoughts. It had changed. All of the hard work had stripped away most of her previous life¡¯s spread and she was pleased to see she had signs of a developing six pack. Her HEALTH bar had also increased. Looking it up in her Primer, after finally getting around to reading it ¨C mostly to just shut up Andries - she¡¯d read that it had been as a result of her increased strength, as well as her constant exposure to the germs and diseases present in the sewers. Her legs and arms were also much stronger, and she gurned for a second as she flexed before breaking out into a laugh. No matter how much she wanted to deny it, the job had been good for her both physically and mentally. Mai had a focus in life that she hadn¡¯t had since her parents died. Determined to get back to Li, the job had given her a mental and physical strength she hadn¡¯t possessed before and which if she hadn¡¯t developed, would have meant she¡¯d never get back to her sister. ¡°Mai! Are you ready for the shift?¡± Andries knocked on her door. Since their losses he¡¯d been assigned to their team to make up numbers and bring the inductees brought in to replace them up to speed as quickly as possible ¡°Be there in a second. Just finishing off,¡± she quickly formed her underclothes and selected ¡®Hazmat Suit¡¯ from the menu. As soon as the nanites had formed the suit, she opened her door. ¡°Ready to hit quota second-day running?¡± he grinned, offering his hand for a high-five. ¡°You know it,¡± she laughed. The laughter quickly ended as she saw the looks she was getting from some of the other members of the Company. Whilst they weren¡¯t quite glowering at the pair of them, they definitely looked decidedly unfriendly. ¡°What¡¯s with them?¡± she asked out of the side of her mouth. ¡°The mentoring. I¡¯ve kind of gone beyond the parameters of what mentors usually do,¡± sighed Andries. ¡°Most mentors just work alongside the normal crews whilst teaching newcomers how to do their jobs.¡± ¡°Gone beyond is a bit of an understatement,¡± Mai gasped. Andries had been taking her on special missions more times than she could count. ¡°Why have you been doing that?¡± She stopped and placed a hand on his shoulder, forcing him to face her. ¡°There¡¯s just something different about you. I did it without thinking.¡± ¡°And now people are starting to dislike me because you¡¯re showing me special treatment, helping me get extra credits that others think they deserve, or should at least have a chance at?¡± ¡°Yeah?¡± he half-asked, half-stated. Taking a quick glance around the room, Mai slowly blew out a breath. ¡°I think you need to start sharing the love.¡± ¡°Yeah,¡± he repeated. ¡°After this one.¡± *** As usual they headed up the sewer to the seemingly never ending fat berg. Considerably smaller than it had been when they had first started, there was still a good few weeks of labour to be done before they were even halfway to clearing it. Even with a number of her party levelling up due to the battle with the urbexers, as well as hitting quota on a daily basis, not enough of them were at a level where they could use nanites to speed things up. The limitations imposed by the Emperor and the Jade Court just didn¡¯t make sense, yet she could see this as a perverse way in which they worked to keep people who were indentured in that perpetual state. A way to keep the indentured from ever actually working their way out of debt and at the very least, not to do so quickly. Whilst slavery was, technically, illegal, this was a legal way of replacing it. She and her company would continue to work for months, even years in some cases to clear their debts and there was always going to be some new cost that added to it. And the longer they were here ,and the more people that were sent down to work in places like this, the less the Jade Court had to spend on expensive robots, drones, and other automated systems. It also had the effect of curbing the population. Another thing she¡¯d learnt in her first few days was that there were prophylactics in the food and water given to all indentured citizens. They¡¯d been effectively sterilised against their will. No children meant that only those not indentured would be adding to the population growth. Just wish I knew how many of us there are, Mai had always thought that debt-free citizens were in the majority. But now that she was in the sewers, places she¡¯d never even known existed when she was still living with her sister, she wondered just how large the population truly was. One hundred and sixty billion free citizens, but how many billion toiling away in all of the unseen places. ¡°Hey, Mai, stop wool gathering. Pay attention. There was a report of mogwai up ahead,¡± Andries pointed to a side tunnel just up the way from them. ¡°Sun asked me to take you ahead, check things out. The rest of the work party is following a bit further back.¡± ¡°Hah, you¡¯re not worried are you? The great Mogwai Bane?¡± she laughed. ¡°Be a dear and piss off,¡± smirked Andries, giving her the finger. ¡°It always pays to be on your guard.¡± And like that he was gone, staff flying away. ¡°Andries!¡± Mai lunged with her staff, jabbing it into the morass. A hand appeared and she slapped the stick into it, pulling him up with all her might. He popped into view, arms flailing, tentacles as thick as her fingers wrapped around him from behind. Raising her staff, Mai smashed it down behind him. Noxious liquid splashed in all directions, coating her goggles. Nanites wiped it away with a thought. Her attack had done nothing to help him. The surface coating had dissipated the strength of her blow. ¡°Thrust!¡± Andries choked out. He¡¯d managed to get to his feet. ¡°Thrust!¡± He bent over and a creature of nightmares schlepped out of the river of sewage. It looked like a rat. If rats were the size of mastiffs, coated in lizard scales and had tentacles where their mouths should be. She activated her STREET FIGHTING skill, kicking in her TUNNEL FIGHTER, SEWER COMBAT and LARCENY as well. Target boxes with hit chances filled her retinal display. This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it. HIT CHANCE 75% CRITICAL HIT CHANCE 35% SNEAK ATTACK +5% HIT CHANCE I¡¯ll take that, Mai thought as she thrust her staff forward with all her might. It struck on the creature¡¯s flank, the slimy liquid causing it to glance. ¡°Again! Keep hitting it!¡± Andries¡¯ hands were gone, replaced by luminescent blades at least two feet long. Since the battle with the urbexers he¡¯d been hunting mogwai on a daily basis, making a public oath that he would always defend members of the company from their enemies. As such, it was clear he¡¯d been able to access some very cool upgrades to the weapons he could use. Despite that, his personal crusade had made him even more popular with the workers, and his daily battles with mogwais, who had started to appear with an alarming regularity had seen him level up beyond anyone¡¯s wildest dreams. Mai thrust again as he cut at the finger-thick tentacles. Despite the hit boxes showing her fairly good to great odds of hitting, she cursed in frustration as her attacks proved fruitless. It didn¡¯t help that her ACTIVATED skills showed how long they would remain active before entering cooldown, during which time she wouldn¡¯t even be able to benefit from any PASSIVE boosts they gave her. For some reason, she knew that if that happened, neither of them was going to live. It was something she felt deep in her bones. She had no idea why, but she couldn¡¯t force it to the back of her mind. I¡¯m surprised I don¡¯t have a bloody PANIC glyph above my head. This mogwai was unlike any other they¡¯d fought before. It was far more determined than the others. Normally they would only attack in packs, swarming their enemies, wearing them down before taking the most wounded away with them. This one had attacked them by itself when it was outnumbered. It was bigger too, by at least half again. It¡¯s almost as if Andries killing so many has caused them to evolve, to get stronger, but that¡¯s just ridiculous! All of this flashed through her brain in a split second, barely registering as she tried to work out how to kill it before it killed her friend. The mogwai screeched so loudly that stars danced before her eyes. Pain more intense than anything she¡¯d experienced before exploded in her skull. Without conscious thought she activated her USE ARMOUR skill. A helmet formed around her head, replacing the hazmat headset she¡¯d been using, sound dampeners cutting off the incessant screech. Shaking her head to clear it, Mai took a second to assess the battle before her. There were no damage markers, so she knew that the sound hadn¡¯t injured her. Andries on the other hand screamed in pain and staggered about having broken free of the things grip somehow. A DISORIENTED glyph of three birds circling his head. Too late he somehow managed to activate his own armour, encasing his head and body. Clever. Unlike the mastiff they¡¯d fought last time, the mogwai¡¯s sonic attack only caused pain, not PANIC, with the added negative effect of DISORIENT, flashed through her mind while she set up her next strike. She attacked again, only scoring weak hits on various hit boxes. Gritting her teeth she spun her staff and cracked it across the spine. HIT! 4% DAMAGE It wasn¡¯t a lot, but it stopped the mogwai¡¯s sonic attack mid-screech, and its health bar had a block of black. She didn¡¯t like the fact that it was able to cycle through the attack as if it didn¡¯t need to even draw breath. Its cooldown seemed to be non-existent. Does it have a certain number of attacks before it recharges? She pushed the thought away as irrelevant, changing her staff into a cutter so that she had both blunt and cutting attacks. Still, the distraction was all that Andries needed and with a massive effort he managed to free himself from the mogwai¡¯s tentacles once again. Purple blood streamed from his blades as he continuously crossed his weapon arms, trying to force the mogwai back and preventing it from finding an easy opening. Trying to circle behind it, Mai cursed as the wily creature countered her moves whilst still concentrating on killing Andries. As if tentacles, teeth as long as a human¡¯s finger, and a sonic attack weren¡¯t enough, the mogwai¡¯s next attack caught them both by surprise. ¡°What the hells!¡± yelled Andries as the mogwai¡¯s tongue shot out of its maw. Mai had seen nothing like it before. It had a triangular tip covered in suckers, with blood-red ooze flying in all directions as it lanced through the air. Andries¡¯ hands moved too fast to see, parrying the horrific attack away just before it could strike his face, changing into knives just before they hit the tongue. If there was any damage caused she couldn¡¯t tell, but without a BLEED glyph appearing, she just had to accept he¡¯d not managed to cut it. Undeterred, the mogwai continued to press home its attack. Every few seconds that creepy tongue would shoot out of its maw like a short spear. Circling around Andries it continued to ignore Mai as it tried to break through his defences. ¡°I¡¯ve aggro¡¯d it. When its back is to you, thrust at the base of its skull. These mogwai have a weak spot there. It¡¯s where they would have originally been plugged in to accept further programming.¡± She didn¡¯t have time to ask what programming he was referring to, but it was clear to her he was used to fighting this type of mogwai since he had started his self-appointed quest. The mogwai attacked again, cutting short any further conversation. Slicing through the glop, tongue shooting in and out, it reared up onto its hindlegs, revealing hook-clawed feet. ¡°Now!¡± roared Andries as the beast dropped onto him, claws raking. Blood, red this time, filled the air as its claws cut, and cut, and cut at Andries. His armour¡¯s SOAK value no longer able to hold up against the damage the mogwai was causing. Mai stamped forward, jamming her staff at the base of its skull. She missed again, the point merely glancing off the creature¡¯s natural armour and slime that still clung to it. What the hell! I should be hitting the bastard thing with these odds! She felt as though the odds were well and truly being stacked against them. Unfairly so in her biased opinion. It continued raking its claws, Andries¡¯ blood coating their evil crescent-shaped blades. ¡°Kill. It!¡± he screamed in agony. PANIC, BLEEDING, DISORIENTATED, and POISONED glyphs appeared above his head. The things head reared, and it roared, before plunging its maw down towards Andries. And at that moment it fully bared the socket. Screaming she attacked again, putting all of her weight behind the attack. A moment of resistance and then her staff sank home. CRITICAL HIT! 95% DAMAGE BLEED @2.5% PER SECOND PANIC! PARALYSED! Glyphs appeared over its head, registering the BLEED, PANIC and PARALYSED statuses whilst its health bar had just a glimmer of green left in it. Blood gushed out of the wound with such force that it knocked her backwards. Screeching, eyes bulging, the Mogwai stood stock still, its cries getting louder and louder. Andries surfaced. His armour had been torn to shreds. Flesh and bone had been pared away by the mogwai¡¯s claws. Roaring, he jammed his blades into the mogwai¡¯s jaw, nano-blade punching out the top of its skull. For a second they stood stock still and it was as if time itself had stopped. Then, without a sound, they both slid beneath the surface. ¡°No! Andries!¡± In that moment of her anguish, she didn¡¯t even realize she had dismissed the armor¡¯s helmet to yell. Clawing at the gunk before her, she took a breath and plunged into the river, hands reaching, desperately searching for her mentor. AIR DEPLETION IN 60 SECONDS A timer appeared as she clawed her way along the bottom of the sewer. Time and time again she seized what she thought was her mentor only to realise it was another piece of illegally dumped waste. AIR DEPLETION IN 10 ¡­ 9 ¡­ 8 ¡­ 7 Pushing off from the bottom of the sewer she surged to her feet. As her vision cleared of the muck she had just been desperately searching through , she saw a group of sewer workers wading their way towards her. Sun was the first to reach her. ¡°Go home. Get some rest. I¡¯ll assign you another mentor.¡± Stunned, Mai could only stare at Sun. ¡°Go home, rest. I¡¯ll have someone assigned to you in a couple of hours and you can finish your shift then. No additional cost.¡± Sun¡¯s eyes wrinkled as she smiled behind her mask. Numb, totally shocked at her friend and mentor¡¯s death, Mai could only stare at the company boss. It was clear that she thought she was being kind. But all Mai really wanted to do was kill her. ¡°Mai, listen to me. Go and get a couple of hour¡¯s rest. We¡¯ll look for his body and bring it back. You can finish your shift later.¡± That smile again. Sun never realised just how close she was to dying that day. Instead of killing her, Mai nodded. I¡¯m never going to get out of here. That mad bitch doesn¡¯t even care that Andries is dead! All she can think about is the company hitting its target. I¡¯ve got to get away! Got to get to Li and find somewhere. We need to get away! Walking slowly, mind racing, she counted the number of workers helping in the search. The number tallied with the full strength of her company. There¡¯s no one to stop me running. Decision made, she powered through the gunge, sobbing her heart out at her friend¡¯s death but determined to make her escape before Andries¡¯ body was found, and the company returned to the bunk house. Book 1 - Lone Wolf - Chapter 18 Mai waited impatiently as the nanites in her sewer suit, and those in the decontamination chamber wiped the encrusted crud and blood from her before killing any lingering germs. Even so, she still felt dirty and brushed at herself. Nothing she did changed the feeling and she brushed harder and harder, faster, and faster before breaking down into tears. Hug sobs racked her body as she mourned not only her dead friend, but now that her adrenalin had worn off, but her sister as well. What she now truly believed was in the futility of thinking she could ever escape this hellish place and have a chance to save her sister. Li was well and truly on her own, and Mai wailed as she imagined how hard her sister must be finding things. Nothing ever seemed to go right for Mai. Mostly she knew that was her fault, but this was different. She¡¯d finally started doing well at something. She¡¯d made more friends down here than she¡¯d ever made in her past life. She¡¯d seen how she could skill up and - she¡¯d thought - defeat whatever the sewers threw at her. But her best friend, her mentor, and one of the most talented fighters she¡¯d ever seen had suffered a truly horrible death before her very eyes. How could someone like her survive this? WORKER CLEANSED -5UC FOR DECONTAMINATION Still crying she stepped out of the chamber and walked through the bunkhouse. As the nanites changed her hazmat suit to normal day clothes she tried to count the number of days she¡¯d been a part of the company. Giving up, she knew that no matter how many days she had actually been down here, it felt as though she¡¯d been there far longer. She took a minute, standing stock-still as she sorted out her emotions. Crying had helped her purge her initial angst and feeling of helplessness. Now her thoughts were clear. Whilst it might be futile to think she could escape, she couldn¡¯t bear the thought of not trying, of essentially abandoning her sister. Decision made, door after door cycled and then she was out of the company barracks and onto the pedway. Workers weren¡¯t confined to barracks when off-shift and were allowed to mix and go to the few bars and restaurants dotted along the pedway. It was a cruel illusion of freedom. Each and every man, woman and child here knew they were slaves in all but name. Nothing better than the vat-grown soldiers the emperor used as cannon fodder. Not me, I¡¯m going to be free if it kills me. With no true idea as to where she was heading she jumped onto the pedway, walking to speed her progress. Smiling, she weaved her way between her dour and downtrodden co-workers. Every lift heading up had at least two guards. Stepping off the pedway and pretending to look in the windows of an overpriced clothing designs shop, she watched as only high-level managers were allowed into the lifts. I need a diversion. Activating her STREET SMARTS skill she scanned the area around her. An emergency pedway stop button was a few yards away. Whilst most things in the city were automated, cut-switches always had manual back-ups. Noting that, she continued to look, pushing her skill to the max, trying to see if she could spot anything else. Nothing stood out. Stop button it is. Still using her STREET SMARTS she sauntered along the pedway. Bluffs only work if the person trying to bluff doesn¡¯t look as though they¡¯re trying to bluff. In order to blend in, you have to look like you belong. Hunched shoulders. Attempts at sneaking. Acting like you don¡¯t want to be seen. All of those would guarantee that the bluff would fail. So Mai stood straight and strode along the pedway. Reaching the button she slapped it hard and kept walking. She was completely unprepared for what happened next. A klaxon blared, red lights started flashing, warning glyphs popped up onto her retina display and with a jolt, the pedway stopped. Cries of anger, pain and fear filled the narrow confines of the pedway as the unprepared workers were thrown to the floor. Glancing into a window, she saw the guards run towards the crush of people. No time to waste she kicked in her FREERUNNING SKILL, stepped onto the back of a trapped worker, and bounded across the piled bodies. ¡°Hey! She¡¯s running!¡± The guards were roughly ten yards to her right and about the same again away from the lifts. She cursed as she saw them stop and then look in her direction. Pushing off the last worker she sprinted towards the elevator. She saw the realisation of what was happening written on their faces as their training kicked in. Inductees regularly attempted to escape. Without hesitation both turned and ran towards the elevator. Whilst she had to run at an angle, they had a straight sprint. Head down, she put everything she had into her sprint. She lost. Both of the guards reached it barely a second before she did. Nano-boosted reflexes spun them around to face her. Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon. Spreading their arms and legs they made a barrier of solid flesh. FREERUNNING activation counter flashing red, Mai decided to risk it all. ¡°No further you little ¡­¡± The guard didn¡¯t get to finish his sentence as she dropped into a skid, sliding along the well-polished tiles, and slipping between his legs. FREERUNNING +1% Mai laughed as the notification popped up as she leapt back to her feet and sprinted along the pedway to the next set of elevators. Whereas the activation bar had been nearly solid red before the notification, her skill was now completely reset. Skidding to a halt she slapped the elevator call button, legs sagging in relief as a chime sounded and the doors to her right opened. Diving into the elevator she smacked a higher-level button at random. The doors started to close as she stood and helplessly watched the guards charging towards her. Heart hammering in her chest as if it was trying to batter its way through her ribcage, she prayed to every god she could think of to help. Hand extended, eyes wide, face red with anger, one of the guards lunged at the ever-decreasing gap between the doors. Mai squealed, certain that she''d been caught. Then the doors closed, ringing dully as the guard slammed into the other side. Giggling at the thought of her close escape, and the mental image of the guard face-planting into the metal doors she leaned against the elevator wall for a brief second before the adrenaline coursing through her body had her back up and jigging up and down as she prepared herself for another sprint. There was no way that the guards were going to let something as minor as an elevator stop them from capturing her. WARNING: INDUCTEES ARE NOT ALLOWED TO LEAVE THE LOWER LEVELS UNESCORTED. RETURN TO YOUR ASSIGNED LEVEL OR SUFFER THE CONSEQUENCES. DO YOU ACCEPT? YES/NO? Mai had never selected NO in her life, and she wasn¡¯t going to do so now. No one knew for certain what happened to civilians who did, but there were enough urban legends to put someone off. And considering I¡¯ve just seen someone killed by a creature everyone outside of the sewers considers to be an urban legend, I¡¯m not going to risk pressing NO now. Instead she pressed YES and blinked the guideline, showing her the best route to return to her barracks, off. Looking at the floor counter and the button she had pressed, Mai prepared to run as soon as the lift came to a halt. As soon as the doors were open she was off. Keeping her FREERUNNING in passive, she used her innate skill to forge a path. Bouncing through the crowd, she left a tide of angry and pained shouts, taking no care as to their feelings or physical well-being. Notifications pinged across her vision as Karma Point after Karma Point was deducted, credit fines adding to her debt. RETURN TO YOUR ASSIGNED LEVEL OR SUFFER THE CONSEQUENCES. DO YOU ACCEPT? YES/NO? A guideline appeared, one she couldn¡¯t turn off as the system insisted she return to the sewers. Still she didn¡¯t press NO, something holding her back. She pressed YES instead, just to stop the messages from appearing again. YOU ARE TRAVELLING IN THE WRONG DIRECTION PLEASE FOLLOW THE GUIDELINE Over the cries of the crowd she heard deeper roars. Risking a quick glance over her shoulder she saw at least three guards pounding after her, the crowd parting before them without a moment¡¯s hesitation. A virtual banner ad appeared over the pedway, filling her retinal monitor as she pushed her way through the people crowding the pedway. Men and women fought to the death, nanite blades and weapons destroying lives with glorious, bloody ease. With the ease she wished she could destroy the thugs chasing her. She didn¡¯t want to form a fat cutter and fight them. Despite her hard-earned experience in the sewers, they had chosen a life of violence. They were like the urbexers, people who willingly faced violence. THE CULLING. WIN AND YOU ASCEND DO YOU ACCEPT? YES/NO The Culling! The annual event where one million people were given the chance to ascend to the highest echelons of society by entering a bloody fight to the death that spanned the whole of the city. All crimes and debts were instantly forgiven upon entry. And for the lucky one hundred survivors and their families, a life like they¡¯d never thought possible. Risking a look over her shoulder she saw the thugs were gaining, the nearest just over an arms-length away. I can¡¯t go back! I can¡¯t! Before she knew it she had stabbed a finger onto the YES, sobbing with relief as the guideline appeared. Three hundred paces and several floors lay between her and freedom. Heavy, pounding feet drew closer and closer behind her. Not daring to look behind she dived towards the pedway handle, flipping herself down onto the next level. Wind whistling past her ears as she fell, she activated FREERUNNING again. Nanites kicked in, taking over her body and forcing it to tuck and roll as soon as she hit the ground. Three more levels. Mai bounded to the next handrail and threw herself over just as she heard the crash of a guard landing mere feet behind her. ¡°Bitch!¡± The guard was closer than she thought, fingers brushing at her clothing. Kicking off a nearby wall, she changed her trajectory, aiming for the next handrail instead. Pain lanced through her arm as her palms didn¡¯t quite hit the handrail at the same time. ¡°Fuck!¡± DAMAGE! 30% HEALTH 70% As if the pain wasn¡¯t enough of a message. Sobbing, she landed on the pedway. Her FREERUNNING skill wasn¡¯t high enough to stop her from crashing into the pedway driving the breath from her body. Arm snapping wetly. No matter how good she got there was still the chance for failure, and she¡¯d failed hard. Rolling onto her side she spat out the vomit which filled her mouth and got back to her feet. LITTERING -5UC Drones, sirens wailing and lights flashing, swooped down towards her. People around her screamed in fear at the sound. A stampede broke out as they tried to get as far away from her as possible. Letting the crowd carry her, she clutched her arm. Every step hurt and she screamed time and again as the people trying to get away from her knocked into it. She was barely able to keep from emptying even more of the remaining contents of her stomach due to the constant jostling they caused. Glancing over her shoulder she gasped at how close the drones were. Unable to fire because of the crowd they were matching her pace, flying mere yards above her head. Turning back, she sobbed with relief as she saw a red Culling sign hanging in the air just a few feet from her. With one last effort she threw herself forward and slapped her good hand into the Culling safe zone. APPLICATION ACCEPTED WELCOME CONTESTANT 999995 Book 1 - Lone Wolf - Chapter 19 Mai flexed her arm whilst running her tongue over her teeth. As soon as she had entered the Culling¡¯s circle nanites had cured every ailment and physical weakness in her body. I¡¯m born again! It was a taste of what the rulers of the city experienced every day. At least it was to her understanding. Every single scar was gone as well. Her skin was utterly free from blemishes and she smiled at the clarity of everything she looked at. The Celestial Court was fixated with perfection, although only those citizens with access to advanced nanites, like those on the eighth mile or above, could access HEALING which would remove scarring. It didn¡¯t stop them wanting to emulate the lower milers, however. No matter where people were from, tattoo templates and even duelling battle scars were something to be worn at will, nanites adding or removing them, as necessary. Didn¡¯t realise I was getting short-sighted, she looked about her, enjoying her new-found clarity of vision. ¡°You think you¡¯re getting away with this?¡± The shock of the sudden healing had completely made her forget her pursuers. Turning, she laughed at the state of the thugs who had chased her. Not one of them was without some sort of injury. Unskilled at free running, they¡¯d tried to rely on their Thug Profession¡¯s skills instead. She counted at least three arms and legs with bones jutting out, indicating compound fractures, whilst others clutching at their chests as if they¡¯d broken their ribs and even a few missing teeth. BLEEDING, STUNNED, and CRIPPLED glyphs hung above them. They grimaced as they activated their HEALING skills, nanites forcing the yellow bones back beneath their skin, teeth growing back out of their gums. ¡°Come get me.¡± She moved to the very edge of the Culling¡¯s Quest Circle. Even leaned her head slightly forward, baring her teeth in a challenge. Snarling, one of them grabbed at her, trying to pull her from the circle. With a yelp and the sound of sizzling flesh, he jerked his hand back. ¡°Oh, got a booboo? Tell you what, join the Culling and you can have a go at me,¡± she raised her hands in a fighting guard, throwing a couple of punches, making sure she didn¡¯t hit the edge of the circle by mistake. ¡°You won¡¯t last past the first day. The one milers will kill you, slow.¡± He drew his finger slowly across his throat. Mai¡¯s mouth dried at the threat. The people living on and below the one-mile limit of the city were the most desperate of all. Their Social Scores would never recover and those at the true bottom of the city were from families which had been there for centuries. Millenia even. Her mind raced as she finally grasped the full ramifications of her action. Not only had she run from the sewers, but she was now entered into a life-or-death competition. It¡¯s the only way I can get back to Li. If I win this, we¡¯re set for life, even to her that thought seemed hollow. She wasn¡¯t a born killer, and from what she knew of most of the Culling entrants, the guard who had spoken was right, they were utter psychos. STEP AWAY FROM THE CULLER! The warning was both audio and visual, popping up onto her retinal monitor as well as filling her ears. A drone zipped over to hover above Mai¡¯s head. A hyper-velocity small calibre minigun popped out of its casing whilst laser targeting dots appeared on the foreheads of all of the thugs. ¡°Yeah, step away fuckers,¡± laughed Mai as pedestrians scattered in all directions. If there was one thing every loyal citizen of the Emperor learned, it was that you didn¡¯t want to be anywhere near trouble. The thug drew a finger across his throat once more and then led his battered group away. CULLER FOLLOW ME Another guideline appeared as the drone rotated and then hovered away, a red FOLLOW ME sign floating above it. As she followed it pedestrians started to clap, calling out for her name, wishing her luck, wishing her dead. Heartbroken at the loss of her friend, shocked at seeing someone she¡¯d been close to being killed in front of her, adrenaline still coursing through her veins after the chase, and now deluged with praise and scorn at the same time, Mai stumbled along. How the Hells am I ever going to get back to Li? She tried to gather her racing thoughts, to get her emotions in check. Grief warred with anger, hope with despair. If I make it to the top one hundred, I¡¯ll ascend, become part of the Celestial Court and then Li and I will be set for life! *** The journey to her new home passed in a blur. First the drone led her to a monorail where she gratefully sank into the seat, ignoring the stares of the people around her. Grief, shock, and exhaustion took their toll and she slipped into a deep sleep, waking only when the drone gave her a light shock. Rubbing at her eyes she glanced at her retinal monitor to check the time. Nearly three hours had passed since the monorail had pulled out of the station. Looking around, she saw she was the only passenger still in the carriage. The drone moved towards her, stun gun crackling. CULLER, EXIT THE CARRIAGE Mai held her hands up, rapidly standing and heading to the open carriage door. Stepping onto the station platform, she spotted a single person roughly thirty paces away, standing in a pool of darkness, a glyph above their head marking them out as a Cull Master. SPEAK TO THE CULL MASTER DO YOU ACCEPT YES/NO? She pressed YES. It wasn¡¯t as if she had an option. She¡¯d entered the Culling and it would be pointless to refuse to speak to the one person who could help her find out what she needed to do. ¡°Welcome Culler, you have taken a brave step,¡± their voice was husky, soft. ¡°Walk with me, I shall take you to your barracks. You can meet the other cullers tomorrow in the morning.¡± Mai glanced around, even though she had known the time she hadn¡¯t actually parsed that it was evening. Looking back, she saw the Cull Master walking casually away from her. Sighing, she hurried to catch up. ¡°You will have noticed that you¡¯ve been assigned a number. It¡¯s assigned randomly. We have cullers who have been signed up since the last culling. You are one of the last to join. Congratulations, we hit quota this evening. Tomorrow will see training start.¡± Cull Master leading, they exited the station. A large building loomed in front of them with bright ads proclaiming that it was a Culling training zone. ¡°Before we enter, I must warn you. This will be nothing like your time in the sewers,¡± at Mai¡¯s sudden head swivel the Cull Master chuckled. ¡°Yes, I know everything about you, including your sister Li. Sweet child. Missing you awfully. I wouldn¡¯t.¡± A blade appeared at Mai¡¯s throat, the Cull Master suddenly behind her. She relaxed the fist she had made. ¡°Those that swing twice, die. Every. Time.¡± The blade was gone, and the Cull Master was in front of her again. ¡°What¡¯s coming next won¡¯t be easy. You may not even survive to get into the Culling.¡± ¡°Wait, what?¡± Mai asked, stomach knotting. ¡°I thought we were meant to fight each other in the Culling.¡± ¡°Oh you are,¡± they laid a hand on her shoulder, ¡°but the training is very selective. I¡¯m sure you¡¯ll do well.¡± The Cull Master¡¯s hand slowly trailed off her shoulder, the touch light enough to raise goose bumps. ¡°I should warn you, if you try to start fights, or try to cull someone without permission from one of the instructors, you will be eradicated. It would be a shame to lose someone such as you. I don¡¯t know why, but I¡¯m drawn to you. I have a good feeling.¡± ¡°But if someone attacks me?¡± Mai tilted her head, trying to work out whether the Cull Master was usually this chatty, or it was because she was drawn to her. She really hoped that drawn wasn''t a euphemism for attracted, as the Cull Master set her nerves on edge. ¡°Then by all means feel free to defend yourself until either a drone or an instructor intervenes. Just be careful not to kill them.¡± They continued walking, neither speaking. Mai¡¯s mind was racing. All I want to do is get back to Li, get back to my old life. I promise, I¡¯ll be good this time! She wasn¡¯t sure who she was promising to, but hoped that some god, somewhere was listening. *** A buzzer sounded the next morning and Mai sat up quickly, her head slamming into the bunk above hers. Stars exploded in eyes and she yelped in pain. DAMAGE! 3% HEALTH ¨C 97% It had been late when she¡¯d arrived at the Culling bunkhouse and she had numbly followed a guideline to the bunk with her glyph on it. All the other inductees were fast asleep. Climbing under her covers she hadn¡¯t thought she¡¯d be able to fall asleep, especially as a couple of the others in the room were snoring fit to burst. ¡°Suck it up. You¡¯re going to feel a lot worse when I¡¯m done with you,¡± growled the owner of the bunk above her. He¡¯d been one of the snorers. His accent showed that he wasn¡¯t from her level. Dropping down off his bunk took a while. When he finally landed he was out of breath. He was fat. Fatter than any person she¡¯d ever seen. Buddha looked positively sleek compared to him. Cheeks so puffy that his eyes seemed to be permanently closed, it seemed he had taken an instant dislike to her. She didn¡¯t know why he was so antagonistic towards her, but just the fact that he¡¯d snored so loudly had made her dislike him before they even spoke. She said nothing. Upon arrival at the Culling base she had been told in no uncertain terms that fighting would not be tolerated. Punishments were extreme and a culler would be eradicated as the Cull Master had put it. Naturally, a couple of cullers hadn¡¯t believed it. In the middle of the night she¡¯d been awoken by a fight further down the room. From the sounds of it, someone was either in the wrong gang or smelled, it was hard to tell from their accents. Those from the lower levels tended to speak a lot quicker than those at the higher levels. Watching the holodramas, she¡¯d always been amused by the slow drawl of the actors playing ten-milers. It sounded as though they were trying to speak as slowly as possible whilst their mouth was full of plums. Still, the fighting had only lasted as long as it took the drones to arrive. There hadn¡¯t even been a warning. One second people were fighting, the next they were being blasted apart by hypervelocity needles or turned into human candles by flamethrowers. Their bunk room was now short of five one milers and even a couple of eight milers. Obviously the one-milers had singled out the eight-milers for some special attention. Taking advantage of the eight-miler¡¯s reputation for being nothing more than pampered mummy¡¯s boys. The smell of their burnt flesh still lingered. Bending down to get the wash bag she had been assigned, she was completely unprepared for her bunk mate¡¯s attack. It was subtle, a mere hip bump, but it sent her sprawling. With a crack she felt more than heard her head slam into the bed frame once again. She rolled onto the mattress, clutching at her head. DAMAGE! 2% She hated those reminders of her vulnerability but there was no way to shut any official messages off. You just learned from an early age to ignore them. Back in her old life it hadn¡¯t really mattered. Now though, she was beginning to think it was going to be a matter of life or death in some situations. ¡°Oops. Sorry, my fault. I¡¯m clumsy.¡± As much as it hurt her to do, she bit down on a retort. Having seen what the drones did to the cullers who broke the rules, she was in no way going to give them a reason to cull her. He leered at her, baring his teeth slightly, eyes so narrow they practically disappeared. ¡°I said, I¡¯m sorry,¡± he leaned in, his morning breath washing over her like a particularly rancid fart. ¡°Not a problem. Probably couldn¡¯t see me over the curve of your fat gut.¡± Maybe she wasn¡¯t so good at biting her lip after all. ¡°Why you ¡­¡± he didn¡¯t get to finish his sentence as a message popped up on their retinas. ATTENTION: CULLERS TO ATTEND BRIEFING ROOM DO YOU ACCEPT YES/NO? Stabbing YES without a second thought she rolled off her bunk, slipped past him with a smile and a simper, and followed the guideline, nodding to the other cullers as they followed their own lines. Some returned the nods with friendly smiles. Those were rare. Most either glared in a way they thought was intimidating ¨C it rarely was ¨C or shied away. She made a note of both. But mostly she looked at the latter. A lot had puffy eyes. She¡¯d heard some crying during the night, especially after the fight, but had been too tired to let it keep her awake for long. It seemed as though many more had stifled their sobs, or cried in silence. They were clearly going to be the first to die in the Culling if they didn¡¯t toughen up. Not that I¡¯m some sort of born killer, but at least I have the experience gained in the sewers. That gave her pause for thought. She¡¯d not given a thought to the skills and experience she¡¯d earned whilst in the sewers. Compared to most of these people, I¡¯m hard as nails. It made her smile to think that. It meant she had a better chance of getting back to Li. Then she remembered Andries and the way he died, what being in the culling entailed, and the smile died too. She¡¯d happily have swapped her skills to get back to Li and their old life together. His absence was like a hole in her very being. It gnawed at her and she had to consciously think about pushing it down, or else she¡¯d end just as puffy-eyed as those she¡¯d identified as weak. And if she¡¯d identified them as weak, it was guaranteed that the harder elements had also done so. The guideline led them into a large hangar-like room. Cullers were pouring into the open space from doors all around. Far more than she could count. Looking back, she saw a glyph marking her dormitory as ¡®Alpha¡¯. All the others were similarly named using the all-but dead language. It was spoken by some subsets in one-mile, and also in historical holomyths, so she had a vague idea it was some sort of phonetic alphabet. Around the walls were bleachers, and in the open area were various training stations. Each marked by a rotating glyph. Instructors with exclamation marks above their heads stood next to them all. Each one looked like they¡¯d entered a competition for the meanest sentient in the universe. They look like they could kill me in the blink of an eye and still make the pain last for millennia, she thought with a shiver. A woman stepped forward. She¡¯d been gene spliced with what Mai guessed was a lizard. If that wasn¡¯t clue enough, her dress uniform filled in the gaps. She was a Dragon Warrior, one of the Emperor¡¯s elite foot soldiers. Bred for combat, they had a fearsome reputation. A single Dragon Warrior had once taken on ten rogue cybersassins and not only destroyed them but managed to keep nearly three limbs. One of her favourite holomyths had been made about it. Perfectly logical that they¡¯d have one as a head instructor, they¡¯re just the sort of person needed to keep the cullers in check. There was no name above her head. Merely Dragon Warrior. Mai couldn¡¯t tell if that was supposed to be a descriptor, or a name. She shrugged. It didn¡¯t matter in the grand scheme of things as she wasn¡¯t here to make friends and definitely wouldn¡¯t see the woman again once she entered the culling proper. ¡°Cullers,¡± her voice was dry and husky, amplified by nanites so that everyone present could hear. ¡°You are in training area fifty-one. There are two thousand of you here, two hundred to a dormitory. You will train and compete with your dorm mates. In case you didn¡¯t know, there are five hundred training areas in total.¡± Another instructor, male, spliced with what looked like gorilla genes knuckled forward. He too had a glyph which merely said Gorilla. She¡¯d seen Gorillas in holomyths. They were the shock troopers of the Empire. Utterly ruthless in combat, and able to soak up an amazing amount of punishment, they were an enemy to be both respected and feared. ¡°Every skill has a rank, as you all know from your past lives. Your dead lives,¡± the Dragon Warrior said, turning to face them as she bared her many, many sharp teeth. ¡°What was in the past is in the past, unless you have skills from that past which can help you now. HEALING, for example. If you have HEALING you can use that from the start. If you don¡¯t, you¡¯ll have to learn it.¡± The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation. Mai looked around and saw a couple of her classmates looking smug. They wore clothes which easily marked them out as seven milers, maybe even eight-milers. She didn¡¯t know if they were looking smug because they had HEALING, or had skills they thought were going to help them out in the Culling. Either way, it made her want to punch them. Another group that looked particularly happy was the ex-military. They¡¯d obviously got a stack of deadly skills which would make the Culling far easier for them. It¡¯s not fair, it¡¯s as if the odds are completely stacked against anyone who had a normal life. She tried to remember what sort of person had Ascended from previous Cullings, but drew a blank. No doubt they were all ex-military, gangers, or urbexers. We¡¯re just fresh meat for them to get a bit of practice on! She realised that the Dragon Warrior was still speaking and tuned back in. ¡°¡­ weapons are the same. Five ranks. Each rank grants a plus five per cent bonus for a maximum of twenty-five per cent. Usually that¡¯s a bonus to the ability to cause a CRITICAL HIT. CRITICAL HITS do more damage.¡± She paused, looking over somewhere to Mai¡¯s left. ¡°You have a question?¡± Mai couldn¡¯t tell if the Dragon Warrior was surprised, amused, or about to rip the person apart. ¡°Yes ma¡¯am,¡± came a somewhat nervous voice. ¡°How do we actually level up?¡± Mai closed her eyes. It was clear that the Dragon Warrior was about to explain that, but some people just couldn¡¯t keep their mouths shut for a few Emperor-damned minutes. ¡°You kill opponents. Everyone here, whether they already have the skills or not, will go through weapons training. Upon completing weapons training, you will have one rank in the weapons we train you on. That¡¯s a plus five per cent bonus to CRITICAL HITS. In addition to having the USE skill for that weapon.¡± Dragon Warrior cocked her head, ¡°It goes without saying that there are a lot of you here who will already have reached rank five.¡± Mai didn¡¯t need to look around to see who this was directed at. Urbexers, gangers, ex-military would all have experience at killing. ¡°How the fuck are we supposed to bloody survive against trained killers?¡± groaned a man next to her. Looking over at the previously grinning Seven-milers, she saw that the smiles had been replaced by sickly grimaces. Mai was about to reply to the man, when she realised what Dragon Warrior had said. She¡¯d used the word ¡®opponents¡¯ and not ¡®people¡¯ or Cullers. Opponents. Did that mean that if she¡¯d been able to have weapons in the Sewers she¡¯d have been able to rank up? Biting her lip, Mai decided to keep that to herself. No doubt the non-civilian Cullers already knew this, but there was fat chance they¡¯d be explaining it to the other Cullers, and she¡¯d take any advantage she could if it meant getting back to Li. ¡°And every rank,¡± the Gorilla continued for the Dragon Warrior, ¡°increases the base time duration limit of a skill by ten seconds, as well as decreasing the cooldown by ten seconds. All to a maximum of?¡± He stood, tapping his foot as he waited for someone to fill the gap. ¡°Fifty seconds!¡± a ganger called out. ¡°Correct! Fifty-seconds. All skills have a base limit duration of sixty seconds, with a sixty second cooldown, so use them wisely! Whilst sixty seconds in the kitchen is nothing if you¡¯re using the CHEF skill, sixty seconds whilst fighting for your life is, quite literally, a lifetime.¡± Whilst the gorilla was talking, Mai pulled up her SKILLS menu, quickly scrolling down to the weapons menus. Picking USE PISTOL at random, she opened it up and blink-clicked on the Ranks. To say it was daunting was an understatement. But, having already faced ¡®opponents¡¯ in the sewers, she had the seeds of an idea forming in her mind. ¡°This is where you will train for the culling. It is also where you will deploy from for the culling. Not all of you will progress from training. Once deployed you will find yourself in a planet-spanning Bloody Royale. There will be sub-events involving capture the flag, domination, king of the hill and anything else the Celestial Court decides to throw at you.¡± There was a ripple amongst the cullers. Mai was surprised. It was clear that most of the other cullers didn¡¯t have a clue as to what the process was. Which was strange, since the Cull Master had told her about it the night before. Aside from the televised battles on the streets of the city, not much was known about the process of the culling. Those who won were too busy enjoying their new lives. Those that lost were dead. Even the wounded were finished off if they were deemed ¡®not viable¡¯. But she would have expected the others to know this. Was this what the Cull Master had meant when they said they were drawn to her? ¡°Your first task,¡± continued the Gorilla, ¡°before we commence with training is to fight to the death.¡± ¡°Quiet!¡± roared the Dragon Warrior as the room erupted with shouts; some angry, some gleeful, most full of despair. ¡°This will prepare you for the task ahead. Some of you have already killed.¡± She gestured towards a group of one milers covered in gang tattoos and with rank glyphs hovering above their heads. Whilst most were just runners, gunners, or pimps, there were at least two gang masters. Mai made a note of them. Gang masters were gangers who had managed to survive long enough to either reach the highest ranks of power in their gangs, or even leave and form their own gangs. As such, they were more than worthy of her fear and respect. Looking around, Mai saw that there were a number of gangs represented, as well as some groups of cullers who looked far too keen to get started. None of them had rank glyphs like the gangers, but they looked just as dangerous. ¡°Others of you won¡¯t even have been involved in a fight before this day,¡± continued the Dragon Warrior. ¡°You all have reasons for being here. You will all have to kill at some point during the culling. If you are lucky, this will not be the last time you kill.¡± ¡°We will call out names.¡± The Gorilla gestured towards a league table that appeared on the far wall of the hangar. ¡°You will kill that person. For this fight, skills will be disabled. You fight as you are, not what you can be.¡± Mai¡¯s nose wrinkled at the acrid smell of urine, feeling a desperate need to urinate, herself. Nerves made her mouth as dry as a desert and butterflies filled her gut. A couple of cullers vomited, and she could hear some stifling sobs. Others didn¡¯t bother, openly weeping. She opened up her SASS to double-check as to whether her skills could be activated. They were all greyed out. Shaking her head in denial she tried to activate FREERUNNING, a non-combat skill. Nothing. Murmurs, curses and even the odd shout filled the air. Looking around, Mai saw shock, resignation, and anger on the faces of the other cullers. It was clear they too had tried to activate skills. ¡°You will face your fates with honour and fight to live.¡± The Dragon Warrior jabbed a finger towards a man who had dropped to his knees and was weeping, ¡°Or you will die on your knees.¡± ¡°Let us begin!¡± The Dragon Warrior started calling out names. Those that were called started to walk towards their designated spots. Fuck, she¡¯s eager, thought Mai as a skinny ganger with jet black skin, tightly curled hair which was shaven on both sides leaving a bright red mohawk on the crest of her head, a dragon claw glyph and neon-glowing tattoos literally skipped over to her designated space. Her opponent, a small mouse-like man, followed with slumped shoulders. It was clear he¡¯d lost his fight before it even started. Mai almost felt sorry for him before she remembered that one less opponent now meant one less opponent out in the city once the culling had started. ¡°Mai Xio, former five-miler. Chow Yun Fat, former seven-miler.¡± ¡°Yes! This is going to be easy!¡± crowed Fat. Mai winced as she realised she¡¯d been drawn to fight her former bunk mate. Fuck me, how is this fucking happening? Could my day be any shittier? She was surprised that a seven-miler would be desperate enough to enter the culling but seeing his childish glee she wondered if he¡¯d entered through desperation or boredom. Mai settled on boredom. And psychopathy. He was definitely a psychopath. CULLER YOU HAVE TO KILL CHOW YUN FAT DO YOU ACCEPT YES/NO? Raising a hand that shook uncontrollably, she selected YES. Mai followed the guideline to her designated spot. It felt as though her feet were stuck to the floor, her heart was beating in a staccato rhythm, whilst her stomach seemed to be deciding on whether it could make her throw up and shit herself at the same time. Judging by the way her stomach was growling and twisting itself into knots, it was a fair bet it could. They stood facing each other. Chow kept licking his lips, a bead of sweat hanging from his nose, threatening to fall but never doing so. He rolled his shoulders, cracking his neck and then his knuckles. With how fat he was, Mai was surprised he could do any of those movements. ¡°I¡¯m going to enjoy this. Just like I enjoyed my other victims.¡± He smiled for the first time since they¡¯d met, exposing teeth that looked as though they¡¯d been filed. How had she missed that when he bared them to her during their mini-confrontation? What the actual fuck! Mai only realised she¡¯d actually taken a step backward when he laughed, holding onto his ample belly as he did so. He looks like a psychopathic Buddha. I can¡¯t do this! ¡°I can¡¯t do this! I can¡¯t!¡± For a moment Mai thought she¡¯d voiced her fears out loud. But the speaker repeated what he¡¯d just said. All heads turned towards the man who had screamed. It was the mouse-like man. Eyes darting all over, tongue flicking out, he looked as though he was about to run. ¡°Culler! You have accepted the contract!¡± roared the Gorilla, his voice making Mai¡¯s bones feel as though they were vibrating. INTIMIDATED glyphs appeared over hundreds of her fellow cullers. If she¡¯d been closer, Mai felt she¡¯d very well have been affected the same. ¡°There is no renegotiation. You have two choices. Fight to win. Or do nothing and die.¡± The Gorilla knuckled his way over to the man. ¡°No! I can¡¯t! I¡¯ve got to get out¡­¡± He didn¡¯t finish the sentence as he sprinted away from the now-cackling ganger. His path took him towards the Gorilla. Faster than anything she¡¯d ever seen; the instructor snatched the man¡¯s leg. In one smooth moment he reared up to his full height, nearly eight feet, rotated his arm and smashed the man into the ground. Bones snapped, and blood spurted from the impact. Without a moment¡¯s hesitation the instructor smashed the man into the floor again and again, whipping him back and forth, only stopping when the man¡¯s leg was ripped from his hip. The body sailed through the air, cullers diving out of its bloody path. A loud splat filled the hangar as it hit the floor for the last time. ¡°Congratulations. You are through by default.¡± The instructor tossed the leg towards the now stunned-looking ganger. ¡°Clean this up.¡± ¡°That¡¯ll be you next bitch.¡± Chow prodded her with a chubby finger. ¡°Only, I¡¯m going to kill you slowly.¡± ¡°Save your breath,¡± Mai hated the way she stammered, ¡°you¡¯ll need it.¡± Chow smirked, spreading his arms wide. ¡°Wanna hug? You look like you need a hug.¡± CULLERS ELIMINATION STARTS I5 ¡­ 4 ¡­ 3 ¡­ 2 ¡­ 1 Chow roared and charged towards her, arms wide. He moved faster than she thought possible for someone his size. Desperately she dove to the side, his grasping arms closing on thin air. ¡°Bitch!¡± Rolling back onto her feet she came up into a boxing stance. Hands held high, she danced on her feet. Whereas he was flat-footed, she had the advantage of being light on her feet. He swung, a massive haymaker. She skipped out of the way, not even bothering to block, instinctively knowing that it would leave her stunned. His other hand came for her and she slapped it out of the way, moving to the outside of his arms. A quick jab, cross combo was followed by a twin forearm block as he smashed his arm into her in a heavy backhand, the weight of the blow causing her to stagger slightly Chow¡¯s entire fighting system was basically huge crushing swings, followed by attempts to pull her into his embrace where he could literally squeeze the life from her. Fear had stuck her tongue to the roof of her mouth. If he got hold of her she was dead. Face red, he lunged for her again. Neither spoke, both too focussed on the other to waste energy on witticisms. Moving backward, she threw out three quick jabs. The first two missed, but the third hit home. Blood gushed from his nostrils and a cut appeared on the bridge of his nose. HIT! 5% DAMAGE BLEED @0.5% PER SECOND Chow squealed like a stuck pig, snorting blood out of his nose, shaking his head, droplets of dark red blood flying in all directions, the BLEED glyph appearing over his head. She smiled as a small section of black appeared in his health bar. Knowing you¡¯d hurt something, like the mogwai, or someone like Chow was one thing, but actually seeing it was utterly different. It was as if the Celestial Court was rewarding them, encouraging them in some way. But that couldn¡¯t be right, could it? Chow moved and it snapped her back to the present. She shook her hand as she matched his move, cursing herself for her inattention. Face now completely florid, he roared and actually slapped his chest before coming for her again. One hand got a finger hold on her sleeve. Just as he started to pull her in she broke free. Lungs heaving, adrenalin making their hearts pump faster, they circled each other. Bubbles of blood formed at his nostrils, and his mouth hung open as his chest heaved. ¡°What¡¯s the matter? Victims don¡¯t usually put up a fight?¡± Mai sneered, baring her teeth. Chow charged, arms outstretched, and she flicked a hand out towards his eyes, fingers extended, the other hand slapping his arms down. There was the feeling of resistance for a brief moment, and then her fingers slipped into his eye socket. HIT! 25% DAMAGE BLINDED! A glyph of a closed eye appeared over his head. Whilst his health bar had some black in it before, now it was filled with the stuff, the black shooting to the left in the blink of his ruined eye. Shrieking, Chow crashed into the floor, hands clasping at his ruined eye. Mai gagged, flicking her hand in disgust. It had been an instinctive motion. Action before thought. A glyph showing an eye with an ¡®X¡¯ through it appeared over his head. Her opponent continued to roll on the floor. Blood poured between his fingers and down his arms as he screamed and sobbed. Her nose wrinkled as the scent of urine filled the air. Dizziness swept over Mai. She didn¡¯t know if it was relief at having stopped Chow¡¯s attack, or revulsion at the damage she¡¯d caused to another living being. Then it came to her, it was the cold-heartedness of the whole thing. Back in the sewers it had been different, a heat of the moment reaction. Things could have gone differently. The fight could have been avoided if Fat John had given in, or people had been more diplomatic. But here, they were lined up and told to kill each other with no reason other than the fact they had been ordered to and to refuse to fight the appointed opponent was going to result in the certain death of the person choosing not to fight. And now she was having to actually think about killing someone. TO PROGRESS TO THE NEXT LEVEL YOU MUST CULL THE CULLER DO YOU ACCEPT YES/NO? The message hung there, pulsing, waiting for an answer. But the fight was over. Chow was down, unable to fight, and the fight had left her. She felt drained, exhausted. Her limbs felt as heavy as lead. Muscles twitched and trembled all over her body. ¡°Culler,¡± Mai jumped, not realising that the Dragon Warrior was now standing next to her. ¡°You must cull your opponent to move to the next level. If you refuse, you will be culled.¡± ¡°But I¡¯ve won. Look at him,¡± Mai pointed to the still screaming Chow and the large pool of blood he was lying in. ¡°You haven¡¯t culled him. You¡¯ve neutralised him. That is accepted in the culling. It is not acceptable in training. Cull. Him.¡± ¡°How!¡± Mai swiped away the tears streaming down her cheeks. She didn¡¯t know how long she¡¯d been crying for. ¡°A chokehold is the least violent measure. Quick as well. Less chance of him fighting back.¡± Mai retched. A chokehold was a simple measure. You simply attacked your opponent from behind, placing one arm around the front of their throat, whilst hooking your other arm behind their head. Done right, it sealed the blood flow to the brain. Unconsciousness usually occurred in under ten seconds. The hold then had to be held for only a little longer to ensure death. It was intimate. You had to get close, to physically embrace them, and then feel the life go from them. Weeping, Mai accepted YES. Feet dragging, she moved behind Chow. He lay there curled up in pain, his screams having subsided into a pathetic mewling. Kneeling behind him, she wrapped her arms around his neck and started to squeeze. ¡°No! No! Please!¡± he begged before she got the hold fully settled in. His feet scrabbled and he tried to roll. Hooking her heels into his groin, she gasped as he flipped onto his back, his bulk driving the air from her lungs. Blood-slick hands clawing at her arms, he tried to break the hold. ¡°Drop your elbow, rotate your forearm slightly.¡± The Dragon Warrior knelt beside Mai. ¡°That¡¯s it. Squeeze harder.¡± Her voice was gentle, motherly even. Mai did as she was told. Chow scrabbled for a few more seconds and then went limp. ¡°Keep the hold on.¡± Again, that almost motherly voice. Mai squeezed with all of her might, screaming in horror. Screaming in victory as a notification popped up. CHOW YUN FAT CULLED NEW SKILL! DIRTY BOXING RANK 1! DIRTY BOXING +5%! NEW PROFESSION ¨C CULLER LEVEL 1! She released Chow¡¯s corpse, grunting with the effort it took to push his body away. Trying to hide the sight of Chow¡¯s body and push what she had done to the back of her mind, she blink-clicked her SASS open to see how this affected her skills. Anything to push the thought of what she had just done to the back of her mind for a few precious seconds. Standing, she tried to control her body as she was racked with the shakes. She¡¯d had fights before, but never killed anyone like this. So intimate. This meant that whilst it was activated it would last for the base of sixty seconds whilst also taking sixty seconds to RECHARGE. Which, considering how quickly combat could proceed, was a very long time indeed. Whilst she¡¯d seen the description of the skill a long time ago, she decided to refresh her memory. Dirty Boxing Dirty Boxing is like unarmed combat but with much dirtier techniques. Biting, gouging, scratching and headbutts are all key components of this fighting method. Whilst PASSIVE it gives a 5% chance to CRITICAL HITS. When ACTIVE it gives an additional 5% chance to CRITICAL HITS per rank. Dirty Boxers are able to SPECIALISE in one specific strike such as JAB, CROSS, UPPERCUT. Once, during each fight, they are able to ACTIVATE the SPECIALISM, conferring +10% to damage, and +5% to CRITICAL HIT. This was a massive increase on both. Reviewing her SASS she saw a new table had been added under the title of CULLER PROFESSION. It was simple, a column full of numbers representing the levels that could be achieved, with the number one being highlighted in green, marking her level. To the right of that column was another which chilled her to her core. It too was simple. And utterly barbaric. In order to proceed through the levels, for which she could see no bonus for doing so, she would have to achieve a certain number of kills. To hit level one, it required one cull. To hit level two required two additional kills. Meaning that by the time she reached level two, she should have culled four people. A pattern became clear as she read down the rest of the column. Progressing to each culler level meant she would have to kill the number of people required for the previous level, in addition to the number of the level. This meant that if she was level three, she would have culled four people to get to that level and would need to cull six people to get to Level Four. Level four, plus the ten she had already culled, meant she would need to cull twenty people in total. It was utterly sickening. And with no bonuses to skills for achieving the level, it seemed they were worth nothing more than bragging rights. As well as being able to record her progress on the scoreboard.
Culler Level Culls required (each level)
1 1
2 3
3 6
4 10
5 15
6 21
7 28
8 36
9 45
10 55
11 66
12 78
13 91
14 105
15 120
16 136
She became aware of the Dragon Warrior once more as she laid a hand on her shoulder. ¡°Congratulations. You¡¯re a level 1 Culler. Your first kill automatically grants that status. From now on however, levelling up will be far more difficult.¡± ¡°Harder than this?¡± Mai gestured to Chow¡¯s corpse as the Dragon Warrior helped her to her feet. ¡°Much. You will be neutralising or killing fellow cullers for the duration of the culling. As you progress through the levels, you will climb the scoreboard. Meaning that your opponents will view you as a greater threat, and a better way to gain glory for killing you. Boasting rights you might say." ¡°That¡¯s just ¡­¡± Mai failed for the right words. ¡°You¡¯re here because you chose to be. I¡¯m here because I was made a killer. Your choices led you to this moment. You squandered your freedom.¡± Her tone was neutral, but Mai could sense the anger beneath it. There was also a sense of disbelief that anyone would squander the gift of freedom without a second thought. Mai nodded, too drained to say anything. Too drained to admit that she¡¯d only entered through desperation. It would have seemed childish to state such a thing. Only the most desperate, or psychotic, would enter the culling in the first place. Or the most stupid, she thought ruefully. ¡°Go and join your other victors.¡± Mai walked across to the other victors, legs shaking like a new-born lamb¡¯s. The red-haired ganger nodded to her. ¡°Good kill. He was a sick fucker. Glad he¡¯s gone,¡± she finished with a double-thumbs up and a wide grin. ¡°Thanks,¡± Mai didn¡¯t trust herself to say anything further. It made no difference to her, she¡¯d still killed someone. Choked them to death with her bare hands. So close and personal this time, not like the ubexer fight. She didn¡¯t know whether to laugh, cry, or throw up. Maybe all three. That would certainly be something to give her fellow cullers to talk about. From the faces of the other victors, most felt as bad as she did. Looking back across the hangar she saw that in some cases there hadn¡¯t been a winner. More than a few pairs of corpses lay on the ground. From the looks of it, just over half of their dorm had been killed. ¡°What the hells?¡± she whispered. ¡°They were too badly injured. The instructors killed them,¡± the ganger replied. ¡°I¡¯m Dakota.¡± Mai shook the hand that Dakota offered. ¡°Mai Xio.¡± ¡°Yeah, I know,¡± Dakota pointed at the league table. It showed Mai¡¯s name in bold golden writing on a background whilst Chow¡¯s was white on red. Dakota¡¯s name was displayed in a similar manner. ¡°Cullers.¡± The Gorilla stood before them once more, ¡°Today was your blooding. You have now been fully accepted into the Culling. From now on, you will be trained in the arts you will need to survive.¡± ¡°Do not make friends with your training partners.¡± The Dragon Warrior swept her arm across the crowd. ¡°Alliances may be formed, but don¡¯t trust each other. Only one hundred out of an initial one million will ascend. All others will die.¡± ¡°Those of you who were injured in this initial selection should proceed to the medical block regardless as to whether you have nanites for healing or not.¡± The Gorilla warrior pointed to a red guideline which traced a path to a door with a flashing red cross above it. ¡°All other victors may return to their bunk rooms. There is no further training today. Lunch is at 13:00. Dinner at 17:00. Lights out at 23:00.¡± The Gorilla dismissed them with a wave towards the dorms. There was a moment¡¯s pause as the newly inducted cullers shuffled around looking at each other uncertainly before they slowly left the hangar. Behind them came the sound of dispersal drones clearing up the bodies of the losers. Mai glanced over her shoulder for one last look at Chow. A drone had settled over him and was spraying the corpse with an acidic cleaning agent, a hose sucking the bodily fluids into tanks mounted on its top. She barely made it to the latrines before vomiting. Book 1 - Lone Wolf - Chapter 20 Groaning, Mai levered herself out of her bunk. Every part of her ached. She hadn¡¯t been deemed injured enough to require healing and was only now discovering the bumps and bruises she¡¯d suffered in her fight with Chow. Chow. Her mind flashed back to the feeling of her finger entering his eye socket. Then to him begging her not to kill him, his desperation to live just a little longer. To take another breath. Then to the moment he went limp in her arms. Then the revolting way his body had been dissolved and sucked up into a drone to be disposed of as if he was trash, no acknowledgement that he had once been a sentient being. CULLERS ¨C REPORT TO HANGER DO YOU ACCEPT YES/NO? Sighing, she pressed YES and trudged along the guideline, shoulders slumped, eyes on the floor. Mai couldn¡¯t bear to look another person in the eye right now. It didn¡¯t matter that they were all in the same boat. That they were all killers. Her father would have been appalled to see her now, she felt as though she could feel his spirit judging her. Can¡¯t believe I used to watch the odd Culling holo and call it entertainment. Mai hated herself. Hated her stupidity and recklessness. If she¡¯d only toed the line she wouldn¡¯t be in this position and would be at home with Li. ¡°Fuck,¡± cursed Dakota from just behind her, breath tickling her neck. ¡°Fuck.¡± Mai lifted her head and gasped at the sight of the changed hangar before them. ¡°Cullers, welcome to day two.¡± Dragon Warrior stepped out from behind a twelve-foot wall, ¡°This is your next challenge. As before, you will not be able to activate any skills. They shall remain passive.¡± The Gorilla appeared at the top of the wall, sitting on it nonchalantly. ¡°Ninety-one of you survived yesterday¡¯s induction. Today you have to make it through the assault course you see before you.¡± It felt as though a bucket of iced water had been dumped over her head. Gasps filled the hanger as her other cullers tried to process. How the hells am I going to survive this? Day two and over fifty per cent of the people in my dorm are dead! I¡¯ll never get back to Li! ¡°Anyone who is too injured or unable to complete the course will be culled. You are, if you catch up with the person in front of you, allowed to cull them.¡± Dragon Warrior paced before the cullers eyes intently watching them. ¡°If you fall to one of the many traps on the course. You. Will. Be. Culled.¡± The cullers around her shifted, a couple started bouncing on the spot as the adrenalin kicked in. Others chuckled. It was all bravado. As far as she was concerned, Mai felt as though she¡¯d hit another high in the levels of fear she¡¯d ever experienced. ¡°You will be setting off at five second intervals. If you do choose to cull a fellow culler, bear in mind that others will be mere seconds behind you.¡± The Gorilla forward somersaulted off the wall to land in a hero pose. Dust rose from the floor. ¡°If you make it through the assault course, you will enter proper training and will not face any further risk of death until the Culling starts. Pain will, however, be a daily occurrence,¡± the Dragon Warrior explained. ¡°Any questions?¡± Aside from a few feet shuffling, no one raised their hands. Mai risked a look around. The one-milers seemed to be slightly more subdued than they had yesterday, but they were still showing far more confidence and bravado than any of the others around them. Aside from them, there were some urbexers, what looked like ex-military from their glyphs and convicts. Her eyes followed the course she would need to take. She smiled as she started to calculate the leaps, spins, tucks, and rolls she¡¯d need to cross the various obstacles. She might not be able to activate her FREE RUNNING, but the skill¡¯s passive buffs meant that she could still chart her way across the course. She realized she had a slight advantage over most other contestants, she hoped anyway, of having developed the ¡®natural¡¯ free running ability in her previous less complicated life to fall back on. Still, it would have been nice to have all those buffs that the active status would have given her. And then the course was activated. Lasers, saw-tooth blades, spikes, flames and even guns erupted into life. ¡°You¡¯ve got to be shitting me,¡± muttered Dakota next to Mai. She nudged her with a sharp elbow. ¡°This is going to be a massacre. How many do you reckon will make it?¡± Mai took a quick look around. ¡°Depends. If the psychos decide to try to remove other runners, then there¡¯s going to be fights at various obstacles. If we can get around those, we should be able to get home clear and free.¡± ¡°We?¡± Dakota raised an eyebrow. ¡°Deal.¡± Mai shook the hand that Dakota offered her in shock. She hadn¡¯t meant to make an ally. It had been an off-the-cuff reply, but she wasn¡¯t about to go back on her word. Not if she wanted. ¡°If you¡¯re behind me and I get in trouble. You help. If you¡¯re ahead of me and you get in trouble I¡¯ll help.¡± Dakota said, giving her hand one single pump. They stared at each other for a couple of seconds, Dakota didn¡¯t let go of her hand or break eye contact. ¡°I¡¯m serious. I won¡¯t stab you in the back. Let¡¯s just get trained up and out of this shithole. After that we can kill each other.¡± Mai nodded, not trusting her voice, and they pumped their hands once more. ¡°Cullers. Pay attention. When I call your name step forward and join the back of the line,¡± Gorilla pointed to the start of the assault course. It was helpfully labelled ¡°Start¡± by a huge VR banner hanging in the air. He started calling out names, chivvying along those more reluctant than others. The line started to stretch back until there were at least thirty people ready to race. ¡°Mai Xio.¡± Gulping, Mai tipped her head at Dakota and made her way to the back of the queue. She bounced lightly on the spot, shaking her legs and arms out. It was a good way of warming up without giving away too much of her skills and also helped to shake the adrenalin out of her too shaky limbs. This is just like when you were free running with the Lab Rats. Just like taking a massive jump, she thought. Only her typically stubborn brain insisted on pointing out that when she¡¯d been free running with her friends, there hadn¡¯t been lasers and saws and any number of horrendous ways of dying. Dakota¡¯s name was called, and Mai counted the number of people between them. There were at least ten, so fifty seconds depending on how fast Dakota was. She seemed to move lightly on her feet and if she was a one-miler, she¡¯d be used to making her way through tortuous routes. The levels in One mile had all the other levels of miles above them stretching into what would have been a mythical sky above. Miles and miles of buildings, billions of tons of weight, billions of other people, all bearing down on the One mile. Collapses were a regular occurrence, especially in the older parts of the city. Naturally, the buildings were repaired quickly in the higher levels, rescue efforts launched to save those trapped there. But the One milers were left to their own. As a result, they were used to having to travel dangerous routes to go about their daily business. Mai had even seen a holodoc where children used a zip-line to get to school. A zip line that hung thousands of paces in the air and which stretched over five hundred paces across a chasm. CULLER ¨C YOU MUST COMPLETE THE ASSAULT COURSE DO YOU ACCEPT YES/NO? Every fucking time. She was tempted to press the NO but having seen what happened to Mouse on the first day, she wasn¡¯t keen to see what would happen to her. And besides, no-one else had pressed no. Gorilla¡¯s demonstration with the unwilling Mouse had been more than enough. RACE BEGINS IN 5 ¡­ 4 ¡­ 3 ¡­ 2 ¡­ 1 A gun sounded, making them all jump. The first runner stood, shocked into stillness before the runner behind them gave them a gentle push. Precious seconds wasted, the first runner was still trying to get to the first obstacle, a six-foot wall when the second runner started. A countdown clock appeared on Mai¡¯s retinal monitor showing five seconds every time a runner ran. A traffic light appeared, the red flashing as the runners before her raced off. All too soon it was Mai¡¯s turn. She¡¯d used the last few minutes to track people¡¯s progress, trying to see what traps lay in store on the farthest obstacles. So far, only three runners had been killed or injured too badly to continue. In the distance she saw a crowd growing as the first runners met the twelve-foot wall. BEGIN YOUR RACE IN 5 ¡­ 4 ¡­ 3 ¡­ 2 ¡­ 1 The lights switched to amber on three, flashed amber on two, and turned green on one. And she was off. The six foot wall was simple. Anyone in even moderate shape could pull themselves up and over if they tackled it with enough aggression. A quick switch in her footing and she was leaping through the air, hands grabbing the rough top, feet kicking her up. Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings. She vaulted from the top, not wanting to risk dropping straight down in case there was a nasty surprise lying in wait. It didn¡¯t matter that no one else had fallen foul of a trap. That they hadn¡¯t indicated nothing. Her caution was rewarded with a blood-curdling scream and the sound of roaring flames as the runner behind her completed the wall. They¡¯d clearly dropped straight down. Not risking a look back she sprinted towards the next obstacle. Ropes hung down over a gap filled with what looked like water. The first death had occurred when a waif-like girl had slipped and fallen in after an instructor had somehow made the rope writhe like it was a snake. Mai knew that she¡¯d never forget the sight of a human¡¯s face melting from their skull as acid ate it away, the victim screaming as they tried to keep their head above the acid. Although she¡¯d seen the drone clearing up Chow¡¯s body, she hadn¡¯t been close enough to see the actual effect. It was utterly horrifying. Leaping, she stretched to her full height and grasped a rope, using her momentum to fling her up and off the rope before an instructor could make it drop her into the acid. It¡¯s not paranoia if you know they¡¯re out to get you, she thought grimly as she landed, tucked, and rolled to disperse the force. Obstacle three had also seen one death. It was a series of planks laid against barrels, see-saws basically. Another runner in front of her had died here after choosing the middle one. Spikes had appeared on the plank surface and when they reached the centre, the plank had folded in two, trapping the culler in between. Their body had been swiftly removed by a drone. Since then all the other runners thus far had taken the see-saw on the right. She went left, her paranoia playing with her mind. Her STREETSMARTS passive bonus, otherwise known as ¡°gut instinct¡±, was kicking in, and there wasn¡¯t a chance in the Hells that she was going to ignore it. If everyone has made it by going over the right-hand one so far, odds are the instructors are going to change things up. Running up the plank she quickly reached the middle tipping point. Stopping, she placed a foot in front of her and forced the plank down towards the other side. As soon as it touched down she was running. Reaching the mid-section of the other end of the plank she stamped down and used the flex to spring into the air. She landed hands first, folding her arms and rolling back onto her feet in one smooth motion. In less than a second she was back to full sprint. There was another scream behind her. Risking a look over her shoulder she saw that the runner behind her had taken the right plank. Something had bisected them. The next few obstacles were easy. To her. She caught up ¨C and passed ¨C runners who had been in front of her. One tried to get in her way, but she slipped past. She wasn¡¯t going to waste time culling them if she didn¡¯t have to. Looking back she saw that Dakota had managed to pass five of the people who had been between them. Mai smiled at the shit-eating grin on her ally¡¯s face. Of all the people to enjoy this, she¡¯s the one, thought Mai as she turned her attention back to the next obstacle. The obstacle before her was a series of angled pads. The inclines were all inward, towards another pool of acid. Remains of at least one other runner bobbed in the steaming lake, the bones proving harder than the skin and flesh to dissolve. It looked simple. One-foot leaps, using each of the pads to bounce off onto the other before reaching the other end. There were ten jumps that she needed to make. Her passive FREE RUNNING allowed her to see the best route through, over, or under any obstacle. It didn¡¯t give her the exact points to hit, just an idea of the best path. If she wanted that sort of thing, she¡¯d have to ACTIVATE the skill, which of course she couldn¡¯t. Damn them, why are they making this so fucking hard! She thought, bracing herself for what was to come. Taking a breath she ran, four quick steps, then leaped into the air. Angling her right foot she hit the first of the pads and pushed immediately off, using her left foot to land on the next one. She repeated the process as quickly and smoothly as she could. Grinning, she reached the last one. Her foot hit, she started to push off, and then the pad tilted vertical. NO! She lashed out with her foot as she dropped towards the acid. It caught the pad and gave her just enough momentum to kick herself forward. Chest driving forward, arms outstretched, and legs tucked up behind her she crashed into the lip of the pool¡¯s edge. Ribs broke with a crunch. The pain was sickening, and she coughed as the air in her lungs was forced out in one go. DAMAGE! 45% BLEED @1% PER SECOND CHOKING! HEALTH 55% Vision clouding with the pain, gasping for breath, gasping in pain as she tried to fill her lungs, Mai scrabbled for purchase. She couldn¡¯t drop her legs, or they would immediately go into the acid. Instead she kicked them out horizontally before bending them and repeating the process. Every time she did so she dug her fingers into the matted flooring and pulled herself forward. Every second was searing agony. More pain than she¡¯d ever felt in her life. By the third repetition she¡¯d lost all of her nails and she tasted blood in her mouth. Whether it was from a punctured lung or because she¡¯d bitten her tongue she couldn¡¯t tell. Tears blinded her no matter how much she blinked, and she daren¡¯t try to wipe them away. Feet landed by her head. ¡°No time for lounging around.¡± Mai twisted her head. A man, skin as dark as the night stood above her. His hair was a neon blue and his eyes glowed radioactive yellow. That marked him out as being from at least eight-mile, probably higher. It seemed that those in the higher levels of the city loved to modify themselves beyond all recognition. ¡°Help?¡± She asked, although even as her lips moved she knew it was in vain. He glanced back down the course. Eyes narrowing. Lips moving slightly. She realised he was counting. ¡°No. Not in the way you want,¡± He smiled, baring teeth as red as blood. And with that he started to push her towards the pool. ¡°No!¡± Fear gave her strength. With one hand she grabbed hold of his leg, and with the other she took hold of the hand he was using to push her. She screamed, as her ribs felt as though they had exploded, choking on the blood that quickly filled her mouth. ¡°Let go dammit!¡± eyes wide he shot a look back down the course. ¡°Just fucking die!¡± Screaming in response, Mai threw herself forward and bit hard on his arm. HIT! 2% DAMAGE His health bar barely changed. ¡°Shit!¡± Punch after punch crashed into her head. With each blow she bit harder and started to shake her head back and forth. BLUNT DAMAGE ¨C 1%, 1%, 3%, 2% HEALTH ¨C 48% Mai wished nothing more than to be able to switch off the damage record. The last thing she wanted to see was an actual count-down to her death. ¡°Get the fuck off her!¡± roared a familiar voice before Dakota crashed into Mai¡¯s attacker. With his leg pinned by Mai he was unable to do anything to soften the impact. As he fell, foot trapped, his shin snapped. HIT! 35% DAMAGE CRIPPLED! BLEED@10% PER SECOND This time the change in his health bar was much more heartening. Wailing, her former attacker thrashed on the floor, clutching at the yellow bone protruding from his ankle. A BLEED glyph appeared over his head, as did that of a stylised bone which had been snapped in half. Dakota stepped up to him and booted him hard in the face. Teeth and blood flew in all directions. His head thumped onto the ground. Without pause Dakota leapt into the air before crashing down with both feet onto the man¡¯s head. It cracked with a sound that chilled Mai¡¯s blood, an eye bursting out of its socket as the skull deformed. KILL ASSIST! CONTESTANT 003928 ELIMINATED ¡°Fucking bastard!¡± Dakota grabbed hold of Mai¡¯s arms and pulled her up. ¡°Can you finish the course?¡± Mai took a breath. It was agony. She stretched. Agony. ¡°No choice is there?¡± ¡°That¡¯s the spirit. Wait a second.¡± Dakota stepped past her. Turning, Mai saw her punch a runner in the face just as they touched down. The woman gave a shriek as she tumbled into the acid. ¡°Fucking bitch. Let her best mate die. She¡¯s a Blood Weasel. Was.¡± Blood Weasels were legendary throughout the city for their cunning and cruelty. Known for breaking any and every treaty they ever entered into, Mai wasn¡¯t surprised that this one had left her best friend to die. ¡°We need to move,¡± panted Mai, pushing the pain of her injuries to the back of her mind as best as she could. Sweat ran down her face and she scrubbed it away as best she could. The next obstacle was the twelve-foot wall. Mai counted at least five bodies at its base, and she could only guess at the number that were on the other side. ¡°Get your back to the wall. Cup your hands. When I run up, push up with your hands as hard as you can and turn.¡± Mai nodded, too tired to speak. Doing as she was told she nodded she was ready. Dakota sprinted forward, jumped, placed a foot in her cupped hands. Screaming in agony, Mai pushed with all her might, twisting to reach above her head. Ribs grinding, pain seeming to race through her very soul, Mai fought to remain conscious. As her vision narrowed, she gave one last effort. For a second it felt as though Dakota¡¯s entire weight was trying to push her into the ground. And then it was gone. Dakota had grasped the top of the wall and pulled herself over. ¡°Your turn.¡± Mai hobbled away from the wall, unable to straighten; she was in so much pain. ¡°Just run and jump. I¡¯ll grab you.¡± Mai wiped at the sweat running down her face. She¡¯d never thought pain could reach such levels. Every time she thought she¡¯d reached a new high, she took a breath and it got worse. ¡°Hurry! They¡¯re going to catch up!¡± Mai didn¡¯t look back. Setting her teeth she ran as fast as she could and leapt for Dakota¡¯s outstretched hand. Grabbing with both hands, she looked up into Dakota¡¯s eyes. ¡°And over!¡± Dakota threw herself over the top of the wall, using her body weight to pull Mai up. ¡°Got the wall?¡± ¡°Got it!¡± gasped Mai. Dakota opened her hand and slipped down to the ground. Somewhat less gracefully, Mai slipped over and tumbled to the floor, groaning as she crashed into it. DAMAGE! 1% HEALTH 47% Near winded, Mai staggered to her feet. ¡°Bet that hurt,¡± Dakota said not unsympathetically ¡°Come on. One more obstacle. It¡¯s a beam.¡± Mai peered through tear-clouded eyes at the last obstacle. It was a beam over a pool of what looked like molten lava. Brick walls bordered the obstacle. They were just far enough away that a runner couldn¡¯t use them to balance. Something was off about the bricks. She swiped at her eyes, blinking furiously to try and clear them. There was definitely something different. ¡°Ledge,¡± Mai panted as they made their way towards it. ¡°What?¡± ¡°Ledge, at the base of the wall. It crosses the full length. Coloured the same as the bricks. Just wide enough to shuffle along. Don¡¯t think anyone else has used it. And I don¡¯t trust that bloody beam.¡± ¡°Fuck me you¡¯ve got good eyes. Can you make it though?¡± ¡°Got to. No chance I can balance on the beam.¡± Not that she had much hope she¡¯d be able to use the ledge either. Still, if it had been so well hidden the instructors couldn¡¯t have wanted them to find it. And if they didn¡¯t want them to find it, it was unlikely to be trapped. ¡°You go first. If you slip, I might be able to save you.¡± Dakota slipped her shoulder out from under Mai¡¯s arm. She gently guided her onto the wall. ¡°Clever ¡­ bastards,¡± panted Mai. There was an eye-height ledge just wide enough to act as a finger grip. Grimacing at the fire in her ribs and taking short breaths, Mai took hold and edged out. Heat slammed into her. Every breath burned and she felt the sweat on her face drying as soon as it left her pores. Her eyes felt as though they were melting so she closed them. Slide, change grip, slide, she thought as she made her way across. After what seemed like a lifetime, she reached the end of the obstacle, stepping on to solid ground. A siren sounded, startling her so much she could have sworn her heart stopped beating. OBSTACLE COMPLETED NEW SKILL: ENDURE PAIN RANK 1! ENDURE PAIN +5%! NEW SKILL: SPOT HIDDEN RANK 1! SPOT HIDDEN +5%! The descriptions of her new skills appeared. Endure Pain A valuable skill for any warrior. Wounded, unable to heal themselves, a person with this skill can ignore the pain of their wounds and deal with the task at hand. This doesn''t increase their ability to take damage, merely allowing them to continue fighting. Once this skill enters RECHARGE, the user will experience the full effects of whatever damage they have taken. Spot Hidden Spot hidden has many applications. Coupled with STREET SMARTS it can be used to spot hidden ambushers. On its own it can be used to find something that''s been lost or hidden, such as items or even a secret door, depending on how long you search. She also took the time to check out the CRIPPLED status effect, as this was the second time she¡¯d seen it, and both times she¡¯d been too busy to find out what it meant. Crippled A crippled opponent suffers a -95% penalty to any SKILL utilising the affected location. If that is the back or neck, they are also PARALYSED. If this is any part of the leg, then walking without assistance will be nigh-on impossible. Running is out of the question. And with the ever-present record of her life hovering before her, she passed out just as Dragon Warrior called something about a special reward. Book 1 - Lone Wolf - Chapter 21 ¡°Can¡¯t believe we got the special reward!¡± Crowed Dakota as they sat in the hangar¡¯s canteen. ¡°Me neither,¡± Mai mumbled while she chewed a mouthful of noodles. They¡¯d both been rewarded with a skill called STEALTH. Not that they¡¯d had a chance to try it out. After the obstacle course another ten cullers had been killed, deemed to be too injured to continue. How has wanting to get back to my sister become so bloody complicated! A voice at the back of her mind whispered that she should have stayed in the sewers. At least that way she had a chance of earning her way free. Not as quickly as the Culling might see her home, and even after what had happened to Andries, but she would still have had a chance of living. Right here and now, she didn¡¯t know if she was even going to make it to the actual Culling. The instructors seemed determined to kill as many of the potential cullers as they could. At least in the city she wouldn¡¯t have to worry about the instructors. ¡°Hey, no need for such a long face,¡± Dakota said, laying a hand on her shoulder. ¡°I know things are pretty shitty right now, but once we get into the city we¡¯ll be free to roam at will.¡± It was as if Dakota had been reading her mind. ¡°Cheer up, don¡¯t let the other see just how down you are. They¡¯ll take any sign of weakness and use it against,¡± whispered her friend. ¡°Have a look at STEALTH, it¡¯ll cheer you up.¡± Swallowing, she called up the description. Stealth - One of the most important skills a culler can have. STEALTH allows the user to sneak up on their opponents without being heard or seen. PASSIVE, it allows them to move quieter during everyday life, but ACTIVE it turns them into silent killers. Not only that, but if the user thinks out of the box it can be used in many different ways. Mai looked around, trying to work out how many of their fellow cullers still lived. ¡°Seventy-nine out of the original two hundred,¡± Dakota could clearly read Mai¡¯s expression. ¡°How many do you think have died total? Across the city I mean.¡± ¡°Well if you do the maths, that would mean at least five hundred thousand, unless the rules are different in each hangar.¡± There was an uncomfortable silence as they processed that thought. ¡°And what if they were lying about the numbers of hangars? I mean, they could have got over one million people signed up. Then they whittle us down until there¡¯s a million of us. Hit that target and it starts.¡± Dakota was staring intently at Mai as she uttered this. ¡°Shit,¡± Mai dropped her chopsticks into her bowl. ¡°I hadn¡¯t thought about that. I had been concentrating on the idea that during the first fight, the numbers would be dropped by half, bringing the total to five hundred thousand like they said.. Then reduced again in similar numbers by the assault course we just finished.¡± ¡°What, you were hoping there¡¯d only be a couple of hundred thousand left for the actual event? Think you can take them all on?¡± chuckled Dakota. ¡°Think we¡¯re being paranoid?¡± Mai shrugged. It was more than reasonable that they would be paranoid. Afterall, they knew that the instructors were trying to kill them. So why not destroy them in other, more subtle ways? It was called Mind Death, psychological tactics designed to destroy a person¡¯s mind. It was subtle, like the sound of a dripping tap. Plip, plip, plip. Plant a seed of doubt, feed it, let it grow, and then use that seed to plant others. She¡¯d learnt of it watching the holodramas. It was a favoured technique of members of the Celestial Court in her favourite holodrama ¡°Heaven¡¯s Fingers¡±. ¡°Better chance of being able to hide out and let the ¡­ more determined kill each other off first, Mai suggested. ¡°Hide?¡± scoffed Dakota. ¡°Didn¡¯t you see the last Culling?¡± Mai shook her head. She¡¯d watched it a couple of times, but only for the action and hadn¡¯t really paid as much attention to it as some others, especially not around the rules. She¡¯d been shocked by the killing then, even though it was accepted as something perfectly natural in the city. Out of her friends, she had been one of only a few who hadn¡¯t worn Culling merchandise, or spent hours discussing the merits of the top cullers. Now, she regretted she hadn¡¯t paid more attention. Then again, if her current self had travelled back in time to warn her past self, she¡¯d have been laughed out of the apartment. ¡°They launched drones to track those cullers who had gone to ground. You can¡¯t spend more than a few ¨C it¡¯s random from Culling to Culling by the way ¨C hours in any given location before the drones force you out.¡± ¡°What happens if you don¡¯t move or go back to the spot a bit later. Like after a couple of minutes?¡± ¡°You¡¯re culled. People hiding is boring. Makes for poor sport. People have a lot riding on this. Lots of bets.¡± Dakota rubbed her fingers together in an old-age gesture. ¡°Are the gangs betting?¡± ¡°Do you shit if you eat?¡¯ Laughed her friend. ¡°Of course the gangs are fucking betting. And they¡¯ll be betting on all the gangers in the Culling. Some of these fucks volunteered for this. Their families are guaranteed a bonus for each kill. Hells, they get a bonus if they make it into the Culling. There are bets on that as well.¡± Mai¡¯s mouth soured at the thought. She¡¯d entered the Culling to get back to Li. That people would actually profit from her killing or being killed was anathema to her. CULLER ¨C REPORT FOR TRAINING DO YOU ACCEPT YES/NO? ¡°I swear they give us the option to refuse just to fuck with our minds.¡± Dakota rose from the table they were sharing, ¡°Come on. Don¡¯t even think about choosing no.¡± ¡°Too late, I¡¯ve thought about it a lot these last couple of days.¡± Still, Mai pressed the YES button and dutifully followed the guideline which appeared. ¡°Good morning cullers. From now until the start of the Culling you are safe,¡± Dragon Warrior smiled at them. It was the first time she¡¯d done it and rather than feel relieved, Mai felt even more on edge. ¡°You have joined a band of warriors whose origins have been lost in the mists of time.¡± Gorilla paced in front of them, his huge fists helping him to swing along. ¡°As of today, barring any accidents, you face exactly six hundred and fifty-two thousand, three hundred and twenty-four opponents.¡± ¡°Fucking told you they were messing with us,¡± Dakota hissed out of the side of her mouth. ¡°Still fancy your odds?¡± Mai didn¡¯t know what she fancied. It was such a large number. Just like the size of the population. You could only go by the numbers of people around you. Thinking of anything bigger was just beyond her. ¡°No worse than yesterday,¡± she muttered back. ¡°No better either.¡± WEAPONS TRAINING DO YOU ACCEPT YES/NO? Mai cursed as she realised she¡¯d missed the instructor¡¯s briefing, she¡¯d been too distracted, wrapped up in her own thoughts. Stupid! Can¡¯t afford to not listen when that bastard ape is talking. Next time could be my last, she resolved to pay better attention. Pressing YES she looked in the direction the guideline led. There was a small woman, couldn¡¯t have been more than three feet tall, one of the Halfers, a race of people bred to work in the pipes and ducts of the city. She¡¯d often thought of them as cute. Not so this one. A full-face scar crossed from temple to chin. An unforeseen side-effect of their genetic engineering was that they were natural marksmen. It didn¡¯t matter whether they held a servo-assisted laser rifle or a rock in their hands. If they wanted to hit something, they would. Holodramas often depicted them as cold killers, working for either law enforcement or acting as lone assassins. Li had absolutely loved those holodramas. A small group of cullers had already gathered around the Halfer by the time they reached the point. ¡°Welcome Cullers. Today I¡¯m going to teach you how to use submachine guns.¡± The Halfer held up a stubby-looking weapon. ¡°They are designed to spit out as many bullets as possible in the shortest amount of time. Each sub-machine gun bullet costs nought point one per cent BIOMASS, which gives you a cost of three per cent per magazine for thirty rounds.¡± Pausing, she looked to see whether her students were following her. Mai nodded vigorously as the Halfer¡¯s gaze landed upon her. ¡°Good. Naturally, when you form the weapons they don¡¯t have a magazine per se. But you still have to fill the weapon at a maximum of thirty rounds each time depending. Unless you buy an upgrade which allows more. Reloading still takes time. It¡¯s not as fast as creating the weapon, because the template allows for a full magazine.¡± There was a murmur at that. ¡°But! Forming another sub-machine gun might be quicker, however you¡¯re then going to have to pay more BIOMASS, and as time goes on, that will be costly.¡± Pausing, the Halfer looked at a couple of cullers who were still murmuring to each other. Feeling her gaze, they quickly stilled. ¡°There are other weapons, such as light machine guns, which have the capacity for up to one hundred and fifty rounds per magazine. How much BIOMASS is that if we assume the ammunition cost is the same as an SMG¡¯s?¡± There was another pause as the cullers tried to work out the answer. It wasn¡¯t that it was a difficult question, more that they were so overwhelmed with events that their brains struggled with the simplest maths. ¡°Well?¡± the Halfer¡¯s foot tapped, conveying her annoyance. Having seen the consequences of the Gorilla¡¯s annoyance, Mai was certain she didn¡¯t want to see what punishment the Halfer came up with. ¡°Fifteen per cent,¡± Mai blurted out, surreptitiously crossing her fingers, and praying to all the Gods she knew she was correct. ¡°Good. Always bear in mind the cost of killing someone, it¡¯s not limited to physical and metaphysical aspects,¡± the Halfer nodded in approval. Passing the sub-machine gun to one of the cullers, she let them feel its heft and examine it before saying ¡°Keep it moving.¡± ¡°It¡¯s got fuck-all range and its accuracy isn¡¯t that great either. However, at ranges of up to fifty feet, it¡¯ll do what¡¯s required.¡± Dakota nudged Mai who took hold of the weapon. It was surprisingly heavy for its size. A grip sat behind the trigger, and one hung down from the short barrel. Taking hold of it she gasped as it shaped itself to her hand. A set of crosshairs appeared on her retinal monitor as she snugged it into her shoulder and slowly tracked it over another class of cullers. ¡°Keep it moving please,¡± encouraged the Halfer. Blushing, Mai passed it on to the man standing next to her. ¡°We¡¯re going to use virtual bullets. Targets will appear on your retinal monitors and you will shoot them. Or not.¡± ¡°Why not?¡± asked a culler. ¡°Some will be marked with a red outline. Those are civilians. You are not allowed to deliberately kill civilians. Doing so will incur penalties.¡± Everyone gathered knew the rules. The Culling was part of the city. Part of every citizen¡¯s life. Still, considering Mai had missed the fact that hiding wasn¡¯t allowed, she decided she¡¯d better pay attention. ¡°What about in self-defence?¡± Asked another member of the group. ¡°Self-defence is permitted. Any civilian who attempts to interfere in the Culling by attacking a culler will be culled. If a culler does this before the drones can, then no penalty will be applied. Civilians are allowed to let cullers know of the presence of other cullers. You may not kill civilians that do that.¡± There was a series of nods. The Culling saw incredibly large bets being laid upon the results. Previous Cullings had seen civilians allowed to intervene directly by engaging the cullers and killing them. However, after the Chongqing Massacre, the rules had been changed. Still, there was no guarantee that civilians wouldn¡¯t try taking a pop. Mai hid her relief at the knowledge she wasn¡¯t going to have to face even more opponents. Especially on their home turf. ¡°Back to the lesson. This lesson will give you the USE SMG skill. Practice hard. Take your time with each shot. Learn how to control a burst. Learn how to spray. Do not skip a lesson.¡± Holding up a sub-machine gun - SMG, which had been printed rather than being formed out of her own arm, she ran through the parts, explaining what they did and demonstrated how to strip and rebuild the weapon. ¡°Some of you look bored. There will be times when you don¡¯t want to spend BIO-MASS. At which point in time, old-fashioned weapons like this are very important indeed. There are plenty around on the lower levels, as the people there don¡¯t have the BIO-MASS to spare. I heartily recommend you learn how to use these, rather than relying on your own body.¡± And with that the Halfer handed out SMGs to everyone in the group. Mai took hers with a polite thanks. Unlike others who rushed straight into the first lesson, she took her time to truly look at the weapon. She¡¯d need to kill and gain EXPERIENCE in order to buy upgrades and improve the weapon. And by killing and improving the weapon, she¡¯d become a better culler. It was a self-fulfilling cycle. BEGIN SMG LESSON 1 YES/NO? Smiling for the first time at the option to begin a lesson, she selected YES and tucked the stock of the weapon into her shoulder. SELECT SINGLE FIRE AND ENGAGE 5 TARGETS An image of an SMG appeared with an arrow pointing to the selector. She had a choice of single shot ¨C known as semi-automatic, three-round burst, and full automatic. Selecting single shot mode caused five targets to appear at different distances. Laying her sight onto the nearest target she took a breath and fired. If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. Both the noise and the recoil startled her. It was completely different from the films she had watched at home. A dot appeared on the target where the bullet had hit. It was high and to the right. Completely missing any of the scoring areas. Sighting on the next target, she aimed lower and to the left, then fired. CRITICAL HIT! ¨C HEART ¨C INSTANT DEATH CONGRATULATIONS! Whoop-de-fucking-doo she thought. Her next shot was for the head. Aiming just below and to the left , she cursed as the bullet still hit higher than she thought it would. Her next shot at a target nearly twenty paces away plugged it straight between the eyes. CRITICAL HIT! ¨C HEADSHOT ¨C INSTANT DEATH HEADSHOTS ARE A SUREFIRE WAY OF KILLING SOMEONE QUICKLY! BUT BEWARE, THEY ARE ALSO HARDER TO HIT. That wasn¡¯t really a surprise. A bullet to the head was going to give someone a very abrupt end to what was already most likely a bad day. Nor was it a surprise that hitting someone in the head in the middle of combat was also going to be difficult. Although hitting them in the head when they weren¡¯t expecting you, might make things easier. Plus it would also mean they¡¯d be less likely to go down screaming and letting everyone around them know that someone was around and causing mischief. LESSON COMPLETED DO YOU WISH TO CONTINUE WITH LESSONS? ALL LESSONS MUST BE COMPLETED TO UNLOCK USE SMG YES/NO? Grinning, she selected the next lesson. For the next half an hour she was taken through using SMGs, both stationary and moving. Snap shooting, aiming, and a mixture of all different methods. By the end of the last lesson she was sweating and panting as it had required her to run and shoot on the move whilst moving through an urban environment full of enemies and civilians. SMG LESSONS COMPLETED NEW SKILL! USE SMG RANK 1! USE SMG +5% A stylised and rotating image of a sub-machine gun appeared on her retinal monitor, and her skills menu opened to show her that the skill had been essentially ¡®unlocked¡¯. Opening it up, she read the description. Use SMG - Sub-machine guns fire small calibre rounds at a very high rate. They are great spray and pray weapons, excellent for suppressing an enemy. USE SMG is a PASSIVE skill which confers a base unlimited duration, and a 5% CRITICAL HIT bonus. Each additional level of skill confers +5% CRITICAL HIT chance. Mai frowned at that. Gorilla hadn¡¯t said anything about the fact that the combat skills would have a PASSIVE nature. Which made using skills all the more tactical. Against low-level threats she could use the PASSIVE aspect of the skill and not have to worry about it running down and entering RECHARGE. But against more challenging opponents, she could activate it and at RANK 1 would automatically get an additional five per cent to her chances of a CRITICAL HIT. ¡°I suggest you also take a quick look at the description of the weapon in order to understand the weapon better,¡± the Halfer said immediately after dismissing them. Most of the Cullers didn¡¯t hear, too busy chattering about their best shots, or just too wrapped up in their own thoughts, but Mai was just close enough. Checking her retinal monitor she saw she had enough time to grab a quick read. Sub-machine gun ¨C A light personal weapon with a small calibre, mid-sized magazine, and a high rate of fire. Inaccurate out to a long distance, it is perfect for close-in combat and short ranges. Due to the low power of its bullets, it doesn¡¯t confer bonuses such as STAGGER, BLEED, or CRIPPLE, but does confer the SUPPRESSION negative effect. Whilst it wasn¡¯t that impressive on a whole, she did like the idea of being able to fill a room with lead in the blink of an eye and send any opponents scurrying for cover. Alongside that was the chance that she¡¯d actually be able to drill someone full of bullets. Which, whilst a bonus in terms of Culling, still turned her blood to ice. Unlike some, she wasn¡¯t reconciled to the idea of killing a fellow human being one bit. ¡°I nailed that lesson. SMGs are such fun! Medicinal even in a way,¡± Dakota was grinning from ear-to-ear. ¡°How about you?¡± ¡°I did okay. You¡¯re right, blatting away at targets is quite therapeutic. Not sure how I¡¯d feel about it if the bullets were coming towards me though!¡± ¡°Fucking hell!¡± A culler threw his weapon down. ¡°I didn¡¯t even get to rank up!¡± Mai tilted her head. ¡°How? We were told if we did the lessons we¡¯d get the skill!¡± ¡°He missed too many targets, killed too many civilians, and chose not to read every prompt window. He was punished.¡± The Halfer said as she calmly picked up the weapon. Hefting it, she took a moment to look the frustrated man in the eyes and smashed the butt of the SMG into his groin. ¡°Never disrespect my weapons like that again. Medic!¡± That gave Mai pause to think. Not the smashing of the groin part, punishing the students seemed to be par for the course. But the fact that there was actually the chance they could fail to pick up a skill. She vowed there and then to give one hundred per cent, no matter how tired she was. Nothing is stopping me from getting back to Li! *** Every part of Mai ached. For the last week they¡¯d had twelve-hour days packed with lessons. SMGs, assault rifles, shotguns, light machine guns, medium machine guns, sniper rifles, knife fighting, sword fighting, how to set anti-personnel mines, how to disarm anti-personnel mines. How to sneak, climb, jump, abseil and even base jump. It had been both terrifying and exhilarating on equal measures. The irony that she was at her fittest when she could also be dead in the next few days didn¡¯t escape her. It would have been funny if it wasn¡¯t so damned sad and scary. And talking of scary. ¡°UNARMED COMBAT. This is not DIRTY BOXING, SHOOT WRESTLING or any other skill you might have picked up outside in what you lovingly call ¡®real life¡¯,¡± a large woman whose jumpsuit bulged with muscles stood before the cullers. ¡°These techniques are designed to give you the ability to kill as cleanly and quickly as possible, whilst expending as little effort as possible.¡± The woman stopped talking for a couple of seconds to throw techniques in the air. Even without an opponent her face was utterly intense. ¡°You will be faced with opponents of all sizes. Hopefully, the lessons you learnt on day one won¡¯t have been forgotten. I advise you to follow every lesson. No matter how badass you think you are. For the purposes of this training you will be allowed to use any combat skills you have. That way you can advance in them, whilst taking on the UNARMED COMBAT lessons. Any injuries will be HEALED.¡± Puffing out her cheeks in relief that she could use her skills, Mai moved away to her designated training area. Then again, was it really good that others could use their skills as well? Once again she had to remind herself that getting through this and surviving so that she could get back to her sister was the goal. They all had enough space to ensure that there were no accidental or not so accidental incidents. A drone hovered nearby each area to ensure people followed the rules. UNARMED COMBAT LESSON ONE BEGIN YES/NO? Rolling her shoulders, she took a deep breath and selected YES. A huge man wandered over. Her opponent was so big even his muscles had muscles. From the sweat on his skin Mai could tell he¡¯d already been fighting. Disappointingly he didn¡¯t have any bruises. Tattoos covered his whole body. A couple indicated loss of loved ones. Others claimed to have killed an enemy. She wasn¡¯t sure just what to believe, but it made her breath catch just to see them. ¡°Fucking bring it.¡± Mai raised her fists. Mai was more than comfortable with fighting when it didn¡¯t result in her having to kill someone. She¡¯d spent a lot of her youth trying to fit in with the disruptive elements on her hab level. It was having to fight to the death that she found so difficult. The killing of Chow still haunted her dreams, waking her up in the middle of the night with chilled sweats. Sometimes those dreams merged with other memories and she found herself killing Andries or ¨C even worse ¨C her little sister. She wasn¡¯t the only one with nightmares. People cried out in their sleep, screamed, or just sobbed continuously. Gradually she had learned how to tune out all of those noises as well as the burps, farts and snores normally associated with a roomful of sleeping people. But what she couldn¡¯t do was tune out the nightmares. Even though at five miles down, her and her people were low on the pecking list, the gangs on the five-mile were nothing compared to the one-milers; more concerned with doing a bit of graffiti and trying to show that they were rebels whilst secretly wetting themselves at any social points they lost. Petty crime and larceny weren¡¯t truly punished until civilians reached their majority, eighteen. Instead, a child committing a crime would suffer a social score penalty one quarter of that of an adult. That penalty would then carry over into their adult score. Unless they¡¯d been terrible people, this wouldn¡¯t have much effect and they¡¯d be able to go about their adult lives without much of a hindrance. In addition, their parents would suffer a one-half penalty. It was supposed to encourage parents to be stricter with their children. With Mai, whose parents were dead, this had had no effect. Although, would that have made a difference? Would I still have turned out the way I did if mum and dad weren¡¯t dead? Immediately feeling guilty at the thought that her parent¡¯s deaths were the reason she was in so much shit now, she turned her mind back to the task at hand. After a few seconds of thought she activated her SMART MOUTH skill. Whilst it was normally used to get her out of trouble, it could also be used to get her in to trouble. It was counter-intuitive to think of it that way, but sometimes you needed to get people angry in order to get them to react the way you wanted. Passive, it gave her the ability to see if someone was trying to aggravate her, being deceptive or economical with the truth or downright lying. But trouble was what she needed now. She needed ¡­ she took a quick look at his name glyph ¡­ Samed. She needed Samed as angry as she could get him. The angrier he got, the more he would try for the big punches. The bigger the punch, the more energy required. The more energy required, the quicker he¡¯d get blown. Muscles needed oxygen. ¡°Come on fat boy, try and hit me.¡± That seemed to do it. His nostrils flared and she could have sworn he actually snorted. ¡°What are you waiting for? Hit me! I bet your sister could hit harder!¡± Samed roared, his entire body reddening. And that¡¯s what one of those tattoos meant. He¡¯s lost his sister. She knew what was coming next. Samed would try to finish her with one punch. Blinded with anger, he¡¯d want to punish her. And that¡¯s exactly what he did, huge arm swooshing through the air. Whilst slow, it was clear that even one punch would be debilitating. And no matter how much HEALING they¡¯d get after the fight, she didn¡¯t want her jaw shattered. She ducked under it and slapped a hand across his exposed ribs. HIT! ¨C 0.5% DAMAGE ¡°Shit!¡± he cried, clasping a hand to his burning skin. He moved back, raising his hands in a guard once more, exposing a large red welt the size of her hand. It made her smile. ¡°Ah, got a boo-boo?¡± Mai sneered. She danced out of his reach, forcing him to come after her. Keeping light on her toes, she flicked her hands out towards him, forcing him to keep his high. She faked a kick, then danced out of the way as he took another mighty swing. He came after her, as she continued to taunt him, insulting everyone from his mother to his ancestors. Swing after mighty swing was dodged and his breathing became more and more laboured. Not a lot of people knew that whilst muscles gave power, and were intimidating to people that don¡¯t have them, they required a lot of energy to power. And oxygen. With muscles that large, Mai knew from hanging around her local martial arts kwoon, that all she had to do was get him to waste as much energy as possible. Then, when he was blown, she could take him down. If only I¡¯d remembered that when fighting Chow, she thought as she barely dodged another swing. Samed might have been big, but it was clear he wasn¡¯t a trained fighter. Probably thought that his muscles were all he needed. Typical big man, big ego. Ducking another wild swing, Mai activated her DIRTY BOXING skill, purposefully selected Samed¡¯s nose, popped up and threw a hard jab. CRITICAL HIT! 10% DAMAGE BLEED @0.5% PER SECOND STUNNED! Blood gushed out of Samed¡¯s newly broken nose as the STUNNED glyph popped up over his head, three stars circling. It was disturbingly comical, especially given the current situation. Even learning to kill or be killed, at least right now, still allowed her to see the lighter side of things where she couldn¡¯t all those times before when the glyph had popped up. Cursing he launched a clumsy combination. Mai danced away, continuing to taunt him. DIRTY BOXING still active, she selected his nose again. CRITICAL HIT! 5% DAMAGE BLEED @1% PER SECOND This time when his hands raised to guard his face she pressed home her attack. A feint with her lead hand was followed by a quick palm strike to his diaphragm. CRITICAL HIT! 5% DAMAGE WINDED! Stylised lungs appeared, with a large cross over them. ¡°Hooooffffff¡± and similar noises came from him. She knew she was pressing her luck by going on the offensive, but it was really her only chance. Samed was bigger than her, which meant that every hit he landed would do more damage. She had to keep him on the backfoot. Or else it would be her with the negative effect glyphs hanging over her head. And her the one suffering all the pain. Not going to happen, she thought, pushing any sympathy or self-doubt she might have had firmly to the back of her mind. I need to get back to Li. Everything I do here makes that more and more of a possibility. Mai¡¯s DIRTY BOXING was at Rank One which meant she had a 5% chance of a critical strike every time she hit. However, her STREET SMARTS skill, which was at Rank 3, also gave her a 15% chance. Although STREET SMARTS wasn¡¯t a combat skill per se, it was a skill which also conferred a 5% CRITICAL HIT bonus in combat when ACTIVE. Which meant she currently had a ten per cent chance of getting a CRITICAL HIT. At the same time, the damage she was dealing to him was applying a negative effect to Samed¡¯s skills. WINDED would affect everything he had activated by five per cent. If his DIRTY BOXING was Rank One like hers, that would mean he¡¯d lose his five per cent CRITICAL HIT bonus. It was also cumulative, meaning that each time she caused it, he would suffer an additional five per cent penalty on all of his ACTIVE skills, and anything that also had a PASSIVE effect as well. There was no indication as to how much, as only things such as BLEED and POISON showed what the effect was. She¡¯d heard though that it could be anything up to a ten per cent penalty. And all of that was on top of the fact that he¡¯d be struggling to breathe, and in severe pain. Not going to push it though, she thought, dancing back slightly, increasing the distance between the two of them. Using it to try and catch her breath. What she didn¡¯t know was Samed¡¯s DIRTY BOXING Rank. He might well have a higher CRITICAL HIT chance. It was just his bad luck that she¡¯d managed to land one so quickly. That and her skills were about to deplete and enter a cooldown period. Samed attacked. She¡¯d got cocky, sticking her head forward to taunt him. A double-jab, cross combination nearly caught her. She actually felt the wind from his fist as it passed her nose. Celestial faeces! She cursed. Using her SMART MOUTH to the maximum before it entered cool down she continued to taunt Samed about his dead sister. Tears of pain streamed down his cheeks as he tried time and again to hit her. Nose skewed to one side, blood pouring over his lips, making him spit to get a clear breath. Mouth open because he couldn¡¯t breathe any other way. Chest heaving as his huge muscles cried out for more oxygen, Samed got slower and slower. He was well and truly blown. His arms hung low and he moved at least half as slowly as normal. Flicking a jab at his nose she judged his reaction. Already badly hurt in that area, eyes starting to blacken, his hands moved up. As her hand returned his hands dropped. She flicked another blow a bit higher. Samed lifted his hands again. Targeting his solar plexus, Mai lifted her lead leg and shot it out in a sidekick. HIT! ¨C 20% DAMAGE STUNNED! WINDED! STAGGERED! Mai smiled as the STAGGERED glyph popped up along with the WINDED and STUNNED glyph. Samed was still rocking backwards when she spun and threw a back kick, targeting his solar plexus once more. HIT! 30% DAMAGE TECHNICAL KNOCKOUT A glyph, with the letters TKO appeared over her opponent¡¯s head, joining the other status effects already in place. Samed was done. Her kick sent him flying backward. Crashing to the ground he lay curled up around the pain in his chest, unable to continue the fight. NEW SKILL UNARMED COMBAT RANK 1! UNARMED SKILL BONUS +5% Unarmed Combat Unarmed combat is the skill of defeating an opponent using the weapons granted by nature. It should be the last resort of any culler unless for some reason they have decided to take their opponent alive. Or to toy with them. Designed purely to kill, UNARMED COMBAT is far deadlier than other skills such as PUGILISM and DIRTY BOXING. As a result, it is only taught to members of the military, police, and cullers. UNARMED COMBAT is a PASSIVE skill which confers a base unlimited duration, and a 5% CRITICAL HIT bonus. Each additional level of skill confers +5% CRITICAL HIT chance as well as +10 seconds to the ACTIVE duration and removes 10 seconds from the RECHARGE time. UNARMED COMBAT experts are able to SPECIALISE in one specific strike such as JAB, CROSS, UPPERCUT conferring a base 10% bonus to all damage caused by those blows. Each additional level of proficiency in UNARMED COMBAT confers 5% to the damage. Once, during each fight, they are able to ACTIVATE the SPECIALISM, conferring an additional +20% to damage, and +10% to CRITICAL HIT Mai walked over to her opponent. Unable to breathe properly due to being winded, he was both gasping for air and blowing blood from his ruined nose. Sobs sprayed blood with every breath. She knew she¡¯d hurt him spiritually far more than she had physically, and it caused an ache in her chest. ¡°I¡¯m sorry. Truly. I have a sister. All I want to do is get through this and back to her. I can¡¯t imagine how I¡¯d feel if I lost her.¡± Samed cursed her. Then rolled over and vomited weakly. Book 1 - Lone Wolf - Chapter 22 ¡°Emperor¡¯s tits I¡¯m so sore!¡± groaned Dakota, the bunk above Mai creaking as her friend popped her head over the edge. Dakota¡¯s hair hung free. Unlike most of the cullers, she¡¯d decided to have the nanites grow it out until it was nearly past her buttocks. Mai still hadn¡¯t got a sensible answer as to why. ¡°I¡¯m still smiling at the sight of you choking that Bronze Apple bitch out with your hair. What the hell¡¯s made you think of growing it? Bloody genius¡± The Bronze Apples were legendary. Renowned for their brutality, an achievement in itself considering the nature of the one-miler gangs, they carried short sticks with bronze apples on their ends which they used to club their victims to death. As a result, all of them were particularly skilled in stick fighting and intimidation. Beating one of them had caused a stir in the hangar. ¡°Told you it was a good idea. I even got a new skill. GAROTTE. Rank 1. Thought I¡¯d have got more for being inventive. But I¡¯m not complaining. Not much anyway,¡± Dakota stretched as she spoke, groaning in pleasure at the pops and clicks it elicited. ¡°Have you noticed so many of the cullers here have skills way better than ours? And I¡¯m not even talking about the gangers.¡± Dakota nodded. ¡°Yeah. There seem to be a lot of former armed or special forces. I can¡¯t tell if that¡¯s because they¡¯re stacking the odds, or things are so bad on army pensions that they only have one option.¡± Mai looked over towards the former soldiers. They¡¯d grouped together and cut the other cullers completely out of their clique. After the first vicious beating, no one even dared enter their section of the bunkroom. I still don¡¯t understand why they weren¡¯t punished for that. On my first night, the drones killed people. And yet they can break all of the bones in someone and no-one blinks an eye. ¡°Those prisoners scare the shit out of me more,¡± whispered Dakota, face red from being upside down for so long. Her eyes darted in the direction of the other main culler faction in their bunk room. Shuddering, Mai shifted so that she could look over. There wasn¡¯t a single piece of unblemished skin on any of the prisoners. Where they weren¡¯t covered in gang tattoos or former unit tattoos ¨C soldiers who committed crimes were sent to penal regiments - they were covered in scars. Why they hadn¡¯t got them healed properly or even removed was beyond her. Especially given that by entering the Culling, it was almost a mandatory thing given the Celestial Courts view on how participants should look. Then again, maybe these contestants were supposed to look that way for the viewers. For sure they weren¡¯t offered that option in prison. Whilst tattoos were popular, so were body modifications. If you had the money to afford them that was. Each template cost money, and they had to be bought from body-mod parlous. Not cheap. Many members in both groups seemed to be missing at least one limb. Instead of flesh regrowth, which cost an arm and a leg, they had settled for cyber or nano-replacements. Probably much cheaper that way, and the enhancements could be really beneficial. ¡°Notice how so many of them seem to know each other well? It¡¯s not as if they¡¯re the most charismatic people either,¡± said Mai. And that had been odd as well. None of the other cullers, bar those who came from the same gang, knew each other. But there was a chumminess amongst these cullers which set her teeth on edge. ¡°I know. I nearly pissed myself when Sharktooth smiled at me.¡± Sharktooth was the leader of the prisoners. He¡¯d won his fight on the first day by biting the throat out of his opponent, a mild-mannered tailor who it turned out had crossed the wrong noble when he asked for a debt to be paid. A ten-miler, he¡¯d stood zero chance. Every time Sharktooth smiled he revealed a mouth filled with three rows of razor-sharp teeth. Blood constantly dripped from his lips as his tongue cut itself on them. ¡°He¡¯s a fucking sadist too. Did you see the way he dislocated his partner¡¯s shoulders in training?¡± whispered Dakota, making a conscious effort to not look over at him. ¡°Yeah, Martelle tapped like a rabbit and he just ignored him. Popped them right out.¡± ¡°Didn¡¯t break any rules though,¡± Dakota snorted. ¡°Nothing about accidents in the rules so long as they don¡¯t kill someone.¡± KNIFE FIGHTING LESSON BEGINS IN FIVE MINUTES DO YOU ACCEPT YES/NO? ¡°You know, just once I want to click on the NO and see what happens,¡± snarled Mai as she stabbed at the YES as hard as she could. ¡°Fuck yeah.¡± Dakota nodded before flipping off the bed onto her feet. ¡°Wouldn¡¯t actually do it though. That¡¯s like standing in front of a mirror and whispering ``Bloody Buddha three times.¡± Mai¡¯s hand clapped itself over her mouth. Urban legend or not. Myth or not, no one ever said Bloody Buddha in front of the mirror three times. And especially not since she¡¯d come face-to-face with the supposedly legendary, but all too real, mogwais. As legend had it Bloody Buddha was actually a real man once, a wandering priest of the Empty Hand Sect. He¡¯d ventured down into the one mile and had been captured by the Shaolin Monks, a gang renowned for its unarmed combat skills. What they had done to that poor monk for entering their territory didn¡¯t bear thinking about. However, with his last breath he had cursed them, vowing eternal revenge and that he would return whenever someone said Bloody Buddha in front of a mirror three times. The leader of the Shaolin Monks had laughed before killing the monk with a tiger fist punch, ripping out his heart. Holding it aloft he had stood in front of a chrome-plated window. ¡°Bloody Buddha. Bloody Buddha. Bloody Buddha,¡± the Shaolin leader had chanted, laughing with the rest of his gang as he did so. That laughter had quickly turned into screams and deaths too horrible to recount as the monk of the Empty Hand had risen and killed them all, bar one survivor who lived long enough to tell the tale. And now, whenever anyone needed a guardian spirit to wreak revenge for them, they stood in front of a mirror and summoned the monk. There was a twist however, as those that did so with evil intent found themselves slain. Or so the story went. Mai didn¡¯t know anyone who had actually taken the risk. People started filing out of the bunkroom. The soldiers and prisoners were always last to leave, chatting and laughing amongst each other and sharing insults back and forth. ¡°Why are they so fucking chummy with each other but not us? It¡¯s as if we don¡¯t bloody exist unless they have to train with us,¡± hissed Dakota. ¡°Maye you can try and make friends as we play with knives this morning?¡± chuckled Mai. ¡°Think they¡¯ll get the point?¡± *** They were still sniggering as they lined up. Dragon Warrior was in front of a table piled high with knives. ¡°Cullers, upon graduation you will all be given one of these knives. As you progress through the Culling, If you progress through the Culling, you will be able to use the nanites in your body to form the weapons you need.¡± ¡°However.¡± The Gorilla stepped forward, ¡°Every time you do that, you will need to find food to replenish the nanites. And if the time comes when you can no longer form the weapons you need, this knife will come in very handy. Very handy indeed.¡± ¡°It is important you harvest food and supplies as often as possible. Friendly civilians might be able to supply that, or you might have to steal the food if you¡¯re not popular with the civilians. That, or risk running for a supply drop. Those will be marked on everyone¡¯s retinal monitor. I guarantee that each and every one will be a death trap.¡± Dragon Warrior held up two knives and started spinning them. ¡°This is a popularity contest as much as it is a fight to the death. If the viewers like you, they will be more likely to help you. Even if they¡¯re actually betting against you.¡± ¡°But beware.¡± The Gorilla casually caught the knives that Dragon Warrior tossed over to him, then started to juggle them, ¡°They might be giving you the food to keep you in one place long enough for the culler they want to win to find you.¡± ¡°Today you will learn not only how to fight with knives, but also how to treat a knife wound if you are unable to heal yourself using nanites. This skill might be enough to let you live a little longer.¡± Mai¡¯s stomach twisted. They¡¯d already had lessons in how to treat broken bones. Dragon Warrior had asked for a volunteer and one of the prisoners had ¨C much to the surprise of the other cullers ¨C stepped forward. This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version. The look on her face had been priceless when Gorilla had calmly taken hold of their forearm and snapped it like a twig. Once they¡¯d recovered consciousness, they¡¯d been guided through how to make a splint and bandage their arm. Then the rest of the class had been forced to go through the same. Only when everyone had managed to complete the lesson had they been able to use nanites to heal. ¡°Shit balls, this is going to hurt,¡± whispered Dakota. A little too loudly. ¡°Ah, I see we have a volunteer.¡± Mai gently patted Dakota¡¯s slumped shoulders as her friend stepped out. ¡°Look on the bright side,¡± Mai tried to make her tone match her words. ¡°You only got a cut across your arm. Li Wei got a stab into the gut.¡± Li Wei still looked traumatised by the whole thing and kept rubbing at his stomach. He¡¯d been a sarariman before entering the Culling. No one had been able to find out what made him do it. As a result there was now a pool on his reasons, and every so often someone would try and get him to open up. Even the soldiers and prisoners had joined in. ¡°Pair up!¡± Dragon Warrior started calling names and the cullers went to the table to get a knife and face their training partner. ¡°Would you bloody believe it,¡± groaned Mai as her and Sharktooth¡¯s names were called. Leaden-footed, she walked over to the table, chose a knife, and followed her guideline to their training spot. ¡°I¡¯m going to enjoy this.¡± Sharktooth smiled as he deliberately pushed more blood through his teeth. Sticking his shredded tongue out, he waggled it at her, adding yet more blood to what already covered his chin. Mai said nothing. No reason to poke the bear any more than necessary. Nor did she trust her voice should she try to speak either. He was truly terrifying, and she couldn¡¯t understand why she didn¡¯t already have an INTIMIDATION glyph hanging over her. DUEL SHARKTOOTH DO YOU ACCEPT YES/NO? A tap of the knife tip selected YES for her. Sharktooth did the same. His hand shook far less than hers. Sharktooth spread his arms wide in what they had been told was a Heron Guard in the lessons leading up to this one. His was faultless. She¡¯d overheard some of the prisoners talking about their FOLSOM knife fighting skill whilst pointing out the scars on their bodies to show how they¡¯d gained them in duels. It felt unfair to her that she was having to fight people who already had knife-fighting skills, but then she¡¯d had staff fighting skills and hadn¡¯t complained about the advantage it had given her. Put ¡®em down, take ¡®em out she repeated the mantra they¡¯d been taught at the start of their knife training. As they waited for the buzzer to signal the start of the fight, she cast her mind back to what their instructor had told them. ¡°Be quick. Be Brutal. Never give an opponent the chance to think, defend, or run. Dominate. The Will to win must be stronger than the opponent¡¯s. It doesn¡¯t matter how skilled their technique if they don¡¯t have the will do to what it takes to win. Put them on the ground. Finish them off. You will have seconds, if that, to win. To kill. A knife never runs out of ammunition.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll try and make this as quick as possible,¡± he taunted baring his teeth ¡°Bet you say that to all the unlucky ladies,¡± replied Mai with a smirk, adopting an Apache stance, right leg back, knife in the right hand and held tip up by her right hip. Her left hand extended as a guard. She¡¯d try to use it to slap away his attacks, grab and pull, or use to punch. BEGIN DUEL IN 5 ¡­ 4 ¡­ 3 ¡­ 2 ¡­ 1 FIGHT! Mai leaped backwards as soon as the command appeared, the buzzer a discordant sound which set her hackles rising. She¡¯d seen how fast Sharktooth moved in other lessons and knew that he always attacked as soon as they were allowed to. Most others danced around each other for a while, trying to suss their opponents out, but he was determined to dominate the fight from the very start. His knife hissed through the air a hair¡¯s breadth from her stomach. She flicked out her own blade cutting at his wrist. HIT! 5% DAMAGE BLEED @1% PER SECOND ¡°Cow!¡± snarled Sharktooth as he recovered and moved away. It wasn¡¯t a big cut, but it bled freely. Mai didn¡¯t waste breath talking. Darting forward she feinted high and then dropped her blade low, going for the inside of his thigh. The femoral artery was one of the biggest in the body and a decent cut there would see Sharktooth well and truly out of the fight. Sharktooth yelled, trying to pull his leg back but he was only partially successful. Fooled by her high attack his hands were too high to block and he¡¯d planted his weight, and he couldn¡¯t shift his legs quickly enough. Still, he was partially successful, and her blade sank into the meat of his thigh instead. HIT! 10% DAMAGE Sharktooth howled as he tried to hop away from her, the green of his health bar retreating slightly as the right-hand side of it turned black. Mai pressed home her attack. Twisting her arm, she did a back overhand hand to his ribs. He parried. It was her turn to hiss in pain. DAMAGE! 3% INTIMIDATED! -5% TO HIT HEALTH 97% She was surprised at just how much a small cut like that could hurt. Skin parted, it looked as though a small mouth had appeared on her arm. Fear made her heart hammer and she groaned at the thought of the glyph now hanging above her head. ¡°Not so fucking funny now is it?¡± growled Sharktooth as they circled each other. ¡°Dunno,¡± she sneered. ¡°Not as if I¡¯m the one bleeding all over the place.¡± Roaring, Sharktooth leapt into the attack, blade flashing. She slapped the blade away with her free hand and tried to cut his arm. DAMAGE! 2% HEALTH 95% Her eyes watered as she clutched at the inside of her thigh. Sharktooth had driven his knee into it. His hand grabbed hold of her knife hand and she desperately grabbed at his. Wrestling, their breath hot upon each other¡¯s faces, they tried to get an advantage. He was strong. It took everything she had to hold his knife back. She returned the favour of the knee. It was a desperate move. It brought her closer to him, lessening the leverage they both had on each other¡¯s knife hands. HIT! 1% DAMAGE And then she realised the danger she was in as he opened his mouth. Without thinking she slammed her forehead into his face, not caring about the damage she might do to herself. Even though all injuries would be quickly healed by nanites, even the deadly ones, Mai was terrified of essentially being eaten alive. HIT! 10% DAMAGE STUNNED! His health bar had a less-than-healthy amount of black in it now, and stars circled over his head as the STUNNED glyph popped into existence. DAMAGE! 12% PANIC! HEALTH 83% His teeth might cause intimidation, or the semblance of it, but this close up they caused PANIC. She didn¡¯t hit high enough, his teeth scoring into the thin flesh of her forehead. It felt as though her face was on fire. Blood flooded into her eyes. Panicking, she wiped away the blood since she was able to get her hands free while he was stunned. At the same time she swung her blade blindly as she tried to pull back, to get away from him. Squinting through the blood she was just about able to make out his form just in front of her. Both of his hands hung loose by his sides and he was staggering. He was wide open. Screaming she leapt forward, ramming her blade into his diaphragm, blade tip up. It entered him surprisingly easy, punching up under his ribs, the long blade cutting through everything it met. Warm blood gushed over her hand, shockingly warm. Thick. Sticky. CRITICAL HIT! 73% DAMAGE BLEED @5% PER SECOND PANICKED! Ripping the blade out with a twist, Mai stepped back. Blood poured out, splashing onto the white paint of the hangar floor in a shocking contrast. ¡°I ¡­ shit. This hur ¡­¡± Sharktooth crumpled to the floor, head bouncing off the hard surface with a dull clunk. A med drone zipped down, pumping him full of nanites, preventing him from dying. Why the hell does he get special treatment? Thought we were supposed to be using our own HEALING skills? Talking of which. She activated her own TREAT LIGHT WOUNDS skill, hurrying up what the passive skill would have done in its own sweet time. And Sharktooth could have activated his own TREAT SERIOUS WOUNDS with a thought had he not been so distracted by talking about how much it hurt to be cut. Looking around, she saw that a couple of others were getting similar treatment. All members of the clique. The expected notification popped up. NEW SKILL! KNIFE FIGHTING! KNIFE FIGHTING +5% Whilst her opponent was busy getting fixed up, she checked out the skill. Knife Fighting Only in the direst of circumstances should a culler resort to unarmed combat. This is why every culler is issued with a physical knife. It means that no matter what their BIO-MASS level is at, they''ll always have a weapon. KNIFE FIGHTING is a PASSIVE skill which confers a base unlimited duration, 10% damage bonus, and a 5% CRITICAL HIT bonus. Each additional rankconfers +5% CRITICAL HIT chance as well as +10 seconds to the ACTIVE duration and removes 10 seconds from the RECHARGE time. Knives cause INTIMIDATION in the hands of a skilled fighter and BLEED. KNIFE FIGHTING is specifically not the same as USE KNIFE. Everyone, from as soon as they¡¯re old enough, learns how to use a knife to cut their food. USE KNIFE is a generic, passive skill, which if you¡¯re a chef or someone specialising in the use of the knife ¨C such as a butcher ¨C you can use to much greater effect. ¡°Congratulations, trainees. You now have the basic skill,¡± their instructor called out, heading into the centre of the hangar. ¡°Now, you¡¯re going to actually learn how to use them. Same partners.¡± There was a collective groan from a lot of the cullers, but Mai smiled as she stared down at Sharktooth. The drone nanites were busy repairing the damage she¡¯d done. Wounds slowly knitted themselves together and the flowing blood slowed down to a trickle before stopping entirely. Even though she knew he¡¯d still be around lurking in the bunk room, spilling his own blood constantly, it felt good to know that she¡¯d defeated him. She¡¯d faced the one person she truly feared out of all the cullers, and beaten him. Might have been pure luck. There wasn¡¯t a skill for luck unfortunately, and if there had been, she¡¯d have done her best to max it out. Maybe she wouldn¡¯t have found herself in the Culling if luck had been a skill. No matter how bad ass he tried to make himself look, he wasn¡¯t some sort of invincible god. Not unless gods bled and died like normal human beings. And pissed themselves, she realised with a laugh as she looked down at the pool of bodily fluids covering the ground. Nudging him with her toe, she casually wiped her blade on her trousers. ¡°Ready for round two?¡± Sharktooth¡¯s eyes opened. ¡°You better believe it you smug cow.¡± Book 1 - Lone Wolf - Chapter 23 CULLER ¨C REPORT FOR NANITE TRAINING DO YOU ACCEPT YES/NO? Mai sighed, accepted YES, and stood. She¡¯d been writing her will. Not that she had much to leave her sister. Just the stuff in their apartment. At least with her death her debts would be wiped. Those were only passed on from parents to children. Not sibling to sibling. To her surprise, she realised that she was actually excited about this lesson. She¡¯d never been good enough at any of her jobs to receive the sort of nanite upgrades others had even in those mundane jobs. The upgrades she had received from the skills mistress had been better than what she had before, true. Yet, what she had attained here so far was turning out to be so much more than she could have imagined. Now she should be getting upgrades that matched the military, and as far as anyone knew for sure, this was the best there was. Maybe she would even get to learn how the whole nanite process worked since she obviously had neglected that part of her education if the skills mistress could be believed. The guideline took her in a different direction than normal. It headed away from the open-plan hanger and to a door she hadn¡¯t noticed before. It cycled open and she stepped through into a room with stern-looking bare concrete walls. Only two other people were in the room. One was a culler, a woman in her mid-fifties who had refused to speak to anyone during their training. Even now she refused to meet Mai¡¯s eyes and studiously ignored her polite greeting. The other person was wearing a hazmat suit. The helmet had a clear full-face visor, and seeing how young her instructor was a shock for sure. Although appearance of age wasn¡¯t necessarily an indicator of age due to various beauty treatments. Still, if the woman could have once afforded such things, she would have had to fall a long way indeed to end up teaching cullers. She was white with brown hair and green eyes. On her left cheek was an Imperial tattoo marking her out as a mid-level scientist. Mai couldn¡¯t remember what else it signalled. As usual she hadn¡¯t really paid much attention whilst at school. She only remembered this tattoo because at the time she had thought it was pretty cool. Strangely, the instructor didn¡¯t have a glyph above her head. There was nothing which let them know who she was. She tried to view her SASS, even though she knew she risked angering the woman. Someone who was part of the instructor cadre was all she got. Nothing else. No SASS. Just when I think I¡¯ve seen everything; they throw me a curveball. It unsettled her to see someone like this. It broke all of the rules of society that she thought she knew. Her life had taken a massive step away from what she viewed as real life, which was fast becoming a faded memory, very much like the pictures of her parents. And even Li, now she really thought about it. She could still picture her sister, but the edges were blurred. Maybe they¡¯ve put something in the water? ¡°Cullers. Today is going to be difficult. It might well be painful depending on your experience with nanites. It will most certainly be dangerous. Before we start, Mai Xio, what can you tell me about nanites?¡± ¡°Everyone is given them at birth. They allow loyal citizens to become more productive than they would if they hadn¡¯t been granted them.¡± The woman stood there, saying nothing. ¡°Umm,¡± Mai racked her brain for anything further. She knew the answer, everyone did, but she hated being put on the spot like this. Her brain literally emptied when she was caught unprepared for a question. Another reason she hadn¡¯t done so well in school as she might have. ¡°Oh yes. Nanites take up a lot of energy and so to use them correctly you must continue to fuel them by consuming food.¡± ¡°BIO-MASS to be precise. It doesn¡¯t have to be food,¡± explained the other culler. ¡°You could technically eat a flower, excrement, anything with the correct BIO-MASS and the nanites would be able to use that.¡± A picture of mogwais biting chunks out of Andries sprang unbidden into Mai¡¯s mind. There was no way she would be able to eat the flesh of a fellow culler. She thought she was going to vomit. Bet that bastard, Sharktooth would be more than happy to eat his victims. ¡°Very good Smith. Anything else?¡± ¡°If you eat the wrong sort of BIO-MASS it will make you ill and any energy you might have gained will be lost as the nanites will then have to try and fix you.¡± ¡°Correct. And the final thing to remember is that if you¡¯re in enough trouble, you can still use nanites. However, you will then be offering yourself up as the BIO-MASS. I don¡¯t recommend it.¡± ¡°Pardon me.¡± Smith tilted her head quizzically. ¡°But why are you wearing a hazmat suit?¡± ¡°As I said, these lessons can be painful and dangerous. Sometimes my students end up spreading BIO-MASS around the room. I¡¯d prefer to not get covered in it.¡± Crap! People explode? All of a sudden the bare concrete walls made sense. All of a sudden, Mai was far less keen to participate in the lesson. ¡°Don¡¯t panic.¡± The instructor made a calming motion with her hands. Mai met her eyes. ¡°If you follow my instructions to the letter you¡¯ll be fine. It will still hurt if you haven¡¯t used nanites before, but you shouldn¡¯t explode.¡± Mai nodded jerkily. Could she read minds? ¡°There¡¯s one other thing to remember. Skills. Whether your skills are active or passive, they¡¯re still using nanites. However, those only affect your reflexes, speed of movement and so the amount of BIO-MASS required is insignificant. Today we¡¯ll be shaping your body into the tools you require.¡± Mai raised her hand and waited for the instructor to give her a nod. ¡°Is this how my friends were able to make their hands into weapons back in the sewers?¡± ¡°Yes, I expect that they had been given NANO TRANSFORMATION due to their experience. Did you form anything that became part of yourself?¡± Mai shook her head, ¡°No, I formed armour and hazmat suits, but I appreciate that¡¯s really just manipulating the clothing I already wear using nanites. It depleted my BIO-MASS but was never actually part of me.¡± ¡°I assume you also had templates for tools?¡± asked the instructor. ¡°Yes. We formed them from templates. My survival staff was one per cent BIO-MASS.¡± ¡°There we have it. Perfect example. Template formations create things such as the staff from the BIO-MASS in your body. However, they don¡¯t become part of you, even though you can then re-absorb them when not using them. What we''re going to do is form weapons that are part of you.¡± A dummy grew out of the floor in front of them. It was a simple thing with target rings marking vulnerable places on its body. ¡°Every culler is given a knife to use if they are unable to find enough BIO-MASS to shape the weapons they need. You¡¯re going to shape a knife, and then use it to stab the dummy.¡± FORM A NANO-KNIFE DO YOU ACCEPT YES/NO? Mai accepted and then looked at the instructor expectantly. The woman walked over to her and lifted her hand. ¡°First, I¡¯m going to unlock your nanites. Most workers have to wait years before they¡¯re given this opportunity, just as you asked before.¡± She quickly formed her index finger into a needle, suit and all. The change was so fast that Mai barely had time to register what had happened before the instructor plunged the needle into her neck. DAMAGE! @0.1% As Smith sniggered, Mai clapped a hand to her neck, mouth opening in shock. The room spun and something moved deep inside her. It was as if her soul was changing. Dots floated across her vision and sweat sprung from every pore on her body. One second she felt as though her blood was boiling, the next as if it had turned to ice. Her left foot felt as though it was stuck to the floor, whilst the right felt as if it would float to the ceiling when she lifted it. ¡°Apologies,¡± the woman didn¡¯t sound too apologetic, ¡°but it¡¯s best to just have done with this quickly. Smith, come here.¡± Mai could barely focus as the woman injected Smith. Seeing her fellow culler suffering just as she was, was cold comfort. Gradually, Mai¡¯s body returned to normal. ¡°That was fucking awful,¡± she whispered. Smith grunted. It was unclear whether it was in agreement or just because she was still suffering. ¡°Now, on to the lesson,¡± the scientist stood before her. ¡°Make your fingers straight and stiff, like a martial arts knife hand. Now, I want you to see that hand changing into a blade with a spear-tip.¡± Mai looked at her hand, actually squinting with the effort as she tried to make her hand look like a knife in her mind¡¯s eye. Nothing. She continued trying to form the weapon as instructed, straining so hard that sweat ran down from her forehead. After five minutes she was trembling from the effort. Why is this so hard? In the sewers I was able to make my staff so easily, so why is this eluding me? ¡°Don¡¯t worry,¡± the woman reassured Mai, gently laying a hand on her arm. ¡°Have a rest. Smith. Your turn.¡± Smith was just as unsuccessful. Mai was impressed at her colourful vocabulary as she vented her frustration. ¡°The harder you try, the more difficult it can become. Relax into the blade. Xio. Try again. Whilst thinking of a knife, try to not think of a knife. You¡¯ll just confuse your nanites as they¡¯ll see a knife and create a physical knife. Think, but don¡¯t think.¡± The woman¡¯s a bloody zen priest! Looking at her hand, Mai took a deep breath and held it until she felt certain her lungs were going to burst. As she blew the air out, she pictured her hand changing into a knife. If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. ¡°Fuck!¡± she screamed. It felt as though her hand had been thrust deep into a fire. Dropping to her knees she clutched at it and screamed again as even more pain erupted in her other hand. The pain far outstripped what she was accustomed to when using templates to make things. NANO-BLADE FORMED LESSON COMPLETE NANITES ¨C 2% DEPLETION NEW SKILL NANO-TRANSFORMATION Nano Transformation Every member of society has been blessed by the Emperor''s gift of nanites. Gifted in vitro, they allow productive members of society to become ever more productive in whatever role they choose for life, but only after they have been activated by a specialist. ¡°Well done! Oh, very well done!¡± cheered the instructor, clapping her hands. Looking down, Mai saw that not only had she formed her right hand into a blade, but that it was so sharp it had sliced the palm of her other hand open when she grabbed at it. ¡°Marvellous technique. I shall have to remember that one¡± the woman said, her mouth quirked as she pointedly stared at the blood dripping from Mai¡¯s hand. Mai said nothing and tried to pretend as if the cut didn¡¯t hurt. ¡°Smith. Give it a go please.¡± Smith managed to not scream, but the pain still drove her to her knees. ¡°Does it hurt like this every time?¡± asked Mai as she struggled back to her feet. ¡°Not as badly as this. Lessons are usually taken at a much slower pace. However, we don¡¯t have the luxury of time and so we push our students harder and faster. As this is the first time you¡¯ve physically changed your body, the pain is considerably worse.¡± Makes sense, explains why Fat John wasn¡¯t forced to his knees with crippling pain during the fight against the Urbexers, thought Mai. ¡°Thanks for the warning,¡± Mai muttered. ¡°It would have made the experience no less painful,¡± replied the instructor, ¡°and anticipating such pain would have made the process take longer. It¡¯s best to just let students find out such things for themselves.¡± ¡°I hate this place,¡± snarled Smith. Her blade was a wicked-looking thing. Whereas Mai¡¯s was a simple Bowie-type blade, Smith¡¯s had spikes and curls projecting from it. Mai¡¯s was a stabbing weapon. Smith¡¯s was a tearing and ripping weapon. I do not want to be on the end of that! What kind of fucking psycho creates something like that? The look on Smith¡¯s face as she twisted her hand back and forth, taking in every detail of the knife was answer enough. ¡°Well, you chose to be a culler. You can¡¯t blame anyone but yourself for that choice.¡± The instructor¡¯s voice took on a cool tone. ¡°Some choice,¡± snapped Smith. ¡°I lost social standing because I wouldn¡¯t kowtow to my boss.¡± It was an age-old story. People in positions of power naturally had more karma than anyone else and so bullies were able to absorb any potential karma loss better than those below them. ¡°Sorry about that. You don¡¯t deserve to be here.¡± Mai hadn¡¯t even realised she¡¯d spoken until the other two both looked over at her. This place is really changing me. The old Mai couldn¡¯t have cared less about another culler¡¯s past life. Now, she was surprised to know that she actually had a modicum of anger at the predicament Smith was in. ¡°You don¡¯t think I fucking know that?¡± Smith sneered, jabbing her knife towards Mai. And with that, any sympathy Mai had for Smith was gone. ¡°We¡¯ll try something different now. Take a finger and try to change it into a screwdriver. Flat or cross-head. Doesn¡¯t matter.¡± Looking at her normal hand, Mai concentrated on shaping her index finger as instructed. She held her breath again and the finger changed as soon as she released it. This time there was considerably less pain than the first time. Is the reduction of pain because the screwdriver is so much smaller, or for a different reason? ¡°Nanites are like muscles. The more you exercise them, the more they get used to being exercised. As a result they will respond quicker each time until they¡¯re essentially changing at the speed of thought.¡± BIOMASS - 97% ¡°So we can essentially change parts of our body into anything we need to survive?¡± ¡°Indeed. So long as you have enough nanites to do so. The larger changes, like the one we¡¯re going to practice later will still hurt. You¡¯ll just get used to the pain.¡± Mai didn¡¯t like the sound of that. She¡¯d hoped that they¡¯d be able to form the tools and weapons they needed without having to suffer each time they did so. She couldn¡¯t think why anyone would want to do their job so well that they¡¯d accept the constant pain required to do it. Maybe she could in the case of soldiers, but in her old cleaning job her supervisor had been able to shape his hands into tools, even create a mask at the blink of an eye one time when there had been a chemical spill. She hadn¡¯t realised it had hurt him each time. Unless she was still missing something, because the screwdriver had hurt a whole lot less. So maybe size and or complexity played into the pain? She decided she would just have to experience it herself. ¡°Take your nano-knife and play with the dummy. Smith, there¡¯s another just behind you.¡± Mai faced up to her dummy. Lifting her blade she looked closer at it. The edge was finer than anything she¡¯d seen, and the blade had four fullers. Looking closer she realised the fullers were where the gaps in her fingers would normally be. It felt odd to not actually be holding a knife. She tried a few practice cuts, getting used to how having a weapon actually attached to her affected how she could stab, slash and chop. Smith grunted each time she struck her dummy. It was a bestial noise, full of anger and hatred. Mai wondered whether the true reason Smith was here was because she¡¯d done away with her boss and reached a Culling station before the authorities could arrest her. ¡°Good. I think you¡¯ve both got the idea as to how to stab someone to death with your hand. Now, look at your retinal monitors. You¡¯ll see a small ¡°n¡±. That¡¯s your nanite menu. Call it up¡± Mai did so and gasped as a menu sprang into life. Option after option presented itself and she blink-clicked on the close-combat, bladed weapons options. Celestial faeces! Weapon after weapon was displayed, each with an image of what it would look like as well as a cost in nanites. KNIFE THROWING KNIFE ¨C 0.5% BOWIE KNIFE ¨C 2% PUNCH KNIFE ¨C 0.5% SURVIVAL KNIFE ¨C 1% AXE TOMAHAWK ¨C 1.5% WOOD ¨C 2% UTILITY ¨C 2.5% WAR ¨C 3% SWORD GREAT SWORD ¨C 5% CLAYMORE ¨C 3% ZWEIHANDER ¨C 5% JIAN ¨C 3% LONGSWORD ¨C 3% BROADSWORD ¨C 3% RAPIER ¨C 2.5% EPEE ¨C 1.5% SABRE ¨C 2% SMALLSWORD ¨C 1.5% ARMING SWORD ¨C 2% MORTUARY SWORD ¨C 2% The list was extensive, there was far too much to go through right then. She blinked it closed again. This is just like my templates menu, yet so much more. She focused back on the instructor with what must have been a shocked look. ¡°I can tell from the looks on your faces that you¡¯re impressed with the weapons you can form. I suggest you take the time to learn how to navigate the menu quickly. For now, select RANGED, FIREARMS, SHOTGUNS.¡± ¡°Now we¡¯re talking,¡± chuckled Smith. She really seemed to be enjoying the lesson. Mai on the other hand, was distinctly uncomfortable at the idea of using her body to make tools. Especially tools such as throwing knives. She was literally going to be throwing pieces of herself at other people. And now, when she came to think of it, any gun she formed would do exactly the same thing. Each and every bullet would be formed from her BIO-MASS reserves. If she had no BIO-MASS reserves left, then she¡¯d be shooting literal pieces of herself into other people. This is a real mind fuck! The room spun for a moment as she tried to parse just what she was going to be expected to do. Forming from a template was as if instead of having to carry around each tool in a never-ending backpack, she could just form and re-absorb them at will. But this was different. Her body was going to be the tool. Her body was going to be the weapon. Form a knife, plunge it into someone else. The intimacy of such a thing was shocking. ¡°Mai, please do as instructed,¡± the woman said whilst Smith snickered. Doing as she was told, Mai blink-clicked her way through the menu and selected a shotgun. It was a pump-action, meaning that she¡¯d have to use both hands to use it, but she liked the look of it. Out of all the firearms they¡¯d been trained in, shotguns were her favourite. With a massive punch, and a spread of shot that didn¡¯t require too much accuracy, they were exceedingly effective at close range. And, from what she¡¯d seen in the training, it was expected that most culls would be made at close range. Something she really didn¡¯t relish. The pain as she formed it was intense, stars exploding before her eyes. Yeah, I think it has to do with what we form as far as the level of pain goes, she thought as she pushed through the unexpected pain level. BIO-MASS 88% ¡°Interesting choice,¡± snarked Smith. Mai looked over at Smith¡¯s weapon. It was in direct contrast to the woman¡¯s earlier attempt at making a knife. Sleek, coated in chrome, it was a single-barrel design projecting from just below the woman¡¯s elbow. A crescent-shaped blade hung beneath the barrel. ¡°Shiny,¡± taunted Mai. Smith¡¯s eyes narrowed. Shiny was both a descriptor and slang. As slang it could either mean good or bad depending on the speaker¡¯s tone. Mai had kept hers deliberately neutral. ¡°I don¡¯t like you,¡± Smith sneered, pointing her barrel at Mai. ¡°I hope we meet in the arena.¡± ¡°Enough!¡± the instructor¡¯s artificially enhanced voice filled the room, driving both of the cullers to their knees with the force. ¡°Smith. Threats, implied or otherwise will not be tolerated. I will cull you if I need to.¡± Turrets suddenly rose from the floor, targeting lasers appearing on Smith¡¯s chest and forehead. ¡°Are we clear?¡± asked the instructor. ¡°Perfectly,¡± Smith leered in Mai¡¯s direction as she answered the instructor. Apparently the weapons didn¡¯t faze her one jot. Mai sighed. Yet again her smart mouth had got her into trouble and made an enemy. ¡°Excellent. Now then. Shotguns, and guns in general, are nothing more than clubs if you don¡¯t have projectiles. Those projectiles will also be formed by nanites in your body. There¡¯s a menu for shotgun shells. Just pick the birdshot one please.¡± Mai blink-clicked her way through the menu again, mentally cursing at how slow the process appeared to be. Just as she was about to select the birdshot she noticed a small flag to the far right of the menu and blink-clicked it. BIRDSHOT BOOK MARKED Smith was cursing to herself. Still blink-clicking her way through the menu. Smiling, Mai kept her discovery to herself. She knew now why the instructor had advised them to practice outside of lessons. There¡¯s probably any number of ways to quick-select weapons. She decided that she¡¯d be spending most of the night picking the tools and weapons she most liked the look of and working out how she could form them at will rather than scrolling through a menu each time. ¡°Now, all you have to do is think of the ammunition you¡¯ve chosen, and it will form. Everything, the shot, even the propellant, will be created by the nanites.¡± Mai concentrated, using the picture the menu had given her to shape the ammunition. There was a twinge, more like a muscle twitch than actual pain, and she felt the shotgun shell form inside her weapon arm. Yep, pain level has to be related to size and complexity. ¡°Xio, you¡¯re going to have to pump the action in order to load. I suggest you go for a different model next time. You¡¯ll be able to shoot faster.¡± Mai raised her arm and pumped the slide, grinning as she did so. ¡°Agreed. But damn if that isn¡¯t a satisfying noise.¡± Still holding onto her arm, she lowered it and took aim. ¡°We fire with a thought?¡± ¡°Precisely that. You should already have a shotgun skill. If you activate it, it will assist with your accuracy.¡± Mai activated her SHOTGUN skill. When it was passive it enabled her to use a shotgun, as well as name all the parts should she be unable to form one and actually have to use a non-nanite version. Every-day, mundane stuff. When active, a reticle appeared on her retina and she was able to specifically target weak spots, target boxes marking where she should aim for maximum efficiency. BOOM! She practically jumped out of her skin as the shotgun fired, the noise filling the small room. Having only fired them on the open range, she hadn¡¯t expected her ears to be left ringing. Dust and filling flew from the dummy as the birdshot tore into it. HIT! 30% DAMAGE Man, I bloody love shotguns! Granted, they didn¡¯t fire as quickly as SMGs, but their single-shot damage more than made up for it. Whilst an SMG was also good for suppressing targets, shotguns often caused their victims to stagger. Which meant that the shooter could get another shot off whilst they tried to recover. If the STAGGERED effect was applied again, it gave the shooter the chance at another unopposed shot. Keep hitting, keep staggering them, keep them unable to fire at me, she thought as she fired time and time again. Book 1 - Lone Wolf - Chapter 24 Mai lay on her bunk and casually scrolled through all the new skills and abilities she¡¯s gained whilst training for the Culling. It was, in her opinion, stunning. Since she¡¯d entered the Culling, her skill set had completely changed. She could now sweep the floor and polish a table whilst dismantling a rifle and killing a man ¨C or woman ¨C with her bare hands. She realised that there was another change which had taken place. All of the training had been either on life-like targets, or her fellow cullers. None of them had held back.All this had made her somewhat sanguine about the actual Culling. It was due to start the next morning and instead of a spike of adrenaline, she felt a calm acceptance. Not only that, she knew she could kill in cold blood. It wasn¡¯t something to be proud of, no matter what other cullers in her bunk room were saying. Living with her actions was proving to be difficult. Simulated or not, everything she¡¯d done was seared into her brain. Probably change when it actually starts, she thought. Others weren¡¯t as composed as her. Looking, she was mildly surprised. Some of the meekest members of their cadre had become the most feared warriors amongst them. And not a few of the cocksure gangers, people she had been sure would have coped well with the Culling, had been reduced to nervous, pacing wrecks. It probably didn¡¯t help that they had been told their nanites would be reduced to zero. If they wanted to be able to form weapons and tools to help themselves they would need to find BIO-BOOST. Casting her mind back to the lecture, she ran through what they had been told by Gorilla. He¡¯d started with the words, ¡®Whilst we have taught you to use nanites to form the weapons you need, there is a reason you all carry a physical knife.¡¯ He¡¯d paused, no-one dared say a thing. You could hear a pin drop, it was so silent. ¡°That reason is because when you enter the Culling, you will have your nanites reduced to zero,¡± Mai had gaped at that as the room erupted with noise. It stopped as suddenly as it had begun when he raised a finger. ¡°This means you will have to carry out tasks to be rewarded with BIO-MASS boost. BIO-MASS boost will replenish your nanites. It will be a literal lifeline. Carry out missions, get to supply drops, steal it from other cullers. Do whatever it takes to get BIO-MASS boost. Or, as we like to call it; BIO-BOOST.¡± And with that he had simply walked away, the stunned cullers staring after him. The door to their bunk room opened, bringing her back to the present. ¡°Cullers,¡± Dragon Warrior walked through the door. ¡°You have five minutes to prepare. After that you will be taken by dropship to your individual starting point. Die well.¡± No one said a thing as she left the bunk room. Looking around, Mai could see that everyone else was as shocked as she felt. ¡°Emperor¡¯s balls,¡± groaned someone out of sight. ¡°The bookies have opened up.¡± Mai rubbed her eyes, knowing it was a bad idea to look but unable to stop herself from blinking open the news channel on her retina and then picking the first bookie she could see. A quick search brought up her name. Dammit! 600,000:1 odds. No one thought she was going to survive. She wasn¡¯t even sure that there were that many cullers left. Which made the odds against her even worse. Dakota strolled over and sat next to her. ¡°I¡¯ve got 302,039:1 odds. What about you?¡± Mai told her. Dakota laughed. Mai sobbed, and they had a quick hug. You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story. CULLER ¨C REPORT TO DROP SHIP 274 ¨C INCESSANT MISERY DO YOU ACCEPT YES/NO? A wave of adrenalin hit her like a tsunami. She felt sick. She needed to piss. She wanted to run away. She wanted to challenge the sun to a fight. ¡°Hey,¡± Dakota laid a hand on her shoulder. ¡°Just let it wash over you. Accept it. Acknowledge it for what it is.¡± Mai looked up at her friend. ¡°I don¡¯t want to have to kill you.¡± Dakota smiled sadly. ¡°Babe, you won¡¯t even see me coming.¡± They both tried to laugh at the weak joke, but the laughter quickly turned into sobs as they hugged each other tight. Neither wanted to be the first to let go. ¡°If I see you in trouble, I¡¯ll help,¡± Mai whispered into her friend¡¯s ear. Dakota nodded. ¡°We better get moving. I dread to think what happens to cullers who bottle it.¡± Wiping her sleeve across her face, Mai selected YES. They hugged once more. Then Mai stood and followed her guideline. She was about to go out into the unknown for the first time ¡®by herself¡¯. She wondered if she had what it would take to survive. The dropship was an ugly beast. It looked like a goblin covered with warts and blisters and she thought its name was sadly apt. Other cullers already stood by it as a loadmaster checked their names against a clipboard. It was a quaint anachronism, but the government still insisted that there be a paper copy of everything it did. As a result, the moon known as Du Lang, Lone Wolf had been colonised centuries ago to store all of the paper records and the servers which allowed the government to monitor every aspect of its subject¡¯s lives. I¡¯m going to burn it to the fucking ground, the thought took her by surprise. She¡¯d never have thought such a thing before, and it was unlikely she was going to survive the Culling. But ¡­ she was determined that she was going to survive and bring the empire to its knees. ¡°Mai Xio?¡± asked the loadmaster. It was a stupid question as her name hung above her in golden writing. However, when she didn¡¯t answer, they just stood there. ¡°Yes.¡± The loadmaster nodded and made a show of ticking her name off their list. ¡°All cullers are to proceed up the ramp and to enter their pods.¡± Mai did as she was told and once again followed her guideline where it led. Her fellow passengers were a mix of prisoners, soldiers, and civilians. Yet again there was a direct contrast between the way the civilians acted compared to the way the former prisoners and soldiers did. On the whole, the civilians were facing their destiny with stoic determination. Some of the gangers were whooping it up, but she could tell it was mostly an act. Afterall, who wouldn¡¯t be shitting themselves at the thought of what was to come? But the prisoners and soldiers were completely different. It was like they were taking a pleasure cruise. As usual they ignored the civilians. And as usual they shared jokes, jibes, and acted as if they were actually excited at the prospect. Have they had some sort of behaviour modification? she wondered as the guideline ended at the pod with her name. The inside of the dropship was filled with one-person pods. When the time came, the pods would be dropped through the hull of the dropship. Wings would then deploy, and the pod would fly itself to its occupant¡¯s designated starting point. It looks like a bloody coffin! She thought. For a second she considered running. It would be certain death. No one escaped the Culling. But if she ran now, she wouldn¡¯t have a chance of getting back to Li. Nor of making the Empire pay for what it had done. And, strangely, the idea of revenge appealed almost as much as getting back to her sister. Giving herself a shake she stepped in, sat, and pulled the overhead seat brace down. Muzak played. She supposed it was meant to be calming, but instead felt like punching the speaker out of the wall. Only she couldn¡¯t see it. Fucking bastards, she raged. There was a jolt as the dropship lifted off and her stomach leapt into her mouth as it suddenly plunged downward. Her hands slapped either side of her as she was overwhelmed by the feeling she was going to fall. The next five minutes were sheer hell. It was as if the pilot was giving a display for the emperor. She could have sworn they inverted at one point. POD DEPLOYMENT IN 5 ¡­ 4 ¡­ 3 ¡­ 2 ¡­ 1 BRACE! Mai braced. There was a heartbeat¡¯s pause. Then she dropped. Book 1 - Lone Wolf - Chapter 25 The drop pod screamed through the air. Whether it was intentional, Mai had no idea. She¡¯d never seen a culler deploy and whilst she had watched a few hours of the Culling, she¡¯d missed the start. Now she was wishing she¡¯d studied it hard and taken notes. The gee-forces the pod was putting her through made it feel as though a sumo wrestler was sitting on her chest. Must be for show. Bet people are watching my reaction even now. Making bets. In a brief lull she managed to lift her hand and give the middle finger salute to whoever might be watching. The odds were slim that someone was, considering the number of cullers still alive. Can but hope someone finds me plucky enough to help out when I need it. CULLER ¨C PREPARE TO DEPLOY There was a small screen just in front of her showing the pod¡¯s progress through the city. It zipped between two massive stanchions keeping a pair of hab blocks apart, or helping one keep standings, she couldn¡¯t quite tell. Then rolled to dive down a massive waste pipe, lined with centuries of detritus. The pipe was long. At least three miles judging by the level numbers flashing past. Each level was given a specific number. First was the mile, for example 3, then the actual level 500. Mai¡¯s heart sank as they dropped out of the three mile and into the two. ¡°Ooooof!¡± the pod slammed to a halt, hovering in mid-air before dropping with a clang onto level 2387. The front lifted and her harness raised. ¡°Culler, please exit the pod. Refusal to do so will result in immediate Culling.¡± She didn¡¯t recognise the voice. It was cold, authoritative, and left nothing to the imagination as to whether it was bluffing. She couldn¡¯t even tell if it was human. Stepping out of the pod she climbed down the small set of steps at its bottom and onto the metal floor. ¡°Shit, shit, shit,¡± she muttered, not realising she¡¯d spoken until her voice echoed back to her. ¡°Where the fuck am I?¡± The chamber she was in stretched at least fifty metres in each direction. At some point it had served an industrial purpose but seemed to have been abandoned a long time ago. Miserly Minions, she thought as she interpreted the gang glyphs which had been scrawled on the floor and wall nearest to her. She hadn¡¯t heard of them, but since they were two-milers she¡¯d definitely proceed with caution, the further you dropped in the city, the more vicious the gangs got, their members having less and less to lose. There was a crack behind her. Jumping, she spun to see that the pod had resealed itself. Engines flaring into life it shot up into the sky. Calling up a map of the city, Mai tried to work out where she was. She wasn¡¯t going to blindly set off in a random direction hoping everything would work out. That was madness. The map projected itself on to her retinal monitor, appearing as though it was on the floor. It made her head spin, so she changed the settings, changing it to a top-down map. As far as she could tell, she was in an old water reservoir. According to their training, cullers would be dropped in clusters and usually no more than five hundred metres apart. That damned pod taking off probably let the whole damned world know where I was. Every time a culler was killed, the location would be marked on the map. Technically there wasn¡¯t a limit as to how far away a kill would be marked, but the further she zoomed out on the minimap, the less distinct the details would be until at some point, a kill marker would cover hundreds of paces. If a cull was above, then it would be a triangle point up. If below, it would point down. If it was on the same level, then it would be a dot. This would draw cullers in. Or help them avoid the trouble. From what she¡¯d seen, the prisoners and former soldiers would be the type to be drawn into the kill, keen to enter combat and reduce the numbers of cullers. CULLERS ¨C 294475, 397683, 989752, 329185, 098375,019382 HAVE BEEN CULLED Shit, that was quick! Mai¡¯s stomach flipped at the cold hard realisation that her fellow cullers were killing and dying, and she still didn¡¯t know which direction she was going to take. Trying to force her rising panic down so that it merely gibbered in the corner of her brain, she frowned as she studied the map. The kills were all on different levels. ¡°Not a battle then,¡± she said to herself. It was most likely that the cullers had bumped into each other, had a brief but violent struggle and either one or both of them had died. Be sod¡¯s bloody law that I kill an opponent only for them to cause so much damage to me that I die as well. She laughed at the thought, surprising herself. Things couldn¡¯t be that bad if she was laughing. ¡°Oh goody. Glad we get to meet again.¡± Mai shrieked with surprise as Smith stepped out of the shadows, Culling knife in one hand, nano-blade projecting from the other. Her jaw dropped open in shock. She¡¯d not expected to come across another culler so soon. Even though she¡¯d seen notifications of kills it hadn¡¯t sunk in as to how close she might be to another culler. She should have tried to see where the actual kills took place compared to her location. Dumb, just dumb. ¡°Shall we?¡± Mai was confused as to why Smith hadn¡¯t just shot her from the shadows. Still, she wasn¡¯t going to waste any time asking her. She quick-blinked a shotgun and tried to form it. WARNING ¨C BIO-MASS NANITES INSUFFICIENT Smith laughed at Mai¡¯s obvious confusion. ¡°The bastards have dropped our BIO-MASS to zero, remember? We needed to find BIO-BOOST to get our nanites up and running.¡± Mai shuddered as the other culler licked her lips. Clicking back up through the list she selected a rapier. It was a long, thin blade with good reach. WARNING ¨C BIO-MASS NANITES INSUFFICIENT Shit. Shit. Realization crashed in on her as she finally understood she couldn¡¯t even get a stupid sword to form let alone anything else. Wait a second. How did Smith form her hand knife then? She stared intently at Smith as she tried to process what this meant. Time had seemed to slow as all these thoughts went through her mind. That was when her memory kicked in, and she finally remembered she had her culling knife. A sword would have been a perfect weapon to pair with her knife, but when life gives you noodles, make soup. Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon. ¡°Bring it,¡± Mai rasped, knees as weak as jelly, breath coming in short pants. Smith did just that. Mai barely had time to activate her KNIFE FIGHTING skill. Their blades clashed as she parried Smith¡¯s thrust while avoiding her knife hand. She tried activating her SWORD FIGHTING SKILL as well, to try and trap Smith¡¯s blade. Smith twisted, easily avoiding Mai¡¯s attempt, and countered with a stab. Spinning, Mai avoided having her stomach punctured, and created enough space for her culling blade to come over and back at Smith¡¯s face. ¡°Shit!¡± screeched the other woman as Mai¡¯s blade scored a red line across her forehead. HIT! 5% DAMAGE BLEED @2% PER SECOND BLINDED Blood poured down Smith¡¯s face from the gash on her forehead, the blood blinding her. The smallest amount of black filled Smith¡¯s health bar. More satisfying though was the appearance of the status effect glyphs over her head. Especially the BLINDED one, a closed eye. Mai didn¡¯t waste any time. Activating STREET FIGHTING she targeted Smith¡¯s solar plexus and she stamped forward into a thrust. Smith gasped as the tip of Mai¡¯s blade entered her body near where her heart should be, then sighed as the rest of the blade sank through. There was a brief moment of resistance as the tip of the blade grated along Smith¡¯s ribs and then it was sunk completely in, having stopped when Mai¡¯s hand encountered Smith¡¯s chest. They stood transfixed. HIT! 94% BLEED @35% PER SECOND Mai watched as blood flowed from Smith¡¯s mouth. The woman tried to speak, but only succeeded in burping up more blood. She gave a slight shiver, eyes widening as if she was surprised, and then collapsed to her knees. ¡°Can¡¯t ¡­ heal,¡± Smith choked out, which explained the look of surprise. Moving backward, Mai pulled her blade from the culler¡¯s body, ignoring the announcement of Smith¡¯s death. KILL! CULLER 0003485 ELIMINATED Does it ever truly get easier? She thought as she stared at Smith¡¯s body for a few seconds longer before kneeling down and taking the woman¡¯s Culling knife. She quickly searched her body trying to find if there was any BIO-BOOST left to be had. She knew it was a long shot, but she had to try. Nothing. Not even a wrapper, if they had wrappers. And then the significance of Smith¡¯s Culling announcement hit home. Opening her minimap she saw the kill marker right over the green arrow marking her position. Shit! Someone could be on their way right now! Mai cast around for a quick way out of the chamber. There was a ladder set into the wall a few metres away. Activating her CLIMB skill she sprinted over to it and started to ascend. *** Reaching the top of the ladder she found herself in a communal area. Looking about her, she spotted a good corner to take cover in for a while. She needed to get her bearings, get her head straight and see what was close. It took her a few seconds to locate the legend for the mini-map. As she studied the map, a flag just over three hundred paces away, and roughly two levels down waved in a non-existent wind. This must be Capture The Flag. All I have to do is grab it, then follow the guideline to where I need to leave it. Simple. She gave a dry chuckle at that. It didn¡¯t last long. Three hundred paces, two levels. That¡¯s literally just over three hundred of my normal steps. Do that, and I get BIO-BOOST. Tracing a finger over the map on her retinal monitor ¨C which appeared as though it was hanging in the air a few hands in front of her, she worked out a plan. Looking at the kill markers, she could tell none of them were that close. The issue was if anyone was near to where she had killed Smith, and if they would search for Smith¡¯s killer. Doesn¡¯t mean that there aren¡¯t any bloody cullers nearby, just that they¡¯re not busy killing each other, she thought, reminding herself to not get too complacent. It took a lot of willpower to push herself back up on her feet again. And even more to take the first step. She knew she needed to move quickly in order to beat other cullers to the flag, but at the same time knowing that she was heading towards a spot where she was more likely to meet cullers absolutely terrified her. Fucking with my mind, she thought. They¡¯re fucking with my mind. Who they were she wasn¡¯t too sure about, but she hated the thought that someone was playing with her mind in such a cruel way. Over half-an-hour later Mai crept into a pool of shadow. The flag she was hoping to capture was just over twenty paces away in the middle of a small square which measured forty paces across. Standing in one entrance, she could see one directly opposite her, and her retinal monitor showed her that there was a door in each of the other walls as well. She activated her STREET SMARTS. At sixty-five per cent skill, she would have one minute five seconds before it entered a cool down lasting one hundred and thirty-five seconds. Content to sit in the shadow of the entrance, she took a few seconds to get a better feel for the square. Everything seemed fine to her. There was nothing that stood out, although her gut was doing somersaults at the thought of entering the square. Moving forward slightly, she lowered herself to the floor, using the new angle to see how far up the walls stretched. ¡°I¡¯m in a fucking well,¡± she sighed as she saw the walls stretching away higher than she could see. Small windows overlooked the square, but the higher ones wouldn¡¯t be able to give a sniper a line of sight to the flag. ¡°First three floors only. I¡¯m up, they see me, I¡¯m down.¡± That was one lesson which had well and truly stuck from training. It had been part of their counter-sniper training. Snipers have a narrow field of view when they¡¯re using their scopes, especially if they were using non-nanite weapons. Which meant if she moved it would take them a second or two before they spotted her, another second to react to seeing her, and another second for them to fire. Three seconds. By which she would be down on the floor, rolling to another position and then repeating the whole process. Thirty seconds had passed and still her active STREET SMARTS hadn¡¯t shown anything. It didn¡¯t mean that there wasn¡¯t anything there. Her skill was only at Rank 3, so there was still a very good chance that she wouldn¡¯t be able to spot anything. ¡°Fuck it. Fuck, fuck, fuck.¡± She activated FREE RUNNING, it would last for one minute twenty-five seconds. Scanning the square, she ran her eyes over the benches and flower planters dotted around it. Every time she moved her eyes, a new line was plotted. She blink-clicked on the flag as her first waypoint, then the door in the left wall as the second. A guideline appeared. She could be across the entire square in under five seconds. Once she touched that flag however, she would be marked as a flag carrier on every culler¡¯s retinal monitor. Her destination, the place she would need to plant the flag would also be marked. Mai was up and running before she had a chance to second-guess herself. She sprinted into the square, jinking first to the left and then to the right. A planter gave her both cover and concealment. Cover would stop bullets, concealment would hide her from any enemies. She wasn¡¯t going to give anyone waiting for her a second chance. A chill raised goose bumps on her skin as she ran through the flag. CAPTURE THE FLAG ¨C TAKE IT TO THE POINT MARKED DO YOU ACCEPT YES/NO? The guideline popped up on to her retinal monitor and she gasped as she saw she needed to cover five hundred paces through what looked like a communal park. Lots of open spaces covered by shrubs and trees dammit! No shots rang out as she made her way out of the square, bouncing off a wall to keep her momentum going, making the most of her FREERUNNING before it entered cool down. *** No point in being sneaky, she thought as she entered the park. At least it had been uneventful getting here, despite her mind screaming that something would happen any moment. Its ceiling was an animated scene of Buddha¡¯s Court, and was at least five hundred paces above her. Trees covered the open space of the park, which in itself was at last one thousand paces in length. Fountains threw water high into the air, and various animals walked or flew through the open space. Her destination was clearly marked, the flag point waving in what looked like a small auditorium. Strange tall blocks threw shadows in different directions and there was no way she could check all of them without exposing herself to someone hiding behind them. Heart in her mouth, she used her FREERUNNING¡¯s passive buff to help plot a potential route. She added STREETSMARTS. Passive it hadn¡¯t given her any sign, nor did she get anything once it had been activated. Nothing for it, she thought. The longer I sit here with this bloody flag hanging above my head, the bigger the chance some bastard is going to come and kill me. And with that she was up and running. Taking as direct an approach as she could, she still managed to randomise her direction. She zigged and zagged. Flipped over planters, benches, and bushes. Tucked and rolled. Did everything she could to make it as hard as possible to target her. With one final flip, tuck, and roll, she crossed over the flag marker, ending up in deep shadow, using one of the standing stones to cover her. A chime sounded and a chill like last time washed over her. FLAG CAPTURED REWARD ¨C 1 BOTTLE OF BIO-BOOST DO YOU ACCEPT YES/NO? ¡°Fuck yes,¡± she snarled, stabbing the YES. Book 1 - Lone Wolf - Chapter 26 A small bottle rose out of the ground beneath the flag. Snatching it up, she popped the cap and started to drink. It was surprisingly tasty, a bit like bacon noodle soup, and her retinal monitor started displaying nanite level boosts with each swallow. By the time she had finished it her BIO-MASS was at one hundred per cent. The first thing she did was HEAL herself. Whilst her HEAL would have given her passive healing over time, it made no sense to not heal herself. BIO-MASS LEVEL 95% And now, all I have to do is get to the next flag point, and capture that, and then I¡¯ll have started a chain. Hope I get more BIO-BOOST. Checking her map she saw that the next flag capture point was up a few levels. From what she could see, it was going to have more people around as it was that level¡¯s mid-day. Thus far, all the levels she¡¯d been on had been on ¡®night hours¡¯. Going to need to be more careful up there. Can¡¯t risk hurting anyone. Before she left, she opened up her menu. Performing a quick search for mines, she found a whole list. Scrolling as fast as she could, she scanned the images of the mines. That one, it was perfect. At only five per cent bio-mass it was near-as-dammit completely flat. From most angles it would be nigh-on impossible to spot, especially if the victim was moving quickly. BIO-MASS LEVEL ¨C 92% Once crafted, it was no bigger than the size of her palm and felt remarkably flimsy. Placing it directly under the flag capture point. If anyone came blitzing through to snatch the flag and return it to its original point, they¡¯d be blown to pieces. She took a moment to reflect on the fact that the pain level wasn¡¯t nearly as bad as it had been during training. Mai thought maybe she was getting used to the pain after all. It wasn¡¯t the most honourable way to kill someone, but she¡¯d suffered at the hands of Smith and had no wish to suffer that way again. If that meant being sneaky, then so be it. *** Damn, didn¡¯t expect it to be this busy, she thought roughly ten minutes later as she watched the free citizens of the city go about their normal lives. Screens and holos covering the Culling hung everywhere, groups of civilians cheering, laughing, jeering, or groaning as cullers slaughtered their way to another few seconds of life. It made her sick to her core. Frustratingly, the next flag she needed to capture lay in the middle of a dining area. Families sat at the various tables, stuffing themselves with the finest food the restaurants had to offer. Absolutely no chance I can make it across there without being spotted. And as soon as I¡¯m spotted, I¡¯m fucked. She didn¡¯t know of any citizen above the age of three that didn¡¯t have some sort of portable device capable of capturing and transmitting holo footage of her or anyone for that matter. There was nothing for it, she squared her shoulders, stepped forward and stopped mid-stride as a man bolted from across the square directly towards the flag. Men, women, and children called out as he ploughed through them, knocking them and their tables flying. He¡¯s a fucking beast! She thought, noticing as he grew closer that his skin had a greyish tinge to it. Rhino, ex-soldier. Like the Dragon Warriors and Gorillas, Rhinomen were specially bred for combat. As a young man was sent pinwheeling away through the air after taking a shoulder to the chest, Mai decided that discretion was the better part of valour and stepped back. In no time at all the man reached the flag. As he did so, Mai opened up her map and quickly found the next point he needed to get to. Without a second thought she was off, using the time it would take him to clear the food court to give her a head start. It wasn¡¯t much, but better than nothing. *** I hope this is a good idea, I really hope this is a good idea, thought Mai as she tucked into the doorway of an antiques shop. There was just enough depth for her to keep herself out of sight whilst she tracked the progress of the flag runner on her map. As she¡¯d thought, the man had taken the most direct route possible. Rhinos weren¡¯t known for their subtlety, and with their bulk going in a straight line was often far easier than taking round-about routes. Now, what the hell do I use to stop him? Having seen what he¡¯d done to the man he¡¯d hit, Mai knew that getting in his way was suicidal. But how else would she be able to stop him otherwise. She could just step out and blast away, but there was no guarantee that she wouldn¡¯t hit a civilian and be punished for it. Opening up her menu, she kept one eye on his progress as she skimmed through the various options. Then, she stopped. GRAPPLING PISTOL ¨C 2% Grappling Pistol A grappling pistol fires a titanium tipped line into pretty much any surface with the nano-wire allowing up to one tonne of weight to be easily suspended. Licking her lips with excitement, the Rhino only a hundred or so paces away, she quickly formed the pistol, grimacing at the pain. Maybe I¡¯m not adjusting to the pain as well as I thought. Getting as low to the ground as possible, she lined up the sights of the pistol at the shop wall opposite and fired. BIOMASS 90% There was a sharp crack, the civilians around her recoiling in shock, quickly followed by another crack as the line buried itself in the wall. As quickly as possible she accessed the CLIMBING menu, selected a piton, formed it, and then formed her hand into a hammer. BIOMASS 88% With three hard hits she drove the piton into the lintel of the shop door, hooked the line through it and drew it taut. Just in time. Rhino came charging along, head down, arms pumping, civilians flying in all directions as he charged through them. It was one of the most impressive sights she¡¯d seen in a while. Nothing seemed to slow him down. Until he hit the line that was. At ankle height it was perfectly placed. There was a roar of confusion as his foot hit the wire, a split second where Mai thought he was going to rip the piton out of the floor, and then he slammed into the floor of the pedway. Now! Forming a shotgun as she sprinted out of the doorway, she had the barrel to the back of his head before he¡¯d even had time to draw breath. BIOMASS 83% CRITICAL HIT! HEAD SHOT! INSTAKILL! CULLER 0039845 ELIMINATED! Rhino¡¯s brains covered a surprisingly large area as she blasted his head apart with her shotgun. Trying to ignore the gore as best she could, Mai stepped forward and claimed the flag for herself. CAPTURE THE FLAG ¨C TAKE IT TO THE POINT MARKED DO YOU ACCEPT YES/NO? ¡°There! He¡¯s down!¡± spinning at the sound of the shout, Mai cursed as she spotted a group of cullers charging towards her, melee weapons raised. Without a second thought she was off and running. Looking at the guideline she could see that she was only fifty paces away from the capture point. Surely once I plant the damn flag and move away from it I¡¯ll be safe? She thought as she pumped her arms in a desperate attempt to run faster. Lungs aching she threw herself into a feet-forward slide as she reached the capture point. Sliding to a stop, she pushed herself to her feet to see how far away her pursuers were. FLAG CAPTURED REWARD ¨C 1 BOTTLE OF BIO-BOOST DO YOU ACCEPT YES/NO? Fuck, they¡¯re too close! There were too many for her to take on single-handed, and the one bottle of BIO-BOOST would do nothing to help. It took a split second to realise this, and another to formulate what could barely be called a plan. Cursing, she ran, leaving the bottle in the hope that it would distract at least some of her pursuers, maybe even cause some conflict. At the very least, it might slow them down as they picked it up. Risking a look over her shoulder she sighed as she saw the main group keep chasing after her whilst one of slower ones stopped to pick up the bottle. Up ahead she spotted brightly-coloured stalls and what could only charitably be called a grin stretched itself across her face as she forced herself to run even faster. *** Mai Xio sprinted through the market, shoppers and goods alike sent flying as she ploughed through them. They were so densely packed not even her passive FREERUNNING skill could help her. And she wasn¡¯t going to activate it until she really needed to. Cries of pain and anger chased her. Teeth gritted, head down and arms pounding she ignored them, as well as the odd shout of encouragement. ¡°I¡¯ve got 60 credits on you! Don¡¯t die until tomorrow!¡± shouted a shopper with an augmented voxbox, voice blasting along the tight confines of the pedway. This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it. Mai was too tired, too terrified to even reply. A shuriken zipped passed her, its sharp teeth scoring a burning line across her skull. DAMAGE @ 1% BLEED @2% PER SECOND HEALTH 97% With a cry she threw herself down to the pedway¡¯s hard floor, rolled under a stall and leapt back to her feet as soon as she was clear. ¡°Here! The bitch is here!¡± The stall keeper waved both of his hands in the air, his lank hair glistening even in the poor light of the light-drones. Bastard! Even her brain was too tired to think in longer sentences. She charged directly towards the stall keeper and he scurried out of the way with a shriek. The law was simple, you could aid The Culling players by helping them locate other players, give them weapons and medical aid, but you could never hinder them. To do so meant immediate inclusion in the game. The crowd started to part as shoppers became aware of the game being played around them. An alley, nothing more than a maintenance walkway really appeared on her heads-up display, the beacon being placed directly on her retina. With a blink she activated her FREERUNNING skill, taking it from a passive skill to a directly active skill. Immediately trajectories and paths were fed to her retina as the nanites coursing through her blood kicked her body and mind into overdrive. With nothing to lose she left it until the very last second before turning into it, crying out as she barked her shin on one of the myriad of pipes filling the area. DAMAGE @1% HEALTH 96% SPEED - 2% There was no time to have the nanites heal her. Healing was never the best experience and doing so on the move would only slow her down. Still in better shape than most cullers, she thought as she bounced along the walls. Flips, slides, pikes, and handsprings sent her speeding along the tight confines of the alley. She could hear her pursuers shouting, their voices getting nearer. Unable to tag them because they¡¯d attacked from behind, she couldn¡¯t tell just how close they were and daren¡¯t take a look back. Gits have probably got me tagged nice and proper, she thought. Her palms were slick with sweat as she realized there was only one way out of this. Taking a branch alley to the left, she drew her officially issued Culling Knife and climbed up a section of pipes. There she waited, body shaking as she prepared to kill them. Three raced below her, shouting, charging headlong. There was a gap, and then another two charged through the gap. ¡°Wait .. wait for me dammit!¡± Another culler, clearly struggling for breath came to a halt beneath her, bending over slightly as she tried to catch her breath. Mai pushed off the pipe and dropped down, blade raised above her head. ¡°Wha ¡­?¡± The culler¡¯s surprised face turned to look up at her, just as she slammed her blade down. It was a clean strike, the blade punching through the woman¡¯s forehead. CRITICAL HIT! INSTAKILL! CONTESTANT 253958 ELIMINATED KNIFE SKILL +5% Yanking the blade out of the corpse¡¯s skull, Mai cut through the alley, breathing hard, brushing at her face as the perma-drizzle ran down, mixing with the sweat beading on her forehead. Shouts drifted through the mist, some seeming to be getting closer, whilst others seemed to be going further from her. Fucking acoustics, she thought. The tight-packed alleys of the city caused sound to bounce around like a rubber ball. Voices came from up ahead, clearly asking questions even though she couldn¡¯t hear the actual words. Then they started to get closer once more. Turning, she ran back to the culler she had just killed , then popped open her weapons inventory. Skimming through the close combat options, she jumped straight to the booby-traps and the only option she had. Bouncing Betty Landmines are terrible weapons designed to blast your victims to pieces. Bouncing Betties explode at waist height and are capable of cutting your enemies ¡®clean in half¡¯. As with all mines and booby traps they can only be triggered by cullers and enemies. ¡°Nice. Real ball buster,¡± she chuckled to herself as she selected the mine. Looking at her BIO-MASS levels she could see she had more than enough to create more mines than she¡¯d need. BIO-MASS 61% Grimacing at the thought of the pain to come, she used her nanites to create three, producing them in one hand and catching them with the other. She was surprised once again with the pain not being what she expected. Giving the area a quick scan, she decided to keep her skills passive. She was surprised at how quickly it was becoming second nature for her to know where to place mines and traps for best effect. Thank the gods I paid attention to the lessons. Strangely, booby-traps had captured her imagination. Granted, as she¡¯d already acknowledged earlier it wasn¡¯t an honourable way to kill an opponent, but it was also a battle of minds. Anticipating how an enemy might move, or react, and then placing the weapons to kill them was a fine art that she was starting to appreciate. She also liked the fact that they were designed to only kill Cullers and enemies, meaning that if a civilian came across one they wouldn¡¯t be blasted into bloody gobbets. Quite how that worked she wasn¡¯t sure, but it was something she was happy to accept and move on. Placing one right at the entrance to the alley she was in, she moved to the midpoint, closer to where the other player had just died. There were no windows into the building where they had died, so she moved as quickly as possible to the end of the alley and placed a second mine. Rather than placing it on the ground just around the corner where it could catch someone as they came around, she placed it much higher on the wall at around navel height. Should catch more than one of them and they hopefully won¡¯t expect a mine that high up. If it was one of the ex-soldiers, prisoners, or gangers rather than a normal person, odds were they would have pretty good skills up and running. Still, it couldn¡¯t hurt to try. Popping open the menu again, she selected a shotgun, THE SWEEPER as she liked the description. The Sweeper The Sweeper is a sawn-off pump action shotgun, perfect for sweeping a room clear in close quarter combat. Not so great if you''re trying to fight anyone more than twenty paces away! Shotguns were great for causing mayhem and death in confined spaces. This one had a magazine of ten rounds at nought point one per cent BIO-MASS per shell. And the shotgun itself only cost three per cent. All in all, four per cent BIO-MASS for a weapon BIO-MASS ¨C 57% Negative effects such as SUPPRESSION, INTIMIDATION, and BLEED were also key factors in determining whether she¡¯d survive what was to come. Bracing herself, she gasped in agony as the nanobots within her started to alter her arm, changing into a flesh-ceramic hybrid. As the shells started to form, she bit back a scream, tears blinding her, heart hammering in her chest as if it was going to burst. Fucking cunts, I¡¯m going to kill every single one of them! She¡¯d never felt such hatred for the Court before. She¡¯d been just going about her life like all of the other billions of citizens living in the city. There must be some way I can counter this! And then it hit her, ENDURE PAIN. She activated it with a thought. And just like that the pain stopped just as quickly as it started, relief flooding over her. Taking cover between two bins that were overflowing with rubbish, she raised her arm into the air and fired a shot. ¡°Come to momma,¡± she whispered, trying to slow her breathing as adrenaline started to flow at the thought of what was to come. Every shot was marked on the minimap for all to see if they were within a fifty-metre radius. Straining her ears, she tried to listen for any approaching enemies, metaphorically crossing her fingers that none of them had earned a stealth bonus. With a mine at each end of the alley, she would have her back covered if more than one opponent took the bait. And with one spare, she could deter pursuit. Feet slapping on the wet plasticrete sounded from her left. Shifting, she leaned slightly around the bin, just enough that her weapon was now trained in the right direction, the nano-scope painting crosshairs directly onto her retina. Though this was literally a point and shoot weapon. There was the barest movement. If she hadn¡¯t been looking for it, she wouldn¡¯t have seen it. A head, popping around the corner. Her mouth dried, this player was more tactically aware than the others. Fucker probably has a TACOPS upgrade. Biding her time, she braced the weight of her arm, unused to how heavy it was. The head popped out again, taking a longer look this time. The other culler waited a few more heartbeats, then stepped into the alley, moving slowly. She was ex-army. Unit markings on her face and bare arms would have given that away if her skill at movement hadn¡¯t. Just before she reached the trip line for the mine, Mai fired. Two quick shots, one to the chest, the other to the face. Blood puffed from the other player¡¯s chest, her face obliterated by the high-powered flechettes the sweeper fired, flensing the flesh from the bones. Her body dropped to the ground, falling into a folded position that no one alive would ever be able to achieve. HEADSHOT! INSTAKILL! CONTESTANT 594303 ELIMINATED She swept the notification away, not wanting the glowing text to block her view. Other players would be on their way, like flies to shit now that two kills have been awarded in the same area. Cullers with more than one kill were worth more karma points, and karma points meant better upgrades, better skills and - most importantly - better weapons. ¡°Fucking here! It was fucking here!¡± Mai jumped at the sudden shout, not expecting someone to be so stupid as to announce their position. Still, the Culling was open to all sorts of people, and adrenalin often made people act in ways they wouldn¡¯t normally behave. And she wasn¡¯t about to look a gift horse in the mouth. Just wish every culler was this damned stupid. The shouter came skidding around the entrance of the alleyway, closely followed by a second, then third player. Bouncing off the wall, the shouter staggered to the left, throwing off her aim. Before she could shoot, he triggered the mine. There was a pish sound as the BETTY sprang into the air. Throwing herself back into cover, she opened her mouth to lessen the effect of the blast, her MINES skill making the act instinctive. Keeping her shotgun pointed over the cover and trained on the other players, she watched as they were blown to pieces by the explosion, and the ball bearings that followed. MULTI-KILL! CONTESTANT 564803 ELIMINATED CONTESTANT 102948 ELIMINATED CONTESTANT 638291 ELIMINATED CULLER LEVEL UP - LEVEL 3! She gasped at the huge jump in levels. She¡¯d completely skipped level two. Springing to her feet, she ran past the site of the explosion, dropping her last mine into position, then scurrying back to her position. She winced at the sight of the bin. It was peppered with gaping wounds and covered in all kinds of bodily fluids as well as bits and pieces of things she couldn¡¯t even begin to want to identify. She blanked the sight of the dead players from her mind, trying to force the bile that rose into her mouth back down. Before she could tuck back into cover, the other mine further down the alley detonated. Screams rang out. Spinning, shotgun raised, she saw a man writhing in the clearing smoke, clutching at the guts spilling from his torn stomach. Even in as much pain as he was, he tried to raise his own weapon, a submachine gun. She didn¡¯t blink, firing a shot, killing him before he had a chance to draw a bead on her. KILL! CULLER 002865 ELIMINATED! Even in death his finger still closed reflexively on the trigger though. Bullets sprayed through the air, catching her completely flat-footed. Pain exploded in her gut, as if someone had punched her with a red-hot knife. CRITICAL HIT! 45% DAMAGE BLEED @5% PER SECOND HEALTH 51% Raising a shaking hand she looked at the blood covering it. Even with the notification and the sight of her own blood-soaked hand she was struggling to accept the fact that she¡¯d been shot. That right now there was a piece of another culler deep inside her flesh doing its best to try to kill her. DAMAGE! 5% BLEED @5% PER SECOND HEALTH 49% The pain was of an intensity she¡¯d never experienced before and her fogged brain couldn¡¯t work out if it was because she¡¯d never been shot before, or because of the thought that a piece of another human body was inside her. DAMAGE! 5% BLEED @5% PER SECOND HEALTH 44% She activated her TREAT SERIOUS WOUNDS as a wave of dizziness washed over her. Legs giving way she collapsed into a sitting position on the dead culler. Somehow she gathered her thoughts enough to concentrate on stopping the bleeding first. Without doing that, it wouldn¡¯t matter if she was able to restore other HEALTH points. Some of the pain went as well, leaving her gasping in relief. HEALTH 100% BIOMASS 2% Groaning at remembered pain she pushed herself to her feet, absentmindedly wiping her bloody hand on her clothing. Stumbling, still feeling the effects of the dizziness, she keyed her SWEEPER to reload, pushing the stabbing pain away. It was nothing compared to what she had just felt. BIOMASS 1% I need to find food, now! Book 1 - Lone Wolf - Chapter 27 Mai staggered along, putting as much distance between herself and the scene of her last battle. Scanning her retinal monitor as she did, she looked for the nearest place she could try to get the supplies or BIO-BOOST she so desperately needed. Not a chance I¡¯m going to risk capture the flag again. Too many people have wised up to that! The only other thing she could see which would help was a supply drop. And, just like in the holodoc which showed animals from myth and legend gathering at watering holes, she could be certain that there would be predators happy to take her down. I¡¯m going to get back home to Li, I am! She vowed, more to keep herself moving than anything else. The likelihood of her surviving the Culling seemed to be decreasing by the second. No matter how many of her fellow cullers she killed, there were still hundreds of thousands more ready to take their place and have a go at her. And she couldn¡¯t even hide out since the rules would force her to keep going. Her body still remembered the intense pain she¡¯d just suffered, as if it was punishing her for putting it in that position, or as if it couldn¡¯t really believe that the nanites had truly wiped away the damage as if it had never really happened. The streets were emptier, the civilians rightfully having decided that perhaps they weren¡¯t the safest place to be with cullers like a Rhino charging about. Mai paused for a second to think about that. Culling rules were clear, don¡¯t kill civilians. However, as Rhino had demonstrated, there was nothing technically wrong with injuring them. Morally it was utterly wrong, but so long as they didn¡¯t die, there was no risk of censure. Fucking what does it matter? She thought, angry at herself for being distracted by such pointless thoughts. Still, somewhere, a new Mai, a different Mai tucked that little fact away. *** Wrinkling her nose at a faintly acrid smell, Mai made her way silently down a narrow pedway. Having activated SNEAK and STREET SMARTS she proceeded as carefully and as quietly as she could. The pedway ended in a communal play park. Normally it would be filled with families, the children leaping about the various obstacles whilst the parents either sat at tables and chatted or worked out on the weights machines dotted around. At the far end there was even a ropes course, with a climbing wall stretching hundreds of paces into the air. Staying well back from the exit of the pedway, Mai realised what the smell was. Marker smoke. Lowering herself to the floor she saw that the buildings surrounding this park were stepped with each successive floor moving further and further back. She couldn¡¯t actually work out whether the park was covered by a level a few miles up, or if it was actually open to the mythical sky. The marker smoke would have risen level after level, letting all and sundry know that the supply drop had been made. It was redundant considering the fact that the supply drops were always marked on their retinal monitors, but sometimes the smoke would provide cover to those that got there early enough. Checking her display, she saw that indeed the area was marked as having a supply drop. I really need to keep better track of these kinds of things. No need for walking into a potential ambush. From what she could see, it hadn¡¯t worked. Bodies were draped over a number of the obstacles, thrown into poses only death would allow. Stepping to the side of the narrow pedway, she tried to work out if there was a pattern to the way the bodies were lying. From what I can see, it¡¯s pretty much a circle. Someone shot them as they made their way to the supply drop. It was impossible to see if the corpses nearer to her had been shot in the front or back. Would have been nice to see where the sniper was, she thought as she stepped further back into the pedway before dropping onto her haunches, using the last few remaining seconds of STREET SMARTS. Nothing. She activated SPOT HIDDEN and spent the whole of the skill¡¯s activation period trying to see if she could see the hidden sniper. Dammit, they¡¯re either really good at hiding, or they¡¯re somewhere I can¡¯t see, she sighed and cursed her luck. Hang on though. She started to count as many of the bodies as she could. There were at least ten, a sizeable number. Opening up her menu, she went to the scoreboard. And there it was, CULLER 392839, CHAP MAN. 12 kills, and currently the leader. It¡¯s always possible that some of these idiots killed each other, but I don¡¯t think so. The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. Some of the bodies were out in the open, cut down before they even realised there was a threat. Others had clearly died behind cover. Some had the tops of their skulls blown off, whilst yet more were on their fronts as if they¡¯d been looking around their cover to spot the hidden assassin. And all the time it had happened, they had been within a few paces of the supplies they needed. Sick fucker! But then she realised that she couldn¡¯t blame the sniper. Unless they¡¯d decided to join the Culling out of some perverse need. No, the ones to blame were the ones she was actually trying to join, the Celestial Court. It took her back for a moment. Every Culling saw one hundred survivors of the Culling ascending to become members of the Celestial Court. They know what it¡¯s like to slaughter each other, and yet they still allow it to happen! Her palm stung and she slowly opened her clenched hand, looking at where the nails had dug into the flesh. I just want to make life better for myself and Li. And yet, to do that, she¡¯d need to join those who were still allowing this sort of thing to happen. Spitting, she tried to clear her mouth of the sour taste that thought brought about. Back to the matter at hand. Get supplies. Keep alive. Ascend. Deal with assholes later. And the keeping part alive was going to be a challenge. From the layout of the bodies that she could see, none of them had made it to within five paces of the supply crates. Moving closer to the entrance to the play park she took a look at the edges, trying to spot possible exits. On one side were a number of shuttered-up shops, the owners clearly not wanting to risk their windows. Each step up of the building was another layer of shops. Directly opposite her were shops on the ground level, but then apartments on each tier following that. Perfect spot for a sniper, but so are the shop tiers as they could just be hiding behind the tier walls, moving back and forth along them to take their shots. She swore softly, it was just like the first flag she captured. The feeling of eyes upon her even though she was most likely invisible to anyone looking, being so far back in the pedway as she was. Activating FREERUNNING, she got down into a sprinter¡¯s position, took a couple of deep breaths and sprinted towards the entrance to the play park, keeping one eye closed so that she wouldn¡¯t be blinded as she entered the changed light. An old trick learnt whilst running with her friends in places she shouldn¡¯t. As soon as she entered the play park she cut left towards a large obstacle of large pipes and slides. It had a combination of climbing walls and ladders and she threw herself into them. Crack! A bullet smashed its way through one of the climbing walls. Whilst they might have concealed her from the sniper¡¯s sight, they were too thin to protect her against a fusillade of fire. A point proven as another shot showered her with splinters, forcing her to duck down. Got you, she thought with grim satisfaction. Her opponent was directly opposite, up on the tier of shops. Spinning, she charged out of her cover back the way she had come. Safety chippings kicked up at her heel as the sniper¡¯s third shot missed her by less than a hand¡¯s span. Changing direction she ran towards a climbing frame, flinging herself over the top of it just as the sniper¡¯s fourth shot cracked past her ear. Dammit! They¡¯re getting faster. She lay low, tight to the side of the climbing frame, trying to bring her breathing back under control, licking her dry lips as she gasped like a fish out of water. Checking her FREERUNNING skill she saw that it had only been ten seconds since she entered the park. Opposite her, she saw that several of the shops didn¡¯t have actual shutters, just temporary boarding. She fired three shots, three different windows. Now she only had seven shells, and no BIO-MASS to make any more unless she wanted to lower her own health. Before she could second-guess herself she was up and running, angling back and forth before she threw her back into cover, her opponent¡¯s bullet¡¯s cracking passed her ear, each one getting closer and closer until. DAMAGE! 10% BURN! 5% HEALTH 85% Shocked, she tumbled into the next obstacle, screaming at the pain in her shoulder, the smell of her own burnt flesh filling her nostrils. DAMAGE! 1% STUNNED! HEALTH 84% The notification wasn¡¯t appreciated as stars exploded in her eyes and her nose felt as though a hammer had hit it. Legs shaking, thoughts woolly she still managed to have enough wits about her to roll from her original landing spot. Another shot blew one of the frame¡¯s supports to flinders, showering her with splinters. ¡°Fucking just fuck off!¡± she screamed, dashing away the tears that filled her eyes from the punishment her body was taking. Less than four paces away lay the nearest of the shattered windows. A follow-up shot cracked over the top of her cover, the smell of ozone filling the air. Looking at the wall it had struck, she could see wisps of smoke. What the Hells is that shitting arsehole firing at me? Should I be grateful I¡¯m not bleeding to death? She didn¡¯t feel at all grateful to the sniper. But at least the bullet was finished damaging her. Bleeding out behind a children¡¯s obstacle in a play park really wasn¡¯t something she wanted to do. Get through the damned window, heal enough to stop the pain, she thought. Fixing on a plan did nothing to distract from the pain. Gathering her knees under her she pushed hard, took four stuttering steps, and fell through into the shop. Rolling behind a stack of shelves. She caught her breath while she realized that her FREERUNNING time had expired. That was close. Too close. Seven shells, and anything more will come out of my health. Best make sure I kill the fucker, and with that the hunt was on. Book 1 - Lone Wolf - Chapter 28 Mai knew she needed to proceed with caution. The sniper would know that she wasn¡¯t dead. Whether they knew she was hunting them was another matter. Are they going to stay in wait and keep sniping, slip away, or hunt me? It didn¡¯t matter. She knew that if she was the sniper she would probably have left. Hit and run. But the number of bodies littering the play park indicated that the sniper was after kills. Are they trying to level up, or just kill as many as they can before they die? Looking around at the shop she was in, she saw it was a downmarket clothing shop. Dummies stood around modelling the clothes on offer. None of them appealed. Taking a dummy, she quickly crafted a few pieces of rope for a pittance of BIO-MASS, ignoring the health and BIO-MASS warnings she got for it. Once she¡¯d wiped the tears from her eyes, she strapped the dummy to her back and made her way through the back. All shops had both a front and back entrance, dealing business on both sides, a pedway at the back bordering on other shops. Checking her retinal monitor, she traced a quick line to the nearest set of stairs. Barely fifty paces. Moving quickly, shotgun braced for any surprises, she covered the distance quickly. Mounting the steps she paused as another shot rang out. A kill marker appeared, marking the sniper¡¯s latest victim. Well, at least I know they¡¯re still here, I need to move quickly, it¡¯ll draw more cullers, as will the supply drop. She finished climbing the steps, clearing the corner with her weapon raised. I thought that the bodies were fresh, but there were no kill markers when I arrived. Just how long has this bastard been dug in? Pressing on, she passed through a corridor bordered by apartments. Many were quiet, but in others she could hear life continuing as normal. It was surreal. She and others were fighting for their lives, whilst inside apartments children played and their adults possibly watched the action on their holo units. *** More cull notifications had filled her mini map as she made her way carefully through the apartment block levels. From what she could tell, they were all at ground level. Up ahead a door opened. Quicker than she could think, Mai took a knee, her shotgun aimed at the door. A little girl¡¯s head poked out. She couldn¡¯t have been older than seven. Eyes wide she stared at Mai, who could do nothing more than stare back. ¡°Are you going to shoot me?¡± whispered the girl. ¡°No,¡± Mai whispered once she¡¯d got control of her voice back. She¡¯d been a hair¡¯s breadth away from killing a child. It was a horrific thought. ¡°My mummy and daddy say they think you¡¯re going to win,¡± the girl smiled, eyes lighting up. ¡°I hope you do. You¡¯re special.¡± ¡°Thank you,¡± Mai rose to her feet and slowly approached the little girl. ¡°How about you close the door? Keep safe inside.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t you want to know about the bad man?¡± The girl moved slightly behind the door until only her head showed. Mai paused mid-stride, actually tripping slightly. ¡°What bad man?¡± ¡°There¡¯s a bad man, around the corner,¡± the girl poked her finger out of the door towards where Mai had been walking. ¡°What?¡± Mai didn¡¯t dare risk looking at the girl as she asked the question. ¡°Bad. Man. Around the corner. He was rude. You going to kill him?¡± Okay, this is getting fucking creepy, thought Mai as what had been a sweet child turned into some sort of blood thirsty Culling fan. Activating SNEAK and USE SHOTGUN, she raised her barrel and slowly made her way down the corridor, pushing the little girl by her face back into the apartment. And not gently. Psycho little shit. As she approached the corner of the corridor, she activated her SPOT HIDDEN and STREET SMARTS. Might as well use everything. She wasn¡¯t sure which of the skills helped her, but all of a sudden she could smell the rank sweat of her opponent and hear their breathing. Just wish I could tell which way the fucker¡¯s facing. Crouching lower and lower as she approached the corner, Mai tried to slow her breathing down, something she found far harder to actually do than to think about. Within a few hand¡¯s widths she stopped. Ears straining, she listened to her would-be-ambusher¡¯s breathing. She could smell garlic. Gut¡¯s telling me that they¡¯re facing towards me, she thought with a smile. Her STREET SMARTS were clearly working, for which she offered thanks to the Gods before. Shit, what if they¡¯re actually facing the other way? What if my gut¡¯s wrong? If she could, she¡¯d have cursed out loud. As it was, she swallowed her anger, telling her self-doubt to go fuck itself using her inner voice. In one smooth step she thrust her shotgun around the corner and fired. HEADSHOT! INSTAKILL! CULLER 230497 ELIMINATED CULLER LEVEL UP ¨C LEVEL 4! Letting out a deep breath, she puffed her cheeks out in relief. Clearing the corner she looked at her victim. It was a woman, a normal person in her mid-fifties. Nothing special about her. Shit, she didn¡¯t even have a proper weapon, Mai stared in horror at what was left of her would-be-ambusher. Her shot had taken her full in the face, opening it up in ways nature never intended. Both hands were normal. Beside her a culler¡¯s knife lay in a pool of the woman¡¯s ever-expanding blood. It was shocking as to how much blood there was in a human body. It just kept flowing from the remains of the woman¡¯s head. Yellow shards of skull contrasted directly with the pinkish grey of their brains and the right red of their blood. If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it. Dammit, the sniper knows someone else is around. There¡¯s no way they haven¡¯t seen that cull notification and the kill marker. Turning around, she marched smartly back to the little girl¡¯s apartment and knocked gently on the door. There was a pause of a few seconds before the girl answered the door again. ¡°Did you get them?¡± she asked. ¡°I think you know I did,¡± Mai managed to smile. ¡°Do you know where the sniper is?¡± A pause. The little girl¡¯s eyes were wide, as if they were drinking Mai in. ¡°Across the way, fourth level. They¡¯re boring. Just camping. Mummy and daddy say they expected more real action around the supply drop.¡± Mai gave her a nod, then quickly moved up the corridor and around into the next branch of apartments. Needing to put as much distance as possible between her and the kill marker, she snaked through the corridors. Coming up to a set of stairs, she took them two at a time, only pausing when she was so out of breath she couldn¡¯t continue. Looking at a glyph she saw she was on the third floor. Taking a breather, she opened up her retinal monitor to map her path. Whilst she¡¯d been climbing the sniper had added another kill to their total. This bastard really fucking needs to die, they¡¯re not even using the damned supplies! Moving on, she climbed to the fourth floor and turned to the left as the guideline dictated. She kept moving quickly, not particularly worried about meeting any cullers at this level. STREET SMARTS passive bonus must be working, she thought, deciding to trust that the skill was correct. Entering another corridor, she saw that she had another two hundred paces until she reached the corridor that would branch into her objective. Gonna push it, I¡¯ve got six shells left, that should be more than enough if my luck holds. *** Despite her bravado, it still took her longer than she thought it would, jumping at every slight noise. It seemed that the closer she got to her prey the tenser she got. Finally, she lay on the floor and peeked around the corner of the intersection. To the right of the corridor were apartments, to the left were the shops which overlooked the supply drop. And beyond them, outside, is that damned sniper. CRACK! Mai¡¯s heart felt as though it had tried to leave her chest. It destroyed the silence to which she¡¯d become accustomed. No kill marker, they missed, which meant they¡¯d be focussed on trying to kill their target and not necessarily ¨C to be taken with a pinch of salt ¨C their surroundings. What would I do? It was a simple question. Mines behind her and to her flanks. Far enough back that if they went off she¡¯d have a clear warning and either face the threat or relocate, putting one of the remaining mines between herself and her ambusher. STREETSMARTS, SNEAK, LARCENY, STEALTH, SPOT HIDDEN activate them and I should have a good chance of spotting any traps, catching them unawares and maybe even getting out of this alive. Another shot, still no notification. This was her time. From the sound the location of the sniper was roughly twenty paces along the corridor in what looked like a holoprojector shop. Crouching by the door, she lay on the floor and tried to see underneath. It was too well sealed, so next she moved to the window, trying to get an angle on the inside of the door. ¡°And there you are,¡± she whispered. A mine was facing the door, ready to blast anyone who entered. ¡°Can¡¯t be that simple.¡± Moving about so that she could check the angles she tried to spot any other traps. Nothing. Looking at the door, she spotted a small window directly above it. Another quick look through the window and she had a plan. Stepping back to the other side of the corridor, just a few paces, Mai activated FREERUNNING then sprinted forward. Leaping through the air she crashed through the top window, clearing the mine and landing hands first before tucking into a roll and rising smoothly to her feet. Shotgun raised, she made her way through the rest of the shop. It was larger than she had previously thought. Let¡¯s just hope my psycho prey didn¡¯t hear me. Hopefully, the shop was large enough that the sniper wouldn¡¯t have heard the glass. Mai was already twenty paces into the shop and still had another ten or so before reaching the other shop front. Another shot rang out and she dropped to her knees, heart racing, fearing she¡¯d been discovered, tucking into cover behind a shelf, gun held low. Only she hadn¡¯t, as the kill marker on her map showed her. It was in the direction of the shot she¡¯d heard. Gun raised, she continued moving towards the other shop front. Or shop rear. Irrelevant. Moving slower the closer she got to the shop front she started scanning the shop, looking for any traps. If it had been her and she¡¯d had the spare BIO-MASS she¡¯d have put another mine on the other side of the door. A shadow passed slowly across the store window, obscured by the holopads cast across it. This side must have been the busy side before we came along, Mai thought as she watched the shadow move to where it was opposite the door. No explosion, no mine. I fucking hope. The sniper¡¯s rifle cracked again, another kill marker coming up on the map. Pretty much where I went the first time. Keeping low, she moved back to the store front, peering through the holo-ads. There you are, the sniper was lightly-built, androgynous, with a dark hooded top pulled over their head, dark trousers. The rifle they were using was the biggest Mai had ever seen. The sniper¡¯s head moved, slowly looking to the right. Towards her. Hells! Mai froze, not even daring to breathe. If any of the sniper¡¯s skills were active they were sure to spot her. Shifting, the sniper lifted their rifle clear of the pedway¡¯s wall before slowly duck-walking back towards Mai. Just as slowly, Mai lifted her shotgun, activating USE SHOTGUN. Critical hit boxes appeared over her prey. Too fucking easy, she thought, firing. HEADSHOT! INSTAKILL! CULLER 838473 ELIMINATED No time to lose, Mai crashed through the door, slipping slightly in the blood and brains of her victim. Activating FREERUNNING, she vaulted over the balcony to the one below. Landing cat-like, she took hold of the next balcony¡¯s edge and vaulted down. Her shoulder screamed each time she did it. As did she. In less than a minute she was back in the play park. Sprinting to the supply drop, she slapped her hand down onto the nearest crate, gasping in relief as bottles of BIO-BOOST tumbled out of it. Taking a risk, she absorbed the shotgun. Snatching one up, she started to chug the liquid down, activating her HEAL as she did so. Quickly forming a backpack, she snatched up more bottles, doing it all one-handed as she continued to suck on the bottle. BIO-MASS 100% Opening up another bottle, she dropped the pack and started crafting mines, throwing them out as quickly as possible, sucking on the bottle as she did so. Keeping her BIO-MASS high. ¡°Culler!¡± Bullets stitched into the crates she was standing near. Diving to one side she crawled on hands and knees around the supply drop. More shots rang out. Dropping her empty BIO-BOOST bottle, she reached round for her backpack. ¡°What? Where the ..?¡± Then she remembered. It was on the other side of the drop where she¡¯d laid it. Forming a shotgun, she ignored the pain, and the BIO-MASS message which popped up, before sticking it around the corner of the drop and loosing off a barrage of shots. Taking a quick look she tried to spot the pack. Buddha¡¯s balls! She cursed as she looked at the pack. It was utterly shredded, as were the bottles in it. Just my fucking luck! Bullets continued to strike the supply drop, so many she couldn¡¯t tell one from another. Back to the supply drop, she levelled her shotgun at the windows of the shop in front of her. Three quick shots and it was shattered. Still on hands and knees, she used the supply drop to keep out of her attacker¡¯s line of sight. DAMAGE 1% BLEED @0.5% PER SECOND Shattered glass from the window was cutting into her hands and knees. Ignoring it, she pressed on, ignoring the bullets cracking over her head. Three paces away from the window she took her chance, sprinting headlong through the window before throwing herself to the floor once more. Well-polished, gleaming even, the floor was ice-slick. She was surprised at how well she slid along before coming to a gentle stop at the back wall. She couldn¡¯t tell what sort of shop it was. Didn¡¯t care too much but was curious to see if there was anything she might be able to use. The display¡¯s erupted as the attacking cullers rounded the supply drop, raking their weapons back and forth in an attempt to finish her off. Rolling on the shop floor, arms covering her head as she was showered with ruined shop displays and their wares. She risked a quick glance around her from this vantage and spotted a door. Bullets chasing her heels, she ran forward, blasting it with her shotgun before shouldering through it into the corridor beyond. Book 1 - Lone Wolf - Chapter 29 Mai ran until the shots receded in the distance, only stopping when she had to regain her breath. A sign caught her eye as she was bending over, sucking in lungfuls of air. Wiping sweat from her brow she made her way over to the sign. ¡®Maintenance Access¡¯. Popping open the access panel beneath the sign, Mai climbed into the gap behind. As a child she¡¯d spent more time than she could remember exploring all of the maintenance passages between the walls. The whole city was riddled with them and she and her friends had found a small chamber they¡¯d made their own. Smiling at the good memory, she sidled along the passageway until she came to a ladder signposted as ¡®Maintenance Five¡¯. Looking up, she lost track of the number of small lights stretching away above her head. Three more Culling announcements had been made as she climbed the ladder, all as a result of her mines. It had taken her through three levels before ending in an old control room. The computers were still active, so it must have been relegated to a secondary or back-up role. ¡°Might be some food,¡± she thought out loud as she looked at the work-stations and the clothing lockers. Activating her LARCENY skill she used it to determine the best way to open the locks. ¡°Brute force it is then,¡± she muttered. Walking over to the nearest locker, she jammed Smith¡¯s Culling blade into the gap where the edge of the door met the side of the locker, pushed, and then levered the blade. A loud bang filled the room as the locker door sprang open. Mai froze in place, ears straining for any sound of alarm or people coming to check on what was happening. Whilst civilians couldn¡¯t actually hamper her, she didn¡¯t want someone broadcasting her location on the infonet either. No one came. Taking a couple of breaths to slow her hammering heart, she set to work on opening all of the other lockers. Once they were open, she kicked in her SPOT HIDDEN skill and started to rummage. Five minutes later she had not only searched all of the lockers, but every one of the work stations as well. It wasn¡¯t the best haul. ¡°Three packs of dried noodles, a cocoa bar, a bucket of muscle protein and a lichen shake.¡± Still, beggars couldn''t be choosers and her BIO-MASS needed to be replenished. Opening the only exit from the room, she looked down into the corridor beyond. It wasn¡¯t long, and at the end was another two. Two others were set opposite each other halfway down. The one on the left had a latrines glyph, whereas the other said ¡°canteen.¡± More importantly, there wasn¡¯t another culler waiting to kill her. She went back and gathered up her findings before making her way to the canteen. I almost feel sorry for the people who work here, she thought as she looked around the canteen. It was utterly soul-less. Production quotas and team schedules hung in front of one wall. On another was a blank set of ¡°Employee of the Week¡± and ¡°Employee of the Month¡± placards. In the exact centre was a table large enough to seat eight people, and some hard-looking chairs. Clearly the workers weren¡¯t expected to spend any more time off than they absolutely had to. But what got Mai really excited was the fact that there was an old-fashioned but well-stocked vending machine, and a small stove in the corner of the room. Walking up to the vending machine, Mai selected her favourite choco-protein bar and pressed her hand onto the pay pad. INSUFFICIENT FUNDS Cursing, Mai grabbed the nearest chair and smashed the front of the machine. Pausing once more to see if the noise would attract anyone, she then proceeded to strip the machine bare, stuffing various bars and packets of fried goods into her pockets. There was no way she would be able to eat all of this in one sitting, but it made no sense to leave supplies behind. LARCENY +5% Pockets bulging, she turned her attention to the stove. Not an enthusiastic cook at the best of times, she randomly twisted knobs until a light came on and the stove indicated it was ready to cook. Pressing the SAUCEPAN & WATER selection she waited for the stove¡¯s nanites to build the saucepan and then fill it with water. As soon as the saucepan was full she tore open her packs of noodles and dropped the contents in. Whilst she waited for the food to cook, she called up her SASS Levelling up in Culling had also seen all of her combat skills increase by a couple of percentage points. It was nothing to get excited about as none of them had approached a full ten per cent increase, so she wasn¡¯t going to get a better chance at a critical hit. Still, increases weren¡¯t something to be sniffed at, especially as there would be cullers with less skill than her. Every five per cent of skill over an opponent¡¯s level in the same skill added one per cent to her defence. And when it came down to life and death situations, one per cent would make all the difference. A chime told her that the food was cooked. It was only when she started eating that she realised just how hungry she was. In no time at all she wolfed down the noodles and managed to pack away a handful of bars. BIO-MASS 100% Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings. Chomping on a cocoa-flavoured shroom bar, Mai created a couple of mines, placing them around her hiding place and then settled down to try and catch her breath. Her killing of the sniper fresh in her mind, she made sure she planted them so that they overlapped. Whilst they hadn¡¯t helped the sniper that much, it didn¡¯t mean they wouldn¡¯t help her. It¡¯s all down to the damned skills people had before they entered the Culling, or which they gained during the training. It felt as though she¡¯d been running ever since that day Andries died. A tightness in her chest, a constant need to sigh, or take a deeper breath. The area she was in was as silent as the city ever got. She¡¯d only ever experienced true silence as a child in these very types of maintenance areas. Now older, her brain was so used to the continual hum of the city that she only ever heard it if she listened for it and found just that right spot. It was time she had a proper look at her menus and nanite options. Training had, in some ways, closed her mind to the options she had. She¡¯d favourited the weapons she¡¯d learned to use. Granted they¡¯d taught the cullers how to use various weapons, including such things as booby-traps and landmines, but because those lessons had focussed solely on specific ones, hers and the minds of the cullers had also been trained to only think of those specific weapons. She hadn¡¯t once thought of the potential builds she could have at her fingertips. Probably a good way of limiting people so that they die quicker she thought. It made sense. Train people to use certain portions and when those people are exposed to the extremes of the Culling they only use those they feel comfortable with. The ones they had trained on. Mai hated being manipulated like that and was determined to learn what else she had up her sleeves if necessary. The more she knew, the better the chance she had of returning to Li and sticking up a finger to the Celestial Court. Comfortable for the time being with the weapons at her disposal, she opened up her clothing menu. Not a logical first step some might think, but it made perfect sense that there might be clothing of use. Afterall, she¡¯d used hazmat suits in the sewers, and they¡¯d had SOAK, who knew what had been unlocked for cullers to use? Filtering out fashion and comfort from the search parameters, she waited a second or two for the search results to appear on her retina. STEALTH was an option that sprung out. Opening that sub-menu she chuckled as she looked at the options. If you could wear it, you could find it in a stealth format. She added another filter removing skirts, dresses, t-shirts, and underwear. The results that followed were much better. Blink-clicking on a full-body cloak, she read the stats. Stealth Cloak Stealth cloak, two per cent BIO-MASS, an additional five per cent negative modifier to anyone using SPOT HIDDEN, similar if I use URBAN CAMOUFLAGE, STEALTH or HIDE. Added bonus that it¡¯s warm and has a hood I can use to sleep in it. Directly beneath the cloak was an all-in-one stealth jumpsuit. It offered an additional two per cent to that of the cloak and was cumulative, meaning that she would receive a twelve per cent bonus. It cost more to make at five per cent BIO-MASS but considering what it offered, she decided to make both. Glad that forming clothes didn¡¯t hurt, she opened up the armour section. It was far bigger than she thought it would be and most of the options were redded out. Most were locked because she didn¡¯t have enough culls. So the psychos get to have all the cool gear, the logic was twisted. Those cullers that tried to keep away from the action for as long as possible would find their weapons and armour options limited. Those who played the game the way the Celestial Court wanted to were rewarded. It¡¯s the fucking social score all over again! Looking at CELESTIAL COURT armour, she selected the view option out of curiosity. It was immediately clear why it was redded out. She would need at least one hundred and fifty per cent BIO-MASS in order to create it. How the hells am I supposed to get that much BIO-MASS? Still, she practically salivated at the suit¡¯s stats. Powered armour was some of the most intimidating weaponry a single person could use. It was beautifully awe-inspiring. It had a SOAK of two hundred, meaning that it could take two hundred per cent damage on any given location before she started to take damage herself. INTIMIDATION was its key negative buffer, affecting anyone the user fired at, as well as any enemy within twenty-five paces. This suit is a beast! No wonder the Celestial Guard is so feared! Mai rubbed her hands with glee at the very idea of being able to create such a suit. Knowing it was just a dream didn¡¯t stop her from adding it to her quick-creation menu. If she ever had the chance she could be wearing it in under five seconds. Another section which caught her eye was MECHA. Having seen the CELESTIAL COURT armour, she was keen to see what MECHA offered above and beyond the powered armour. Mecha were piloted by only the best according to the Imperial Army recruitment posters. Members of the Imperial Army had to serve for a minimum of five years and have a spotless record before even being allowed to apply for a mecha slot. She was surprised that mecha had been unlocked for the Culling. Maybe the Celestial Court was trying to up the stakes, make things more exciting for those watching the event? Was there some other reason for the change? She wondered to herself. Not even the Emperor¡¯s Guard was held in such awe and esteem. This was mostly down to the fact that mecha ranged in height from the ¡°small¡± one-man suits at roughly the height of three-men, through to giant mecha ten times that. Rumour had it that the Emperor had his own mecha which was taller even than that and which he¡¯d used to lead the charge against Heaven¡¯s Gates in the Pacification of the war-planet called God¡¯s Chosen. A haven for one-God extremists, its pacification had seen over one billion of the Emperor¡¯s soldiers lay down their lives. The inhabitants had suffered far greater, losing more than ninety per cent of their people during the war. Acceptable losses in the eyes of most loyal citizens. The mecha she was looking at were far more restricted, the biggest being limited to a three-crew mecha roughly six men in height. The BIO-MASS required to create that, as well as the fact that she¡¯d need facilities to do so forced a sigh from her lips. With a suit like that she would have been nigh-on unstoppable. At two hundred per cent BIO-MASS for the smallest she¡¯d be dead before she knew it if she tried to create it. It wasn¡¯t much bigger than the CELESTIAL COURT, would barely be considered a mecha, but it was still incredibly cool. Another one for the quick picks, she smiled wryly at the thought. Still, it never hurt to be prepared. Mines were something she had also blindly assumed were the only things worth looking at, so she wiped her search parameters and typed ANTI-PERSONNEL DEFENCES. Ignoring the mines which were presented at the top of the menu as she¡¯d favourited them, she chuckled evilly as she saw that there were a number of turret options. All of them could be manually operated if required but they also worked off her own targeting system. If she marked someone as a target, the turret would engage them, freeing her up to fight others. What sort of payloads have you got? she slowly scrolled through the customisation options. Acid and flame-throwers were both ten per-cent BIO-MASS with roughly the same status effects. Minigun had the PINNED status effect in comparison to the PANIC the acid and flames caused. The latter would cause people to leave cover and flee, the former would cause them to hunker down. That¡¯s damned evil genius. Pin them with the minigun, then hose them with the acid and flame. All told for these as a unit would be twenty per cent BIO-MASS. Sure hope I have the BIO-MASS to spare if the opportunity or need ever comes up. Stuffing the last bar she could manage into her mouth, stomach full, Mai laid her head on the table, exhaustion washing over her. Just as she started to drift off to sleep she heard voices. Book 1 - Lone Wolf - Chapter 30 Mai was on her feet before she knew it. The voices were a mix of male and female. Some were trying to talk to the others in hushed tones, but there was at least one who wanted to talk in a normal tone. ¡°For the love of the Emperor, there¡¯s no one here!¡± the loud speaker snapped. ¡°So why the hells can we smell cooking?¡± Mai closed her eyes in frustration for a second. She hadn¡¯t given any thought to the fact that the smell of her cooking would assist other cullers. Come to think of it, why were so many of them working together this early in the Culling? Checking her BIO-MASS level she smiled to see that it was at one hundred per cent. This gave her many more options than just a knife and a bad attitude. From what she could tell, the other cullers were still in a corridor a couple of doors down. Gives me some time to prepare a nasty surprise. Heart hammering quickly in her chest she opened up her nanite menu. The first thing she selected was a mine. Mines were excellent weapons because they didn¡¯t rely on the user having good aim, and they were also relatively cheap in BIO-MASS compared to their killing ability. Even though she already laid some, it couldn¡¯t hurt to have at least one more. Biting her lip against the pain, she formed a Moon-mine. It was a gentle crescent shape, with the outwards curve helpfully marked with ¡®front to enemy¡¯. As quickly and quietly as she could, she lifted a chair and placed it a couple of feet in front of the room¡¯s entrance. Flicking a switch she smiled as a near-invisible laser played over the door. Anyone walking through that beam is going to be in a world of hurt, she thought, surprised at how quickly she was getting used to the idea of kill or be killed. Moving to the back of the room, she just as carefully flipped a couple of tables. They wouldn¡¯t provide her with any useful cover from projectiles, but they would provide her with concealment. Opening up her nanite menu again, she selected an SMG and SHOTGUN. The pain was even more intense this time. Both weapons cost the same at 3% BIO-MASS, leaving her with 89% for additional ammunition. She spent another 6% for explosive ammunition in the SMG ¨C thirty rounds - and 5% DRAGON BREATH shells for the shotgun which had a magazine of ten shells leaving her a new level of 78%. I found food once before, I¡¯m sure I can find it again, she reassured herself. The fact that she only found the food by accident was something she pushed firmly to the back of her mind. Because of the room plan, there was no way she could enter the corridor and leave the facility without the other cullers finding her. Taking a couple of deep breaths she called out. ¡°Hello? Who¡¯s there? This is a private facility. You should leave now before I call security.¡± Silence, sudden and total descended. Then she heard the sound of harsh whispers. ¡°Bollocks. You¡¯re not going to call security. You¡¯re a bloody culler.¡± It was the same voice as before. Mai activated her SMG and SHOTGUN skills. Licking her now-dry lips she laid her sights on the door. She activated SMART MOUTH. ¡°Well, you better leave or else,¡± she said, making her voice sound weak and afraid. The latter was far easier. ¡°Have it your way!¡± The speaker kicked the door open in one smooth movement. Mai had just enough time to see that he had armed himself with a shotgun of his own before the door broke the Moon-mine¡¯s beam. With a surprisingly loud explosion the mine went off, filling the air before it with flechettes. Its effect was devastating. Loudmouth was utterly obliterated, and the two people behind him were sent reeling back into the corridor. If they¡¯d managed to make it into the room, her other mines would have made short work of them. Having seen just how much of a mess the moon-mine had made, she was glad they hadn¡¯t tripped the other mines. The noise and damage done might well have disabled her. Going to have to make sure I place mines more carefully next time. KILL! CONTESTANT 193029 ELIMINATED HIT! 88% DAMAGE BLEED @5% PER SECOND HIT! 79% DAMAGE BLEED @7% PER SECOND Shouts of anger and fear followed the immediate aftermath of the group leader¡¯s grisly death. She couldn¡¯t see any glyphs as her opponents were concealed, but the notifications were more than enough for her. Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website. A barrel popped around the door and fired, spraying the other side of the room to Mai¡¯s left with bullets. She didn¡¯t return fire, not wanting to let them know where she was positioned. Instead she just waited. More notifications from the two wounded cullers popped up. They were bleeding to death satisfyingly quickly. From the sounds outside she could tell that there were at least two others in the group. Calling up her menu, she scrolled down to the grenades. They were ten per cent BIO-MASS each, which would seriously deplete her remaining BIO-MASS. On the other hand, if she didn¡¯t use the SMG and shotgun, she could re-absorb that BIO-MASS into her body. Deciding it was worth the risk she selected a powerful frag grenade, and a smaller flashbang at five per cent. ¡°Hey, let¡¯s talk about this. We don¡¯t need to kill each other. Not yet anyway. And there¡¯s going to be a load of people coming here to see what all the fuss is about. You don¡¯t want to get trapped in the corridor.¡± She was talking to buy time. Now that their blood was up she didn¡¯t think that the other cullers would be willing to let her live. Not only had she killed a friend of theirs, she was also going to be credited with two other kills in a short space of time. That meant she was actually worth more to them if they killed her. It was only when a warning flashed up as the flashbang was formed that she realised her mistake. I don¡¯t have any bloody hands! Cursing, she reabsorbed the shotgun. The SMG would hopefully prove to be more than useful for the job at hand. As soon as her hand was back to normal the flashbang formed. Wiping away the tears caused by the pain of absorption and creation, she placed the flashbang down and then formed the frag. ¡°We¡¯re going to kill you bitch! There¡¯s no way that we¡¯re going to let you walk away!¡± KILL! CONTESTANT 087387 ELIMINATED ¡°That was my sister!¡± Mai paused at the pain in the shouter¡¯s voice. She knew all too well what it felt like to be forcibly separated from her own sister, and to see her bleed to death was something she hoped never happened. Mai didn¡¯t bother replying as the room was filled with bullets sprayed blindly from behind the wall. This time the shooter was firing through the walls. A far more effective way of doing things. Mai gasped as a bullet clipped her shoulder. DAMAGE! 1% FLESH WOUND BLEED @0.5% PER SECOND HEALTH 98.5% It was little more than a scratch, but it still hurt far more than she would have expected. Knowing that the shooter knew she¡¯d been wounded and where she¡¯d been shooting at the time, Mai couldn¡¯t wait any longer. She primed the flashbang and then lobbed it through the door. As quickly as she could she primed the frag grenade and held on to it. The flash bang detonated, filling the air with sound and bright light. Even behind her table she was slightly stunned by the effects. MULTI-HIT! BLINDED! STUNNED! INTIMIDATED! Popping up from behind her shelter she threw the frag grenade, it was a long throw, easily five paces. Just in time she ducked back down behind her table. The grenade barely managed to make it past the door¡¯s opening before detonating. KILL! CONTESTANT 039277 ELIMINATED KILL! CONTESTANT 039587 ELIMINATED HIT! 82% DAMAGE STUNNED! BLINDED! INTIMIDATED! STAGGERED! BLEED @3% PER SECOND HIT! 63% DAMAGE BLINDED! STUNNED! BLEED @5% PER SECOND Pushing herself from her knees she charged out into the corridor. None of the cullers were in any state to resist her. Multiple glyphs hung above them and there wasn¡¯t a full health bar to be seen. Two bodies lay before her. Unable to tell which were wounded and which were dead due to the fact that health bars overlapped she opened fire with the SMG. KILL! CONTESTANT 049385 ELIMINATED! Turning to the left at a bubbling scream she saw another culler on their knees. Their entire face was missing. It was just a maw of raw flesh and blood. What she thought were teeth were far up its face, too far away from their mouth. Their health bar was mostly black, and getting blacker by the second as they bled to death. Mouth twisting in disgust she fired another burst. KILL! CONTESTANT 100229 ELIMINATED ¡°Please, help me. Please, I don¡¯t want to die.¡± At least that¡¯s what she thought she heard, the words being so indistinct. Mai turned to see the last survivor of the party on all fours. She was dribbling blood from a shattered jaw and had numerous negative status effect glyphs hovering above her. Looking at them, Mai could tell the woman would be dead within a couple of minutes if she did nothing. However, there was nothing to say that she wouldn¡¯t be able to get her hands on food and use the BIO-MASS to heal herself. Levelling the SMG at the woman, Mai closed her eyes as she started to scream and plead for her life, trying desperately to eke out the last few moments of her life. Mai fired, not even looking where she was shooting. At that range it was hard to miss, and the woman was badly injured that any hit would be enough to finish her off. KILL! CONTESTANT 103229 ELIMINATED CULLING LEVEL UP ¨C LEVEL 5! Nose wrinkling in disgust at the stench of blood and loosened bowels, Mai quickly went through the belongings of the dead cullers. They didn¡¯t have much, but one of them had a useful backpack full of supplies which she gladly took. Taking a look at her minimap she could clearly see all of the deaths marked on it. As could anyone else nearby. Time to go. If it hadn¡¯t been for the fact that more cullers would be drawn to the battle site, she¡¯d been there long enough. She didn¡¯t want a visit from hostile drones. Shouldering the backpack she set off. Book 1 - Lone Wolf - Chapter 31 Stifling a yawn, Mai realised that she¡¯d been on her feet for at least eighteen hours straight. Add the stress of combat and all of the levels she¡¯d gone up and down, and her body was starting to tell her enough was enough. Now that she thought about it, she hadn¡¯t actually clarified whether the rules of the Culling prohibited cullers from holing up to sleep. They can¡¯t expect us to keep going without sleep can they? Ducking into an alcove off the corridor she was walking along, she called up the rules, using a keyword search for sleep. Back in the barracks she¡¯d skimmed them, but there had been pages and pages of rules, laws, and byelaw listing what she could and couldn¡¯t do, including laws that she could break without a social score penalty. It had bored her. Too tired after training to do more than shovel food into her mouth and collapse onto her bunk, she¡¯d skimmed them, then given up. For her the most important rule had been ¡®don¡¯t die¡¯. And that one hadn¡¯t even been written. Still, better late than never I suppose. At least it¡¯s taken me less time to do this than it did to read the Primer. Ha! The search only returned one result. CULLERS MUST NOT REMAIN IN ONE POSITION FOR MORE THAN TWO HOURS. THIS INCLUDES SLEEPING. THEY MAY NOT RETURN TO THAT AREA WITHIN FOUR HOURS. THEY MUST MOVE AT LEAST ONE HUNDRED METRES FROM THEIR ORIGINAL POSITION BEFORE THEY CAN STOP AGAIN. ¡°Bloody hell,¡± she sighed. ¡°They want us so tired that we¡¯re falling asleep on our feet.¡± Looking at the rules again she realised that she could get at least one hour forty-five minutes of sleep before having to wake and move. Another search using the keywords of remain and one position didn¡¯t return anything else. Nothing defined what ¡®one position¡¯ actually meant. Does one pace to the left or right count? ¡°If I then take five minutes to get into another position, I nab another sleep, wake and move.¡± She muttered, wishing she had someone she could discuss this with. Without all the shouting and killing such a companion would no doubt cause. When she did the maths she actually felt slightly better. Although her sleep would be broken, she could still rack up the hours. I wonder if others will just keep moving until they drop of exhaustion or wander into a trap? She didn¡¯t really care. That was their issue. Whilst she didn¡¯t really have a game plan beyond not dying, she reckoned that getting as much sleep as possible would give her an advantage over those who didn¡¯t. Looking around at the corridor she was in she could easily see that it would be tactical suicide to get trapped in it. She¡¯d been wandering around a technical district for the last couple of hours since the brutal fight without much thought as to what she was going to do. Now though she had a plan. Find somewhere to sleep and do so. Her jaw cracked as she yawned. Calling up her minimap she looked at the area she¡¯d walked through. Mind made up she turned around and strode back the way she¡¯d come. *** The rooms were a series of operations centres, a shower block, and another staff canteen. As before they¡¯d been mothballed, but she still searched every nook and cranny. ¡°Pretty good haul,¡± Mai smiled as she finished stuffing her new backpack with what she found. It seemed that workers wherever they were liked to bring snacks to their work. Reading the packaging of the various snacks, she was able to total up the BIO-MASS, grinning when she realised that she could fully replenish her BIO-MASS at least twice over. The last room in the block was what she¡¯d been hoping to find. It was filled with bunk racks. Mattresses were piled in the corner and rather than take one and put it onto a bed she decided to tip the pile over and sleep underneath them. This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it. Hides me, keeps me warm and I won¡¯t feel so damn exposed. Creating three mines she then placed them in different rooms and just outside the one she was in. Settling into her ad-hoc sleeping area, next she opened up her retinal display, chose the clock and programmed it to go off precisely one hour and forty-five minutes later. Utterly exhausted, she¡¯d barely closed her eyes before she was asleep. *** When the alarm went off ¨C she¡¯d programmed it to buzz quietly ¨C she suffered a moment of panic as her mind tried to work out where she was and why she was buried. When it all came back to her she didn¡¯t know whether to be relieved or even more scared. She hadn¡¯t thought that she¡¯d actually be able to go to sleep but had fallen asleep pretty much as soon as she was settled in the nest. Emerging from the nest, she took an energy bar out of her backpack and ate it hastily whilst opening up her minimap. ¡°Arse knuckles,¡± she whispered as she saw a cluster of kill markers on the map. They stretched along the corridor she¡¯d been in previously. Zooming out to see if there were any more she gasped at how the line of dead curved towards her hiding place. Without thought her arm formed into the shotgun. The mines haven¡¯t gone off. Does that mean that they¡¯ve found them, or that they haven¡¯t entered this part of the complex yet? Slinging her backpack onto both shoulders, an act made more difficult than it should have been because one of her arms was now a shotgun, she took a series of calming breaths and made her way to the bunk room door. Activating her LARCENY skill, she used the sneak aspect of it to slowly open the door to the bunk room. As soon as it was a hand¡¯s width open, she lay on her belly. Now comes the tricky part. Mai slowly and carefully slid her hand forward, keeping it perfectly flat on the floor. If she raised it so much as an inch she risked breaking the beam of the mine she¡¯d placed outside. At least she had thought this out before actually placing the mine here. Good on me for planning ahead. As soon as her fingers brushed the cold metal of the mine she re-absorbed it. Shaking her arm at the lingering pain, she stood and exited the room. Where the hell are they? Mouth dry she moved through the old staff canteen and repeated the process with the next mine. She kept moving. Quicker this time. Keen to bring things to an end. If there was going to be a fight, she wanted it over and done with. Reaching her final mine she re-absorbed it and then stepped into the main atrium of the complex. Nothing. Where the hells are they? Even more worrying was the fact that she hadn¡¯t heard the battle. She didn¡¯t think that she could have been that deeply asleep. Or that the mattress would act as such efficient barriers. But still. Looking at the minimap, she followed the plan until she reached the first body. It looked as though it had once been a man, but the damage was so severe she couldn¡¯t be sure. In its hand was the Culling knife. Huge chunks of flesh had been torn out of his face and neck. Any one of the wounds would have been fatal. But there were more, all over his body. They used his BIO-MASS, Mai felt physically sick. They¡¯d been told about this but had never thought that someone would be so desperate, or so sick as to actually do it. Seeing that there was nothing of value on the body she crept forward to the next one. A woman, she lay face down, a huge hole in her neck clearly what killed her. Kneeling, Mai took a better look at the wound. Bite. It¡¯s a bloody bite wound! She sprang back in horror, hand clasped over her mouth as she realised not only what had killed the woman, but who. Sharktooth. He¡¯d killed these players with his bite. Nothing else. Literally torn them to pieces with those awful teeth of his. Moving slowly into a patch of shadow, Mai tried to slow her breathing. Breath coming in panicked gasps, she glanced up at her glyphs. INTIMIDATION hung clearly above her. He¡¯s here. He¡¯s hunting. And he¡¯s gained a skill or ability which is causing this INTIMIDATION, she thought. It didn¡¯t matter that she¡¯d fought him, and defeated him, during the training for the Culling. Then he¡¯d just been scary and intimidating because of his size and appearance. But that had been scary and intimidating in lower case. Now, somehow, he¡¯d managed to become INTIMIDATING and, for all she knew, might also be able to cause PANIC. Just thinking about that raised her heartbeat even further. And now he¡¯s eating people. There were at least five other bodies strung out along the corridor. Focussing on the bodies, and the way they were laid out she started to piece together what had happened. From the way the first two were laid it was clear they had been taken by surprise, lured by Sharktooth into an ambush. Then, he¡¯d moved on to engage the rest of the group. Seeing their friends torn to pieces by a cannibal had definitely intimidated them. With a sinking heart she saw that they had dropped their weapons and that a lot of the wounds were to their backs. They PANICKED. He really had gained the ability. As they¡¯d panicked he¡¯d picked them off one at a time. And the more he killed the more they panicked. Poor bastards, what a way to go. A sound. Metal upon metal. Just a clink. Her heart felt as though it was going to burst out of her chest. I can¡¯t beat him! And with that she was off and running. Book 1 - Lone Wolf - Chapter 32 Mai ran, head down, arms pumping. She¡¯d activated FREERUNNING and was using it to carve a path through the mothballed industrial complex. There¡¯s no way Sharktooth can catch me, she thought. Not that she knew whether he was a free runner himself or not. Her minimap pinged. She¡¯d set it up to chime every time a culler was killed within five hundred paces. Anything further away was pointless. Opening it up as she ran, she took careful note as to where they were and adjusted her course. A familiar stench reached her nostrils and she grinned at the opportunity it offered. Why she hadn¡¯t thought of it before she didn¡¯t know. The first week of the Culling, cullers were most likely to play a careful game. The sane ones at least. Like her they would try to avoid other cullers for as long as they wanted so long as they didn¡¯t break the rules by staying in one spot for too long. After the first flurry of killings that is, she thought, mouth souring. Viewers didn¡¯t want to see a load of people running for cover in the first hours or days of the Culling. They wanted death and destruction from the outset. Which they got in bucketloads. But how long can we keep away from trouble? A week? More? They¡¯re bound to work out some way of forcing us to fight, to move us into closer proximity. Can¡¯t have viewers getting bored and losing them. Wouldn¡¯t be good for the Celestial Court to lose out on all that income. Income generated by all the holo-ads, promotions, merchandise, and bets. Forcing them closer would also mean that the Culling didn¡¯t last too long. Running battles, whilst popular with the loyal citizens of the empire, tended to have a negative effect on trade and since the Culling wasn¡¯t restricted to levels, it could have a tremendously negative effect upon even ten-mile establishments. But the sewers were the perfect place to hide until she had to leave. She was already two days into the Culling. Which meant she could leave the others to kill as many others off before she was forced into wherever the drones pushed her. Using her nose, she tracked down the stench. As it got stronger she saw that it was coming from a heavy iron hatch set into the wall. Shit, that¡¯s bloody massive. Mai ran her hands around the hatch, looking at every piece of it. From what she was able to work out, it was opened remotely by hydraulics. How the hell am I supposed to open this bloody thing! She bit her lip in thought for a split second. Opening her nanite-menu, she scrolled through the options. Frag? She didn¡¯t have a DEMOLITIONS skill, but it was worth a try. Grunting, she made five grenades at a cost of fifty per cent BIOMASS. Taking another look at the hinges, she started to push the grenades into any gaps she could. Stepping back, she took a critical look at her job. How the hells do I blow them at the same time? There wasn¡¯t a chance that she¡¯d be able to pull all of the pins and get to a safe place before they detonated. It¡¯s never this hard on the holomyths! She dove back into her menu, skipping past the combat choices as she tried to find something she could use to pull the pins of the grenades at the same time. Her foot tapped as she did, it was taking far too long. Rope! Grinning at the prospect of not having to feel pain as she created the rope she made a few metres of it. At less than half a per cent per metre, she wasn¡¯t too bothered about the BIO-MASS. Taking care, she passed the rope through the grenade¡¯s pins securing each in turn, then slowly and carefully made her way back to an alcove. Tucking down, she gathered the rope in her hands until there was just enough tension, then yanked. ¡°What the hell?¡± She was more than disappointed at the result. Nothing happened. ¡°What the fucking fuck!¡± Fist clenched she pushed herself to her feet and stepped out of the alcove. Boom! DAMAGE! 15% DISORIENTED BLEED @1% PER SECOND HEALTH 84% Staggering, body feeling as though it had been hit with a thousand tiny hammers, Mai made her way to the hatch. ¡°Bloody fuses. Grenades have fuses.¡± Cheeks puffing, she blew out a breath as she remembered just how long she¡¯d held onto the grenade before. Fear and adrenaline had completely wiped the fact that they were timed from her mind. Gods are looking down on me, she thought, raising a shaking hand to mop her brow. She smiled at her handiwork. Shattered iron lay scattered around and the hatch had been completely blown open. Nose wrinkling at the stench of the released sewer gases, she looked into the opening. From what she could see it would be a tight fit. But she¡¯d make it. Someone¡¯s going to have a shit day fixing this. Gasping at the heat of the still-smoking edges, she carefully climbed in. *** After two hours of squirming through tight pipes whilst pulling the backpack after her, Mai was exhausted. She¡¯d had to use nanites to create a breathing mask as her head had started to spin. Reaching a bend down in the pipe, she rested momentarily, trying to massage some life into her screaming thighs and get a break from the pain. Opening up her menu, she scrolled through to the CLIMB section, smiling as she spotted the ultimate solution. She had no idea how long she may be headed down, but she wanted to be prepared as much as possible. It only cost one per cent and was more than worth it if it stopped her from falling into the stygian darkness below. Gritting her teeth, she admired the spurs that now jutted from her heels and palms. This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. After this she¡¯d tried creating low-light and even no-light goggles to see what was below, but this pipe seemed to just go one forever. So far that it felt as though it reached to the middle of the planet. Shrugging her backpack around to her front, she dipped a hand in and pulled out a random snack. She was surprised to feel just how empty the backpack was. All of the exercise was taking its toll and added to the nanites and their never-ending hunger, she was quickly going through everything she¡¯d collected. I really don¡¯t fancy having to cook up a bloody mogwai. Licking her fingers clean of chocolate, she started climbing, this time down. Sooner than she thought she found herself at the end of the pipe. By this time, her muscles were cramping, so hard that she thought they were actually going to tear. It didn¡¯t matter how many nanite tools she used, she still had to use her own muscles to power herself through the damn pipe. The stench, even through the mask, was worse than she remembered. Looking down, she judged the drop to be a few yards. Nothing too dangerous. The flow of the river was slow. From what she could tell it was barely moving at a crawl. Depth was another matter, however. Opening her menu she selected her old hazmat suit and dropped into the mess as soon as she was covered. It was as if she¡¯d dropped into molten marshmallow. Only shitty. The feeling utterly revolted her, and she swore as she fought to keep her numerous sweet snacks down. After being away from the stench for so long, it was overwhelming. With everything she had been through since joining the Culling, it sure felt like it had been forever as she initially fought her way through this shit. Despite her revulsion at both the stench and the warmth of the river, she noticed that it was actually soothing her tired muscles. Accepting that she wasn¡¯t going to be getting away from it for a while, she decided to accept it. Her tired muscles were grateful to be supported by the noxious mix of urine and excrement, so she floated, letting herself rest for a while. Letting the warmth soak into her muscles. What the hell? Her foot felt as though she¡¯d dipped it into acid. Mind woolly she tried to rub at her eyes, but her hands were stopped by the visor of her hazmat suit. I must have fallen asleep! Her exhaustion had overwhelmed her. Panicked, she checked her timer. She¡¯d been asleep for at least three hours. Where the hell are the drones? Opening up her minimap she looked at the path she¡¯d carved through the sewers as she¡¯d been asleep. The flow had been just fast enough to stop her from breaking the two-hour rule. The pain got worse and she screamed as it spiked. DAMAGE! 5% BLEED @1% PER SECOND POISON @1% PER SECOND HEALTH 93% Curling up into a sitting position she saw a small mogwai trying to devour her foot. It looked more like a baby than a full-grown adult. Cocky little shit must have thought I was dead. Gathering her strength she lashed out with her other foot, catching the side of its head. HIT! 50% DAMAGE STUNNED! Three birds appeared over the head of the vile creature. Kicking again, she killed it, ignoring the notification. Reaching down she gently prised the teeth out of her foot. If she hadn¡¯t she wouldn¡¯t have been able to HEAL herself. She was able to quickly repair the boot of her hazmat suit, and just as she was about to activate her healing, her stomach cramped. God, I feel sick, was all the warning she had before she vomited inside her helmet. Gasping she sucked the vile liquid back into her mouth just as she heaved again. Unable to draw air she clawed at her helmet in desperation. The vomit kept coming and the helmet kept filling up. Not again! This time she didn¡¯t have Andries to save her, and she¡¯d never felt so helpless. DAMAGE! 15% POISONED @2% PER SECOND PANIC! CHOKING @5% PER SECOND HEALTH 69% She barely noticed the notification, too lost in her panic as she started to drown in her own vomit. Fingers scrabbling at her helmet release, made clumsy by the thick gloves she wore, Mai tried to scream. More vomit was sucked down into her chest. DAMAGE! 40% POISONED @1% PER SECOND CHOKING @10% PER SECOND HEALTH 9% Her vision started to go red. All she could do was scrabble at her helmet. She could feel her fingers getting weaker and weaker. With one last effort she grabbed hold of her helmet on either side and twisted hard, ripping its seals open. It didn¡¯t matter how noxious the air was around her, it still tasted like the freshest air she¡¯d ever breathed. Mouth open, she sucked deeply before vomiting again. The notifications kept coming. I¡¯m bloody dying, and then, through the mists of her panic, she finally activated her HEALING and TREAT SERIOUS WOUNDS. There was a moment of shock, and then the nanites set to work. BIO-MASS 95% - 90% - 85% - 80% The countdown continued as her health bar continued upwards. For every 5% of health she regained she lost exactly the same amount of BIO-MASS. If she could, she would have eaten a snack from the back pack but despite the healing her throat was raw, and the idea of food made her stomach rebel once more. Using 2% BIO-MASS to create a staff, she stood on shaky legs and made her way to the side of the sewer where there was a worker¡¯s walkway. Tried beyond belief she lay there, counting her blessings, and resolving to be far more careful next time. *** A few hours later, once her stomach had stopped rebelling, Mai finished off her snack, licking her fingers to ensure she didn¡¯t lose the slightest crumb. It was a brand she wasn¡¯t really fond of, but she was so low on BIO-MASS that she realised beggars couldn¡¯t be choosers. Fully healed she still felt utterly drained by the ordeal. She couldn¡¯t tell if that was a mental or physical tiredness and if she was honest with herself she didn¡¯t really care. All that mattered was she was alive. She¡¯d take being tired over being dead any day of the week. Calling up the Culling League table she looked at the stats. Her mouth hung open in surprise. Some cullers had managed to rack up three figure kill numbers. How, she wasn¡¯t sure, but looking at their profiles they were all prisoners, gangers, or ex-military. No normal people were anywhere near the top ranks. What surprised her was that she was in the top twenty per cent. She also had an approval rating of thirty per cent, way higher than any other normal person. People like me? It was an odd feeling. She knew every culler was being watched. You couldn¡¯t do anything in life without being watched after all, but that they actually liked or approved of her was surprising. She gave a thumbs up, not knowing who might be watching. I¡¯m such a dweeb, she smiled ruefully. No one¡¯s going to be watching as I wade through poo. A warning chimed. There¡¯d been a kill nearby. Calling up her map, she saw that it was less than thirty paces to her east around the gentle curve of the tunnel she was in. There were only two ways for the victor to go. Away from her, or towards her. Shouldering her bag, she formed an SMG and knife hand combination. Leaving her TUNNEL COMBAT passive until she actually needed it, she activated LARCENY and made her way towards the kill. There¡¯s always a chance the other person is bleeding out, and they might have supplies. Moving slower as she approached the kill-zone, she turned the corner and bumped straight into another culler. Face-to-face with them only one thing was said. Only one thing could be said. ¡°Johnny?¡± Book 1 - Lone Wolf - Chapter 33 ¡°Get the fuck ¡­ Mai?¡± stammered the other culler. ¡°What the hell? You¡¯re in the Culling?¡± Johnny stood before her utterly helpless. Arms down by his side, mouth hanging open in surprise, the sight of her robbing him of any self-preservation instinct. ¡°Yeah,¡± Mai smiled. ¡°I got indentured into the sewers. Lost a friend. Ran away. Signed up at the last moment. You?¡± ¡°Got into debt with the Nights Below. Did some stupid stuff. Was facing a Code Ten. Joined the Culling.¡± A Code 10 was serious. It was instant imprisonment with the very high probability of either a lobotomy, or execution. The knowledge that he was capable of such a thing baffled her. Johnny had been a good friend from school when they were kids. When life was so much simpler. When her parents were still alive. But the Nights Below were seriously bad news. She¡¯d spotted a couple of their markings on fellow Culling inductees, but considering the company they were in she hadn¡¯t given it a second thought. Nights Below were a One-Miler gang which had managed to literally and metaphorically claw its way up from the depths of the Hells until they had members on nearly every level of the city. They were one of the biggest gangs in the world. Like any gang, they ran every racket under the sun, and one of their ¡®best¡¯ rackets was loan-sharking. Desperate people would go to them, borrow money they could never hope to pay back, and would be in the gang¡¯s pockets for ever more. And if you were deep enough in, you¡¯d do whatever you had to. ¡°So I guess we¡¯re both stuck here now then,¡± she sighed. It felt good to find someone she had known, even though the old Johnny would never have been capable of committing a Code 10! He¡¯d always been a tad edgy, but beneath it she knew there had been a shy kid putting on a front. It was why she had liked him so much from the first day they¡¯d met in Nursery Four Hundred and Fifty Thousand. He¡¯d offered her a sweet lichen bun which had helped. ¡°Damn,¡± he said, shrugging. ¡°Yeah,¡± she shrugged back. There wasn¡¯t much more that could be said. ¡°Wanna just turn around and forget that we ever met? I¡¯ll go back the way I came. You do the same?¡± He pointed over his thumb towards the kill marker, eyebrow raised, a slight smile on his face. It made her heart skip a beat. He¡¯d always smiled to cover up his nervousness. ¡°Or,¡± Mai¡¯s mouth dried up at what she was about to suggest, ¡°We team up. Seems there¡¯s a lot of that going on.¡± Johnny¡¯s face lit up with a smile and he placed both hands on hips, another gesture she knew well from their past together. ¡°Hell yeah! Wait a sec.¡± His eyes glazed and she knew that he was looking at her stats. ¡°Buddha¡¯s nut sack, you¡¯re way up the league! How did you get so many culls?¡± ¡°I keep running across people who want to kill me. And who were clever enough to team up. Or thought they were. I¡¯m getting fed-up with being outnumbered. What you say. Teammates?¡± She held out her hand to him to seal the deal after having reabsorbed her knife. ¡°Hells yes!¡± He took her offered hand and shook it enthusiastically. ¡°We should have a name!¡± She laughed at his enthusiasm. It felt good to have met up with him after all these years. He¡¯d always been a happy-go-lucky lad and they¡¯d had good times. Even after her parents had passed, he¡¯d been able to put a smile onto her face. Am I being too trusting too fast? She reluctantly pushed the thought away as she wanted to have someone help watch her back. ¡°How about Battleforce One?¡± It was an old game they¡¯d wasted far too many hours playing as kids. Neither had been that good at it, but it had kept them out of trouble. ¡°Excellent choice!¡± CULLERS NUMBER ¨C 299332 & 192038 ARE NOW BATTLEFORCE 1 DO YOU ACCEPT APPLICANTS YES/NO? Johnny made to stab at one of the choices. ¡°Wait,¡± Mai held a hand up in warning. ¡°Don¡¯t select NO. We need to leave our options open. If we say no then we won¡¯t be able to pool resources with anyone else we meet,.¡± ¡°God, any other friends I should know about?¡± His head tilted quizzically, eyes going blank before the sparkle returned just as suddenly. ¡°Only the one that I know of. Dakota. She¡¯s a ganger. But not like the rest that were in my hangar. She actually saved my life in training. We can trust her if we come across her that is.¡± ¡°Huh. Well, colour me surprised. Okay. We¡¯ll leave it open. Who knows, we might become the biggest team in the game.¡± They both laughed at that. The idea that they might actually make it to the point where they had a proper group was a joke. Damn it feels good to have a friend with me. ¡°Which way then?¡± Johnny asked. ¡°Let¡¯s go back your way. Mine is just never-ending shit.¡± ¡°Well, so¡¯s mine, but I only just got down here. There¡¯s a ladder just a few metres back.¡± They started walking the way he¡¯d come and as they rounded the bend she saw his kill. ¡°Who were they?¡± she asked. ¡°Mother of three. Not a ganger or anything like that. She was hiding in an alcove just to the side of the ladder. Sprung at me when I dropped down next to her. Only had her knife. Wasn¡¯t really a fight.¡± Mai knelt by the pitiful figure and gently arranged her limbs so that it looked like she was sleeping. Multiple stab wounds covered her, and it looked as though her death hadn¡¯t been quick. ¡°She must have been desperate. Probably too low on BIO-MASS to form a weapon worth using.¡± ¡°Yeah,¡± Johnny laid a hand on her shoulder. ¡°I felt really shitty for killing her.¡± ¡°Best job I ever had,¡± she quoted from one of their favourite films. ¡°Best job I ever had,¡± he replied with a slight smile. ¡°Still, it¡¯s for the greater good,¡± he quoted back. ¡°For the greater good,¡± she repeated the mantra sadly. ¡°You know, we really shouldn¡¯t hang around a kill zone like this,¡± he waved a hand around to indicate ¡®this¡¯. ¡°I know,¡± she sighed. ¡°But I thought I¡¯d leave this little present for anyone that wants to check her out.¡± She placed a mine by the body. ¡°Oh, you¡¯re sneaky, going to have to keep my eye on you. How¡¯d you figure out to do that?¡± his hand rested on her shoulder, squeezing ever so too tightly. ¡°I¡¯m not sneaky. Not really, I just know that someone or something,¡± she shuddered at the memory of jiangshi, ¡°will be along to check the body. And a kill¡¯s a kill.¡± She didn¡¯t bother explaining how she¡¯d learned to set mines. ¡°Shame there¡¯s not a way we can¡¯t draw more people here. Ambush them. We can submerge ourselves in the river. Pop up when they come,¡± Mai gestured around them. It was wide-open with little cover. Perfect for catching people unawares. ¡°We can. I¡¯ve got the DIVERSION skill. Had it since before, when I was running with the gang.¡± ¡°How¡¯s that work then?¡± She hadn¡¯t heard of that skill, but then again nor had she worked as closely with the gangs as he apparently had. She blinked open his SASS. Hells, he didn¡¯t run with the gang, he bloody well ran the gang. She said nothing, hiding what she was doing by wiping at her helmet. She thought she might have caught the slightest tensing of his eyes right when she had opened his SASS. He might have been a friend, but it was still considered very bad form to read someone¡¯s SASS without asking. And she got the feeling that if she asked, he wouldn¡¯t let her. Hopefully he didn¡¯t catch what I did. What else hasn¡¯t he been straight with me about? And why the hells doesn¡¯t he have more ganger markings? She closed the SASS before he worked out what she was doing. At least she hoped she had. ¡°It¡¯s quite a simple skill. I can create diversions, just like it says. Got it when it was running with the gangs. It¡¯s a ganger sub-skill. Not something you¡¯d have found unless you were really looking for it. Anyway, one of the diversions I can create is a fake kill marker within one hundred paces. One kill marker each time I activate it. It¡¯s got a really slow recharge time though. Like every five minutes.¡± Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings. Mai formed another mine and stuck it to the wall where the ladder came out of the ceiling above. ¡°Do it. Two kill markers are sure to draw sharks.¡± She shuddered at the thought of having to face Sharktooth but was fairly certain she¡¯d managed to lose him. And if she hadn¡¯t, Johnny was with her. ¡°Done.¡± Her map chimed at the same time as he spoke, and a kill marker appeared next to the first one. ¡°Okay,¡± she created a couple more mines, smaller ones this time that look as though they were loose pieces of concrete. She even went so far as to break a dried crust from the edge of the river to hide one. ¡°That¡¯s mank, Mai. Clever. But mank,¡± chuckled Johnny as he changed his suit¡¯s helmet so that it had a small snorkel. Not only did it have a breathing filter, she also saw a camera lens. Why on earth didn¡¯t I think of something like that! She¡¯d been concentrating on the main menu items, not looking deeper into the configurations she could make. She was also surprised that Andries hadn¡¯t passed on that knowledge. Johnny¡¯s probably had more experience due to his gang membership. Wading out into the muck, he lowered himself carefully into the sludge river until only a couple of finger¡¯s worth of the snorkel could be seen. Flipping through her own menu she found the customisation choices for her helmet. She smiled at the apt title of BOG SNORKEL. It was ten per cent BIO-MASS, but she was happy to pay the cost for such an ingenious mask. She also liked the description. Bog Snorkel A helmet customisation which allows the wearer of said helmet to be completely immersed in the foul filth flooding the sewers and not only be able to breathe, but to also avoid catching any one of a million fatal diseases with each breath. It even comes with a color camera for your viewing pleasure. Wading out into the river, she moved to Johnny¡¯s right, a few paces upstream. Despite having the snorkel, she still had to force herself below the surface, memories of her last battle in the sewers still uncomfortably fresh in her mind. ¡°Can you hear me?¡± Johnny¡¯s voice was tinny, but the reception was good. ¡°Loud and clear.¡± ¡°Think this is going to work?¡± ¡°No idea. Either it will and we¡¯ll get through this together. Or it won¡¯t, no one will come, and we¡¯ll have had a shit bath for no reason.¡± ¡°Best quality shit there is Mai, this is an offshoot of an eight-miler pipe.¡± Mai laughed at that. The idea that someone¡¯s shit was of better quality just because of where they lived was ¨C at that moment ¨C hilarious Damn it feels good to have someone with me, it¡¯s like being back at home, the thought of home brought back memories of her sister, and she gritted her teeth, promising to herself once more that she¡¯d get back to her sister. *** ¡°Mai, for hell¡¯s sake. Mai!¡± Johnny¡¯s voice blasted into her ears. Jolting, Mai cursed. She¡¯d fallen asleep. Luckily, she hadn¡¯t drifted with the flow due to the fact she was kneeling on the sewer floor. ¡°I¡¯m here, stop your flapping,¡± she kept her tone light. Falling asleep was such a stupid thing to do. ¡°Sorry. I¡¯m exhausted.¡± He sighed over the comm. ¡°No harm done. I¡¯ve used my DIVERSION a couple of times. Had to change the location slightly. But it should look like a lot of people are being killed here.¡± ¡°Reckon people will wonder why there are so many dead in one area?¡± ¡°Don¡¯t think so, due to the spacing of the deaths.¡± ¡°Fair point. Why did you wake me?¡± ¡°Because if you slowly move your camera to the right, you¡¯ll see a couple of lights headed our way.¡± All of the sewers in this area were dimly lit, it was far darker here than in the sewers she had been used to. It wasn¡¯t exactly dark, but it wasn¡¯t daylight either. Whoever was coming either didn¡¯t have enough nanites to use a low-light device, or preferred the light created by torches. Either way, their choice was a stupid one. ¡°I count at least two different beams. One considerably further in front than the other.¡± ¡°Agreed,¡± Johnny added a marker onto their team¡¯s minimap. ¡°I have the lead torch here. And the rear torch here. Reckon there¡¯s anyone between them?¡± She was still amazed that they could share their minimap now. This was so much easier than if they couldn¡¯t. ¡°I bloody well hope not. They¡¯re at least twenty paces apart. That¡¯s a lot of people.¡± ¡°I¡¯m switching to twin SMGs. You?¡± he hissed as he finished speaking, clearly creating the weapons. ¡°Ditto. Spray and pray. Cut them down as soon as the mines go off.¡± ¡°I hope you chose the ability to remotely detonate.¡± Mai closed her eyes in frustration. She hadn¡¯t. She was so used to setting the mines for proximity detonation that she hadn¡¯t even given remote detonation a thought. ¡°Don¡¯t sweat it,¡± she reassured him. ¡°They¡¯ll want to move the body. And if they don¡¯t do that they¡¯ll break a beam on one of the other mines.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll take that as a no then,¡± he chuckled. Mai didn¡¯t reply, concentrating on forming the SMG of her choice. She added a suppressor and laser sight. The suppressor would make her shots relatively quiet, making it just that little bit harder for her targets to locate her. Most would be DISORIENTATED at the very least from the detonation of a mine. Having a suppressed weapon would add to that. ¡°Shit. Is that a kid?¡± Mai¡¯s stomach flipped as a child carrying a torch came around the corner. Behind her was a group of three adults, followed by a ganger at the rear. ¡°What the hells?¡± gasped Mai. ¡°There¡¯s no age limit on cullers. Well, no one below the age of twelve at least.¡± ¡°How did they survive the training?¡± ¡°They had it easier?¡± asked Johnny not sounding very sure of himself. ¡°What do we do?¡± ¡°Kill the adults. Leave the kid. No-way do I want to kill a kid.¡± ¡°Confirmed. Heads up.¡± His warning came just in time. The child had made it through the beams of at least two mines due to Mai¡¯s positioning of them. She¡¯d aimed the mines at an angle so that an adult¡¯s head would break the beam. Her reasoning was that this would guarantee a quick kill, and that any other cullers in the blast radius would suffer head wounds so severe they¡¯d be easy pickings. ¡°Brace!¡± she warned as the first adult stepped into the kill zone. There was a flash and a roar of sound as the mine went off. KILL! CONTESTANT 293755 ELIMINATED KILL! CONTESTANT 003384 ELIMINATED CRITICAL HIT! 65% DAMAGE BLEED @5% PER SECOND BLINDED! Deciding at the last second that concealment wasn¡¯t that important anymore, she surged to her feet to clear her weapon¡¯s barrel from the sludge., Mai laid her laser sights onto the last adult, the closed eye glyph hanging above like the death sentence it was. As soon as they were on the stunned-looking woman¡¯s chest she mentally squeezed the trigger. Blood and flesh puffed into the air as the bullets slammed into her. Johnny was also firing. His bullets blasted into the woman¡¯s neck and face. She was dead before she even had a chance to realise she was being shot. KILL ASSIST! CONTESTANT 100688 ELIMINATED Mai loosed another, shorter burst at the last remaining member of the other team. KILL! CONTESTANT 099227 ELIMINATED CULLER LEVEL 6! ¡°Mummy!¡± the child yelled turning to see the woman being blown apart. Mai and Johnny stopped firing as the remains of the woman tumbled into the sludge. Spinning from the sight of her dead mother falling into a river of shit, the child pointed at the two of them. ¡°You killed my mum!¡± Twin blades appeared on the girl¡¯s arms and she shrieked in rage and charged. ¡°Fuck!¡± Mai re-absorbed her SMGs, using a quick-select to form a staff instead. If she could, she wanted to try to subdue the child. What she was going to do with her after the fight she had no idea, but the thought of killing her made her stomach roil. She was just in time. Face screwed up in grief and rage the girl launched herself into the air. Oh shit, Praying Mantis, Mai just had enough time to block the first attack. Praying Mantis was a vicious martial art. Every technique was geared towards killing the opponent. No step was ever taken backward, and attack was deemed to be the best defence, with their defensive tactics always being used to damage an attacker and return back to the offensive. Praying Mantis practitioners were feared the world over. They¡¯d dominated the Combat Shows she¡¯d watched back in the old days. Nanite staff met nanite blade. Mai activated her DIRTY BOXING and SEWER COMBAT. Johnny was shouting something, but she was too busy trying to avoid the child¡¯s attacks to pay any real attention. Her entire focus was on the child before her. A blade thrust to her face. Deflecting it with her staff she tried to counter-attack, but another blade flicking at her forced her to change the attack to a defence. DAMAGE! 5% BLEED @2% PER SECOND HEALTH 93% The cut hurt. A minor vein must have been nicked. Attack followed attack, the onslaught non-stop. DAMAGE! 10% BLEED @3% PER SECOND HEALTH 78% Heart hammering, mouth dry, chest heaving, palms sweaty, Mai continued to try to subdue the girl. Every attack she made was pulled in order to avoid killing her. As a result every attack was too slow to penetrate the girl¡¯s determined defence. ¡°Fucking hurt her! Get out of the way!¡± She didn¡¯t know how long Johnny had been shouting at her. ¡°Die!¡± The girl screamed, face contorted so that she barely appeared to be human. She pressed home her attack, slipping through Mai¡¯s defence. DAMAGE! 25% BLEED @10% PER SECOND HEALTH 38% She was down to less than thirty per cent health. Both of the girl¡¯s blades flashed down at the same time. Mai parried, her staff momentarily stopping them. Flicking the bottom of her staff up as she stepped to the left she dealt a blow to the child¡¯s inside thigh. As the girl folded over, Mai followed with a strike to her back. HIT! 7% DAMAGE It wasn¡¯t enough. Tears streamed down the girl¡¯s face as she recovered from the blow far faster than Mai thought possible. With a shriek the girl resumed the attack. Her blades sank deep. DAMAGE! 15% HEALTH 8% Vision dimming Mai pulled the girl towards her, preventing her from withdrawing the blades from her body. ¡°I¡¯m sorry,¡± she gasped as her opponent tried to break free, ¡°but I need to get home to my sister.¡± Her own tears flowed as she spoke, a lump making the words hard to form. The girl gasped as Mai drove the blade she had just formed up into the child¡¯s chest. Wrapped in Mai¡¯s arms, the girl looked up at her and gave a small smile. Mai sobbed, she¡¯d killed a child, stopping her life before it even had a chance to start. KILL! CONTESTANT 000972 ELIMINATED Mai let go of the girl, blood loss causing her to lose consciousness. As she fell into the noxious river, she heard Johnny calling out her name. ¡°Mai! Don¡¯t you fucking die now!¡± Book 1 - Lone Wolf - Chapter 34 ¡°Thank the gods you¡¯re awake, I thought I¡¯d lost you!¡± Johnny¡¯s face hovered above her. ¡°You ended up poisoned as well. I barely had time to get to you and activate my healing!¡± Mai¡¯s mouth felt as though it had been packed with cotton and every part of her ached. She had a headache that pounded, and her vision was still clouded. Calling up her SASS she was stunned to see her stats were still low. Including her own BIO-MASS. It worried her to have such low BIO-MASS. She wasn¡¯t sure she could use her own body to fuel the nanites if it came to it. Then again, a while ago I never thought I would be able to kill someone, so I guess if I need to, I¡¯ll use the nanites. She sighed, tired of the Culling, tired of fighting to survive, tired of living. It felt good to just sit. Mai couldn¡¯t remember how long it had been since she had just sat down with someone. Her life, even the sewers, before entering the hangar for Culling training seemed as though it had happened to someone else. ¡°Sorry I wasn¡¯t there for your parent¡¯s funeral,¡± Johnny¡¯s voice startled her. She¡¯d been in a stare, completely unfocused, brain just drifting. ¡°Where were you?¡± She tried to keep any anger out of her voice. He¡¯d been one of her closest friends and to be denied his support at that time had hurt. At the time she¡¯d been too wrapped up in her grief, and then trying to cope with suddenly having a little sister to support, to try and find out where¡¯d he gone. And by the time she was in the right headspace, too much time had passed, and she¡¯d got on with her life. ¡°I was on the run from the Bronze Oranges, they put a price on my head, and I knew if I¡¯d gone to the funeral they would kill everyone there just to get to me.¡± Mai blinked, the Bronze Oranges had a terrible reputation for collateral damage. He hung his head, avoiding her gaze. ¡°You were a gang member even then?¡± She tried to remember having seen any indication that he was doing something like that. But by that point, even though they were still good friends, she¡¯d noticed a certain drawing away. A distance. And that was the sign, she sighed, inwardly cursing herself. She¡¯d flattered herself with the thought that perhaps he had started to fancy her and felt awkward around her. But in truth he¡¯d been busy running with the gangs and keeping secrets from her. But still, she needed him to admit it. He nodded. She still didn¡¯t speak, waiting for him to fill the silence. ¡°I was being inducted into Slice and Dice. You remember that small gang? Run by Fat Tommy?¡± Her turn to nod. She still didn¡¯t speak. Slice and Dice had been wannabes in her mind. Not serious gangers like the ones she¡¯d come across in her pre-Culling training. ¡°Well, my mum was having some trouble with them. Borrowed some money. Couldn¡¯t pay back the interest, let alone the debt. So I joined them to pay the debt.¡± That was a surprise. Johnny had lost his father in the Sector Three Uprising. Drafted, he¡¯d been killed by an IED. Johnny had always worshipped his father, and she¡¯d thought he was certain to join the army. Still, Mai smiled at the memory of Johnny¡¯s mother. She¡¯d always been cuddly, happy to help, always cooking. That she¡¯d been struggling was hidden well. Mai was rapidly learning that you could never take people by face value. Even if you thought you knew them. Johnny sighed, scrubbing his face with both hands. ¡°My initiation was to steal a banner from the Bronze Oranges. It was going well, but a girl came out of a room just as I was leaving. She tried to knife me. I lashed out. I was panicking. Just didn¡¯t remember that I was holding the banner pole. Crushed her skull. Stupid. She wasn¡¯t supposed to be there.¡± ¡°You killed her?¡± Gasped Mai, hand over her mouth in shock. ¡°No, she survived,¡± he whispered. ¡°But only just. Disabled from that point on. They issued a Seek and Destroy warrant.¡± Seek and Destroy. Bounty hunters galore must have been tracking him for the reward. Bounties issued by gangs were in no way legal, but the rewards offered were more than enough to have even farmers and their mums getting their knives out. Imperial law was a strange thing. Commit crimes or minor misdemeanours, lose karma, lose social standing, end up knee deep in shit for the rest of your life as you move further and further down through the levels of the city. Lose money through fines, rack up enough debt, get indentured. But there was also a Penal Code. Every crime was given a score from 0.1 through to 10. Once someone reached a score of ten, or committed a Code 10 crime such as murder, rape, or kidnap, and the families or even the victims can issue a bounty. Once issued, the perpetrator was hunted down by warranted bounty hunters. Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author. ¡°Who issued the bounty? Bronze Oranges?¡± She didn¡¯t know why she was asking. It was like prodding at a sore tooth or picking a scab. Painful, but she just couldn¡¯t stop. ¡°She did. Once she recovered. There was a community fundraiser to get her the credits she needed for the bounty. Turned out she was really popular,¡± he gave a wry smile at that. ¡°How did you escape?¡± Again, prodding at the pain. ¡°Managed to kill the first three bounty hunters. I was also working a few angles at the same time which brought in money, so I paid the Bronze Oranges off. By that time it was far too late for me to come back home. I was in too deep.¡± He still couldn¡¯t bring himself to look at her. And she realized where he had been all this time. ¡°Johnny, look at me.¡± She placed a hand under his chin. ¡°It¡¯s fine. You were in a bad place. Your mum was in a bad place. You did what you needed to and paid the price for a mistake.¡± He met her eyes, tears glistening in his before they started spilling down his cheeks. ¡°I missed you so much the day of the funeral, but if you¡¯d just let me know, I would have been better. Not saying I wouldn¡¯t still have been crushed, but at least I would have known.¡± ¡°Yeah, there is that,¡± he half laughed, half sobbed, wiping away his tears. ¡°You could still have come back.¡± She leaned towards him. ¡°No.¡± A hard look came into his eyes, ¡°I couldn¡¯t. Being in the gangs had changed me. I was a killer before I joined the Culling. And once you¡¯re in a gang, you¡¯re in for life. Or until you join the Culling.¡± His tone was cold, face blank. All remnants of her Johnny wiped away as if he was just a dream. Or a memory. Even the tears had gone. It was as if they had never happened and the change in emotions was shocking. ¡°So why did you join the Culling?¡± She tried to keep the sadness, and trepidation out of her voice. The change had put her on edge. It was as if she was talking to two different people. ¡°I killed more people than I could afford to pay for. A power grab that went spectacularly bad. Hear about the Quad Two bombing?¡± Mai gasped, hand rising to cover her mouth. It had been all over the holonews. No-one had ever claimed responsibility, but most had blamed rebels for it. And now she knew. Her former best friend was a mass murderer. ¡°Yeah, you heard,¡± he chuckled sourly, eyes hard. ¡°It was supposed to remove the gathered heads of the Twenty Ones, Snake Eyes, Jesters, Cyber Ninjas, and a few other minor gangs you won¡¯t have heard of.¡± He sighed, tipping his head back, eyes closed as he searched through his memories. ¡°I didn¡¯t place it. Just ordered the hit. Killed the guy who did it though. The idiot placed it next to a gas pipe. When the bomb went off, so did the pipe. Ripped through the hab block and wiped out over three hundred people. He¡¯d royally fucked up and I thought killing him would cover my tracks.¡± ¡°So you ran?¡± Her throat felt tight as she spoke. Mouth dry. Heart hammering. She couldn¡¯t believe what he was saying. ¡°So I ran.¡± He held out his hands. ¡°Story of my life. I was looking at around fifty million UC of debt. My people were being slaughtered. First thing I did was dissolve the gang, second was run to the nearest Culling station and sign up. Been in holding barracks for the last six months waiting for it to start. I was one of the first to join this iteration.¡± The bombing had been almost two years ago. She couldn¡¯t imagine being on the run for that long. Mai couldn¡¯t reconcile this Johnny with the Johnny she¡¯d known. She decided to change the topic of conversation. Move onto something easier. ¡°Remember how you and your mum would come around for Ascension Day? She¡¯d cook those amazing sweet buns and my dad would get holofireworks.¡± Johnny chuckled, but the laughter didn¡¯t reach those hard eyes. ¡°Those were good days Mai. Good days. I really respected your father. He was good to me. Tried to keep me on the straight and narrow. Always fair.¡± Mai smiled. It was her father down to a tee. In everything he did, he tried to treat people with respect, and tried to understand them as a person rather than as a criminal. Police weren¡¯t usually respected on their level, with most taking bribes or protection money to supplement their salaries. Not my dad, she thought with pride. He dealt with people so fairly that he was respected not only on their level for the first five quadrants, but also the ones directly above and below. ¡°¡®How¡¯d you end up in the Culling?¡± Johnny asked, steering the conversation away from himself. ¡°I kinda messed up too,¡± she admitted. ¡°Couldn¡¯t play the game. Couldn¡¯t be the perfect citizen. Couldn¡¯t keep my damn mouth shut and my fists to myself. I was indentured. Sent to the sewers. A mogwai killed my friend. I just snapped and ran for it. They were just about to catch me when I saw the Culling station and signed up. Thought it was my best chance to get back to my sister.¡± Mai wrly remembered that she had nearly been the last contestant to sign up. Thank the gods I hadn¡¯t been the one after the last. ¡°You thought that entering a competition where one million people try to kill each other offered better chances than working in the sewers?¡± laughed Johnny, slapping his thigh. ¡°I was full of adrenaline at the time and didn¡¯t really stop to think,¡± she replied through gritted teeth. ¡°That, and I¡¯d lost a really good friend.¡± ¡°Sorry, don¡¯t mean to be rude but damn,¡± he avoided her gaze once again, rummaging through his backpack. ¡°Fancy a protein bar?¡± She took it, not saying anything as she unwrapped it and took a bite. His sudden mood swings uneased her. It saddened her. He¡¯d been a memory she¡¯d held onto. The friend that had once been as close as a brother to her. The friend she had thought had betrayed her at her time of need. Bittersweet and contrasting memories. But now he was back, and it was as if all her memories were a lie. Had he always been like this? Cold, calculating, mercurial, hiding his true self? Or had the circumstances changed him? ¡°We¡¯re in this together, to the end?¡± He held out his hand, the smile on his face just like the one she remembered. Only his eyes weren¡¯t smiling. And she thought she detected a bit of a question rather than a statement. ¡°Until the end. Top one hundred all the way.¡± She took his hand and shook it, hiding her unease behind the biggest smile she could muster. Book 1 - Lone Wolf - Chapter 35 Cull notifications continued to fill her retinal monitors as they made their way through the sewers. Checking the scoreboard she watched as it constantly updated, hundreds of cullers being removed at a time. It was bewildering. It was terrifying. And it was a constant reminder of their mortality. ¡°Dammit, none of the kills are close,¡± Johnny groaned. He¡¯d been moaning about the fact that the action seemed to be mostly occurring in the actual city, as opposed to the industrial districts and the sewers. ¡°You¡¯d think we¡¯d be able to find some action!¡± ¡°Hey, don''t sweat it. I¡¯m just pleased that they¡¯re out there killing each other and not us,¡± Mai said, cocking an ear as she thought she heard something. ¡°The quicker they kill each other, the easier it will be for us to be in the top one hundred.¡± ¡°But we won¡¯t have earned it,¡± he sneered, his tone withering. ¡°Kill score is everything.¡± ¡°No, it¡¯s not, really it¡¯s not,¡± she felt both hurt and surprised by his tone and attitude. ¡°I''d love it if we managed to make it all the way into the top one hundred without ever having to kill anyone. And I guarantee there are thousands of people planning to do just that. Hiding out, moving around the edges, spotting where the kills are and avoiding those areas.¡± ¡°Huh, hadn¡¯t thought of it,¡± Johnny placed a hand on his chin, pausing to think. ¡°Which means that we might well be closer to other cullers than I thought. Good thinking Mai!¡± He grinned and gave her the thumbs up. ¡°That ¡­ that really wasn¡¯t what I meant, but I guess it makes some sort of perverted sense,¡± she couldn¡¯t fathom him out. Why the Hells is he so keen on getting kills? She couldn¡¯t quite bring herself to ask him, but the question continued to burn in the back of her mind as they continued along the sewer. For her, the Culling was all about surviving, of getting into the top one hundred, becoming one of the Celestial Court and saving her sister. There¡¯s that sound again. She stopped, holding up a hand to pre-emptively silence Johnny¡¯s question. ¡°Quiet.¡± Despite pursing his lips, he didn¡¯t protest, merely narrowed his eyes. Activating STREET SMARTS and SEWER COMBAT she tried to see what her SITUATIONAL AWARENESS was telling her. And there it was, a small tube sticking out of the river roughly twenty paces from them, not flowing but remaining exactly where it was. ¡°We¡¯ve got company,¡± she mouthed, forming a shield and SMG with laser optic combination, painting the tube with her laser. A notification that it had cost her BIO-MASS popped up, but she barely paid it attention as she scanned the sewer for whatever it was that was bothering her so much. Eyes wide, he formed his own weapons, a shotgun and pistol. ¡°Emmdeepee Posse!¡± The war cry filled the sewer they were in as forms rose out of the muck and mire in an ironic echo of their previous ambush. Their attackers came in a rush, nightmarish figures coated in excrement branding a dizzying array of hand weapons. Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon. Mai set her feet, crouching low behind her ballistic shield, laying the SMG¡¯s laser on the nearest target, activating USE SMGs, and adjusting her aim accordingly as the CRITICAL HIT boxes appeared. She couldn¡¯t tell if what she was aiming at was human, let alone what gender it was. It didn¡¯t matter, bullets were bullets. They didn¡¯t care what they were fired at. And hers struck true. A three-round burst, one to the throat and two to the head as the recoil caused the weapon to rise. Johnny¡¯s weapons added to the thunder of her SMG, tracers bursting into life as they raced into the darkness, the strobes of their muzzle flashes illuminating their enemies a split second at a time, stars jumping before her eyes. HEADSHOT! INSTAKILL! CULLER 4986059 ELIMINATED! DAMAGE! SOAK 5% She grunted as enemy bullets smacked into her shield, wincing at the sound of death being stopped a mere finger¡¯s width from her face. Tracking another target, she fired again. HIT! 15% DAMAGE BLEEDING @5% Whoever she had shot splashed face down into the muck, their scream cutting off with a choked gobble, the blood drop glyph marking where they had landed. Another target presented itself before she could finish the other off. She snapped off the shot, missing. DAMAGE! SOAK 10% Her shield was down by fifteen per cent soak already and yet still more of the Emmdeepee Posse were charging towards them. Giving up all pretence at aim, she switched the selector from three-round burst to full auto and raked the weapon back and forth. HIT! 15% DAMAGE BLEED @ 3% PER SECOND INTIMIDATED! HIT! 5% DAMAGE BLEED @0.5% HIT! 23% DAMAGE BLEED @4% PANICKED HIT! 12% DAMAGE BLEED @4.5% STUNNED! CRITICAL HIT! HEART SHOT! INSTAKILL! CULLER 329502 ELIMINATED! CRITICAL HIT! 40% DAMAGE BLEED @6% CRIPPLED! ASSIST! CULLER 300659 ELIMINATED! ASSIST! CULLER 002745 ELIMINATED! Notifications and glyphs filled the air far too quickly for her to begin to comprehend. Health bars went from being full of green to the black of death in the blink of an eye. And then it was over. Either the Emmdeepee Posse were all dead, or the survivors had managed to escape in the chaos. She didn¡¯t care. Her mind just couldn¡¯t cope with any more killing, and she was happy to take any respite she could. Hobbling away, barely able to walk, they were so exhausted, she and Johnny left the bodies of their enemies to float slowly away. Book 1 - Lone Wolf - Chapter 36 Mai woke up, briefly forgetting that they¡¯d holed up in a sewer control room. Stretching, she looked over to see Johnny sat in a comfortable-looking desk chair. ¡°Any food left? How about water?¡± She croaked. She hadn¡¯t been this thirsty or hungry before. It felt as though her stomach was gnawing at her spine, whilst every word spoken was a battle to get her furry-feeling tongue to work. ¡°Not much. All the water¡¯s gone as well. I¡¯m not at the stage where I¡¯m going to want to eat a human. But we need to get out of here. What¡¯s your BIO-MASS at?¡± Johnny¡¯s shoulders were rounded as he spoke, and he constantly rubbed at his face, moving his mouth as if his jaw hurt. ¡°I¡¯ve got ten per cent,¡± it was lower than she preferred to have it, yet was better than the zero it had been before. She could still make a weapon and some ammunition, but if she did that, she wouldn¡¯t have enough nanites to heal herself more than removing a couple of scratches if they got into trouble. ¡°Not enough. We¡¯re going to have to go up. There¡¯s going to be a supply drop later today. Notification came through whilst you were sleeping. It¡¯s going to be helluva dangerous, but we don¡¯t have a choice.¡± Mai nodded and immediately wished she hadn¡¯t as her brain felt as though it was trying to climb through her forehead. ¡°Good to go?¡± She could hardly say no. Instead she offered a hand for him to pull her to her feet. Even grasping his hand to be pulled up was an effort. ¡°How long we got?¡± She didn¡¯t feel able to speak in longer sentences. ¡°Couple of hours. There¡¯s a load of drops happening. The nearest is a couple hundred levels above us. We need to climb three and then there¡¯s an elevator we can take all the way up.¡± ¡°Too dangerous, we¡¯ll get off three levels below and then try and climb up.¡± ¡°Well, ladies first,¡± he gestured to the ladder. Too tired to say anything, Mai set her foot on the first rung. Paused. Took a deep breath. ¡°Thanks again for saving me earlier,¡± it was all she could summon the energy to say as she placed a leaden foot on the first rung. ¡°Hey, that¡¯s what friends are for,¡± he smiled and waved for her to start climbing. *** ¡°If I never see a fucking ladder again it¡¯ll be too soon,¡± groaned Johnny as he shook his arms out. Mai just lay on the floor as she sucked huge breaths in. ¡°We¡¯ve got to get moving. You¡¯re too slow. Pick up the pace eh?¡± He nudged her with his toe. His tone was light, but she could hear the concern in his voice. ¡°Yeah. Okay. Good to go.¡± ¡°Elevator¡¯s this way.¡± He took hold of her hand and pulled her to her feet with a grunt. ¡°Seriously Mai, pick up the pace. We get to the supplies we have a fighting chance of surviving.¡± Stumbling after him, it was only after she¡¯d taken a few paces that she realised they were back into the city proper. After the oftentimes claustrophobic tunnels of the sewers it was shocking to be in such a wide open space. And the air, she breathed deeply, taking in all the smells of the city and none of the sewer. It was as if she was truly breathing real air for the first time and she drank it in, inhaling so deeply it felt as though her chest would burst. She couldn¡¯t tell what mile they were in and her thoughts were too fuzzy to remember, but there was a decent number of people on the pedway. Looking around, she tried to spot a level indicator, but couldn¡¯t spot one. Shrugging, she pushed it to the back of her mind. What really mattered was that they weren¡¯t in the sewers and they were soon going to be getting supplies. ¡°Can¡¯t we go to a shop?¡± ¡°I¡¯ve not got any money. You?¡± She shook her head and stumbled, catching hold of a passing man. He cried out in alarm, raising both hands to show he wasn¡¯t a threat. ¡°Please don¡¯t hurt me,¡± he begged, tears streaming down his face. ¡°I won¡¯t. Just need to ¡­ catch my breath.¡± ¡°Sorry mister,¡± Johnny took hold of her arm gently, ¡°We¡¯ve had a rough day.¡± ¡°No harm. Buddha¡¯s blessing cullers.¡± As soon as she let go the man was off, practically running in his haste to get away from the two cullers. ¡°I¡¯m going to activate my STREET SMARTS,¡± she said. ¡°Make sure we¡¯re not ambushed or anything.¡± ¡°Good idea. I¡¯ve got mine running too.¡± She¡¯d forgotten that he¡¯d run a gang. His STREET SMARTS would be streets ahead of hers. Smiling at the crappy pun she let him help her to the elevator. ¡°Announcement said that the supplies are going to be on level 5-376.¡± If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. ¡°So we get off on 5-373 and work out a way of making our way up. Maybe by the time we get there everyone going for it will have killed each other.¡± ¡°We can but hope. Lift¡¯s full!¡± He shouted at the people both in the elevator and waiting to get in. A large man turned to argue but closed his mouth with a snap when he saw the two cullers, Johnny now sporting an evil-looking axe hand. Having ¡®Culler¡¯ before his name was most likely another reason. The crowd parted, those in the elevator fighting to get out before the cullers entered. ¡°You¡¯re an evil shit,¡± she chuckled. ¡°Hey, anything to keep us alive,¡± he laughed. Pushing her up against the wall he selected 5-373. ¡°Game face on Mai. No pissing about. Total focus. Okay?¡± His cold eyes stared at her intently. ¡°You got it,¡± she replied, steeling herself for whatever might be waiting for them. ¡°Easiest way up is over the pedway barrier and then just shimmy up the side of this hab-block.¡± Easy was relative. They were five miles up. Looking over the handrail she could just about make out a pedway crossing between the block they were in and the block opposite. That pedway was easily half a mile below them. ¡°Long way to fall,¡± she sighed. Her head spun slightly at the sight. She and her sister had been core dwellers, meaning that they rarely got to see the full height of the building they were in. Her balcony looked out into one of the many snickleways inside the building. Although they were still twenty levels or so above what she used to think of ground level, it still didn¡¯t match the yawning chasm she stood over now. It dawned on her, again, just how much her life had changed. ¡°So don¡¯t bloody fall. I¡¯ve found a climbing suit which will only cost five per cent. It¡¯s buried bloody deep in ¡®Sports Utility Clothing. Called, Arachnid Suit. Search for it and get climbing. We¡¯ve got less than ten minutes before the drop comes.¡± ¡°Roger that.¡± Her body hurt more than she was ready to deal with. She wasn¡¯t sure what Johnny¡¯s healing had or hadn¡¯t done for her, she hadn¡¯t had time to check it out, but it felt as though it had resented every second helping her. Doing a keyword search, she found the suit in the blink of an eye and selected it. Waving aside the different colour options, she plumped for the default choice. It was snug, so tight it left nothing to the imagination. As she approached the wall, spikes appeared all over her palms and, from the feel of it, the soles of her boots. They were tiny and she tested them out by placing her palm flat on the rail and pulling towards herself. Her hand didn¡¯t budge an iota. She wondered for a brief second if this was a better choice than her earlier selection of growing spurs for climbing. ¡°Climb,¡± Johnny placed a foot onto the pedway and stood, placing his palms on the wall above the pedway. ¡°Next level¡¯s sealed. Just windows and such. Not far, we can rest at the next pedway.¡± Mai gulped as she took hold of the rail and put her foot onto it. It was only as wide as a hand length. Absolutely fine if it was laid on the ground and she was walking along it. But up here it might as well have been as thin as a twig. Johnny grunted as he started to climb, pulling himself up by his hands until he was able to get a toe-hold on the wall. Teetering on the rail and trying desperately not to think about the fall behind her, Mai joined him. ¡°Not so bad once you get your feet working,¡± panted Johnny. ¡°Right. Yeah. No. It¡¯s still knackering,¡± she wheezed. ¡°Seriously Mai. You¡¯ve got to suck it up. I¡¯m depending on you,¡± gone was the warmth which he usually had when speaking to her. ¡°I want to live dammit.¡± ¡°Sorry, I¡¯ll be right as rain when we get those supplies.¡± Johnny said nothing, just kept climbing. She followed. He was right. It did get easier once all four limbs were in contact with the surface and she found she could easily rest without having to worry about slipping. The suit was far easier to use than the spurs she¡¯d had when climbing down the pipe. The only downside she could think of was the cost, as the suit was more. She would have to think on that, later. Much later, when she had a chance. If she ever got a chance. They reached the end ten gruelling minutes later, right as kill markers started to appear on the minimap. ¡°How much BIO-MASS you got?¡± Johnny panted. ¡°I¡¯m at forty-five per cent.¡± ¡°Five. Enough to create blades with a little left for healing. Or just enough to create an SMG with a short magazine.¡± ¡°Dammit. Okay. I¡¯ll go with the guns. You go with blades.¡± They were just below the pedway leading into the level they needed, and the sounds of battle could be heard. Screams, shouts, explosions, and the rattle of gunfire. ¡°I¡¯m going to pop a camera over.¡± He let go of the wall with one hand and changed it into a snake cam. Feeding it over the rail of the pedway he fell silent. Mai was happy to not have to speak. Her health was still too low, but she didn¡¯t have enough nanites to both fully heal herself and make herself combat effective. She didn¡¯t fancy healing herself for such a small amount just to have the nanites carve chunks out of her when she made weapons. ¡°Okay. Coast¡¯s clear. Doesn¡¯t seem to be anything going on. Pop over the rail and head to the pillar you¡¯ll see about five paces to your left. Get your blades up when you¡¯re in cover.¡± ¡°Got it.¡± They moved at Johnny¡¯s nod, scaling the wall, and slipping onto the pedway in near silence. Bodies lay all around and Mai¡¯s brow furrowed in confusion as the number of bodies didn¡¯t match the number of kill markers on her map. ¡°Civilians. Must have been caught in the cross fire. People are getting desperate,¡± Johnny commed from his position to her right. There was a burst of gunfire and another kill notification popped up. ¡°Man, they¡¯re really going for it. Okay to move?¡± She gave a thumbs up and at his nod ran for the next pillar in front of her. As soon as she was in position he moved up in a similar fashion. ¡°See anything you can use?¡± He was kneeling down behind his pillar, carefully searching what looked like a dead culler. None of the bodies near her were close enough to risk leaning out to search. ¡°Nothing I can see. They¡¯re too far from me.¡± ¡°Okay, this one¡¯s got nothing. I¡¯ll move first this time.¡± ¡°Go,¡± she ordered. He went, sprinting and then sliding into cover by the next pillar. ¡°Oh, you¡¯re so smooth and heroic,¡± she teased. ¡°Yeah. Natural-born hero. Your turn.¡± She didn¡¯t bother with anything fancy. Just ran as fast as she could. Dropping into cover she saw that she was close enough to a body to risk leaning out and pulling it closer. ¡°I¡¯m going to search this one.¡± She¡¯d wisely decided to only have the one weapon hand, leaving the other free and saving some BIO-MASS for when she really needed it. Lowering herself as far down as possible without actually lying on the floor she reached out and snagged the body¡¯s ankle. Leaning back she used her body weight to both drop back into cover and pull the body closer. ¡°Thank the gods I didn¡¯t choose someone bigger,¡± she panted to Johnny¡¯s clear amusement. Pulling it even closer she started to search what she could now see was a culler. Then she looked at her minimap. Why wasn¡¯t there a kill marker right in front of her? Book 1 - Lone Wolf - Chapter 37 Oh fu¡­ the culler¡¯s eyes snapped open and a blade hissed through the air. Yelping, Mai tumbled backwards and out of cover. The culler leapt after her, nano-blade carving through the air. Mai activated every skill she had, including her MOPPING skill. Target boxes appeared all over her opponent. With a meaty thud Mai¡¯s hand stopped the attacker¡¯s blade a hair¡¯s breadth from punching into her eye. ¡°Fucking die. Fucking die. Fucking die,¡± repeated the culler as she pressed down with her weight, placing her other hand onto her blade to add further pressure. Mai¡¯s arm trembled as the culler¡¯s blade grew closer and closer, her opponent¡¯s hot breath washing over her as they panted with exertion.. ¡°Not today,¡± Mai hissed and punched her own blade into her opponent¡¯s kidney. Twisting, she pulled the blade back out and then pistoned it back into her would-be-killer time and time again. CRITICAL HIT! 80% DAMAGE BLEED @7% PER SECOND INTIMIDATED! HIT! 7% DAMAGE BLEED @5% PER SECOND INTIMIDATED! PANIC! HIT! 8%DAMAGE BLEED @9% PER SECOND INTIMIDATED! PANIC! HIT! 12% DAMAGE BLEED @12% PER SECOND INTIMIDATED! PANIC! KILL! CULLER 739287 ELIMINATED Before she had time to register the damage she was doing, she reduced the culler¡¯s health bar to total black. Coughing just once, the culler died nose-to-nose with Mai. Panting, she pushed the corpse away from her. ¡°Mai. You good?¡± Johnny asked, brow wrinkling as he reached a hand out tentatively before letting it drop. ¡°Not really. That kill marker¡¯s going to warn the others.¡± She didn¡¯t want to admit just how hard that had been for her. Not the killing, strangely despite the intimacy, but the fact that the culler had so very nearly killed her. She shuddered at the thought of a blade entering her eye. ¡°Not sure. There¡¯s plenty here already and that battle¡¯s going to keep them occupied.¡± The sounds of battle were just as loud as before. And she gave a jerky nod. Mai didn¡¯t bother replying as she ran her hands over the culler, snagging open pockets and pouches. She had a small musette which was packed with food supplies. ¡°Bingo. Sending some bars over to you. Water too.¡± She ripped the wrapper off a bar, shoving it into her mouth as quickly as possible, cracking open a water bottle to help wash the dry nutrients down. ¡°Did I ever tell you I love you? I¡¯d kill for a real drink right now.¡± There was a pregnant pause, Johnny¡¯s mouth working before he spoke again. ¡°Sorry. You know what I mean.¡± Her heart had leapt at those first few words. And then come crashing back as he continued to speak. Why, she wasn¡¯t exactly sure. Probably because it was the first time someone not related to her had ever said such a thing. And the sad thing was, she did understand what he meant about killing. And he was right. It had got to the point where they would literally kill for a drink if they had to. Her anger at the Celestial Court and their supposedly glorious Emperor spiked. Red clouded her vision. People reduced to the point where they would actually kill someone for food in a city where such things should have been abundant. In a city where people shouldn¡¯t have been able to get so desperate that they joined a gladiatorial event, slaughtering each other to chase the dream of a better life. Those bastards, doing their best to keep us down, making people into living slaves. For what? Their fucking amusement? Bullets hammered into her pillar, driving away all thoughts of the Celestial Court. ¡°Contact! Five pillars in front, one to the left. If you move to your right you¡¯ll be properly out of sight of him.¡± ¡°Thought you bloody well said they wouldn¡¯t realise we were here!¡± She snapped back. ¡°Can¡¯t be right all the bloody time,¡± he replied in a hurt tone. ¡°Keep them pinned. I¡¯m going to go around the left side of my pillar and get into their lane.¡± Johnny opened fire, a long burst which sent plasticrete flying and forced their opponent back into cover. ¡°He¡¯s suppressed. Move!¡± Grunting, she moved, spinning around the pillar. The culler¡¯s row of pillars was just five paces away. With her FREERUNNING skill still active, she threw herself into a dive, tuck and rolled, landing perfectly in cover. She moved so fast that she didn¡¯t think the culler had even noticed. It was confirmed when they opened fire again, spraying both Johnny¡¯s pillar and her previous one. A SUPPRESSED glyph appeared over Johnny as he pressed himself into his pillar as tightly as he could. ¡°If you could please kill the shit I¡¯d really appreciate it!¡± He yelled, blind firing around his pillar, his frustrations apparent. Neither of them were trained soldiers. Had they been, this fight would have been over much sooner. Stepping back out of cover was the last thing she wanted to do. However, the culler stood to the left of his pillar, her right, and was concentrating his fire and attention that way. Although she wasn¡¯t in a tunnel, her TUNNEL COMBAT skill still let her have a guideline as to how she should approach their attacker whilst still remaining in cover. LARCENY, with only a few seconds left, allowed her to run nearly silently; the battle drowning out any noise that she might have made. In seconds she was closing in on the attacker¡¯s pillar and could hear him cursing to himself. Rounding the pillar, she grabbed hold of his forehead. Jerking his head back she drove her blade into his neck and punched it forward, ripping his throat out. Blade free, she stabbed into his kidney, pulled the blade out and then drove it into his heart. He was dead before the hit notifications had finished popping up. INSTAKILL! CONTESTANT 849374 ELIMINATED ¡°Damn, you¡¯re good,¡± Johnny had moved up, so they were level once more. ¡°Dude you just killed had five culls to his name. That means you¡¯ve essentially got nineteen for the scoreboard! You¡¯ve got more than double what I have! Level six culler too!¡± Mai was confused for a second before she remembered that she would be credited with the kills of other cullers. So whilst she had killed fourteen herself, she was listed on the Culling scoreboard as having nineteen. She couldn¡¯t tell if he was impressed or threatened. She hoped it was the former. If it was the latter ¡­ well, she didn¡¯t want to think about that. For a moment she worried that he¡¯d SASS¡¯d her before her unsettled mind realised that he would have been able to work out her kills by looking at the scoreboard and her culler level by looking at the number of kills required. I¡¯m getting way too paranoid, she thought. ¡°Focus. We¡¯ve just put two kill markers onto the map. People are definitely going to know we¡¯re here,¡± Johnny warned, scanning about them to make sure no one was sneaking up on them. ¡°Still time to build BIO-MASS. Get a snack bar into your mouth. Eat on the move. Drink on the move.¡± It was good advice. Running and breathing would be hard with a mouth full of food, but it was better than the alternative. She took the bar with the highest amount of BIO-MASS she hoped and tore open the wrapping and stuffed it into her mouth. ¡°You¡¯re beautiful,¡± he joked. ¡°Mummbmbml,¡± she replied, raising two fingers to make sure he really got the message. ¡°Let¡¯s keep moving. I¡¯ll go first. Get another bar into your mouth as soon as you can.¡± Johnny slipped away moving past a few more pillars. She took the time to check the minimap. There were far more kill markers than before. She counted at least thirty now. ¡°This is turning into a massacre!¡± Johnny commed over their private channel. It was better than trying to shout over the din, but only a little. He peaked around his pillar. Despite the close proximity of the battle, they still didn¡¯t have a clear line of sight to the action. ¡°Nearest new kill markers are dead ahead, why can¡¯t we see them?¡± She asked. ¡°See that wall ten pillars down?¡± ¡°Yep. What about it?¡± ¡°I reckon it leads to a theatre of some sort, hard to tell for sure though.¡± Whilst the minimap was helpful for seeing where they¡¯d been, it was useless for seeing what was ahead. ¡°We¡¯re going to need to push up. Both of us at the same time, hit the wall and take cover,¡± he was off and running before she even had a chance to agree. ¡°Dammit!¡± Mai sprayed the contents of her mouth in a wide arc. Wiping her mouth, she sprinted after him, keeping close to the pillars. It was hard as she was still chewing, but she got there only a couple of seconds after him, swallowing hard. ¡°What¡¯s your BIO-MASS at? Good enough to finish off healing and make some weapons?¡± ¡°Johnny, I ate a couple of protein bars, not a ton of steaks.¡± ¡°Eat faster,¡± he hissed. ¡°I need you back to one hundred per cent.¡± She leaned back from him. This was a different side to the Johnny that she used to know or that he had been just presenting. It must be the ganger in him, although why he doesn¡¯t still have the markings like the other gangers in the barracks is beyond me. Or did he have them removed so he could hide better? ¡°Here, eat this,¡± his voice snapped her out of her thoughts. Looking at what he was holding she saw it had a BIO-MASS value of 5%. It would take her to ten per cent BIO-MASS. ¡°Still not enough to get a proper weapon, with enough ammunition and be able to heal any damage,¡± she sighed. He pushed it towards her again, more forcefully this time. ¡°Fine. I¡¯ll eat it.¡± ¡°We¡¯ll get you a proper meal once we¡¯ve taken the supplies. If there¡¯s anything left.¡± If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. She took the hint and popped her head over the wall to see what was happening. Carnage was the first word that sprung to mind. Bodies lay scattered around the auditorium before them. Gangers, prisoners, and soldiers were swapping bullets from three different vantage points. Fortunately, they were so wrapped up in their battle they weren¡¯t looking over at Mai and Johnny. There were no other cullers that she could see. Any that weren¡¯t from the three factions were already strewn across the open-space. At the very centre, surrounded by bodies of cullers, was the supply drop. Bright orange, it stood at roughly the height of a man, and was a good ten paces long. Must have been dropped through the skylight. Although skylight wasn¡¯t exactly accurate. It was more of a plexiglass covering which prevented the condenrain from the hab block ten levels above from dripping down onto the actors below. Now, the condenrain showered down onto the supply drop. The blood from the cullers was diluted, covering the floor around the supplies in a lake of red. ¡°Gangers to the left look like they¡¯re winning. Prisoners next. Soldiers are definitely getting their arses handed to them,¡± reported Johnny. ¡°So what do we do? Let them kill each other off and then fight the survivors?¡± ¡°Hells yeah, give you time to eat everything you can.¡± She took the hint and started eating, again. As she chewed they hashed out a plan to take on any survivors. Mai watched to their left whilst Johnny kept an eye on their right. Anyone charging at them from inside the auditorium would have to be either suicidal or terminally stupid. ¡°Who do you reckon got here first?¡± She swallowed hard, trying not to choke on the food as it slowly travelled down her gullet. She decided to chew a little more next time. No point in choking herself. ¡°Definitely the fools in the centre. I reckon they made a rush. Probably a bit of a fight. Then they decided to share. You can see where a couple of the crates are open.¡± ¡°And then the other factions arrived,¡± she finished. ¡°Exactly. How are you doing?¡± ¡°Up to forty-six per cent and feeling damned sick.¡± ¡°Waste that BIO-MASS and I¡¯ll kick your arse from here to the Celestial Court and back,¡± he laughed. But there was a coldness to his tone. ¡°I¡¯ll be fine. But we¡¯re out of food,¡± Mai snapped back, tiring of his attitude. She was trying her best dammit. He looked over at her, eyes narrowed, but said nothing, giving her a short nod instead. ¡°Use ten per cent to heal yourself, then use three for an SMG and six for two magazines.¡± ¡°Sounds good to me,¡± she wasn¡¯t in the mood to argue. Activating her HEALING, she sped up the slow process normally carried out by the nanites. ¡°Oh that feels good!¡± And it did. The nanites immediately set to work, bringing her health back up to eighty-nine per cent. The decrease in the aches and pains which had been making her life miserable was utter bliss. ¡°Prisoners are making an attack on the soldiers. Pushing around the wall.¡± Mai took a careful look over the top of their shelter. A group of prisoners was sprinting towards the surviving soldiers, whilst the rest kept the gangers pinned down. ¡°Oh shit, the only way for the gangers to get to the soldiers is around this part of the bowl,¡± warned Mai. Tearing her gaze from the soldier¡¯s last stand she saw a handful of gangers start to run towards her position, keeping as low as they could to avoid the fire from the rear guard the prisoners had left. ¡°Activate everything you have. Free run the living shit out of them if you have too!¡± Ordered Johnny. Mai did so. She¡¯d have preferred to have run away from the upcoming conflict, but Johnny was already moving towards her position. ¡°Fucking move Mai!¡± She moved, raising her SMG as she did so, blade outstretched behind her. Her first target was the lead ganger. Mouth open in a shocked ¡®o¡¯ he skidded to a halt. That made it all the easier for her. A three-round burst punched through his face, sending his corpse tumbling to the ground. HEADSHOT! INSTAKILL! CONTESTANT 339947 ELIMINATED LEVEL UP ¨C CULLER LEVEL 7! Dropping to her knees she slid along the well-polished floor, fire spitting from her SMG as she shot the next ganger in line. HEART SHOT! INSTA-KILL! CONTESTANT 302299 ELIMINATED She felt unstoppable. As the second ganger¡¯s corpse tumbled to the floor she sprayed the ganger behind. It was like something out of a holomyth. CRITICAL HIT! 50% DAMAGE BLEED @10% PER SECOND SUPPRESSED! PANIC! Her bullets had cut across the ganger¡¯s guts. Screaming, the ganger tumbled to the side. Behind them another ganger stood straight up, double-barrelled shotgun levelled at her head. They were free of glyphs, and their health bar was fully green. ¡°Bollocks,¡± Mai breathed as she saw the ganger¡¯s steely-eyed determination and her SMG¡¯s magazine flashed an EMPTY notification. ¡°Duck!¡± Mai didn¡¯t think, just threw herself to the ground as bullets zipped past her head and blasted the last ganger from his feet. ¡°Reload, dammit. Now!¡± Johnny hauled her back up against the wall. ¡°Wait!¡± Shaking herself free she threw herself forward and thrust her nano-blade into the wounded ganger. KILL! CONTESTANT 394873 ELIMINATED ¡°You seriously need to let me catch-up!¡± He laughed. Bullets sent shards of plasticrete flying as they punched into the wall. ¡°Looks like they know we¡¯re here now!¡± ¡°Plenty left for you, Johnny, plenty.¡± Mai kept low, keeping a careful eye in the direction that the gangers had approached from. A clutch of kill markers appeared on her minimap over where the prisoners and soldiers were battling. ¡°We should take the gangers,¡± Johnny shouted, blasting her ears, seemingly having forgotten they were using voice comms. ¡°There¡¯s fewer of them than the prisoners, and half of them are trying to push up on the other side.¡± ¡°Okay, but my skills are all on cool down. Need another thirty seconds before I can activate them all.¡± ¡°We don¡¯t have thirty seconds! If we don¡¯t take out the gangers, the prisoners will wipe us out! We¡¯re trapped between the two of them if they come this way!¡± Again he shouted, forcing her to lower the volume. Johnny pushed past her and started moving as quickly as he could whilst doubled over. ¡°Dammit!¡± He was risking the same death as the gangers who had run into them. Absorbing her nano-blade, she used the BIO-MASS she regained plus some of what she had left to make a frag. ¡°Grenade!¡± As soon as it was in her hand she primed it and lobbed it through the air. Ducking down, she had no idea as to whether it was going to land on target. ¡°Shit!¡± Gasped Johnny. Then there was a huge blast. KILL! CONTESTANT 699274 ELIMINATED KILL! CONTESTANT 395748 ELIMINATED HIT! 35% DAMAGE STUNNED! BLINDED! BLEED @7% PER SECOND HIT! 29% DAMAGE STUNNED! BLINDED! INTIMIDATED! BLEED @3% PER SECOND HIT! 7% DAMAGE STUNNED! INTIMIDATED! BLEED @18% PER SECOND NEW SKILL! USE GRENADE LAUNCHER! RANK1! BASE SKILL +5% Glyphs filled the air above the gangers as their health bars filled rapidly with black. Those glyphs made the area over them look like a scene from a childrens holovid, comical. ¡°You absolute beauty!¡± Cried Johnny as his SMG chattered into life. KILL ASSIST! CONTESTANT 000029 ELIMINATED KILL ASSIST! CONTESTANT 001938 ELIMINATED KILL ASSIST! CONTESTANT 000005 ELIMINATED ¡°Yes! I¡¯ve levelled up! They¡¯re all dead. Move up.¡± Mai moved. Stepping carefully over the first set of gangers, she then raced along the wall until she reached Johnny. It was like stepping into an abattoir. The once-white plastimarble of the floor was coated in human remains ranging from the size of a thigh, to a speck of meat. Her nostrils flared as the stench of blood and offal seemed to force its way to the back of her throat. It was so bad she thought she could almost taste it. ¡°Oh gods,¡± she couldn¡¯t help it. The sight and smell made her vomit. Without even looking up she knew she had a debuff glyph above. ¡°Damn you! Stop wasting fucking BIO-MASS!¡± screamed Johnny. She¡¯d never heard such rage from anyone, and it shocked her to her core to hear her once closest friend yell at her like that. ¡°Fucking sort yourself out, they¡¯re coming.¡± Wiping her mouth with the back of her hand, she took a look over the wall. Prisoners were advancing from the position they¡¯d been left in, whilst their other party battled the remaining soldiers. ¡°There¡¯s a lot less bullets flying our way,¡± she noted. ¡°They¡¯re probably running low on BIO-MASS.¡± ¡°You don¡¯t say. Work that out all by yourself?¡± He snarked back at her. ¡°We need to move left.¡± Mai popped up and back down again. She was only up for a split second, but that was all she needed. ¡°Nope. We can take the middle now the gangers...¡± she paused to burp bile, ¡°are down.¡± ¡°Are you mad? No way!¡± ¡°Probably.¡± And with that she was up and over the wall. For a couple of strides nothing happened. The battle at the other end of the bowl was still raging, all of the combatants too busy trying to kill each other to notice that someone had entered the arena. Literally. The bowl was perfect for FREE RUNNING. Every row of benches was slightly lower than the one behind it so that the entertainers in the bottom of the bowl could be seen and heard by all. Acoustically, it was perfect. Every sound was amplified. Meaning that her ears were assaulted by the sounds of battle as soon as she¡¯d taken no more than five strides. ¡°Covering you!¡± Snapped Johnny, and she felt rather than heard his bullets passing over her head. Then bullets started coming towards her. Shit! The weight of fire wasn¡¯t that much, but it was never nice to have someone trying to kill you. She flipped, spinning through the air, and then tucked into a dive and rolled between some seats. They were barely high enough at the front to stop someone from sitting on the person behind them¡¯s feet. Bullets chipped into the plasticrete, sending small splinters into her skin. No damage registered but it still hurt. ¡°Move! I¡¯ve got them pinned.¡± From her point of view it certainly didn¡¯t feel as though they were pinned. Trusting him, she rolled over a seat and dropped to her knees. Rolling forward into a somersault she came onto her feet and was back up and running in one smooth motion. The end of the supply box was now only a few strides away. DAMAGE! CRITICAL HIT! 20% BLEED @10% PER SECOND HEALTH 80% The damage notification was utterly redundant. She knew she¡¯d been hit by the explosion of pain in her mid-thigh. That and the blood that sprayed into the air. It registered to her like it was slow motion. Then time caught up to her again. ¡°Fuck!¡± She wailed as she crashed to the floor, tumbling all the way down into the lee of the supplies. ¡°I¡¯m hit. It¡¯s got my femoral.¡± Dizziness washed over her and as she stared at the blood pouring out of the wound, her vision closed in. Pressing hard with her hands, she sobbed as the blood continued to well between her fingers. ¡°So heal!¡± ¡°What do you think I¡¯m trying to do?!¡± She slapped a hand on the wound, pressing as hard as she could. Blood, her own precious blood, leaked from beneath her hand. There was more than she¡¯d ever seen leaving her body. She activated HEALING and the flow slowed somewhat, dropping the BLEED to eight per cent. But she just didn¡¯t have enough BIO-MASS. Even now she was loathe to use her own body for BIO-MASS, especially considering how low her health was and the speed at which it was getting even lower. With a great effort she pushed away her rising fear and looked at the pile of supplies. It was composed of blocks. Each one numbered, and with a stencil to describe what was in the block. Through tear-blurred eyes it appeared that they all held the same thing. Liquid BIO-MASS. Concentrated, it offered the owner more than three times the amount of BIO-MASS per litre than anything they¡¯d find normally. Slapping her hand on the palm-reading plate she prayed to every god she could think of that it would open. It did. She received a CHEER on the scoreboard for this. It was a shame they didn¡¯t result in direct help. Someone, somewhere, liked her pluck. Not that it meant a lot to her right now. Absorbing her SMG, she took the BIO-MASS out and activated HEALING. Praying she would be quick enough to avoid having the nanites start taking from her own body, she quickly looked at the bottle of concentrated BIO-MASS. It was bacon flavour. Her least favourite. Beggars can¡¯t be choosers she thought as she popped the cap and sucked on the small straw beneath it. To her surprise it tasted surprisingly good. Even better was that with every mouthful her passive HEALING skill reduced her horrific injury faster than normal. With a thought, she activated her TREAT SERIOUS INJURY, her BIO-MASS sufficiently high that she could do so safely. As soon as she was back up to one hundred per cent health she started making weapons. Another suck and she was over one hundred per cent BIO-MASS. Ignoring the incoming enemy fire, she sucked hard again. Her BIO-MASS rose still. Apparently I can go beyond one hundred per cent if I¡¯m using BIO-BOOST concentrate and not just simple BIO-MASS bottles. Opening up her menu and selecting her bookmarks, she smiled as she saw her dream suit, one which had previously been redded out, was now a very pleasing shade of green. ¡°These fuckers are going to be in for a nasty surprise!¡± Book 1 - Lone Wolf - Chapter 38 ¡°You look utterly bad ass!¡± Johnny commed as she finished creating her battle armour. If it hadn¡¯t been for the bottled BIO-MASS concentrate she wouldn¡¯t have been able to craft the suit, power it, and fully stock it with ammo. It had taken a litre and a half to do so. And it was utterly glorious. Modelled upon the Celestial Court¡¯s Imperial Guard, it was a weapon of both beauty and practicality. ¡°Ready to kill people?¡± ¡°Hells yeah! Got a bottle for me?¡± Mai snatched one up and threw it to him. It was a simple throw with her suit-augmented strength and automatic guidance systems. ¡°I¡¯m going to be fucking unstoppable!¡± ¡°Don¡¯t get too cocky. There¡¯s no way that a suit like that doesn¡¯t come with drawbacks.¡± Rising to her full height, Mai trained her shoulder-mounted miniguns on the prisoners who had been left to guard their attack from the gangers. Flames as long as a man was tall flared into life as the weapons shrieked. They were called Banshees after the harbinger of death. It was apt. Firing over six thousand micro-rounds per second they absolutely obliterated the wall and the prisoners hiding behind it. She gasped as the suit¡¯s BIO-MASS levels dropped drastically. There¡¯s the drawback. Not having worn such a suit before, she hadn¡¯t realised that in order to maintain it she would have to keep the suit¡¯s BIO-MASS reserves filled. Trigger held down, she skimmed through the READ ME that was attached to the template. And there it was. A simple one-liner. IN ORDER TO MAINTAIN THE SUIT¡¯S BIO-MASS, PLACE BIO-MASS BOTTLES IN THE RESERVOIR TO THE REAR. It was too late to do anything about it now, and it wasn¡¯t as if she was going to spend the rest of the Culling in it. To do so would just draw too much attention and too many crazies determined to see if they could take her on. KILL! CONTESTANT 002856 ELIMINATED KILL! CONTESTANT 574638 ELIMINATED KILL! CONTESTANT 546373 ELIMINATED Striding out of cover, she raised an arm. Instead of a fist, her arm ended in a large-calibre barrel. It was called Thumper, a miniature cannon. Laying her sight onto the centre of the soldier¡¯s position she fired. It thumped. Bodies and bits of bodies flew into the air as the shell detonated. Her minimap filled with more kill notifications. KILL! CONTESTANT 902030 ELIMINATED KILL! CONTESTANT 911234 ELIMINATED KILL! CONTESTANT 923456 ELIMINATED HIT! 50% DAMAGE BLEED @19% PER SECOND STUNNED! Three circling birds appeared over her target as their health bar turned half-green, half-black. This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings. HIT! 70% DAMAGE STUNNED! BLEED @20% PER SECOND Three birds and a blood drop, with an even greater amount of black in their health bar. HIT! 20% DAMAGE STUNNED! BLEED @10% PER SECOND This one had already been wounded, their health bar having far more black than it did green. Circling birds and the blood drop marked the damage she had wreaked upon them. HIT! 46% DAMAGE BLEED @4% PER SECOND There was a stunned pause in the battle at the other side of the bowl as the survivors realised that there was a far bigger threat approaching them. With an unspoken agreement they turned their attention, and fired, onto the behemoth approaching them. ¡°Move up to the supplies Johnny, grab as many bottles as you can.¡± Mai raised her other weapon arm. Dragon¡¯s Maw. In her haste to activate it, she accidently tripped the description. Dragon¡¯s Maw - A suit mounted flame thrower, often with its barrel lovingly crafted to resemble the legendary creatures. In tight confines this is a truly horrific weapon to use. In open areas, it can still cause devastation to rival that of the creatures for which it''s named. Firing, she sent a stream of liquid fire splashing into the shattered position. The still stunned survivors of the thumper shell didn¡¯t stand a chance. A couple staggered away, arms flailing as the flames totally engulfed them. KILL! CONTESTANT 003990 ELIMINATED KILL! CONTESTANT 020405 ELIMINATED KILL! CONTESTANT 090807 ELIMINATED KILL! CONTESTANT 080604 ELIMINATED LEVEL UP ¨C CULLER LEVEL 9! ¡°Moving up! Leave some for me!¡± Johnny sprinted into the position, spraying it with SMG fire. ¡°Dammit, Mai! You killed them all!¡± The anger in his voice surprised her. Even worse was that she swore she could hear fear in his voice. What the hells has he got to be scared of? I¡¯ve just killed everyone! ¡°We need to move fast,¡± she replied. Deciding that she would ignore what Johnny had just said, she set about gathering more of the liquid gold. But, she wouldn¡¯t forget what he said. ¡°I¡¯ll cover you whilst you mine the area. Might as well see if we can take out more people. All of these culls are going to draw them like moths to a light.¡± ¡°Yeah, I can plant some mines, boss,¡± he said with a sneer. What the fuck is his problem? It was as if he didn¡¯t want her to succeed. As if he should be getting all of the kills whilst she sat back and clapped like a good little girl. Was his ego that damned fragile that he needed to be the best? Did he feel threatened by her? Well, it wasn¡¯t happening. She was happy for them to both do their part and it was her who had risked everything by moving to the supplies in the first place. Why was it her fault that he hadn¡¯t had the stones to leave cover and do that himself? And why did she feel so damned guilty that he was angry with her? ¡°Grow the fuck up, Johnny.¡± She flicked off the team chat so that she didn¡¯t have to bother with any further snark. It was a risky move considering that they sat on tonnes of supplies and a whole host of fresh cull markers, but at that moment it was one she was happy to take. She saw him gesturing, face turning red. ¡°Sorry, I turned off chat by mistake. I was trying to work out what else this suit did before I binned it.¡± He tilted his head quizzically. Spluttering as he tried to speak. ¡°Why the hells would you get rid of it?¡± ¡°It¡¯s too costly in BIO-MASS. I have to keep the BIO-MASS reserves topped up at all times and it¡¯s a bloody bullet magnet. It¡¯s more efficient to carry bottles of that stuff and drink it when we need it. This thing uses BIO-MASS just moving.¡± ¡°Right. Well,¡± He seemed lost for words at the fact she didn¡¯t want to keep the suit. ¡°I¡¯ve made you a new pack. It¡¯s larger. Made one for myself too. They¡¯re both filled with the bottles and I¡¯ve planted gods know how many mines.¡± The change in his attitude threw her. Trying to keep up with his emotions was like trying to race the wind. Impossible and infuriating. Still, she¡¯d take nice Johnny over arsehole Johnny. Because they were in the same team she could use her minimap to see where he¡¯d planted them. ¡°Wow. It¡¯s going to be a carnage!¡± ¡°More explosions than Ascension Day!¡± He crowed and actually rubbed his hands together in anticipation. Mai laughed. The old Johnny was back. That was for sure, but she would have to be on the watch for the new one. What she didn¡¯t see as she shed her armour, was the look he gave her. It was a mixture of fear, hatred, and deadly intent. Book 1 - Lone Wolf - Chapter 39 Johnny¡¯s good mood had lasted as long as it took them to make their way from the supplies and into the hab block proper. They¡¯d discussed going over the side again, but neither had felt like dangling so high in the air again. Mai moved silently along the corridor. Johnny was behind her, on his insistence and much to her disconcertion. It felt as though his eyes were boring into her back. Better than a knife in the back, she thought. It made her itch and not in a nice way. Ever since the battle at the supply drop his constant gripes about how well she was doing were starting to wear thin. She hadn¡¯t said anything because she didn¡¯t want to rile him up anymore, but she was on her guard at all times. Everything seemed to be a back-handed compliment. I just wish it was like the old times, she thought. She rarely looked back on the days when her parents were still alive. It hurt too much. Although she still remembered how it felt to be hugged and loved, her parent¡¯s faces were fading. Unlike Li¡¯s. She still had the memories of her sister, and just thinking of her and how she must be missing Mai made her all the more determined to get back to her. If it wasn¡¯t for the holos of her parents that they had at the apartment she knew she would have completely forgotten them. But even whilst she was still in the apartment they had been fading in her actual memories, as if they were slowly being deleted. As if they were information that no longer mattered to her continued existence. ¡°What was that?¡± Johnny whispered. ¡°Up ahead. Sure I saw something move.¡± She dropped into a crouch, trying to see past the network of pipes criss-crossing the corridor. ¡°I don¡¯t¡­¡± her shoulder blades itched so strongly that her back arched, moving her forward. There was a clang as a heavy object hit the metal grating where she had been just a split second before. Rolling she twisted and came back up to her feet, spinning to face Johnny. It was then that she realized her passive TUNNEL COMBAT had just saved her life. ¡°What the fuck!¡± She cried out at the sight before her, her heart breaking. Johnny was in a fighter¡¯s crouch. Twin blades extended. Coiled, his eyes were wide with fear. He¡¯d clearly thought he could finish her off quickly, avoiding a fight. ¡°Bitch, don¡¯t think I didn¡¯t know what you were planning!¡± He spat. ¡°I wasn¡¯t planning anything, you utter lichen spore! We¡¯re friends!¡± ¡°We¡¯re cullers!¡± He roared and leapt into the attack. Screaming in both fear and pain caused by using her own body to form them, she quick-clicked a buckler and tomahawk combination, blocking one of his blades with the small shield and the other with her tomahawk. SOAK! 15% Johnny was still screaming in incoherent rage, pausing only to draw breath. Pushing, he shoved her back, following up with a u-shaped attack. One blade high, one blade low. Her shield deflected the high attack, taking a mere one per cent in SOAK, but her tomahawk wasn¡¯t able to stop his lower attack. Not properly anyway. DAMAGE! 10% BLEED @5% PER SECOND HEALTH 85% ¡°Johnny! Please, stop!¡± She begged, tears of pain and hurt spilling down her cheeks. But he was too far gone to listen to reason. His eyes were practically bulging out of his face and he blew snot and spittle out with every breath. Another attack, just as fast and determined as the other. DAMAGE! 15% HEALTH 70% ¡°Please!¡± She panted. ¡°I don¡¯t want to fight you!¡± She managed to block the next couple of attacks, but her bleed status effects were taking their toll. She could block every other attack from now until the end of time, but with the bleed effect applied, she was going to die. Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more. Activating HEALING would only slow the moment down rather than prevent it. No matter what, she would have to fight Johnny. Activating her TUNNEL COMBAT and DIRTY BOXING, she blocked another of his attacks. Target boxes appeared all over him. Due to her higher culler level, the chances of striking them were considerably better than she had hoped. Not that she knew what skills he had, or whether they were higher than what she had. Her TUNNEL COMBAT might have given her a twenty per cent passive boost in defence and those without it a twenty per cent penalty, but there was nothing to say he didn¡¯t have skills which would cancel that out. And there certainly wasn¡¯t time to SASS him. Can I just disable him? There was a target box showing at thirty-five per cent chance on the back of his knee. As they moved around each other it decreased and increased. Mai stepped out to the outside of one of his attacks, slapping the nano blade away with almost contemptuous ease now that her skills were active. Throwing a knee, she dug it into the meaty flesh of his thigh. HIT! 5% DAMAGE Johnny grunted and came straight back into the attack, barely favouring his leg. If she¡¯d been on the receiving end of a strike like that she knew she¡¯d have been barely able to walk. It was then she noticed that he had a glyph above him, a stick figure man with arms outstretched, arched back, head appearing to be looking at the heavens as if it was howling. He¡¯s got BERSERKER! It was a legendary skill. One that only the most insane, callous and cold-hearted killers would ever use. Holomyths were filled with villains who used it to maximum effect. The revelation hit her like a bucket of ice water. He was practically immune to pain and would continue to blindly attack until the skill went into cooldown. If there was any doubt lingering that he truly didn¡¯t mean to kill her, it was well and truly gone. DAMAGE! HEALTH 65% Her bleed damage was taking its toll. She threw an attack of her own, trying to punch the edge of her buckler into his face, whilst she stepped out to the right of him. She feinted to make it look as though she was going to throw another knee and he dropped his blades in order to block it. Only she didn¡¯t. As soon as she stepped out to his side, effectively flanking him the hit rate went from thirty-five per cent to sixty-seven per cent. CRITICAL HIT! 30% DAMAGE BLEED @8% PER SECOND INTIMIDATED! She blanked the notifications. Blanked the way his health bar filled with black. Blanked out everything that didn¡¯t help her survive the next few seconds. Yanking her blade out of the back of his knee she gulped as she felt it slice through the tendons. Even without being able to feel the pain, there was no way that Johnny¡¯s body could ignore the damage she had done. Taking a step on the catastrophically ruined knee, he dropped to the floor as it gave way. Both blades dug into the floor as he tried to stop himself from face-planting. He pushed up and for a split second he was completely open. Using her DIRTY BOXING she jumped forward, both knees extended. With a loud whoof as the breath was blasted from his body, her knees crashed into his sternum, forcing him onto his back. HIT! 13% DAMAGE WINDED! Slipping her knees out to the left and right she pinned both of his arms. Still trying to recover from having his lungs so forcefully emptied, Johnny was in no position to stop her from pinning him. Trapped, he was utterly helpless. Looking down into his eyes she tried to see the little boy who had once been one of her closest friends. A monster looked back. He was completely gone. Sobbing, crying harder than she had since her parents died, Mai placed the blade of the tomahawk against his neck and sliced towards herself. CRITICAL HIT! 30% DAMAGE BLEED @14% PER SECOND Blood jetted out. Screaming with anguish, she placed her blade against the other side of his neck and repeated it. CRITICAL HIT! 45% DAMAGE KILL! CONTESTANT 298483 ELIMINATED CULLER LEVEL UP ¨C LEVEL 10! It was the last notification that was the kicker. Having come to know this Johnny, he¡¯d have been keeping an eye on her kills and subsequent Culler level. He died, fully aware that his death was going to allow her to level up once again. And to climb the scoreboard even further. Rolling forward over his head, she came to her feet and looked down at the corpse of her former friend, betrayer, and would-be-killer, already crying at her loss. He looks peaceful, she thought, scrubbing at the tears rolling down her cheeks, misting up her vision. And he did. In death the old Johnny was back. She covered her face for a moment, giving in to the upswell of emotion that forced its way out of her chest. Then reality, and the Cull, brought her back to the moment. ¡°This way! The cull was this way!¡± shouts and the sound of running feet echoed down the corridor towards her. She was too tired to face anyone else. Crafting a couple of mines, she threw them out behind her. More to slow down any pursuit rather than to actually kill anyone. Calling up her minimap she spotted a series of pipes large enough to fit her. Taking a couple of seconds to see where they went, she smiled in relief as she saw the final location. Of course they do! THE END - If you enjoyed this book, I hope you''ll enjoy book two! Book 2 - Rebel - Chapter 1 Entering the sewers yet again, Mai¡¯s heart felt as though it was going to break. Literally shatter in two. Breathing hurt. Thinking of Johnny¡¯s betrayal and attempt to kill her hurt. Physically, mentally, and spiritually she was experiencing a pain she¡¯d never thought possible. Her best friend had betrayed her. Not only that, he had tried to kill her just because he was jealous of her. Because he didn¡¯t like the way that she was earning more kills, more glory than he was. Rumbles sounded from above her. She¡¯d forgotten about the mines that she''d set before dropping into the sewers. KILL! CONTESTANT 202827 ELIMINATED KILL! CONTESTANT 357642 ELIMINATED KILL! CONTESTANT 102938 ELIMINATED KILL ASSIST! CONTESTANT 595381 ELIMINATED His death, rather the way that she killed him, played over and over in her mind¡¯s eye. Sliced him open. Cut him. Ended his life when he was at her mercy. It was as if it was being replayed on her retinal monitor. And then she realised that it was. ¡°What the fuck?¡± she sobbed, as what she thought was her memory played on her retinal monitor in glorious high definition. The camera angle changed, making her stagger slightly as her inner eye tried to cope with the swift movement. It was as if she was having an out-of-body experience. And in a way she was. The camera angle was now over her shoulder, replaying the whole of his betrayal for the viewers of the Culling. Comment after comment scrolled in one of the side windows whilst hearts, smileys, claps and all manner of emojis popped into existence, dancing like stars before her eyes. Small digits at the bottom of the screen showed just how many people had been watching her kill. The number continued to climb. Thousands of viewers at a time. News headlines also started to appear. ¡®Long lost love betrayal!¡¯ ¡®Best friend back-stabbed!¡¯ ¡®Betrayal at its best!¡¯ ¡®Betrayer loses his head in the excitement!¡¯ She blink-clicked the news channel closed, sobbing as she tried to close the replay, but found she didn¡¯t have the rights to do it. No matter what she tried to do, she was forced to watch it happen. Forced to see the comments. The joy and excitement at what she¡¯d done and how she¡¯d done it. It sickened her to the core. CONGRATULATIONS CULLER NEW TITLE D¨¦J¨¤ VU ¨C MOST REPLAYED CULLING OF THE EVENT! ¡°Fuck you!¡± she screamed at the ceiling, not caring who or what might be near enough to hear her. She wanted to kill them all, viewers and Celestial Court. How am I going to be able to face Li after this? She thought. There¡¯s no way in all the Hells that she couldn¡¯t have seen this! That her sister might have seen her killing their mutual friend, slaughtering him, shook her. Staggering, she leant against the nearest wall, willing her legs to not give way as she didn¡¯t know whether she would be able to stand again. Mai didn¡¯t know or care how long she stood there, wrapped in a cocoon of grief and guilt. She could have checked on her retinal monitor, but she didn¡¯t have the inclination. It would have made no difference to how she felt then, or how she felt at that moment. A blessing was that the killing of Johnny was no longer being broadcast, and people had stopped commenting. Blinking quickly, she sighed in relief as she closed down the feed. She¡¯d learned a valuable lesson, however. From now on she would try to distance herself from her kills, avoiding doing anything which would excite the viewers. I never want to see my kills used like that again. Sick, voyeuristic fucks! She was honest enough to count herself in that. Afterall, she¡¯d watched the Culling. Not like others, but even so she¡¯d done it. She¡¯d help it keep going by adding to the viewing numbers. Having only seen BERSERKER! Used in the holomyths, she blinked her skills menu and did a search. It was a sub-skill applied to many combat professions, including gangers. It was like picking at a scab. Seeing its title and glyph, she clicked on the description. BERSERKER - Berserkers are feared the Empire over. Utterly immune to pain or any negative status effects whilst the skill is ACTIVE, berserkers will keep fighting when lesser humans would be rendered incapable of anything but breathing, and screaming. A combat skill, it is only ACTIVE for ten seconds, entering a RECHARGE of one minute. At the end of ACTIVATION, all negative status effects are immediately applied. Forlorn Hope troops are often given this skill in order to assist them with breaking through enemy attacks. Few survive using such a skill. How true that is, she thought. Johnny had used it to gain an advantage over her. And yet all it had done was allow him to soak up more injuries until she killed him. Would he have survived those injuries if he¡¯d managed to kill her? She didn¡¯t know. She didn¡¯t care. What she did know was that BERSERKER was not a skill she wanted to ever have to use. Opening up her retinal monitor she blink-clicked on the map, using it to see where she was. In all of the Culling she hadn¡¯t strayed too far from what she now viewed as her origins. The sewers have become my home, she thought ruefully. Home. It seems to be getting further and further away the harder I try to return to it. With that thought she zoomed out, leg jiggling as she made the map smaller and smaller until finally, she was able to see where she had once lived with Li and her parents. It¡¯s so far away! This time her legs did give way. Her former apartment was nearly a continent away. It made no sense. None of the journeys she¡¯d made had seemed that long, not even her pod deploying into the Culling. Another thing she couldn¡¯t deal with at that moment. Zooming back in on the map she looked for Excretiaville. Although the sewers between her and it were blacked out, she could see a couple of edges to her known areas which looked as though they were sewer branches. Zooming in a bit further, she took a closer look at the area she¡¯d be entering. They looked benign enough, but bitter experience had taught her to take nothing for granted. Pushing herself to her feet, she blanked her mind, concentrating only on the task ahead. Much to her surprise, she managed to make the journey to Excretiaville without encountering any mogwai or fellow Cullers. It surprised her that she didn¡¯t come across any sewer companies, but she took a look at the sewers around her and saw they were still in good condition, not much to maintain. Probably concentrating on other areas, she thought as she blinked open her map. She needed to find somewhere to rest up, to get BIO-MASS boost and to try and feel normal. ¡°I can¡¯t go to my old company,¡± she muttered to herself, more to hear a friendly voice than to actually help her think. ¡°If anyone is looking for me, and knew I¡¯d dropped down here, it would be too obvious.¡± And there was little chance that no-one would be unaware that one of their number was now a Culler. No doubt her face would be splashed over every entertainment screen available. Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation. And it would put people she cared about into possible danger. Working in the sewers was dangerous enough, a Culling battle in their midst would be an absolute disaster. Panning around the locations in Excretiaville, she came to the Scavenger Queen¡¯s shop. It was a bitter-sweet pill. Memories of another friend, Andries, came out of the box she had unwittingly put them in. ¡°Still, best place to go. Old crone would probably get a thrill out of me being there.¡± Her voice sounded odd in the silence of the sewer. It felt unnatural. There was absolutely no background noise that she could discern. Moving along the sewer she was in, she finally entered the part of the map she had already been in. It too was quiet, but this time she spotted globs of fat. They weren¡¯t big enough to cause an issue, but if they were allowed to keep forming and gathering, the sewer would soon be blocked by a fat berg. It was clear that no worker companies had been through here recently. Which was odd, as this area of the sewers was one of the most heavily travelled, the worker companies using it to get to the further reaches of Excretiaville¡¯s area of influence. Even just passing through they¡¯d have cleared up the globs. Ignoring the ache in her legs, in her whole body if she was perfectly honest, Mai pushed on. Eyes and ears straining, she tried to discern if there was a threat in store for her, relying on her passive skills. Nothing, it just felt odd that it would be so quiet. Getting paranoid in my old age, she thought, a rueful smile on her face as she pushed on to the edge of her hometown. Sticking to the shadows using her SNEAK and STEALTH skills on passive, she watched as groups of workers moved between the various buildings in the cavernous space that housed them. Those sewers were too empty, it¡¯s not normal. And the town¡¯s not normally this quiet either. And the more she thought about it, the more she saw the differences. Sewer Company barracks lights were still on depending on which shift that Company was supposed to be working, but there was none of the usual music blasting from them, and the lights which usually marked entertainment centres were also unlit on the whole. None of the life which had previously filled the city was present. Each group moved differently to how she remembered. They were furtive. Shocked, she watched other groups moving about their daily basis. No-one walked on their own. Now she noticed it, no-one was walking around in a group of less than three. All of them carried fat cutters, or had nano-cutters. Some were also wearing heavily armoured work suits, some of which looked as though they¡¯d been modified. She stored that thought for another time. Modding armour wasn¡¯t something she¡¯d ever given a thought about, concentrating only on unlocking templates. I didn¡¯t even realise that I could modify armour. Opening up her skills menu, she blink-searched for FIX ARMOUR. The description was how she remembered it. Totally, and utterly uninspiring. FIX ARMOUR - Citizens with the FIX ARMOUR skill are able to repair armour or work suits that have been damaged in the course of their daily duties. It is a PASSIVE skill which improves with practice. + Only now there was a plus sign in a small box at the end of the last sentence. Something she was sure she hadn¡¯t seen before. Maybe that was because she hadn¡¯t been looking for it. Or because she¡¯d been too busy skim reading. She knew what it represented though, sub-skills, as she¡¯d come those before, like DIVERSION, a ganger sub-skill Johnny had been able to use. Blink-clicking it open, she ignored everything but the eye-catching CRAFT ARMOUR. CRAFT ARMOUR - Citizens with the CRAFT ARMOUR skill are able to either fabricate armour, and armour templates, or modify existing armour. Most citizens can''t afford such things, so CRAFTERS either learn the skill because they want to be safer whilst they work or set up shop to sell to those people who can afford their services. ¡°Why in Buddha¡¯s left nut are they walking around their hometown tooled up?¡± Nerves on edge, she kept moving, still keeping to the shadows, not wanting to be spotted by any of the clearly nervous workers. There wasn¡¯t any danger that they¡¯d attack her, it was forbidden, but she didn¡¯t want to give them any more reason to be scared, or for a worker with a bet on a different Culler to let slip that she was in their midst. Moving as carefully as she could, she activated SNEAK, STEALTH and LARCENY once the foot traffic started getting heavier. As it did so, there were more lights, and the three skills combined made her practically invisible as she slipped from shadow to shadow, using the people around her to conceal her movement. FREERUNNING, she flipped herself up onto a pile of crates. From there, she leaped through the air for a water pipe running across the alleyway. Spinning over the pipe, a kick sent her through the air. Bounding, she threw herself up hands outstretched for the lip of the roof she was aiming for. Grunting with the effort, she pulled herself up onto the roof. Twenty paces up in the air, she was now hidden from the majority of the people living in the town. Opening up her retinal map, she set a way marker. With more than a minute still running on her skills, she sprinted across the rooftops. ¡°Well, well, well, if it isn¡¯t the scavenger,¡± cackled the Scavenger Queen as Mai walked into the shop. ¡°And now a Culler. You¡¯ve come far.¡± Looking around, Mai shrugged. ¡°More like I¡¯ve gone full circle,¡± she said wryly. ¡°Once a sewer rat, always, a sewer rat,¡± chuckled the Queen, laying a gnarled hand gently on Mai¡¯s arm. ¡°Come in, you look like a mogwai chewed you up and spat you out.¡± Allowing herself to be led into the depths of the shop, Mai gave a shrug. ¡°To be honest, I feel just like that¡¯s what happened.¡± After a few paces, they turned and went between two precarious looking shelves. Pausing, the Scavenger Queen turned to her. ¡°I¡¯d like you to face away please. I don¡¯t normally allow visitors this far in my shop.¡± Mai did so, listening intently as a number of gentle beeps sounded. There was an even softer click, then a subtle change in the air. Pressure, air coming out of a room. She was impressed. Her passive SPOT HIDDEN had failed her. Plus, unlike in the holodramas, there was no way she could use the tones of the keys pressed to guess the passcode. Especially as it was more than eight digits long. ¡°Follow me,¡± the hand was back on her arm and she opened her eyes as she followed the Queen into what Mai thought of as an inner sanctum. Her breath caught at the contrast between the sanctum before her, and the chaos of the shop behind her. ¡°I know, surprising isn¡¯t it?¡± said the Queen. Mai¡¯s head snapped around to look at the owner of the voice. It was richer, younger, stronger than that of the woman she had known. She gasped. ¡°Impressive, isn¡¯t it?¡± laughed the woman beside her. Gone was the old crone with the crooked back and gnarled fingers. Instead, a woman barely old enough to be her mother smiled at her. With perfect white teeth instead of the tobacco-stained teeth she was used to. ¡°Nano-transformation. It¡¯s essentially no different to the clothes you wear.¡± ¡°But how ¡­ why ¡­ what ¡­ I mean,¡± stammered Mai. ¡°You¡¯re different Mai. Different from the other Cullers. Hells, you¡¯re different to anyone I¡¯ve ever met. Knew there was something special about you the first time I saw you. This disguise keeps me safe. There are those who would harm me if they could see me as I truly am.¡± Mai could understand that. Shrugging, she decided she wouldn¡¯t press any further. ¡°Why are you revealing yourself to me?¡± ¡°Because I need you to trust me. The sewers are my domain. The workers are my people. I try to keep them safe. Try to help them free themselves if they truly want to be. But now ¡­ not even I can help them.¡± She indicated a comfortable-looking chair, besides which was a bowl of steaming lichen noodles, large pieces of protein sat on top. A glass of what looked like BIO-MASS BOOST stood beside the food. Raising an eyebrow, Mai tilted her head towards the food. Nodding, the Queen gave a brief nod and a wave of her hand. Not needing any further excuse, Mai planted herself on the chair, reaching for the bowl, greedily sucking in the food without a second thought for the niceties of good table manners. Groaning in pleasure at the flavour bursting over her tongue, she chewed as quickly as possible before swallowing. ¡°Are you talking about whatever¡¯s got everyone in the town all jittery?¡± She asked before scooping more food into her mouth. ¡°Ha!¡± The Queen barked. ¡°Jittery? Scared witless more like!¡± Mai¡¯s mouth was too full of food to answer. Stomach rumbling, it felt as if an age had passed since her last meal. With each bite however, her BIO-MASS increased. Each sip of the BOOST gave her a five per cent increase usually, but this food was far better than that, giving her a boost of five to ten per cent with each mouthful. Her BIO-MASS finally showed as one hundred per cent, so she activated her TREAT LIGHT WOUNDS, sighing in relief as the nanites set to work. As she healed and her BIO-MASS depleted, she started eating again, the Scavenger Queen seemingly content to wait for her to respond. ¡°What are they frightened of?¡± she finally managed. ¡°Mogwai. There¡¯s an infestation. Ever since poor Andries was killed, we¡¯ve lost more and more people to the creatures. We¡¯ve even lost people from inside the city,¡± the Queen snarled, slamming her hand down onto the table, making all of the crockery leap into the air. Mai followed suit, the sudden burst of anger completely out of character for the Queen, and the sudden noise startling her. Food finished, fully healed, BIO-MASS backup to one hundred per cent, Mai looked at the Queen. ¡°And you want me to kill them?¡± Mai sighed as the Queen nodded before she¡¯d even finished asking the question. ¡°There were some Cullers after me. I think I got them with mines, but I can¡¯t be sure.¡± ¡°We¡¯ll try and keep you safe from other Cullers, report false sightings of you in other parts of the sewers. Odds are the viewers who saw that last tragedy have already moved on. There¡¯s no way we can tell as to how many spectators you¡¯ve got. If any. And the sewers are large. If they do try to report your location, it¡¯ll be like trying to find a needle in a haystack made of needles.¡± Mai rolled her neck. She¡¯d barely started to relax before her muscles had knotted up. An image of a steam bath popped into her mind. She¡¯d have given anything for such a thing. Sitting silently, the Queen let her work things through. Muscles as relaxed as she was going to get them, Mai looked at the Queen, slowly nodding. She didn¡¯t have a choice. Whilst some of the sewer workers were used to fighting mogwai as part of their daily duties, they were in the minority, and it wasn¡¯t fair of her to expect people lacking the skills she had to go and face monsters that were killing their loved ones. Especially as they were most likely doing so because of her and Andries. ¡°I¡¯m game. The people here are good, they don¡¯t deserve to die like Andries does.¡± Smiling, the Scavenger Queen waved a hand, and a quest prompt appeared. DESTROY THE MOGWAI DO YOU ACCEPT? YES/NO Reaching out, Mai pressed YES. Book 2 - Rebel - Chapter 2 Mai set off early the next morning after the Queen cooked a breakfast so filling that she felt fit to burst at the seams. Despite the fact that the sewer companies worked twenty-four hours a day, it just felt right that she should be sneaking through the streets in what would have been morning in the Upper City. Aside from the breakfast, she¡¯d also been given a utility belt with two BIO-MASS BOOSTS. It meant easier access to them, and that she wouldn¡¯t have to use a backpack unless she came across anything good in the sewers. She¡¯d been far too preoccupied to look whilst making her way into Excretiaville, but figured that she might as well make the most of her time in the sewers. ¡°I pray to Buddha and the Five Angels that you don¡¯t need two bottles,¡± the Queen had said as she passed them over to Mai. ¡°Better to be safer than sorry,¡± Mai replied, mouth dry at the thought of having to hunt the mogwai. There was a silver lining in that the quest allowed her to hide from Cullers without staying in one single location. And any Cullers coming after her would also be at risk of the rampaging mogwai. But it felt as though there was a con as well. Even though the Culling was still proceeding without her, and the number of Cullers was decreasing each hour, it felt as though she wasn¡¯t doing anything to get back to Li. Passivity rather than pro-activity felt wrong to her. It was as if she was being driven to dive back into the Culling, no matter how much she abhorred killing. Another pro outweighed this in her mind. Whilst she was walking around darkened sewers hunting creatures, viewers would be watching other Cullers. She wouldn¡¯t be climbing up the scoreboard, so there was no incentive for people to watch her. At least, I hope that¡¯s right, she thought. Empty streets greeted her no matter which way she turned. The Scavenger Queen had said that she would put the word out that a path was to be cleared. No details, just that her people needed to stay off the streets the quest guideline had marked. Mai still hadn¡¯t quite worked out who or what the Scavenger Queen was, nor why exactly the woman was forced to disguise herself in that way. Is she Celestial Court? Banished, maybe? Not that she¡¯d heard of anyone from the Celestial Court ever falling from grace outside of the holodramas. It was a popular trope, and usually saw the exile redeeming themselves by accruing social score points through the judicious application of selfless acts. Both Li and Mai had often thought that it was just a way of giving anyone below the tenth mile a glimmer of hope that they might actually be able to ascend. And now I¡¯m trying to ascend in the most insane way, she laughed at that. At least if she knew what she was doing was insane, then she couldn¡¯t actually be insane. Just a teeny bit crazy, maybe. She came to the edge of the cavern. Excretiaville was criss-crossed by deep rivers of effluent, manually operated punts used to navigate through the city if a person didn¡¯t want to walk. Bridges crossed the rivers near her, but they too were empty. Walking up to a ladder on the wall, positioned next to a small waterfall where the effluent flowed out of Sewer A294810, she quickly climbed it, walked along the gantry and entered the sewer. Using the staff she¡¯d formed from a template, Mai stepped down from a crumbling ledge into a slow-moving river. She¡¯d avoided doing so for as long as possible due to the fact that she was going to be walking against the current for many thousands of paces before she reached the end of the guideline. It didn¡¯t mean that what she was seeking ¨C a horde of mogwai ¨C was at the end of the guideline, just that by the time she reached it the quest should hopefully be over. And slogging for thousands of paces through slow-moving effluent was going to tire her. Scanning the sides of the sewer, she was surprised to see just how eroded the sidewalks and gantries on either side were. ¡°I¡¯m not that far from the town,¡± she murmured, reaching out to run her fingers over the nearest crumbling edge. ¡°These mogwai must really be causing trouble.¡± And as if the Gods were listening, shouts rang out from ahead of her. Crouching, bracing herself against the slow current, she took the time to listen and work out where the sound was, and how far way. Sound seemed to travel differently in the sewers, their acoustics playing tricks on the brain. Sometimes something that was thousands of paces away could sound as near as the person next to you. After a few seconds, Mai stood. As far as she could tell, the fight was roughly one hundred metres away. Sewer must curve, I can¡¯t see anything, no point activating my skills yet, they¡¯ll be passive way before I get anywhere near whoever needs my help. Best if I have them ready to go, rely on any passive bonuses I have for now. Sweat was running down her face by the time she got close enough to see who was fighting whom. It took her breath away. A large smile split her face from ear-to-ear as she saw one of her best friends. Fat John whirled like one of the famed Dervish, blades moving too quickly for her eyes to even register. Wherever they went, the air filled with the blood of mogwais. Other members of her former company stood with their backs to a smallish fat berg. Mai didn¡¯t move for a couple of seconds, stunned to see her old crew, but also using the time to assess the risk. Mogwai, too many to count in the time she had, lunged and snapped at her friends. All of the sewer workers were sporting some sort of injury, and she could see they were tiring. Only a few mogwai bodies drifted in the effluent, the current slowed even more by the fat berg. None of the combatants had noticed her. Opening up her menu, she selected a shotgun with a full magazine, and a long blade, hissing in pain as the nanites in her body formed the weapons. If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it. Pushing forward, she activated her STEALTH, TUNNEL COMBAT and SEWER COMBAT skills. Fat John continued to fight apart from the other workers, his nano-blades glowing, and an ever-increasing pile of mogwai corpses building up around him. ¡°Clever bastard,¡± she muttered. Fat John was sacrificing himself, making himself bait in order to draw as many mogwai away from the rest of the workers as possible. Her respect for him grew, and she could tell by the way he moved that he¡¯d most certainly levelled up as a Mogwai Bane. With yell, Fat John confirmed that, unleashing SONIC BOOM. It blasted in all directions away from him, shredding any injured mogwai, shattering their bodies, corpses tumbling through the air. ¡°Good job old man!¡± She called out as laid her shotgun¡¯s reticle on the nearest mogwai still standing, activated USE SHOTGUN, and fired. CRITICAL HIT! 20% DAMAGE BLEED! @5% PER SECOND INTIMIDATED! Status effect glyphs appearing over it, it turned to face her, snapping and howling in pain. It was a particularly hideous specimen. Skin, scales and matted fur covered it, in a quilt-like pattern and it undulated as it moved. Too many legs to count propelled it towards her and its maw opened to reveal at least three sets of teeth. Tentacles covered in thick mucous emerged from even further back in its throat as if it was tasting her scent. Shotgun roaring, Mai blasted it another three times, aiming for its mouth and the critical hit marker centred on the darkest part, ignoring the BIO-MASS depletion messages. CRITICAL HIT! 26% DAMAGE BLEED! @4% DAMAGE PANIC! HIT! 7% DAMAGE BLEED! @1% PANIC! HIT! 6% DAMAGE BLEED! @1% PER SECOND PANIC! Screeching, it tried to turn tail, only to find that Fat John was now blocking its way as he fought off a trio of mogwai. Although it was suffering from PANIC and needed to get away from Mai, the source of the PANIC, it was faced with another threat, essentially entering a fatal decision loop. Its health bar was over half-black from the shotgun blasts, and the BLEED status effect had kicked in. Each second saw eleven percent health degeneration. Desperation practically oozed from its pores, along with its lifeblood as it turned again and again, trying to find a way out. And then it made a decision. As PANICKED as it was, there were only two ways for it to escape. Through the melee of Fat John and its broodmates, or through the person that had hurt it in the first place. ¡°Shit!¡± Mai staggered as the mogwai leaped through the air. Launching herself backward, she opened fire, filling the air with slugs from her shotgun. HIT! 2% BLEED @0.5% PER SECOND HIT! 1% BLEED @1% PER SECOND It was moving too fast, she couldn¡¯t aim quickly enough, her shots were barely grazing the demonic creature as it screeched its way through the air. Her next shot missed, and then it was on her. DAMAGE! 5% HEALTH 95% WINDED! Pain exploded in her chest as it took the full weight of the creature. It must have weighed almost as much as her, and it felt as though a hammer from the Gods had hit her. Tumbling to the ground, she wedged the barrel of her shotgun horizontally into its mouth as three rows of teeth snapped mere finger-widths away from her face. Hot, dank breath washed over her face, the stench of excrement and rotten flesh making her gag, adding to the problem she already faced with breathing. Frantically, she raised her legs, trying to stop it from gutting her as it constantly kicked at the armour covering her belly. Cutting at it with her sword, she cursed as she failed to do any damage. It was too long to get a proper swing with, and even sawing against the mogwai¡¯s thick hide was ineffective. Giving up, she re-absorbed it, forming it into a knife instead. Shotgun arm aching from the effort of keeping the foul creature¡¯s teeth from ripping her face off she activated her DIRTY BOXING and UNARMED COMBAT. It didn¡¯t matter that she was actually armed, as they still conferred certain bonuses. Both of them involved grappling and wrestling of some sort, which she was currently doing, so any bonus they conferred whilst active was one she was going to take. Passive, they weren¡¯t working for her, so she had nothing to lose. The skills kicked in immediately. A quick shift of the hips, an arching of the back, and shove upwards saw the mogwai¡¯s head pushed up at an awkward angle. Activating KNIFE FIGHTING, she drove the blade into the nearest critical hit marker. CRITICAL HIT! 20% BLEED! @30% KILL! MOGWAI BANE 15% Suddenly limp, the mogwai¡¯s dead weight was too much for her tired muscles to bear. Blood, thicker and hotter than it should be washed over her, splashing over her face, stinging her eyes. Twisting, she tugged and pushed at the same time, rolling the ghastly corpse off her. ¡°Mai?¡± Fat John stood beside her, blades glowing as he protected her until she was able to regain her feet. Re-absorbing the knife, she quickly used her hand to clear the mogwai¡¯s blood from her eyes, revealing Fat John¡¯s surprised smile. Smiling back, Mai reloaded her shotgun with a thought, deciding to keep the shorter knife. BIOMASS LEVEL Raising her shotgun, she advanced on the mogwais attacking the other group of workers. The ones that Fat John had been fighting previously lay in the river of waste. She was impressed. He¡¯d been an excellent fighter when she first met him, but now his skills far surpassed anything she¡¯d ever seen. Including the holomyths. The workers were being attacked by a group of seven mogwai. ¡°You want to take the ones on the left, I¡¯ll go right?¡± suggested Fat John. ¡°On it,¡± she raised her shotgun as she spoke, sighing as she saw that her USE SHOTGUN was closer to cooldown than she would like. Target boxes dotted all of the mogwai, almost too many to count. She decided to go for the easy ones, heads and legs. Heads for the instakills, legs to cripple and slow them down. That was just about all the thought she put into her fight. With her USE SHOTGUN active phase rapidly counting down, she laid her sight on the nearest mogwai and fired. CRITICAL HIT! 23% CRIPPLED! BLEED! @3% PER SECOND With the mogwai collected the way they were, it would have been hard to miss. Her target splashed into the muck as its leg was reduced to shreds of flesh, bone and gristle. HEADSHOT! INSTAKILL! MOGWAI BANE 20% Even as she laid her reticle onto another target she glanced over to see how Fat John was faring. Their eyes met, his mouth twitched into a smile, then there was a blur and he was gone, grasped in the arms of one of the largest mogwai she¡¯d ever seen. Book2 - Rebel - Chapter 3 Mai stared in slack-jawed amazement at the spot where Fat John had been standing. It had been so fast. One moment he was smiling at her, the next gone in what must surely have been a bone-snapping blur. Looking up, she saw that the rest of the mogwai had also left. Sewer workers stood panting, warily looking around them, equally as stunned as her that the battle was over. ¡°Is everyone okay?¡± she shouted, gathering her wits. ¡°Cuts, the odd broken bone, nothing too bad!¡± a man she hadn¡¯t met before answered. He was large, with a whole host of scars across his face. They were old, could have been HEALED, but it was clear that he was proud of them. ¡°Mai,¡± she said, holding out a hand. He grasped it, hard callouses rubbing against her palm as they gave a quick two-pump shake. ¡°Billy,¡± he replied. His voice was soft, a shocking contrast to his appearance. From the accent she would have placed him as being at least an eight-miler. ¡°I¡¯m Fat John¡¯s second in command.¡± ¡°That thing. It ¡­¡± she paused, trying to gather her thoughts, still on an adrenalin high. ¡°It moved faster than any mogwai I¡¯ve ever seen.¡± Glancing around, he titled his head, placing a heavy hand on her shoulder and leading her away from the rest of the workers. ¡°Things have been bad since just after you left. For some reason, the mogwai have been braver. I¡¯m not sure if it¡¯s because of the attack on the jiangshi progenitor, but word is that killing that beast allowed the mogwai to grow.¡± Frowning, Mai tried to parse the information, see if there was a correlation between her and Andries hunting the vampires, destroying their nest, and supposedly making the sewers safer, and the growth of the mogwai as a result. ¡°I suppose that the jiangshi could have been feeding off the mogwai in this area. Killing them, and killing the progenitor, could have meant that the mogwai no longer had much in the way of predators.¡± ¡°Meaning that some of them were able to grow beyond what we¡¯re used to,¡± Billy nodded. ¡°We¡¯ve asked for help from other Sewer cities, but they¡¯ve been slow in responding.¡± ¡°And the Celestial Court has done nothing?¡± she knew the answer before she even asked. ¡°Praise the Emperor.¡± That last was said with a complete lack of sincerity. Still, she got the notification. PRAISE THE EMPEROR! +1 KARMA She sniggered at the notification. As if one additional karma was actually going to help her social score. If she Ascended, she¡¯d never need a social score. If she didn¡¯t, she¡¯d be dead. And wouldn¡¯t need her social score. ¡°Praise the Emperor indeed,¡± Billy said, laughing as he looked around them. ¡°What would we do without the Emperor¡¯s Beneficence?¡± Mai didn¡¯t answer, just watched the sewer workers help each other repair their hazmat suits, HEAL, and comfort each other. ¡°You were lucky no-one was killed,¡± Mai said. ¡°Fat John saved us. I¡¯m good, I mean, just look at the scars I¡¯ve got. But Fat John? He just ranked up in a serious way once the mogwai started being a serious threat. Starting to spend money on modifications. Extra training. Assumed the role of defender.¡± ¡°Just like Andries,¡± her heart gave a double-thump at the memory of her friend. It seemed that no matter what she did, memories of her friends were around each corner, hiding in every conversation. ¡°Fat John even created a Guild of Mogwai Banes. Had a few people join up, but most didn¡¯t fancy the idea of hunting the creatures.¡± ¡°Not even for the rewards?¡± ¡°No, too much risk. There was an initial wave of enthusiasm, but that soon went after the first dozen deaths or so,¡± Bob spoke matter-of-factly as if losing a few dozen of his fellow sewer workers to battling mogwai was as unremarkable as commenting on the condenrain. ¡°And a lot of people thought that fifty universal credits wasn¡¯t worth the risk.¡± ¡°You guys should head back,¡± Mai said, pointing towards Excretiaville. ¡°This Fat berg¡¯s not too big, and there¡¯s no knowing what else is waiting to come attack you.¡± ¡°No can do, we need to hit quota. Some of them will have got assists, and some credits for the bank, but not enough to make missing quota a good idea,¡± he said, pointing at some of the workers who were already picking up their tools. He paused, looking past the berg in the direction that Fat John had been taken. ¡°I¡¯m going to need the boss back,¡± Billy said, turning back to face her. ¡°Seems like you¡¯re already on a hunt, are you up for finding him and getting him back?¡± ¡°I¡¯ll do whatever it takes,¡± she promised. She¡¯d have done it anyway. Fat John deserved nothing less and to have left him to his fate at the hands of the mogwai would have left a stain on her soul she would never be able to rid herself off. ¡°Wait one,¡± he went still for a moment. Then grunted. To her absolute surprise, a mission prompt filled her retinal monitor. She¡¯d never seen an essentially ¡®normal¡¯ civilian create a mission like that. The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. Only managers, proper managers, at a higher level than Billy was, were usually able to create missions. And the only missions they created were mundane business as usual ones. RESCUE FAT JOHN BRING HIM BACK DEAD OR ALIVE DO YOU ACCEPT YES/NO? She blink-clicked the YES before the message even had time to finish forming. ¡°Stay safe, I¡¯ll bring him back,¡± she promised Billy, returning his nod of approval. Another guideline had appeared, leading off into the distance. Opening up her map, she looked at the tunnels she¡¯d already been in and saw that an area she had once worked in often was now slightly darker than the rest of the map. ¡°What¡¯s with the map?¡± she flicked it over to his retinal monitor. ¡°Deadzone. Like I say, things have been different since you left. It¡¯s full of damaged tunnels, more than one lost sewer company, a few jiangshi, and hordes of mogwai.¡± ¡°Make sense,¡± she said wryly. ¡°I¡¯m surprised that it doesn¡¯t say ¡®Beware all that enter¡¯, or ¡®Monsters be here¡¯¡±. It would have been funny if it wasn¡¯t so damned sad. Her heart ached at the size of the Deadzone. It was far bigger than it had any right being, and the idea that it was causing so much hurt knotted her stomach. ¡°We¡¯re getting a lot more urbexers as well. You had a run-in with some of those before you left for the Culling didn¡¯t you?¡± ¡°Yeah, and Fat John was my boss at the time. I¡¯d only just begun,¡± she grimaced at the memory of the cyber-mastiff and the fear she¡¯d felt as she fought for her life. ¡°How many more are we talking about?¡± ¡°Hundreds. They keep coming individually, or in small groups. Those that survive are loaded to the gills with stuff they¡¯ve scavenged. They¡¯re drawn to the Deadzone like moths to a flame. Fortunately it means that most are too busy with the Deadzone to bother our companies. But they don¡¯t do much about the mogwai out here.¡± Mai said nothing, just continued to look at the map, working out a path using tunnels she¡¯d already been in rather than trying to work out how blacked-out areas might join up. ¡°Can you show me where they mostly go?¡± Billy didn¡¯t answer, but a heat map of areas explored by the urbexers showed up. A lot of the heat areas were in the unmapped portions of her map. By the looks of it, it fell under the remit of Sewer Company Twelve. Good people, but they didn¡¯t do half as good a job as her old Sewer Company Fifty-Five. ¡°They¡¯ve even started doing timed runs of areas one and two. Turned a life or death situation into a fucking competition. Damn, sorry. I didn¡¯t mean ¡­¡± he trailed off, mouth turned down, shoulders slumping. She gave a gentle smile as he shifted awkwardly. ¡°Don¡¯t let it bother you,¡± she put a hand on his shoulder. ¡°Seriously. It was my crappy life choices that put me into the sewers, and a monumentally stupid decision which put me into the Culling. It is what it is.¡± ¡°You want us to escort you to the start of the Deadzone?¡± She could tell by the tone of his voice that he didn¡¯t really want to. And she couldn¡¯t blame him for that. He¡¯d seen enough of his people killed, and just lost his best friend and mentor. ¡°No, tempting though it is. Get the guys back to work, hit quota and then get home safe and sound,¡± she was walking even before she¡¯d finished talking. It was too tempting to stay with Billy and his crew. Deadzone is apt, Mai thought as she took in the state of the sewer around her. There wasn¡¯t a wall that didn¡¯t have a spider¡¯s web of cracks or missing whole chunks of concrete. Water and other less savoury liquids dripped down from the ceiling and rats ran along the walkway. In some places the ceiling had even collapsed, raising the level of the effluent behind it as it created a rough dam.. Each time she came across one of those dams, she used her staff to knock some of the debris free and ease the pressure. Everything sounded different to the maintained sewers and she could have sworn that just on the edge of her hearing was a wind. It set her teeth on edge, made them itch. Her skin crawled at the thought of the wind, even beneath her clothes. Even though there wasn¡¯t a wind. She hated it. ¡°Don¡¯t be stupid, no winds in this sewers,¡± she said, trying to reassure herself. But still, the sense of a wind persisted. It raised goosebumps on her skin and made her hackles rise. It was as if the powers-that-be which were behind the Deadzone and the state it was in had tried to make it as intimidating as possible. Which again, she knew was a daft idea. The Celestial Court rarely interfered in the lives of mere mortals. They had the Culling to entertain themselves. Why in the Twelve Heavens would they deliberately make a whole swathe of the sewers so dangerous? But whilst talking to the others, she¡¯d been surprised to find out just how quickly the Deadzone had appeared. Within two days, the area had gone from normal to resembling one of the sixteen thousand hells. It was a huge area, and that it had changed so quickly made no sense to her. But her friends had accepted with a shrug and a lack of interest which had stunned her. They¡¯d gone to bed, woken up, found the Deadzone and just accepted it with a Zen-like calm she couldn¡¯t match. How can they just accept this? I¡¯m covered in goosebumps at the idea that a part of the sewer could become so bad, so quickly that it¡¯s called the Deadzone by everyone around. And they just go to work like it¡¯s another, slightly more dangerous day! A pang of guilt twisted her mouth as she once again considered the possibility that her actions in killing the progenitor and its brood of ghouls and vampires had brought about this change. Both guidelines for the DESTROY THE MOGWAI and RESCUE FAT JOHN continued to stretch into the distance. As far as she could tell, they ended up in roughly the same area. A stone rattled in the distance, and she dropped into a crouch. The river of excrement was low here, barely higher than the soles of her boots. It meant that the mogwai wouldn¡¯t be able to swim up and attack her from below. But it also meant that she couldn¡¯t attempt to hide from any potential enemies. Voices, muffled, low, anxious sounding drifted down from where the stone had fallen. Too far away for her to count. Too far away to work out what they were saying. Dropping to a knee, she strained her ears, trying to work out if the voices were coming towards her or moving away. A light flashed across the walls, voices rising. ¡°What ¡­?¡± it was the first word she¡¯d been able to make out. It wasn¡¯t angry, more curious. ¡° ¡­ scavenge ¡­ een. ¡­ mine!¡± that one sounded angrier, it had a tone to it which set her nerves on edge and she immediately drew a mental picture of the speaker. A scream, high and anguished, bounced off the walls of the sewer, seemingly never-ending. ¡°That¡¯s going to bring every damned monster in existence here,¡± Mai hissed. And as if her thoughts had the power to create, a roar drowned out the scream. Book 2 - Rebel - Chapter 4 Mai¡¯s blood turned to ice in her veins, hair standing up on the back of her neck as the roar continued to reverberate from the walls of the sewers. It was almost painful. Blink-clicking open her menu she scrolled down to the hazmat suits on off and selected a helmet with noise-dampeners. It was nothing special, sometimes the more industrial parts of the sewers could be deafeningly loud and so sewer workers were issued with templates which would allow them to avoid going deaf during their tenure. BIOMASS NOTIFICATION Screams quickly followed the roar, as well as the crackle of gun fire and a strange hiss-zap she hadn¡¯t heard before. A blue light accompanied the latter, flashing in and out of existence so quickly it left her with the impression that she might have been imagining it. Whatever I¡¯m up against sounds big, fucking big, she thought as she closed the clothing menu and opened up the weapons menu. Scrolling quickly she shot past her normal choices of SMG and knives, going straight to the assault rifles. Although she¡¯d used assault rifles in training, they weren¡¯t her preferred weapon type, and so she hadn¡¯t spent too much time looking at the options. A fact she quietly cursed her past self for. Past self and present self often warred in Mai¡¯s mind. Present self was well and truly regretting what past self had got her into with regard to the Culling. All the while knowing that her future self was going to continue to balls things up and get involved in situations best left well alone. Such as a battle with a creature that can roar so loudly it nearly deafened me from dozens of paces away! The Assault Rifle menu appeared, and she opened it up. None of the names made any sense. She ordered the menu by two criteria. Calibre, that is, how big the bullets were, and rate of fire. Whatever she was facing was huge, and was going to take a lot of bullets to take down. She¡¯d have gone for a light machine gun if she could, but preferred to have the ability to use her non-weapon hand as a shield should the need arise. Which she well and truly felt was going to happen. Blazing Sun ¨C 7.62mm, 600 RPM. Big bullets, capable of firing ten rounds a second. The magazine was thirty rounds, which meant she would have three seconds of full-auto before she needed to reload. It was a particularly beautiful weapon. With the magazine behind where the trigger would have been had it been a non-nano weapon, it was what was called a Bullpup, Emperor knows why, and with the stock being black, its colour gradually changed through the spectrum of red until it was almost white. At five per cent BIO-MASS to form the weapon, and a further nought point three per cent for the actual bullets, creating it was going to cost her twelve per cent BIO-MASS with each reload costing nine. ¡°Let¡¯s hope they kill the damned thing before I get there,¡± she muttered, bouncing on the spot, trying to think of a reason why she shouldn¡¯t get involved. There were many, but none of them outweighed the need she felt to help the first voice she¡¯d heard. Rolling her shoulders she moved as quickly as possible whilst retaining some modicum of stealth, keeping all of her skills passive until she got close enough. Another roar blasted down the sewer tunnel, her helmet¡¯s dampeners kicking in immediately to save her hearing, even so she found that moving closer had meant she could physically feel the power. It shook her bones, and her feet tingled. ¡°Hells, what in the Emperor¡¯s left nut sack is that doing to the people fighting it?¡± she murmured, straightening up from a crouch she hadn¡¯t realised she¡¯d adopted. Gritting her teeth, she pushed forward. Light flashed into and out of existence so quickly it was as if it had never existed, and again there was a strange hissing noise. The combat was closer now, no more than fifty paces away and she was able to make out three sets of figures in the light provided by whatever weapon was creating it. Humanoid figures darted back and forth, firing weapons at the third, much larger figure. In the brief time that the light had flared into being, she¡¯d been able to spot a spider-like body, larger than any spider had any right to be. Larger by at least three times than any of the humans it was facing. Mai paused, opened up her menu and quickly made three grenades, attaching them to her suit¡¯s chest rig. BIOMASS ¨C 58% At thirty per-cent it was expensive, but she still had the two bottles of BIO-MASS boost the Scavenger Queen had given her. Just hope I¡¯m still alive to be able to use them! Kneeling, she took a couple of seconds to watch the battle, allowing her eyes to adjust now that the after-trace of the light had gone. Whatever the weapon was, it seemed to be only able to fire every few seconds. Although the humans were fighting the monster, it was clear that they weren¡¯t working together, something she could have told from the way they were talking before the battle began. One, a slight-looking figure, darted back and forth, using some sort of sword. The other group of humanoids were clustered, working to protect what looked like a couple of their downed comrades. A healthy distance was kept between them and the lone figure. I bet that guy¡¯s the owner of the arsehole voice, the bully. Which would mean that it was more than possible the figures on the ground were caused by him, and not necessarily the monster. Light flared, off-on, so quickly that she couldn¡¯t tell if it originated from the arsehole or the monster. Judging by the lick of flame on the monster¡¯s shell, it came from the arsehole. ¡°Friendly coming!¡± she yelled as she activated USE ASSAULT RIFLE, TUNNEL COMBAT, SEWER COMBAT and SITUATIONAL AWARENESS. Pushing herself mentally, she advanced towards the battle, rifle raised. Target boxes immediately started to appear on the hideous creature. Nearly every one offered her a near-as-dammit one hundred per cent chance to hit. None offered anything above nought point one per cent for a critical. She¡¯d thought mogwai and jiangshi were bad enough, with ghouls holding an especially dark place in her memories, but this creature was beyond hideous. It had three legs on either side of an immense and bulbous body, each of the legs ending in bony-spurs taller than any human. Curled horns as long as her arms jutted from either side of its head, and its face resembled a demonic-pug. Protruding eyes, sore and weeping yellow pus stared sadly at the humans it was fighting, whilst a cactus-like tongue lolled from its mouth. What the Hells! She laid her sights onto the nearest hit box and let rip with the rifle any second thoughts at entering the battle well and truly banished. There was no way in the Twelve Hells that she could allow it to live and potentially put her former comrades at risk. Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more. Oof! She¡¯d forgotten about the recoil of an assault rifle and her bullets stitched an ineffective line of divots over its natural armour. HIT! 0.1% HIT! 0.1% HIT! 0.1% HIT! 0.1% HIT! 0.1% HIT! 0.1% Two per cent BIOMASS blasted into the creature with practically indiscernible effect. She¡¯d be eating her own body before she managed to do even a couple of per cent worth of damage. ¡°Fire your fucking weapon!¡± she screamed towards the lone figure, who appeared to be happy to watch her draw the creature¡¯s attention. It was only now that she realised its health bar had only two black squares, the rest being a stubbornly healthy green. He flicked a rude hand gesture, then shook his weapon hand. A bar of light shone where she assumed the power pack was. A green light pulsed into amber, then red and then back to green again before repeating the cycle. She wasn¡¯t sure but it appeared that the green light stayed on a smidgeon longer the second time. All that took less than a second, and that was all the time the creature needed. It roared, and Mai¡¯s ears felt as though they were bursting before the dampener kicked in. The pain was blinding, tears rolling down her face, and she opened her mouth in a scream. DAMAGE! 2% INTIMIDATED! STAGGERED! Something was wrong with her ears, her balance was off and it felt as though she was on a sewer barge the way the sewer floor appeared to buck and roll beneath her feet. Blinking, unable to clear her tears away due to the visor protecting her face, she caught the flash of something white heading towards her. Without a thought she activated FREERUNNING and dived to one side, tucking and rolling before coming back to her feet and throwing herself into a sideways somersault. Shards of plasticrete from the shattered floor behind her erupted into the air. Landing, she spun and opened fire on whatever had attacked her. It was one of the creature¡¯s legs, jammed at least five hand spans into the floor of the tunnel. Seeing how close she¡¯d come to death turned her mouth drier than a desert. HIT! 0.1% HIT! 0.1% HIT! 0.1% She kept the burst low, more controllable than before, her bullets hammering into a nice tight grouping, but still doing no discernible damage at all. Shots from the other side of the creature rang out, the other group of what she could now see were urbexers opening fire with their own weapons. Hiss-zap, flare of light, and she was left blinking at the intensity of the light being so close. Even through the afterlight she was able to see that the creature¡¯s health bar had dropped by another block, leaving seven firmly in the green. She fired, more to keep her own fear at bay than in the hope it would injure the creature. ¡°How many times have you hit the fucking thing?¡± she shouted towards the lone figure. ¡°Six! Half a block a time! Thing¡¯s built like a bloody hover tank!¡± The creature span, presenting it¡¯s back to them as there was the thud of a heavy machine gun from the other group. Tracer cracked past her head as the heavy bullets ricocheted from the creature¡¯s chitinous armour. Even as she ducked she could see panicked glyphs appearing over the heads of some of the humans. In a heartbeat they were off and running in all directions, firing over their shoulders as they did so, leaving only three of their companions to face the spider-demon. ¡°What .,..?¡± she breathed as a scorpion-like tail curled from under where it had been tucked away. Venom dripped from a large, hooked sting. A blur of movement was the only warning its target had. A woman, she was screaming in fear, firing a small pistol over her shoulder as she tried to flee the battle. As the stinger plunged towards her it whistled, before plunging into the top of her crown. Blood erupted out of her mouth in a torrent, and her eyes burst from their sockets at the force of the impact. Hideous slurping followed the strike and Mai gulped as she realised that the now pulsing sting was sucking the woman¡¯s brains from what remained of her skull. She didn¡¯t need to look at the woman¡¯s all-black health bar to know that she was dead. Just as quickly the sting retracted, the woman¡¯s body falling straight to the floor in a bloody heap. ¡°Distract it!¡± Mai shouted at the man, activating USE GRENADE, pulling and priming one in one smooth motion. It flashed, a quick pulse of red, to indicate that it was charged. Activating the USE GRENADE skill created a new display on her retinal monitor. At the base of where her grenade would land was a red circle, and in every target box on the creature¡¯s body in that circle had a CRITICAL HIT chance above it. None were higher than five per cent due to her Rank in that skill, but that was many times better than the chance she¡¯d had with the assault rifle. Attached to the circle was a looped line which showed her the trajectory her grenade would take if she threw it in the direction her arm was moving. She shifted it slightly to ensure that as many of the creature¡¯s hit boxes were highlighted. A quick underarm movement and the grenade left her arm, its red light continuing to blink as it sailed through the air. ¡°Down!¡± she threw herself into the muck on the bottom of the sewer tunnel, sliding forward slightly. A heartbeat¡¯s pause and then the grenade detonated. HIT! 5% HIT! 10% HIT! 5% HIT! 1% HIT! 5% BLEED @3% PER SECOND STUNNED Instead of roaring, the creature squealed as the grenade hurt it in a way none of the other weapons had before. Two whole blocks of green filled with black, and the BLEED and STUNNED glyphs appeared over its head. Re-absorbing the assault rifle, Mai took a grenade in each hand. Her USE GRENADE was still active, with plenty of time left for what she needed to do. Aiming, she shifted the circle towards where the creature was most badly injured, luminescent blood dripping from holes torn in its belly by the blast. Her CRITICAL HIT chances now showed as being near seven per cent for most. So many damned hit boxes, I¡¯d have to be cursed by the Seven Lords of Misfortune to not get at least one. And with that she pushed herself to her knees, primed the grenades and let fly. The lone urbexer¡¯s weapon hiss-zapped again, this time knocking a full bar of health into the black as the light burned into one of the gaping wounds she¡¯d caused. If she thought the creature¡¯s screech of pain was loud before, she was mistaken. DAMAGE 2% INTIMIDATED! STUNNED! Redundant, the warnings told her nothing she didn¡¯t already know. It tried to spin, but one of its legs was injured, causing it to stagger, its body tilting slightly. Steaming ichor poured out of where the light had struck. Two flashes of light, two loud thunder bursts as the grenades detonated. HIT! 5% HIT! 10% HIT! 5% CRITICAL HIT! 15% HIT! 10% CRITICAL HIT! 25% KILL! TITLE GAINED! DEMON KILLER YOU ARE TRULY A WARRIOR OF LEGENDS! BARDS WILL SING YOUR LIFE STORY AND PEOPLE WILL WEEP THAT THEY NEVER GOT TO KNOW YOU! TITLE ¨C DEMON SLAYER 5% Guts, chitin, flesh and yet more luminescent ichor fountained in all directions as the creature¡¯s belly was blasted open by the power of the grenades. Health bar completely black, the creature collapsed soundlessly to the ground, legs curling beneath it in one last-ditch attempt to protect itself. ¡°Well done, little girl,¡± Mai turned to see the lone urbexer behind her, dripping with ichor. But what really drew her attention was the weapon pointing at her, its charge well and truly green. ¡°Now, what do you think you¡¯re worth to other Cullers?¡± Hands raised, knowing that she¡¯d never be able to kill him before his weapon atomised her, Mai closed her eyes and waited for death. Book 2 - Rebel - Chapter 5 After a few seconds of silence, Mai opened her eyes. The weapon was still trained on her, but the urbexer seemed to be looking past her. ¡°She¡¯s mine! And so¡¯s that power-sabre you found. These are my sewers!¡± He was definitely the owner of the nasty, bullying voice, and from the way he licked his lips as he spoke, was also the one who had hurt the other urbexer and caused the Oni to attack them. As he shouted, his weapon danced, moving off and on to her. She winced to see that his finger was still on the trigger, even though he was looking off into the distance at the other group. ¡°Please, just take your finger off the trigger, I won¡¯t cause trouble.¡± Eyes squinting her looked down at her for a second, before giving a slow blink. ¡°I won¡¯t shoot you, not anywhere important, that is, you¡¯re too valuable.¡± It was then she remembered what he¡¯d said about the other Cullers. ¡°What do you mean?¡± ¡°Lots of people got money on you after you killed your boyfriend. Lots of Cullers offering rewards for locations.¡± She didn¡¯t bother correcting him on the boyfriend score, but a cold sweat covered her at the thought that he would sell her out to other Cullers. She tried to SASS him, but like some of the others from her bunkroom, the gangers, the prisoners, and the former soldiers, she couldn¡¯t open it up. ¡°I can give you money,¡± she tried to shift her weight slightly, easing the tension in her legs. ¡°I¡¯m on a quest right now to clear the sewers down here, get a member of the Sewer Company back. I¡¯ll split it.¡± ¡°You can¡¯t outbid the Celestial Court,¡± he spat. ¡°You! Stop whispering and get over here!¡± Turning, she watched as the other group of urbexers approached. Not one had a nano-weapon, they were all printed hard copies. None of them were in a good shape, and their armour was a hodgepodge of styles, poorly maintained and in some cases, poorly fitting. Are they urbexers or one-milers? She thought as she took their appearance in. Her captor was a different matter. Not only did he have some sort of energy rifle, his armour was clearly of a much higher level of quality. Now that she was looking closer, it gave off a faint glow, and there were glyphs inscribed which resembled skill effects. She¡¯d never seen anything like it before and made a mental note to look in her menus if ¨C when ¨C she got out of this situation. As the other urbexers dutifully handed over the items they¡¯d scavenged from the sewers, she blink-clicked open her menu and performed a search for claws. Quicker than it took to finish thinking, the menu popped up. Another thought, this time ¡°extended nails¡±, and she had a smaller menu. The BIOMASS cost was negligible at nought point one per cent for each claw, or one per cent BIOMASS in total. BIOMASS NOTIFICATION Keeping her face blank, merely blinking as the pain of having her fingers turn into diamond-sharp claws made it feel as though she¡¯d dipped her hands into acid, she shifted her weight, bringing her feet under her. Activating FREE RUNNING, DIRTY BOXING, UNARMED COMBAT, and SEWER COMBAT she plotted the fastest route towards him, using the other urbexers to fix his aim. The two hand-to-hand skills lit him up with target boxes. Combined, the DIRTY BOXING and UNARMED COMBAT skills gave her a roughly ten per cent critical hit average on two key areas. The first was the side of his neck, and the second was his diaphragm. He was six paces away from her, weapon now pointed roughly in the direction of the other urbexers as they dropped their items at his feet for him to look over. Risking a glance at his eyes, she saw that he wasn¡¯t even looking in her direction. Careless, then again, her passive SCAVENGER skill was picking up on certain items and the prices that were coming up on them were enough to take her attention for a second or two. One of the urbexers, limping, a large cut running down her thigh, tripped, staggering towards him for a couple of paces. As his head turned, his neck critical hit chance rose to twenty per cent. She didn¡¯t hesitate. Even as he was stepping back from the injured urbexer, mouth opening to curse her, Mai was sprinting towards him, using two other urbexers to shield her movement until the very last moment. Spinning around the last urbexer in line, the injured one still trying to recover, Mai drove her left hand in an angled stabbing motion to the base of the side of his neck. At the same time, her right hand punched up towards his diaphragm, which was showing a seven per cent critical hit. HIT! 10% DAMAGE BLEED! @4% HIT! 5% DAMAGE WINDED! Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings.STAGGERED! ¡°What ¡­¡± as the glyphs for his negative status effects popped into life above his head, the lone urbexer tried to raise his weapon. Ripping her right hand free from where it had sunk into his flesh, she palmed the weapon down. There was a blur from her right side, and a blade hacked into the side of his face. The energy weapon flashed, stars exploding in Mai¡¯s eyes, steam blasting from the floor as the coherent light flash-boiled the liquid on the floor. Screaming, the blade still lodged in his skull, the man turned to run, a PANIC! Glyph lighting up. Howling, the other urbexers surged forward, knocking Mai to one side before burying him under a torrent of blades, feet and hands. It was all over in seconds. KILL ASSIST! BOUNTY! 100 UC Mai stood perfectly still as the other urbexers turned to face her. She hadn¡¯t been able to get a proper count, but now she could see that there were eight of them. Not counting the couple still injured behind her. ¡°Easy now, I don¡¯t want any trouble,¡± she quickly absorbed her blood-covered claws before holding her hands out in a show of peace. No one spoke for a couple of seconds, the urbexers turning their heads to look at a surprisingly young-looking woman. Mai looked at her as well, tried to SASS her and got the same result as with the other urbexer. She tried again with the rest of the urbexers before her but was unable to view the details of two others. The rest were fine and she saw that they were only low level urbexers, barely started out. Explains the crappy armour, but not why I can¡¯t view those damned SASS. ¡°We don¡¯t want any trouble either,¡± the woman said. She can¡¯t have been more than nineteen years old, but her voice sounded far more mature. It had a strange lilt to it, possibly a six-miler¡¯s accent. ¡°Been watching you on the Culling. Impressive.¡± Mai gave an upward nod, happy to let the woman keep talking as she continued to scan through the SASS¡¯s of those she could read. ¡°How do we do this?¡± the woman asked. ¡°Do what?¡± it wasn¡¯t as if Mai couldn¡¯t answer. The other urbexers shifted slightly, bunching up less, bodies turning to minimise exposure. It was called Blading. Shifting one¡¯s body so that the smallest profile possible was presented to the enemy. She mirrored them, but kept her hands visible. All the same, she opened up her favourites menu and readied herself for a fight. ¡°Why did you help us? You¡¯re supposed to be Culling.¡± It was a fair question. ¡°I was indentured in the sewers before I joined the Culling,¡± Mai said, shrugging as she did so. ¡°I came back here after ¡­¡± She paused as a lump formed in her throat at the thought of what she¡¯d done to Johnny. What he¡¯d forced her to do to him. ¡°Yeah, that was shitty, sorry you went through that,¡± another one of the urbexers she couldn¡¯t SASS spoke up. He was ivory black, with silver nanotats running over every inch of his skin. He was one of the most beautiful people she¡¯d ever seen outside of the holomyths. ¡°Anyway,¡± lump gone, Mai acknowledged his sympathy with a sad smile, ¡°I came here to hole up. Heard that my friends were having trouble with all of the increased monster activity, and accepted a mission to help. And whilst I was doing so, a friend was taken by one of the biggest mogwai I¡¯ve ever seen.¡± ¡°So you¡¯re not scavenging?¡± The woman was clearly the leader of the group, and Mai could see she was regaining her composure now that the adrenalin of the battle was well and truly wearing off. ¡°No. I¡¯ve got to kill a nest of mogwai and get my friend back. And my friend is more important than killing some mogwai.¡± ¡°Things have gotten really bad down here since the Culling started,¡± said another urbexer. One she could SASS. ¡°But what¡¯s bad for the sewer workers is good for us.¡± ¡°Yeah, I can see,¡± Mai said, unable to keep the snark out of her voice. Mismatched, dirty, battered, and badly-kept armour really did give off an air of ¡®success¡¯. ¡°We¡¯re just starting out,¡± the black man replied. ¡°The Deadzone seemed like a good place to come and ¡­¡± ¡°Get rich quick?¡± Mai sighed. ¡°Yeah, and we were doing well until he showed up,¡± the man jerked a thumb over his shoulder to the body behind them. ¡°Thanks for helping,¡± the woman spoke up again. ¡°I¡¯m Kitty, he¡¯s Commander Root, and the quiet chap over there,¡± she pointed to a short, rotund man who looked so much like a happy Buddha it was startling, ¡°is Modiphius.¡± Both men gave a slight wave with their hands. Mai expected the woman to introduce the rest of her group, but she continued to speak. ¡°Mort, the guy you killed, claimed this was his area of the Deadzone. And when he hurt Jenny over there,¡± this time she pointed behind Mai to one of the injured still lying on the floor, ¡°it brought the Oni down on us.¡± ¡°The Oni, where did it come from?¡± Mai had only ever seen Oni in the holomyths before, and she knew that when she looked it up, it would be classified as a mythical creature. Just like the mogwai, jiangshi and ennui. ¡°Tunnel over there. We came out of the tunnel just behind you. Didn¡¯t see your friend. Sorry.¡± Mai shrugged, her quest guideline was still taking her directly up the tunnel they were in, but it was good to know where other threats were. ¡°Seen any more Oni?¡± ¡°Only small ones. We¡¯re on a hunt, just weren¡¯t expecting to come across one that big. It¡¯s way beyond our level!¡± Kitty said. Mai looked over at the dead spider-cum-scorpion-cum-demon. Activating SCAVENGER she gave a smile as the skill helped her price up the various body parts. ¡°I¡¯d say you¡¯re best off harvesting the stinger, that¡¯ll give you five hundred credits. And the poison in the glands will give you another two hundred. Each of the leg spikes is fifty to one hundred, and its teeth ¨C careful, they¡¯re poisonous ¨C are ten to fifteen. And there are far too many teeth for a mouth that size! Oh, and the armour is five credits per scale.¡± She turned back and laughed at the stunned look on the urbexer¡¯s faces. For people at their level, five hundred credits would go a long way. For a sewer worker, five hundred credits was fifty days¡¯ worth of back-breaking labour. At the minimum the urbexers had landed nearly two thousand credits. ¡°Head back down the way I came up, you¡¯ll get to Excretiaville. Ask for the Scavenger Queen, she¡¯s a crotchety old bint, but fair. Tell her I sent you, maybe that¡¯ll help.¡± Kitty gave a big smile, then ordered some of her people to get to work dismembering the Oni. ¡°We owe you, Mai, big time. You saved our lives, and our SCAVENGER skills weren¡¯t really showing much worth taking from the Oni. You ever need a favour, let us know.¡± Thanking her, Mai took one last look at the Oni, then left Kitty¡¯s urbexers to it. As she walked away, she tried to ignore the pit in her stomach. Things are way worse than I ever imagined, she thought, following it up with a prayer that she wouldn¡¯t be faced with any more Oni. Not that the gods have been listening. Book 2 - Rebel - Chapter 6 As soon as she was far enough away from the urbexers, Mai collapsed to the floor of the walkway. Adrenalin surged through her body, even though she was clear of any danger. For a good few seconds all she could do was try to bring her heart beat down, stop it from bursting out of her chest. Tears streamed down her cheeks as her mind played the last battle over again. The Ushi-oni had been truly terrible, and her stomach flipped at the thought that there might be even more of the creatures. Pulling a BIO-MASS BOOST bottle of her belt, she slowly drank, using the motion to calm her breathing and therefore slow her thunderous heart. It also helped get rid of the shakes which threatened to spill the boost. Feeling somewhat calmer, she opened up her menu and launched a search for Ushi-oni. It came back under the Category of ¡°Mythical Beasts of the Celestial City; Urban Legends & Seditious Lies.¡± As soon as she clicked on it, she received a warning. IF YOU PROCEED YOU WILL BE FINED 500 UC DO YOU WISH TO PROCEED? YES/NO ¡°Bloody bastards,¡± Mai muttered as she selected yes and accepted the fine. Inhabitants of the Lower Levels ¨C Those below Two-Mile Level One ¨C as well as workers in the sewers claim to have seen the legendary creatures, the Oni, and their sub-category of the Ushi-Oni. Ushi-Oni are mythical beasts, likened to demons from the folklore of our ancestors before the time of the Celestial Court and our Glorious Emperor. May they forever rule. There are many different descriptions of Ushi-oni, but the most common are those with the heads of bovine, canine or reptilian creatures. According to legend they are most commonly encountered in areas of the city which are poorly maintained, and full of dark areas. This is a lie, as all citizens know that such things do not happen under the rule of our Glorious Emperor. May they forever rule. Allegedly, these creatures are savages, utterly brutal to all they encounter. Apex predators, they will attempt to kill and then eat any they come across. Although the visage of their heads may differ, all variations have at least two horns, although yet more legends speak of Ushi-oni unicorns. Their mouths are lined with jagged teeth which can sever a grown human¡¯s thigh with a single bite. Poisonous sacs contain enough venom to kill a grown human many times over. That is if the sudden amputation of their limbs isn¡¯t enough to kill them on the spot. Beneath their belly is a curled tail, tipped with a poisonous barb which, depending on the size of the Ushi-oni, can be as long as a fully grown human is tall. This too contains venom, but also allows the demon to suck its victim¡¯s vital fluids directly out of its body. Ushi-oni are particularly fond of brains, and their initial strikes with the tail will always attempt to strike into the direct top of the head. The demons are protected by a layer of chitin, only adding to their overall arachnoid appearance, and they have six legs ending in a single bone-like claw. Whilst these creatures sound as though they are born from nightmares, it should be remembered that they are indeed mythical and no loyal and upstanding citizen should ever fear encountering them. Mai sniggered at that. Thus far every creature she had faced in the sewers had supposedly been legendary. Before she had been indentured she would never have believed that the Celestial Court and therefore the Emperor would ever lie to its citizens. But now? Now that she had been indentured and seen her friends killed by mogwai, jiangshi, and ennui. Now she had seen how it manipulated people in the Culling. Now she had a completely different set of beliefs. I¡¯ll never trust those bastards again, she thought. And then realised that by entering the Culling, she was going to become the thing she was beginning to truly hate. A member of the Celestial Court. One of the One Hundred Ascendants. The survivors of the Culling. This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings. ¡°Bastards,¡± she breathed, only just realising that previous Cullers were responsible for its continuation. For thousands of years, a million citizens had fought to the death for the honour of ascending and reaching the Tenth Mile. And once they had done, nothing had been done to prevent it happening the next year. Not that I know of anyway. Remembering that she had seen the Ushi-oni was a subset of Oni, she blink-clicked one level up in the menu. ¡°Fuck me!¡± She wasn¡¯t prepared for the creature that glared at her from her retinal monitor. Although the Ushi-oni was repulsive, and caused a visceral feeling of disgust, the Oni was something completely different. It was both the most attractive, and horrific thing she had ever seen. The two emotions warred with each other as she stared at the images. As before she was greeted with; Inhabitants of the Lower Levels ¨C Those below Two-Mile Level One ¨C as well as workers in the sewers claim to have seen the legendary creatures, the Oni, and their sub-category of the Ushi-Oni. Oni are the demon-parents of Ushi-oni, who are the runt spawn of their litters. Oni have large litters, up to ten kittens each. Only the hardiest survive however, with just one being allowed to continue to grow into the form that Oni take. Those that displease the parent, or fail to fight hard enough to suckle on its father¡¯s teats are cursed and cast aside, left to undergo the painful transition into that of an Ushi-oni. The successful ones grow into powerful creatures. Up to twice the size of a grown human, they are hulking creatures, with perfectly formed muscles giving them great strength. Legend has it that one Oni defeated ten mecha in a single battle. A ludicrous, but charming story. Humanoid in appearance, they too have one or two horns growing out of their heads, with the most powerful having three. Their skin is as white as snow, as red as blood, or as blue as the sky. Unlike the Ushi-oni, they have no sting, and use a devastating weapon called a kanabo. Essentially an iron club, the kanabo can reduce ¨C allegedly ¨C a mecha to nothing more than a heap of scrap with but a few blows. Two large fangs jut from the top set of teeth, and all of their teeth are just as sharp and poisonous as those found on Ushi-oni. For some reason, Oni shun clothing, wearing nothing but a pelt crafted from the skins of their victims in order to preserve their modesty. The males have ten breasts which are used to suckle their kittens, whilst the females have muscular upper bodies. It is said that they possess some power which causes their victims, no matter what their species, to be inexplicably attracted to them, whilst at the same time suffering from the PANIC! Negative effect. This essentially freezes the victim in place, making them easy pickings for this truly amazing predator. Mai closed the description down, scrubbing her sweaty palms on her hazmat suit. Surely the Scavenger Queen wouldn¡¯t have known what she was going to face when she gave her the mission to enter the sewers? Knowing the nature of what she faced helped in some way to calm her. Before, the Ushi-oni had been an unknown, a nightmare creature. But now that she knew Fat John was potentially a prisoner to one of these creatures, it made even more determined to get him back. What she couldn¡¯t understand was why the Oni and their demon-spawn children hadn¡¯t wiped out the mogwai. Unless the increased attacks by the mogwai are because the Oni are driving them out of their usual areas. And the mogwai are levelling up because only the strongest are surviving the Oni attacks? Her mother always used to say that forewarned was forearmed. And having fought an Ushi-oni she knew that her favourite weapons, the submachine gun, shotgun and blades were going to have zero effect on such creatures. Not even energy-based weapons had been that effective. ¡°I¡¯m going to have to blow the buggers up. Literally,¡± Mai grumbled as she opened up her weapons menu. Whilst the Culling training had seen them learn how to use a bewilderingly large number of weapons, they hadn¡¯t been taught to use heavy weapons. As such, she hadn¡¯t taken much notice of the options the LAUNCHERS menu gave, especially as she hadn¡¯t been granted the USE LAUNCHERS skill. She did have the USE EXPLOSIVES, but if she had to throw them then she was far too close for her liking. Blink-clicking on the LAUNCHERS menu, she rubbed her hands in glee at the options presented. One in particular caught her attention. AUTOMATIC GRENADE LAUNCHER. It wasn¡¯t cheap. Ten BIO-MASS just to create the weapon and five BIO-MASS to create each of the ten grenades the magazine held. Sixty BIOMASS for just one weapon was insanely expensive, but with just five well-placed shots she¡¯d be able to kill an Ushi-oni. And be able to do so from a respectable fifty paces. Adding it to her quick choice menu, Mai crafted two regular grenades whilst taking a sip of her nearly empty first bottle of BIO-MASS BOOST. Pushing herself to her feet, she started to follow the guideline once more. Heading deeper and deeper into the Deadzone. Book 2 - Rebel - Chapter 7 The further Mai entered into the Deadzone, the worse it got. Lights flickered on and off if they worked at all. Ceilings and walls sagged and bulged, with liquids either dripping or dribbling from holes. Rusted walkways made using them treacherous and Mai was forced to walk in the stream of effluent more than she would have liked. And there was that damned draft, just at the edge of being able to sense it. It was as if it was almost metaphorical. On top of that, she was sure that the drips of the liquid were louder than seemed natural, and there was some sort of humming tone right at the very end of the audible register which set her heart pounding, stomach twisting and making sweat pour from every pore in her body. It¡¯s as if I¡¯ve been INTIMIDATED without having the damned buffer! At this rate, a mouse could say boo and I¡¯d run screaming for the exit. Why on earth people would choose to enter such a place when they could still scavenge and hunt in other, better maintained parts of the sewers she had no idea. She also realised that she had no idea whether the Deadzone was on this, or spread across the sewers throughout the miles. Opening up her retinal map, she tried to see if any of the other sewers she¡¯d been in on other levels had been affected. Usually Sewer Companies only worked the sewers on their levels, but there would be exchanges of staff in order to keep up on the latest techniques as well as to build on the shared bond of being indentured and up to their necks in shit. Manipulating the map, she spun it around and drilled down through the levels she had been in. It was as if the sewers had a tumour. The deadzone was at least three miles deep, and a good ten miles wide. Absolutely huge. She saw with a pang of regret that Andries¡¯ place of death had been absorbed. Closing the map, she shook off any maudlin feelings and set off again. She had only gone a few paces when her passive SPOT HIDDEN led to her a pile of rubble. A boot, ragged, and with what looked like blood on one side. Moving towards it, she picked it up, and turned it over. PROPERTY OF FAT JOHN was clearly written in somewhat childish handwriting. Despite the fact that he could make clothing at will from either nanites or templates, Fat John always made it clear to all and sundry that he owned it. ¡°Gods I hope this doesn¡¯t mean the damned mogwai ate him and spat out the boot,¡± she whispered, placing the boot the right way up on the pile of rubble. Looking around she could see no other sign of clothing, nor of human remains. The guideline for his rescue continued to pulse and she chided herself for not considering that fact. ¡°Of course he¡¯s alive. If he wasn¡¯t, I¡¯d have failed the damned rescue mission.¡± Pressing on, she found the sewer growing more and more oppressive with each step. An animalistic urge to snarl and growl at the sewer surrounding her built up until she felt she was going to burst. ¡°Fucking place is alive,¡± she muttered, glad to hear her own voice as it went some way to drowning out the ambient sounds of the sewer tunnels. Another boot appeared after a few more minutes of walking, closely followed by some shreds of hazmat suit. Neither of the missions she had given an exact location as to where she needed to go, both guidelines ending at a circle many hundreds of paces in diameter. All she knew was that she had roughly one hundred paces until she reached the quest boundaries. After that, only the gods knew. Or the fucking demons, she thought as she glanced at the shadows. The lighting in this stretch of sewer had almost totally failed, and she¡¯d taken to moving between the patches of light in order to preserve her night vision. And I don¡¯t want to let any woman-eating creature get their teeth into me. There was the clatter of stone against stone followed by a dull splash slightly up ahead of her. Squinting in the poor light, she froze mid-stride as she tried to work out what might have caused it. The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement. A groan, human, pained, drifted down from up ahead and she bit her lip to stop from calling out to her friend. It¡¯s strange how you can tell someone¡¯s voice even if they don¡¯t speak. It was definitely Fat John, and from the sound of his voice he was right on the edge of the quest area. Her other quest, that of killing the creatures causing so much trouble, overlapped so that they slightly resembled a Venn diagram. Who¡¯d have thought I¡¯d have remembered something like that from school. Moving forward, she opened up her menu and quickly formed the grenade launcher. Whilst Fat John had been taken by Mogwai, there was nothing to say that he was still with them and hadn¡¯t been taken by Ushi-oni, or just plain Oni. BIO-MASS 40% Chittering, like the sound a cat makes when it sees its prey, sounded off just a few paces in a pool of darkness. Twitching, Mai very nearly loosed off a grenade. Sweat beaded on her forehead and she licked her lips as her breathing sped up. More chittering, this time to her one o¡¯clock. Mai formed a shield out of her spare hand, holding it before her. How the Hells I¡¯m going to defeat anything that comes at me from close range I don¡¯t know, she thought, cursing herself for not thinking that part through. She¡¯d been working off the thought that she could engage the enemy from a distance, then close to kill any that remained. Shield raised, she moved slowly, activating her STEALTH and LARCENY skills in order to minimise any sound. They also allowed her to map the best way to move through the patches of light and darkness, limiting her exposure to whatever might be lurking. Fat John groaned again, and there was an outbreak of chittering from roughly fifty paces ahead. Trying to keep her breathing as slow and quiet as possible, a Herculean task considering the adrenalin flowing through her body, Mai advanced, following the route indicators her skills gave her. ¡°Fuck off!¡± roared Fat John, startling her so much she was sure she let out a squeak of surprise. Fortunately, it appeared to have been drowned out by the sudden increase in chittering. Mai blink-clicked on her comms channel. Since she and Fat John had worked alongside each other, he was in her contacts list. ¡°John, it¡¯s Mai. I¡¯m here to get you. What am I up against?¡± ¡°Mai?¡± he gasped over the comms channel, voice so full of hope that it brought tears to her eyes. ¡°I¡¯m hanging from the ceiling. Above a nest of the damned things.¡± ¡°Oni?¡± She closed her eyes, mouthing a prayer to the Seven Martyrs that there were only baby Ushi-Onis. ¡°No, mogwai. I got snatched by a damned Brood Mother. Her hatchlings are beneath me. There¡¯s about four of them.¡± ¡°Where¡¯s the damned Brood Mother?¡± she froze as another stone tumbled down somewhere off to her left. It was then she realised that she¡¯d been so focused on what was happening in front of her that she hadn¡¯t noticed she¡¯d entered a chamber. ¡°She¡¯s to the East,¡± John said. Precisely where the last set of falling stones had come from. Not that a few falling stones meant anything in a place like this. The whole place felt as though it could come crashing down on her at any moment. ¡°Any idea how far away?¡± ¡°No, bitch comes and goes regularly. She keeps dropping bones around the nest. No idea what she¡¯s doing.¡± Mai had been creeping forward the whole time they were talking, sub-vocalising in order to prevent the hatchling mogwais from hearing her. She could just about see them now. And they were even more hideous than grown mogwai. For starters, their skin was a pale puss-green, shining from the ooze that they exuded. None of them resembled the other, and had any number of legs ranging from four to at least eight. Just trying to count them made her feel queasy. They were all up to a pace long, large even for the average mogwai she would have encountered before the Deadzone came into being. Now she just had to assume that they were of average size. She shuddered at the thought of them being fully grown. ¡°Let me know when you hear the Brood Mother coming,¡± she commed, edging forward once more. The hatchlings¡¯ attention was currently purely focussed on Fat John, who slowly spun as he hung from the ceiling. Fortunately, he was head up, which would make cutting him free easier from the whole ¡®don¡¯t drop your friend on his head¡¯ point of view. Shifting around the nest, she kept a close eye on her skills, making sure that they didn¡¯t go passive before she¡¯d finished planning her attack. No way I can just lob a grenade into the centre of the nest. All of those bones would shatter, the shards killing me, and John would be crisped by the explosion. There was nothing for it, she was going to have to close and kill them as silently as possible. And that meant no grenades. Book 2 - Rebel - Chapter 8 Plans made, she watched as her skills went passive. There was no way that she was going to take on a nest of hatchlings and their not-so-distant mother without every skill she had ready to go. Absorbing the grenade launcher, she ignored the flare of pain. ¡°John, I¡¯m going to have to wait until my skills have cooled down. Once they¡¯re back up, I¡¯m coming in with silenced SMGs. All guns blazing. When I do, I need you to keep an eye out for momma.¡± ¡°Yeah, got that,¡± he gasped. ¡°I¡¯m all out of BIO-MASS. Bitch really did a number on me when she first took me. Broke a stack of bones and tore a load of muscles. Took all the BIO-MASS I had to get some healing done. I¡¯m ¡­ I¡¯m still not in a good shape.¡± Her stomach dried at the pain in his voice, he¡¯d managed to mask it before, but now that rescue was in sight, his guard had come down. ¡°Let me worry about that,¡± she kept her tone calm, no hint of the worry she had for him. ¡°I¡¯ve got a nearly full bottle of BIO-MASS. As soon as these little buggers are dead, I¡¯ll cut you down, you can top up and then we¡¯ll run like crazy before momma gets back.¡± I hope she thought but didn¡¯t add. Fat John was an experienced mogwai fighter. He knew the score, and that there was little chance they would get away before the brood mother returned. No matter what, they were going to have a fight on their hands. It seemed as though time slowed whilst she waited for her skills to become ready again. Finally, they left cooldown, the countdown entering zero. By absorbing the grenade launcher and all of its ammunition, she¡¯d regained the BIO-MASS she¡¯d spent on it, so had plenty to make the twin SMGs. She wasn¡¯t planning on fighting these creatures hand-to-hand like she had before. Time was of the utmost essence, and a hail of bullets was the best way to turn the hatchlings into just so many piles of dead meat. A fair fight is where I get to walk away, she thought as she formed the SMGs, paying an additional two per cent BIO-MASS for the suppressors. They changed the balance of the weapons somewhat, and she knew that she would tire quite quickly if she was using them in a protracted battle, but since this was going to be ¨C hopefully ¨C quick and dirty, she wasn¡¯t too bothered. The SMGs cost three per cent each, four with the suppressors, and she went with two magazines of explosive ammunition. That cost six per magazine, bringing the total for the weapons to twenty per cent BIO-MASS. More than enough to kill these little shits, heal myself a little bit, and switch to the grenade launcher if I need to. She¡¯d chosen explosive rounds because of the horrendous damage they would do. Each one had a five per cent chance of a critical hit. On top of that they caused BLEED, STAGGERED, and SUPPRESSED. And, even though they were explosive, they weren¡¯t explosive in the way grenades were. Mass-reactive, the bullets entered the target and then detonated, the target¡¯s body mass reducing the sound of the explosion to little more than a sharp crack. If that. ¡°John, get ready,¡± she activated SEWER COMBAT, TUNNEL FIGHTER, and USE SMG. Target boxes appeared. With the hatchlings focussing solely upon Fat John as he dangled above them, she was offered much higher chances to hit, as well as much higher chances at a critical hit. Just in case, she added STEALTH to her active skills. Weapons raised, reticles pointed at the base of the skulls of two of the hatchlings she moved forward. Barely daring to breathe, she waited until she was no more than five paces away from the hideous creatures then fired. HEAD SHOT! INSTAKILL! MOGWAI BANE 25% BOUNTY 50UC! HEAD SHOT! INSTAKILL! MOGWAI BANE 30% BOUNTY! 50 UC! Her SMGs were whisper quiet, the explosive bullets making barely any noise as they detonated inside the hatchling¡¯s skulls. Bone and brain matter showered in all directions, their bodies dropping limply to the floor, dead before they knew it. Mai twisted, shifting aim as quickly as she could, trying to fire before the other hatchlings had the chance to realise they were under attack. She fired, aiming for the heart of one, and the head of another. HEAD SHOT! INSTAKILL! If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.MOGWAI BANE 35% BOUNTY! 50 UC! HIT! 50% BLEED! @10% PER SECOND PANIC! Glyphs sprung into life above the wounded hatchling as it let out a blood-curdling scream of agony. Even as Mai fired it seemed to grow louder, as if the echo was louder than the original scream. ¡°Oh shit,¡± whispered John¡¯s voice in her ear. ¡°Momma¡¯s coming back.¡± Mai abandoned all attempts at subtlety. Switching her SMGs to fully automatic she aimed at the remaining two hatchlings. Both were facing her, bellies low to the ground, maws opened wide. No matter that they were considered to be babies, they were still utterly terrifying to behold. One had eyes like those on a fly, only it had four sets. Tentacles writhed from its flanks, large tooth-filled suckers lining it. The other one, slightly nearer than its sibling, had a ridge of spikes along its spine, with partially-formed scales of thick armour growing down from its back. It too had more than the usual number of eyes. It seemed as though its whole skull was taken up with them. None of them blinked at the same time, but in rapid succession which utterly repulsed her. ¡°Two hundred paces! I can see the bitch!¡± John shouted, his voice nearly deafening her as he hadn¡¯t remembered to close the comms channel. It made her jump, throwing off her aim just as she fired. Bullets ploughed into both of the hatchlings, but instead of hitting the critical boxes she¡¯d been aiming at, they chewed into non-vital areas. Blood and flesh puffed out as the bullets exploded, the hatchlings screaming in agony, the one with the fly-like eyes even biting at where it had been injured. Mai cursed, but kept firing, adjusting her aim, using the explosive effect of the bullets to bore into the hatchlings before they had a chance to defend themselves. BLEED, STAGGERED, PANIC and SUPPRESSED glyphs appeared above their heads as their health bars rapidly went from green to black. Hit notifications, too many to account, filled her retinal monitor as she reduced the creatures to nothing more than steaming piles of meat. KILL! MOGWAI BANE 40% BOUNTY! 50 UC! KILL! MOGWAI BANE 45% BOUNTY! 50 UC! KILL! MOGWAI BANE 50% BOUNTY! 50 UC! That third kill was from the one she had wounded earlier, some of the bullets aimed at its siblings striking it, adding to the already disastrous amount of blood it was already losing. ¡°One hundred paces!¡± warned Fat John. Mai absorbed the now-empty SMGs, accepting the twelve per cent BIO-MASS loss. Forming a knife, she activated FREE RUNNING and charged at John, leaping and swiping at the fibrous mass holding him in the air. They both fell to the ground simultaneously. Him with a groan of pain, her on her feet in a hero pose. Pulling her BIO-MASS boost bottle from her belt she took enough swigs to get her back to one hundred per cent before forming the grenade launcher, grimacing at the now familiar pain. Another couple of swigs and she was back to one hundred per cent. ¡°Here,¡± she tossed the bottle to Fat John. ¡°Drink, heal, fight.¡± The Brood Mother screeched again. It was no more than thirty paces away. Mai activated her Use Grenade Launcher skill. She only had the base score of twenty per cent, but it was more than enough. Not as though I¡¯m trying to squeeze it through the eye of a needle, she thought as she laid the area of effect just in front of the mogwai. The grenades the launcher fired were much larger, heavier, and therefore slower than normal bullets, meaning that if she wanted to do the maximum amount of damage possible, she would have to aim at where the mogwai was going to be, and not where it was. The Brood Mother was huge. Not as big as the Ushi-Oni, but still much larger than she would have liked. Her mouth dried at the thought of having to face the creature in close-combat, even with Fat John by her side. Even as the thought of the Ushi-Oni flashed across her mind, she realised that the mogwai slightly resembled one. It too was spider-like, but instead of one head it had two canine-like heads. The screeches coming from its mouths were nothing like that of a dog however. More like sharp nails being dragged down a chalkboard. She fired three grenades in quick succession, each one slightly closer than the other, but with the areas of effect overlapping so that the mogwai would be hit. There was a slight pause as they flew towards their target, then a ripple of explosions. HIT! 30% HIT! 25% HIT! 20% BLEED! SUPPRESSED! INTIMIDATED! CRIPPLED! One of the mogwai¡¯s legs had been reduced to nothing more than strings of flesh and sinew. Still galloping towards them, the mogwai tried to place its weight down on the shattered limb. With a howl of pain it lost its balance, crashing into the ground, its momentum causing it to continue sliding towards them. ¡°My turn,¡± Fat John laid a hand on Mai¡¯s grenade launcher barrel. Stepping forward, he guided her behind him as the creature continued to slide towards them so quickly Mai thought it would just plough through if they didn¡¯t move. A glow appeared around his hands. Then, when the mogwai couldn¡¯t have been more than five paces from them, Fat John stamped forward with a great shout. A blast of energy shot from him and the mogwai ceased to exist, the force of his attack blasting it into a shower of gore and red mist. Silence filled the sewer, broken only by the sound of their breathing and, Mai was sure, the hammering of her heart. ¡°I think it¡¯s time we got out of there. Don¡¯t you agree?¡± Fat John took a stunned Mai by the arm and gently guided her away from the battle. Book 2 - Rebel - Chapter 9 It was only as she led Fat John away that she realised she¡¯d only completed one quest. That of rescuing Fat John. The other one, to rid the tunnels of Mogwai, was still active. She paused, looking at the quest area. ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡± asked Fat John in a low murmur. Whispers tended to carry further due to the sibilant ¡®ess¡¯ sound. Lower-pitched voices, such as those of men, when murmured were perfectly audible close up, but less so further out. ¡°The quests I had were to rescue you, and to rid this area of Mogwai,¡± she murmured back, leaning close into his ear. She felt him shrug. ¡°And the quest isn¡¯t complete. But what¡¯s got me really worried is that the quest area is moving with us.¡± There was a pause of a few seconds, in which Mai could only hear her heartbeat. Fat John lowered himself as he turned to look back in the direction from which they¡¯d come. ¡°Get down,¡± he tugged on her trouser leg as he spoke. ¡°The lights behind us silhouette us too much.¡± Mai dropped instantly, placing a hand in the muck to steady herself. ¡°See anything?¡± ¡°No,¡± he placed his hand on her shoulder. ¡°But that doesn¡¯t mean anything. What¡¯s the quest area doing now?¡± Mai opened up her map, and shared it with him. Both cursed as they saw that the circle was still moving, albeit slowly, to cover them. ¡°What the Hells is happening?¡± Mai looked over at Fat John, trying to read the plethora of emotions that washed over his face in the dim light of the sewer. ¡°We¡¯re being followed is what¡¯s happening,¡± he scrubbed a hand over his face. It was surprisingly clean. She made a mental note to work out how he did that, as there wasn¡¯t a chance in the Three Burning Hells that she¡¯d touch her face right now. ¡°There are mogwai out there and they¡¯re hunting us.¡± ¡°Hunting us? We just killed a brood mother! They should be shitting themselves at the thought of facing us!¡± Her voice rose as she spoke, and he snapped a warning at her. ¡°Sorry.¡± ¡°We have a choice, try to make it out of the Deadzone before they get to us, or stand here and fight.¡± Mai didn¡¯t hesitate. She hated the Deadzone with a passion. The constant not-wind, the drip-drip-dripping, the lights flashing on and off were all ramping up her anxiety. She hadn¡¯t stopped sweating since entering them, and it wasn¡¯t due to exertion. ¡°Fuck it, let¡¯s get out of here. If we head this way we should come across some urbexers I helped out. Let¡¯s hope they return the favour.¡± Fat John didn¡¯t wait for her to finish. He was up and running before she knew it, leaving her open-mouthed. ¡°Bastard,¡± she chuckled, surprised at just how fast the old man was moving. Activating her FREE RUNNING she was up and after him as quickly as possible. In no time at all she was past him, her FREE RUNNING showing her the best route to take even in the dark. Chittering followed her, as well as a low bass moan which seemed to swell the longer it went on. ¡°Oh Sweet Emperor!¡± wailed Fat John, who was now a few paces behind her. ¡°They¡¯ve got a Mogwai Patriarch!¡± Things just keep getting better and better! Mai thought. Even as she ran she opened up a menu and performed a quick search. She instantly regretted it. Whilst she¡¯d thought that an Ushi-oni was bad enough, and that the Brood Mother had most certainly left things to be desired in the looks department, the Mogwai Patriarch was utterly abhorrent. It was the very spirit of a living nightmare. Unlike most mogwai she¡¯d seen, it had four insect-like legs jutting out of the side of its body, which most closely resembled a lizard. Instead of a head however, it had a humanoid torso with a baby¡¯s head. Five pendulous breasts hung down the centre of its slime-coated-yet-furry torso, and the eyes of the baby were at least ten times too large. As was its mouth which stretched from ear-to-ear and was filled with needle-like teeth. As with the Ushi-oni, a scorpion¡¯s tail curled out of the creature¡¯s hindquarters, but whereas you would normally expect a stinger, there was another baby¡¯s head with yet another needle-filled mouth and a single barbed horn dripping with poison jutting from its forehead. All of those details filled her mind''s eye in the time it would have taken her to blink. Which she did, furiously as tears sprung from her eyes. ¡°How the Five Hells of Pleasurable Torment did that ever come into being?¡± She yelled, closing the image as quickly as she could. She knew that she would never forget that sight, no matter how many lifetimes she had to do so. ¡°Left here!¡± She bounced off the wall as she turned into the tunnel, grunting as her body met the unyielding plasticrete. John went skidding past the entrance with a surprised yelp, unable to stop due to the waste. If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it. Mai slowed, not wanting to leave Fat John behind even though every fibre in her body was screaming at her to just keep running. In what seemed like an age, but was only a few seconds, Fat John appeared in the entrance. ¡°Go! What are you waiting for!¡± he yelled, sprinting past her, arms pumping as hard as they could. That¡¯s the second bloody time he¡¯s left me standing! A howl echoed down the tunnel they¡¯d just exited. Needing no further prompting she was off after him, maxing out the effectiveness of her still active FREE RUNNING. It was nearing cool down however, so she plotted the route as far ahead as possible, trying to commit it to memory before the skill went passive. Light shone towards them, more than one hundred paces away, and Mai breathed a sigh of relief. ¡°Is that them?¡± Fat John yelled over his shoulder. ¡°Are those the urbexers you helped?¡± ¡°How the fuck am I supposed to know that! They¡¯re over one hundred paces away!¡± Another roar, and more chittering, seeming much closer than before. Her shoulder blades twitched as though someone was running their finger down her backbone. Mai arched, the feeling was so strong. ¡°Bollocks to this!¡± Still running she opened up her menu, selected bouncing betties and formed two as quickly as she could, throwing them down behind her as soon as they were in her hands. BIO-MASS ¨C 90% Ten per cent BIO-MASS was a price she was willing to pay at that moment. She could have sworn she could hear claws scraping at the plasticrete of the walls behind her. Light flashed into existence, throwing her shadow dozens of paces in front of her before a wave of heat slammed into her back and she found herself flying headfirst. With the last second of her FREE RUNNING activation she tucked into a roll, coming smoothly back to her feet. INSTAKILL! BOUNTY! 50 UC! INSTAKILL! BOUNTY! 50 UC! MOGWAI BANE ¨C 60% Ears ringing she pushed herself back into a run, only now realising just how hard her lungs were straining for breath. More torches sprang into life ahead of them, only seventy or so paces away. Fat John started shouting, but just as she thought she could understand what he was saying, there was another blast. This time her FREE RUNNING was in cool down. Caught unawares, despite having laid the mine, she was blasted into the sludge at her feet, sliding Emperor-knew how many paces on her front. INSTAKILL! BOUNTY! 50 UC! INSTAKILL! BOUNTY! 50 UC! INSTAKILL! BOUNTY! 50 UC! INSTAKILL! BOUNTY! 50 UC! MOGWAI BANE ¨C 80% HIT! 30% BLEED @10% PER SECOND HIT! 23% BLEED @3% PER SECOND HIT! 37% BLEED @10% PER SECOND CRITICAL HIT! 47% CRIPPLED! PANIC! BLEED @14% PER SECOND Groaning, legs shaking, chest heaving as she tried to suck in air, Mai pushed herself back to her feet. Not daring to look behind her, she set off running once more. Not running, need to run, she tried to push her flagging body to greater extremes, but all she could manage was a shambling jog which didn¡¯t seem much quicker than a walk. ¡°Mai! Bloody run girl!¡± Looking up, she tried to see where Fat John was, but the torches of the urbexers were now much closer. DAZZLED! Yet another redundant notification informed her of what she already knew. Multiple beams of light shone into her face, removing any hope she had of being able to see in the dimly-lit sewer. Giving up on trying to see where she was going, Mai crafted another two mines as she ran, lobbing them over her shoulder. ¡°Mines! Watch out!¡± she screamed at the nearest torch holders who appeared to be no more than a few paces away from her. Straightening her arms out by her side, she aimed for where she thought was a gap between them and threw herself forward. Whatever felt as though it was snapping at her heels ran into the bouncing betties¡¯ sensors, detonating them millionths of a second later. Mai crashed into the two torch bearers, piling them into the ground as heat washed over them. INSTAKILL! BOUNTY! 50 UC! INSTAKILL! BOUNTY! 50 UC! INSTAKILL! BOUNTY! 50 UC! INSTAKILL! BOUNTY! 50 UC! NEW TITLE ¨C MOGWAI BANE! NEW SKILL ¨C SONIC BOOM! HIT! 23% BLEED @1% STUNNED STAGGERED CRITICAL HIT! 65% BLEED @25% PER SECOND HIT! 5% BLEED @5% PER SECOND HIT! 10% BLEED @4% STAGGERED STUNNED UNLOCKED ¨C DELVER¡¯S SHIELD ARMOUR! YOU KILLED TEN OPPONENTS WITH MINES IN UNDER ONE MINUTE The creatures must have been clustered incredibly close for her mines to have killed or injured so many, and she tried not to think about just how many were actually still coming towards her. Snarling, Mai turned to face her pursuers, ignoring the squeals of the urbexers as she used their bodies to push herself back up. A veritable wall of mogwai charged towards her, claws, tongues and stingers extended, howling now that they were within a hair''s breadth of avenging the Brood Mother. ¡°Fucking bring it!¡± Book 2 - Rebel - Chapter 10 As the mogwai continued to close the distance at an eye-wateringly fast pace, Mai somewhat regretted her hubris. She¡¯d never seen so many different body types on mogwais before. ¡°Andries would have loved this,¡± she muttered to Fat John, giving him a sideways glance to make sure he was still with her. Considering how quickly he¡¯d moved just minutes before, she wanted to make sure she wasn¡¯t making a desperate last stand on her own. ¡°Too damned right. Always one for skilling up whilst helping out the sewer companies,¡± Fat John even managed a chuckle as the distance between them and their enemies closed. ¡°What the Hells have you done!¡± It was the leader of the urbexers, she stood white-knuckled to Mai¡¯s left. The rest of her party were spread out in a line to the left, looking just as nervous as Mai was starting to feel. The mogwai she¡¯d killed with the mines had been either an advance party, or the fastest runners, which was why there was such a distance between them and the rest of the horde. Howls filled the sewers as dozens of paces dwindled to a mere handful. Mai roared back, unable to control the urge, giving voice to her fear and rage. These creatures had taken her first true friend. The one person she¡¯d been able to trust entirely with her life. With a thought she formed a shield on her left arm, choosing one with vicious spikes more for the look than anything else. Her right arm changed into a shotgun. BIOMASS ¨C 80% Ten per cent for a shield and a shotgun filled with DRAGON¡¯S BREATH rounds was a price she was more than willing to pay. She added the pain of forming the weapons out of her own body to her roaring challenge. The mogwai were so close that she could see gloopy, poisonous saliva dripping from their finger- sometimes even hand-length fangs. Bracing her shoulder into her shield, she slid her right foot behind and slightly to the outside of herself, raised the shotgun, activated her skills and fired in one smooth motion. INSTAKILL! BOUNTY! 50 UC! MOGWAI TITLE HERE Her shell took the mogwai straight down the throat, flames leaping out of its eye sockets as the body tumbled to the floor bare paces away from her, sliding to a stop as flames and smoke started to pour out of the length of its corpse. Not that she paid it any attention, as soon as the notification had popped up on her retinal monitor she was shifting aim. One of its brood tripped on the corpse, giving itself a STAGGERED glyph. With USE SHOTGUN, TUNNEL FIGHTER and SEWER COMBAT active, she had any number of hit and critical hit boxes to aim for. A mere twitch of the barrel, a thought, and the DRAGON¡¯S BREATH shell bathed it in fire. CRITICAL HIT! 50% BURNING @25% PER SECOND PANIC! Squealing, her target started thrashing about in its death throes, its attempt to hold onto life for a few precious seconds only serving to hamper its brethren. Flames sprang up on mogwai to its flanks and her retinal monitor filled with notifications. BURNING! @5% PER SECOND PANIC! BURNING @3% PER SECOND PANIC! She ignored them, switching her aim towards a red and white striped mogwai. It had two normal arms, and a third which sprouted somewhere from its back. Much longer, the three-clawed hand at the end of arm was just reaching for Fat John when she fired. CRITICAL HIT! 45% BURNING @15% PER SECOND PANIC! ¡°Hel..!¡± Fat John was blasted off his feet by the screeching mogwai. Mai started to turn, an instinctive action, and one she regretted an instant later. SOAK! 95% DAMAGE! 1% HIT! 5% BLEED@1% PER SECOND She¡¯d never been hit with a sledgehammer, thankfully, but was pretty certain she knew what it felt like as she was buried under one of the worst-smelling creatures she¡¯d ever had the displeasure of fighting. This book''s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience. Its smell filled her nostrils, a mixture of rotten flesh, excrement and something sweet that she couldn¡¯t quite put her mind on. Not that she was trying to work out what it smelt like, but the smell was so pervasive it dominated. It was as if it was an attack all by itself. Shotgun arm trapped under one of the creature¡¯s many legs, shield pressing down on her, Mai felt utterly helpless as her chest started to compress under the creature¡¯s weight. With each breath she found herself unable to fill her lungs properly less and less. ¡°Help!¡± she managed to gasp, voice muffled by the folds of saggy skin threatening to suffocate her. KILL! BOUNTY! 50UC MOGWAI TITLE HERE Ribs creaking, she tried to push her shield up arm. Even a fraction of a finger¡¯s width would allow her to draw a full breath. It was made all the harder by the mogwai on top of her as it tried to pull itself from the shield¡¯s barbed spikes. HIT! 2% BLEED @1% PER SECOND HIT! 3% BLEED @1% PER SECOND DAMAGE! 2% CRUSH! The mogwai was now bleeding at three per cent per second. Her shield had done ten per cent damage. With ninety per cent of the mogwai¡¯s health remaining, she didn¡¯t have thirty seconds in her. ¡°Gah!¡± she pushed with all of her might, losing precious oxygen as she screamed with the effort. For a moment of time too small to measure she gained breathing space. Literal breathing space. Strength gone, she lost the battle and the mogwai crashed back down onto her. DAMAGE! 5% CRUSH! Something deep inside her popped. It didn¡¯t hurt, but it felt inherently wrong, wet even. Gods! I¡¯ve got to get out from under this damned thing! Changing the shotgun to another weapon wouldn¡¯t work as no matter which one she chose her arm would still be pinned, and the barrel would still be pointing in the wrong direction. Even if she chose a bladed weapon she wouldn¡¯t be able to use that. For a brief moment she considered creating an explosive charge, going out with a bang. As her breath was slowly driven out of her body the idea of taking her killer with her had some appeal. But if I die, I¡¯ll never get home to Li! And she¡¯d promised herself and her sister that she would live. That, and she¡¯d never get to tell the Celestial Court to go fuck itself. HIT! 1% BLEED @2% PER SECOND HIT! 2% BLEED @2% PER SECOND Every time the mogwai tried to free itself from her barbed shield, it forced her ribs closer to her back bone. Stars burst into life before her eyes as her tortured lungs desperately cried out for air. PANIC! Another needless notification. She could feel the fear flooding through her body. I¡¯ve got to get away! It was only natural that she wanted to flee the awful fate awaiting her, but the negative effect of PANIC! Only served to make that fear many times more powerful. And with it, came renewed strength. Barely a whisper of air escaped her mouth as she twisted, bucked and pushed with every fibre of her being. A gap opened and she took a whooping, wheezing, lungful of air. A moment of clarity, her oxygen starved brain finally able to operate properly, even if for only a split second. DIRTY BOXING and UNARMED COMBAT activated before she even realised she¡¯d thought of it. Bucking her left hip, whilst dipping her right shoulder she was able to dislodge the mogwai. Pain filled her shotgun arm as bone grated on bone, and then it was free. Bending her arm she jammed the barrel into the mogwai¡¯s side and fired. CRITICAL HIT! 76% BURNING! @30% PER SECOND PANIC! KILL! BOUNTY! 50UC The notifications came too quickly for her still starved brain to parse. As the PANIC! notification popped up, the mogwai twisted itself off of her battered body, its squeal of pain ear-piercing. ¡°Want a hand?¡± Shaking her head to clear it of the fugue being slowly crushed to death had caused, Mai looked up at Fat John. Patches of skin hung from his face, whilst wisps of smoke rose from what remained of his hair. Grasping hold of the hand he offered her, she allowed herself to be hauled to her feet. ¡°Thanks for that, where the fuck were you!¡± she snarled, raising her shotgun to blast at another mogwai. Still unable to see clearly, she missed, the roaring fire burning itself out after only a few paces. ¡°Burning, clearly,¡± he snapped, and she winced. A quick glance at her retinal monitor clock showed that mere seconds had passed whilst she was under the mogwai. Mere seconds which had felt like a lifetime to her. Battle raged all around her. With Mai and Fat John taken out of the line, it had collapsed, the urbexers folding in upon themselves, forming a tight circle. As it stood, she and Fat John were technically behind enemy lines as the Brood tried to swamp the low-level humans. ¡°Ready to get back at it?¡± Mai surprised herself by grinning at Fat John as she spoke. No matter how close to death she had been, she was alive, and she was with a man she liked and respected. ¡°Just try and fucking stop me.¡± Book 2 - Rebel - Chapter 11 Despite her brave words, Mai was shaking like a new-born lamb. She couldn¡¯t remember the last time she¡¯d had a proper meal, sleep, or not felt as though the whole world was watching and waiting for her to die. Which they fucking are, she thought with a snarl as she surveyed the battle before them. Somehow, against all odds, the low-level urbexers were holding out against the mogwai horde. None of them were uninjured, and negative effect glyphs hung over their heads. ¡°No panicking, some intimidation, a little bleeding,¡¯ Fat John helpfully pointed to the affected urbexers. As with any fight she¡¯d found herself in, all of the urbexers had multiple glyphs hanging over them. Some, such as the POISON and BLEED were going to see their bearers dead in a few seconds. More howls and screams sounded from the direction of the brood¡¯s nest causing the attacking mogwai to pause for a brief second and reply. That was when Mai struck, blasting with her shotgun she sent a sheet of fire spraying through the air to land on the unaware mogwai before her. Fat John had formed his own shotgun and added his fire to hers, literally. HIT! 26% BURN @3% PER SECOND HIT! 33% BURN @4% PER SECOND HIT! 21% BURN @6% PER SECOND HIT! 22% BURN @1% PER SECOND HIT! 32% BURN @8% PER SECOND HIT! 29% BURN @4% PER SECOND Thrashing in agony her targets lashed out at their brood-kin, desperately trying to fight back against the pain, only adding to the confusion as the fire spread to their siblings. As soon as Mai saw her shots had caused a mogwai to catch alight she shifted her aim, not bothering to waste ammunition ¨C and precious BIO-MASS ¨C on already wounded opponents. ¡®Don¡¯t kill them!¡¯ she shouted to Fat John. ¡®Wear them down, get them to less than seventy-five per cent health, then we¡¯ll take them all at once!¡¯ She didn¡¯t wait for him to acknowledge, but moved off to the left continuing to fire with each step. KILL ASSIST! BOUNTY! 50 UC! MOGWAI TITLE X% The urbexers were too far away to have heard what she said to Fat John and over the sound of the monsters before them, and the approaching second wave, there wasn¡¯t a chance she could let them know what her plan was. No matter. If they managed to kill any mogwai it didn¡¯t negate her plan, and she had a feeling that she¡¯d be using SONIC BOOM more than once in this battle. HIT! 24% BURN @ 3% PER SECOND HIT! 34% BURN @ 4% PER SECOND HIT! 19% BURN @ 6% PER SECOND HIT! 17% BURN @ 1% PER SECOND HIT! 39% BURN @ 8% PER SECOND HIT! 26% BURN @ 4% PER SECOND KILL ASSIST! BOUNTY! 50 UC! KILL ASSIST! BOUNTY! 50 UC! Looking over, she saw that Fat John was nearly back to her, both of them close to completing a full circuit of the ring of mogwai. It was utter chaos, PANIC glyphs appearing over the engulfed creatures. Almost as if they were one organism the brood surged towards the urbexers, the whole circle contracting as the flaming beasts lunged towards the battered explorers and then, as the PANIC took effect, the circle broke, the disgusting creatures turning tail. Right towards Mai and Fat John. ¡®It¡¯s hard to see, what with the flames, but there¡¯s a red outline around the ones you can attack with SONIC BOOM!¡¯ Yelled her former boss. ¡®Ladies first!¡¯ Mai smiled, baring her teeth as she blink-clicked on a flashing icon in her retinal monitor. It resembled an open mouth, with what appeared to be three arcs expanding from it. Immediately her mouth opened and she sucked in more air than she ever had before. It felt as though her lungs would explode. And yet more air entered them. It took only a split second, and then the attack forced the air out in one explosive split second KILL! BOUNTY! 50UC KILL! BOUNTY! 50UC KILL! BOUNTY! 50UC KILL! BOUNTY! 50UC KILL! BOUNTY! 50UC KILL! BOUNTY! 50UC KILL! BOUNTY! 50UC KILL! BOUNTY! 50UC KILL! BOUNTY! 50UC KILL! BOUNTY! 50UC KILL! BOUNTY! 50UC KILL! BOUNTY! 50UC KILL! BOUNTY! 50UC KILL! BOUNTY! 50UC KILL! BOUNTY! 50UC KILL! BOUNTY! 50UC KILL! BOUNTY! 50UC KILL! BOUNTY! 50UC KILL! If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it.BOUNTY! 50UC KILL! BOUNTY! 50UC KILL! BOUNTY! 50UC KILL! BOUNTY! 50UC KILL! BOUNTY! 50UC KILL! BOUNTY! 50UC KILL! BOUNTY! 50UC KILL! BOUNTY! 50UC NEW TITLE! WHAT A BANKER! YOU HAVE COLLECTED TEN BOUNTIES IN UNDER ONE MINUTE! She heard nothing beyond the sound of the air leaving her lungs. It was as if she was breathing on ice to melt it. And that was precisely what happened to the creatures before her. In an instant the flames wreathing them were snuffed out. But the effect upon the creatures was utterly horrific. They were flensed. Flesh and tendons were bared for a split second before being stripped from the creatures¡¯ skeletons. Bones shattered, veins spilled their contents in a mist which coated the unfortunate urbexers. ¡°Fuck. Me.¡± Mai had seen the effect of SONIC BOOM before, but to actually have such an attack at her beck and call was a totally different matter. She felt like a god. Arms outstretched she gave a roar of exultation. And was knocked flying. ¡°Gods, Mai! Pay attention. You haven¡¯t got them all!¡± Fortunately, the mogwai which had ended her premature celebration didn¡¯t stay to rip her throat out, but just bounded off down the sewer, screeching in pain. ¡°Only those under seventy five per cent!¡± Fat John had reverted back to his double-bladed Fat Cutter, the blades glowing as they cut through the few remaining mogwai. So wounded were they by the flames and damage done by the urbexers, that it took little effort to finish them. Cursing, Mai pushed herself up out of the excrement, working her arm where it had taken both the brunt of the impact and the landing. Standing to one side, she was happy to let the urbexers assist Fat John in killing the stragglers. What really worried her was the approaching second wave. The acoustics of the sewer tunnels had made them sound as though they were closer than they truly were, but they were still closing, and their screeching had taken on a more determined, angrier tone. ¡°Damn, damn, damn,¡± she crafted mines, wincing as they were formed from her flesh. Throwing them as far as she could from herself and the urbexers, she created a rough semi-circle before throwing a couple more closer. BIO-MASS ¨C 40% Eight mines, five per cent each, a whole forty per cent of BIO-MASS to create them. ¡°How are you people holding up?¡± she looked over at the urbexers. Most of them had been fully healed, or as close as possible, but their armour was battered and they looked utterly exhausted. ¡°We¡¯ll do, but we¡¯ve lost Christi and Ewan,¡± Kitty stepped forward, pointing to a couple of bodies lying where the urbexers had formed for their last stand. ¡°Then we run,¡± Mai pointed off into the distance at the now visible mogwai as they surged towards the party. Not waiting for a response she was off, snatching at Fat John¡¯s arm to pull him along with her. It felt as though she¡¯d spent her life running. Each step was torture. Calf muscles stiff, feet aching, thighs feeling as though they were made of wood, she felt as though her body was fighting air. Chest tight, she tried to suck in air but could never seem to get enough. Screeches and screams chasing her down the tunnel she tried to keep up with the others. Any moment now, she thought, arms pumping, heart pounding, no breath seeming to be large enough to fuel her body. Damned acoustics! And then there was a flash of light so bright it threw their shadows before them for a split second. Close on its heels was a rolling peel of thunder as the other mines detonated. INSTAKILL! BOUNTY! 50UC INSTAKILL! BOUNTY! 50UC INSTAKILL! BOUNTY! 50UC INSTAKILL! BOUNTY! 50UC INSTAKILL! BOUNTY! 50UC INSTAKILL! BOUNTY! 50UC INSTAKILL! BOUNTY! 50UC INSTAKILL! BOUNTY! 50UC INSTAKILL! BOUNTY! 50UC INSTAKILL! BOUNTY! 50UC INSTAKILL! BOUNTY! 50UC INSTAKILL! BOUNTY!50UC HIT! 76% BLEED @10% PER SECOND HIT! 77% BLEED @3% PER SECOND PANIC! HIT! 80% BLEED @10% PER SECOND CRITICAL HIT! 87% CRIPPLED! PANIC! BLEED @14% PER SECOND HIT! 77% BLEED @11% PER SECOND HIT! 76% BLEED @13% PER SECOND PANIC! HIT! 80% BLEED @11% PER SECOND Mai spun to face the mogwai. No longer was there a tide of bodies flowing through the excrement to tear her and her friends apart. Instead there were heaps of smoking flesh and creatures screaming in agony or licking at horrific wounds in their flesh. Without an iota of mercy she selected SONIC BOOM and unleashed it. It was as if she poured all her anger, fear and hatred into the attack, stamping forward and pushing with her hands as if that would add force to her attack. KILL! BOUNTY! 50UC KILL! BOUNTY! 50UC KILL! BOUNTY! 50UC KILL! BOUNTY! 50UC KILL! BOUNTY! 50UC KILL! BOUNTY! 50UC Silence. Only the painting of the humans with her broke it. It was as if she¡¯d been living with the sounds of mogwai her entire life and now that her pursuers were utterly destroyed, in some cases totally removed from the face of the planet, there was a void. ¡°Remind me to never get on the wrong side of you,¡± Kitty said, laying a hand on her shoulder and giving it a gentle rock. ¡°You are utterly bad ass!¡± Mai bent over and threw up over her own boots, somewhat spoiling the moment. Straightening, she looked over at the urbexers. ¡°Want some more items?¡± She looked over at Fat John. ¡°Even splits okay with you?¡± ¡°More than,¡± he smiled, looking far older than his years. ¡°Waste not, want not.¡± Book 2 - Rebel - Chapter 12 Mai sighed as she leaned back in her chair. Belly full, numerous empty bowls and plates laid out before her, she closed her eyes for a moment, allowing the warmth of the room and the food in her stomach to wash over her. It felt good to be sitting, to have a full stomach, and to feel safe. By the time they¡¯d got back to Excretiaville it had been what passed for night time and Fat John had told her that the Scavenger Queen would most certainly not be happy if she was woken at four in the morning. Mai was more than happy to have a break. She was surprised to find that she¡¯d missed the company barracks. It was full of workers who were happy to be with each other, and who weren¡¯t trying to kill each other. Billy had been ecstatic to see his boss return, the mission reward popping up on her retinal monitor as soon as they¡¯d stepped through the doors. As a result, her SEWER COMBAT skill had been given a ten per cent bonus. ¡°What do you think you¡¯re going to spend your credits on?¡± she asked Fat John. Empty bowls lay before him as well. He¡¯d been more than happy to buy her a meal, and had even offered her a room, something she¡¯d been more than happy to accept under the conditions of the Culling. ¡°There¡¯s a fat cutter template I¡¯ve had my eye on, maybe get some better suits so that I can SOAK more damage fighting those damned creatures,¡± he picked up a spare spring roll and dipped it into sweet and sour sauce before popping it into his mouth. His talk of suits jogged a vague memory. Opening up her menu, she scrolled down to suits. And there it was. DELVER¡¯S SHIELD. A suit that Andries had used. One which she¡¯d had to kill ten opponents with mines in under a minute to get. At the time she¡¯d thought it was highly unlikely that she¡¯d ever be able to achieve such a thing. Turned out all she needed to do was face down a horde of Mogwai filled with blind hate and a desire to rend her limb from limb whilst flensing the flesh from her bones. It was also fortunate that it was a PASSIVELY tracked title and one which she hadn¡¯t had to try and plan out. The thought of cold-bloodedly luring a mogwai into a hopefully cunning and deadly string of mines sent such a chill down her spine that she physically shuddered. Once again she felt a pang of grief at losing Andries. Mai had accepted that she would never truly get over his death for as long as she lived. She shook off her maudlin thoughts and turned her attention back to the conversation and her still-living good friend. ¡°Not going to buy yourself some time off? Pay off some of your debt?¡± she couldn¡¯t quite believe it as he shook his head. ¡°Why would I do that?¡± He shrugged expansively, hands out, palms up. ¡°My family came down here with me. And by family, I don¡¯t mean wife and kids. I mean my whole family. We¡¯re all down here. We¡¯ve all made a life for ourselves.¡± Mai nodded, she could understand that. ¡°I thought I¡¯d be able to work my way free down here. Might have been able to if Andries was still alive and we¡¯d been able to work on hunting down mogwai, doing some scavenging and working the bergs.¡± ¡°You¡¯ve got a little sister up there haven¡¯t you?¡± It wasn¡¯t really a question, she¡¯d talked about her sister incessantly in the first few weeks of working in the sewers. To the point that she was certain a couple of her fellow workers were beginning to strongly dislike her. ¡°Li?¡± ¡°Li,¡± she nodded, ¡°Emperor knows how she¡¯s doing on her own.¡± Fat John laid a warm and slightly sticky hand over hers. ¡°I¡¯m sure she¡¯s fine. And we fully understand why you left for the Culling.¡± A lump appeared in her throat as she saw the understanding, sympathy and love in his eyes. ¡°We all miss Andries, in fact he¡¯s even got a small shrine of his own back there,¡± he tilted his head towards the back of the canteen. ¡°We place those chocolate and marshmallow cakes he likes there, and ask for his blessing.¡± ¡°Have things really got that bad?¡± She blinked suddenly misty eyes as she looked over and saw the small shrine they¡¯d created. ¡°Worse than you might think. Granted, the bounties for the mogwai help, but the more mogwai we kill, the less work we get to do on the bergs. We have three full companies just dealing with mogwai, the rest are having to pick up the slack.¡± She felt pain in her palms. Looking at them, she saw how tightly clenched her fists were. White knuckles, fingernails digging into the flesh. It pained her to see her friends suffering like this. ¡°If I could come back, I would,¡± she wiped away a tear. ¡°I know you would Mai, we all would. Anyway, why don¡¯t you try and get some sleep? I¡¯ll have someone wake you so that you can move location. And then, we can go together to the Scavenger Queen after a good breakfast.¡± * ¡°Mai! My dear! So good to see you again!¡± The Scavenger Queen appeared from behind a pile of tarnished scales. From what creature, Mai couldn¡¯t tell, but her SCAVENGER passive skill told her they were worth five UC each. Not the twenty UC the Scavenger Queen was asking for. ¡°And Fat John! You have had a bad few days.¡± She and Fat John hugged each other tight before rubbing noses. It was an ancient form of greeting reserved only for former lovers. ¡°Do close your mouth dear,¡± the Queen placed a finger under Mai¡¯s chin, not waiting for her to close it. ¡°We wouldn¡¯t want you to catch flies.¡± Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author. ¡°Are you happy that I¡¯ve completed the mission you gave me?¡± Mai didn¡¯t appreciate the old crone touching her like that. It reminded her of her mother, and she wasn¡¯t ready for the emotions that such a simple gesture stirred up. I¡¯m a bag of bloody nerves right now, she thought. Which prompted another unwelcome thought. Just what sort of person would she be once she¡¯d Ascended? How was she going to deal with everything she¡¯d been through and not be completely broken mentally? ¡°Perfectly,¡± the Scavenger Queen waved a hand. ¨C DESTROY THE MOGWAI ¨C COMPLETED MISSION REWARD 1000UC Mai laughed. If she¡¯d had this mission before she¡¯d entered the Culling she¡¯d have been overjoyed at the huge sum of credits. It would have meant shaving one hundred days off her indenture, or allowed her to miss the odd day¡¯s target. And yet now, it¡¯s nothing. Just money. The thought of ¡®just money¡¯ made her laugh. ¡°What¡¯s the joke?¡± asked the Queen. ¡°Less than you were expecting?¡± ¡°No, I was laughing at the thought that one thousand universal credits is just money. Before I would have been ecstatic at this amount. But now,¡± she paused trying to think about the best words to use. ¡°Now only two things matter. Surviving the Culling, and getting back to Li. Nothing else matters.¡± ¡°You could always give it to me,¡± chuckled Fat John. Mai laughed, wagging a finger at him. ¡°There¡¯s always the chance I might need it. Even in the Culling.¡± And she¡¯d take any tool she had if it gave her even the slightest advantage. If she was honest, she was also still pretty amazed at having such a huge amount in one go. The Scavenger Queen pressed a finger against her ear, holding up her other hand for silence. Eyes closed, she sub-vocalised, paused, then sub-vocalised again before opening her eyes. ¡°Everything okay?¡± asked Fat John. ¡°Decidedly not.¡± the Queen said. Mai felt the smile drain from her face as she looked at the Queen¡¯s face. ¡°We had a new group of indentured workers arrive a couple of weeks ago. They haven¡¯t settled in. Still believe that they can work themselves free. Go home.¡± Mai watched the Queen¡¯s mouth work as she tried to find the right words. ¡°They¡¯ve put out word that you¡¯re here. That you¡¯ve been helping us.¡± Mai felt a pit open up in her stomach. She already knew what was coming. A chill washed over her as the Queen spoke. ¡°Cullers on their way. One of the fools was boasting how they were going to get a massive reward.¡± ¡°But Cullers don¡¯t have money! Not as much as that anyway! What, they think they¡¯d claim the reward when the Cullers ascended?¡± Mai slammed her hand down on a nearby shelf, impact forcing the items to jump. ¡°They bet on you being killed. Odds were quite low on you being found, so they placed everything they had. They went to a load shark. Borrowed way more than they¡¯ll ever be able to pay back.¡± The Queen gave a mirthless smile. ¡°Now they¡¯ll have to put everything they have into paying off the interest. Doesn¡¯t matter if they exceed the daily quota ten times over, they¡¯ll never pay it back.¡± ¡°How long does she have?¡± Fat John asked, looking around as if the Cullers had already arrived. ¡°Three hours give or take, come and sit.¡± She turned and led them through the shop to the back, this time to a different room. If I could use one word to describe this room, it would be ¡®homey¡¯, Mai thought. Plush carpet lined the floor, holopics lined the walls, and the furniture was, to use another word, luxurious. The Queen¡¯s definitely doing well. Why are so many people choosing to stay here? It makes no sense! She kept her face emotionally flat though, and sat in the chair the Queen offered her. As soon as her weight sank into it, it flowed around her, altering so that it was the perfect fit. ¡°Ohhhh,¡± she sighed, ¡°that¡¯s so nice.¡± ¡°The template cost me three thousand Universal Credits. It¡¯s organic.¡± Mai was fairly certain her eyes popped out of her head when she heard that. ¡°You paid three thousand credits for a chair?¡± she gasped. ¡°It was a bargain. The bed cost twenty,¡± cackled the old woman. ¡°If we could get back on topic?¡± Fat John said as he rapped his knuckles on a wooden table, the likes of which Mai had only seen on a holomyth before. ¡°What are you going to do? We can¡¯t get involved, you know the rules. Not physically anyway.¡± Closing her eyes, Mai ran a couple of scenarios through her mind. ¡°I need to read the rules. If there is a way you can help, will you?¡± Her throat felt tight, she knew what she was asking, and the thought they might say no was terrifying. ¡°Mai, I owe you my life. As do many other workers who don¡¯t know what you did in the Deadzone. Of course we¡¯ll bloody help.¡± Mai wiped away a tear on her cheek, blink-clicking her menu. A quick search using the keywords Culling rules and civilian brought up a surprisingly large number of references. Adding interference brought the number down drastically. ¡°Found it,¡± Mai said. ¡°Section fifteen, sub paragraph one point five five. ¡®Civilians may not physically interfere with a Culler. Aid may be given in any other form, so long as that aid does not directly cause physical or mental injury to the Culler. Examples of this are, punji traps, Culler-triggered explosives, or trip-wires. This list is not exclusive.¡¯ ¡°Sooo?¡± Prompted Fat John. ¡°So,¡± the Queen said before Mai could speak. ¡°Creating barriers, ways of funnelling them towards you and so on, are all allowed.¡± She held up a hand as both Fat John and Mai opened their mouths to speak. ¡°Shush. Which means that Mai can go to a specific area. We,¡± she pointed at herself and Fat John, ¡°can be overheard by the newcomers discussing where you¡¯ve gone. They¡¯ll then tell the Cullers and you can kill them all. Unless you¡¯re planning on running?¡± ¡°No,¡± sighed Mai. ¡°If I run they¡¯ll just keep coming after me. If I fight, at least I can be sure that they won¡¯t. I¡¯m done with being scared all the damned time.¡± ¡°And what should we do with the traitors?¡± asked Fat John. ¡°Granted they¡¯re new, still wet behind the ears, but they sold one of our own out.¡± ¡°I¡¯d have done exactly the same thing if it was me,¡± Mai said. ¡°They¡¯ve all got family, or loved ones they want to go home to. If I had a chance to go back to Li, I¡¯d take it. I did. I just took a really fucking stupid way of doing it.¡± The Queen and Fat John gave tight smiles. ¡°I¡¯m serious,¡± Mai said. ¡°Just let it go. They¡¯ll be paying for their mistake for the rest of their lives. Literally.¡± Fat John and the Queen gave proper laughs at that. ¡°Well, enough chewing the fat,¡± the Queen said. ¡°John, you need to get your people out and working. Once the work is done, Mai will move to her position so that she has plenty of time to wait for them, but not enough that she has to worry about being moved on.¡± ¡°No time like the present, I¡¯ll get people working,¡± Fat John bid his farewell. ¡°Now, how about a cup of tea and a slice of cake?¡± Seemingly out of nowhere a plate of cakes appeared in the Queen¡¯s hands. ¡°Don¡¯t mind if I do,¡± Mai smiled, taking a pretty pink sponge cake, and popping it in her mouth. Book 2 - Rebel - Chapter 13 Mai stood desperately blinking back tears as she watched her former comrades fortifying the sewers she was going to fight her fellow Cullers in. ¡°The informers know nothing of this. They think that the companies are being tasked to deal with a collapsed tunnel. We¡¯ve also put word out that you¡¯re going to hide in the collapsed tunnel because you think the Cullers wouldn¡¯t dare use it,¡± Fat John explained as a large deposit of fat was carefully placed next to what looked like a collapsed section of wall, but was in fact a well-crafted barricade. ¡°Like the rules state, we haven¡¯t placed anything which can be construed as a trap or which can cause direct harm intentionally.¡± He continued, pointing at the various stages of blockades which would force the enemy Cullers to either climb over them, or weave between them. ¡°Here you are love,¡± the Queen handed Mai three bottles of BIO-MASS boost. ¡°Sorry I couldn¡¯t get the price down, but people are people.¡± The old woman shot a narrow-eyed look over at a somewhat sheepish-looking man. Mai smiled over at the man and laid a hand on the Queen¡¯s arm. ¡°It¡¯s fine. People have to make a living. He didn¡¯t charge over the odds did he?¡± ¡°No, but that¡¯s not the point. Not as if he¡¯s ever going to get out of here anyway?¡± ¡°Why¡¯s that?¡± ¡°We¡¯re engaged,¡± cackled the woman. ¡°It¡¯s a business deal, nothing you need to know about. But he¡¯s not leaving until I¡¯m good and ready to let him.¡± Mai wisely said nothing. He was easily twenty years older than the woman who had been revealed to her in the Queen¡¯s sanctum. But can I really be sure that wasn¡¯t nano as well? Do I truly know what she looks like? If she was honest with herself, it didn¡¯t really matter. It was certainly a mystery, but the woman had shown herself to be a good friend and that was enough for Mai. With all of the creatures and people trying to kill her in the world, it felt good to just accept friends for what they were. Especially considering what Jonny had done to her. ¡°Heads up,¡± Fat John said. ¡°Cullers have arrived. Seems they¡¯ve teamed up to come for you.¡± ¡°Damn, I was hoping they¡¯d at least come in singles or pairs, fight each other,¡± Mai sighed, running a critical eye over what was going to be the position of her stand. Hopefully not a last-stand. ¡°The informers are speaking to the Cullers. Seems there¡¯s about ten of them,¡± the Queen snarled, baring her teeth. ¡°Gods damn those fucking traitors!¡± ¡°Any idea how long until they get to these tunnels?¡± Mai¡¯s mouth was dry at the thought of facing ten Cullers all working together, even if she did have the advantage of facing them on home ground. ¡°Once we drop a few subtle hints as to where you are, it should only take them thirty minutes to get to you from where they are. And it appears that the workers may well be accompanying them.¡± ¡°Dammit!¡± Fat John roared, lashing out with a boot at a piece of debris nearby, completely pulverizing it. ¡°I¡¯ll kill every fucking one of them myself!¡± ¡°John,¡± Mai said, ¡°please. I don¡¯t want you putting yourself at risk again. I couldn¡¯t bear to lose you.¡± ¡°You won¡¯t lose me. They¡¯re amateurs. No clue about how to fight in the sewers. Still adjusting to their position here. Still getting used to tasting shit in their noses, like that¡¯s ever something you can get used to.¡± ¡°Then it¡¯s decided,¡± the Queen said before Mai could object again. ¡°Fat John will kill the traitors whilst you deal with the Cullers. And to even things out slightly, we¡¯ll flood the tunnels with methane. That will mean no explosives. No firearms. And in this situation, that will stack the odds in your favour.¡± Shoulders slumped in defeat, Mai returned the hug John gave her. ¡°Enough of that,¡± the Queen said. ¡°We¡¯ve got work to do.¡± # ¡°Traps are all in place,¡± said Mai. ¡°As agreed, all trip wires are organic, just in case the Cullers have any tools which will allow them to spot them.¡± She hadn¡¯t even realised that was an option until Fat John had pointed it out. It was a hard-earned lesson from an encounter with urbexers. And if urbexers knew about it, odds were at least one Culler would. And, as he¡¯d pointed out, there was no sense in taking the risk. So she¡¯d done a search as the others worked on creating the As with most things, it was buried in a sub-menu of a sub-menu in a sub-category. She was now utterly certain that it was deliberate. Cullers were supposed to die. Having them live wasn¡¯t what the powers-that-be consider to be good entertainment. And people facing imminent death, surrounded by billions of civilians who are actively looking for them to die before their Culler of choice, don¡¯t have the right mindset to trawl through all of the options in order to understand the meta. And even if I know that¡¯s how things are, I¡¯m never in a position to do anything more than skim the options. And I can¡¯t just wander around asking people if they know anything. If she was honest, she was both impressed and disappointed at the traps available. Whilst they were horrifically inventive, they were limited in their effect. Afterall, you could only spear so many people at any given time. Mines could blow multiple opponents to pieces. But these traps would be lucky if they caught more than one person at a time. Which is why it had been so costly in terms of BIO-MASS. She¡¯d had to create many more traps than she would have normally, building in redundancies so that even if traps were somehow avoided, there was always another. It had even proven to be fun. Chaining mines together was simple. But working with the organic traps had appealed to a love of puzzles she hadn¡¯t realised she had. They had to be crafted. Routes taken by opponents had to be planned out. Traps laid so that they forced opponents into the direction that she wanted them to take. Driving them to their deaths. Shit, maybe fun isn¡¯t the right word, she thought ruefully. Developmental challenge. That¡¯s it. She¡¯d heard that term from one of the other companies¡¯ managers. A dull, bland woman who seemed as grey as the clothes she always wore. Mai had thought it was as if she had somehow avoided the creation of colour. At the time they¡¯d been trying to clear a fat berg in a series of tunnels with three ninety-degree turns. Still, I¡¯d prefer some nice big booms, but acknowledged that with the numbers of enemy they faced, there was the risk that the amount of explosives required to ensure they were all killed, would bring the tunnel down upon everyone¡¯s head. ¡°If any of the traitors make it through them, I¡¯ll make sure they wish they¡¯d died,¡± growled Fat John, curling his hands in front of himself. Mai nodded, the plan hadn¡¯t changed since they¡¯d agreed to it, nor had it changed since the last time John had mentioned it. She knew it was just nerves, but he was starting to get on her nerves. Every time she thought she was focused on the task ahead and accepted what was to come, he would stroll up and give her another burst of adrenaline. As she looked at him, the way he positively bounced on the spot, licked his lips, kept smiling at the thought of the coming ambush, she realised he was excited. A complete contrast to the man she had once known. And a clear sign as to how things had changed since she left. Or maybe they¡¯ve changed since I¡¯ve returned? ¡°You better make sure you hang back until I¡¯ve told them about the methane,¡± she said, taking hold of his chin and forcing him to meet her eyes. ¡°If you try to kill the traitors too soon, you¡¯ll kill us both. Stay back.¡± He tried to move his head back, but she tightened her grip. ¡°I¡¯m fucking serious. Stay. Back. Clear?¡± A jerky nod and slight widening of his eyes told her he¡¯d understood. And what might happen to him if he didn¡¯t do as she¡¯d said. Checking her retinal monitor, she watched as her fellow sewer workers marked the enemy¡¯s progress on her map. There were little more than one hundred paces away from the entrance to her tunnel. ¡°Five minutes, and they¡¯ll be here.¡± * One of the Cullers had crafted a hovering glo-lamp. Mai thought it was not only a pretentious waste of BIO-MASS, but also a great way to mark your position for an enemy. If the tunnel hadn¡¯t been flooded with methane, she could have picked off at least three just using the light. ¡°They¡¯re all in,¡± commed Fat John, sub-vocalising over the channel so that there was no chance his voice would carry down the tunnel and warn their opponents. ¡°They¡¯ll hit the first trap in three, two, one.¡± CRITICAL HIT! 65% DAMAGE BLEED @10% PER SECOND PANIC A scream of the utmost agony reverberated down the tunnel. ¡°That was the buried spear,¡± Fat John whispered. ¡°You got them right up the ..¡± HIT! 30% DAMAGE BLEED @5% DAMAGE PANIC Another scream drowned out what Fat John had been about to say. ¡°Spring trap,¡± Mai muttered, matching the map in her head to the position of the second, now screaming, victim. It was a simple trap. A powerfully flexed stave ending in a saw-toothed blade set to ninety degrees parallel to the stave. It was powerful enough to punch clean through a human body, with the double-edged teeth doing damage both as it entered, and was pulled free. If they decided to do that. ¡°Wasn¡¯t a Culler,¡± Fat John snarled, she could practically hear him baring his teeth. ¡°One of the traitors. Not sure about the first though.¡± Mai watched as the glo-lamps bobbed around, the enemies clearly reacting to the two traps. There was a pause, then the lights moved around a bit before continuing on their approach. This time, they were far more careful than before. Raised voices drifted down the tunnel. It seemed as though those in the front were protesting. They were scared. Angry. Pleading. They¡¯re being herded. They¡¯ve pushed the traitor workers to the front. ¡°Never told you this before, not something you needed to know when you were working here,¡± Fat John said, ¡°but you could have been one of the best workers there is. I reckon you¡¯d have got yourself free in under ten years. Maybe quicker with all the mogwai you and Andries were killing.¡± Mai¡¯s eyes misted at that. His respect meant more than she had thought it would, but also the thought that she¡¯d have been able to get out of the tunnels and back to Li in a much shorter ¨C albeit still long ¨C time period, without having to enter the Culling, sent a wave of emotions through. ¡°You¡¯re different,¡± he continued as they watched their hunters continue to approach. ¡°Everyone who meets you knows that. We¡¯re drawn to you like moths to a lamp.¡± And why is that? She hated hearing that she was so different. Hated hearing that others felt drawn to her in such a way that it was beyond their control. I just want to get back home. Why¡¯s it so hard? As she watched the hunters approach the third trap, a series of them this time, she used her memory of the last time she and Li had gone for a picnic to give her motivation. But she struggled to picture it. Her sister¡¯s face was starting to fade just like those of her parents. She remembered the smile that came through clearly, but her past life seemed as though it had happened to someone else. Each memory she tried to pull from the back of her mind proved to be as slippery as if it was covered in oil. But still, those memories she was able to pull out gave her motivation. Reminded her that there was another life she had once lived, and would live yet again, and which didn¡¯t involve having to make life or death situations on a daily basis. And the only monsters I¡¯ll ever come across are like that old prick, Wong. For some reason, his face was as clear as day. Which was typical of her life. The things she didn¡¯t want to remember were the clearest, whilst those which she held most dear were fading. Rubbing at her eyes, she tried to scrub his leering, monkey-like face from her mind before returning her attention back to the approaching Cullers. Briefly, she wondered what had happened to him. What had happened to Mrs. Wong. ¡°Spear, punji stakes, dead drop, spear, this is going to be amazing. Reckon they¡¯ll hit ¡± whispered Fat John. She could hear the smile and resolved to have a word with him about it once they were back at Excretiaville. That they wouldn¡¯t have never even crossed her mind. Why would it? She¡¯d had the best sewer experts modify this tunnel. It had been filled with the best traps she could find. And she had one of her best friends ever ready to take on the civilians. Granted, those civilians wouldn¡¯t be able to physically attack her, but they could impede her, making her vulnerable to attacks from the other Cullers. One way would be to block her attacks. With either their bodies ¨C unlikely ¨C or with their weapons. Which would make her vulnerable to the Culler¡¯s attacks, but would be perfectly legal according to a couple of lawyers who had been indentured. And she wasn¡¯t going to argue with experts. These rules are utterly fucked up. It angered her. And she knew that if she gave it any more thought. If she brooded on it, that her rage would tip her over the edge. You could literally go mad thinking about it. And is that the point? Force Cullers to just go with their training, no idea how to get around the rules, which you can, no time to check through all of the menus and submenus to find the weapons which will help because if you spend too long in one spot, either a civilian or drone will ensure you have to move on. And if their civilians could block her attacks, so too could her fellow sewer workers. It wasn¡¯t ever going to happen though. She would never think of asking her friends to put themselves in a position where they would be utterly unable to defend themselves in a way which allowed them to survive. The Cullers hunting her clearly had no issues with that, however. Looking at them, she was unable to SASS any of them. All of them appeared to be prisoners, gangers and ex-military. It vexed her to be unable to do so. It was such a part of normal life, that to not be able to do so completely threw her out of kilter. Speaking to Fat John and the others about it, they were more used to it down here where they regularly came across such people. But in the Upper City she¡¯d never come across such people. It¡¯s as if they¡¯re attracted to places like the Deadzone, events like the Culling. Anywhere there¡¯s danger or the chance of getting rich quicker than working like normal people. It was a thought she¡¯d had many times, but she just couldn¡¯t push it away. No matter how hard she tried, it tickled at the back of her subconscious, resurfacing at the worst times. CRITICAL HIT! 65% BLEED @15% PER SECOND PANIC! A scream broke her reverie, one of the newly indentured workers had triggered the spear. Set deep into the ground, a powerful spring at its base, the spear had punched up and clean through her victim. How it hadn¡¯t killed her only the Gods knew. Not that she was going to survive much longer. ¡®One down ¡­¡¯ crowed Fat John. Reacting to the sudden and gruesome impaling of their colleague, the workers flinched, bunching up, bumping into each other. With a yell of surprise which quickly turned into a short-lived scream, two of them stepped right when they should have stepped left. The ground gave way, swallowing them up in the blink of an eye as if a creature had risen up from the depths. INSTAKILL! INSTAKILL! A four-pace deep drop onto a score of metal stakes ensured a quick death for the two men. Neither of them counted for anything with regard to the Culling or development of skills which mattered. It was senseless. INTIMIDATED glyphs popped up over the rest of their party, their alarmed shouts music to her ears. The more rattled they are, the more likely they¡¯ll make a mistake. Or bug out. It was as if they¡¯d read her mind. There was some shouting, an argument by the sound of it, and two of the workers starting running back the way they¡¯d come. They didn¡¯t get far, having to push through the Cullers. More shouting, roars of anger, then the roars of anger turned into screams of pain. And another two deaths were added to her tally. Not that they counted towards the Culling. As soon as she thought about it, she hated herself. Even if the workers were trying to get her killed. INSTAKILL! INSTAKILL! PANIC! Glyphs appeared over the heads of the other traitors, and this time they started moving towards her as the PANIC! negative effects drove them away from the source of their PANIC! ¨C the Cullers ¨C and deeper into the tunnels. ¡®Five down, five to go,¡¯ said Fat John. ¡®Think all of the traitors will be killed by the traps?¡¯ She didn¡¯t bother replying, her own thoughts were distraction enough. Chit-chatting with John as people died, no matter who they were, was both unnecessary and foolish. Watching the hunters approach, she tightened her grip on the release rope for the deadfall. It was a horrendous trap, and she was still slightly appalled she¡¯d crafted it. A large log, wrapped in Blood Buttercups and festooned with barbed spikes ranging from a finger to over an arm¡¯s length hung nearly five paces at the top of the sewer¡¯s roof. If the spikes didn¡¯t work, the Blood Buttercups would sprout rapidly. Roots probing for the slightest entry point ¨C eyes, ears, mouth, genitals ¨C would kill her victims in a most gruesome manner as they leached their blood, giving the flower that would shortly appear the name, and their colour. What followed next appalled her more than she thought possible. A traitor, smaller than the others, so possibly a woman triggered the log. There was a slight whoosh as it swung towards her. She barely had a moment of realisation, less than that to actually try to do anything about saving herself. But all she could do was stand stock still as the log swung towards her. Screaming, the impaled woman was sent flying through the air as the log continued its path before it slammed into the ceiling, cutting her scream off with deadly finality. INSTAKILL! One of the traitors had managed to duck under the log, he was just getting to his feet when it came crashing back, spikes punching through his back, organs cut out of his ribcage with astonishing ease. INSTAKILL! Mai burped, bile forcing its way into her mouth at the morbid sight. It was one of the most gruesome things she¡¯d seen. Sometimes if felt as though she¡¯d seen the worst death had to offer, and then the ante was upped. ¡°Emperor¡¯s third nipple, Mai, I almost feel for the damned traitors!¡± Fat John gasped over their comms channel. His voice, shaking more than she had ever heard, let her know just how badly affected he was by this. This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it There was a pause as the Cullers and traitors waited for the log to stop swinging. At a shouted order, a traitor moved gingerly forward. Edging past the log, the traitor placed their hand upon the log. Oh Gods! Mai had never seen a Blood Buttercup in action. The only flowers she¡¯d ever come across had been both pretty and completely immobile. Not so the Buttercup. Barely brushing the Buttercup caused it to literally leap into action. ¡°Help!¡± was the only word the traitor was able to utter before a Buttercup plunged into his mouth, disappearing in the blink of an eye. Those eyes were just as quickly taken as two other flowers punched through the sockets. Others punched up the traitor¡¯s nose and various other orifices. INSTALKILL! Mai vomited. It was sudden and completely took her by surprise. By the sounds coming over the comms channel, Fat John was similarly affected. Unable to stand, Mai dropped to her knees, covering her face as she tried to scrub the picture of what had happened. As a result, she didn¡¯t see the next three deaths. Spears; set in the floor, ceiling and walls. Each one powered by a tightly sprung coil. Each three paces in length, more than enough to spit someone from top to tail. Which, judging by the screams and three INSTAKILL! Messages was exactly what happened. She didn¡¯t care. Mai just wanted things to end, to be back in her apartment with her sister working in some crappy, mundane job. ¡°Mai ¡­¡± Fat John¡¯s voice broke through her nightmare, ¡°they¡¯re past the spears. Get up, be ready.¡± It was as if all strength had been robbed from her limbs. Why these deaths were affecting her so much compared to others she¡¯d inflicted, she wasn¡¯t sure. Trying to stand, she was unable to find the strength and sank back down. ¡°Mai! Get the hells up!¡± Hissed Fat John over the channel. ¡°Get up!¡± This time she managed it, standing on still-shaky legs, hardly daring to breathe, Mai watched as the surviving Cullers made their way past the spear traps. As far as she could see, there were only three left. Two hung back slightly, whilst the larger of them, a man, led the way, if cautiously. ¡°John, remember the plan, you can¡¯t get involved with the Cullers. Just hold back, no matter what,¡± she whispered, looking over to the shadows where John was concealed. ¡°Yeah, yeah, that¡¯s the part of the plan I fucking hate,¡± he whispered. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I¡¯m not feeling suicidal.¡± Mai turned her attention back to the group of Cullers. By what she could see of him, he was large. Whether that was due to muscle or fat she couldn¡¯t tell. Either way, she didn¡¯t intend on getting into a wrestling match with him. Voices, what she would have called ¡®raised whispers¡¯, echoed down the tunnel. The leader¡¯s voice was firm, monosyllabic, barking unheard orders. But the others, they were rushed, sibilant, slipping into raised voices as their fear overcame caution. She couldn¡¯t blame them, the traps had caused the horrific deaths of their comrades and their traitor allies. On top of that they were in the sewers, dealing with everything that came with that, as well as being in one of the most confined areas they¡¯d most likely experienced in their lives. Most people were used to either their apartments, or the wide plazas of their levels. Down here, beneath miles of levels they¡¯d feel the city pressing in on them. Feel the weight of the hundreds of millions of people on their shoulders. They might have pushed it to the back of their minds, but it was still there, adding to their fear. The leader turned, spat out some whispers, and got a sulky-sounding response. Turning back, he continued to advance towards her position. As he grew closer, Mai saw that he had some sort of automatic shotgun as one of his weapons. Thus far, they didn¡¯t even know she was there, but if they even got an inkling and opened fire, everyone in the tunnel would be toast. ¡°I highly suggest you don¡¯t fire that weapon,¡± Mai said, boosting the volume of her voice so that it filled the tunnel, making two of the Cullers jump in fear. ¡°Why the fuck wouldn¡¯t I do that?¡± the leader of the group snarled. By his strong accent, he was a one-miler and she struggled to understand his staccato sing-song voice. To call him ugly was paying him a compliment. A scar parted the whole left-hand side of his face, exposing teeth, gums and his lower jawbone. For once, Mai ignored ingrained etiquette and read his name glyph. Grimtooth. What sort of fucking name is that? It was certainly apt. He¡¯d probably paid to have his name changed after he got the injury. Down in the One-Mile levels, scars like that which were earned in battle were worn with pride. The more scars a person had, the tougher they were. A series of tattoos across his forehead gave some inclination as the number of people he claimed to have fought and killed. To be fair to him, no-one who lied about their kills lived very long as killing someone who had that many kills would elevate a One-Miler far above their peers. Kills were power. No matter what the laws of the City were supposed to be. ¡°Because the tunnel¡¯s filled with methane. One spark and boom!¡± She clashed her sword against her shield, making the more nervous Cullers jump. ¡°You¡¯re bluffing,¡± he narrowed his eyes at her, only serving to make himself uglier. It was as if he¡¯d fallen out of the ugly tree, hit every ugly branch on the way down and landed face first in the ugly ground. And then been hit by a building. I¡¯m sure his mum loves him, she thought. But she had her doubts. Some people were beautiful souls no matter what they looked like, but she had the strong feeling that his soul was as ugly as his face. Maybe it was as a result of where he came from, but she wasn¡¯t feeling charitable so decided that he was just the epitome of ugly. Ugly soul, ugly visage. ¡°Fine, if I¡¯m bluffing fire. Blast away! But you do realise I could have trapped this entire tunnel with explosives. Shot you down as you tried to weave between all the obstacles? Wonder why I didn¡¯t?¡± The two other Cullers shifted their feet. It was clear they were terrified of Grimtooth. Sparing a glance for them, she didn¡¯t see one she viewed personally as a threat. And that took her back. I¡¯ve changed. And whilst she knew some pride at that thought, she was also scared. Scared that she was the sort of person who could look at another human being and categorise them as either a threat, or something she could easily deal with. Easily killed. What will Li think of me? She threw a prayer to Lady Buddha that her sister wasn¡¯t watching. That she was able to fend for herself or was getting the help she needed. Due to the events of the last few days, Mai had barely spared a thought for her sister. Indeed, she was angry that her brain had taken this moment to distract her. Nothing was said for a few seconds, for which Mai was grateful as it meant she could re-centre her mind. Instead they stood and stared at each other. If this had been a holomyth it would have been the perfect start to the end scene. Anyone watching this would be lapping it up, she thought with disgust. ¡°Fine,¡± Grimtooth snarled, absorbing his shotgun and replacing it with an evil-looking sword. Armour formed around him. It was exactly the sort of armour she would expect him to create. All jagged edges, needless ridges and spikes that might look cool and INTIMIDATING ¨C she cursed silently as a notification of its effect popped up on her retinal monitor ¨C but the whole purpose of armour was to deflect blows, soften the impact. No matter where she hit, he was going to feel far more of the blow than he should because the spikes and jagged edges would direct her blows into rather than away from the armour. His helmet was especially impressive, forming into a shape resembling a snarling wolf¡¯s head, even down to curled lip and bared fangs, a pair of ears jutting out from the top. Again, they¡¯d direct her blows into the armour. As he rolled his shoulders and rotated his neck, the visor shifted slightly as if it was now part of his skin. That must have cost a stack of BIO-MASS, and Buddha knows how he got that template, probably got a good SOAK value, she thought as she sized him up. The other two did the same, one choosing to go with a spear and shield combination with a mix of ancient-looking Water Margin banded and chain armour, the other preferring a wakizashi and katana, which made sense since they also created an ancient samray armour like the evil warriors of old wore in the holomyths. That¡¯s the more dangerous one out of the two, she thought as she sized them up. Whilst the spear had a good range and should have been more of a threat, the Culler wielding it looked decidedly uncomfortable. They didn¡¯t have an INTIMIDATION or PANIC glyph above their head, but she could tell they were close to it. ¡°I feel a tad underdressed looking at the three of you,¡± she indicated their weapons and armour. ¡°Maybe I should join you?¡± ¡°Take your time little girl,¡± snarled Grimtooth. ¡°It¡¯s all about the ratings for me, and if you look like you actually put up a good fight it¡¯ll get me more upvotes, more people on my side.¡± Those words gave her pause. Should she have been concentrating on her public face? Winning the support of viewers in the hope that they might help her? Doubt filled her for a moment before she quashed it. What was done, was done. And those viewers he was talking about were also watching her. Killing him might get me his followers, or at least some additional ones, she thought. Whether that would actually help she didn¡¯t know. And the thought of playing the game still rankled. Holding up a finger in the universal sign for ¡®wait¡¯, she blinked open her ARMOUR menu. Entering Archaic into the search box, she added the filter of Holomyth, before scrolling through the options. Can¡¯t beat them, might as well join them, she thought as suit after suit of ancient armour flickered past on her retinal monitor. She hadn¡¯t expected such a wealth of variety, and found the references to time periods especially bewildering. She¡¯d only know about the samray armour because of holomyths, not because she was aware of human history from the dim and distant past of millennia ago. And then suddenly there it was. A beautiful suit of highly polished armour edged with brass which gleamed so much it looked like gold. It literally sprang out of the list. IMPERIAL ONE THOUSAND was its name as it scrolled past, Mai too slow to stop and having to carefully tab back up the menu until it was front and centre. Opening it up, she quickly scanned the description. The One Thousand were an elite unit of soldiers dedicated to preserving the life of the Empress, may she remain eternal, and her children. Chosen at birth, these men and women were genetically altered to be the ultimate bodyguard and soldier. During the Battle of All Endings, in the thirtieth millennia of mankind, when the mythological alien threat of the Khanite Empire threatened to end our own Glorious Empire, The One Thousand strove to keep the alien horde from the walls of the Palace. Despite causing untold thousands of casualties amongst the foul enemy, The One Thousand were unable to prevent a regiment from breaching the walls of the palace and advancing a full thirty paces. The brave men and women of The One Thousand took this perceived slight badly, with General Wu of the Tang Clan, Glorious Commander of The One Thousand, falling upon his sword once it was reported that the aliens had been defeated. The survivors of The One Thousand then swore to fight to the last as they hunted down the foul creatures who had dared sully the Most Serene Stones of the Palace, pursuing them and those traitorous humans who had aided them across known space. Indeed it is rumoured that The One Thousand, or their descendants, continue this pursuit even now, their numbers swelled to full strength, and their tenacity preventing the aliens from ever mustering their forces again. Whilst this armour appears to be archaic, and made of steel and copper, it is in fact a fusion of nanites and titanium. With a SOAK of three hundred per cent, it also enhances the speed of its wearer by ten per cent, and is resistant to INTIMIDATION, PANIC and STUNNED. It also slows BLEED by thirty per cent. COST: One hundred per cent BIO-MASS. Fortunately, she still had a good reserve of BIO-MASS available, as well as a spare bottle of BOOST. Looking over at where Fat John was hiding, she gave a slight shrug as she formed the armour. Its effect was instant. A sense of calm and purpose washed over her, removing any traces of doubt she held about the fight to come. Reaching for her bottle of BIO-MASS BOOST she drank until her BIO-MASS was back at one hundred per cent, then formed weapons of her own. Taking into account Grimtooth¡¯s armour, she chose a warhammer with a hammer head topped by a curved spike, and twin spikes at either end. Seeing how impatient he was, she read the description. A war hammer, is a long-handled weapon used by the loyal foot soldiers of our Glorious Emperor, especially in the defence of fortified walls where those with longer poles afforded the defenders a superior reach and enhanced the force, and therefore damage, that could be brought to bear on the target, and in action against heavily armoured soldiers and even some of the lighter mecha. For the latter, a weapon would need to be enhanced, such as Picktooth, in order to have a chance at damaging one. War hammers, especially when mounted on a pole, cause STUN and CRUSH damage even if they fail to penetrate an opponent¡¯s armour. In particular, they transmit their impact through even the thickest helmets and cause concussions, resulting in the DISORIENTED status effect. Later war hammers often had a spike on one side of the head, making them more versatile weapons. A blade or spike tends to be used not against helmets but against other parts of the body where the armour is thinner, and penetration is easier. The spike end can also be used for grappling the target''s armour, hooking an opponent¡¯s limbs, weapon, or shield, or can be turned in the direction of the blow to pierce even the heaviest armour. Against mecha opponents, the weapon can also be directed at the legs of the lighter suits of mecha, toppling the armoured foe to the ground where they can be more easily attacked. Based upon an ancient weapon which was mostly made of metal alone, Picktooth, is a nanite weapon utilising a small charge which causes the head and beak to vibrate at a molecular level, enhancing its ability to penetrate even the most advanced armour. This gives the user a +10% CRITICAL HIT BONUS. Crush damage wasn¡¯t something she¡¯d really come across before, preferring to use bladed or projectile weapons, so opened up the description to both learn more, piss Grimtooth off even further. CRUSH Crush damage is caused by blunt-force weapons with potential knock-on effects of STUN, DISORIENT, WINDED, UNCONSCIOUSNESS, KNOCKED BACK and a 25% chance to CRIPPLE an opponent after a CRITICAL HIT. By Krout! Definitely worth the cost! At fifteen per cent BIO-MASS, it wasn¡¯t cheap but having seen the armour her opponents wore, and the status effects it could cause with each successful hit, she didn¡¯t begrudge the cost. Grimtooth huffed and puffed as she read through the description, forcing her to hide a smile lest he attack her when she wasn¡¯t ready. Eschewing a shield, she opened up the sword menu. Heart pounding, she scrolled until she saw the weapon she needed. Not the weapon she wanted, however. A memory of Andries¡¯ shocked face sprang forth unbidden as she opened up the item and paid the 600UC it cost for the template. Having killed so many mogwai which seemed to have been a lifetime away, but was really only a few hours in the scale of things, 600UC was easily affordable. GHOUL BLADE UNLOCKED Swallowing hard, pushing away the guilt of what Andries might have thought of her using such a weapon, she decided to read through that description as well, ignoring the sounds of impatience Grimtooth was making, and the effect that the wait was having on the other two Cullers. As she¡¯d thought, they were struggling with the tight confines of the sewer with each passing second. That they had an imminent fight to the death would also be playing on their minds, making them either over cautious, or over eager when the time came. 600 UC if not crafted from a template. 15% BIOMASS - Instantly causes SHOCKED. Upon striking it causes SERIOUS WOUNDS, PANIC, POISON and BLEEDING at a minimum of 10% per second. A truly terrible weapon made to not only kill your opponent but make them quake in fear as soon as you face them, the GHOUL BLADE is forged from the thigh bone of a powerful warrior, with GHOUL teeth carefully affixed to the edges. And it was the SHOCK status effect she was gambling on. She didn¡¯t form the sword immediately. Instead, looking over at Grimtooth she held up her finger once more, using the gesture to gauge the distance between her and each of her opponents, forming a plan of attack as she did so. ¡°I¡¯m bored, shall we just get on with it?¡± she plastered a smile across her face, ignoring the flood of adrenalin that the words brought. And then GHOUL BLADE sprang into life. Its effect was instant, SHOCKED glyphs appearing over the heads of Grimtooth and his accomplices. All three took a slight step back before freezing. Mai activated TUNNEL FIGHTER, SEWER COMBAT, and UNARMED COMBAT. SWORD FIGHTING was a passive skill and she only had the base five per cent Rank 1 conferred. However, she also had an additional INTIMIDATION and BLEED. She didn¡¯t have a USE WARHAMMER, it wasn¡¯t a skill she¡¯d been taught during training for the Culling, so she wasn¡¯t going to get any bonuses. She had less than a minute before her skills entered cooldown. And a minute was all she needed to walk away from this alive. The main SHOCK negative status effect gave her roughly three seconds to get her hits in. All of her opponents would be unable to react to her attacks, being rooted to the spot. Having seen Grimtooth¡¯s armour, she knew that wasn¡¯t nearly enough time to finish him off before the other two Cullers joined in. And with them aiding him, she knew she didn¡¯t stand a chance in the Sixty Hells of coming out of this alive. Cutting past Grimtooth, who was only able to side-eye her as she moved past, she launched an attack at the spear-wielding Culler. Lead hand was GHOUL BLADE, SWORD FIGHTING target boxes marking the weak points of the spearman¡¯s armour. It was as if GHOUL BLADE actually thirsted for their blood. And with SHOCK¡¯s additional twenty-five per cent chance of a critical hit, she had a thirty per cent chance. HIT! 1% BLEED@10% PER SECOND SERIOUS WOUNDS PANIC POISON@2% PER SECOND And that was another reason she¡¯d chosen GHOUL BLADE. Even though her target¡¯s SOAK had absorbed most of her hit¡¯s damage, most wasn¡¯t enough. GHOUL BLADE caused a minimum of ten per cent bleed with a successful hit. And that meant even a prick of the finger could be deadly. Without using HEAL, or TREAT SERIOUS WOUNDS, a prick on the finger could see someone dead in just six seconds. Even less if they were also poisoned badly enough. Mai didn¡¯t leave anything to chance however, her next attack being a back-handed attack with PICKTOOTH. As she was unfamiliar with the correct way to handle the weapon, she winced as the blunt head crashed into the spear-wielder¡¯s shoulder, a sharp pain radiating up her arm from her wrist. HIT! 5% DISORIENTATED! A glyph of circling birds appeared over their heads. Mai had to accept the somewhat disappointing result, she didn¡¯t have time for another attack, moving on to the samray before they were able to start moving. Their armour was much more intricate that the spear wielder¡¯s somewhat basic-looking suit. For one, it was completely enclosed, which would make it far harder for GHOUL BLADE to work its demonic magic. She struck with PICKTOOTH instead, aiming for the samray¡¯s knee with a back-hand attack. This time she got the angle correct and the head crashed into the samray¡¯s armour with a loud crack. HIT! 5% Swinging again, she struck at the other side of the knee, the inside this time. CRITICAL HIT! 10% CRUSH! CRIPPLED! -50% MOBILITY TO AFFECTED LEG And then the SHOCK wore off. Her opponent somehow managed to avoid her next blow, rolling across the floor, screaming in fear or agony. Mai didn¡¯t care, just kept slashing as they kept rolling. Glancing over, she caught sight of the battle between Fat John and Grimtooth. As Fat John spun his cutter in a desperate attempt to defend himself against Grimtooth¡¯s attack, Mai was helpless. Facing her own opponent, there was nothing she could do. And there was nothing Fat John could do to save himself. If he attacked Grimtooth, he¡¯d die. If he didn¡¯t and tried to rely solely on being able to defend himself against the troll-like Culler¡¯s attacks, he would die. No defence was absolute. The only chance, and it was a slim on at that, was if he tried to make a run for it. But that would mean exposing his back. And in that split-second, Fat John came to the same realisation. Parrying a heavy blow, he knocked Grimtooth¡¯s sword down and to the side. If he hadn¡¯t had to hold back, it would have ended in the Culler¡¯s death. Instead, Fat John used the opening to make his escape, spinning on the spot he flashed a grin at Mai. And then grimaced in pain. ¡°NO!¡± Mai screamed as the jagged blade burst through the front of Fat John¡¯s chest. Eyes meeting, Mai could only scream wordlessly as Fat John coughed, blood filling the air. Another cough and deep red blood welled out between his lips to spill down his chin. Lifting a hand, he reached out for her, mouth working, no sound coming from it. And in another second, he was falling to the ground as the sword was ripped back out of his chest, his health bar filling completely with black before his corpse reached the ground. ¡°Wossamatter,¡± Grimtooth taunted her, licking his blade. ¡°Did I kill someone that mattered to you?¡± Mai felt something break inside her. Although spiritual, she felt it physically. As if a piece of her had just stopped working. Grief was instantaneously replaced with a cold rage that consumed her very being. At that moment she couldn¡¯t even tell if she even retained her human form. It felt as though she had transcended into something so utterly alien there were no words to describe it. Grimtooth stopped being a person, stopped even being a ¡®thing¡¯ in her mind. It was as if he was nothing more than a distraction in her mind. Looking back, she would never be able to ascribe what she truly felt. She was utterly incapable of being able to describe just how metaphysical that moment was. All that she knew, and all that she ever remembered knowing, was that she wanted Grimtooth to cease to exist. NEW TITLE - VENGEANCE PERSONIFIED UNLOCKED YOU ARE TRULY TO BE FEARED BY ALL WHO RAISE YOUR IRE, WHO KILL THOSE YOU LOVE, OR WHO WRONG YOU IN SOME WAY. His sneer left his face as quickly as it had appeared as he took in her changed attitude. She could smell his fear as he voided his bowels. Raising his sword, covered in Fat John¡¯s blood and flesh, he held it before him as if to ward her away than to even defend himself, let alone attack her. The INTIMIDATED glyph appeared over him. Stumbling, he barely managed to regain his balance, arms windmilling as he fought to remain upright. Legs shaking, he assumed some form of guard before dropping it back down, his arms too weak to hold it up. ¡°C .. come on then!¡± he stammered, voice higher than normal as fear constricted his vocal chords. ¡°I¡¯ll gut you like I gutted your friend!¡± If he¡¯d thought for even a split second that such a threat was going to deter her, he was wrong. Widening eyes told her he¡¯d realised his mistake even before he finished speaking. Mai absorbed her shield and sword, sending the nanites back out of her fingers as foot-long blades. Grimtooth screamed, finally holding the sword before him in some semblance of threat whilst desperately trying to back away from her. She took her time. Advancing upon him, she carefully placed her feet so that she stepped onto the corpses of his former teammates. At no point did she break eye contact with him. Every step she took he matched with a step backward. Whilst hers were assured, filled with poise and grace, his were skittish, uncertain, and filled with fear. Wavering for a brief few seconds, the INTIMIDATION glyph above him blinked out of existence, a PANIC glyph replacing it. Shrieking, Grimtooth turned to run. And like any apex predator faced with an escaping prey, Mai leaped into action. In what seemed like the blink of an eye, she cleared the fifteen or so paces between them. Armour, cloth and then flesh parted before her claws, great gashes exposing yellowed ribs and even part of his backbone. If a notification displayed on her retinal monitor, she neither knew nor cared. Such things were beyond her. Below her even. All that mattered was vengeance. Later, she would both marvel and shudder at the change which overtook her. Screaming like an animal, his vocal chords audibly shredding as he gave voice to his pain and fear, Grimtooth clawed at the hideous wounds, sword falling as he reached behind himself. Mai stood less than a hand¡¯s width behind him, watching as he continued to scream and explore the terrible wounds. She slashed again, both hands rising and falling so rapidly that the blood on them hung in the air, and ten digits fell to the floor. He tried to run then, turning his back, no defences up. Completely open. She couldn¡¯t let him escape. Although she toyed with the idea of hunting him down she knew there was always a slight chance he might elude her. And she couldn¡¯t have that. Couldn¡¯t let the murderer of her friend escape for even a second. So she hamstrung him, giggling at the sight of him trying to walk before falling to the ground, thrusting out fingerless hands to break his fall. It was as if she was in a dream. Nightmarish certainly, but more that she was in his nightmare, playing a role of sorts. A role that was completely out of character. Past her would have been horrified at her actions. At her laughing in glee at his suffering. A surreal, out of body experience. Mai advanced. Gently, she placed the tips of her blades at the top of his, thumbs close to where they attached to his spine. With a sigh she raked them towards herself, parting them as easily as though they were rice paper. Grimtooth¡¯s screaming stopped as his ribs sprang forward in the mythical ¡®eagle¡¯s wings¡¯ method of execution. His bar filled with black. And then Mai¡¯s wounds finally took their toll and she collapsed into a darkness of her own. Book 2 - Rebel - Chapter 14 ¡°Mai! Can you hear us?¡± ¡°It¡¯s no good, she¡¯s going to be out for a while.¡± Mai really wished the voices would go away. She was enjoying the warmth of the darkness, and the softness beneath her and she knew that if she opened her eyes it would all come to an end. ¡°I think she¡¯s awake,¡± said another, deeper voice. ¡°You can see her eyelids moving.¡± Dammit, thought Mai before slowly opening her eyes. She was surrounded by three blurred faces looking down at her. All of them were wearing sewer company uniforms. Two were female, the last one being a cyborg of some sort. Half of their face was composed of grey pallid fresh marked by a thick red scar between it and the metal which made up the other half. Too tired to even be surprised at what she was seeing, Mai slowly pushed herself up until she was sitting. ¡°How do you feel?¡± asked the cyborg, its voice deep and melodic, human half creasing in worry. Mai gave that question a thought, moving limbs and wriggling extremities to see if she still had them all, and whether they were fully working. ¡°Fucking knackered,¡± she said, just as the cyborg opened their mouth again. It shut its mouth with a snap before giving a half smile. ¡°Do you remember what happened?¡± it asked, placing a hand gently on her shoulder. Mai frowned for a second, and then burst into tears as the memory of Fat John¡¯s death came racing back. ¡°We know you tried to save him,¡± said one of the women. She was black, with an imperial purple afro and red-eyes. Mai thought she was captivatingly beautiful and could only stare at her. ¡°Bugger, sorry. I¡¯m still saving to have my GLAMOUR skill deactivated.¡± A hand gently grasped Mai¡¯s chin, moving her head until she broke her gaze and met the eye of the cyborg. ¡°Apologies, Jayne was a pleasure slave before she was indentured for using her GLAMOUR to manipulate her masters and mistresses,¡± they said. ¡°Just try to avoid looking directly into her eyes for more than a couple of seconds.¡± ¡°How long have I been out?¡± Mai asked, adrenaline flooding her body as she checked her retinal monitor¡¯s clock. ¡°Don¡¯t worry,¡± they answered, ¡°we¡¯ve been moving you around the whole time whilst you healed. It has only been precisely two hours, six minutes and five seconds since we recovered you from the scene of the battle.¡± Jayne gave a visible shudder, making a ¡®brrr¡¯ noise with her lips. ¡°What you did to them,¡± she paused, mouth working as tears spilled down her cheeks. ¡°They deserved everything. And more!¡± ¡°Did I get all of them?¡± Mai took the glass she was offered by the other woman. White, she was in her fifties and Mai had seen her around but never worked on the same shift with her. The three horizontal stripes on her breast pocket marked her out as a shift leader. ¡°You got the first lot,¡± the shift leader replied. ¡°But there are more. Your ¡­ show garnered a lot of attention. People weren¡¯t expecting that from you. You¡¯ve become quite ¡­ the star.¡± She spat onto the floor, waving away at what surely would have been a fine notification. By the look on her face, she thought it was worth it. ¡°No,¡± Mai whispered. ¡°No, I don¡¯t suppose they were. People keep underestimating me.¡± Images of what she had done played across her mind. And whilst she was utterly revolted by what she had done, she still felt no shame or guilt. Not like when she had killed Johnny. Grimtooth had killed one of her closest friends. And the consequence of that had been an horrific death. Taking another sip of water, she used the motion to quickly look deep down in herself. And found she had changed. She felt harder. Not brittle like iron might be. But hard like titanium. Another sip left her still unsure as to whether it was a good or bad thing. The one thing that did worry her was the way she had become almost automaton-like whilst killing Grimtooth. She¡¯d been aware of her actions. But at the same time it had felt as though someone, or even some thing, else was guiding her. Still, if they can get me through this Culling, maybe I should let them just take me over! ¡°We¡¯ve had word that more Cullers are coming. And they¡¯ll have all tapped into the holos and seen what you, and what Fat John and his people did,¡± the cyborg said. ¡°They won¡¯t fall for the same trap again.¡± Mai put her face in her hands for a few seconds as she mulled that over. There was only one thing she could do. ¡°I¡¯m running. I can¡¯t put you or the people of Excretiaville at risk again. I¡¯ll head back into the sewers and deal with any that come after me myself. I won¡¯t lose any more friends!¡± She spat that last, slamming a fist into the mattress of her cot. But what she truly meant by ¡®won¡¯t¡¯ was ¡®can¡¯t¡¯. This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. First Andries, then Johnny, now Fat John, three of the best friends I ever had were either dead because of me or at my hands. Snatching at her cover, she wiped away the tears tickling her cheek as they ran down her face. There was no protest from the others that she should stay. No demands that they go with her to assist in facing any other traitors there might be. Just a silent acceptance. ¡°How long do I have?¡± ¡°The first will be here in thirty minutes,¡± said Jayne. ¡°They¡¯re coming down Elevator Shaft Two Fifty. Others will be entering via Elevator Shaft One Thirty Five and will arrive in roughly one hour.¡± ¡°We tried to stop the Elevators from leaving this level,¡± said the still unintroduced shift leader. ¡°But that started to affect people¡¯s shifts and money. We couldn¡¯t hold them back any longer.¡± Mai nodded and gave a shrug of acceptance. They¡¯d helped her in the only way they could, for as long as they could. ¡°Thank you. You bought me precious time.¡± Bringing the map of Excretiaville on her retinal monitor, she saw that the elevators were essentially at opposite ends of the town. Looking at where other elevators were located, she had a sinking feeling that any other groups would use different elevators in such a way that a ring was created around the town. She threw the map up onto the wall and started marking the shafts already being used, and the ones she thought any follow-up Cullers would use. ¡°All points of the compass,¡± said Jayne. ¡°They can come down different shafts and try and hunt you in their own sectors whilst avoiding any other Cullers.¡± ¡°If they have a truce that would be the most logical plan,¡± said the cyborg. ¡°And yet, because of the Deadzone, there is a ¡­ deadzone where you might be able to slip into the sewers and away from Excretiaville.¡± They marked the map, drawing a route which skirted - but never quite entered ¨C the Deadzone before entering normal sewers. It would also lead her to another area of the city she hadn¡¯t been in. ¡°Right, I need to visit the Scavenger Queen and top up on BIO-BOOST and food. Then I¡¯ll head off along that route. If anyone follows me, I¡¯ll deal with them, and the good people of Excretiaville will be safe.¡± ¡°We¡¯ve already sorted that,¡± said the shift leader. Realising that she wasn¡¯t going to be introduced, Mai ignored common courtesy and read her name. ¡®Bene Fitz.¡¯ Turning away for the second, Bene lifted something off of a table before turning back. In her hands she held two bottles of BIO-MASS BOOST. ¡°It¡¯s on credit. Five per cent interest per day. She gave you mate¡¯s rates.¡± Mai very much doubted that. Blink-clicking on her retinal monitor she opened up her messages, clicked on the invoice, winced at the amount, and sent the money. ¡°With mates like her ¡­¡± she didn¡¯t finish as they all chuckled. ¡°We¡¯ve also prepared a backpack for you. Lots of lichen and protein bars. Physical torch, physical staff. Help you keep your BIO-MASS for when you truly need it,¡± said Jayne, jerking her head over her shoulder. And that was that. There was no other reason for her to remain, and it was clear that whilst the others wished her well, they also wished she was gone. Without ceremony, Mai took her things, thanked them one last time and left. It took longer than she imagined it would to leave Excretiaville. It was as though the events of the last few days had turned her into some kind of talisman. Everywhere she walked, workers would stop and stare, some reaching out to touch her. Those not brave enough to touch her would call out her name, some barely mouthing it as they watched her walk the streets. Whilst most would meet her gaze, others would shuffle and look away as their eyes met. How have I changed such that they would look at me like this? She thought as a child hid behind her fathers. Neither of the men were willing to meet her gaze, bowing their heads and stealing upward glances. Of course, she knew how she¡¯d changed. She¡¯d become Vengeance Personified when she killed Grimtooth. She had transmogrified from a person into a being. A state of consciousness that went beyond sentience and into the realm of myth and legend. Briefly, she had been one of the Unbeings. Whispers had followed her as she walked, and she had struggled to hear what they were saying. Initially she thought they were speaking whole sentences, but then she had finally heard a child ¨C it was always the children who were brave enough to say what their parents either wouldn¡¯t or couldn¡¯t ¨C call out the word. Although time was tight, she was certain she could make her way through Excretiaville far quicker than her enemies, even if they did have numbers and others on their side. Curiosity piqued until she could stand it no more, she stepped into an alcove, blinked open a search function and set the Unbeing as a parameter. She had a result faster than the blink of an eye. Unbeing. A creature of myth and legend. A creature of nightmares. The complete and utter subsummation of a human¡¯s soul into a state of consciousness transcending that of humanity and the concepts which bind such definition. During the state of Unbeing, the former human is more metaphysical in nature and ruled by one sole goal. Revenge, Justice, Anger, Avarice, no matter what the state, the goal becomes everything until it has been achieved. At that point, the Unbeing reverts back to their former nature. Legend has it that once a person has been an Unbeing, the eyes of the universe are upon them, and that they might revert back to Unbeing in times of extreme stress and which match events of their previous Unbeing. That last paragraph made her heart skip a beat. She¡¯d never known that Unbeing was such a thing, nor had she ever believed that she was capable of the actions she had carried out following Fat John¡¯s death. How in the Five Heavens am I going to avoid Unbeing again? Will I just kill the person I¡¯m after, or will those around me also die? Will I be able to control it, or will it control me? She couldn¡¯t be responsible for any more deaths of people she cared about. Mai wanted to be able to look Li in the eyes without seeing judgement or condemnation for what she had done to have them reach the Celestial Court. Whilst her goal, that of getting back to Li, remained the same, Mai now knew that she had limits as to what she could ¨C or would ¨C do in order to get there. If there was an enemy that needed killing, she would kill them. But she wouldn¡¯t let herself turn into a creature such as an Unbeing again. And to do that, she realised she would have to control her emotions, bite down on them. Essentially try to become that which she was afraid of becoming, but on her terms. Because if she managed to reach her sister once again and found that she was feared, or reviled, by the one person who truly loved her, it would be her undoing. Everything she had done up to that point would be rendered utterly pointless. All the killing, and all the deaths of those that cared for, wasted. I can¡¯t have that, she has to be proud of what I did, not terrified of what I became. With that in mind, she set off once again, this time trying to do her best to ignore the crowds and the people, cutting through buildings to shorten the time it would take her to reach the sewers. Book 2 - Rebel - Chapter 15 Entering the sewers felt like putting on a comfortable old coat, something she would never have thought possible. Looking back at the girl she used to be, she was shocked by the girl ¨C woman ¨C she had now become. Mai would never have thought she would find poorly lit tunnels filled with her fellow citizen¡¯s bodily waste comforting, but she felt she knew them better than her old hangouts in the city. But down here, she was clear on the dangers, and she¡¯d actually felt as though she belonged in the sewer company. Once I¡¯d stopped sulking so much about being indentured, she thought ruefully. And that had surprised her. She¡¯d been reluctant to admit it, but for a period, before she¡¯d lost Andries, she had found people she liked and respected. And who returned those feelings. Up in the city, she had tried to fit in with her neighbours, but they had always been awkward around the orphan girls. Viewed them as bad luck, and the more small-minded of them had questioned why two children warranted such a nice apartment. Conveniently forgetting the circumstances of their death. Even when she had been running with Johnny, she hadn¡¯t fit in with his crew. At the time she hadn¡¯t quite understood, but now it was clear. Mai still owed her FREERUNNING skills to that group of not-quite-friends, however. And she wasn¡¯t even going to think about her schooling. That was one thing she knew was mostly down to her inability to play nice and follow the rules. Which had obviously led to the situation she was in now. But hey, I can read and write, right? Including the sign and glyph just ahead which warned her of toxic gases, acid, and a potentially very painful but relatively quick death. With a thought she created her hazmat suit, unlimbered her staff and walked into the depths of the tunnel. * Mai had only been walking for five minutes before she heard voices echoing down the tunnel after her. The stream here was low, barely a trickle and so voices weren¡¯t as muted as they might me. One lesson that Mai did remember from her lessons was that sound travelled quicker over water. In the sewers, where the liquid wasn¡¯t quite as fluid as water, sound was muffled. Conversations, even shouts were often muted. Had the level been higher in this tunnel, her pursuers might have caught up without her knowing. Another quick blink and she hissed slightly as she formed a mine. It was a bouncing Betty, and she placed it under some debris, taking little care of time to hide it well. Let¡¯s see what sort of Culler I¡¯m up against, she thought as she carried on down the sewer, dragging her feet where she could in order to leave more of a trail. Then twenty or so paces down she picked her footing more carefully. Stepping only on areas where there was no waste, she gingerly made her way for another twenty paces before forming another mine. Stepping back into the flow, she created more tracks before placing the bomb. Moving to the side of the tunnel, she took her staff and deliberately knocked it against the side of the tunnel. The clatter it created echoed down the tunnel. Within seconds it was immediately answered with excited voices. And the hunt is on. * Pausing for breath, Mai listened to the screams chasing her down the tunnel. Either the Cullers chasing her were stupid, too eager, or a combination of both for they had run blindly into her first mine. She¡¯d got one kill notification, and six others had been injured. Even though she knew they were injured and bleeding, none of them had died, so she had assumed that they¡¯d healed themselves, or others in their group had healed them. Of more concern was the fact that she was being chased by at least seven other Cullers. They¡¯d proceeded more cautiously after that, and whilst she¡¯d heard the second mine detonate, there had been no further injuries. Need to keep their blood up, keep them coming, she thought as she smacked the side of the tunnel again, scraping the staff along the wall. They didn¡¯t raise so much of a hullabaloo that time. Bastards are learning. Blinking open her map, she checked that she was still leading them in the correct direction. Rather than having to create more of her mines, or turn to face them, she¡¯d decided to let someone, actually some things, do her work for her. This part of the Deadzone hadn¡¯t seen much action in the way of workers going on hunts, so she expected the Mogwai population to be larger. Whilst they might not be as impressive as the evolved mogwai she¡¯d experienced when rescuing Fat John, they should be more than enough of a challenge for the inexperienced Cullers. Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. Activating her SPOT HIDDEN, she started to hunt for signs of mogwai. A scrape here, a scale there. Spoor hidden amongst human waste. Once she had sign, Mai knew where she needed to go. * Unwrapping a lichen protein bar, Mai quickly bit off half, chewing as quickly as she could. As soon as she had it suitably mushed, she spat it into her hand before launching it down the tunnel. She¡¯d been doing this for nearly thirty minutes after having found an air vent blowing towards her destination. Seeding the bars after she¡¯d passed the vent, she had continued to lead her pursuers along the tracks left by the mogwai. Mai¡¯s plan was simple. Mogwai had a sense of smell millions of times better than that of humans. By chewing up the food she was releasing more of its flavour as well as adding her own scent to it. And with the fan blowing the combined scent towards the mogwai, she was expecting a whole host of mogwai to descend upon them. Not knowing when they might appear, or how many, she¡¯d left way markers on every ladder and side tunnel she¡¯d passed. I¡¯m going to run faster than I¡¯ve ever run before, she thought as she paused to listen for any sign that Mogwai were approaching. The flow in the sewer was still low, so she wouldn¡¯t be able to use disturbances in the flow to know when mogwai were approaching, so she was stopping every fifty or so paces to just listen and look out of the corner of her eye. Some thing shifted just ahead of her. In the blink of an eye she was crouching, lowering her profile so that she wasn¡¯t backlit by any of the few still-working lights behind her. It was silly to think that they might not be able to see her, considering that mogwai could also see on a number of different spectrums including heat and ultraviolet, but she wouldn¡¯t risk her life on a gamble that she was facing a mogwai, and not a Culler. Keeping an eye on her retinal monitor, she watched the seconds go by as she controlled her breathing, opening her mouth to make it as silent as possible. It also helped her control the adrenaline dump the noise had flooded her system with. Whilst there was no further noise from ahead of her, she could hear the Cullers behind her drawing closer. For the last two hours she¡¯d made sure she was always roughly five hundred paces ahead of them. Far enough away that they wouldn¡¯t be able to get close without warning her, but close enough that they felt they were gaining on her. Treat them mean, keep them keen, fucking arseholes, she thought with a mental and physical sneer. Setting off once more, Mai¡¯s thoughts turned to how she could actually survive the Culling. It wasn¡¯t about winning for her, since technically being in the last one hundred could be deemed as ¡®winning¡¯, but about surviving. Thus far, she¡¯d done okay on her own, but at the same time she had to admit that she hadn¡¯t truly been on her own for much of her Culling. She¡¯d had assistance from people ranging from friends, she bit down a sob at the thought of Fat John, former friends, and even members of the public. So whilst the scoreboard might show her as being ¡®solo¡¯, as it was now, she realised that she had got this far only because others had helped her in some way or other. It was a sobering thought. No doubt there were those Cullers out there who were truly on their own, with no former friends to help them, and no civilians willing to give a word of advice. But were those the ones whose deaths were constantly being announced? She¡¯d got so used to the announcements that they were nothing but background noise now. And as she thought about it, all of her encounters had largely been groups of Cullers who had banded together. How robust those alliances were, she didn¡¯t know. It was perfectly reasonable to expect that the Cullers were only banding together for short periods of time to remove others like her. But there might be alliances that were actually built upon trust and which would stand the test of time. I would love for such a thing, she thought with a silent sigh. If only Johnny hadn¡¯t turned on me. She truly believed that if she hadn¡¯t been forced to kill him that they would have had a much better chance of surviving. Out of all the people in her former cadre, the only person who she might even come close to trusting with her life ¨C and in fact actually had ¨C was Dakota. And in a city this large, the chances of them finding each other were astronomically small. Still, she offered a prayer to the Six Priestesses of Love, Friendship and Fraternity, and tried to tilt the odds in her favour through positive thought and manifestation. Mai hadn¡¯t had much time for philosophies such as that before, but right now she¡¯d turn anti-clockwise five times and knock on wood if it meant she had a chance of surviving. Hairs standing up on the back of her neck, Mai paused mid-stride as she heard the unmistakable sound of scales scraping against the tunnel wall. Hardly daring to breathe, Mai cocked an ear, listening for the approaching Cullers, trying to gauge how distant they were. Three hundred paces and closing, still not being anywhere near quiet enough, she thought with a smile. Forming a small paring knife for the measly cost of a quarter of a per cent of BIO-MASS, she drew the blade quickly across her palm, hissing as the flesh parted. Absorbing the knife, she pressed the thumb of her other hand into the cut, forcing more blood out. As soon as she thought she had enough she flung it in a wide arc before her before turning around and sprinting back towards the Cullers. There was no need for her to make any noise, the smell of her blood as she flung it into the stream would bring the mogwai after her like sharkranhas after an injured swimmer. Chewed up protein bars had attracted their attention, bringing them sniffing. But now they had the scent of blood in their noses, nothing would stop them. Baying, howling, hissing, and any number of other animalistic sounds bellowed out behind her as she sprinted. Retinal minimap up, she looked at the position of the Cullers and the various cut-off tunnels and ladders she¡¯d marked previously. A quick bit of thinking, and she narrowed her options down to a ladder leading up five levels, and a side tunnel which led to another, broader sewer four hundred paces away. Neither were ideal, but if her plan worked, she wasn¡¯t expecting any pursuit. As she drew closer to the Cullers, she started dragging her staff, panting more than she needed to do, and generally making far more noise than she had before. Grinning as they responded, their voices getting more excited, sounds of their footsteps getting louder as they ceased trying to sneak but instead started moving towards her with less caution, Mai felt hope swelling as her plan started coming together. Book 2 - Rebel - Chapter 16 As the sound of those hunting her got louder, so too did the calls of the creatures pursuing her. Yelling out challenges, Mai continued to run as quickly as she could, taking into account the treacherous footing of the sewer. No matter how deep the flow, it was always treacherous and she had no intention of falling victim to a particularly slippery section. Knowing that the two groups of hunters would at some point become aware of each other, Mai had taken the time to browse her menus to find ways of ensuring that they only became aware of each other when it was too late for the Cullers to withdraw. As she ran she blink-clicked her menu and started to craft what she would need to ensure a smooth getaway. The first items, and she crafted five for a total cost of five per cent BIO-MASS, were Decoy Grenades. As soon as they were formed, she started to throw them. Even before the first one landed, it started living up to its description. Decoy Grenades are perfect for Cullers wishing to mask their movement and to draw their opponent''s attention away to another area. Small enough to throw at a good fifty paces, Decoy Grenades flash, bang, pop, and even shout as they bounce their way along the ground in random directions. At the end of their life, roughly 30 seconds, they explode with a deafening shriek and blinding burst of white light. The last decoy grenade was still sailing through the air as she launched the second stage of her plan. Blind Grenades. Blind Grenades are designed to render a Culler''s opponents completely incapable of spotting them. Emitting smoke and clouds of nano-bots, Blind Grenades throw up an impenetrable cloud. Not even the most powerful spotting laser can penetrate, making them perfect to use if you need to escape your attackers. One word of caution. Whilst they can''t see you, you can''t see them. Part three of her plan was to merely escape. She had zero intention of fighting either the mogwai or the Cullers and was hoping that the decoy grenades and blind grenades would affect the mogwai just as badly as they would affect the Cullers. The noise was astonishing. Some of the grenades were going off like firearms, one imitating an SMG whilst another barked like a powerful sniper rifle. Others were squealing and she was certain she¡¯d heard one crying out for help in the voice of a small child. And then the blind grenades burst ¨C literally ¨C into life. One second the tunnel ahead of her was clear, visibility only reduced by the absence of light. The next second the entire width of the tunnel was filled with a swirling, glittering, cloud, utterly impenetrable. Barely audible over the cacophony of the decoy grenades, bullets zipped past, Mai only aware that she was being shot at when tracer raced past her. Unable to see who was shooting at her, and from where, she created a shield, raising it before her, praying that its SOAK would hold out against whatever her obviously panicked enemies would send her way. A single blink click, and she had a guideline showing the direction she needed to take to both the side tunnel and the ladder. Gambling on the inability of Mogwai to climb ¨C since they never seemed to leave the sewers ¨C she decided to climb the ladder rather than face being trapped in another tunnel. Decoy grenades still doing their thing, she was unable to hear the Culler¡¯s reaction to the Blind Grenades as she plunged into the cloud. It was as if she had her eyes tightly closed and was pressing the heels of her palms into her sockets. It was both dark, yet filled with flashes of light, and as she raised her hand until it was less than a finger¡¯s thickness away, she still couldn¡¯t see it. Worried that the mogwai were closer than she thought now that she was both blind and deaf to their presence, she dug deep, overrode her natural caution, and sprinted with all her might towards the ladder. If it had been for the distance counter warning her, she would have run straight into the ladder, or the wall beside it. As it was, she struggled to stop, sliding in the muck beneath her feet, crying out as her arms met the metal bars head-on. DAMAGE! 1% It certainly felt a lot more than one per cent, but she accepted it, pushing the pain to the back of her mind as she grasped the rungs and started to climb. Part three of her plan was simple. Escape. As soon as she estimated she was four paces up, she grasped hold tightly with one hand, then crafted a couple of mines, choosing BOUNCING BETTYS once again as they were now a firm favourite and she was comfortable with their operation. Ignoring the BIO-MASS prompt as she was planning on topping up once she was clear of her present position, Mai dropped the mines to the base of the ladder. There was a massive burst of white noise as the first of the decoy grenades came to the end of its brief life. Shit! Mai snatched at the rungs of the ladder, heart pounding, feet scrambling for purchase, skinning her shins, as the shock of the sudden noise threatened to send her plummeting back down into the tunnel. Taking a steadying breath, Mai climbed up as the other decoy grenades ended their lives with screams of white noise and, in the case of one which was just outside of the blind cloud, a white light which left stars dancing before her eyes. Now that the decoy grenades were silent she could hear screams and the sounds of battle as mogwai and Culler fought tooth and nail versus nanite weapons. A smile stretching across her face, she counted the number of kill notifications. Five was a good start, although the kill markers would surely bring more of those hunting her in Excretiaville. Thinking of her former home removed the smile from her face in a blink. She was going to miss those she¡¯d come to know, and the thought that she was never going to return was genuinely upsetting. Less emotion, Mai, she scolded herself as she resumed climbing the ladder. And then she felt it, a vibration through her feet and hands. And what she heard next sent chills through her veins. ¡°Climb dammit! The bitch is somewhere up there!¡± How in Buddha¡¯s left eye did they avoid the damn mines? The only explanation was that one of their number had a worryingly good level of DISARM, or SPOT HIDDEN. Heart in her mouth, Mai started climbing, the sounds of her pursuers seemingly snapping at her heels. * Lungs straining, Mai pulled herself over the lip of the hatch at the top of the ladder. Despite it being only five levels tall, she failed to see that each level was the equivalent of the height of a sewer tunnel and therefore up to triple the height of what she would normally think of as a level. This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it. Stupid bloody mistake, she thought as her lungs strained for breath. I learned that in the first week of being indentured. It just went to show what exhaustion, fear and adrenaline could do to a person¡¯s thought process. However, if she had made the mistake despite supposedly knowing better, the Cullers on the ladder would also be doing the same. If she¡¯d gone for the ladder because she thought it would reduce the amount of time it took to get away, there was a decent chance that the Cullers had chased after her thinking the same thing. Instead of being completely vertical, the ladder had spiralled around a central column with the result that if the timing was correct, she had been hidden from pursuers for the entire climb. Breath returning to a somewhat normal pace, Mai shook the ache out of her hands and arms before opening up her WEAPONS menu. The last section of the ladder had been fifteen paces of straight climb and had taken her at least ten seconds to climb. Picking a small calibre, hyper-velocity sniper rifle, she paid its base cost of seven per-cent. Called ¡®Long Stick¡¯, it had a couple of upgrades which piqued her attention. The first was a different scope. Multi-spectrum Magnified Scope. Whilst the naked human eye can only see in one spectrum, the professional sniper needs every advantage over his targets that they can get. With a multi-spectrum magnified scope the sniper can not only zoom in up to 10 times their normal vision limits, they can also see over several different spectrums including low-light, infra-red, ultraviolet, X-ray, and even gamma-ray. At five per cent BIO-MASS it wasn¡¯t cheap, and actually cost more than the base BIO-MASS for a submachine gun. However, the fact that it would allow her to see thermal signatures meant that she would have a far better chance of spotting her targets before they spotted her. Especially if they were trapped on a ladder and she was shooting down through the hatch using the gap to shield herself. The second option was an extended magazine. Extended magazines are perfect for those who like a large capacity magazine so that they can throw down a serious amount of bullets before having to reload. Naturally this affects the weight and balance of the weapon the magazine is attached to, which can therefore affect horizontal and vertical sway, but many users of extended magazines say that the extra rounds are worth the trade-off. She had to agree, a full magazine was ten-rounds, five more than the usual, which meant she could afford to miss more before reloading. Another three per cent BIO-MASS was spent on that. And then she was on to the third option. Ammunition. And the one that immediately caught her attention was Small Calibre Hyper-Velocity. Small calibre hyper-velocity sniper rounds are ideal for taking out lightly armoured, flesh-based opponents. Caseless, they have a velocity of 5000 paces per second, meaning that their flight path is completely flat, negating the need for a sniper engaging a target at any distance of less than 5000 paces to compensate for the curvature of the planet. With a small mass-reactive charge, the bullets explode upon penetrating their target either causing an additional ten per cent SOAK damage if striking armour, or BLEED at a minimum of 5% per second, SUPPRESSED, INTIMIDATION, PANIC, CRIPPLED (depending on hit location), and STAGGERED (if target is wearing armour). Small but fearsome, these bullets do not come cheap. Don¡¯t come cheap was an understatement. Although each round was about half the size of her little finger, they each cost an eye-watering one per cent BIO-MASS, meaning that it would cost ten per cent BIO-MASS to fill the magazine. This has got to be the most expensive set-up I¡¯ve ever used! Twenty-five per cent BIO-MASS would normally have prevented her from choosing such a weapon, but she needed to make sure that she had completely neutralised the threat posed by the Cullers on the ladder before she had to deal with any other groups of Cullers coming after her. Standing back from the lip of the hatch, she took aim, flipping the scope to infra-red and calming her breathing as she heard her pursuers draw closer. Even so, the acoustics of the tunnel meant that she heard them long before she felt she should have seen them. The waiting was terrible, playing on her nerves as she waited for the first blob of colour to appear so that she could put a bullet in it. Let them come, get at least two on the ladder before you shoot, she reminded herself. And when she did shoot, her target would fall hundreds of paces to the ground below. Judging by the damage each round could do, she wouldn¡¯t even have to kill them with her shot. Just the shock of being hit by such a bullet could cause them to fall, and she was pretty certain that if they were hit on armour and the bullet caused KNOCKED-BACK or STAGGERED, they¡¯d be sent flying off the ladder. She could hear them better now, calling to each other, encouraging those flagging to keep climbing. Purely by accident, the height they¡¯d had to climb meant that their reactions would be slower than normal as they tried to get their tired limbs to react. A blob appeared as the first of the Cullers rounded the last twist before the final ascent. It completely filled her scope, and she silently cursed as she dialled it back down to a setting of one point seven five, which was far more manageable. They looked down at the Cullers below them, calling out, letting them know that they were nearly at the top. Then they paused, looking up to the hatch. Mai stepped back slightly, reducing her profile even further, hardly daring to breathe lest she give herself away. ¡°Looks clear!¡± And with that they resumed climbing. A couple of seconds after another blob appeared. This one was bulkier, but she couldn¡¯t work out if it was because they were muscular or overweight. Unlike the first climber their head was darker, as were patches on their arms and, when they leaned back to look up at the hatch, on their chest. They¡¯re wearing armour, she thought as the Cullers continued to climb. And now she had a target. Although the first climber was now starting to block line of sight to the second, she still had enough time to step slightly to the left, take aim and fire. She¡¯d barely registered the sound of the shot before the bullet struck, the after glare of the muzzle blast not even gone. HIT! 10% DAMAGE SOAK @80% The target shrieked, feet slipping shock much as she had at the start of the climb. A hand came loose, flailing about as their feet scrambled. They twisted until their back was against the ladder. HIT! 2% DAMAGE SOAK @75% STAGGERED With a wail, the Culler lost their grip, plummeting out of sight as they hit the first twist before limply somersaulting down towards the ground. A bullet sparked off the hatch as the first climber fired. Stupid, she thought. Having formed a weapon, the Culler was now forced to make a stand. There wasn¡¯t even the slightest possibility that they would be able to climb, let alone climb and shoot. She returned the shot. HIT! 10% DAMAGE BLEED @6% PER SECOND PANIC! She¡¯d never seen what PANIC would do to a person on a ladder. Without warning the Culler leaped from the ladder in what looked like a dive for the twist below. It didn¡¯t work. With a wet-sounding clunk, they hit face-first before falling away. ¡®Shit!¡¯ she cursed out loud. ¡®What the fuck!¡¯ She¡¯d known that people could be irrational when they were terrified, but to see someone throw themselves down a ladder in the slim-chance they could catch hold of rungs rendered near-invisible by the darkness was something else. KILL! CULLER 000893 ELIMINATED! KILL! CULLER 004998 ELIMINATED! Waiting for a count of thirty, Mai kept her sight trained on the ladder. Convinced that no-one was following her, she absorbed the rifle and headed off. Book 2 - Rebel - Chapter 17 Mai groaned as her internal clock sounded its alarm inside her head. She¡¯d gone for what was called ¡®whale song¡¯. Its low, mournful sound seemed apropos to her setting, and her mental state. After the ladder climb, she¡¯d managed to get into an office block. The company running it provided services to the sewers, and so its premises were surrounded on all sides by sewer tunnels. There wasn¡¯t a window in sight, although the holo-projections did a good job of faking an outside view. Of other city blocks. Views weren¡¯t really a thing unless you were able to get a ticket for a proper public park. Other than that, most people were used to staring across at other hab blocks. Those that were lucky enough to be in an apartment on the atrium side of a hab block at least got to look out across the wide open space and down to the levels below. And they didn¡¯t have to put up with the incessant condenrain either. Empty because of a public holiday commemorating a local saint, it was conveniently installed with sleeper coffins. Constructed to allow workers just enough space to sleep, eat pre-cooked meals and watch holomyths, the coffins were designed for those unlucky enough to be indentured to the company running the office, but lucky enough to avoid being sent into the sewers. A flyer, hovering in the air on her retinal monitor advertised a corporate event to which attendance was ¡®strongly advised, as we commemorate the Sainthood of Chap Man, the glorious fifth floor manager who quelled a worker uprising using nothing more than the day-to-day tools he used for his role.¡¯ Mai didn¡¯t want to think about how he¡¯d managed that. Death by stapler immediately sprang to mind. Scratching as she sat up, she gave a bone-cracking stretch, mouth gaping wide as she yawned, cursing as she stretched out too far and her hands punched into the side of the coffin. Moving to the end of the coffin, which measured a pace and half in width, and roughly three in length, she selected a meal from the dispenser and hungrily started shovelling it into her mouth as soon as it appeared. She was ordering another bowl before she¡¯d even finished the first. Gulping down the hot soup once she¡¯d finished the noodles and aqua-based protein, she shoved the bowl into the recycler and grabbed the next. This is some of the best food I¡¯ve ever eaten! Mai thought, surprised at the quality. Then again, she was on a managerial level, so maybe the corporation took care to feed their managers well, even if they were indentured. Probably hoping that if there¡¯s another rebellion the managers will be so grateful for the food that they¡¯ll try and emulate Chap Man. That was a sobering thought. She¡¯d been indentured into the sewer companies, whilst others were being indentured into mundane every-day jobs where even the promise of good food might keep the workers under control. Bastards, fucking Celestial Court bastards, she ordered another bowl, determined to make the most of the free food and to get her BIO-MASS up without having to rely on her BOOST. Scanning through the dispenser¡¯s menu, she had it print off as many protein bars and bottles of drinks that she thought she could carry in a small pack she crafted. Half a bar covered the cost of that easily. Groaning at how full her stomach was, and already slightly regretting her greed, she popped the door on the coffin open, catching it so that it didn¡¯t spring open. Slowly she peeked her head out, looking to the left first, then down, and then to the right. Swinging her feet out through the door, she flipped onto her stomach and slipped her feet onto the rungs of the ladder leading to the floor twenty paces below. Climbing carefully down, she stopped a pace or so above the floor, twisting so that she could pick up the mine she¡¯d laid the night before. Sighing in relief as she succeeded in not blowing herself up, she re-absorbed the mine and stepped onto the floor. DOMINATION EVENT! 25 SUCCESS BONUS TO ALL SKILLS FOR SUCCESSFUL CULLERS HOLD THE DESIGNATED AREA FOR THE LONGEST TIME. CHALLENGE STARTS IN THIRTY (30) MINUTES DO YOU ACCEPT YES/NO? Twenty-five per cent success increases all of my skills! Mai stabbed the YES button before she even realised her finger was moving. Holding the designated area for the longest time would see her ranking up in nearly every skill she had. She chuckled as she realised that she was finally going to rank up in CLEANING and MOPPING. Maybe even WASTE MANAGEMENT. All completely useless skills now. Even if she was able to Ascend, she doubted that she¡¯d ever find a use for them. That gave her pause for thought, however. Was it possible for the Ascended to fall out of favour perhaps? The holomyths were all filled with tales of Lords and Ladies from the Celestial Court and how they found new lives and loves after being banished by the Emperor. Of course, they were only holomyths, but it was well-known that myths had a root in truth. Even if it had happened once it didn¡¯t mean that wouldn¡¯t, or couldn¡¯t, happen again. And if it was going to happen again, it would be sure to happen to her. Looking back to her minimap, she tried to see if there was a safer but slower route to the designated area. She was still close enough to get there before the event started, she hoped, but she was willing to sacrifice a few seconds of scoring if it meant she got there safely. ¡°Shit, every Culler and their mum¡¯s going to be wanting that reward,¡± she sighed as the mission guideline appeared. Opening up her minimap, she traced the route, working out how long it would take for her to travel the three hundred-odd paces. As with every journey she¡¯d undertaken in the City, it wasn¡¯t a matter of walking in a roughly straight line. She had to ascend and descend several levels, cross any number of public spaces, and all whilst trying not to be killed. Three hundred paces as the Death Bat might fly There were no kill markers on the map, which hopefully meant the Culler to area ratio was low. Pleading to Lady Luck that it meant she was currently the only other Culler in the area, she checked her weapons menu to make sure she had a good range of weapons ready to go and set off. * Kill notifications and markers had been popping up for the last couple of minutes. At first they had been singular; Cullers coming across each other, fighting one-on-one, but as time passed, there had been more and more signs of groups of Cullers working together. Pitched battles. Mai had checked the rules for a DOMINATION event as she walked. DOMINATION ¨C Cullers must hold the designated area for as long as possible. The Culler who spends the longest time in the designated area without being Culled, wins the specified reward. In order to be considered as being inside a designated area, Cullers must have either both feet, or at least fifty per cent of their body within the area. The clock starts counting as soon as the criteria are met, with other Cullers already in the designated area being informed that the section is ¡®Contested¡¯. For every Culler in the designated area who is not part of the informed Culler¡¯s team, the Culler will suffer a time lag, with .25 seconds being added before one second is counted. This means that if a Culler enters the area, and is then informed that four other Cullers have also entered the area, then they must wait for two seconds before one second is added. If there are ten other Cullers, then they must wait four seconds for each second added to their counter. It was clear that in order to make time up, Cullers would have to try and Cull as many other Cullers as they could within the designated area. Unless they were willing to accept the penalty. Mai wasn¡¯t going to gamble on all the other Cullers in the area being happy to sit it out though. And with each additional Culler entering the circle, the penalty would only continue to grow. Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon. She reached a ladder leading down to a connecting sewer leading to the edge of the DOMINATION event. More Culling notifications and kill markers popped. A sudden flurry of deaths. Activating SPOT HIDDEN, she took hold of the ladder and started to make her way down. Every three or four rungs, she paused to listen. Whilst she¡¯d decided to go down to the event, there was another route which meant others could be coming up. And she most certainly didn¡¯t want to be shot from below. Not that I want to be shot from any direction, she thought. Just that the idea of having bullets, or sharp objects entering her from below was terrifying. A few seconds later, and she was back on terra firma, or rather sewer firma. Checking her retinal map, she looked at where the guideline was leading her. It always took the optimal course, getting her there in the shortest time possible. On some occasions, such as when she was rescuing Fat John, she¡¯d been more than happy to just follow it, dealing with anything she might encounter on the way. But this was different. The event was going to draw more and more Cullers. Just walking up to it was not going to ensure a long and fruitful life. Instead, she looked at the areas the designated area touched upon. And, whilst it was certain that others would be doing the same in order to avoid the combat, the larger groups wouldn¡¯t be. ¡®Meaning that if I want better odds, I need to keep away from the centre and skirt the edges of the area,¡¯ she muttered to herself as her finger traced the map. Anyone looking at her would have thought she was drawing shapes in the air. From what she could see, the area was over five levels and covered a wide variety of terrain. On one level was an arboretum, a haven for citizens who liked to walk along carefully curated paths between the huge, levels-tall trees which helped clean the hab block air. Another area was a water park. At least a thousand metres wide, by two thousand long, it provided many hiding spaces. But also a lot of places where a killer could be trapped. Kill markers were already dotting it, and she watched as they gradually made their way into the centre. That¡¯s a group of Cullers, hunting those hiding, she thought as a chill raced over her. She was watching the murder of Cullers trying to hide. And from the way the kill markers displayed, the hunt was nearly totally one-sided. As a location, the water park was completely out of the question. But, looking at where the water from the park ran off, there was a small water cleaning station with a two-story pump house. ¡®Perfect,¡¯ she said, smiling at hopefully having found somewhere she could hide, and also run from at the same time. I¡¯m going to gamble that people won¡¯t want to chase me if I leave the area as otherwise they¡¯ll be losing time themselves. She looked back at the map. Kill markers were appearing every few seconds, with barely a pause between them. And the event hasn¡¯t even started! There were still ten minutes left on the event counter, more than enough time for her to make her way to the pump house. And plenty if she decided that she needed to relocate. * ¡®This is bloody perfect,¡¯ Mai thought out loud as she looked at the pump house. Pipes, as large as three men standing on each other¡¯s shoulders, came from all directions into the industrial building. Stairs led directly up to the entrance door on the second floor. Anyone trying to run directly up would be vulnerable to anyone taking cover there. Although there was line of sight enough for a team to keep up a steady barrage of bullets and explosives to keep the defenders suppressed. But it was a trade off, and she¡¯d already identified a room to the rear of the main entrance which would be near impossible to hit with a deflection shot. All she needed to do was smash a couple of holes in the wall nearest the foyer and she¡¯d have her own little pill box. First though, she had to cross ten paces of open ground, get up the stairs, through the door and into cover without being hideously maimed or killed. SPOT HIDDEN hadn¡¯t helped. And she¡¯d spent five minutes carefully going over the surrounding area. Nothing stood out. No-one had shot at her. But still she delayed. Where she was, she was ¡®safe¡¯. If she didn¡¯t move, those in the area wouldn¡¯t hunt her. But as soon as she climbed the first three steps she¡¯d be in the DOMINATION event area. Three minutes before it starts, one hundred and eighty seconds. Three thousand heart beats, she thought as she tried, and failed, to slow her heart. Fuck it. With that she was off, sprinting hard, arms pumping, head down, eyes raised to keep the steps in view. Two steps up and she formed a large shield, tucking her shoulder into it. Five more steps and she was well and truly into the event area. Six steps later, heart hammering faster than it ever had, lungs heaving for breath, she crashed into the door. Fortunately, she¡¯d scanned it first to see where the hinges were, and so saved herself an embarrassing tumble back down the steps. After a split second of doubt, the door gave way and she bowled into the relative darkness of the room beyond, small SMG in her hand as she tracked for anyone who might have beaten her there. Nothing. Turning, shield up, SMG resting on the rim, she slowly approached the door. Using the shield to push the door shut, she absorbed the SMG then formed a small metal wedge which she placed at the bottom of the door. As barricades went, it was spectacularly dismal, but it would stop any casual Cullers ¨C if such a thing existed ¨C from just strolling right in, and also meant that she could move about the foyer without fear of being sniped. Especially after she crafted a bit of nano-oil and smeared it over the small head-height window. That done she re-absorbed the shield, bringing her BIO-MASS back to one hundred per cent. Next, she formed two mines, for ten per cent BIO-MASS, dropping her BIO-MASS down to ninety per cent. One, she placed slightly to the right of the door, as the hinges were on the left. It didn¡¯t matter if an attacker came through carefully or charged through. They¡¯d still get caught by that mine. The other mine she placed to the left, just inside where a large pipe entered the building. It was a perfect hiding place for anyone assaulting the building to make a beachhead and pin down any defenders. Looking at it for a moment, she mentally traced the steps she would take to enter the position, picked up the mine and stuck it to the wall at roughly head height. Next, she went through the exit at the far left into a short corridor, turned right and entered the room she planned to make her stand in. Sucking her teeth for a couple of seconds, she plotted her actions once again, created a straight iron bar with a spike at the end, and proceeded to knock holes in the wall at lying, kneeling and standing height. Her mini-fort complete, Mai next had to decide what sort of weapon she was going to use. Whilst an SMG might have a high rate of fire, it also had a small magazine size, and she didn¡¯t want to be wasting time forming bullets no matter how quickly the process was. Not if any enemies decided to charge into the room en-masse. Shotguns were good for causing SUPPRESSION, INTIMIDATION and, depending on the ammunition type, BLEEDING. DRAGON¡¯S BREATH was always an option, but she wasn¡¯t sure she wanted to set her hideout alight. Not only would the flames and smoke draw unwanted attention, they could also kill her. A sniper rifle was also out of the question. Whilst it could SUPPRESS, INTIMIDATE and cause additional SOAK damage to any armour worn by an opponent, they were slow firing, cumbersome and the scope narrowed the field of vision so much that she didn¡¯t deem it worth the risk. Next on the list was assault rifles. They came with SUPPRESS and SOAK damage, and their magazines were also a decent size. However, the maximum magazine size she currently had available to her was fifty rounds. Which was better considering they had a slower firing rate than an SMG, but still not what she was looking for. Which led her to the light machine gun section. These guns are beasts! She thought as she looked at the various options presented to her. All of them offered SUPPRESSION, INTIMIDATION, SOAK damage and additional options for bullets which were armour-piercing, incendiary, and frangible. She looked that up. FRANGIBLE BULLETS are designed to disintegrate upon hitting a hard surface i.e. not flesh, such as armour and bone. This prevents over-penetration by the bullet and the potential injuring or killing of people beyond the intended target. FRANGIBLE BULLETS cause BLEED at a minimum of 5% PER SECOND and CRIPPLE if they hit any bone. Which meant that if she used a light machine gun, she¡¯d have a good chance of SUPPRESSING, INTIMIDATING, BLEEDING and CRIPPLING her attackers all with one burst. She would have to lose the SOAK bonus though, as the bullets would disintegrate upon impact. And there was the risk that if her opponents wore full suits, that her rounds would have no effect. The cost also gave her cause to pause for thought. Each round cost nought point five per cent BIOMASS. LMGs came with magazines of fifty or one hundred rounds, meaning that she¡¯d have to either pay twenty-five, or fifty per cent BIOMASS per magazine. She still had a stack of protein bars and other forms of food available, plus some BOOST, but it still had her chewing her lip as she worked over the various options. In the end, she decided she¡¯d have to go for it, but added a bare bones assault rifle to her quick select menu in case she had to switch. A light machine gun cost five BIOMASS with a standard magazine capacity of fifty rounds. Upgrading to one hundred rounds cost her one per cent extra. That brought her to eighty-three point five per cent. There was no need to add a scope, since she would only be a few paces away from any attackers. It was practically point blank. Filling the magazine cost her another fifty per cent, dropping her BIOMASS to only thirty-three point five per cent. Wincing as she formed the weapon, both from the pain of creation and the cost, she quickly ripped open some sachets of food and started cramming it into her mouth. She¡¯d barely added five per cent to her total before a message popped up. DOMINATION EVENT HAS STARTED! DESIGNATED AREA CONTESTED! Book 2 - Rebel - Chapter 18 The event was scheduled to last thirty minutes. DESIGNATED AREA CONTESTED continued to flash up on her retinal monitor. Outside it sounded as though people were celebrating the Emperor¡¯s birthday as weapons barked and cracked. She even thought she heard the zwhip of shuriken guns, and the pulsing shriek of energy weapons. I can¡¯t imagine the amount of BIO-MASS being used! Over a hundred kill markers and notifications had popped up in the first minute alone. If she¡¯d thought the build up to the event was bad she couldn¡¯t have been more wrong. An explosion, close enough to make dust drift down from the ceiling, added four Cull notifications in one go. Coughing as the dry dust caught in her throat, she rolled over to a new position behind the wall. Lying down on the floor would mean that she was protected even further from attempts to shoot through the door and would mean she¡¯d have an excellent chance of popping a head shot off before her attackers even spotted her. That was if anyone attacked. After a minute had passed, she¡¯d earned five seconds of DOMINATION time and was in the top forty per cent of Cullers in the event. All I can hope is that the psychos kill each other, I get more time, and me and the other sneaky buggers can all live to Cull another day. ¡®Quick ¡­ there!¡¯ the voices were muffled but she jumped, nonetheless. They¡¯d come from the left hand side of the building and sounded as though they were approaching the steps. There was another way into the building but that was through a complicated set of maintenance ducts and hatches and would most likely be far too difficult for most to want to try. That was her escape route. Out of this room, into the corridor, up the ladder at the end into a pump control room and then up another ladder, through a hatch and onto the top of the building. That was the risky part of her plan. From there she had to run five paces to the next ladder, exposed to all and sundry, then climb ten paces into the ducts. From there she would be concealed but doubted that the ducts would be able to hold up to any weapons heavier than an SMG. Multiple feet made the metal steps leading to the door ring as the owners charged up them. Unlike her, they were going to find that the wedges at the base of the door were far sturdier than the somewhat shoddy lock she¡¯d destroyed. THUD! The door barely moved. Pained yelps followed the heavy impact, as did a short-lived scream. Mai smirked as she imagined the look of stunned surprise on the faces of the would-be attackers. ¡°Get out the fucking way!¡± A voice roared. She couldn¡¯t tell whether it was male or female, but whoever gave the order assumed the form of a giant in her mind. A very pissed off giant. Taking aim, she laid her reticle on the door, shifting her body slightly into a more comfortable position. ¡°No point dying uncomfortable,¡± she chuckled to herself, gallows humour the only way she felt she could control her fear at the approaching fight. Door shuddering under repeated impacts, Mai licked her lips. After three attempts the hinges gave way before the wedges, the door falling flat into the foyer leaving the giant nicely framed by the light outside. It was huge. Truly a giant, it had to bend down to look through the door, hands the size of her chest reaching through the door frame to grasp hold of the edges as it ducked its equally massive head down. Buddha¡¯s right tit, that¡¯s a Sharkan! Sharkans were legendary. Genetically bred by the Emperor to be used as shock troopers, they were a mix of human and shark. Hence the incredibly unoriginal name. Every ounce of aggression a blood-thirsty shark possessed was married with every ounce of psychopathic behaviour found in humans. Pipes, one red, one blue, curled out over its shoulders to plunge into the skin of its back somewhere out of sight. They were used to enhance both its strength and rage. Usually Sharkans were found in units, controlled by trusted servants of the Empire but it was clear this one was running free. Does that mean it chose to be in the Culling? How does such a thing happen? It didn¡¯t matter, just yet another mystery of life she¡¯d probably never resolve. Just another question which would niggle at the back of her mind. Its skin - although she couldn¡¯t see it due to the light, she knew what it would be like due to having watched so many holomyths ¨C would be thick and leathery, like that of a shark. Even though it was backlit, she could see the skin was heavily scarred where the light fell on it. Sharkans were taught to fight from the moment they emerged from their breeding tanks, gaining their first scars even as they drew their first breath. Death and killing were intrinsic to their very being, and they wore their scars as badges of power and honour. The more hideous the injury, the more honour and strength it denoted. The will to survive was stronger in them than anything created by nature alone. Muscles, far too large for one heart to cope with, bulged beneath that skin, powered not only by three hearts but also by cybernetic pumps installed in its chest cavity. Four lungs four times the size as hers would pump nano-rich blood around the creature. Pain inhibitors would keep the creature fighting when a normal human would have given up. Its four eyes, set at angles in its repugnant shark-human face, were able to see in low-light conditions and across a number of visual spectrums. To say that Sharkans were killing machines was an understatement. They were what killing machines wanted to be when they grew up. Just the mention of a unit of Sharkans being deployed could cause the enemies of the Emperor to retreat, surrender, or commit mass suicide. At least, that¡¯s what the holomyths said. And Mai could truly believe it as her blood turned to ice in her veins. Her mouth dried instantly, tongue cleaving to the roof of her mouth. Her heart stuttered before kicking into overdrive. Her limbs shook, and the INTIMIDATED glyph popped into existence above her head. Helpfully, her retinal monitor also informed her. How the Hells of Uranus did something like that get into the Culling? She hadn¡¯t realised that such things were allowed to have free will on account of their willingness to kill anyone and anything at the drop of a hat. I suppose it falls under ¡®military¡¯. Mai offered a quick prayer of thanks to the Jack of Diamonds ¨C a gambler¡¯s patron ¨C for giving her the luck to not be in the same selection cadre as the Titan. She doubted many had survived the experience. She tried licking her lips but succeeded only in making them feel drier than they were before. Palms suddenly sweating, she tried to dry it on her clothing, but as soon as she returned it to the barrel of the weapon it was wet again. The Titan¡¯s six nostrils flared, each one separately to the other. ¡°There¡¯s a human hiding in here. I can smell their fear,¡± it said in a deep bass rumble. ¡°Fucking go kill them then!¡± shouted someone from behind the behemoth. Mai didn¡¯t know if they were brave or just incredibly stupid to speak to such a creature as that. She couldn¡¯t begin to think of ever having enough authority to order such a creature about and not expect to be ripped limb from limb for having the temerity to do so. It grunted in reply, then twisted its shoulder down and through the opening, ducking its arrow-like head through first. There was a pause as it tried to fit through that way. Grunting and snuffling, it tried to force its way through. Stuck, it twisted more, rough skin grinding against the frame. Mai watched open mouthed at the sheer power it exuded. Her mind raced as she tried to work out just how many shots it would take to kill such a thing. Too late she wished she¡¯d not only chosen a rocket launcher as her weapon, but also that she hadn¡¯t picked a room so small that the back blast of any missile she fired would immediately incinerate her or blast her flesh from her bones. Bending its knees, it finally managed to enter the room. Stretching, it sniffed again as one of its arms turned into a cleaver looking suspiciously as though it was meant to be made from bone The other hand turned into a large bore shotgun, barrel at least one hand¡¯s length in width. The author''s narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. Now it was in the room, it was able to stand at its full three men tall height. As tall as a small mecha it continued stretching as it walked forward, clearing the door for those behind it to follow. Two paces was all it took before the first mine went off. Mai screamed in surprise, the sight of the Titan having driven all memory of her preparations from her mind. Shrapnel punched into its upper body as the blast wave caught it mid-stretch and ¨C more importantly ¨C mid-stride. Off balance, already screaming in pain from having half of its face torn to bloody shreds, the Titan was thrown in the direction of the second mine. INSTAKILL! CULLER 294483 ELIMINATED! What was left of the giant slopped to the floor. If there was any sound, Mai couldn¡¯t tell, the explosion leaving her ears ringing like a temple ball. It had all happened so quickly she hadn¡¯t even had time to correctly parse the first detonation before the second mine followed. Shouts of anger, but mostly surprise, came from the Cullers outside of the building, quickly followed by what sounded like a shouted argument as they tried to decide who was going to go through the door next. All she could do was scrub at the tears of relief streaming down her cheeks, try to control her shaking limbs and prepare herself for the battle to come. Judging from the voices outside, none of the Cullers who had come with the Titan wanted to be the first through the door. Ears still ringing from the mine blasts, Mai was only able to pick out the odd word, but the tone of them was a mix of fear, accusation, and anger. Content to let them argue, Mai used the relative quiet to gather her wits. Whether they came for her or not didn¡¯t matter. As long as she was in the designated area for the event, she was scoring points. Admittedly at the moment those points were far and few between due to the high number of Cullers also in the area. That number was diminishing however. From her quick count, over fifty Cullers had already been killed, and more were dying by the second. A five per cent bonus to all skills was something no-one serious about surviving could truly pass up and she wondered about just how many other similar events were being held all over the city at that very moment. And that gave her pause to think. All this time she had been concentrating on what was happening to her, in her area. In her mind the Culling had shrunk down to the size of the area she was in, and she had given no thought to the Culling as a whole. The city spanned most of the world as far as she knew. It was over ten miles high. All the killing and fighting she¡¯d taken part in had really only been a tiny fraction of what was happening across the planet as Cullers fought and killed each other. And that gave her slightly more hope that she might Ascend. One hundred Cullers were able to Ascend. But as the Culling was spread across the planet, that meant as the number of Cullers lessened, the potential distance between them increased. Which in turn meant that it would be increasingly more difficult for Cullers to just stumble across each other as they were currently. She relished the idea of possibly being able to avoid having to Cull, but then realised that in order for the one hundred to actually be the one hundred, Cullers would have to try to hunt each other down. That, or the Celestial Court will somehow push us together. After all, I can''t have the audience getting bored. Just like that her good mood soured. There was no way around it. If she wanted to Ascend and get back to Li, she was going to have to keep fighting and killing. Not only that, at some point she was going to have to hunt down her opponents. And that ¡­ She didn¡¯t get to finish her thoughts as two objects sailed through the door to land with metallic clunks. Rolling to one side, away from the firing slit, she absorbed her weapon, cupped her hands over her ears and opened her mouth. The grenades detonated, shrapnel shrieking through the air, dust rising in all directions. As soon as they had detonated she reformed the light machine gun and slid back into her firing position. It wasn¡¯t a moment too soon. Feet pounded up the metal steps outside of the office, with the owners screaming out war cries as they did. With the dust from the mines and the grenades still settling, she couldn¡¯t see the outside as well as she hoped and paused for a second too long when trying to recognise the shape appearing at the opening. She snatched a shot off, cursing as the bullets zipped past her target literally a hair¡¯s breadth away from their head. Yelping, the first attacker threw themselves to the floor, exposing one of their comrades as they did so. Mai was now torn. Did she shoot the first attacker and stop them from firing at her, or did she engage the second attacker and hope she could get back to the first attacker before they were able to spot and kill her? She went with the former, firing a long burst that started with the first attacker and then rose to deal with the second. HIT! 23% DAMAGE BLEED@6% PER SECOND SUPPRESSED! HIT! 31% DAMAGE BLEED@5% PER SECOND The second attacker tumbled back out of view as her bullets punched into their chest. Out of the line of sight, they wouldn¡¯t be SUPPRESSED, but she hoped that they¡¯d be too busy trying to heal themselves to get back into the fight any time soon. She didn¡¯t have time to take another breath however, as the first attacker started screaming out her location, whilst another two attackers appeared at the top of the stairs, weapons already firing. Bullets smacked into the wall she was hidden behind, the force of the impacts blowing plasticrete in all directions. Fortunately, all of them were too high, the attackers aiming for the firing slits she¡¯d knocked out higher up. Can¡¯t let them get inside, she thought as she placed the iron sights firmly in the chest of what looked like a ganger. Muzzle flashing, she raked her fire across first the ganger, then their accomplice. And this was why she liked the light machine gun so much as she did in this instance. It was perfect for just spraying and praying. Did it matter that most of the bullets she was sending their way hit them? Not at all. All that mattered was that some of the rounds hit them. And so they did. HIT! 15% DAMAGE BLEED@6% PER SECOND CRIPPLED! UNCONSCIOUS! HIT! 22% DAMAGE BLEED@7% PER SECOND CRIPPLED! INTIMIDATED! Both of the attackers screamed as her bullets shattered the arm of one, and the thigh of the other. The action of the bullet breaking in human, or animal, flesh was horrific. It blew exit holes far bigger than normal bullets, with fragments going in all directions. And from the look of what it did to bones, she never wanted to be on the receiving end. No way would I have been able to sort myself out before I bled to death, she thought as the first attacker slammed into the hard floor face first. There wasn¡¯t a chance in the Nine Heavens of Pleasure that they would wake up in time to HEAL themselves. Attacker number slumped into the doorway, clutching at their wound and screaming. Whether they had enough BIOMASS to HEAL themselves wasn¡¯t a risk she thought worth taking. HEADSHOT! INSTAKILL! CULLER 784839 ELIMINATED! It was far easier, physically, to kill someone when their attention was solely rooted in their own misery. Mentally, she could have done without seeing what FRANGIBLE WOUNDS did to someone¡¯s head. UNCONSCIOUS! For a moment she was confused, then remembered the very first attacker. They too had slipped into insensibility as their blood loss became too great. Not enough BIOMASS and no BOOST to regain it. What the Hells were they thinking? Either the group outside was desperate, or someone was calling the shots and had sent the weakest members of the group in first. And I don¡¯t even know how many more there are outside. Checking her magazine counter, she saw that she¡¯d used twenty seven rounds, meaning that she had another seventy seven left before she needed to reload ¨C which would take valuable time ¨C or switch to a different weapon which would still take time to form, but less. And right now it seemed as though she needed every advantage she could get. Do I stay here, or bug out now, leave a couple of presents as I do? Or do I take the fight to them? Mai¡¯s internal monologue immediately told not to be so fucking stupid with regard to the last idea. A heroic charge would not see her getting back home to Li, but rather see her being torn to shreds by the amassed weapons of her attackers. Of whom, she was assuming there were plenty. Making a stand would be easier. Whilst the walls certainly weren¡¯t bullet proof, she was well hidden, and the bodies in the doorway would make follow-up attacks trickier. As would the blood covering the floor. Although there was a lot of dust from the explosions and the shredded wall, it wasn¡¯t enough to make the floor any less slippery. It was then that Mai glanced down at the map on her retinal monitor. And realised that there was a cluster of Culls directly on her location. Shit! Like bees to honey, or flies to shit, Cullers would be drawn by the Culls. Granted, they would have to kill those enemies waiting outside first, but then they¡¯d been coming for her. That was if they didn¡¯t use explosives or rockets to just flatten the area. She couldn¡¯t gamble that there weren¡¯t BOOST rich Cullers nearby. Run away to live another day, she decided. Fast selecting from her menu she created three mines for fifteen per cent BIOMASS. Activating and bowling one from her firing slit, she placed the second on the door to her shelter, and kept the third in hard. Dropping back into position, she fired a couple of short bursts through the open doorway, raising the rounds fired to thirty, before reabsorbing the light machine gun and bullets. Surging to her feet, activated the second mine as she left her shelter and headed for the ladder. Both hands free, she started climbing. Book - 2 - Rebel - Chapter 19 Moving through the pipes, Mai strained her ears for any sound of pursuit. Pausing to catch her breath, she checked her retinal display. Kill markers for her Culls had been joined by others just outside of the building she¡¯d been in. My culls have brought others in, just like I thought, it gave her a grim sense of satisfaction that her actions were helping to bring down the number of Cullers in the DOMINATION event. It also meant that there would be less heat on her as any pursuers would be busy fighting off the newcomers. Looking at the map, she could see that the pipes led away from the waterpark, but still within the DOMINATION event. Doesn¡¯t matter where I am now, she thought, holding out worked for a short while, but that¡¯s not going to work anymore unless I can find something well and truly off grid. But Mai didn¡¯t have much hope about that. The way that her luck had been going, she felt that it was best she tried to keep moving unless she was forced to hole up. Decision made, she traced a new route through the pipes to another level of sewers. It felt as though she was always going to end up in the sewers no matter how hard she tried to stay away. Mai shrugged. She had the skills to survive in the sewers. Skills which a lot of other Cullers, especially the gangers and ex-military didn¡¯t have. Urbexers would have similar skills, as they were often found digging through the sewers and lost parts of the city, but they would still be at a disadvantage compared to her. And, strangely, she hadn¡¯t come across any other Cullers who had been indentured into Sewer Companies. She cursed when she came to the realisation that she should have asked around, had her former friends put out feelers and see if any other sewer workers had joined the Culling. Now that she had thought about it, she pinged a message to the Scavenger Queen. Not that she held out any hope that her luck would be in. Even so, she offered up a prayer to Saint Jose, Lord of Luck, husband to Lady Luck, Queen of Diamonds. Sitting in the pipe, in the dim light, was actually relaxing. Which was ironic considering the death and destruction being dealt out around her. No-one knew where she was, she was earning points in the DOMINATION event. ¡°If these damn pipes weren¡¯t a death trap I¡¯d be tempted to stay here,¡± she muttered as she pushed herself onto her knees and started crawling along the pipe she needed to get to the access point for the sewers above. * After ten minutes of crawling, and another one per cent of BIOMASS spent on knee pads and wrist braces, Mai was crouched by the hatch leading to the sewer. Checking her retinal monitor, she could see that the sewer was roughly three paces wide. Not ideal, as she preferred the larger pipes, but it also meant that any mines she laid would have their blasts contained, meaning more death and destruction should anyone trip them. Slowing her breath she pressed her ear to the hatch, trying to catch any sound of an enemy. There were no kill markers, so the pipes were quiet with regard to that. But still, she felt twitchy. You¡¯re not paranoid if they¡¯re really out to get you, Mai thought as she gently laid her hand on the lever which would unlatch the door. Looking for hinges, she saw that the door swung into the sewer to the left. ¡®Back will be covered from the left if I scan right,¡¯ she thought out loud. Which meant that if there were any ambushers, they¡¯d most likely be to the right. Looking back at the monitor she tried to see if there were any branches or hatches where ambushers could be laying in wait. Nothing that I can see, nothing to the left either. Mai opened up her menu and paid the BIOMASS for two grenades. It cost ten per cent BIOMASS, but was worth it. Especially if it meant she wasn¡¯t the one at the end of a nasty surprise. For a weapon, she chose an SMG, for three per cent, preferring to go for a high rate of fire rather than a heavy-hitting slug thrower. In a sewer as tight as this she wouldn¡¯t need to be too worried by a high-level of accuracy. As soon as she had the hatch open wide enough, she¡¯d throw one of the grenades to the right. Once it detonated, she¡¯d push the hatch fully open and jump into the sewer to the right, trusting that the hatch would protect her back long enough for her to clear that side. The other grenade would then either be absorbed if there was no fire from the left or, if she was having a ton of lead being thrown in her direction she¡¯d return the favour with the second grenade. Which I really don¡¯t want to have to do when I¡¯m inside the damn sewer. With the hatch positioned the way it was, she didn¡¯t have a good angle to lob the grenade to the left first. Mai placed the two grenades in front of her. Lifting the lever, pausing each time it felt as though it was going to catch, praying that it wouldn¡¯t squeak, Mai managed to crack the hatch open, leaning her shoulder into it. A grunt was forced from her, the hatch heavier than she expected. Once it was open wider than a couple of hand spans, she primed the grenade and bowled it underarm. Slipping to the right of the hatch, she waited a couple of seconds before the fuse burned down and the grenade exploded. A hard shove forced the hatch wide open, and Mai surged through into the sewer, sub-machine gun raised, barrel tracking for any threat. Three paces into the sewer, she saw that aside from the smoke and damage caused by the grenade that there wasn¡¯t anyone there. Spinning on her heels, she faced to the left of the sewer. No shots. No enemies charging at her, weapons raised. Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings. ¡®Damn, that¡¯s an anti-climax,¡¯ Mai said, breathing out a sigh of relief. Reabsorbing the grenade and the sub-machine gun, she took hold of the hatch and closed it. For a second she considered whether she should leave a mine behind, but decided that she¡¯d rather keep the BIOMASS for later. She hadn¡¯t had time to take notice of the condition of the sewer, but now the adrenalin was coming down, she noticed that the ground was utterly dry, and the walls looked to be in good condition bar the shrapnel marks from her grenade. A couple of dessicated skeletons, small vermin, not large enough to be Mogwai, lay a bit further on. Only tatters of leathery flesh hung from the rib cage. She couldn¡¯t see any evidence that the bones had been gnawed. ¡®This sewer¡¯s been unused for a long time,¡¯ she said. Looking at the highest tide mark on the walls, it looked as though the sewer had never been truly filled to the top. Being that it was a small sewer, it was perfectly reasonable to assume it was either closed, or only used when the larger sewers were overflowing. And judging by the state of it, the sewers in this area hadn¡¯t seen much action. It set her senses tingling. A sewer, close by to a main sewer, as well as the water park, which saw no traffic to the extent that even the vermin starved to death. And if they¡¯d starved to death, that meant the sewer was sealed at one or both ends. Activating SPOT HIDDEN, rather than rely on any passive bonus it might give, she walked along the corridor a pace at a time. Her head swivelled from left to right, up and down, eyes straining to pick out anything which stood out. And then she spotted it. An outline in the wall which looked like a well-placed hatch. Checking her retinal monitor it showed nothing leading off the sewer where she was. Placing her ear close to the hatch she strained her ears to hear any movement. Do I open it, or leave it? She asked herself, unable to tell if anyone was there. Pushing away from the hatch she took a closer look. No marks on the sides. No scrapes where feet might have scuffed it on entering. Placing a hand on it, she felt it was cold. If there was a room with warm bodies in it, or even Cullers taking the opportunity to cook, there was the chance that the heat they generated would seep through the metal. She checked her timer. Even though it felt as though the event had been running for hours rather than minutes, she still had twelve minutes left on the event. Kill markers still popped up all over the place, the pace not slowing down. And the amount of points she¡¯d earned was pitiful, even if she was at the top. Whilst she¡¯d managed to score some points for being in the event area, she was still neck and neck with others who had got themselves into the area before it started. Looking at the scoreboard, there were plenty of newcomers who had yet to score. Which meant that Cullers were still being drawn to the event. Convinced that the space beyond was empty, or that any Cullers inside were either dead, unconscious or sleeping, Mai took hold of the large wheel jutting out of the front of the hatch. As she was about to open it, her ears pricked up at a sound from to her right. A whisper? The sound of cloth brushing cloth? She was frozen, hands holding the wheel, hardly daring to breathe, ears straining for any sound. Then she caught the distinctive smell of garlic. As far as she knew, mogwai didn¡¯t eat garlic. With a blink she selected an SMG, paying extra for a suppressor. Whilst the kill marker might mark something was going on, there was no need to draw everyone¡¯s attention by making a racket. And if there weren¡¯t any other Cullers around, she certainly didn¡¯t want to bring Mogwai bearing down on her. Whoever it was must have been close enough for her to smell the garlic. Unless they¡¯d been sweating it. Which meant that they ate far too much garlic, and that they were still much closer than she would like. Not breathing down her neck close, but close enough. Taking her still-outstretched hand away from the handle, Mai slowly turned her head to the left and took a long, slow and deep breath. Then, turning her head to the right she repeated the process. It¡¯s stronger that way, so they¡¯re not behind the damned door. Which meant that they were to the right. Keeping her weapon trained in that direction, she quickly checked her minimap. If she moved left to avoid Stinker she risked leaving the area if she put a foot wrong, the border of the event area being that close. Cursing softly, she opened up the details of the event trying to see whether a wrong foot would blank the time she¡¯d gained ¨C which was fuck-all thanks to all the other Cullers flooding the area ¨C or whether she could exit and then re-enter further one down. DOMINATION EVENT RULES ¨C In order to receive the reward, Cullers must stay in the designated event for the entirety of said event. Place one foot wrongly, point in the wrong direction, even let one hair still attached to your head stray out of the area and your clock will be restarted. Mai would have screamed in rage if she could. She was trapped too close to the edge of the event and all because she¡¯d done it to herself, thinking herself clever. Why the Hells of Dead Mercenaries don¡¯t I read the fucking rules! Still, a decision had been made. Sort of. She either had to go through the door, and risk alerting Stinker to the fact that she was there. Or she had to go and kill Stinker before they killed her. Then she could decide whether she wanted to go through the door. No choice, she took hold of the SMG with her free hand and slowly rotated towards where the stench of garlic was strongest. Need this to be over and done with quickly. She activated USE SMG, TUNNEL COMBAT, SEWER COMBAT, SNEAK and STEALTH. This meant that STATS BLOCK HERE USING EXISTING TALLY. Just hope that whoever I¡¯m up against doesn¡¯t have the same or better skills, she thought as she made her way down the sewer. Whoever was waiting for her hadn¡¯t moved away, which she could tell by the way the smell of garlic got closer. After ten paces she was breathing through her mouth. The stench was so bad it was as if Stinker had taken a bath in garlic juice. Raising her free hand, she wiped at her watering eyes. A grunt, soft. Just a few paces away from her. She activated SPOT HIDDEN, and suddenly there it was. Stinker was wrapped up in some sort of stealth cloak. Completely covered from head to toe, they were absolutely invisible. She would never have known they were there if it wasn¡¯t for the stench. Too easy, Mai scanned the whole sewer tunnel again from top to bottom. Where her eyes looked, the barrel of her gun went. Clear. She looked back down to Stinker. Aside from the gentle sound of their breathing, which she could only hear because she was either listening for it, or just because she was now aware that they were there, there was no other sound from them. They were completely dead to the world metaphorically speaking. I could just leave them, she thought. They looked so peaceful curled up under the cloak. The Emperor knew how long they¡¯d been there. But it must have been before the start of the DOMINATION event, because no-one in their right mind would just go to sleep mid-event. But leaving them wasn¡¯t an option. If she killed them now, that would decrease the Culler count in the event and increase her chances of scoring. And it would also mean that her chances of surviving and getting back to Li were also better. HEADSHOT! CULLER 390994 ELIMINATED! Mai sighed as she looked at the kill marker on the map. And then she heard the shouts and footsteps of Cullers and the chase was on. Book 2 - Rebel - Chapter 20 The voices had come from the right. Precisely the direction she¡¯d needed to take if she wanted to make sure she was able to stay in the event area. Her skills were still active, with at least another 40 seconds before they went passive. Cursing her luck, she dashed to the secret room and spun the handle as quickly as she could. Locks thunked as the thick bars holding the door shut slid back. Grunting with the effort, she pulled, all the time trying to ignore the sound of the approaching Cullers. As soon as she had it roughly a hand¡¯s width ajar, she crafted a mine, tossed it through into the room beyond, and sprinted away to the left. It was a basic ruse, but it was the best she could come up with given the circumstances. Whether the oncoming Cullers would fall for it she didn¡¯t know, but if they did, the mine would hopefully slow them down. And if it doesn¡¯t, will they risk chasing me if they see that we¡¯re so close to the edge of the event? Her internal monologue reminded her that she hadn¡¯t checked the rules of the event, being too caught up with the idea of twenty-five successes across all skills, so why would she even begin to think that they¡¯d have done the same? Reaching the end of the sewer, she slowed her approach, not wanting to accidently skid on the floor of the tunnel and risk stepping outside of the designated area. Slipping around the corner, she caught her breath and zoomed in on her minimap. The edge of the area was one pace to her left. Talk about cutting things close! She kept moving, keeping her pace at a quick walk, activating FREERUNNING to make sure she was able to spot the best path through, not wanting to rely on her PASSIVE skill for something so important. She did speed up her pace as the sound of her pursuers got closer. It was obvious they were nearing the open door from the sound of their voices. A mixture of hushed, harsh whispers, a raised voice saying something like ¡°fucking do it!¡± Whoever it was did it. INSTAKILL! CONTESTANT 299483 ELIMINATED INSTAKILL! CONTESTANT 014993 ELIMINATED HIT! BLEED@7% PER SECOND PANIC! HIT! BLEED@6% PER SECOND PANIC! HIT! BLEED@4% PER SECOND PANIC! Screams filled the sewer tunnel only audible once the sound of the explosion had finished rolling through the tight sewer tunnels. KILL ASSIST! CONTESTANT 892984 ELIMINATED KILL ASSIST! CONTESTANT 203098 ELIMINATED KILL ASSIST! CONTESTANT 910386 ELIMINATED What the actual fuck? Kill assists! Notifications like that could mean only one thing, the people chasing her had killed members of their own team. Talk about loose alliance! Cullers weren¡¯t to be trusted, not unless you truly knew them as she had learned to her cost, but this went beyond the pale. Gunshots rang out, closely followed by screams which were cut short. Cull notifications scrolled past on her retinal monitor. There had been at least ten people chasing her. Gods, this is the biggest group I¡¯ve come across! But now she was in a bind. Ahead of her lay a sprint of more than one hundred paces before she would be able to take a branching tunnel and cut right, back towards the designated area proper. Whilst there were plenty of pipes feeding into the sewer, she didn¡¯t want to try to escape her pursuers down one either crouching or on her hands and knees. Especially not as being shot would result in her arse being peppered with whatever projectile was being sent her way. On the left, no more than thirty paces away was another connecting sewer, but to get to that, she¡¯d be leaving the area. ¡°Come on!¡± Whoever the speaker was, they had powerful lungs. Echoes overlapped as the shouted order bounced back and forth down the sewers. Mai really didn¡¯t want to see what sort of person owned such a voice, Sharkans being more than enough for one day. Not going to make it! She thought as she came level with the connecting tunnel. Spinning to face in the direction of her pursuers, she created a shield for one hand, and a light machine gun for the other, resting the barrel of the weapon on the edge of the shield to give it stability. BIOMASS NOTIFICATION A pursuer bolted around the corner, staggering as if pushed. Mai waited a second for them to regain their balance, adjusted her aim, and fired. Five rounds. Muzzle flare blinded her slightly, the noise of the gun deafening in the close confines of the sewer. This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. CRITICAL HIT! 45% BLEED@10% PER SECOND PANIC! CRIPPLED! Shrieking, the Culler clutched at their shattered leg. Blood jetted from it, pulsing with each heartbeat, stretching out at least five paces each time. ¡°Help me! I¡¯ve got no BIOMASS!¡± they managed to shriek out. Mai shifted her aim. No need to waste my own biomass, they¡¯ll bleed out soon enough. Unless someone in their party actually wanted to help them. A head poked out from around the corner. Mai held her fire. Tucked behind her shield as she was, in the dim light of the sewer, she would be hard to spot. Come on, come on! She silently urged her enemies. ¡°Help me! Help me!¡± The wounded Culler stretched out a hand, barely able to support the weight of their arm. A shot rang out, blasting half of their face off. KILL ASSIST! CONTESTANT 000485 ELIMINATED! Mai¡¯s arm trembled, her sights dancing around her aiming point, breathing coming in short gasps as she tried to process what she¡¯d just seen. Whoever was leading the group around the corner was callous beyond extreme. Splitting her attention for just a second, she took a quick look at the dead Culler. Although the lighting was bad, she could just make out that they were wearing the yellow jumpsuits so often favoured by low-level prisoners. Which explains the leadership style. If you¡¯re weak, you¡¯re either a threat to the group, or you¡¯re someone¡¯s bitch, Mai thought as she pushed a pang of fear to the back of her mind. Back to where she¡¯d been forced to push so many other things to just cope with what she had to do. That, and memories of her lost friends. Another head poked around the corner and she found herself holding her breath. Willing them to not spot her. Just in case, she boosted her PASSIVE URBAN CAMOUFLAGE by ACTIVATING it. For every rank she held, she passed on a five per cent debuff to their ability to spot her. Adding this to the fact that the lighting was poor, and she had a very good chance they would struggle. Just hope that they decide to push round before the damn skill goes into RECHARGE, she thought. If she could just stay out of plain sight long enough for them to start advancing down the tunnel, she could take down the majority of them, bottled up as they were. A second prisoner staggered into view, stumbling out of the designated area, cursing as they received the obvious notification that they had lost their hard-won score. ¡°Fuck y¡­¡± they started before holding up their hands in what looked like supplication. ¡°There¡¯s nothing here. Looks like they¡¯ve scooted.¡± There was a pause. More precious seconds of her ACTIVE skills lost. The lone prisoner stood, looking back and forth between the tunnel and his team members, wiping his hands on his already filthy yellow jumpsuit. And then others came around the corner. Two, three, six. And finally a large shape, herding them along with some sort of polearm. Come on, any more of you fuckers? Mai licked her lips, her skills were rapidly counting down to RECHARGE. No one else stepped out, the lead part of the group having advanced roughly five paces. And with each pace they grew closer, the better the chance of them spotting her. Even more once her skills were in RECHARGE. She waited, three paces more. Checking her ammo count, she still had forty-five rounds remaining. More than enough to hose the group in front of her. And to finish them off she¡¯d use a shotgun. More boom for your buck she thought, not even pausing to wonder where such a strange saying came from. Breathing out, then holding her breath, Mai let rip with the light machine gun. The enemies at the front had zero chance. Dead before they even knew it, their bodies were face first in the dried effluent in a split second. NEW TITLE! - TWOFER! YOU KILLED TWO ENEMIES WITH ONE BULLET! INSTAKILL! CONTESTANT 459684 ELIMINATED! CONTESTANT 459685 ELIMINATED! INSTAKILL! CONTESTANT 399584 ELIMINATED! CRITICAL HIT! 65%! CRIPPLED! BLEED@7% PER SECOND! HIT! 12% BLEED@9% PER SECOND! SUPPRESSED! HIT! 10% BLEED@6% PER SECOND! SUPPRESSED! Bodies tumbled to the ground in the blink of an eye. Mouths opened in screams. Hands clutched at gaping wounds. Blood poured out of holes in a way nature never intended. Five people down and out of the fight in less than three seconds. Shifting aim, blinded by her own muzzle flash, Mai was too slow to react as the boss of the group raised a weapon. Its barrel was massive. She had no idea what she was facing and all she had time to do was blind-fire as the enemy boss fired back. HEADSHOT! INSTAKILL! CONTESTANT 123223 ELIMINATED! Even as the prisoner boss died, his projectile landed just in front of her shield. Mai had a split second to duck back down, take a breath and then it blew. SOAK! 95% It was like being hit with a giant¡¯s hammer. One second she was firmly planted behind her shield. The next she was cartwheeling through the air. Breath exploding from her lungs, Mai screamed as the hard floor of the sewer met her soft flesh. DISQUALIFIED! CONTESTANT HAS LEFT THE DESIGNATED AREA! Gasping for breath, Mai rolled on the ground in agony as she tried to regain her wind. Activating TREAT LIGHT WOUNDS she gasped as she finally managed to get her breath back. Rolling onto all fours, still gasping from remembered pain, Mai scooted forward, back into the DOMINATION EVENT¡¯s designated area. DOMINATION EVENT FINISHED! CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL QUALIFYING CONTESTANTS! Screaming in frustration this time, Mai pushed herself to her feet and staggered away from the ambush zone. A plethora of kill markers would be certain to draw any nearby Cullers. Sobbing in rage and frustration, she barely noticed the final two kill confirmations. Book 2 - Rebel - Chapter 21 The disappointment at being blown out of the circle was crushing. Five per cent on all skills and all she had to do was stay in the circle. Even worse was that it wasn¡¯t even her fault. A pace further into the designated area and she might well have stayed in and got her points. She cried all the way down. For what she didn¡¯t really know. Everything and nothing. It didn¡¯t really matter apart from when it felt like the sobs were going to tear her apart. She was just so sick and tired of all the killing. And of being kicked down time and time again. No matter how many times she was put down, she got back up again. But each time it got more and more difficult. It was exhausting mentally, physically and spiritually. Bruising too. And yet it was the only way she could get back to her sister and give her the life she deserved. It didn¡¯t even matter if Mai Ascended any more. She could hit the top one hundred and die. She just didn¡¯t care. She didn¡¯t even know how she was going to deal with everything she¡¯d seen and done so far. Completely unbidden, Chow Yun Fat¡¯s face popped into her mind¡¯s eye. She forced it away, tried to press down the fear and revulsion that sprang into her mind with that. Smith¡¯s face quickly followed, as did flashes of the fight they¡¯d had. Johnny¡¯s smiling face appeared, only to be replaced just as quickly with his dead face. Last was Fat John fighting Grimtooth. She tried to close her eyes, knowing what was coming next. It didn¡¯t help. Her killing of Grimtooth played out, seemingly in real-time. It was as if a highlight reel of her most impactful kills was being played by the powers that be for the benefit of the viewers. Mai¡¯s father had always told her that life was a series of lessons. Or lessons helped with the journey through life. Or was it that every lesson learned led to another? She shook her head in frustration. But all she¡¯d really learnt from this was that bucking the system was a really stupid thing to do. Which she¡¯d already known. She¡¯d also learnt that killing people was physically easy, and that the act seemed to get easier each time. Each time there was greater and greater justification. The familiar stench of hazardous chemicals from the sewers started to reach her nostrils, so she formed a nanite-mask and changed her clothes to something more suitable for dealing with the noxious effluent. Fully-suited, with heavily lined clothing designed to keep out chemicals which would strip the flesh from her bones in the blink of an eye, Mai found the climb becoming harder and harder, and she was dripping with sweat by the time she finally kicked out a grate and dropped into the flow below. Opening her minimap she scanned it to see if there was anything obvious. Nothing obvious anyway. Hazard warnings showed just how bad this area of the sewer was. It was the worst she¡¯d ever come across. Sighing, she looked to her right and then the left. Right was upstream. Muscles aching, she decided that she¡¯d go down stream and hope to find a chamber off the main tunnel she could use to rest in. Her whole life felt as though she¡¯d been walking upstream, metaphorically that was, and having to do more of it literally was more than she was capable of. Relief flooded her whole system as she turned downstream, using the flow to help push her along. After an hour she was ready to tear her hair out. She¡¯d had to battle a handful of especially determined mogwai and her entire body ached from the effort required to wade through the thick muck as the flow had ceased. It was like trying to walk through a pond. I¡¯ll give it another ten minutes and then just hole up wherever I am, she thought, finally giving in to the part of her that had been suggesting she stop and rest. Decision made she pushed forward, keeping one eye on the sewer and another on her minimap. Kill markers hadn¡¯t appeared in her area for a while now, but she could see that the Water Park was still a kill-fest. A discoloration on the wall just in front of her made her pause. Whether it was her passive LARCENY, SPOT HIDDEN, STREET SMARTS or just her gut she wasn¡¯t sure, but there was something off about the wall. Looking around to make sure she wasn¡¯t going to be ambushed, and careful that there weren¡¯t any mines lying in wait, Mai made her way up to the wall. Every step she paused to listen and feel with her foot as to where she was going to place her foot next. Running her hands over it, she was sure she could feel a seam. Activating her LARCENY and looking at it once more she was utterly convinced that she could feel a seam. Looking at the base of the door, she was able to see the scuffs where feet had brushed against the lip of the doorframe. Another secret door, just like the one near to the Water Park, she thought, hoping that this time she wasn¡¯t going to be ambushed and might actually be able to find somewhere to rest up. And I¡¯ll be able to clear up the scuffs so no one else finds me. Even if it was for only a couple of hours as per the Culling rules, she felt relief wash over her at the thought of being able to lay low. Maybe I can use this as a base. Move away far enough for long enough, then come back here and crash. But then, according to the holomyths she had watched, secret doors were either a curse or a blessing. She hadn¡¯t had a chance to find out about the first one. Depending on the type of myth they either led to treasure or a gruesome death. Judging by the way things are going, I¡¯m probably going to walk into a hail of bullets. Or be dropped into an acid pool. Or die horribly some other way. She pushed fatalism to the back of her mind. Whilst it helped to be paranoid, especially as it seemed the entire world was out to kill her, it didn¡¯t help to be too paranoid. Fear could sow doubt, and doubt could cause double-guessing and hesitation. And hesitation could be just as deadly. Sticking her metaphorical middle finger up at the thoughts, she decided to push forward. Now that she knew the shape of the door, she could try to work out which way it opened. Outwards would have pushed anyone in front of it off of the walkway and into the sewage. She swore under her breath when she was unable to find any hinges. That could have indicated it opened inwards, but there were no scrapes so she couldn¡¯t tell whether that meant it opened inwards, slid downwards, upwards or slid to the left or right, she couldn¡¯t tell. Her minimap was no use either. Whereas it should have shown what was beyond the door as with other rooms she had discovered, there was nothing beyond on her map. Just like with the previous room behind the door. It made sense that secret doors would lead to rooms which were themselves secret, but she couldn¡¯t work out how the rooms actually stayed off the minimap. She¡¯d not had too much time to think about it before at the previous secret room. Mai had never come across secret rooms in her past life, so she didn¡¯t know whether they were or weren¡¯t supposed to display on the minimap. None of the rooms featured in holomyths had shown up on the hero¡¯s minimaps either. She¡¯d thought that was just because it made for a better story, but now she thought they might have been based on truth. How many secret rooms have I gone past before? And what the Blue Heavens of Five Hells do I do now? Do I enter blind? Her ears pricked. She couldn¡¯t tell if it was a change in the tunnel¡¯s air pressure, a slight increase in the sewage flow, but something had changed. Then, she heard voices, distant but coming closer. Her mind flashed to the ambush she and Johnny had carried out. The thought of having to face another child Culler was too horrible to bear. I¡¯d rather die, and this time she actually believed it. Even if it meant that she wouldn¡¯t get back to her sister, she¡¯d rather die than be involved in the death of another child. The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement. Creating another snorkel mask she jumped into the sewerage. She figured that since it had worked once before, it would again. BIOMASS NOTIFICATION It didn¡¯t take long for the voices to get closer. As she watched from the camera, she could tell these people were different. Nothing marked them out as either normal Cullers or members of the different factions she¡¯d seen. She couldn¡¯t place why they were different. Perhaps it was the way they spoke. Or the fact that they seemed to have a mix of gangers, urbexers, soldiers, prisoners and civilians. They¡¯re all working together, she couldn¡¯t tell whether they were part of some strange team. But even if they were, it made her teeth itch that they already had a secret base. None of this makes sense, there¡¯s no way they could have formed a team and built a secret base in the time since the Culling started. And since when did people from all of the factions mix like this? ¡°¡­ make the attack soon?¡± She zoomed her snorkel¡¯s camera in on the speaker. The woman had a strange mix of tattoos and a formidable scar across her face reaching from the top right of her hairline diagonally down left across her nose and ending at her top lip. Where it bared a couple of teeth. She could have had that fixed judging by her clothes, who the fuck would want to leave such an injury unhealed? Still, it was definitely intimidating. Which perhaps was the purpose. No-one with baby smooth skin would get the respect of the sort of people she was hanging around with, so perhaps the scar made sense. ¡°Yes, Anna. Cullers on 3-324, 1-987, 5-879, all holed up. Drones will be pushing them out. It¡¯s clear they don¡¯t want to move on. They¡¯re dug in like ticks sucking on a mogwai¡¯s arse.¡± ¡°Good. I reckon that if we get there first we can get some of them to join us.¡± What the hell? You can¡¯t choose to leave the Culling, thought Mai. But the way that Anna¡¯s people were talking, and the fact that they seemed to be from each of the factions made her doubt everything she¡¯d been told. The leader, Anna, tapped a number of different points around the door. Mai didn¡¯t bother trying to work out where she touched precisely, she could always play it back on her camera. What really interested her was that these people were trying to not only break the rules, but to get Cullers to join them in their secret base, to join their group. It¡¯s like the plot from a bad holomyth, or one of those games that Li¡¯s always playing, Mai thought. There was no way that anyone could fight the Empire, it was simply too powerful. In a world where everything was monitored, how were these people managing to not only create secret bases but also manage to walk around without drones and the Imperial army wiping them out? They also had a strange mixture of weapons. Some had nanite weapons, whereas others were holding physical versions. Either they didn¡¯t have the skill to form such weapons, or they were seriously down on their level of BIOMASS. But the chest rigs they carried were packed full with magazines. Did that mean that those of their group who did have the skill or sufficient nanites had crafted them for them, or that they had a factory somewhere which carried out that function? And if they were Cullers, they¡¯d have had the ability unlocked in training. Which meant that those people with the hardcopy weapons were either plain civilians or Cullers. But if they were normal civilians, why were they getting themselves involved with the Culling when the punishment for doing so, if anything went wrong, was so harsh? Were they like her, Fat John, and the other sewer workers? Civilians that had known the Cullers previously and were working with them? She¡¯d secretly thought that her relationship with the sewer workers was something special. But now that she thought about it, it was logical that some of the other one million Cullers in the Culling would have previous relationships they could call on for help. Makes no sense that they would be going out to find other Cullers to add them to their group though. What in Five Vaginas of the Virgin Nuns is going on? It felt as though her head was spinning. Everything she had thought she had known about the Culling was being turned completely onto its head. As soon as the door slid open, the strange group started to file through it into the darkness beyond. Mai could see nothing beyond where the light of the sewers ended. One-by-one the people faded into the darkness as if they were ghosts. For a moment she almost doubted she¡¯d seen and heard them. Mai stayed where she was. The group looked far too threatening for her to just pop up out of the noxious sludge with a friendly ¡®hello¡¯. They were more likely to gun her down out of surprise than ask her in for green tea and steamed buns. Her stomach rumbled at the thought of steamed buns. Pork was her favourite and she salivated as an image of steamed buns popped into her head. She and Li had once eaten a thirty-two pack in one sitting. They¡¯d puked for the rest of the day, but it was still one of the best memories and Li shared. It had been a banquet fit for the Emperor. Every bite, even the very last where she was sure that she was going to burst, had been utterly glorious. Her taste buds had enjoyed every single juicy morsel. When they went down that was. Coming back up it had been less pleasant, but they had talked about it for weeks after. BIO-MASS BOOST was all well and good, but it didn¡¯t satisfy any of the body¡¯s natural urges. Yes, it was food, and she would never starve whilst she had the bottles, but at the same time it didn¡¯t fill her. There was no chewing involved so the body didn¡¯t really acknowledge that it was getting what it needed, and whilst her stomach was getting full, the psychological need to chew wasn¡¯t being fulfilled. Thankfully, it didn¡¯t act the same way as water. BIO-MASS BOOST was completely absorbed by the body, well the nanites. If it wasn¡¯t, she and the rest of the Cullers would no doubt be spending precious time pissing. As soon as the door closed, just as silently as it had opened, she was up and out of the sewage. Commanding the nanites to clean her hazmat suit, she stood impatiently until they confirmed that there was no goop still on her. Opening up a small screen on her retinal monitor, she played back how Anna had opened the door. Fingers outstretched, she paused before pressing the first point. No knowing if they¡¯ve trapped the door now that they¡¯re back, or if the door only opens to Anna¡¯s DNA. No knowing if they¡¯re watching me and getting ready to kill me as soon as I open the door either. Still, the memory of the sewer dwellers discussing how they wanted to bring Cullers into their base meant that she seriously doubted they would be waiting on the other side to kill her. ¡°Fuck it,¡± she pressed the locations as quickly as she could. It was better to get it over and done with rather than drag it out. The door popped away from her and then slid open so suddenly that she squeaked. Heart hammering, she looked into the darkness beyond. Her minimap was now registering a corridor that stretched beyond its detection capabilities. Forming a torch on her shoulder she slowly panned the light across the floor and walls. Whilst she could use LARCENY in its PASSIVE mode, she ACTIVATED it. Not doing so made no sense as it wasn¡¯t a skill she would constantly need to hand. SPOT HIDDEN was the other skill she activated. No traps that I can see. Doesn¡¯t mean there aren¡¯t any, she thought before stepping slowly onto the floor beyond. As soon as she was fully in, the door slid shut behind her. ¡°Well, that¡¯s not sinister in any way,¡± she chuckled, speaking out loud more to feel less alone than for any other reason. Walking along the corridor, she continued to actively search for traps. To her surprise there didn¡¯t seem to be any, nor any to activate as she finally came to the end of the corridor and a very large armoured door. ¡°Damn, no chance I¡¯m going to be able to open this one on my own. Not without blowing it open.¡± And that certainly wasn¡¯t an option. Not if she wanted to find out who these people were. With no other option, she raised her hand and knocked firmly on the door. Nothing. Apart from a heart which felt it was going to burst out of her chest and a trickle of sweat that started running down the middle of her back. She knocked again, harder this time. It felt as though she was knocking on an iron pillow, the door so dense that it was soaking up her attempts to get attention. She tried again. Harder. No change apart from the fact she hurt her knuckles. ¡°Nothing for it,¡± she stepped back and formed a large nanite hammer. This time, when she knocked, the door rang like a bell. Absorbing the hammer she stepped back slightly, arms outspread and hands open. Please don¡¯t bloody kill me, she thought. The door started to swing outward just as silently as the secret door had. It was both ominous and slightly reassuring as it indicated that the people were professional in their approach to maintaining their base. Squeaky hinges would also have somewhat ruined the effect. Or just psychopathically paranoid, the thought made her mouth quirk in a faint smile as the first of the sewer dwellers stepped out. They weren¡¯t smiling. ¡°Get on your motherfucking knees before I blow your fucking brains out!¡± Book 2 - Rebel - Chapter 22 ¡°Once again, I¡¯m called Mai Xio. I¡¯m a Culler. You¡¯ve seen my SASS. You¡¯ve seen my profile on the fucking scoreboard. I¡¯m not an agent of the Emperor. I¡¯m not here to kill you all.¡± Mai tried to keep her tone patient and polite, but it was difficult. She¡¯d been interrogated for at least three hours now and the questions had all been along the same lines. The phrasing of them had varied each time but they¡¯d essentially been, ¡®Who are you, why are you here, who are you working for, are you an agent of the Emperor?¡¯ Mai was tired, and bored. She would have tried forcing the issue and having them stop asking questions, but she was surrounded by a ring of armed and incredibly hostile- and nervous-looking people and ceiling mounted turret weapons. At least they haven¡¯t tried beating whatever their definition of the truth is out of me, for which she was heartily thankful. Never having been tortured before, unless the selection for the Culling counted, she wasn¡¯t sure how well she¡¯d be able to hold up. Even if she did have ENDURE PAIN, TREAT LIGHT WOUNDS and, Emperor forbid, TREAT SERIOUS WOUNDS, they would only be available for both their duration and the amount of BIOMASS she had. And I can¡¯t even begin to imagine the amount of pain once ENDURE PAIN ended and whatever they¡¯d done to me came crashing in. More importantly, how the Hells have the drones not come and tried to move me on? That was a question she¡¯d save for later once the interrogation was over. It was clear the people around her were the ¡®we¡¯re asking questions, not you¡¯ type. ¡°Why should we believe you?¡± Her interrogator was a young woman, around Mai¡¯s age. Covered in gang tattoos, she would have absolutely terrified Mai before the Culling. Now though, she looked like a kid playing a role. Mai had seen far tougher gangers. Killed far tougher gangers. Hells, she¡¯d killed tougher civilians. ¡°Believe me, don¡¯t believe me. Believe the scoreboard, don¡¯t believe the scoreboard,¡± snapped Mai. ¡°I no longer give a mogwai¡¯s arse what you paranoid idiots do or don¡¯t think. I¡¯m bored. Continue boring me and I¡¯ll leave.¡± Turrets and rings of weapons be damned. Probably suicidal. Definitely stupid. But she wasn¡¯t sure it was a bluff. Her ¡°And what makes you think a wimp like you could take on just one of us, let alone all of us?¡± sneered the ganger, jabbing Mai¡¯s chest with a sharp finger. Mai gritted her teeth. She hated it when people did that. It was rude, condescending, and put the person doing it at a severe disadvantage if they were underestimating the person being jabbed. ¡°Fucking try that again,¡± she sneered. She was done with being patient and polite. Ganger girl deserved everything she had coming. Mai didn¡¯t need to activate a skill for what happened next. As the girl¡¯s finger came in for another jab, Mai expertly caught it with her right hand. Bending it towards the girl and outwards, she forced her to her knees, bringing her head forward and her eye straight on to Mai¡¯s held out right index finger. Gasping in fear and pain, the girl tried to blink as Mai¡¯s finger lightly brushed her eye. Her eyelid fluttered, instinctively trying to clear the obstruction. She tried to jerk her head back, but all Mai had to do was exert a little more pressure and her head was back in, eyeball-to-finger. Mai ignored all the shouts and needless racking of slides as her guards tried to catch up with what had just happened. The majority of them were slow, still thinking too much about what they were seeing rather than reacting. Several of the more experienced were much quicker. Still not as quick as her or her fellow Cullers though. Guess the selection really did prepare me! It was slightly surprising to feel indebted to the Gorilla and Dragon Warrior for all of the beatings and killings they¡¯d doled out. ¡°I¡¯m bored. Get Anna so that the adults can have a proper conversation,¡± she hissed. Giving the finger an extra little push, making the ganger squeal, she released it. Springing back away from her the ganger cocked a fist, teeth bared, skin flushed with embarrassment. ¡°That¡¯s enough, Qi,¡± a voice that Mai had heard before ordered. Qi, the pissed off ganger, hissed at Mai. Mai merely smiled as Qi lowered her fist. ¡°I¡¯m Anna,¡± said the woman she¡¯d seen earlier stepping from behind her and taking Qi¡¯s chair. Her scar rippled as she spoke, making it look as though she was sneering. Her voice, nasal, grated on Mai¡¯s nerves. It was just the wrong combination of arrogant, nasal, and pure bitch. ¡°And you know who I am,¡± Mai replied. She couldn¡¯t help but stare. Now that she was seeing Anna properly up close she was surprised to see that she was a vat-born, indicated by the top of a barcode tattoo just poking out of the front of the woman¡¯s collar. Vat-born were slaves. They were bred to do specific tasks, usually in the higher mile-levels where the rich didn¡¯t want inducted civilians soiling their precious carpets with their very presence. And vat-born never just upped and left. Her conditioning must have broken, or not taken in the first place, either way, Mai was surprised that Anna had been allowed to continue living. If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. Slaves are meant to be submissive. When they¡¯re not submissive they tend to stop being slaves and kill the people who have been forcing them to live that way. If a vat-born¡¯s conditioning didn¡¯t take, or was broken, the simplest thing was to kill them and replace them with a fully functional vat-born. Vat borns were also fed their own. When they died they were rendered down into protein and fed to the ones still in their vat. It was one of those well-known facts that no-one ever spoke about, and which Mai was pretty certain no Vat born actually knew about. They were supposed to have limited lifespans as well, with fifty-five being their official retirement. From the looks of it, Anna was at least fifty. What Mai didn¡¯t know about vat born was whether they retired automatically, or forcibly. ¡°It¡¯s rude to stare, womber,¡± snapped Anna, popping up her collar to hide the tattoo. ¡°Sorry, I¡¯ve never met a ¡­¡± ¡°Tuber, jelly-baby, vatter, slimer, grimer, shall I go on?¡± sneered Anna, leaning towards Mai, both hands on her knees. ¡°Vat-born,¡± said Mai. She¡¯d never used any of the derogatory terms for vat-born. Had always pitied the ones she¡¯d seen from a distance when a high-miler felt like slumming it. Of course, no-one on her level had been rich enough to afford a vat-born of their own, but sometimes the slaves would come down to the lower levels on the sort of errands that no-one wanted to interfere with. ¡°Well, happy to have helped you enrich your life,¡± snarked Anna, drawing titters from those present. Mai sighed. This wasn¡¯t really going as she had thought it would. She¡¯d known that there would be some surprise, suspicion, questions and a healthy bit of paranoia, but this hostility was totally unexpected. ¡°Stop putting words into my mouth,¡± she snapped back. ¡°I merely meant that I was too poor to have any reason to meet one of your people. If I was staring, I apologise. But again, I wouldn¡¯t have expected to find a free vat-born, let alone any of your colleagues hiding in the sewers. Why aren¡¯t you all dead?¡± ¡°Um. No,¡± Anna wagged a finger, ¡°that¡¯s not how it works. You don¡¯t get to ask any questions. Not until I think you¡¯re no longer a threat.¡± Mai stared back at Anna. The woman had clearly taken a dislike to her and she had no idea why. Then again, a vat-born with broken conditioning would have a lot of hate stored in them. Maybe she hates me because I was free and fucked up my life so badly? Just like the Dragon Warrior had been. You never know how lucky you are until someone tells you. Or you throw it away. She¡¯d always been honest with herself. She knew she could wind people up the wrong way, bucked authority, and was generally a bit of an arsehole. On the other hand she also had a lot of good traits such as loyalty and honesty. ¡°Take her away. Give her some food, and a bit of the bio-mass liquid she was kind enough to donate to our cause,¡± ordered Anna with a flick of her fingers without taking her eyes off Mai Mai bit her tongue at that. She¡¯d known that she¡¯d most likely lose the bottles. So she had weighted down a few in the river before entering the base. As long as the rebels didn¡¯t kill her, she¡¯d be able to retrieve the bottles. A man stepped up and grabbed hold of her arm, lifting it as he tried to force her out of the chair. His grip was tight, too tight. Verging on hurting her. ¡°Don¡¯t touch me,¡± she snarled. There¡¯d been more than enough manhandling after she had entered the base and she¡¯d been more than compliant. His force was absolutely unnecessary. ¡°Or what? You going to Cull me?¡± He leaned in, breath laden with garlic. She saw yellow teeth, coated in plaque, as he bared them at her. Body odour, competing with the garlic to stretch her gag reflex to maximum, washed over her. Nauseating wasn¡¯t anywhere near to what it was. ¡°Yun, watch ..¡± Anna warned the man too late. Too late to help as she sprang to her feet, chair toppling over with the force. ACTIVATING UNARMED COMBAT and DIRTY BOXING, Mai pinned the hand holding her arm with her free hand, then rotated her arm round and back, wrapping the man¡¯s arm with the arm he had thought he was controlling. She extended her fingers, pushing her supposedly trapped hand forward, slipping it behind his neck, palm down on the back of his head. It might not have looked like it, the way they were both wrapped up, twisted. But now she had control of the back of his head there was no way he could resist any downward pressure she made. From there it was a simple matter of standing up quickly, lifting Yun onto the tips of his toes, and then just as quickly dropping to the floor by lifting her feet completely off the floor. As she started to drop she forced the hand holding his head violently forward. Yun had absolutely no chance. No matter how strong he thought he was, or how strong he might have been, he was off balance and the full weight of Mai was now rapidly descending towards the floor. This is going to hurt my knees, Mai thought as the floor raced towards her. HIT! 13% STUNNED BLEED @0.5% PER SECOND Yun¡¯s face slammed into the plasticrete floor with the sound of a watermelon breaking. A couple of teeth skittered across the floor whilst blood spurted from his freshly broken nose. DAMAGE! 3% Her knees didn¡¯t hurt as much as she thought they would have. Definitely not as much as Yun¡¯s face certainly did, judging by the warbling scream he gave as he cupped his now free hands to his face. The room erupted. Reactions were far quicker this time. All of the guards started shouting conflicting orders, the gun turrets sprung into life and lit her chest up with utterly needless aiming lasers and Mai smiled at the rage in Anna¡¯s eyes. ¡°I¡¯m bloody starving, who¡¯s going to take me to get some food without feeling they can grab hold of me?¡± Mai kept her voice low, but just loud enough that even though they were shouting they would be aware she was speaking, and some would hear. ACTIVATING STREET SMARTS She turned slowly, looking at the guards as they continued to shout, assessing them. ¡°You,¡± she pointed at a young woman as a gut feeling came over her. Mai¡¯s lips twitched as she realised she¡¯d got a fish to hook. A young girl on second glance. Eyes wide with fear. Jabbing her hard-printed weapon as she shouted rather than keeping it tightly tucked into her shoulder like her comrades. ¡°You can take me.¡± Her mark stepped forward. Just a pace. Then stopped. She looked puzzled, as if she was trying to work out why she¡¯d stepped forward. Crooking her finger, Mai gestured for the girl to lead on, completely ignoring the still-shouting guards and their weapons. The girl¡¯s eyes darted towards Anna. Mai didn¡¯t look over at the group¡¯s leader, merely continued to look at the girl. With a jerky nod towards Anna, clearly returning a similar signal from Anna, the girl led her from the room as Anna ordered the guards to quieten down. Book 2 - Rebel - Chapter 23 Spearing a wonton with a chopstick, Mai dabbed it into some sweet chilli sauce and then popped it into her mouth. It was perfectly cooked. Crispy, but full of a juicy filling that was melt-in-the-mouth. Far better than anything she¡¯d ever eaten before. Like ever. ¡°This is seriously good food!¡± she exclaimed as she speared another won ton. It wasn¡¯t really something done in polite company, but she was past caring. Spearing was quicker, easier, and strangely satisfying. ¡°Thanks, that¡¯s honey-mogwai, I CRAFTED the recipe. I was a chef when I used to live up there¡± The girl smiled timidly at her and jerked her eyes and head upwards. From her accent she was a six-miler. Mai¡¯s mouth stopped mid-chew. All of a sudden the flavour-filled mush in her mouth tasted of sand. Her throat worked, trying to swallow, but the won-ton stayed firmly where it was. ¡°They¡¯re all over the place, so we farm them. It¡¯s good for developing skills and titles like MOGWAI BANE, TUNNEL HUNTER and such like. We¡¯re skilling up as we eat.¡± Grabbing hold of her drink so quickly it slopped over her hand, Mai took a large gulp and swallowed hard. Now it literally felt like the mogwai was trying to claw its way back out of her throat and the memory of the one which killed Andries was at the forefront. ¡°Think I¡¯ve had enough won ton,¡± Mai pushed the bowl away from herself. ¡°Back to the lichen noodles it is,¡± She said as the girl laughed. She then noticed meat floated in the broth that the girl was eating. She looked over at her guard, raising an eyebrow. ¡°Rat, good old rat,¡± the girl smiled at Mai¡¯s unspoken question. Then gently pushed the bowl towards her, taking Mai¡¯s won ton. ¡°Excellent,¡± Mai set to with gusto, firmly pushing away the thought of mogwai. If anything the broth tasted even better than the won ton. ¡°Glad you approve,¡± Anna remarked as she stepped from behind Mai. Trying not to choke on her broth as she was startled. Mai had to hand it to her, Anna was nothing if not sneaky. ¡°You wanted to know how you could prove you¡¯re trustworthy. I need you to take this message chip to another cell.¡± Mai looked at the chip Anna was holding. It was a simple card, no longer or wider than a finger, and no thicker than a hair. Standard fare for people who liked a hard backup of their data. ¡°Why not just transmit it?¡± Despite the question, Mai¡¯s curiosity was piqued, and given what she¡¯d seen so far of the setup she was keen to learn more about Anna and her mysterious group. And no matter what sort of a bitch she is, she must be doing something good if all these people are sticking with her. Despite her feelings, Mai decided to give Anna the benefit of the doubt. For now at least. ¡°Because this is much more secure. People don¡¯t like what we¡¯re doing. Communications can be easily intercepted. Chips not so. The fact that you¡¯re still a Culler, and not listed as missing makes it all the more secure.¡± ¡°What? You¡¯ve got Cullers listed as missing?¡± Mai couldn¡¯t hide her surprise. She¡¯d never heard of Cullers going missing. But then, the Celestial Court wouldn¡¯t want its Cullers to know that there was actually a way of surviving the Culling which didn¡¯t involve Ascension. Anna¡¯s face twisted for a brief second, so quickly that Mai almost thought she¡¯d imagined it. The anger in Anna¡¯s eyes confirmed she hadn¡¯t. It was clear that Anna was struggling with more than a few anger issues. ¡°Enough with the questions. Deliver this chip and you can ask any question you like.¡± Doesn¡¯t mean you¡¯ll answer them though, Mai thought as she took the chip and tucked it away. But at least I might be able to work out how they¡¯ve stopped the drones from moving me ¡­ and the other Cullers on. ¡°Directions?¡± ¡°No need,¡± smirked Anna, scar twisting her face. Mai had to bite down on a smart-mouthed answer. DELIVER THE MESSAGE TO CELL ONE-NINER DO YOU ACCEPT YES/NO? ¡°How the fuck did you manage that?¡± Gasped Mai. She¡¯d been surprised when Billy had given her the mission, but in the end had settled on the reasoning that since Fat John had been taken, Billy had become the boss, and so was able to create and issue missions. But Anna? She was a nobody living in the sewers. Wasn¡¯t she? Although she was a manager of sorts given that she was running some sort of secret fugitives cell. Or bandits perhaps. No, Mai decided. They were fugitives. Bandits would have just robbed her of everything she had, slit her through, and left her body for the scavengers to eat. ¡°Deliver the message. Ask the questions later. Maybe you¡¯ll get some answers.¡± Mai nodded, pinching her mouth shut tight as she selected YES and compared the path of the guideline to her minimap. ¡°That¡¯s a bloody long way,¡± Mai said. Whilst the guideline gave her the optimal path it was far further than she had expected. And the further she had to travel, the more risk of coming up against Cullers. ¡°Sooner you get started, the sooner you¡¯ll be back,¡± Anna said in a ¡®take it or leave it¡¯ manner. Whilst it might have been counterproductive, Mai wanted nothing more than to smash her fist repeatedly into Anna¡¯s face. There was just something about the woman that rubbed Mai up the wrong way. She¡¯d never met someone like that before. Not even Smith had made her stomach so knotted in such a short time. At least it wasn¡¯t one-sided; Anna seemed to dislike her as much as she disliked Anna. Fists balled, she turned and stalked off. She definitely didn¡¯t flounce. * The guideline not only led away from the rebel base, it also led up. Pausing in the sewer to recover the bio-mass bottles she¡¯d hidden, she also took the time to look at the journey she was going to have to take. Having eaten the rat broth and honey mogwai, her bio-mass levels were back to one hundred per cent. Despite her reservations, she was going to have to try to get hold of the recipe if she could. I¡¯m going to have to go back into the habs. People are going to see me. This is going to be bloody hard. And that was an understatement. Having dropped off the Culling¡¯s viewing cams for the time she was in the secret base, Mai knew that a lot of people would already think she was dead. Whilst others would have just moved on to the next Culler who caught their eye. She was under no disillusion that those watching her truly supported her. Only those that Ascended were truly remembered by Emperor-worshipping civilians, and even then they were mostly forgotten by the time of the next Culling. Popping back up well and truly not dead was going to cause people to ask questions. And there was always the fact that people who had bet money on other Cullers would be more than happy to see her well and truly dead. She still hadn¡¯t worked out how the rebels had managed to keep themselves hidden for so long and how they had prevented the drones from finding her and forcing her out of the cover provided by the secret base. Nothing I can do about it; she gave a mental shrug. Deliver the chip, get the answers. Not that she knew what she was going to do once she had the answers. Whether she was going to stay with the rebels, if they¡¯d have her, still wasn¡¯t certain. Not sure I could take orders from that snooty bitch, and there it was. Yet again her rebellious nature was going to spoil a potentially good thing because she¡¯d had her nose put out of joint. Following the guideline, she stayed close to the wall the base was situated behind. Now that she¡¯d actually been inside the base, her minimap was adding any bits it could reach. All too soon she reached the edges of the base and was forced to concentrate on the task ahead. Popping open the bottle of bio-mass she drank heavily, watching as it increased her bio-mass to one hundred and fifty percent her normal level. From what she could see it wasn¡¯t decreasing over time. That didn¡¯t mean that it wouldn¡¯t suddenly plummet after a set period, however. It was a risk to use bio-mass like that when she didn¡¯t need to, but things had been so strange recently, she figured that she might as well experiment when she had the time. Besides, she could always top back up once she was back at the base. She followed the guide line up a ladder and then into an elevator. Her destination was 6-439. Six Mile ¨C Level Four Three Two. Even though the elevator was a high-speed one, it was still going to take a good few minutes to arrive, so she sat down and started to work her way through her nano-menu, creating more shortcuts and quick choices. * When the elevator finally stopped, she took a moment before she exited. She was about to enter the real world once more. A world packed with people going about their normal lives and not trying to murder each other. The would come soon though once other Cullers discovered that she was in the area. And if there were any civilians watching her again, comms channels would be awash with chatter and sightings. It took much more to step out of that elevator than she thought possible. Mai had been sent to a back-end elevator, one which wasn¡¯t used that often because it was off the main concourses. A blessing in disguise, as otherwise she¡¯d have been swamped by people wanting to use it. Stepping out she found herself on a main concourse, packed full of civilians. Chest tight, she forced herself to slow down, not wanting to call attention to herself, her passive STEALTH skill kicking in, allowing her to blend in to the crowd rather than actually hiding her. ¡°Good kills, Xio! Keep it up!¡± So much for her passive skills, and if the failures kept up like that, she¡¯d be old and toothless before she ranked up. The woman who had called out was a spotter for a local gang though, so maybe she¡¯d had her own skills activated and spotted Mai that way. Mai¡¯s STEALTH rank must have been lower than the ganger¡¯s. Whatever had happened it didn¡¯t bode well for what should have been a simple delivery job. Lips tight, she gave a wave, knowing she couldn¡¯t piss off a supporter and turn them into an enemy. ¡°Xio¡¯s back!¡± shouted another man. Her supporter must have put out a shout on social media. Perhaps she wasn¡¯t a supporter after all. Or was just too keen to let everyone know that she¡¯d seen her favourite Culler. Mai kept walking, calling up her own social media apps on her retinal monitor. Performing a fast search she saw that she was starting to trend. The most common trend was ^backfromthedead. Clearly she¡¯d been marked as Culled when she dropped out of public view in Anna¡¯s secret base. Brilliant, they¡¯re even giving my damned location, she thought bitterly as messages such as ^Mai Xio ¨C 6-439! Shopping for clothes? Popped up. Within two seconds, there were over three thousand results, and it continued to grow. Her destination was still another twenty minutes of walking away. More if the crowd didn¡¯t thin out at some point. She was on a main merch-strand, so it was full of people dawdling as they window shopped. The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement. Activating her STREET SMARTS she used it to scan the people around her. Most were completely unaware of who she was, but more and more were either logging themselves as supporters, or rivals on her social feed. There were more rivals than supporters. Her social feed showed that most of her rivals were thinking that she¡¯d cheated somehow. Which, when she came to think about, she indirectly had. Shouts of anger sounded out behind her. She kept walking but took a casual turn about as she did. Something, or someone, was forcing its way through the crowd and not caring about being polite in the process. Cullers, her heart sank at the thought. They were surrounded by hundreds of civilians going about their daily business. A Culler battle in the middle of the crowd would cause untold casualties, something she didn¡¯t want on her conscience. She activated FREE RUNNING and sprinted as best as she could. More shouts followed her as she inevitably knocked into people. And those shouts were going to draw the Cullers to her. As soon as she saw an alleyway she took it. It was an old thoroughfare which had fallen into disuse. Whereas people would have once walked through it to get to another pedway on the other side of the hab-block, it was now filled with rubbish. Twenty paces in she started to set mines, costing her fifteen per cent BIOMASS. They were far enough in that they wouldn¡¯t hurt any civilians. Or at least that was what she hoped. I can¡¯t keep trying to dodge these guys, she thought. Already she¡¯d deviated from the best path to complete her mission. And they would only keep driving her off course. Every switch and turn she took, the guideline tried to reroute. That and I doubt the rebels I¡¯m delivering this chip to, will appreciate me arriving with a horde of Cullers on my heels. The thought of the look on the rebel¡¯s faces as she handed over the chip whilst fighting off an army of Cullers made her chuckle. Gallows humour, as she certainly didn¡¯t find anything remotely amusing about her current situation. Moving further in, she formed a pistol for one per cent BIOMASS and fired a series of shots into the air, emptying the magazine for another one per cent BIOMASS. Any Culler with half a brain would be checking their minimap and the sound of the shots would appear on it straight away. Tucking in behind a pile of scrap, she absorbed the pistol and formed a suppressed SMG for three per cent BIOMASS, with a full magazine of thirty rounds for another three BIOMASS. She didn¡¯t have to wait long. A group of Cullers, clearly a team, came barrelling into the alleyway. They were bunched up, so eager to Cull her that all thought of tactics had gone out of the window. None of them were members of the factions though. Just normal people who made stupid decisions. People like me. Sadness and guilt washed over her as the first mine detonated, blowing both legs and an arm off the Culler who stepped on it. KILL! CONTESTANT 165474 ELIMINATED Her enemies scattered, diving into cover to the left and right of the alley, tucking in behind piles of rubbish and the odd piece of large detritus. The other mines detonated, blowing chunks of rubbish and human debris in a wide radius. KILL! CONTESTANT 465476 ELIMINATED KILL! CONTESTANT 193867 ELIMINATED CRITICAL HIT! 37% STUNNED BLINDED BLEED @17% CRITICAL HIT! 35% BLINDED STUNNED BLEED @33% PER SECOND The close confines of the alley, no more than two paces at its widest and far narrower than any of the sewers, coupled with the large amount of rubbish, had turned the already deadly mines into apocalyptically effective weapons. Small fires started to fill the alleyway with smoke, and cries of alarm from civilians at both ends of the alley all but drowned out the screams of the dying Cullers. Not waiting to see what else happened, Mai was up and running for the far end of the alleyway, her guideline adjusting the route she would need to take in order to reach the rebels. Reaching the end of the alleyway she slowed, pausing to catch her breath. There was no sound of pursuit and she didn¡¯t want to draw attention to herself by sprinting out of an alleyway. Any further attention, that is, what with the social feeds and those mines going off, it¡¯s not as if anyone can claim they didn¡¯t know something was going on! She was also tired. She couldn¡¯t remember the last time she had slept properly and despite the meal she¡¯d eaten less than an hour ago in the base, she was hungry. Neon flashed further on down advertising a sushi-burger joint. Strolling, activating STEALTH and SNEAK, she made her way to the entrance, breathing the smell of raw fish protein and fresh-baked lichen bread as she got closer. Mouth-watering, she tried to remember the last time she had eaten. Just the thought of eating made her stomach growl, cramping enough to tell her she needed to get some fuel for the nano-bots. Despite having the bio-mass liquid, she¡¯d rather save that for when she really needed it. And another good, cooked meal would do wonders for her morale as well. She¡¯d been genuinely surprised at how good it had felt to eat the rebel¡¯s food. ¡°Well, at least I won¡¯t have to pay for it,¡± she muttered, keeping her head down as she entered the eatery. It was nearly empty, a few tables needing clearing, a tired-looking waitress dabbing ineffectively at one of them with a cloth that looked as though it should have been retired in the last century. Cullers didn¡¯t have to pay for anything. Not only did they have an unlimited credit amount they could draw on, they could also take what they needed, so long as they didn¡¯t hurt anyone doing so. Although the lines were somewhat blurred when it came to civilians being caught in the crossfire. Makes all those bounties for killing mogwai pretty pointless, and it¡¯s not like I¡¯ll need money once I¡¯ve Ascended either. Maybe I can gift it to someone? Sliding into the nearest booth, she called up the eatery¡¯s sub-menu, selected the biggest meal she could and blink-paid using her Culler¡¯s credit account. A timer appeared, showing her that it would take roughly three minutes for the meal to be prepared. Unfortunately it was a waitress-only business, which meant that the woman giving her sour looks whilst seeming to only spread muck across the counter with that Emperor-cursed rags, would be serving her the food. Guess this place doesn¡¯t use nanos, she thought, entirely unsurprised considering the d¨¦cor of the place. She hadn¡¯t spent much time on this level but, even though it was nearly one mile higher than hers, it still wasn¡¯t anything special. It was also a good time to have a look at how she had progressed. She hadn¡¯t really thought much about Ranking up her skills. The only time she could remember doing so was when she entered the DOMINATION EVENT, and she¡¯d failed miserably at that. However, considering the amount of fighting she¡¯d had to do these past few days, she¡¯d have been surprised if her combat skills at least hadn¡¯t ranked up considerably. Opening her SASS, she took note of the skills that had improved recently then, calling up her skills menu, she selected her USE MINES skill. SASS HERE It was one of her favourite skills as it meant that she didn¡¯t have to directly kill fellow Cullers. It was a strange distinction to make, but it made things easier for her to believe that she hadn¡¯t directly caused her enemy¡¯s deaths. And I¡¯ve done more than my bloody fair share of up close and personal. She was the max rank she could be, five. All those mogwai kills had helped her Rank up her skill faster than she thought possible. Staying in the sewers would have given her a massive advantage over the Cullers who were having to rely on killing their fellow humans. Not only did rank five mean she had a twenty-five per cent chance of a CRITICAL HIT each time some poor unwitting fool stepped on a mine, but she also paid twenty-five per cent less BIOMASS per mine. The cooker¡¯s countdown still hadn¡¯t reached a minute, so she moved into the general skills section. TUNNEL FIGHTER, SEWER COMBAT, KNIFE FIGHTING, USE SMG, USE LIGHT MACHINE GUN, TREAT LIGHT INJURIES, TREAT SERIOUS INJURIES, SNEAK, STEALTH, and FREE RUNNING had all ranked up as well. I guess I like SMGs so much because I want to lay down as much fire as possible, and whilst her opponents were pinned, she could either make her escape, or close with them and use her close quarter weapons to Cull them. That gave her pause for thought. Thus far she¡¯d been using knives, random swords, and a tomahawk. But she hadn¡¯t settled on one particular weapon. Scrolling through the close-quarter weapons, she added a quick select to the tomahawk, skipped past the knives and then entered into the swords menu. Knives are good because they¡¯re nice and fast. But they have to be used at such close ranges. And, they¡¯re light, which is another plus. But swords gave extra weight to her blows, and offered a longer reach. What she needed was a sword which was light like a knife, but which had extra reach and hitting power. And is easy to use in tight confines, like the bloody sewers. One caught her eye. Something called a Gladius. An ancient weapon from a time so far in the past that it might well have been a fantasy. Gladius are two-edged swords designed for cutting with a tapered point for stabbing during thrusting. A knobbed hilt, with finger grips, provides a solid grip, as does a specially textured nanoweave to prevent slippage when the user¡¯s hand is covered in the blood of their opponents. The owner''s name is often engraved or punched on the blade for no additional BIOMASS cost. Stabbing with a gladius is particularly effective, especially when the weapon is thrust into the enemy¡¯s abdominal area. Aside from causing excruciating pain, a critical hit with a gladius causes BLEED @15% per second. Whilst short, at only four or five hand lengths, it is still an efficient chopping and slashing weapon. And at a BIOMASS cost of only three per cent, that made it a very efficient close-quarters weapon. Without a second thought she blink-clicked it to her favourites menu. There was a ping as the cooker¡¯s countdown reached zero, and the waitress slapped a plate piled high with food onto the table. Aubergine fries spilled onto the less-than-clean tabletop. Without a word, the waitress turned and walked back to wherever she had come from. Shitty service aside, Mai couldn¡¯t fault the look of the food, nor the size of the portion. Stomach growling, in anticipation she grabbed the burger and took a deep bite. Proteins, salts and fats oozed into her mouth from the hot fake meat and she closed her eyes in virtual ecstasy as her jaws chomped through the soft flesh of the first, and the airy bread of the bun. Maybe I should have just found the best restaurants in the city and stuffed my face, rather than actually trying to survive the Culling, she thought wryly. Perhaps, if she hadn¡¯t had Li to worry about, that would have been a viable option. Afterall, the odds of surviving the Culling were so low, it made sense to make use of the unlimited funds available and live the best life you could before dying at the hands of your fellow competitors. Wouldn¡¯t surprise me if I found out that was actually happening. Putting that down, she grabbed a handful of fries and shoved them into her mouth before grabbing hold of her drink and drawing deeply. It was a yak-milkshake, the most expensive item on the menu, supposedly the restaurant¡¯s speciality. It felt as if her taste buds had exploded. ¡°Is everything good?¡± asked a woman beside her. Probably the waitress trying to see if she could earn a couple of extra credits by actually doing the job she was being paid to do. She opened her mouth to reply, then choked as a hand closed around her throat with an iron-tight grip. Stars immediately appeared as she opened her eyes in alarm. The woman was white, a clear sign of her low caste, most likely a one-miler. Teeth bared; she added her other hand to the stranglehold. DAMAGE! 1% DAMAGE! 3% CHOKING! Mai knew she had bare seconds to act. Scrabbling to loosen the grip she selected the gladius, having already set up a quick choice. She ignored the pain as the nanos set to work, punching repeatedly at the woman¡¯s ribs to break the grip, knowing that the tip of the blade would be the first thing to form. HIT! 1% HIT! 1% HIT! 2% Whilst her punches weren¡¯t the most powerful in the world, they at least caused her attacker some discomfort, loosening the death grip around her throat somewhat, allowing precious air into her lungs. HIT! 6% BLEED@5% PER SECOND With a gasp, and an ¡°o¡± shape to her lips, the woman let go, dropping to her knees so suddenly that Mai¡¯s next punch drove her blade into the side of the other Culler¡¯s neck. Twisting, she opened a gaping wound in her opponent¡¯s neck, then pulled the blade free. Gasping, clutching at her throat, the woman collapsed to the floor, feet kicking as she bled out on the floor. Blood showered over the nearby diners who, somewhat predictably, reacted by utterly freaking out. KILL! CULLER 209048 ELIMINATED Rasping for breath, Mai massaged her own throat. Grabbing another handful of fries, she rammed them into her mouth before grabbing the burger. Looking up, she met the shocked eyes of the waitress. ¡°Mumblefum?¡± She asked, spraying fries as she spoke. The waitress shrugged, ¡°What?¡± Throat feeling as though it was on fire, Mai forced the fries down, then grabbed the burger. She¡¯d been raised to not waste food and ¡®waste not, want not¡¯ had taken on a new meaning now that she was mostly dependent on food for bio-mass. It would help her passive HEAL skill and keep her BIOMASS at one hundred per cent. ¡°Back door?¡± She managed to choke out after forcing the food down her still-bruised throat. What had been mere seconds before been an enjoyable moment now felt like she was trying to force a plasticrete brick down her throat. The waitress jabbed a thumb over her shoulder, spitting on the floor at the same time. ¡°You just cost me twenty, fucking bitch.¡± Mai didn¡¯t bother replying, there was no point. She didn¡¯t have time to chat, Cullers would be homing in on the kill marker. And she had no doubt that the waitress had popped her location onto the social feeds. As quickly as she could she made her way through to the back, cramming the burger into her mouth so fast that she was almost to the point of choking. Pushing past the shocked chef, she stepped into the alley beyond and made her escape. Book 2 - Rebel - Chapter 24 Running as quickly as she could, Mai was soon far enough away from the restaurant that the kill marker dropped off her map. Doesn¡¯t mean I¡¯m in the clear though, she thought as she slowed to a gentle walk, chest heaving. Her stomach was also rebelling, the food making her stomach feel bloated and heavy. She still had a way to go until she reached her destination, and she knew that there was no way she would be able to run the full distance. Not if she wanted to keep her last meal down. It rankled. Having to move by foot wasn¡¯t normally a problem. People lived their normal lives rarely leaving their own level, or hab. It made perfect sense considering every hab block provided its inhabitants with everything they needed bar the more exotic goods. She just wished she had a rotor car, or a one-person drone so that she could complete the mission quickly. Mai had never walked, or run, so far in her entire past life as she had in the last few days of the Culling. Then again, nothing to say that I wouldn¡¯t get blown out of the sky. Pushing the morbid thought to the back of her mind, she entered the crowd, put her head down and tried once again to blend in. * Dim lights flickered as Mai hugged the shadows on the wall. The whole district put her on edge. Although she was on the six-mile, she was in a vat-born hab block. Although they were attached to certain families or corporations, the vat-born never slept in their owner¡¯s houses. Every citizen of the Empire knew their history, and even now Mai could see the text they¡¯d been forced to memorise. Something which she¡¯d always thought was utterly pointless considering the fact that the text was archived and easily available for anyone who wanted to read it. The Seditious and Cowardly Revolt of the Ungrateful Vat-born occurred three thousand years, five days and twenty hours ago. Unbeknownst to the Celestial Court, a caretaker in Vat Warehouse One Million and One, inserted rogue code into the educational software downloaded by default into all new-born Vat-born. Over one hundred thousand Vat-born were infected with the code before the treachery was discovered. As the Emperor¡¯s Loyal Servants started to hunt the faulty vat-born, their actions triggered a response. Over half a million loyal citizens were killed in the first ten minutes of the uprising. By the end of the first day, more than three million loyal citizens had lost their lives to those they trusted and viewed as loyal fellow citizens. Drastic measures were taken, and every Vat-born was summarily destroyed by order of the Celestial Court. The end of the Seditious and Cowardly Revolt of the Ungrateful Vat-born saw over five hundred million vat-born destroyed, and nearly six million loyal citizens dead. Since then, not one vat-born has broken their conditioning. Mai laughed bitterly at that. It seemed that everything she was taught was based on lies. Mogwai didn¡¯t exist, Anna hadn¡¯t broken her conditioning and escaped to a secret base in the sewers. The location¡¯s a perfect hiding place for the rebels, no-one in their right mind would believe that real humans would want to come here. Even if they did believe all that mogwai-shit about how they¡¯ll never revolt. Whether or not they would revolt didn¡¯t matter. In order to be the perfect servant to the people they served, they were Bonded. Acting upon every whim and wish of their owners, Vat-borns were beholden to no-one else. Everyone had heard the horror stories. The vat-born killed and ate normal humans who strayed into their territory and various other forms of horrible death. Having met Anna she couldn¡¯t quite get rid of the idea. Anna¡¯s hatred for her former masters was visceral. But that was because her conditioning had broken. Vat-borns were designed to serve. It would have completely gone against their very DNA to do otherwise. Now that she actually had time to think about it, she realised that the horror stories were most likely designed to make humans distrustful of vat-borns and to keep a firm barrier between them. Still, she couldn¡¯t risk coming up against another Anna, and she especially didn¡¯t want to have to fight any Cullers now that she was so close to her destination. Three more turns, one set of stairs and I¡¯m ¡®there¡¯. She was exhausted, constantly being on edge was taking a dreadful toll on her. A little bit of paranoia was supposed to be healthy. It kept people on their toes and meant that they weren¡¯t conned by every stranger they had the pleasure of meeting. But this much paranoia had her jumping at every noise and twitching at every shadow. It felt like she was simultaneously being followed and watched. Her guideline flashed, indicating that she¡¯d reached her destination. As before she stood looking at a bare wall. No indication that there was a door or secret base behind it. Either Anna had told the truth, or she¡¯d sent Mai on a wild goose chase. Voices from the vat-born hab blocks either side of her echoed along the small alley she was standing in. It was spotless. Not something she¡¯d have expected in a vat-born ghetto, but then again she¡¯d never been in a vat-born ghetto so had no idea as to what to expect. Nothing for it, she thought as she rapped her knuckles on the wall. It hurt and produced absolutely no result. DAMAGE 1% ¡°For fuck¡¯s sake,¡± she cursed. Her shoulder blades itched even more, the sense that she was being watched growing by the second. ¡°Right, I know you¡¯re here, so just open the fucking door. I¡¯ve got a delivery to make and I¡¯ve had a really shitty few days.¡± Counting, she decided that she would give it thirty seconds before forming as much explosive as possible and blasting her way in. That or just dumping the chip on the floor and leaving. ¡°No need to get pissy,¡± a voice called out from above her. Looking up, she spotted a small girl. ¡°Yeah, no need for language like that, we¡¯re respectable people,¡± a woman emerged from the shadows, followed by three others. All of them were wearing nano-stealth cloaks. And all of them were vat-born. Mai was impressed. She hadn¡¯t even considered that the rebels would be so well equipped. ¡°So I was being watched and followed,¡± sighed Mai, kicking herself for not listening to what was becoming an obvious development of the increase in her STREET SMARTS skill. Still, on the sunny side, she was getting successes which counted towards levelling up even if she wasn¡¯t actually recognising them as such at the time. ¡°Please, follow us.¡± The woman gestured to the door behind Mai which as she turned she saw was now open. Smooth bastards, she thought ruefully. Why didn¡¯t my street smarts get all twitchy when that opened? Maybe they did. Maybe I was too busy looking at their snazzy cloaks to pay attention. Again. She followed the woman through into the rebel¡¯s base. This was different. As soon as she was through the door she found herself in a short corridor with another heavy-set door before her. Looking around she saw a number of slits in the walls and holes in the ceiling. This is a kill-chamber, she shivered as she realised just how much danger she would have put herself in had she tried to break in. ¡°This way,¡± the leader tapped on the wall to her right and stood aside to wave Mai through the portal which opened. Like the entrance to the base, it was whisper quiet. ¡°Sneaky. Enemies concentrate on the door ahead of them rather than looking for the door they actually need,¡± Mai said, bowing slightly in respect. As she did so she activated SPOT HIDDEN, kicking herself for not doing it sooner. If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it. ¡°And once they blow that door, they find another, and another, and another. All whilst we¡¯re doing our best to cut them to pieces¡± The woman smiled. Mai decided that she liked her far more than she liked Anna. Trusted her more as well. She seemed to be a lot more organised than Anna was. ¡°Anna sent me,¡± she said as they entered the rebel¡¯s base. There were a lot more security measures here than at the other base and Mai was certain that some of the patches of paint in the first corridor had been mismatched as if they were painted over damage. What she truly appreciated however, was that there was no manhandling of her. They even let her keep her backpack without asking to search it. ¡°No doubt as s test of your loyalty and to see whether you¡¯re suitable material,¡± the woman smiled. ¡°Material? I¡¯m not some sort of jumpsuit!¡± Mai exclaimed. ¡°Not that kind. The kind that would be of use to us. Help us in our fight.¡± Another smile, and not one which made Mai feel stupid for getting confused. She had herself for that. Mai said nothing more as they made their way into a communications centre. ¡°Please, the chip?¡± The woman held out her hand. Reaching into a secret pocket she had crafted into her jumpsuit, Mai pulled out the chip and gently placed it into her hand. ¡°I hope that this is actually useful and not just a ¡®ha, well done you¡¯ve delivered the chip¡¯,'''' said Mai as the woman slotted it into the base of her skull. Just the thought of placing something so large in her skull turned Mai¡¯s stomach. Didn¡¯t realise she was a cyborg! Mai was slightly overwhelmed at the way the world was changing so rapidly. It had gone from her apartment, Li, and their neighbours, the people on their level, to a world she had only ever experienced through holomyths. Utterly bewildering. ¡°We¡¯ll soon see, won¡¯t we? Shush now.¡± Mai shushed and dropped herself into a comfortable-looking chair. It was anything but, lacking any padding worthy of the name. Beggars couldn¡¯t be choosers however, and she was just glad to be able to take the weight of her feet. ¡°Ah. Okay,¡± the woman said. ¡°You¡¯ll be pleased to know that it wasn¡¯t a waste of our time.¡± DELIVERY CHIP MISSION COMPLETION NEW TITLE! ¨C POSTMISTRESS! YOU GET THE MESSAGES TO WHERE PEOPLE NEED THEM TO GO! ¡°Any chance you¡¯re going to tell me what was on it?¡± Mai asked as the woman turned her attention back to Mai. She thought she probably knew the answer, but there was no harm in asking. ¡°Somewhere between zero and absolutely not,¡± laughed the woman. ¡°I¡¯m Biyu.¡± Mai took the proffered hand and shook it as firmly as she could, matching the woman¡¯s tough grip. Biyu¡¯s hands were rough, not soft like a normal civilian¡¯s. Like Mai¡¯s had been before she entered the sewer. Biyu was someone who clearly didn¡¯t mind getting their hands dirty. It made her think what Anna¡¯s hands might feel like. ¡°Nice to meet you Biyu, I¡¯m Mai.¡± It was a strange custom. Everyone had glyphs above their heads declaring to all and sundry who they were. But until they had actually introduced themselves and you had introduced yourself to them, you only ever thought of them as ¡®they, he, or she¡¯, never by name. In a city of billions, privacy was the most important aspect of life. Even if the Celestial Court monitored your every move. ¡°Have you eaten recently? We have a...¡± Whatever she had been about to say was cut short by a huge explosion. DOMINATION ¨C HOLD THE BASE AGAINST THE ATTACKERS DO YOU ACCEPT YES/NO? ¡°What the fuck! Were you followed?¡± Biyu reached out and selected YES, Mai following her just a second behind. She closed her hand to hide how much it was shaking. She¡¯d thought, stupidly she now realised, that she was actually going to be safe for a while. To be able to rest. And that thought had meant that she¡¯d been particularly shocked by the sudden eruption of violence. ¡°No! The only people that even tried to do so were killed! And they were only Cullers!¡± cried Mai. But the doubt she felt must have made its way into the tone of her voice. ¡°But?¡± asked Biyu as another explosion rocked the base. ¡°But I was certain that I was being watched and followed towards the end of my journey. When you appeared with your people I assumed that was why.¡± ¡°Hells. How you¡¯ve managed to live this long I¡¯ll never know. What¡¯s your bio-mass level?¡± ¡°It¡¯s fine. I¡¯m ready to fight,¡± Mai said, projecting confidence into her tone. ¡°Good, because from the sounds of it, you¡¯re going to have to.¡± Biyu turned and pressed a button on a keyboard. A darkened screen mounted on the wall sprang into life. Even wearing a mask she would recognise the man anywhere. ¡°Fuck. It¡¯s Sharktooth,¡± gasped Mai. Her legs wobbled, shock washing over her, goosebumps raising all over her skin. All appetite gone she stared at the apparition as if it was a living nightmare. For her it was a living nightmare. ¡°A friend of yours?¡± Biyu looked over at her suspiciously, clearly not understanding Mai¡¯s reaction. ¡°Anything but. He¡¯s a psychopathic killer who has more teeth than nature provided and who likes to use them to tear chunks from his living victims.¡± As she spoke she winced at the flashes of memory her brain insisted on throwing up on her mind¡¯s eye. She called up the Culling scoreboard, stomach sinking as she saw just how far up the leaderboard he was. Top ten per cent. Mai didn¡¯t bother looking at his Cull count, she didn¡¯t want that to add to the fear she could feel building up inside her. In fact, she was surprised that she didn¡¯t have an INTIMIDATED glyph above her already. Licking her lips, trying to get some moisture back into her mouth, Mai tried to focus on bringing her heart rate down from ¡®fit to burst¡¯, to just ¡®racing so fast it¡¯s going to take five years off your life¡¯. ¡°Think you can take him?¡± Biyu was barely paying attention to Mai now, the flickering of her eyes telling Mai that she was busy directing the defence of the base already. ¡°I already have once. But that was in training. He¡¯s way ahead of me now. He¡¯s got seventy-one kills!¡± No matter how hard she tried, she couldn¡¯t help looking at the Cull tally. Fortunately, because she¡¯d searched for him specifically, she couldn¡¯t see her own Cully tally. It wasn¡¯t something she needed to know. Knowing would only add to the weight she constantly felt upon her shoulders as it was. A third explosion, much bigger than the previous two sent dust raining down on them from the ceiling. Inwardly, Mai cursed. Such activity was sure to bring more Cullers. And if it didn¡¯t bring them, then surely the Imperial Police would be turning up to see what was going on. ¡°He¡¯s through the first and second fake doors already. We need to stop him,¡¯ Biyu flicked her finger, sending an order. Biyu¡¯s arms turned into light machine guns, whilst a suit of light-weight anti-kinetic armour formed over her body. ¡°Templar Defender Mark Five,¡± Mai said to herself as she identified the armour. Mai did a quick search, saw that it was unlocked on her menu and formed it over herself for ten per cent biomass. As she did so, she did a quick scan of the description. Template Defender Mark Five is a light anti-kinetic suit of armour made from super-light composite materials. With multi-spectrum visuals, it allows any base defender to continue fighting even when their opponents are blinded. Anti-kinetic does not mean this suit is capable of defending you against energy weapons. ¡°Nice! Even got thermal optics,¡± she activated the latter as the lights in the base went off. ¡°Glad you like it. You unlocked it when you got to this base. Probably unlocked a different suit when you arrived at Anna¡¯s. Follow me.¡± Mai selected her gladius and went with the double-barrelled SMG. Whilst she wasn¡¯t particularly keen on seeing how well it performed, she was looking forward to seeing it shred her nemesis. And this mix of ammunition is going to really shred him, she thought grimly. She filled her magazines with a combination of RIP rounds, explosives and incendiaries. The RIP rounds were designed to fragment, sending bits of themselves in an expanding arc from their point of entry. They had a 20% BLEED bonus and caused bleeding at 15% per second. Explosive rounds were just that. They weren¡¯t much use against normal flesh, but if they hit a bone the damage they caused was devastating. What they were far more effective at was destroying armour faster than the nanites could repair it. And whilst the nanites were repairing the armour, they were decreasing their owner¡¯s bio-mass. Other bonuses were that they caused the Pinned, Stunned and Bleed status effects. Incendiary did what is said on the tin. It didn¡¯t matter where they hit, the target would be splashed with a highly volatile liquid which erupted into flames as soon as it was exposed to air. This would cause Panic, Burning, and Shock. All of this would set her bio-mass firmly in the single digits. Pulling a bio-mass bottle out of her backpack, she took a hearty swig, increasing her bio-mass to just over one hundred and fifty per cent. ¡°Here,¡± she handed the bottle to Biyu. ¡°Try some of this. Doesn¡¯t taste brilliant, but you¡¯re going to love the effects.¡± Biyu squinted at her, then drank. ¡°What in the five hells! This ¡­ this is amazing!¡± ¡°It¡¯s what¡¯s in the supply drops. Have you never tried to capture one?¡± ¡°Tried yes,¡± said Biyu as she handed the bottle back. ¡°But there are so many Cullers we can¡¯t even get close. And the supply drops always self-destruct anyway.¡± Mai made a show of pulling another bottle out of her backpack and setting it on a table beside her. ¡°A present. A way of thanking you for treating me far better than Anna did.¡± Biyu said nothing, just nodded. ¡°Let¡¯s go shark hunting.¡± Book 2 - Rebel - Chapter 25 As they left the room there was one final explosion. Far bigger than the previous ones. ¡°I¡¯m guessing that¡¯s bad?¡± Mai asked as alarms blared. ¡°He¡¯s through.¡± Gunfire erupted just ahead of them as a group of panicked rebels ran around the corridor. Before they could say anything a wall of flame engulfed them. Living torches screamed and flailed, staggering, bouncing off the walls. The smell of their burning flesh filled Mai¡¯s nostrils and she gagged at the stench. ¡°Buddha have mercy,¡± Biyu said as she gunned down her friends, ending their misery in a hail of bullets. Another gout of flame shot around the corner, the heat making Mai flinch. ¡°He¡¯ll know that someone is here. Killing them only resulted in assists for him.¡± ¡°Better that than letting him level up. Some of them were Cullers from previous seasons. Those culls still count.¡± Opening up her menu, Mai scrolled down to the suit she was wearing and added ¡®FLAME RESISTANT¡¯ to it. Doing so cost an extra twenty per cent bio-mass but considering the alternative it was worth it. More rebels arrived from behind them, Biyu directing them to take up firing positions. A couple placed large ballistic shields halfway down the hall, whilst others threw automatic turrets in front of them. Not thought about using an automated turret before, thought Mai. Seeing the rebels who had deployed them resorting to using traditional firearms made her realise just how much bio-mass such things would use. ¡°What¡¯s taking so long?¡± moaned one of the rebels, hands shaking so badly that Mai doubted they¡¯d be able to do anything other than suppress Sharktooth when he came around the corner. ¡°He likes to play with his victims,¡± she whispered. ¡°Why do you think he¡¯s chosen to burn people to death?¡± The rank smell of urine filled her nose as the rebel started to quietly sob. ¡°Back away Ari, you¡¯re sending out bad vibes,¡± ordered another rebel. This one had the look of an ex-soldier. He had campaign bars ranked in double columns on his jacket sleeve. Some of them she even recognised. Life under the Emperor might be deemed to be peaceful in the city, but outside of the city walls in the last remaining wild spaces, and up on the various different moons and planets in their solar system, it was a different matter. If she¡¯d spotted an army recruitment office rather than the Culling banner she¡¯d have signed up in an instant. Recruitment for the Thousand Year War wasn¡¯t doing so well recently. ¡°Hey sergeant,¡± she whispered to the veteran, ¡°if I charge Sharktooth, make sure no-one shoots me in the back by accident.¡± ¡°Roger that,¡± was his curt reply. He didn¡¯t even look away from the corner to speak to her. ¡°Just give the word.¡± Another longer burst of flame shot around the corridor. And then another straight after. ¡°He¡¯s coming,¡± warned Biyu. And he did. The flames didn¡¯t stop this time, just got closer and closer with each step Sharktooth took. He¡¯s using bio-mass liquid, thought Mai, stomach sinking at the thought. Of course someone like Sharktooth had managed to get his hands on the precious liquid. Fire washed over the turrets, and negative status effects appeared over them. Whilst they weren¡¯t made of flammable materials, the heat was more than enough to blind their sensors. And metal didn¡¯t have to burn for them to actually take incremental damage. The rebels opened fire, shooting blind into the flames. Mai threw herself down onto the floor, trying to get a shot under the wall of flames. A foot appeared. Activating TUNNEL COMBAT, since the corridor was essentially a tunnel, as well as her SMG skill, she targeted Sharktooth¡¯s foot. ARMOUR HIT! 20% Mai cursed. She hadn¡¯t factored in Sharktooth¡¯s armour having a separate damage profile to the man himself. And from the damage she¡¯d done, she¡¯d need to get a lot more bullets on target. ¡°Good try bitch!¡± Sharktooth¡¯s voice boomed, audible even over the sound of his flame thrower and the rebel¡¯s weapons. Mai flinched from the heat as he continued to advance. She¡¯d have thrown a grenade but, not knowing how these things worked, she was worried it might prematurely explode as it entered the flames. ¡°Pull back! Everyone move back. He¡¯s going to run out of bio-mass.¡± It was the flames which had given her the idea. Even if he was using bio-mass liquid, he¡¯d have to stop and replenish at the rate he was sending the fire their way. And when he does, he¡¯s mine. ¡°Move back slowly, keep firing at him!¡± Mai shouted, shuffling back one step at a time. She tried to ricochet shots off the floor, hoping that they would hit Sharktooth. There were no hit markers, but the rate of the fire slackened as her bullets added a SUPPRESSED negative status effect, the glyph popping into existence above his head. ¡°Get ready,¡± she motioned to Biyu. ¡°As soon as she stops firing , he¡¯ll be charging us.¡± And with that the flames cut out. Sharktooth was revealed in all of his terrible glory. His suit was highly customised, covered in flickering nanite-flames, the mask carved to resemble that of a grinning mogwai. INTIMIDATION glyphs popped into existence above most of the rebel¡¯s heads, some of them who had already been intimidated by the fire switched into PANIC. The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. Not this time, thought Mai as she unloaded her SMG¡¯s twin magazines into Sharktooth¡¯s armour, Biyu adding the firepower of her machine guns to the hail of lead. Sharktooth staggered, then bent forwards as if he was walking into a strong wind. His fire thrower morphed into twin blades and his artificially amplified voice filled the corridor as she laughed. ¡°Oh, this is a good challenge, nothing like a good fight!¡± ARMOUR HIT! 25% ¡°Dammit, where the hell did he find this armour?¡± shouted Mai as he continued his inexorable advance. ¡°We had news that another cell was lost yesterday!¡± ¡°Dammit!¡± her SMGs clicked on empty. Mai immediately switched to a gladius and tomahawk combination rather than wait on each round reforming to fill the magazine again. She couldn¡¯t wait for him to close with them, she had to take the fight to him, put him on the back heel. He was a predator with a self-image that he had to preserve. His victims didn¡¯t attack him, they waited in fear until he attacked them and then they died. And indeed he took a step back as she ran towards him. Swinging her weapons she activated every skill she had on her list. Who knew, maybe there was something to CLEANING that would help. She made her helmet¡¯s visor clear as she attacked again. ¡°Well, if it isn¡¯t the little bitch,¡± he grunted as they circled each other. Mai didn¡¯t bother replying. She¡¯d rather save her breath for the fight that was to come. It was already hard to catch her breath properly as his INTIMIDATION tried to set its claws into her brain. She jabbed with the gladius, and then chopped downward with the tomahawk. They were weak attacks and he easily blocked them. His follow-up attacks were the exact opposite. One of his arms had been transformed into what she could only refer to as a thorn sword, whereas the other was a wicked-looking battle axe. Everything about him is designed to scare people, it was a clever tactic. Even as she fought it, his INTIMIDATION was making it hard to concentrate. Making it increasingly difficult for her to stand up against him. ¡°Wassa matter, wanna go home to mummy?¡± He liked to taunt, clearly. So she just laughed as best as she could. It wasn¡¯t that convincing, but it had the desired effect. He got angry. With a roar he attacked again. Blocking every one of them, she started to analyse the hit boxes which her active skills had painted on him. There was no doubt he was doing the same as he angled for different places on her with each and every attack. Mai continued to fight defensively. Trying to learn his patterns and see if he had another skill up his sleeve. Biyu finally darted in. She¡¯d chosen a katana and wakizashi combination. Sharktooth blocked and parried both blades with his thorn sword before kicking out, striking her in the sternum. Biyu staggered away, a CONDITION MARKER appearing above her. She already had the INTIMIDATION glyph and Mai was highly impressed she¡¯d been able to attack. ¡°Just me and you then,¡± laughed Sharktooth. It¡¯s like he¡¯s living some sort of stupid evil-villain role, thought Mai. And then she saw it. They¡¯d moved along the corridor as they fought and tested each other. Just beyond Sharktooth were the rebels Biyu had been forced to kill. Blood had pooled around the corpses and her CLEANING skill was not only highlighting how long it would take to get the stains out of the plasticrete floor, it was also telling her the chances of someone slipping. Laughing at the absurdity of it, Mai attacked again. She thrust high, chopped low, turned that chop into an upward cut and the thrust into a downward slash. All of them were blocked, but Sharktooth was forced ever backward. Spinning, she dummied high with both blades, masking what was actually going to come. As his weapons rose to block her attacks, she kicked out, sending her heel crashing into his chest. ARMOUR HIT! 5% STAGGERED Sharktooth was sent flying, stumbling away into the blood where both feet lost their grip, sending him crashing to the ground. Mai swapped the gladius for a spear and thrust it deep into Sharktooth¡¯s thigh. HIT! 15% BLEED @12% Her gladius changed into a shotgun, bio-mass levels dropping as she selected the most expensive shells there were. Bullet shot. Each one held six 9mm bullets. And her drum magazine had thirty shots. BIOMASS 10% As Sharktooth tried to get her spear out of his leg, screaming with pain, she opened fire. The effect was devastating. HIT! SOAK 90! HIT! SOAK 100! ARMOUR DESTROYED! HIT! 10% BLEED@3% HIT! 30% CRITICAL HIT! HIT! 40% CRITICAL HIT! Her shells shredded his flesh as easily as they shredded his amour. Somehow he¡¯d also managed to boost his body¡¯s health and ability to take damage. What would normally have killed a whole slew of people, merely ate away at his health as she kept her finger firmly on the trigger, fighting the bucking weapon. The hammer clicked onto an empty chamber and silence filled the corridor. Sharktooth lay in a pool of blood. His pinned leg had been amputated at the thigh, whereas the other had been severed at the knee. The rest of his body was similarly wrecked. One arm was completely gone, the other shredded. His rib cage had been blasted open and sick surged into her mouth as she stared at his lungs as they struggled to inflate. ¡°This wasn¡¯t¡­,¡± he coughed, blood welling up out of his mouth. ¡°Supposed to be a simple mission. Not part of the ga¡­¡± He choked as she thrust her spear directly into his heart. KILL! CONTESTANT 1000000 ELIMINATED! SCOREBOARD UPDATE TOP 10000! NEW TITLE! ESTEEMED CULLER! You can keep your fucking title, Mai thought bitterly. It meant nothing, just that she¡¯d killed more people than other Cullers. She felt dirty at the thought that she was being given a title for being nothing more than a glorified killer. ¡°S .. sorry I didn¡¯t help,¡± Biyu whispered as she joined Mai to look down at Sharktooth. ¡°You did what you could,¡± sighed Mai. She was exhausted. Tiredness seeped bone-deep. ¡°Look, I¡¯ve completed the mission. Do I have a message for Anna to take back?¡± ¡°We can¡¯t support the attack. Not now. We¡¯ve lost over half of our members, and the rest aren¡¯t in any shape to fight, mentally or physically,¡± Biyu said, sighing once she¡¯d finished. Her eyes kept meeting Mai¡¯s before darting away. It was clear to Mai that Biyu felt more than slightly guilty about their lack of support. Mai looked at Biyu for a few heartbeats, wondering just how well Anna was going to take the news. Not well, was Mai¡¯s thought. In fact, she rather suspected that Anna would have a complete and utter meltdown, and blame her for this. ¡°Nothing for it then,¡± Mai said. ¡°I¡¯ll head back and let her have the update. Thanks for welcoming me better than her lot did.¡± Biyu shrugged her shoulders, looking distinctly embarrassed. ¡°Sorry we couldn¡¯t do more. And don¡¯t mind Anna. She might come across a tad fierce, but she¡¯s got a heart of gold and absolutely hates the Celestial Court. ¡°Something we both have in common,¡± Mai gave a wry chuckle. Her hatred of the Celestial Court was rapidly changing from a slow burn to a building rage. ¡°Good luck Mai.¡± Mai shook her hand and then made her way out of the base. Book 2 - Rebel - Chapter 26 The journey back was surprisingly, and fortunately, uneventful. Before she entered Anna¡¯s secret base, Mai made sure to have a hearty drink from the bio-mass liquid she had left in the river. BIOMASS 100% Even a few hours away from the sewers meant that her nose was more sensitive to the aroma of the sewers, but it was particularly refreshing compared to that of burnt flesh. Mai made a mental note to get rid of her current clothing and make a new set as she was convinced she¡¯d never be able to get rid of the stench of Sharktooth¡¯s death. Moving up to the door, she checked for any traps and then tapped the various bricks which would let her into the base. It was much easier now she knew what she was doing. Knocking on the door she held her hands out wide to show that she still wasn¡¯t a threat and went through all of the usual rigmarole of being patted down none-too-gently. Considering she could create weapons with a literal blink of an eye, it was somewhat amusing that they would concentrate on hard-copy and not nanite-based weapons. Not that there¡¯s anything they can do about my nanites, not heard of anyone having the ability to actually prevent someone from using them, she thought as she slapped away the hands of the particularly over-enthusiastic rebel patting her down. ¡°Well?¡± snapped Anna, hands on hips, chin jutting forward. She couldn¡¯t have looked any more belligerent had she tried. Mai tried to remember Biyu¡¯s words that they had something in common. Still, she could feel her hackles rising. ¡°Sharktooth attacked the base. Biyu¡¯s lost too many people to be able to help you with whatever¡¯s on the chip,¡± Mai didn¡¯t think there was any point in sugar-coating the message. And she was too tired to waste breath on words that didn¡¯t need to be said. She had a sneaking feeling that Anna would shortly make up for that lack. Anna¡¯s face quickly turned a mottled red, mouth opening and shutting as she struggled to find the words to express her clear anger. She¡¯d make a terrible Mah-jong player, Mai thought with a hidden smirk. ¡°Their base was attacked?¡± Anna repeated, skin going even darker. ¡°Soon after I arrived. A Culler called Sharktooth. Absolute psychopath. So named because he has more teeth than nature intended and likes to use them to bite his victims. Member of the prisoner faction. Never did find out what his crimes were. Used explosives and a flame thrower to take the base down.¡± The less she said, the easier it was to keep her calm as Anna¡¯s ire continued to grow. Mai half expected to see steam shooting out of Anna¡¯s ears. ¡°And he arrived just after you?¡± Sneered Anna. A couple of the rebels started muttering and hefting their weapons in what they probably thought was a threatening manner. Not to me, I faced one of my greatest nightmares and killed it, thought Mai. ¡°Yes,¡± Mai could see where this was going. No matter what she did, or didn¡¯t say, she¡¯d only give Anna more ammunition. ¡°So he either followed you, or you led him there deliberately.¡± That wasn¡¯t a question, and the emphasis Anna gave to the last part of the sentence made it clear what she thought. ¡°I wasn¡¯t followed, and I didn¡¯t lead him there deliberately. It was just bad luck. Or he¡¯d found them like I found this base. Easily.¡± She knew that the barb was a bad idea before she said it. She didn¡¯t realise just how bad until Anna¡¯s hand cracked across her face. DAMAGE! 1% STUNNED! She didn¡¯t need the message to know that she¡¯d been stunned. Stars had literally exploded in her eyes and it felt as though her chin was detached from the rest of her body. She knew it wasn¡¯t due to the status effect message, but still. ¡°How dare you make jokes at a time like this!¡± Anna roared, spittle flying from her mouth. Her whole body strained towards Mai, with arms straight down, fists clenched. She was like a rabid dog straining at a leash. ¡°What¡¯s a better time?¡± snarled Mai. ¡°And don¡¯t try hitting me again. I don¡¯t like it.¡± She flexed her fingers, ignoring all of the other rebels about her. Having seen how the last lot fought, she was confident she could take anyone in this room on and survive. Whether or not any of the rebels survived would remain to be seen. ¡°You¡¯re a fucking traitor, and you¡¯re going to admit to it now!¡± screamed Anna, flecks of spittle hitting Mai¡¯s face as she leaned even further into Mai. Mai didn¡¯t move though, refusing to be cowed. Refusing to give Anna any slight advantage, physical or mental. ¡°No, I¡¯m not. And no I¡¯m not,¡± Mai slowly slid a leg back. If she was going to fight, Anna was going to be the first to go. She seemed to be the glue holding the group together, and there was a chance that if she was dead, the others would be more amiable to listen to the facts. ¡°Prove it! Prove you¡¯re not a traitor!¡± A pistol appeared in Anna¡¯s hand. It was a traditional one, not a nanite one. But it would still do the job. She¡¯d drawn it impressively quickly, an aspect of her vat-born reflexes. Due to its proximity, the barrel seemed to be an incredibly large bore. Which, Mai was forced to admit to herself, was actually slightly intimidating. Especially as the person holding the weapon in her face was more than slightly unhinged. Mai called up her recording of the last mission. Every action a person performed was recorded and held in storage for twenty-four hours on a personal drive. But having seen her ¡®highlight reel¡¯, she knew that the Celestial Court held them for much longer. Using her retinal monitor, she created a RedFang connection, a wireless connection, and plugged herself into one of the many screens in the command centre. ¡°This is mostly going to be boring. Want me to fast-forward?¡± ¡°What, so you can skip past where you and Sharktooth meet and agree on the details of the attack?¡± sneered Anna, waving her barrel at Mai. Shrugging, Mai played the mission from the moment she¡¯d been assigned it by Anna. She¡¯d seen it all before of course, so closed her retinal monitor version and let it play on the big screen whilst closing her eyes. ¡°What are you afraid of seeing the truth?¡± snapped Anna. ¡°No, afraid of seeing what I had to do to people in order to deliver your message. I don¡¯t enjoy killing!¡± Mai was getting more than tired of Anna¡¯s constant goading and paranoia. Keeping her eyes closed, she blink-clicked a setting which would sound an alarm when it got to the time of Sharktooth¡¯s attack and tried to get some sleep. Exhaustion made her bones ache and felt as though she was on the verge of tears. I¡¯m not going to bloody start weeping in front of that bitch, not because she was afraid of looking weak, but because Anna would think she was weak and she wasn¡¯t going to give her any such satisfaction. The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. As soon as she closed her eyes it became apparent Anna wasn¡¯t going to let her get any rest. She constantly asked questions, asked for the playback to be rewound and started again at a certain point. ¡°You do realise that there are hours of playback on this? It wasn¡¯t a simple stroll in the fucking pedway!¡± ¡°You¡¯re just afraid we¡¯ll see something that you can¡¯t explain!¡± cried Anna. ¡°To be fair Anna, we¡¯ve seen nothing untoward,¡± interrupted a rebel. ¡°Mai¡¯s been given the mission and headed out straight after accepting it. The time for her to arrange something untoward would have been at the start. It also doesn¡¯t make sense that we haven¡¯t been attacked yet.¡± ¡°Yeah,¡± agreed another, ¡°if she was a traitor, why wouldn¡¯t she and this Sharktooth attack this base first, and then go on to attack Biyu¡¯s after? ¡°Why go all the way over to Biyu¡¯s base and then attack here?¡± Yet another asked. ¡°It doesn¡¯t make sense. And why would she kill Sharktooth if they planned to attack here after?¡± Anna stood, mouth opening and closing like a fish. Chest heaving, spittle on her chin, fists still clench, she just stood, unable to respond, shocked speechless by the support her people had given Mai. ¡°Should I fast forward then?¡± Mai asked the first rebel to support her, a young man in his twenties with short hair and an open face. There was no guile in his face that Mai could see. Going by her gut, for once, Mai realised she could trust him. There was a chorus of assent from the other rebels and Anna made a strange, strangled sort of noise. Choosing to take that as consent, Mai skipped forward. Once she got to Sharktooth¡¯s attack, sounds of dismay filled the room as they watched the attack, and her single combat against what had seemed like the invincible. ¡°That settles it then.¡± The first rebel offered his hand to Mai just after she had killed Sharktooth. ¡°I¡¯m Chan. We¡¯re done here Anna. As much as you might wish it, Mai¡¯s no traitor.¡± The other rebels all agreed, some coming forward to pat her gently on the back or to shake her hand, but all done with some form of awe in their demeanour given her obvious abilities. ¡°Well, I just,¡± stammered Anna, still not willing to back down and lose face. ¡°I just wanted to make sure!¡± ¡°If that¡¯s all, can someone show me to a bunk? I¡¯m dead on my feet,¡± Mai said. More than a few rebels stepped forward to help her. As she was led out of the room, she looked back at Anna. She¡¯d never seen so much hate and anger as she did when she looked into Anna¡¯s eyes. Great, prove I¡¯m not a threat, and become a bloody threat another way. Still, that was a battle she would have to fight another time. Bed beckoned. Although she¡¯d be sleeping with one eye open. * Mai opened her eyes, stretching, enjoying the loud popping of her bones, revelling in the comfort of the bed and the warmth of the duvet covering her. Mai¡¯s retinal monitor indicated that she¡¯d been asleep for just over eighteen hours. ¡°How the hell aren¡¯t the drones coming for me?¡± she wondered out loud, a burst of adrenaline sending her heart racing and completely spoiling the brief seconds of luxury she¡¯d been enjoying. ¡°We have dampening in place. A load of shielding in the walls and a shield generator as well.¡± A male voice from the bunk above hers explained. ¡°But wouldn¡¯t that just create a blank spot on the city maps?¡± ¡°No, we¡¯ve made it look like a set of rooms, just as the way they appeared on your minimap when you were close enough. We¡¯ve altered the city records to have these rooms marked as shelved and unsuitable for use. We have friends in high places.¡± Mai chuckled at the old joke. And in this case it was the literal truth. The Imperial Bureau of Cartography was a well-respected and powerful part of the Imperial government. Those lucky to work for it came from no lower than eight mile. And so, they were definitely friends in high places indeed. A pair of feet appeared and then the bunk¡¯s owner dropped to the floor, landing in what Mai called a superhero pose. It was quite impressive. Looking up slowly, her bunkmate smiled. It was Chan. ¡°Morning, by the way. You looked so tired I issued orders to just let you wake naturally. Anna wanted to have another chat with you about the attack, but the rest of us agreed you¡¯d been through enough.¡± ¡°Thanks for that. She¡¯s really got it in for me.¡± ¡°Meh,¡± he shrugged. ¡°She¡¯s got it in for all humans. Takes a long time for her to be even slightly decent to someone. Still, she doesn¡¯t usually get so antagonistic.¡± He smiled at that last. ¡°You seem to have really rubbed her up the wrong way. Maybe you were enemies in a past life.¡± Resurrection was a key part of the official Imperial Religion, second only to the worship of the Emperor. Nearly everyone believed that if they died they would return in the future and have a chance to live their life again and try to change any mistakes they¡¯d made. Of course this meant that they would make yet more mistakes, but since they were going to be resurrected, they could change them again. Mai wanted to believe in resurrection, as it would mean she and Li would be reunited with their parents, and Mai would have a chance to be a much better citizen, daughter, and sister. Yet, there was a doubt in her mind that it was just another piece of Celestial Court propaganda, something to keep the masses happy with their lot. ¡°So you¡¯re working on democratic principles?¡± Pushing those thoughts to the back of her mind, she turned back to the conversation. ¡°No, she¡¯s our leader, we have a proper command structure. I¡¯m her second-in-command. But when our people speak, we listen to them. And they weren¡¯t happy at Anna¡¯s treatment of you. You didn¡¯t have to return after everything that happened at Biyu¡¯s base.¡± Mai hadn¡¯t even thought about that. She¡¯d been given a mission to carry out and she¡¯d carried it. There was nothing else she could have done. Or was there? She thought. Just as everyone always selected YES when given an assignment, she assumed that they carried out those assignments to the very end. Was it possible that she could accept an assignment and then refuse, rather than fail to do it? But what would the point of that be? If I accepted something and then decided not to do it, I wouldn¡¯t get the reward. If there was one. ¡°What do I do now then?¡± she asked. ¡°You can join us. Fight against the Emperor and the Celestial Court. Help save other Cullers.¡± ¡°Or?¡± she wasn¡¯t sure she wanted an ¡®or¡¯ but wanted to know all of the options. She rather suspected that there might be an ¡®or¡¯ which resulted in her disappearing forever, if Anna had her way that was. ¡°Or you return to the Culling and either Cull or be Culled. Who knows, you might even Ascend.¡± His tone told her just how realistic he thought that option was. And, although it would have been nice to have someone express the opposite opinion, and actually believe she could make it, she also appreciated the honesty. ¡°I think I can stick around a bit longer,¡± she smiled as he laughed. It was nice to feel accepted again. Aside from Anna, the rebel unit had the same feeling as her old sewer company. It had good people, a common goal, and a setup which meant she wasn¡¯t going to be herded back into the Culling by the drones. Even better is the fact that other Cullers won¡¯t be able to find me, not unless they¡¯re as good as Sharktooth was, Mai thought. ¡°Fine, you can keep the bunk beneath me. We lost Benito last week so it¡¯s going spare.¡± That was like having a bucket of ice water dumped over her. Yet again, reality insisted on crashing back into her life with both feet whilst screaming at the top of its lungs. Reality, in her opinion, could fucking do one. * Mai spent the rest of the day getting to know the layout of the base, as well as the rebels living there. It was much larger than she had previously thought, with plenty of secret doors, misleading passages, and hidden rooms. It was as she was scouting through a new corridor that she thought she heard muffled voices. Activating her LARCENY skill, she moved down the hallway, stopping to place her ears against the wall every few paces or so. ¡°Those Cullers are still holed up ¡­ One Mile,¡± it sounded like Anna. As usual, she sounded angry. It was as if anger was her constant state of being. ¡°¡­ know but without¡­ can¡¯t get them,¡± that was definitely Chan. ¡°Send ¡­ bitch?¡± Mai sighed, it was clear she was the bitch in question. Anna was determined to keep using her until she was Culled. And there was nothing she could do about it. Not if she wanted to stay with the rebel unit. Can''t do anything about it yet, she thought. It surprised her that she would think such a thing. She wasn¡¯t normally the sort of person who would think about offing someone who was being mean to her. But then again, she wouldn¡¯t have thought she would be the sort of person who could claim she¡¯d have thirty-six kills to her name. She staggered at the sudden thought of that number, knocking against the wall. Shit, why the fuck didn¡¯t I use STEALTH? It might have mitigated her clumsiness. No use crying over spilt rice win. ¡°¡­ was that?¡± Anna¡¯s voice now sounded as if it was getting closer to the hallway Mai found herself in. Frantically, Mai activated STEALTH, spun and sprinted for the end of the corridor. Immediately upon reaching the corner she threw herself to one side, sliding along the ground for a couple of paces. ¡°It¡¯s nothing,¡± Anna¡¯s voice echoed down the corridor. ¡°Probably just being paranoid.¡± ¡°I think we¡¯re done here anyway,¡± Chan said. ¡°I¡¯ll see about drawing up some plans. Get back to you with them in two hours or so.¡± Mai drew her knees in, placed her weight onto her hands and then tilted her body so that her feet were firmly on the floor. Then, as Chan¡¯s footsteps drew closer she was off and running as silently as possible. Rebel - Book 2 - Chapter 27 Unwilling to face any rebel whilst she was still sweaty and out of breath from her unplanned spying mission, Mai retreated to a part of the base she could tell wasn¡¯t frequented that often. It was the lack of tracks in the dust that mainly gave it away, as well as all of the danger signs. Reading them made her chuckle. It was as if they¡¯d been written not to warn people away, but to make them curious enough that they would enter. ¡®Danger of Severe Injury¡¯, ¡®Danger of Death¡¯, ¡®Authorised Staff Only¡¯, ¡®No Entry¡¯ and so on. They were utterly pointless as the only people in the base, were those people already authorised to be in the base. There wasn¡¯t a chance that someone would see those signs and not be tempted to see what was actually in the base. Well, a certain type of person naturally, since none of the others in the base seemed willing to pass them. However, she wasn¡¯t like others, so she¡¯d ventured in. Nothing had leapt out to kill her, there were no traps to be found - she¡¯d activated SPOT HIDDEN more than once - and she¡¯d found a perfectly habitable room with a bed far comfier than her bunk. There was even an option to personalise the room. Reading through the menu she saw that if she wanted to, she could upgrade it to the point that it was essentially a panic room. With its own secret escape tunnel. Sound proofing, reinforced walls, anti-gas, fire suppressors, lethal and non-lethal defences were all options. Most were still locked, but certain basics were available. It was the upgrades of what the system thought to be a basic requirement which were locked. Why on earth hasn¡¯t Anna taken this over?, she thought as she gradually added little comforts to the room. The first thing she crafted was a more secure door. It wasn¡¯t as tough as the top tier version, but it had a soak of two hundred per cent, which was more than enough to keep light-fingered or nosey rebels away. The one she had originally entered through had been hanging off its hinges, practically inviting her to push it open. Looking at the sub-menu for the door, she saw there were options for camouflage. Intrigued, she opened up the description. Camouflage, for when you either don¡¯t want people to find your secret base, or want to make them think there¡¯s nothing of value behind it. Afterall, who¡¯s going to check out a rusty door that no-one¡¯s using? She smiled as she read the description. It appealed to her sense of humour. Adding rust and making it look as shoddy as possible, she stepped back to view her handiwork. ¡°Not bad, not bad at all.¡± The door looked as though it had always been there, and utterly neglected. And no-one would know any different until they tried to open it. Next, she checked the DEFENCES sub-menu. As before, there were a number of basic options, with additional upgrades which were locked. ZAP immediately caught her eye. A blink-click and she was reading the description. ZAP ¨C A defence capable of being either non-lethal ¨C for those citizens who have adventurous young children who wander into areas they shouldn¡¯t ¨C and lethal for those citizens who want to see thieves fry! Mai went for the non-lethal version, not wanting to accidentally kill someone. Still, I¡¯d love to see their faces when ten thousand volts went through them! She¡¯d kept the amps down so that she wouldn¡¯t actually kill anyone, but the zap would be more than enough to convince them that the signs meant what they said. Probably blow them halfway across the corridor, she thought with a smile. She¡¯d never thought that interior design could be so much fun. Once the door was up, she set about adding holograms of her sister, her parents and even her first ever pet, a draco-bat she¡¯d called Fang. Those too were free. As she scrolled through the various menus and sub-menus, she could see that whatever the rebels had been up to whilst in the base, they¡¯d somehow unlocked a lot of what she was now using to decorate her room. She felt a pang of guilt for a second. Instead of immediately letting the rebels know that they could make their base more comfortable, and more secure, she¡¯d spent time creating her own refuge. Fuck it, she dismissed the pang of guilt, This place is almost good enough to call home, she smiled at that thought. Coming out of the room configuration menu, she saw that there was a configuration option which would let her add more rooms to this one if she wanted, heading away from the sewers and into deserted industrial units a little over a couple of hundred paces away. ¡°Come to think of it, there must be other options for this entire base,¡± she muttered to herself. Zooming out on her minimap, she looked at how far it looked as though the base could be expanded. Not that she was sure she had the right, or authority, to do so, but the idea definitely piqued her curiosity. Stepping out of her hideaway, she made her way back into the main section of the base. Standing next to a wall she knew wasn¡¯t backed by a room, she opened up her minimap, selected the corridor and blink-clicked the configuration menu. Well, I¡¯ll be. We can expand the entire base, not just that section I just came from. A grid had appeared around the base and there was a sub-menu of rooms she could add to the base. How the Hells do I unlock more options? She closed her eyes for a moment as she racked her brains to work out what had allowed her to configure the room the way she had. Opening her SASS she smiled as she saw that the mission she had carried out, as well as the DOMINATION mission against Sharktooth, had granted her something called REPUTATION amongst the rebels. Each of the missions had also been marked with a ¡®flawless¡¯, something she hadn¡¯t noticed before and which allowed her to select additions for the base. Quite how it had been marked as flawless she had no clue. It certainly hadn¡¯t felt flawless at the time. She looked at the REPUTATION stat again. She¡¯d never seen such a thing before, not even after fighting the urbexers. However, she put that down to the fact that she¡¯d been part of a team and hadn¡¯t finished the missions solo. And maybe it didn¡¯t matter with the sewer companies? Leaders in those groups were promoted to their position. Whereas she could tell with this group at least that Anna had earned and bullied her way to being a leader. As it was, her REPUTATION was at forty-five per cent. Only fifteen per cent below Anna¡¯s. Even more interesting was the graph showing her reputation rising steeply, with Anna¡¯s taking a dive the day before. Quite why it showed Anna¡¯s REPUTATION she had no idea. Unless I¡¯m already thought of as a potential leader? But why? It¡¯s like I¡¯ve asked for such a thing! If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it. Blink clicking on REPUTATION she read the description. REPUTATION ¨C Reputation reflects the standing of a certain person in the eyes of the people they are working with. This isn¡¯t reflected in all factions or professions but is most often found amongst criminal elements such as Gangers, Prisoners, and Rebels. Scum can¡¯t be trusted, so RESPECT is needed to garner their support. Mystery partly solved, she thought. Doesn¡¯t explain how I earn it though. Or why it¡¯s comparing me to Anna. However, she suddenly understood why Anna could create missions. She was management. Just like with the sewer company the rebels had what could be viewed as a management hierarchy. Anna was technically not only management, she was high-level management. Where that put Chan she didn¡¯t know, yet. And that explains how Anna was able to create the mission for me, which was definitely a mystery solved. Making her way to the command centre, she caught Chan¡¯s eye and nodded to the corridor outside. He tipped his head, so slightly that she barely noticed it. Looks like REPUTATION works, that or it¡¯s my natural charm, she thought, walking a few strides away from the entrance to the command centre she didn¡¯t have long to wait. ¡°Mai? How can I help?¡± He looked tired, and she felt guilty as she remembered he was trying to come up with a plan to rescue some Cullers in far too short a time span, and with none of the resources he had obviously been planning on using. ¡°Why hasn¡¯t this base been expanded?¡± She got straight to the point. Not wanting to waste any of his, or hers, time. He frowned and pursed his lips, tilting his head. ¡°What do you mean?¡± ¡°Just that. Why haven¡¯t you expanded this base further? It¡¯s rammed with people, and I¡¯ve seen some having to share bunks on shifts.¡± ¡°Well, we haven¡¯t had the opportunity or the resources. We just can¡¯t, so we haven¡¯t.¡± His eyes narrowed. ¡°Why, can you expand it?¡± ¡°It just so happens that I can,¡± she smiled. ¡°Want me to share my retinal display so you can see what I can do?¡± What in Buddha¡¯s balls makes me so different? ¡°Hells yes!¡± he exclaimed, before furtively looking over his shoulder. ¡°But let¡¯s go somewhere more private.¡± ¡°I know just the place,¡± she laughed, beckoning him with a crooked finger. * ¡°This is beyond anything I thought possible,¡± Chan said for the umpteenth time as he looked around her small section of the base. ¡°And you¡¯re sure you can expand and upgrade other parts?¡± She nodded, pointing once again to her retinal projection. Every citizen of the city could share their retinal monitor if they needed to. Often it was used by parents and teachers to explain how to navigate the menus, work out how to use maps and access skills. But it was also useful for things like she was doing now. The base schematic rotated as she changed the camera view, opening up side menus to show the configuration options. ¡°Yes, the base has plenty of those EXPANSION POINTS, and already has a load of basic options unlocked. And if you keep doing missions, those points will continue to increase.¡± She kept her reservations about why she could do this, as opposed to any of the rebels who were already in the base from him. It was unsettling. Marked her as being different, which she was certain wasn¡¯t going to be viewed as a good thing by Anna. Her modifications to her room had mostly been cosmetic, with the biggest spend being on the door, but it was clear he was impressed with what she¡¯d done. Especially considering the rebels had none of their own possessions bar the odd hard-copy picture frame. If that. ¡°What do you want to expand first?¡± she asked slyly. ¡°Do you think we should speak to Anna?¡± ¡°No, she¡¯s too busy,¡± he replied quickly, almost too quickly. ¡°Let¡¯s just go with making the bunk room bigger for now.¡± Mai selected the bunk room on her minimap. It was one of the rooms furthest from the main entrance, so had a lot more room to expand. Pinching hold of the top left and right corners, she pulled them apart, growing the room accordingly until it was roughly a third bigger, roughly an additional ten boxes. The EXPANSION POINTS reduced accordingly by fifty points. ¡°Huh, it seems that each of those squares is five EXPANSION POINTS,¡± Chan said, speaking more to himself than actually explaining it to Mai since it was more than obvious that was what was happening. The base had over five thousand EXPANSION POINTS. Far more than enough to do what needed to be done. ¡°People can make their own beds I assume?¡± she asked. They must have been able to do so somehow, unless those were default beds. But that would have meant they wouldn¡¯t have been able to build any more every time they got additional recruits. ¡°That won¡¯t be a problem,¡± he laughed, rubbing his hands together. ¡°Let¡¯s go share the good news!¡± * From the cries of surprise and happiness, the good news was already spreading. Rebels ran past them to see what the noise was about, then added their own cheers. ¡°What¡¯s going on?¡± Anna¡¯s voice rang out. ¡°Get back to your stations!¡± Mai¡¯s stomach flipped at Anna¡¯s tone, and shared a glance with Chan. He quirked an eyebrow at her and she barked out a laugh. Both had known how Anna would react. Mai didn¡¯t really care, but she was surprised that Chan had wanted to keep it secret from her whilst they worked on it. Mai had a niggling feeling that her reputation with him was growing faster than it was with the rest of the rebels. She didn¡¯t bother checking though, it felt wrong to look and work out how to manipulate him. I like him for who he is, not what he might be able to offer me in the future, she thought. But then she gave a mental jump as her brain leapt to the next possibility. Shit, is he looking to me to replace her? She hadn¡¯t really considered that. Kill her, yes if it came to a choice between living and getting back to Li, or having her brains splashed out on the floor of the base. But becoming the de facto leader of the rebel cell had never been something she¡¯d considered. It put a completely different outlook on things. ¡°Anna, it¡¯s okay. I had Mai enlarge the bunk rooms. She showed me it was possible due to something called EXPANSION POINTS. Seems we¡¯ve had the option to do this all the time we¡¯ve been here. Her two missions she performed for us also added to those points. Not sure how she¡¯s able to do it though.¡± Heads snapped around to look at Mai. There was a pause, and then cheers broke out again, the rebels surging forward to slap her on the back. Mai¡¯s face heated in embarrassment, she wasn¡¯t used to such adulation. ¡°Put it back the way it was!¡± Anna¡¯s voice roared out, silencing the rebel¡¯s celebration. All heads turned back to the rebel leader. ¡°But why?¡± asked Mai. ¡°I spoke to Chan and he thought it would be a good idea once I¡¯d shown him what I could do. We can¡¯t have people sharing bunks because there isn¡¯t enough room. Imagine what would happen if more people came to join.¡± She didn¡¯t mention the Cullers that Anna and Chan were looking to rescue. Letting on that she¡¯d heard them discussing it wouldn¡¯t be a good idea. ¡°It would be bedlam.¡± The rebels laughed at that, much to Anna¡¯s obvious fury. Mai quickly checked her reputation. It was at a solid fifty-eight per cent, whilst Anna¡¯s was now at fifty per cent. ¡°I don¡¯t understand why you¡¯re so angry, it¡¯s not as if this is a popularity contest,¡± Mai narrowed her eyes as she beamed a false smile at Anna. She¡¯d had enough of the woman¡¯s attitude. Anna stared back, chest heaving, eyes practically bulging. As ever, she looked on the verge of violence. Just in case, Mai activated UNARMED COMBAT and DIRTY BOXING. She¡¯d do everything she could to not kill Anna, but she would be damned if she was going to give the bitch even the slightest opportunity to beat her. ¡°Fine. Everyone¡¯s responsible¡­¡± ¡°For their own beds, yes, Chan said that,¡± Mai fake smiled so hard she thought her cheeks would split. With a jerk of her head towards her second-in-command, Anna stalked from the room. As soon as she had left the cheers erupted again and Mai was lifted onto the shoulders of the jubilant rebels. I¡¯m going to regret this, perhaps it¡¯s time I made myself absent for a while, she thought as she was paraded around the room for a third time, Anna¡¯s eyes boring into her as though they were mining lasers. Those Cullers still need help. Book 2 - Rebel - Chapter 28 Mai was surprised at how easy it was to slip away when she needed time to herself. The rebels had mostly been busy with their day to day tasks or creating new beds for themselves. No-one had been bothered about what Mai had been doing. As soon as she was out she retrieved a bio-mass booster and decanted some of the precious liquid into an empty water bottle. She had an idea that BIOMASS boost was going to be very damned helpful over the next couple of hours. Moving to an elevator, she blink-clicked One Mile, going for a mid-point level. She almost cancelled the selection at the thought of what she was doing. One Mile. One Mile was legendary. One Mile was a living hell never mentioned by polite society. She¡¯d heard of people going down to One Mile on guided expeditions. They were beyond expensive, far more than she would ever have been able to afford in her past life. But the stories that the ¡®adventurers¡¯ had were always fascinating. Then there were those that went down there on their own, or as part of a dare. According to legend they rarely returned. She hadn¡¯t known anyone to be so stupid as to actually try going to a One Miler level. Plenty had talked about it, but they also talked about trying to get into the Celestial Court, and everyone had known it was just that. Talk. Now she moved through a darkened part of the city. It was night-time, but in a city which rarely slept it shouldn¡¯t have made that much difference. As ever though, where they didn¡¯t need to provide proper lighting the Celestial Court didn¡¯t bother. And need was subjective. The lower you got, the worse the facilities. And One Mile was as low as you could get, both literally and figuratively. Lights flickered ahead, and the bright neon advertising sign cast a myriad of hues across the floor. A pleasure palace, offering every type of entertainment possible. Blushing, Mai blink-clicked a filter so that the advertising was blocked by her retinal monitor. But the flickering of the other lighting was still disorientating to the point that she activated her STREET SMARTS. Most of the signs were broken in some way which meant that the light they cast wasn¡¯t uniform. The whole effect made her feel somewhat sick and off-balance. It was the perfect place for Cullers to hole up. And the perfect place for someone to ambush her. As she hadn¡¯t accepted a mission, she didn¡¯t have a guideline to let her know where to go, nor how close she was getting to them. She just knew that they were somewhere on the One Mile. Hopefully they¡¯ll be busy shooting at someone, I can just follow the sound of guns. It was a morbid thought considering the fact she was supposed to be rescuing them and a battle would make things a lot more complicated. It would also mean yet more killing. Why can¡¯t it have just been a damned courier mission? She mentally groaned to herself. She hadn¡¯t been on a level this low before, and she was appalled at the state of the hab blocks. If you fell this far in society and managed to stay out of debt it was a miracle. Walls sagged and peeled, there was a heavy downpour of condenrain from the higher levels and waste was piled up in every nook and cranny. Cracks spider-webbed their way along the walls, some of them larger than her fist. It was as if the environment was matching the spirit of the people forced to live here. Despair practically oozed out of the buildings surrounding her. Shivering, Mai wrapped her arms around herself in an attempt to shield herself against the spiritual miasma surrounding her. Looking up she tried to see where the next level was, but the condenrain and perma-mist was too thick for her to see. It was as if the whole of the level was engineered to keep people down, preventing them from ever thinking they¡¯d be able to escape their lives. Realising she was actually bending forward, rounding her shoulders under the perceived weight of the city above her. Trillions of tonnes pressing down onto the rotting One Mile. And her subconscious has picked up on it. ¡°Miss, excuse me miss, but you don¡¯t want to be out on the streets right now,¡± whispered a voice from the shadows of a door. It was a young voice, but tired in such a way that Mai wanted to steal them away from this life. She blink-clicked through her retinal monitor¡¯s visual spectrums until she selected the low-light setting. Gasping, Mai looked at the little girl huddled in the shelter of the doorway. She was wrapped in what amounted to nothing more than rags and her hair was falling out in clumps. None of her skills had helped her to spot the girl. Either they were failing, or the little girl was very, very good. The girl smiled, and Mai bit down on her revulsion. Her teeth were a mixture of blackened stumped and yellow teeth. Boils and cysts covered any of the skin that Mai could see. They were the sort of thing that someone in the higher levels would have thought nothing about getting them healed. Those with enough BIOMASS would have merely blink clicked them away. It was clear from her gaunt skin that the girl barely got enough food, let alone enough BIOMASS to be able to heal herself. All of this was seen in less than the blink of an eye. ¡°Thanks for the warning. Why¡¯s that?¡± she knelt so that she was at eye level with the girl. Not wanting to tower over her. I suspect that she¡¯s all too used to people larger than her trying it on, she thought, memories of a fight she¡¯d had with a larger boy coming to mind when she¡¯d found him trying to take sweets from Li. A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation. ¡°Organ drones are out and about,¡± the girl raised a shaky hand to the sky. Mai immediately tried to see what she was pointing at. Chills running down her spine at the knowledge there was a threat in the high grey. ¡°Organ drones? What the hell are they?¡± she whispered, not wanting to be overheard by the as-yet unseen threat. ¡°Harvesters,¡± whispered the girl in tones of such dread that Mai¡¯s hackles rose. ¡°They¡¯re sent from higher up to nab organs for people who have the money but not the nanites to get fixed.¡± Mai¡¯s mouth dried instantly as she looked back up into the dim sky. She still couldn¡¯t spot a thing. Wiping her sweaty palms on her trouser legs, she tried to calm her jangling nerves. Everything about her surroundings seemed to be made to break her emotionally. Drones that steal people¡¯s organs? Anger flooded through her at the thought of the people on this level being farmed for their organs. As if their lives aren¡¯t bad enough! ¡°You¡¯re a Culler?¡± gasped the girl, slowly reaching out as if afraid that Mai would disappear. Despite her revulsion at the dirt and boils covering the hand, Mai let her touch her. It¡¯s probably the first human contact she¡¯s had for a long time. Where in the Emperor¡¯s name are her parents?¡± Mai moved closer to the girl, gently forcing her to remove her hand, and crouched down beside her. ¡°Yes, I am. I¡¯m looking for some Cullers who are hiding. Do you know where they are?¡± Her voice pitched low, not wanting it to carry. Nodding, the girl raised a stick-thin arm and pointed down the pedway. ¡°They¡¯re about six hundred paces that way. I saw another group heading that way too. Don¡¯t think they were friends though, ¡± the girl said. ¡°They looked like they were hunting them. Are you going to rescue them?¡± Mai was still thinking about how to answer the girl when a prompt came up. RESCUE THE TRAPPED CULLERS DO YOU ACCEPT YES/NO? Sometimes, Mai thought, it¡¯s as if the Gods are bloody watching. And sticking their fingers in when they want. She pressed YES, glad that she wouldn¡¯t have to hunt around the One Mile looking for the Cullers and attracting yet more unwanted attention. Mai opened her backpack and pulled out some of her supplies. They wouldn¡¯t do the girl much good, but at least they would give her some enjoyment. And if she could get her BIOMASS to one hundred per cent, perhaps her passive HEALING would kick in. That¡¯s if she even has HEALING as a skill. Are One Milers prevented from having this sort of thing as well? The idea appalled her, because if it was true, it truly meant that One Mile was a living hell. Which hell, she didn¡¯t know. Perhaps the Priests and Monks of the One Million Faiths hadn¡¯t been able to put a name to it, or perhaps it was just One Mile. After a moment¡¯s consideration she realised that such a name was apt. ¡°Listen, you don¡¯t have to stay here,¡± Mai flicked her minimap over to the girl with the general location of the rebel base. ¡°Make your way there. I¡¯ll meet you once I¡¯ve spoken to the hiding Cullers. You¡¯ll be safe.¡± Snatching the food from Mai¡¯s hands the girl ripped a cover off and started eating as quickly as she could, cramming the food into her mouth so quickly that Mai feared she¡¯d choke. She didn¡¯t know whether to laugh or cry. The sight of a child so desperate for food that she was willing to risk choking just to get it down was heart-breaking. Then the girl paused, cocking her head like a lizog listening for prey. ¡°They¡¯re coming!¡± eyes wide she stared up into the sky. Mai blinked-clicked a pair of double-barrelled SMGs so filled with adrenaline that at this point she never even registered any pain from the transition. Adding suppressors, for a total of nineteen per cent biomass, she pushed the girl as far back into the recessed doorway as she could. BIOMASS ¨C 81% ¡°Don¡¯t move. I won¡¯t let them get you.¡± DEFEND THE CITIZEN AGAINST THE DRONES DO YOU ACCEPT YES/NO? Despite her surprise at a mission appearing in such a way, essentially receiving it from a child, it was the easiest choice she¡¯d ever made. A counter appeared, showing the number ten. Whether that was going to be a countdown or indicated the number of drones she¡¯d have to fight she neither knew nor cared. Nothing mattered aside from saving the girl from such a gruesome end. She could hear them now. A light trilling as they zipped through the air. There was a blood-curdling scream further up the pedway which cut off with a finality that could only mean one thing. A laser beam lanced through the sky, then widened into a scanning pattern. Following it, Mai could just about make out the drone. The condenrain and grey sky hid it well. With a sudden burst of inspiration she activated SPOT HIDDEN. And as if it had been struck by a ray of sunshine the drone was revealed. It was blood chilling in its appearance. Blood-covered appendages hung beneath its belly, whilst what looked like pastiglass containers filled with blood protruded from the top of its shell. She hated it upon sight. ¡°Got you,¡± she muttered as she laid the sights on the droid. She was glad she¡¯d created the suppressors as there was no point in making too much noise. Not only might it draw Cullers, but there might also be One Milers who would think nothing of killing her and taking everything she had. Which was admittedly not much. She fired a three-round burst from each SMG. HIT!¨C 10% Activating her SMG skill, she fired again as the drone started to take evasive manoeuvres. Every third round was a tracer, which allowed her to see where her shots were going. It was as if fire bugs were flying through the never-ending miasma of One Mile. ¡°Slippery little suckers aren¡¯t they?¡± she muttered as she fired and missed again. The drone made a lazy circle, then a barrel dropped out from underneath it. A laser lanced through the air, the gun tracking the laser¡¯s movement as it centred itself on her. ¡°Shit!¡± Mai created a shield just in time. The drone¡¯s gun burped, sending a high-velocity stream of flechettes their way. SHIELD SOAK 13% PINNED! Damn, they pack a punch against shields! Mai kept the shield in place and pumped bio-mass into making it thicker, buffing both its protection and durability. ¡°Don¡¯t let them get me miss!¡± pleaded the girl, tugging insistently on Mai¡¯s jacket. It was a distraction she didn¡¯t need. Time for something different. Book 2 - Rebel - Chapter 29 Mai switched one of the SMGs for a light machine gun. Despite having used one during the DOMINATION EVENT at the waterpark, she was shocked at how much it weighed when it wasn¡¯t resting on its bipod. There wasn¡¯t a chance she was going to be able to fire it one handed. But if she got rid of the shield, both she and the girl would be easy targets. Only her shield stood between them and being turned into a pile of shredded flesh and bloody rags. She was going to have to up her game if she wanted to keep Li alive. Damn! Where did that thought come from? She shook her head, trying to clear it of the thought. More bullets struck her shield. SHIELD SOAK 20% PINNED! ¡°Let go for a second, I¡¯m going to have to generate a suit!¡± She tugged free from the girl¡¯s grip and selected the suit of armour she¡¯d used with Johnny back at the supply drop. Even now, despite his betrayal she felt a lump in her throat at the thought of him at the oddest of times. Yet more emotion she didn¡¯t need. Creating the suit would mean she would be able to wield weapons far heavier than she would if she was relying on her own muscle strength to do so. Another drone appeared, scanning the area like the first one had, before deploying its own weapon. The mission counter hadn¡¯t dropped, so Mai deduced that the number indicated how many drones she had to destroy in order to complete the mission of protecting the girl. Unleashing another burst with the SMGs she forced the first drone to dodge away, long enough to blink click and form the suit of armour. BIOMASS ¨C 51% Armour complete, she made her other arm into a light machine gun, paying another ten per cent BIOMASS for a mixed load. Laying the sights of both onto the first drone she let rip. BIOMASS ¨C 41% The muzzle flash leapt at least a pace from the barrel, its strobing light casting an orange hue over the space they were in and the noise. Oh gods the noise! Thought Mai as the weapons boomed. Tracer zipped through the air quickly followed by a mix of incendiary and explosive rounds. CRITICAL HIT! 75% Wobbling, the drone wavered from side-to-side, smoke belching out of the holes she had punched into it. With no warning at all, it exploded. WRECKED! NEW SKILL! DRONE KILLER ¨C RANK 1 DRONE KILLERS ARE A BREED APART. ONLY THOSE BRAVE ¨C OR STUPID ¨C ENOUGH TO TAKE ON SUCH FEARSOME MACHINES CAN ACHIEVE SUCH A TITLE. The blast knocked Mai onto her heels, as shrapnel rained down onto her, the little girl screaming in fear or pain. The counter dropped to nine, confirming her suspicion about the mission objective. Emperor¡¯s fifth nipple! This is not going to be easy! More bullets cracked into her armour. DAMAGE! 1% ARMOUR She laughed as she saw how little damage was being done. It was clear that the drones were only designed to hunt unarmoured prey. Feeling bold, she pressed the girl back into the recess as far as she could go, and stepped out of cover, yelling at the second drone, drawing it away from where the girl was hiding, its laser tracking her every movement. It fired a stream of tracer so thick that there was barely a break in the line, looking more like an energy beam than a stream of kinetic projectiles. Mai was forced to throw herself around like an acrobat to avoid the shots. Even though the damage done to her suit wasn¡¯t as much as that done to the shield, she didn¡¯t want to take too much damage as she didn¡¯t know what she might be facing next. That, and letting something drill her with bullets completely went against her natural instincts. And not liking being hit with bullets meant that she was more than happy to dish out the punishment in return. HIT! 5% HIT! 7% HIT! 9% Zipping to her right, the drone fired a burst in return. DAMAGE! ARMOUR 2% Tenacious little bastards, she thought as she tracked the drone. Zipping up, down, left and right, it made aiming hard. Splitting her sights, she opened fire and started moving her light machine guns randomly. HIT! 5% As soon as the notification popped up, she took immediate advantage of the momentary pause in the drone¡¯s movement it caused. CRITICAL HIT! 65% HIT! 5% HIT! 5% WRECKED! DRONE KILLER Mai barely had time to metaphorically wipe the sweat from her brow before she heard the girl shout a warning. Too late. Bullets hammered into her from behind. So many hits, that she actually staggered forward a couple of paces before righting herself. The noise was like corn popping, but slightly muted by all of the armour and padding separating her from where the bullets were impacting. DAMAGE! 5% ARMOUR Okay you little shits, you¡¯re starting to piss me off. Spinning, she laid her sights onto the centre of the three drones which had flanked her. With no little satisfaction she opened fire, aiming for the one in the centre. It was slightly closer, meaning it would have less time to attempt to avoid her fire. HIT! 68% Unable to dodge her first burst it tried to avoid her fire, whilst the other two zipped around and strafed her. Ignoring the SOAK notifications which popped up, she kept both of her own guns firing, snarling as she tracked the first drone. Such was the weight of her fire that the drone was completely incapable of returning fire. Pieces of armour, sparks, and gouts of flame erupted from the battered drone as it tried to avoid her fire. HIT! 10% HIT! 5% HIT! 7% HIT! 8% HIT! 5% There was a sudden gout of flame from the target drone¡¯s hull and then it exploded, showering the area with shrapnel and burning plastic. Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings. WRECKED! DRONE KILLER HIT! 86% EXPLOSIVE DAMAGE! HIT! 92% EXPLOSIVE DAMAGE! Both of the other drones skewed their way through the air, one with its gun pointing uselessly downward whilst the other appeared to be blinded, spraying bullets in all directions, blowing chunks from the walls of the hab blocks surrounding them. Screams rang out as the heavy bullets punched through the flimsy walls, striking unseen inhabitants. Cursing at the chaos she¡¯d inadvertently caused and laying her sights on the one with the still-functioning weapon, she opened fire. Unable to avoid her fire, its critical hit boxes were far easier to attack. WRECKED! DRONE KILLER It blew apart, its remains killing its already damaged companions. WRECKED! DRONE KILLER WRECKED! DRONE KILLER DAMAGE! 10% ARMOUR This time the explosions were so quick, one after the other, that it seemed as though the drones had exploded simultaneously. A particularly large piece of shrapnel, something which looked rather like a bent gun barrel flew through the air to hit Mai¡¯s armour. Looking at her retinal monitor, she saw that not only was the mission counter down to six, but that her bio-mass was going to be severely depleted if she had to fix the suit and create a way of protecting the girl other than just hiding her in the shadows. Activating her REPAIR ARMOUR skill, she created another shield and placed it in front of the girl. ARMOUR FULLY REPAIRED ¨C SOAK@100% ¡°Stay here. Don¡¯t move. Okay?¡± adrenaline coursing through her veins, she could only think in simple sentences. Whilst the drones had been relatively easy to kill, especially when it came to the emotional cost of killing humans, their alien nature and the way that they swarmed had unsettled her. One of her greatest dislikes ¨C not fear as such ¨C was insects. She didn¡¯t know why, but they just unsettled her. It didn¡¯t matter if they were Jackers, nasty stinging creatures which seemed to have been born angry, or Milk Spiders ¨C so named because of the milk they produced in farms ¨C she hated them. And the drones were definitely insect-like in appearance and behaviour. She hadn¡¯t had time to process that during the initial seconds of combat but looking at the wreckage she was struck by the similarities. ¡°Okay. You won¡¯t let them get me, will you?¡± ¡°Not a fucking chance,¡± she snarled the words out, Li would never forgive her if she Mai had failed to save a girl who needed her help. Another flight of three drones attacked, muzzle flash strobing as they tried to cut her down in a volley of fire. Throwing herself to one side, she engaged two simultaneously, sweeping her fire through the air so that as they tried to dodge the initial stream of bullets, they crossed into the next. All of the time she watched as her armours¡¯ durability was worn down by hit after hit. It seemed that drones had learned from her killing of their fellows. Bastards are damned tough! Activating her FREE RUNNING skill she ran at a wall, then straight up it for a few strides and then backflipped over the drones as they chased after her. All the time she kept her finger pressed on the trigger, burning through her ammunition and bio-mass faster than she would have liked as she tried to keep the magazine continually full. HIT! 5% HIT! 7% CRITICAL HIT! 88% WRECKED! DRONE KILLER! BIOMASS ¨C 23% As soon as she landed, she switched one of the light machine guns for a long blade. Being behind the drones conferred her a twenty five per cent better chance to hit, and because she had the DRONE KILLER skill at Rank 1, she got an additional five per cent chance at a critical hit. Thrusting with all of her body weight, which had been at least tripled by the armour she was now wearing, she drove her sword into the belly of the drone, ignoring the bullets smacking into her armour. With barely any resistance, the blade punched through the drone¡¯s armour, tip exploding from its back in a shower of sparks and an ear-piercing electronic squeal from the drone. WRECKED! DRONE KILLER Sweeping her blade across at the final drone in this wing she swatted it out of the sky with its dead companion still impaled on her sword. HIT! 94% CRUSHING DAMAGE The force of her blow sent the drone spiralling away to slam into a hab block. For once this drone didn¡¯t explode, merely gave a completely underwhelming puff of smoke and then dropped to the ground. WRECKED! DRONE KILLER There was only one drone left according to the counter but try as she might she couldn¡¯t spot it. ¡°You¡¯ve got to fight the momma drone now,¡± warned the girl. ¡°What the hells is a momma drone?¡± Mai whispered back. Her skin crawled as she tried to spot the final drone. ¡°It¡¯s the big one where they take all the bits and pieces.¡± Mai¡¯s stomach flipped at that. Just how big is this? A low rumble approached, as if a passenger jet was approaching from a distance. The ground itself trembled. Oh. Bugger. Just in time Mai threw herself to the ground as a rocket whooshed out of the mist above and ploughed into a nearby shop. There was a pause, long enough to allow Mai to think that the rocket had been a dud before the entire shop front exploded. DAMAGE! 27% STAGGERED INTIMIDATED Staggering, Mai set off at a run, desperate to put as much distance between her and the girl. She couldn¡¯t afford to let another rocket like that kill the one person she was supposed to be protecting. Jet engines roared, and laser sight beams probed the ground. Heart thudding fit to burst, she quickly absorbed her blade and threw herself to her knees, sliding into cover behind a rusting ground car. Snatching her pack off her back, she grabbed a bottle of bio-mass boost and drank heavily from it, drinking more than she ever had before. Her bio-mass level grew until it hit one hundred and seventy-five per cent and then stopped, no matter how much more she drank. Wiping her lips, she dropped the bottle back into her pack. All the time the ¡®momma drone¡¯ had been hovering over the scene, lasers probing. Opening her menu, Mai selected a rocket launcher of her own. It had a magazine which could hold six rockets, all of which were fire and forget. Thirty per cent for the launcher and another five per cent per rocket is going to cost! She thought with a mental shrug. There was nothing else she could do if she wanted to defeat such a large opponent. Before she formed it, she placed the bottle¡¯s nipple in her mouth. As soon as she formed it she tipped her head back and sucked in the last of its contents, bringing her bio-mass back up to one hundred per cent. BIOMASS 100% The momma drone came powering out of the sky, rubbish flying around in mini tornadoes as the power of its engines blasted them from the ground. Moving towards where the girl was still hiding behind her shield, the drone scanning the area with tighter and tighter beams. ¡°Leave her alone you bitch!¡± screamed Mai as she stepped out of cover. Activating her DIRTY BOXING and UNARMED COMBAT skills in a desperate attempt to gain some sort of advantage, she painted the momma drone with her own laser sight, firing as soon as her weapon chimed that it had a lock. Mai didn¡¯t have the time to be subtle, or to pick her shots. Every fibre of her body screamed at the thought of losing the girl to such a monstrous creation. Emptying her magazine in under three seconds, Mai was charging forward, adding the fire power of her light machine guns to her rocket attack. HIT! ¨C BLAST 8% HIT! ¨C NO PENETRATION HIT! ¨C RICOCHET HIT! BLAST 5% HIT! ¨C RICOCHET HIT! BOUNCE HIT! BOUNCE HIT! BLAST 5% HIT! BLAST 4% HIT! BLAST 1% ¡°Shit!¡± she¡¯d done a measly twenty-three percent of damage to the drone. There was a pause as the drone spun around to face her. And then a myriad of weapons popped out of its body ¡°Oh, bollocks.¡± Book 2 - Rebel - Chapter 30 Mai moved. Where didn¡¯t matter so long as it wasn¡¯t where one of the aiming laser sights from the momma drone was. Instinctively she knew that standing still was a sure fire way of getting her ticket punched. As she zigged and zagged she re-activated her FREE RUNNING now that it had cooled down. Every time a laser swept towards her she tucked and rolled. It was exhausting. Even though the weight of the armour she had was evenly distributed over her body, it still added more mass than she was used to. Spending another fifty percent of her bio-mass she reloaded her magazine. All the time she kept firing with her light machine gun. It was slowly chipping away at the momma drone¡¯s armour, but patchily as she couldn¡¯t use it to drill through a single point. As she kept dodging and moving, she replayed her first attack. Ignoring all of the bounces, she looked where the hits had landed. A rocket blasted into the ground next to her. Heat washed over her a millisecond before the blast wave lifted her from the ground and sent her spinning through the air. DAMAGE! ¨C 11% ARMOUR STUNNED! She didn¡¯t feel stunned. She felt as though she¡¯d been hit with a sledgehammer after being kicked off a mountain by a mecha. It was only through instinct that she kept moving and avoided the next attack, a bright beam laser that melted the floor of the pedway. Bullets smacked into the ground, the impacts throwing up pieces of the pedway, snapping at her heels as she threw herself into a twisting dive. Landing on her back she raised her rocket hand, sighted on one of the points she¡¯d actually damaged and fired as soon as the launcher lock-on pinged. With a kip-up she was back onto her feet, barely dodging the beam laser as it gouged its way through the floor. A side flip sent her through two other laser sighting beams and under a stream of tracer fire. Sweat was pouring down her face, only stopped from entering her eyes thanks to the forehead pad in her helmet. Chest tight, she tried to suck in as much air as she could, but it still wasn¡¯t enough to meet the demands of her body. I¡¯m surprised I¡¯m not bloody drowning in sweat she thought, knowing that she was equally sweat-soaked over the rest of her body. The drone was weaving through the air, trying to avoid her rocket as it homed in on the target box. She gave quick thanks to the Gods that it didn¡¯t appear to have any point defences or other way of stopping the missile. Probably not used to its victims actually being able to fight back like this, she thought bitterly, anger rising at the Celestial Court for allowing such a thing to happen. ¡°Are you okay?¡± she yelled to the girl, not taking her eyes off her opponent. ¡°Yes! Are you going to kill it soon?¡± Mai could have sworn that the girl sounded more excited than scared now. Damn she¡¯s pushy! Sounds like she¡¯s enjoying the show! Thought Mai as she tried to suck air into her lungs. ¡°Yes! I¡¯m going to kill it!¡± She managed to choke out. Dodging to the left, the drone made one more attempt to avoid the missile, but it wasn¡¯t enough. A brief flash of red and orange threw light into corners which hadn¡¯t been lit in three lifetimes, critters skittering away to escape it. Shrapnel pieces, large and small alike, shot in all directions. HIT! ¨C 20% Forty-three percent total damage. That was better! A multi-barrelled laser hung sparking from the drone¡¯s hull, smoke puffed out of the hole as if the drone was coughing. Another puff, and then the smoke started pouring out as the fire inside took hold. Picking another damage point, Mai fired. She¡¯d waited too long though. The drone¡¯s laser had merely brushed over her as she waited to fire, but the damage was astronomical. DAMAGE! ARMOUR 38% DAMAGE! 10% HEALTH 90% BURN! BOILED! Pain washed over her. At first it felt as though she¡¯d been doused with ice water, but then it turned into a burning sensation that grew and grew. Her armour did nothing to stop the heat damage, seemingly designed only to defend against kinetic, and not thermal or energy weapons. Mai screamed as the sweat-soaked pads of the armour flash heated. Longer and louder than she ever had had. Even more than when she had learned her parents were dead. She wasn¡¯t on fire, thankfully, or she¡¯d have been too busy dealing with PANIC! and INTIMIDATION!, as well as any number of other negative effects. Activating her TREAT SERIOUS WOUNDS rather than wait for her passive HEAL skill to kick in she staggered into another sighting beam. DAMAGE! 5% HEALTH 85% BIOMASS 20% As fast as her TREAT SERIOUS WOUNDS was healing her, the drone was injuring her. DAMAGE! 5% HEALTH 80% BIOMASS 15% Dammit! She cursed as a hail of bullets punched through the already damaged section of her armour. Damaged or not, it still managed to SOAK up some of the effects. It helped that she was moving erratically due to her injuries. Pain washed over her from the still-healing burn site, and the new bullet holes oozing blood. ENDURE PAIN was the next thing she activated, just to give her a clear head so that she could deal with actually fighting the drone, rather than trying to cope. She knew it was risky. Without being able to feel pain, she would have to rely on the notifications to know if she was seriously wounded. Walking on shattered limbs wasn¡¯t a good idea even if it didn¡¯t hurt. Another lock-on ping sounded, and she fired again. She stopped firing her light machine gun, it wasn¡¯t doing enough damage and was just eating through vital bio-mass. Pointing to her backpack, which she¡¯d left next to the girl when forming the armour she used the suits vocal amplification microphone to ensure she heard her. ¡°Get one of the bio-mass boost bottles out and throw it to me when I say!¡± There was no time to wait for a reply as three laser sight beams homed in on her from different positions on the drone. They strobed through the dust and smoke of the battle. Blood pulsing, she instinctively knew that letting any of them touch here would be a bad idea. And with that she re-activated FREERUNNING, using the ACTIVE rather than PASSIVE skill to gain the added bonus. A flip, tuck, dive and roll took her away from the danger zone. HIT! ¨C 15% Fifty-eight percent damage. Now she was getting somewhere. For the first time since the battle had started, Mai thought she was actually in with a chance at defeating the huge drone. Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon. Smoke and sparks were pouring out of the various holes she¡¯d blasted into its hull and another couple of weapons were hanging uselessly. Checking her own bio-mass she cursed as she saw it was at only five percent now. Her burn wounds had cost a lot to fix. But it had been worth it just to stop the pain she knew would wash over her once the ENDURE PAIN went into cooldown. Sliding into cover behind what she thought was a dumpster, she looked over at the girl. ¡°Throw me the bottle!¡± There was a pause, long enough to make Mai think the girl hadn¡¯t heard her despite the amplification, and then the bottle came soaring over the shield she was still sheltering behind. You¡¯ve got to be kidding! The bottle dropped short and in the open, strides away from Mai¡¯s position and right in the middle of the momma drone¡¯s sighting lasers. ¡°Have you got it?¡± The girl sounded both hopeful and sceptical at the same time. Mai wasn¡¯t sure how that was possible. ¡°Yes!¡± Mai replied, not wanting to scare the girl any more than she already was. INTIMIDATION hung above the girl and Mai could see that it was nearly at the PANIC level. If that happened and the girl tried running she was dead. Not happening, Mai pushed herself out of cover and sprinted towards the bottle. Looking beyond it she could see another potential source of cover and angled herself so that she could enter it as easily as possible. Absorbing her light machine gun she dropped to her knees, leaning so far back that her shoulder blades touched her ankles as she slid across the floor and under a laser sight, snatching the bottle up in one smooth motion. Face shield popping open, she was drinking before she¡¯d even got back to her feet, continuing her sprint to the low wall. Immediately her HEALING kicked in, the nanites racing to fix the damage done to her battered body as if competing with the TREAT SERIOUS WOUNDS. A kick of her feet and she was diving through the air, clearing the top of the wall as a hail of bullets blasted into the air behind her. As she landed on the ground, Mai rolled, moving away from where she¡¯d entered the cover, knowing what was coming. A rocket exploded, showering her with bits of plasticrete and shrapnel but it was nowhere near as bad as it would have been had she stayed where she landed. Her ENDURE PAIN went into cooldown and she gasped as the injuries her nanites were still trying to HEAL came back. ¡°My turn,¡± Mai said as she created another rocket launcher on her free hand. She¡¯d been able to ignore the pain of creation initially, but her body was so battered that it seemed as though she had just dipped her hand into a vat of acid. BIOMASS 60% Screaming in pain and rage, tears blurring her vision, she stood and aimed. Both weapons pinged and she launched two rockets, the force nearly knocking her from her feet. The drone replied with its beam laser, the bright blue light arcing towards her. At the very last moment she threw herself to one side and then charged towards the momma drone. She¡¯d finally spotted a weakness. If she could get directly beneath it, none of the weapons it had could sight on her. The sighting lasers could only depress so far, creating a cone in which she would be safe. If I can keep in it , that is! HIT! ¨C 12% HIT! ¨C 18% Shrapnel, bits and pieces of her missiles as well as the drones whickered away in all directions like red-hot. Mai cheered, she only had to cause another twenty-two percent damage. That was two hits with her launcher. DAMAGE! ¨C 7% Dammit! She cursed herself for not paying more attention. Moving erratically due to the damage it had suffered the drone had slewed, forcing her straight into a laser sight. There was no pause before firing. The drone didn¡¯t have to think about such things after all. Coming to a sudden halt beneath the drone, Mai looked up. Target boxes literally festooned the bottom and she kicked herself for not realising what needed to be done before. Damn thing¡¯s so bloody intimidating! Raising her rocket hands, she grinned as she waited for the ping. The drone¡¯s lasers cast about as it searched for her. If it was alive, she would have thought it was panicking. A sudden sideward motion had her hurrying to keep under it, the lasers coming perilously close to touching her. The rockets pinged and she launched. They raced straight up, punching into the drone¡¯s weaker belly armour and through into its vital systems. HIT! 45% CATASTROPHIC DAMAGE HIT! 75% CATASTROPHIC DAMAGE KILL! DRONE KILLER! NEW TITLE DRONE HUNTER! DRONE HUNTERS ARE TRUE HEROES, PITTING FLESH AND SINEW AGAINST TITANIUM AND SERVOS TO DEFEAT IMPLACABLE FOES! DO YOU ACCEPT YES/NO? Flames poured out of the drone¡¯s belly and an electronic scream filled the air, so loud that Mai feared she¡¯d been defeaned for a split second. Spinning, the drone shot hundreds of paces up into the sky, hovered for a couple of heartbeats and then dropped out of the sky like a lead balloon. Mai stood, mouth open, stomach sinking as the realisation of what was happening sunk in. There was no time to run, all she could do was form as many shields as possible and take cover beneath them. BIOMASS 57% She managed to pump out three before the drone came crashing down. DAMAGE! 75% CRUSHING ¡°Miss? Are you okay? Are you still alive?¡± Mai could barely hear the girl¡¯s voice as she strained to keep the drone from crushing her into jelly. With no oxygen in her lungs to spare, she didn¡¯t ¨C she couldn¡¯t ¨C reply. Her armour had servos, lending her strength, but even so the momma drone weighed at least a tonne and she¡¯d never tried to bench press a wet towel, let alone a human organ harvesting killer drone. Frantically scanning through her menu she spotted a weapon which might help. Jackhammer. JACKHAMMER ¨C A tool used by miners and builders to both find the resources that the city needs to continue its glorious existence, and to continue the growth of our marvellous city as it reaches for the stars. Jackhammers are five per cent BIOMASS, and users should be carefully trained in their application as all mines and builders are required to understand the health and safety implications of using such powerful tools. Ten per cent BIOMASS for the two was a bargain in Mai¡¯s opinion. And she either accepted the cost and sucked it up, or she allowed herself to be crushed to death by the momma drone. It didn¡¯t take her more than a heart beat to make the decision. Absorbing her rocket launchers, which were currently pointing barrels up either side of her face, barely fingers width away as they held the shields and momma drone away from her, she recycled the bio-mass to form two massive hammer hands. Already lying on her back, with her hands above her to hold a shield in place, she fired the hammers. They paused and then they started to punch back and forth so fast that they blurred. The sensation was strange, the vibrations making her feel nauseous as the impacts of the hammers went through her body, making her bones feel as though they were turning into jelly. Bit by bit she punched her way through the shields, then the drone, pieces of it flying in all directions. It felt counter-intuitive to be punching her way through the drone, but if that was the only way to stop being turned into jam she¡¯d take it. After what seemed like an age, she broke through the top of the drone and what passed for light poured down. ¡°Oh thank the Emperor,¡± said the girl. ¡°I thought you was well and truly dead! You saved me.¡± MISSION COMPLETED DO YOU ACCEPT YES/NO? Mai gratefully blink-clicked the YES as she stiffly pushed herself onto her knees and then stood up gasping deeply as her lungs sucked in more air than she ever thought possible. ¡°No worries kid, all in a day¡¯s work,¡± she kept her tone light, trying to hide the tears that threatened to spill. ¡°I¡¯m going to tell everyone what you did, you¡¯re a hero!¡± NEW TITLE! HERO OF THE PEOPLE DO YOU ACCEPT YES/NO? CONGRATULATIONS YOU HAVE PROVEN YOU ARE A TRUE HERO OF THE PEOPLE! Pausing for a second, hand hovering over the YES, Mai tried to work out what the title actually meant. She¡¯d never heard of it before but considering she hadn¡¯t really been the most productive or involved member of society that shouldn¡¯t really have been a surprise. Shrugging, she pressed YES. Anything that sounded that positive must help towards her REPUTATION. There was a chime as she did, and she opened her SASS to see what had changed. She gasped, she¡¯d gained a rank, and therefore an additional five per cent across every skill whilst her reputation with the civilians had leapt to an impressive seventy-five per cent. Well, it was impressive to her as she¡¯d managed to score that high in any school tests, and she¡¯d not known where her standing had been prior to getting the title. ¡°Are you going to save the other Cullers now?¡± asked the girl as she handed Mai her backpack over to her. ¡°Yes,¡± Mai said, although what she truly wanted to do was put the whole idea to bed and get back to her own comfortable bed back at base, and damn whatever Anna might say. But she couldn¡¯t. If there was a chance to help Cullers get out of the event and save them from horrendous deaths, she knew she had to take it. ¡°Make sure you head to my base okay? They¡¯ve got a lot of hot food. Let them know I¡¯m coming back soon.¡± Mai looked at the guideline leading away from where she stood. Time to go rescue some Cullers, Mai thought wearily. Book 2 - Rebel - Chapter 31 Having replenished her bio-mass to its max, Mai felt confident about being able to rescue the Cullers. After all, nothing could be as bad as the momma drone. I hope, she thought with a wry smile. She wasn¡¯t worried that she was going to be too late as the guideline was still pointing her unerringly in the direction she needed to take. If they¡¯d all been killed, then the line would have disappeared. That¡¯s what she hoped anyway. It certainly seemed to have been the case for the other rescue and hunt missions that she¡¯d been on so far. Faint sounds of battle were finally picked up by her helmet¡¯s sensors. There was a lot of gunfire, and only the odd explosion. Which was reassuring. The last few days had been particularly hard, physically and mentally, and the idea of having to face heavy weapons had slowed her steps more than once on the approach to this mission. Considering how long it had taken her to reach this point, she wasn¡¯t surprised that heavier weapons weren¡¯t being used. The Cullers and the people they were fighting must have been running low on bio-mass by now. If they had much to start with, not all Cullers would have been going to events which gave bio-mass whereas others might have tried to gain, spent what they had and come away with nothing, her mouth soured at what she¡¯d lost during the event at the waterpark. It was something she knew was going to continue niggling for as long as she lived. She kicked in her STEALTH skill, moving as silently as she could. Shadows offered her good concealment, and she slipped silently from dark pool to dark pool. Whilst One Mile¡¯s inhabitants might not be too enamoured of their surroundings, at least they allowed those who didn¡¯t want to be seen to remain out of sight. Although that¡¯s probably just as unsettling for them in other ways, if they¡¯re just normal citizens. Which prompted another thought. Are there actually normal citizens on One Mile or were they all thieves, brigands and ne¡¯er do wells? Mai chastised herself. The people here were most likely here because of the actions of family members from generations ago. Once you got dropped down the levels, especially this far, it would be nigh-on impossible to escape. It¡¯s like indenture, but with the illusion of being free, that thought took her by surprise, and she wondered just how free anyone not a Ten Miler or member of the Celestial Court truly was. And even then, were those high-ups truly free of shackles? Whole damn system is broken. Mai smiled at the thought that she was playing her own small part in further breaking it by helping the Cullers get out and join the rebels. If they want to, what the Hells do I do if they tell me to piss off? She knew even before she asked that question what she would have to do. She¡¯d have to Cull them. Just hope they¡¯re so weakened by their battle that it¡¯s easily done. Muzzle flares strobed on the walls ahead of her as the sound of firing and the general noise of combat got louder. Shouts, warnings, screams of anger, cries of pain. It was all too familiar to her now. So much so that she reacted to it more in the way she would if it was raining, rather than with fear or alarm like any normal citizen would do. Just by listening she was able to judge the ebb and flow of the battle. Work out when people were advancing ¨C there was a higher fire rate ¨C or reloading ¨C a lower fire rate. Moving to the end of the pedway she lowered herself to the ground and poked her head around the bottom of the corner. Directly opposite her in a beauty shop was a number of Cullers. She couldn¡¯t tell just how many as they were moving around, popping up and down to fire, and there could easily have been more than the number of heads she was counting. Rolling slightly she looked in the direction they were firing. It was a clothing menu shop, a hologram boasting that it was offering the latest styles. Latest? They¡¯ve been out of fashion since before I was born! Which told her everything she needed to know about life on this level. Some of the styles in the window she¡¯d only seen on the holomyths. And from what she could tell, none of them were nanite templates. They were actually clothes, clothes. Return fire strobed back at the Cullers just before her. The clothing shop was in a cul-de-sac, and it was clear that the Cullers in it would be cut down in the blink of an eye if they tried to leave the building. Similarly, whilst they were trapped, the Cullers who had them trapped also faced a tactical dilemma. As their biomass dwindled they would be faced with two options. Disengage and let the trapped Cullers go. Or attack. And if they attacked, they would also be forced to advance through open ground. Unless they fought through the buildings on either side, but that too would take an awful amount of bio-mass both in terms of ammunition and HEALING. More firing erupted from her left and she crooked her neck trying to see who was firing from there. Not wanting to expose herself too much and give her position away, she drew back. Opening her minimap she looked at what she¡¯d been able to glean thus far. From what she¡¯d seen there were at least two groups of Cullers pinning down another group. Whether those two groups were separate teams, or part of one larger team which had split she couldn¡¯t tell. It didn¡¯t really matter either. Typically, her guideline for the mission led directly to the Cullers trapped at the end of the cul-de-sac. Bound to be snipers. Bound to be more that I don¡¯t know about, she thought as she looked at how the battle was structured. Thinking about snipers gave her inspiration. Opening her menu and searching around she finally selected a small-calibre ultra-hyper-velocity rifle. It was huge, the barrel as long as she was tall and came with a scope that she reckoned she could shoot the balls off a gnat with. It was costly, the most expensive single weapon she¡¯d chosen costing fifty-five per cent, and each round was one per cent, but it was worth it for the other factor of the weapon. It was utterly silent. She took time to read the description so as to have a better understanding of what it was capable of before she spent the bio-mass. DEATH WHISPER - Utterly silent, DEATH WHISPER delivers death from up to 3000 paces away on a virtually flat trajectory. Whilst one of the most expensive rifles on the market, it is more than worth the cost. A single shot will kill any unarmoured person if they are hit from their kneecaps to their head. It causes BLEED@15% per second, INTIMIDATION amongst the colleagues of the target, and SUPPRESSION. There was really no choice in the matter. It was going to utterly devastate anyone she engaged, so long as she could get her shots on target. And even missing was going to have a positively negative effect on those around her target. She chuckled at her own joke even as she winced at the pain of forming the weapon. And the cost. BIOMASS ¨C 35% A magazine of ten rounds had cost her an additional ten per cent. Extending the bipod legs on the weapon she laid it down on the ground, arm straining at the weight of it. She doubted she¡¯d be able to do anything with that arm whilst it was formed into the sniper rifle. Trying to do anything other than fire it would dislocate her shoulder. Laying the sights on the group of Cullers opposite her she dialled them back to the minimum magnification. It still felt as though she was standing right next to them. She could see every zit, scar, and blemish they had. It made her feel as though they should be able to see her, even though they were over fifty paces away. Mai had always thought that snipers were far removed from combat, able to kill without having to properly see who or what they were killing. Not so. She could see the expressions of fear and anger on the faces of the Cullers in the beauty shop. One of them hadn¡¯t fully ducked back down behind the cover of the shop¡¯s wall. It was just a couple of finger¡¯s worth of head. Normally it would be incredibly difficult to hit, but with this weapon her hit chance was showing as a firm eighty percent. And that was through the wall. Breathing out slightly and then holding it before she emptied her lungs, she waited for a heartbeat, then fired. Had the weapon not bucked as the small bullet was sent screaming away, she wouldn¡¯t have realized that the weapon had fired as it was that quiet. There wasn¡¯t even a muzzle flash, just the feel of the weapon punching into her shoulder. Its effect was instantaneous. At this range there was no discernible gap between firing and hitting her target. The muzzle velocity, that is the speed of the bullet, was so high it was as if she¡¯d used an energy weapon. From firing to result was the blink of an eye. Faster. HIT! INSTAKILL! CONTESTANT 900897 ELIMINATED Blood and brains blasted into the air and what remained of the target dropped from sight. Aside from a few shouts of alarm, as well as the INTIMIDATED and SUPPRESSED glyphs appearing over the dead Culler¡¯s team members, there was nothing to indicate that they suspected the shot had come from her and not the trapped Cullers. The Cullers in the clothing shop cheered as the kill marker appeared on their minimap, no doubt thinking that they were the ones responsible for the kill. Mai was happy for them to take the credit as long as it meant that no-one realised what she was doing. A head popped up and down. Then again. Instead of just firing over the lip of the building and using their weapon¡¯s integral sight to do the aiming, this Culler seemed determined to expose themselves to fire. When their weapon popped over and she saw a fist gripping it, she understood. The Culler was out of bio-mass and had resorted to using a traditional firearm they¡¯d managed to scavenge at some point. They really are at the end of their bio-mass reserves. Relief flooded over her. This mission was going to be easier than she initially thought if the Cullers she was facing were limited to the weapons they were holding rather than what they were able to make. As the head popped up again she sent a bullet directly into the centre of its forehead. With explosive force the top of the skull popped completely off, flying away as the contents of the head showered nearby Cullers. HIT! INSTAKILL! CONTESTANT 101817 ELIMINATED With the second kill, the Cullers in the beauty shop got a bit more cautious. There was a lot less popping up and down, and a lot more just sticking their weapon over the lip of the shop¡¯s frontage and blind-firing. The fact that they were already SUPPRESSED and INTIMIDATED was most likely an additional factor. Mai was happy to wait. She knew they¡¯d get impatient with that method of firing as there was no way to know whether they were being effective. No way to see if their enemies were pinned without having eyes-on. And if they weren¡¯t pinned, they could well be advancing. Which was definitely not something you wanted to find out about at the last minute. Having been pinned down by enemy fire previously, she knew exactly what would be running through their minds. At least one of them would be trying to encourage one of the others to put their head up. Too scared to do it themselves, they¡¯d be more than happy to put one of their fellows into the firing line ¨C literally ¨C if it meant they had prior warning of what was going on. Even if it meant that one of their own might die. She didn¡¯t have to wait long. The owner of an assault rifle slowly slid their head up. They were dead long before they had a chance to look over. The power of her rifle was such that any hit to the head was a guaranteed kill. If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. KILL! INSTAKILL! CONTESTANT 393983 ELIMINATED This is too easy, Mai thought uneasily. She wasn¡¯t used to things going so well for her and was sure that her good luck would turn any instant. Looking at her minimap and comparing that to what she could see, she realised that if she moved back a few paces and entered the building she was lying against, she could climb a couple of floors and have a much better angle down into the beauty shop. Crafting a mine, she placed it where she had been lying. It was a just in case measure. But at the same time it would catch anyone trying to run from the close. BIOMASS ¨C 30% Reaching the hab-block¡¯s entrance she paused to check that there weren¡¯t any mines waiting for her. Activating SPOT HIDDEN she took as long as she felt was safe to search. Finding nothing, she just had to trust her skill that it was because there was nothing, not that she¡¯d missed it. Pushing the door open, she moved through into the main atrium. It stank of dank and, she imagined, despair. There was the astringent stench of urine in one corner. Nose wrinkling in disgust she moved through and, after searching once more, opened the door leading into the building. There was a bank of elevators. All of which had out of order glyphs on them. Although, as she thought about it, the idea of being trapped in an elevator during a firefight was distinctly unappealing. A glyph indicating the stairs was beyond the bank of elevators. Cautiously she walked the length of the corridor, avoiding any piles of rubbish as they were perfect places to hide traps. Reaching the end of the corridor she let go of the breath she hadn¡¯t realised she¡¯d been holding. Looking at the door she activated SPOT HIDDEN and carefully felt for traps and wires. MINE DETECTED SPOT HIDDEN SUCCESS! Mai absorbed her sniper rifle instantly. She¡¯d need both hands to deal with the trap she¡¯d just detected. Doing so meant that her BIOMASS mass was back to sixty-two per cent, each of the rounds she¡¯d fired costing one per cent. It was a moon-mine, one of the mines that was actually already available to her, but she¡¯d developed a certain fondness for the Bouncing Betty. She liked the way it worked, and the fact that once it had popped up into the air it hit all around. A moon-mine was considerably less effective in her mind. It was directional, only affecting those directly within the blast radius and this one had been planted with the deadly front facing towards the door. Looking at the door¡¯s hinges she saw that it opened towards her. Doing so would pull the tripwire and detonate the mine. Sneaky fuckers, she thought admiringly as she activated her USE MINE skill. It not only allowed her to set mines, it also allowed her to remove mines she¡¯d set previously and those set by others . Otherwise she stood just as much chance of killing herself as she did someone else. With the skill activated she saw that it was a simple matter of unwinding the tripwire from the door¡¯s handle. What wasn¡¯t so simple was the fact that she would have to pull the door slightly open in order to reach through. ¡°Fuck it, I¡¯m going to cut it,¡± she said to herself. It felt good to hear a voice, even if it was hers, at a time like this. Although she rather felt that having someone hanging around, looking over her shoulder would have been somewhat off-putting. Stepping to the side of the door, using a wall to get as much shelter as possible, she grasped the handle and slowly twisted it. For a moment she thought it wasn¡¯t going to turn. Heart hammering, palm increasingly slick, she tightened her grip and slowly, hardly daring to breathe she twisted. With a click the latch disengaged. ¡°Well, that wasn¡¯t too bad,¡± she whispered, even though she knew it to be a lie. Hand shaking, she tried to steady her nerves before she took the next step. Setting a mine was far easier than disarming or absorbing one. Sweat beaded on her head as she increased the pressure on the handle and slowly pulled it towards her. As badly maintained as the rest of the building the door resisted, the poor materials warped by the constant damp, causing it to resist. ¡°Come on you utter bastard,¡± she hissed, increasing the strength of her pull, bracing herself so that she could get more leverage. More resistance, she increased the pressure, sweat beading on the tip of her nose. And then, with no warning, it popped open, the sudden movement surprising her, the door jolting open far wider than she had meant. With no time for rational thought she slipped her Culler knife through the gap and cut the wire even as the door continued to open. There was a twang as the wire gave way under the blade, curling out of sight with sudden energy. Nothing. Mai slid down the wall, her trembling legs unable to support her any longer. Sweat slicked her forehead whilst her heart tried simultaneously to either stop or force its way through her ribcage. That was too close. Way too close, she thought, bottom lip trembling at the thought of what might have happened. Still, a success was a success, and she wasn¡¯t lying on the floor screaming her last few breaths. A couple of minutes later her body had stopped shaking enough for her to form an SMG for six per cent BIOMASS and push on into the rest of the building. BIOMASS ¨C 56% The stairs were littered with rubbish she was sure was older than her father would have been, let alone her. Flies and other bugs she couldn¡¯t quite recognise filled the air. Rather than risk ingesting any, she formed a mask over her face for half a per cent BIOMASS and crept up the stairs, scanning for any other threats. Damned things are making my skin crawl, she thought as she shrugged her shoulders to get rid of an imaginary itch between her shoulders. Huffing, she blew through her mask to clear a couple of fire flies which had decided she made a good resting point. It was maddeningly distracting, something she really didn¡¯t need at that moment. As soon as she reached the first floor, she activated her SPOT HIDDEN skill again and checked the exit. Nothing. Cracking the door open, this time using a foot to check the door in case it was stuck she took a peek. Nothing. Throwing the door open she stepped into the corridor dropping to her knee as she aimed down one end, then spun and aimed down the other. Nothing. She didn¡¯t know what was worse. Expecting an enemy and then not finding one, but knowing that they were out there, or finding one and having to kill them. Neither were appealing, but her nerves were jangling to the point she was craving some sort of release. Looks like they were relying on the moon-mine to deter attackers and give them an early warning. This far up they might not have heard the explosion, but they would have been warned by HIT! or KILL! notifications. Which would have given them plenty of time to prepare a nasty surprise. The battle was still raging outside, with absolutely no diminishment in the sound of battle. The amount of BIOMASS being spent was ridiculous, and she could only hope that the majority of Cullers would soon find themselves having to rely on hard-printed versions of their weapons. Preferably they¡¯d been reduced to using their Culling issue knives. And her guideline still pointed to the Cullers at the end of the close. Mission¡¯s still on, but why was Anne allowed to create the damn thing in the first place? Why did the system let her create a mission which goes against the rules of the Celestial Court? But then she remembered how she¡¯d thought about the way gangs could most likely create missions as well, and whilst it made no sense that the Celestial Court would allow such things, it did follow a sort of logic in that people with professions ¨C no matter how bad those professions were ¨C could skill up. Mai wasn¡¯t satisfied with that though. It rankled that people who deliberately chose to go against the rules and laws of society, who could cause misery, should in some way be rewarded by doing such things. Taking the first apartment door she came to which was on the side she needed, she knelt and placed a cupped hand on the door then placed her ear onto that. SPOT HIDDEN was still active, and she kicked in her SITUATIONAL AWARENESS as well. She remained that way for a slow count of thirty, listening to the sounds coming from the apartment. She could hear nothing. More importantly, she couldn¡¯t hear anyone firing a weapon. Who dares wins, she thought as she stood up and crossed to the other side of the corridor. Taking a deep breath, she turned slightly sideways, tucking her shoulder down as she charged at the door. A split-second of resistance and she was through, the door ripping itself from its hinges. Still slightly off balance, she spun on the spot, trying to cover all of the corners of the room. ¡°Don¡¯t kill us! Please, don¡¯t kill us!¡± the hab was inhabited! Mai thought her heart had stopped with the shock of coming face-to-face with the old couple who lived there. She snapped up the barrel of her SMG, shocked at how close she had been to firing. Raising her non-weapon hand in the universal palm sign of peace, she looked at the couple huddled behind a ratty old sofa they¡¯d up-ended to act as some form of cover. It was heartbreakingly sad to see just how poor they were, and how the Culling was affecting them. ¡°I¡¯m not going to kill you grandmother,¡± Mai said, keeping her tone low and calm. ¡°But it would be good if you left for a while as I¡¯ve got to Cull some other people.¡± They gave jerky nods and fled as fast as their old bones would let them. Muttered thanks and stifled sobs reached her ears as they fled through the ruins of their door. Mai had to quash a pang of guilt as she looked at the wreckage. For a moment she stood in the now-empty apartment, then opened up her menu. Scrolling down to the section she¡¯d used to create her room back in the rebel base, she found a nice-looking door which was far sturdier than the one she¡¯d completely destroyed. At only point two per cent of BIOMASS it was more than she owed the couple and was more than happy to create a hard copy. Whilst she had zero clue as to how to actually attach it, she betted on the chance that the old couple might know someone who could help them., And hopefully not rip them off. The couple, not the remaining hinges that was. Moving to the hab¡¯s grime covered window, she rubbed at the encrusted dirt with her sleeve. It just smeared it rather than cleaning it, but that was better than nothing. From what she could tell she was directly opposite the beauty shop and could see into it far better than she could if she was on the ground. Once that window is gone, that is, she was slightly appalled at how the old couple had been so downtrodden by the surrounding grime that they hadn¡¯t bothered to even clean the inside of the windows. Normally drones would clean the windows of those habs which had them. Aside from the three she had killed there were another five members of the team using it as cover. Movement caught her eye, and she lifted her head to see another Culler poking their weapon out of a window opposite her. Well, it seemed to be a Culler the way they were popping up and down, but the grease made it hard to be sure. Then the Culler opened fire, the muzzle flare confirming her suspicions. ¡°You¡¯re first,¡± she thought. Absorbing the SMG and forming the sniper rifle she stepped back slightly. Her rifle¡¯s rounds had a penetration power that meant they would barely slow when passing through most walls. BIOMASS ¨C 17% Looking at the state of the walls around her, she reckoned that her bullets would easily pass through the thin and poorly made walls of the hab. Build quality here was appalling, the bare minimum to provide people with somewhere to live. How it held up the weight of the miles above them she didn¡¯t know. Maybe there were load bearing walls and supports elsewhere. Taking aim she cursed at the dirt on the window. It wouldn¡¯t be a problem once she fired, but the glass showering down onto the ground would most likely give her position away. Reaching out, she tried to force it open. It barely moved. And she couldn¡¯t risk trying too hard in case she broke the window and gave her position away before she took her shot. She was just going to have to deal with the poor visibility even though at this range there wasn¡¯t much chance of missing. ¡°Can¡¯t be helped,¡± she fired. The glass blew out of the window in time for her to see a puff of plasticrete where her shot hit. No notification. She¡¯d missed. The Culler¡¯s weapon jerked back from the window as the owner took cover, a SUPPRESSED glyph popping up before they dropped out of sight. From where she stood she couldn¡¯t see down into the beauty shop, but the sound of the shouts had changed. Lady Luck you fucking suck! They know I¡¯m here! What are the damned odds! She knew what the odds were. Even if she was Rank Five in the use of sniper rifles that only meant she had a twenty-five per cent chance of critical hits. That didn¡¯t correlate with her chances of hitting her targets. Keeping her sight on the window opposite she held her fire. If she didn¡¯t shoot, the Culler opposite might just think that she¡¯d bolted. Or not even know where the shot had actually come from. No fire came from the beauty shop from below. Unable to see her they clearly weren¡¯t certain whether the glass had been broken by a stray shot. Slowly, the weapon opposite reappeared. Able to see better, she tracked its length, stopping where she thought the owner¡¯s body would be. With Death Whisper all she needed was an upper body hit. Boom she thought as she fired again, finding the lack of any sound from the weapon distinctly unnerving, her mind rather irreverently acting on its own accord. KILL! CONTESTANT 908765 ELIMINATED Without hesitation she strode towards the window, angling her rifle downward as she did. As soon as her sight cleared the window ledge she was able to see the inhabitants of the beauty shop. It was the perfect angle. Whilst the Cullers might have thought they were concealed from the Cullers they¡¯d trapped, they were completely open to attack from above. And because of the way the wall was angled, they were lined up like ducks in a row. Mai fired as quickly as she could, switching from target to target. KILL! CONTESTANT 299873 ELIMINATED KILL! CONTESTANT 593989 ELIMINATED KILL! CONTESTANT 699382 ELIMINATED The remaining Cullers screamed with fear as the bodies of their comrades toppled to the floor. Scrambling away, they moved deeper into the beauty shop and out of her line of sight. ¡°Shit,¡± Mai cursed as she moved her sight around, trying to get any sort of angle on her targets. A head popped out into view for a split second. A heartbeat later, a muzzle that she hadn¡¯t spotted flashed, a bullet cracking into the wall a couple of paces away from her. She was going to have to move. They knew where she was, and she still had another group to deal with. And there was also the chance that the person who had laid the moon-mine was still in the hab block. And I still don¡¯t know where they are dammit. Absorbing the rifle once again, she swapped it for an SMG and left the apartment. BIOMASS ¨C 50% Time to hunt. Book 2 - Rebel - Chapter 32 Mai left a mine by the entrance to the stairs. BIOMASS 45% She felt guilty at the thought that a civilian might detonate it, but if they had any sense at all they¡¯d have either already fled or taken shelter in their habs. Pushing that concern to the back of her mind, she moved ten habs down the corridor before breaking into one. This time it was empty, still-warm plates of food telling her what had happened to the people who lived there. Looking out of a far cleaner window, she could barely get an angle on the Cullers in the beauty shop but had a perfect line of sight on the Cullers at the end of the close. Why aren¡¯t there any Cullers in this building? There must have been. Just not on this level. Or none that she¡¯d heard. There was always the chance that they were using weapons just as silent as hers. But are they short on bio-mass or not? She didn¡¯t want to get into a fight with an overwhelming number of Cullers who had the ability to form any weapon they wanted. That would be fighting fair, and the Culling was most definitely not about fighting fair. Those who fought and played fair in life outside of the Culling also tended to do badly. It was those with no real morals, or a sense of ethics that was slightly different from those around them that truly succeeded. Leaving the recently evacuated hab, Mai moved down the corridor to another hab door where she listened carefully. There were no sounds as far as she could tell, not even the stifled sobs of inhabitants. Trying the door she was surprised to have the handle turn in her hand. Whoever had lived here must have forgotten to lock it in their haste to escape the battle. Slipping through the door as soon as it was open wide enough, she crouched as she moved through the apartment. Flattening herself against the wall by the window she peered out. The Cullers she was to rescue were still pinned by enemy fire. From what she could tell there were a few more Cull markers on her minimap in their position, and a couple more markers in the enemy Culler position below. Using her weapon¡¯s sight she watched as fire was traded between the two sides. Neither seemed to be willing to take the fight to the next step and actually assault the other. It was like two leashed canines barking at each other, safe in the knowledge that they wouldn¡¯t actually have to fight. Although, to be fair to the Cullers fighting, they were actually killing each other, just not that effectively. As she watched she tried to work out a plan that would help her rescue the trapped Cullers and not get Culled herself. Rope, bundle of explosives, drop it down, detonate in front of the enemy Cullers, rappel and kill the survivors. That was the best plan she could come up with. She wasn¡¯t satisfied that it was the best plan, but explosives usually solved a lot of problems depending on how much you could make. Plus, it was simple. And simple plans were always supposed to be the best plans according to common wisdom. First, she formed a series of small hooks that she placed into various walls and fixings, so small that she didn¡¯t even get a BIOMASS notification. She¡¯d have had to have form hundreds to even use one per cent. Then, forming the rope, going for fifty paces¡¯ worth at a cost of half a per cent, she looped it through the hooks, pulling hard each time to make sure that they were definitely anchored firmly. I really don¡¯t want to end up smashing into the ground because these buggers give way, she thought with a shudder. The idea of falling helplessly to her death sent chills down her spine. City dwellers were used to heights, they had to be, but the fear of falling was built into her DNA. Next was the explosive. Z-10 was the most powerful that she could form. Each one kilo brick was capable of destroying a tank if placed in the correct place. So she made one at a cost of five per cent, then formed a remote detonator for one per cent. Activating her USE EXPLOSIVES she carefully picked up the detonator and slowly pushed it into the brick of explosive. BIOMASS 39% Once it was in, she pressed a small button on the side, holding it in for a slow count of three. There was a bleep, then a small green light blinked three times in quick succession. Mai appreciated the in-built safety features of the remote detonator. It was surprisingly thoughtful considering the way the system treated indentured workers. Tying them to the rope she made sure that even if the explosion destroyed a length of the rope that there¡¯d still be enough for her to rappel down safely. She chuckled at that thought. Safely. She hadn¡¯t been safe since she¡¯d been indentured. A safe life was something other people had. A safe life was something that people didn¡¯t realise they had until they lost it. And their families. Mai sighed at the thought of Li and how she must be struggling. Opening the window, rather than breaking it, she crossed her fingers that the Cullers she was supposed to be rescuing wouldn¡¯t see the window opening and fire at it. Friendly fire was a stupid term for something that was distinctly less than friendly, and far more deadly than a hug from a loved one. Holding her breath for a count of five, she decided that she was probably safe. Taking hold of the explosives, she gently pushed them over the windowsill. Keeping a firm grip on the rope she started to lower the explosive brick, hand over hand. It was surprisingly tricky to keep it from swinging, and she was glad she¡¯d decided to not just let the rope slide through her hands. Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit. I¡¯d not have any skin left if I did that. Looping the rope around her wrist to stop it moving any further, she carefully popped her head up and then risked a look down. The explosives were about halfway. She kicked herself for not forming some sort of camera, but clever people do stupid things all the time. And she thought she was a prime example. Although I think I lean more towards being full-time stupid, she thought wryly. Ducking back down into cover she started lowering the explosives again. Brainwave, she thought. And let go of the rope. It sailed out of the window before suddenly going slack. She didn¡¯t hear it hit the ground, but that wasn¡¯t surprising considering the battle going on outside. As soon as it did she snatched it up and pulled it back hand-over-hand until she felt the weight of the explosives again. A couple harder pulls and then she detonated the explosive. It was a far larger explosion than she¡¯d thought it would be. Smoke and flame roiled up the building and all of the windows in her room shattered with the force of the blast. Thank the Emperor¡¯s belly button I opened mine! KILL! CONTESTANT 930493 ELIMINATED KILL! CONTESTANT 499993 ELIMINATED KILL! CONTESTANT 000372 ELIMINATED HIT! 47% BLEEDING @1% PER SECOND STUNNED INTIMIDATED HIT! 35% BLEEDING @17% PER SECOND STUNNED PANIC HIT! 37% BLEEDING @9% PER SECOND STUNNED UNCONSCIOUS HIT! 46% BLEEDING @23 % PER SECOND STUNNED INTIMIDATED Clipping herself to the line with a carabiner she took a deep breath and dropped face first down the window. Whilst one hand controlled her descent, the other formed into a double-barrelled SMG for twelve per cent BIOMASS. BIOMASS 27% The scene below was of utter devastation. Smoke still boiled out of the front of the building and there was rubble strewn in a wide arc in front of the detonation point. As soon as her head was clear of the shattered brickwork of the room that the enemy Culler was in she was firing. Sub-machine guns caused the SUPPRESSED status and all she had to do was to get her shots close enough for the status to take effect. Glyphs started to pop up, letting her know where the enemy was and allowing her to aim more effectively. None of the wounded fired back as her bullets stitched a path across their already damaged bodies. Blood and clothing puffed into the air, the bodies twitching as her bullets struck them. Thankfully the sound of her weapon firing drowned out the screams of the Cullers. KILL! CONTESTANT 592227 ELIMINATED KILL! CONTESTANT 003827 ELIMINATED KILL! CONTESTANT 097754 ELIMINATED KILL! CONTESTANT 020394 ELIMINATED Dropping all the way to the ground she performed a smooth flip and landed on her feet. As soon as she was down she charged into the broken room, still firing, sweeping it with a hail of bullets, making sure that no-one was alive. MISSION COMPLETED! YOU HAVE PUT YOURSELF IN THE FIRING LINE ONCE AGAIN TO HELP YOUR FELLOW MAN, NO MATTER WHAT THE RISK. JUST DON¡¯T TAKE TOO MANY RISKS, WE¡¯D HATE TO LOSE YOU! Well, that¡¯s the weirdest completion message I¡¯ve seen! She thought. RANK UP CULLER LEVEL 9 Tucking down into cover, she quickly opened up her SASS, trying to see if anything special had happened. From what she could tell in a brief glance, it hadn¡¯t, so she closed it. ¡°Anyone still alive over there?¡± She knew that there were, but just wanted the other Cullers to start talking. If they were talking they weren¡¯t shooting. ¡°I¡¯m a friend. I¡¯ve come to help you.¡± ¡°Why the hells would we trust you?¡± the voice was hoarse, as if it had been worn raw from shouting. ¡°I just killed all of your enemies for a start. And I haven¡¯t shot at you.¡± There was silence at that. She didn¡¯t blame them. She¡¯d be leery of trusting someone just because they hadn¡¯t shot at her yet. And she¡¯d have been especially wary of trusting someone who clearly had a lot of bio-mass to spare. ¡°Look, I could easily form some more explosives and use that to kill you. But I won¡¯t. I¡¯m here to help. I¡¯m with the rebels.¡± More silence. Mai decided that it was probably because they hadn¡¯t heard that there were rebels in their previous life. ¡°Which ones?¡± Another voice, Female this time. That stumped her. She hadn¡¯t realised that there were more than one sort of rebel. ¡°The ones that want to help you! If I stand up and come out where you can see me, promise not to kill me?¡± ¡°Yeah,¡± agreed the first voice. ¡°We won¡¯t shoot unless you make us.¡± Good enough, she thought. Not that she was going to trust them. Taking a drink from a bio-mass boost bottle, the number of which was going down alarmingly quickly, she added more armour to the front of her suit. It was just enough to be able to soak up anything the Cullers fired at her and allow her to move back into cover. ¡°Okay, I¡¯m coming out.¡± She stood and moved swiftly to the front of the ruined room, stepping out into the open arms spread wide, weapon less. No bullets greeted her which she took as a good sign. ¡°Your face,¡± called the woman. ¡°I want to see your face.¡± Mai opened the visor on her helmet. ¡°Mai? What the hell!¡± The woman stood up, a smile stretching from ear to ear. ¡°Dakota!¡± Book 2 - Rebel - Chapter 33 ¡°Right, so remember. Hold your tongue if Anna gets angry. I didn¡¯t do this with her blessing and she¡¯s the leader of the rebel cell who took me in,¡± Mai said as she and the surviving Cullers stood outside the entrance to the rebel base. There were ten of them left by the time she destroyed the attacking team. All of them were injured, so she¡¯d used an entire bottle of bio-mass boost, getting them back up to strength and replenishing their bio-mass. All of them had been either mid-level gangers, or normal civilians. Again, none of them were prisoners or ex-military. Lines had definitely been drawn and she couldn¡¯t work when or why that had happened. Dakota nodded, a grin spreading across her face. She hadn¡¯t been able to stop smiling. ¡°Mai, chill. I get it. You¡¯re going to be facing a pissed off leader. We¡¯ll not cause any trouble.¡± Mai returned the smile, reaching out to hold Dakota¡¯s arm. Dakota returned the touch, and Mai realised just how long it had been since someone had touched her in that way. ¡°It¡¯s seriously good to see you again,¡± a picture of Johnny flashed across her mind. She killed it as surely as she¡¯d killed him. For some reason she knew that Dakota wouldn¡¯t betray her. ¡°Okay people look at the lovely river of shit whilst I open the door. Anna would freak if she knew I¡¯d let you see the combination.¡± They did as she asked, all too grateful to her for saving them to put up any form of protest at her secrecy. Opening that door, she led them into the killing chamber and knocked on the other door. ¡°Where the fuck have you been and who the fuck are these people!¡± screeched Anna, face red and blotchy, veins pulsing in her neck, pushing through into the killing chamber even before the door had finished opening. Mai decided that Anna had probably been rehearsing the first part since they¡¯d realised Mai was missing. From the way that Anna¡¯s eyes bulged out of her face, they hadn¡¯t expected her to return with anyone else. ¡°That¡¯s my friend, Dakota, we helped each other in training before entering the Culling. The others I don¡¯t know yet. I had to rescue them, but they were with Dakota, so I think it¡¯s safe to assume they¡¯re cool.¡± Anna¡¯s eye twitched a little at that. Mai didn¡¯t think she¡¯d ever seen anyone quite so angry before. ¡°Don¡¯t suppose a little girl arrived here a while back? Saved her from some organ drones.¡± She kept her tone light and as respectful as she could. The first part was hard, and it was all she could do not to laugh in Anna¡¯s face. The second part was even harder. She wanted to do nothing more than punch Anna in the throat. What level is she? Anna had been a Culler in her past, must have been. Escape her life, enter the Culling. That was how things went wasn¡¯t it? Which meant everyone in the base had been a Culler. Ignoring society¡¯s polite norms she opened Anna¡¯s SASS. She was only level three. Three! Mai was a clear six levels and dozens of kills higher than her. ¡°Did you just look at my SASS?¡± hissed Anna. Mai ignored the sharp intakes of breath around her. A serious breach of etiquette at a time like this was not the best idea. ¡°Yep. Have a look at mine,¡± Mai smiled, narrowing her eyes pointedly. It was as if everyone in the room had stopped breathing. Anna paused for a moment, tilting her head slightly before SASSing Mai. There was a moment, less than a heartbeat before she gasped, her blotchy face quickly paling, hand rising to cover her mouth. ¡°How ¡­ I mean ¡­ what ¡­¡± she stammered. ¡°Seems I¡¯m getting quite good at Culling people,¡± replied Mai, stepping past Anna and entering the building. ¡°What¡¯s cooking, these people are starving.¡± Entering the base proper she waved to the rebels escorting Anna. A couple of them glared at her, but the rest were full of smile and friendly greetings ¡°How¡¯s the new expansion working?¡± she asked one of the rebels, glaring at her. ¡°It¡¯ll do,¡± the woman snapped. It was clear she didn¡¯t want to give Mai any credit for the improvement. However, Mai took that as a small victory, especially as the woman clearly couldn¡¯t say that the expansion was a bad thing. ¡°Good. Glad it helped you,¡± Mai laid a hand on the woman¡¯s shoulder, giving it a gentle squeeze. ¡°Now that I''ve completed the rescue mission, I¡¯ll see what other benefits I can add. Anything you¡¯d like?¡± ¡°You out of here,¡± snarled the woman, shaking off Mai¡¯s hand. ¡°Hey, that¡¯s not nice, Hind,¡± said one of the rebels who had been smiling. ¡°Mai didn¡¯t have to expand the bunk room. She¡¯s cool in my eyes.¡± This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there. ¡°Thanks,¡± Mai nodded gratefully to the rebel. ¡°Anna was a bit preoccupied. Did a little girl arrive here a while ago?¡± ¡°Yep, she¡¯s in the canteen. Poor thing was starving. Hasn¡¯t stopped eating since she got here.¡± * ¡°Hello again,¡± Mai waved at the little girl she¡¯d saved. The girl tried to wave back and say hello, but her hands were full with a bowl and chopsticks and her mouth was so full her cheeks were bulging. Mai was about to join her when a heavy hand slapped down onto her shoulder. ¡°We¡¯re not finished. Command room. Now.¡± Anna was so close her breath tickled Mai¡¯s neck. It was uncomfortably intimate and it took everything Mai had to not react. ¡°Fine. Dakota, would you like to see the command room?¡± Mai looked over at her friend. ¡°The rest of you can get settled and have some food. It¡¯s good.¡± Ignoring Anna once again, Mai led her friend out of the canteen and along to the command centre. Anna followed, spluttering. It seemed that ignoring her was the best way to knock her off balance. ¡°Nice!¡± exclaimed Dakota as they stepped into the command room. The rebels in there all spun about to look at the newcomer, then spun straight back again as Anna stormed into the room, busying themselves with anything but looking at their irate leader. ¡°You¡¯ve endangered this whole base bringing strangers to it! It¡¯s not big enough to hold all of these new people!¡± Spittle spayed over Mai¡¯s face and she took a couple of steps backward to get out of range. Anna tried to close the distance, stopping as Mai gently but firmly placed a hand on her chest, checking her forward momentum. At the same time, Mai bladed herself, sliding her right foot back behind her. ¡°Firstly, completing that mission probably means I can continue to expand this base. Not that we don¡¯t have the points to do so in the first place. Why you didn¡¯t do anything to improve the lives of your people is beyond me.¡± Mai held up a finger as Anna tried to speak. ¡°Secondly, you were talking about rescuing these people anyway. Worried that me doing so will steal glory from you?¡± Dakota stood behind and to the left of Anna, and Mai clearly saw the wince that crossed her face at those words. There was a collective hiss amongst those present and Mai¡¯s mouth dried as she realised she might have taken a step too far. ¡°You bitch! Your behaviour has endangered everyone here. How do you know that none of the Cullers you supposedly rescued aren¡¯t Imperial spies?¡± ¡°That makes no--¡± Mai didn¡¯t get any further. ¡°Do you really think that we just bring any stranger directly back to the base? Do you really think that we don¡¯t take them to a secondary location so that we can debrief them and make sure that they aren¡¯t spies?¡± Mai hadn¡¯t thought about that. She hadn¡¯t really thought about anything other than bringing the Cullers back to the base. Her stomach flipped at the possible consequences of what she¡¯d done. ¡°I seriously doubt that any of those people are spies. The shooting was totally random and there was no chance that they could guarantee they wouldn¡¯t be killed by a stray bullet or even by someone using explosives,¡± she tried to keep her tone as reasonable as possible. ¡°It doesn¡¯t matter what you doubt or don¡¯t doubt! You put this entire base in danger when you brought strangers straight to it, and you put it in danger when you expanded it,¡± hissed Anna. Her fists opened and closed as she spoke. ¡°Well, I for one am grateful that she came and got us,¡± Dakota stepped past Anna and stood with Mai. ¡°You¡¯ve got to be fair Anna, expanding the base didn¡¯t put us in danger and allowed us to have a lot more space. It worked for everyone, and I¡¯ve added some more rooms myself now that I know it¡¯s possible.¡± Chan stood next to them too. Others had stood, some had moved towards Mai, whilst a smaller group had moved to stand with Anna. You could cut the tension with a knife. Mai saw the realisation of what was happening dawn in Anna¡¯s eyes as she took in the size of the group standing with Mai, and the size of the group standing with her. They weren¡¯t huge, but if they were representative of the base as a whole, Mai had just gained the support of the majority of the base. She didn''t dare check her reputation, but it was clear Anna was on the way down. Anna¡¯s eyes darted towards Chan and narrowed as she looked at the person who was her second-in-command and supposed to be supporting her. Mai felt a pang of sympathy at the betrayal she knew Anna would be feeling. ¡°So, it¡¯s like that? Not spies, just people you trust to take this base away from me.¡± ¡°No, it¡¯s not like that. They needed rescuing, so I rescued them. It¡¯s your bigotry that¡¯s driving people to disagree with you. Get over the fact you¡¯re vat-born, none of us care. We don¡¯t think of you any differently. So why should you?¡± Anna stood stock-still; Mai could barely see her breathing. Then she spat on the ground at Mai¡¯s feet and stalked out of the room followed by the couple of rebels who had stood with her. Mai opened her SASS and looked at her reputation in the base. It had taken a massive twenty-four per cent increase since she had arrived back with the Cullers. Anna¡¯s had taken a forty per cent decrease and was effectively at rock bottom. ¡°That wasn¡¯t your finest moment,¡± Dakota patted Mai on the back. ¡°No,¡± agreed Chan, ¡°it certainly wasn¡¯t. You do have a way of pissing Anna off.¡± The tension in the room broke and the rebels burst out laughing. And Mai felt at home, just like she had with the Sewer Company, Andries and Fat John. Feeling a part of something once more was good. ¡°Thank you, I¡¯m glad you find it amusing,¡± Mai softened her words with a wry smile. ¡°I¡¯m knackered. I¡¯m sure the Cullers I brought with me are tired too.¡± She looked over at a rebel. ¡°Jock, could you take the Cullers to the bunk room? I¡¯ll be keeping Dakota.¡± The rebel nodded and left the room without question. Whilst Mai¡¯s request was perfectly reasonable, it could also be taken as an order. Something which the rebel ¨C who had been assigned a place in the command room ¨C should have confirmed with Anna. That he hadn¡¯t, spoke volumes. ¡°And what are you keeping me for?¡± asked Dakota. ¡°Got something to show you,¡± Mai crooked a finger and led Dakota out of the command room. Book 2 - Rebel - Chapter 34 ¡°Now this is nice,¡± smiled Dakota as Mai showed her the room she¡¯d built. ¡°Thought you¡¯d like it. It¡¯s away from the rest of the base, so it¡¯s nice and quiet, and no one knows about it yet. Other than you, Chan and me that is.¡± ¡°Any other places like it?¡± ¡°Not that I¡¯ve seen but completing missions has seen me able to grow the base, by expanding the bunk room for example. And bringing you and your people here has unlocked more rooms and building points.¡± ¡°Building points?¡± Dakota cocked her head. ¡°Yeah. Like nodes. I was able to alter this room because it already existed. Just that no-one used it. I was able to expand the bunk room because that already existed. But when I was looking at the minimap I could see places where I could add extra rooms.¡± ¡°And now you¡¯ve brought us and that girl back to the base, you can build in other places?¡± ¡°Exactly,¡± Mai nodded and brought up her minimap, RedFanging it over to Dakota¡¯s retinal monitor. ¡°See those little spikes? That¡¯s where I can build extra rooms, and there¡¯s a lot more of them than there were before.¡± ¡°Cost much bio-mass?¡± ¡°None. Although for personalisation the costs are still just like they were when I was back at the sewer company. I¡¯m running out of the bio-mass booster, so I¡¯m going to save it for now, but if we can get another supply drop, I¡¯m going to expand this base and make it nice as much as possible.¡± Dakota¡¯s stomach rumbled. ¡°Well, this is all very nice, but I¡¯m starving. Want to show me the canteen?¡± Mai smiled and led her friend out of the secret room and in the direction of the canteen. ¡°Mai, sorry, been looking for you everywhere,¡± said a rebel as she hurried up to them. ¡°There¡¯s a supply drop a couple of levels above us. Some of us want to get hold of the supplies. Anna¡¯s not letting us because she thinks the base is compromised and doesn¡¯t want anyone leaving.¡± Mai looked at the rebel for a couple of heartbeats, unsure what she should say. Totally at a loss as to what to say. ¡°There¡¯s going to be a lot of bio-mass boost there,¡± Dakota laid a hand on Mai¡¯s shoulder. ¡°We could really build on what we have here, use the bio-mass to get everyone up to full strength with plenty to spare. Lay more mines and defences outside of the base.¡± Mai nodded, slowly. She didn¡¯t want to be the one that broke the rebel cell. Didn¡¯t want to be the cause of a civil war amongst the rebels. ¡°Excellent,¡± smiled the rebel as if a decision had been made. ¡°I¡¯ll let Biyu know. We can put together a team if you¡¯ll lead us?¡± Mai¡¯s mouth dried. She was being pulled into a coup, civil war, or a mutiny, it didn¡¯t matter which. And she didn¡¯t know if she wanted to be part of such an event or not. And to hear that Biyu might also bring her people in on the fight made her mouth dry. I didn¡¯t realise my reputation with her was that high! ¡°Excellent,¡± echoed Dakota. ¡°Get the people ready and we¡¯ll be there shortly.¡± ¡°What the hells are you thinking?¡± hissed Mai as the rebel hurried off in the direction she¡¯d come from. ¡°We were just saying we needed bio-mass booster. And then this comes. The gods are smiling,¡± her friend smiled, exaggerating the motion until it looked as though she was the joker god. ¡°You¡¯re going to get us killed,¡± Mai sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose. * Getting the raid together hadn¡¯t been too difficult. She¡¯d merely had to wait for Jock to come and take them to where the rebels had assembled. Waiting for that to happen hadn¡¯t been easy, however. Her nerves jangling, Mai had spent every waking moment expecting a confrontation with Anna, or one of her still-loyal ¡°Everyone I trust is here,¡± said Chan. ¡°They¡¯re all eager to get their hands on the bio-mass boost.¡± ¡°I bet they are. It¡¯s going to be dangerous though. Cullers need this stuff to survive, it¡¯s as valuable to them as the blood in their veins,¡± warned Mai. ¡°It¡¯s going to mean one hells of a fight,¡± agreed Dakota. From the look of it, it was a fight Dakota was looking forward to. Mai saw a couple of Adam¡¯s apples bob up and down at that. People are always brave until the point it comes to them actually stepping up. Just how many have seen combat? Wondered Mai. ¡°Anyone doesn¡¯t want to come, just step aside,¡± she said. ¡°It¡¯s fine. I know we¡¯re going against Anna¡¯s orders and I don¡¯t want any of you to suffer because of the bad blood between the two of us.¡± There was silence. No-one moved, although a couple of the rebels shuffled their feet. None of the Cullers Mai had rescued moved an inch. Dakota gave her the age-old symbol of approval in the form of a double thumbs-up. ¡°Okay,¡± Chan clapped his hands, ¡°it¡¯s done.¡± And with that, Mai and her raid set off. * The guideline for the mission led directly to an open space. It was supposed to be a park. A place where people could gather and enjoy the fake sun which hung from the ceiling about three hundred feet above them. The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement. Now though, it was a battlefield. All of the children¡¯s play equipment had been destroyed. None of the trees were left standing or unburnt, and bodies lay strewn about as if some petulant child had thrown their toys all about. Shouts and screams filled the area as bullets and other projectiles flew in all directions. In the direct centre stood a pile of supplies. ¡°It¡¯s a right fucking mess,¡± whispered Chan as he scanned the battle with hard printed binoculars. They¡¯d taken position in a hab-block overlooking the park. Other Cullers had done the same in different areas of the vent area, Mai could sometimes just about see their shapes as they surveyed the battle below them. ¡°I really don¡¯t want to be stepping into that,¡± whispered Jock. He¡¯d taken it on himself to stick close to her. Whilst it still puzzled her, she was glad she had him and others watching her back. ¡°Nor me,¡± agreed Mai. ¡°I want everyone to take a drink from this bottle of bio-mass. Then to grow basic sniper rifles. From what I can see, all of the Cullers are pretty much entrenched. They won¡¯t be moving about too much, so it won¡¯t matter if you¡¯ve only got a base skill of twenty per cent.¡± It was the last of the bottles she¡¯d stored in the sewage. Not that she told them that, despite having cleaned it thoroughly. ¡°We¡¯ll be attacking from cover and concealment, and shooting them in the back too,¡± explained Dakota. ¡°That will up your chances of hitting a target.¡± ¡°Those of you who don¡¯t have the skill should work with a buddy. Decide on a target and both take a shot,¡± ordered Chan. ¡°Those who have at least one rank in USE SNIPER RIFLE should take on the Cullers in the buildings.¡± Makes sense, thought Mai, secretly pleased that Chan and Dakota were not only getting on well, they were backing her up in every decision she was making. ¡°Spread out along the rooms here. We don¡¯t want to be taken out in one go. Chan, take your people and spread out to the left. Dakota, take yours right. I¡¯ll stay here.¡± ¡°Those of you that can, make some mines. We¡¯ll assign a couple of people on each flank to watch out for attacks from behind,¡± Chan took the bottle from Mai¡¯s hand and drank before passing it on. * ¡°We¡¯re all in position,¡± Dakota¡¯s voice said in Mai¡¯s ear over their team comms channel. Mai had chosen the name of Sewer Rats for their group, something which the rebels seemed to take great pride in. ¡°Same here,¡± confirmed Chan. Whilst he didn¡¯t sound as excited as Dakota had, she could sense he was keen to get cracking. ¡°Light them up,¡± Dakota ordered and blew the head off a prisoner who looked to be leading a small group. Mai took her shot, sights laid directly on the centre of her target¡¯s face, another prisoner with hideous tattoos proclaiming their numerous crimes. INSTAKILL! HEADSHOT! CONTESTANT 000038 ELIMINATED Sniper rifles don¡¯t use tracers as that would defeat the whole purpose of being able to kill from a distance and without being seen, so Mai had to rely on seeing where bodies fell to get an idea as to where her people were shooting. Using kill markers wasn¡¯t a valid technique because of all the other killing that was going on across the rest of the event area. It helped that her people were also shouting out when they got a kill. Not over the team comms channel, but just out loud. It wasn¡¯t accurate, but a vague number was better than no number. When the hells did they become my people? she thought as she laid her sights on a member of the dead prisoner¡¯s team. A thought, and her bullet was ploughing through the woman¡¯s back. Blood puffed into the air as her target dropped to the floor, mouth open in an inaudible scream. CRITICAL HIT! 82% BLEED @2% PER SECOND Mai left her. Her screams would unsettle the Cullers around her and might even draw some over to heal her. Instead she panned her firing arc for another target. ¡°Oh, you¡¯re a big bastard,¡± she whispered as she laid her sights onto a beast of a man. Covered in tattoos and what looked like armour plates attached directly to his skin, he was blazing away at another group of Cullers whilst roaring. ¡°Boom, headshot,¡± she fired. HEADSHOT! INSTAKILL! CONTESTANT 500037 ELIMINATED Beast man¡¯s head exploded in a shower of gore, his massive bulk toppling forward to land in what looked like a sand pit. Other bodies joined him as her team took out the Cullers nearest to them. ¡°Let¡¯s see how the building shooters are doing,¡± Mai panned over to where she¡¯d spotted movement previously. Only a couple of her people had the ability to shoot so far against such well-hidden targets, but from what she could tell, they were making a mark. ¡°Minimap¡¯s filling up with kills nicely,¡± Dakota whispered. ¡°But I¡¯m worried that they¡¯re really piling up so close to us. Anyone with a bit of sense is going to realise that we¡¯re attacking the prisoners from behind.¡± ¡°Better make sure we kill them quickly then,¡± replied Mai as she shot and wounded another prisoner. ¡°Not many left,¡± agreed Chan. ¡°I count four, no three.¡± Mai opened a channel which would let her speak to everyone on her team. ¡°Concentrate on the last prisoners,¡± she ordered. ¡°Pour it on them.¡± Unable to shoot on the surviving prisoners because of the angle, Mai watched on her minimap as the prisoners were finally wiped out. ¡°Time to move. Everyone, swing left. Collect your mines. We¡¯re going to move to this position,¡± Mai pinged a position on her minimap which would give them an angle on a different group of Cullers. ¡°Watch out for Cullers holding that position. And make sure we aren¡¯t flanked. ¡± A clamour of voices acknowledged her order. Absorbing her sniper rifle she swapped it for a double-barrelled sub-machine gun which she had taken a liking to after rescuing Dakota¡¯s team of Cullers. Stepping out in the corridor, she joined her people as they ran down the corridor. Damn it feels good to be part of a team. The building shook and a huge roar blasted into the corridor followed by billowing clouds of dust and debris. ¡°Wasn¡¯t that your room?¡± asked Dakota. ¡°Yes,¡± Mai was too shocked at the knowledge she¡¯d just avoided being blown to smithereens to say much more. ¡°Lucky we moved then wasn¡¯t it?¡± Dakota laughed out loud as the whole group sped up. * The battle had been raging for more than an hour. Mai counted over one hundred Cull markers on the minimap and that number was growing. ¡°This battle¡¯s drawing more and more Cullers in. We¡¯re not going to be able to just sit back and pick them off,¡± Chan slid down the wall and sat next to Mai. ¡°Agreed,¡± Mai groaned. Although she still had some bio-mass booster left in her sole bottle, she¡¯d decided to make her people ration their shots. Only if they were absolutely certain of a kill were they to open fire. ¡°We need to split,¡± Dakota crawled over to them as a bullet blasted chunks out of the wall opposite the window Mai had been firing from. ¡°Couple of teams working the flanks and shooting down. Another couple of teams are moving into position here, and here. And one team is making a run for supplies.¡± She¡¯d been marking her minimap as she spoke and RedFanged it over to their retinal monitors. Mai didn¡¯t speak for a while, just looking at the positions Dakota had marked and working out the path that those going for the supplies would need to take. ¡°Okay, but I¡¯m leading the supplies snatch. We¡¯ll use up the rest of my bio-mass boost and armour up. Book 2 - Rebel - Chapter 35 ¡°Everyone¡¯s in place,¡± confirmed Dakota. ¡°Good luck everyone. Smoke,¡± ordered Mai. Smoke grenades sailed out from the windows to land in a completely different direction to that which her small squad would take. It immediately had the desired effect. Any Culler still alive started splitting their fire between the growing cloud of smoke, and those they¡¯d already been shooting at. This had the added benefit of allowing her people to spot any Cullers who might have been undetected thus far. Their counter-fire started to take its toll, adding more culls to the minimap. ¡°I bet the viewers are bloody loving this,¡± muttered Dakota over her and Mai¡¯s private channel. ¡°You¡¯ve got a right little army going on here.¡± ¡°Can¡¯t say I blame them,¡± Mai replied as she made a visual scan of the people assigned to her. ¡°This has got to be the biggest battle of the Culling in history.¡± ¡°Go,¡± ordered Chan over the team¡¯s main channel. Mai held up an open hand, clenched the fist, pointed to the supplies and opened her hand wide. The rebels with her needed no further prompting, a couple of them were up and running even before she¡¯d finished her visual command. No one spoke, they ran in utter silence, weapons up and ready to engage anyone who tried to stop them. Hurdling the bodies of dead Culler, they made it at least thirty paces before their opponents realised what was happening and started to engage them. ¡°Shit! These suits are amazing!¡± crowed one of the rebels as she took a stream of bullets which her suit just shrugged off. ¡°Chan, that¡¯s coming from your allotted sector. Stop it please,¡± Mai started to zigzag, weaving unpredictably to throw off their enemies¡¯ aim. ¡°On it already,¡± Chan¡¯s voice was utterly calm. Mai reckoned that if he¡¯d been hooked to a heart monitor that she wouldn¡¯t even be able to tell he was in combat. ¡°Opening the first crate,¡± commed one of her team as she slid into the cover offered by the armoured crates. There wasn¡¯t one which hadn¡¯t been pitted by bullets or shrapnel. Bodies and bits of bodies littered the area. ¡°Keep low people,¡± warned Jock as Cullers directly opposite and higher than them tried to drop rounds over the crates hiding them. ¡°Don¡¯t need to be told twice,¡± laughed Mai as she popped the seal on a crate and started to stuff bottles into her backpack. ¡°How many bottles do these crates hold?¡± asked another rebel who was too busy shooting at an enemy Culler to actually check for themselves. ¡°One hundred per crate,¡± replied another. ¡°Our bags can take ten each. Maybe twenty if you¡¯re willing to crack your helmet visor and take a big drink,¡± Mai continued snatching out bottles. ¡°Fuck that,¡± Jock chuckled. ¡°I¡¯m just going to take the whole thing!¡± Before Mai could say anything, the big man grabbed hold of the carrying handles on either side of the crate he was beside, grunted, and then lifted it. ¡°Everyone, give Jock cover!¡± Mai commed over the team channel. She and the others popped up, spraying bullets in the direction of every Culler that had been spotted. It was an impressive weight of firepower and SUPPRESSION notifications popped on her retinal monitor as she raked her fire across an enemy position. ¡°Go, Jock!¡± ¡°Oh, don¡¯t worry, I¡¯m bloody going!¡± he started off as fast as the suit would let him run. It was quicker than if he had been out of the suit but considering the amount of fire that he was attracting it still wasn¡¯t fast enough. ¡°Shields! Two of you shelter him with shields,¡± Mai popped up and blasted a grenade in the direction of a particularly annoying Culler. CRITICAL HIT! 58% BLEED @3% PER SECOND STUNNED! SUPPRESSED! Three rebels ran over to Jock, forming shields on the run. It was her fault; she should have specified two people to go. An explosion rocked her, the shockwave throwing her forward. ¡°Fuck! I¡¯m hit! I¡¯m hit!¡± It was one of the shield bearers. She was down, both legs gone, a pool of blood growing far quicker than Mai would have liked. ¡°Kick in your healing!¡± Mia ordered over the comms channel. ¡°I can¡¯t,¡± moaned the woman. ¡°I used up the last of my bio-mass making the fucking shield.¡± ¡°Stay low, we¡¯ll try and get to you,¡± ordered Mai. She looked beyond the wounded rebel to see that Jock and the other two shield bearers had made it to the safety of Chan¡¯s position. The weight of incoming fire was increasing, and the sound of it had changed. The weapons firing were of a heavier calibre. ¡°We¡¯ve got a new group,¡± Dakota¡¯s grim voice came over the radio. ¡°They¡¯re Imperials! And they¡¯ve got suits I¡¯ve not seen before.¡± ¡°Numbers?¡± Mai¡¯s brain raced as she looked at the people with her and over towards the wounded rebel. Imperials had never interfered in a Culling before that she was aware of. The only reason they would do so now would be because of the presence of the rebels. She hadn¡¯t once thought that might happen. ¡°Can¡¯t really tell. Twenty at least. Gods look at the minimap.¡± Cull markers were popping up rapidly. Whoever the new Cullers were, they were well armed and good at what they did. Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon. Too good, dammit, she thought as she looked at the rapidly appearing kill markers. More and more incoming fire blasted at the supply crates. It came from an angle that forced them to shift their position, moving away from the wounded rebel. ¡°Shields, let¡¯s try to get Melissa before we¡¯re cut off.¡± Mai formed her own shield, looked at her people, trying to make sure that they were committed to rescuing their friend. The enemy fire was so heavy that it seemed there was no break in the sound. Just a solid, continuous ripping. ¡°Fuck me, they¡¯ve got bio-mass to waste,¡± whispered one of the rebels. ¡°Move,¡± Mai surged to her feet and sprinted towards Melissa, shield up. Enemy bullets hammered into the shield, the force of them causing her to stumble. HIT! SHIELD DEPLETION - SHIELD STRENGTH 65 HIT! SHIELD DEPLETION - SHIELD STRENGTH 60 HIT! SHIELD DEPLETION - SHIELD STRENGTH 55 HIT! SHIELD DEPLETION - SHIELD STRENGTH 45 ¡°Back! Get back!¡± Mai skidded to a halt, mere paces away from Melissa then scrambled to get back into cover. ¡°Mel, we can¡¯t get to you, I¡¯m going to throw a bio-mass boost bottle over. Try to use it.¡± There was a blast, the heavy crates thrown on the other side of the resupply point up into the air as if they were as light as confetti. Bottles and bio-mass booster liquid rained down upon them. ¡°What the hells was that!¡± screeched one of the rebels. ¡°Trying to see where that came from. Gods, you need to leave. Leave now!¡± Chan¡¯s panicked voice ordered. ¡°We need to get Melissa!¡± snapped Mai. ¡°You can¡¯t. Get out! Get out! Get out!¡± Screamed Chan. ¡°We¡¯re sending smoke!¡± Another blast rocked the pile of supplies, the force knocking Mai and her people to the ground even though they were sheltered by other crates. Smoke grenades exploded into life, spilling their electronic countermeasures, visual scramblers and all manner of other blinding components into the air. ¡°Move, run through the smoke now, Mai,¡± ordered Dakota. ¡°We can¡¯t fight this.¡± Her voice was much calmer than Chan¡¯s, but Mai realised this was only because she was managing to keep her panic under a tighter rein. ¡°Mel, here¡¯s the bottle. Use it, try to get to us as soon as you¡¯re healed,¡± Mai lobbed the bottle over to Mel. She caught it, but Mai could tell she was weakening. ¡°Run, Mai. You can¡¯t fight this,¡± Mel waved an arm, trying to urge them on. Another blast, and yet more crates were shattered. ¡°Moving,¡± Mai patted the shoulders of the rebels next to her and they charged as one into the supposed safety of the smoke. * ¡°You left Melissa. We never leave our people behind!¡± screamed Anna as Mai, Dakota and Chan stood before her in the command centre. ¡°What was I supposed to do, kill her?¡± asked Mai. ¡°Yes! Yes! Yes!¡± Anna screeched, apoplectic with rage. ¡°You never leave anyone behind because they can give our position away!¡± Mai rocked back on her heels, looking over at Chan for confirmation. ¡°Seriously, you kill your own people?¡± Chan¡¯s head gave a jerky nod before looking away. Unbelievable, Mai could never imagine doing that to someone she knew. ¡°Why the fuck didn¡¯t anyone tell me?¡± She snapped. ¡°Maybe she got away,¡± Dakota interrupted before Anna could start screaming at them again. ¡°Maybe she got away,¡± mimicked Anna in a sing-song tone. ¡°How fucking stupid are you? They had a battle suit three times the size of anything we¡¯ve got the ability to build. You seriously reckon she was able to use the bio-mass boost and then run away?¡± ¡°There¡¯s the chance that she was caught,¡± Mai grudgingly agreed. ¡°But yes, there¡¯s also a chance she was able to heal herself and get away whilst the enemy was busy going after us.¡± ¡°Just how many times were you dropped on your head as a child?¡± sneered Anna. Her large finger stabbed into Mai¡¯s chest. ¡°You¡¯ve endangered the whole base. Again.¡± Silence descended. There wasn¡¯t much Mai could say to that. Yes, they¡¯d managed to secure well over two hundred bottles of bio-mass boost, but she had also opened the base up to discovery. ¡°You¡¯re a traitor,¡± Anna¡¯s finger poked into Mai¡¯s chest again. ¡°Kill her.¡± Anna looked over at a rebel who was supposed to be working on a computer, but who was sitting open-mouthed as he watched the drama unfolding before him. ¡°What?¡± he choked out. His eyes danced between Mai and Anna. ¡°Kill her¡±, Anna repeated slowly. ¡°She¡¯s a fucking traitor. Are you deaf?¡± He sat in dumbfounded silence. Mai¡¯s stomach flipped as she realised she¡¯d finally pushed Anna too far. ¡°No,¡± whispered the rebel, looking away. ¡°You! Kill her!¡± Anna ordered another rebel. The rebel slowly stood, pushing herself away from her comm position, then walked out of the room. ¡°Mutiny! You¡¯ve put this base in danger and you¡¯re causing my people to mutiny! Spy! Traitor!¡± Knives suddenly sprang out of Anna¡¯s forearms as she cocked her wrist downward. In a flash she was lunging at Mai. Without thinking Mai changed her hands into a gladius and small shield, their weapons meeting with a clash, sparks flying as the blades slid down each other. SWORD FIGHTING, DIRTY BOXING, UNARMED COMBAT, ENDURE PAIN, KNIFE FIGHTING, PUGILIST, SEWER COMBAT, and TUNNEL FIGHTER were activated in the blink of an eye, covering Anna with various hit boxes, and critical hit chances. She couldn¡¯t differentiate between them, and didn''t want to. Didn¡¯t have time to. Twisting, Mai forced Anna¡¯s hands down and away from her. It gave her an opening, so she threw an elbow into the vat-born¡¯s face, putting everything she had behind it. HIT! 7% Anna went with the blow, spinning and freeing up her blades for another double attack, forcing Mai backward. She parried a cut-slash-thrust-cut combination, hands seeming to move through their own volition. ¡°Mai!¡± shouted Dakota, weapons forming. ¡°No!¡± gasped Mai. ¡°Stay out of this.¡± The distraction nearly proved fatal as she failed to block a nasty upward swing. Throwing herself backward she avoided the tip of the blade by a hair¡¯s breadth. Anna pressed home her advantage, arms blurring as she tried a double stab. Without thought Mai blocked the blade headed for her heart and allowed the one aimed at her stomach to hit home. It was a move called ¡°The Blade Sinks Home¡±. A sacrificial move designed to open up the enemy to a fatal counter-attack even as they thought victory was theirs. Mai would never have considered such a thing if she hadn¡¯t been able to heal herself. As it was the shock of feeling the blade enter her was almost overwhelming. DAMAGE! 68% CRITICAL HIT! BLEEDING @5% PER SECOND ¡°Die, you fucking traitor,¡± hissed Anna, her rank breath washing over Mai¡¯s face as the vat-born leaned in until they were nose-to-nose. ¡°Not, this, time,¡± snarled Mai through bloodied teeth. Her shield arm changed back into a hand grabbing hold of Anna¡¯s top-knot and twisting, exposing her neck. Anna¡¯s eyes widened in anticipation of what was to come, fear replacing her victorious smile, only to be replaced by shock as Mai¡¯s gladius punched into the side of her neck. Blade spearing Anna¡¯s throat, Mai twisted it then cut towards herself. Blood showered over her face as her blade severed Anna¡¯s windpipe. INSTA KILL CONTESTANT 200000 ELIMINATED Book 2 - Rebel - Chapter 36 ¡°Remind me never to piss you off,¡± muttered Dakota as she pulled Anna¡¯s corpse off Mai. Mai said nothing, she was too busy activating her HEALING and TREAT SERIOUS WOUNDS. There was nothing to be said. She couldn¡¯t think of a time when she¡¯d have to fight her friend. Even the memory of Johnny¡¯s betrayal couldn¡¯t shake that belief. ¡°What the hells do we do now?¡± asked Chan as he directed a couple of the remaining command centre rebels to remove Anna¡¯s corpse. ¡°We get ready,¡± Mai replied. ¡°We build.¡± ¡°Build?¡± Chan held his hands out in confusion. ¡°Build,¡± echoed Mai. ¡°Let¡¯s make this base as tough as we can.¡± ¡°Okay,¡± Chan called up a holomap of the base. ¡°Which nodes can you update?¡± Mai RedFanged her expansion menu to the holomap. ¡°First off, I can add a number of turrets to the entrance corridor, and it looks like I can also add thicker doors. Way thicker than the internal ones. And a lot of traps too. Maybe even the odd holdout room.¡± ¡°That will slow them down, but what we really need is to cause heavy casualties,¡± Dakota interrupted. ¡°We should place traps outside in the sewers. Start hitting them before they even reach us.¡± ¡°Good idea!¡± Chan agreed. ¡°We can use our people to do that sort of thing. No need to use expansion points as we¡¯ve got more than enough bio-mass to seed the sewers for hundreds of paces.¡± ¡°Have none of them got expansion menus for the missions they¡¯ve done previously?¡± asked Mai. ¡°Some, but none have done anything to the level you did. Never really thought to. It was down to Anna,¡± Chan replied. ¡°But, with Mai sharing this, they can shoulder the burden,¡± Dakota pointed to a few of the smaller jobs. ¡°And if they expand the base, they should earn points to be able to expand it further.¡± Makes sense, surprising that none of them managed to pick up a mission that let them grow this base. It bugged her that the rebels had been content to carry out missions that allowed them to grow their base beyond the initial build, but had utterly failed to use the points they¡¯d earned to expand it. They hadn¡¯t even done anything to make their living quarters more comfortable. It made no sense that Anna would basically make things harder for them all. ¡°Why didn¡¯t anyone just do it on their own accord?¡± She asked as she dropped a couple of minigun turrets into the entrance corridor. Each of them cost fifty expansion points, but that barely made a dent in the number of points available to them. ¡°We never even looked, Mai,¡± Chan said in an exasperated tone. Anna was the leader. She had complete control over everything. Maybe you had to be a certain level?¡± That still didn¡¯t explain why none of them had made small changes using nanites. Even a few home comfort ¡°What, you didn¡¯t level either?¡± scoffed Dakota. ¡°Not much,¡± Chan hung his head. ¡°Our activities were low-level. Anna didn¡¯t want us to put our necks on the line too much.¡± ¡°So when did you start taking in Cullers?¡± Mai dropped two thick doors onto the entrance corridor. They had a soak of over one thousand each. She didn¡¯t want to see the sort of weapon they were designed to stop. ¡°Dakota¡¯s group was the first. Anna was going to send them over to Biyu¡¯s and a couple of other cells. Split them up." ¡°Which would have meant that she wouldn¡¯t have had to expand the base,¡± sighed Mai. ¡°Look, I¡¯ll do what I can and use the expansion points. Get the rest to make additional touches, make this more comfortable. We¡¯ve got more than enough bio-mass to do this, so let¡¯s make this a place actually worth living in.¡± Chan shrugged, there was nothing more to be said on the matter. Anna hadn¡¯t wanted changes, so things hadn¡¯t changed. Mai wanted changes, so things would be changed. ¡°Talking of Biyu, get her and her people over here. Their base is still wrecked, and we might as well consolidate here.¡± said Mai. Chan nodded and sub-vocalised an order. ¡°Message on its way. They¡¯ll be here within a couple of hours of receiving it,¡± he reported. ¡°What did we get then?¡± Dakota leaned towards the holomap. ¡°Three rooms on this corridor, expansion to the canteen and ooooh.¡± That last was prompted by the list of traps which could be installed throughout the base. ¡°Pits, spike traps, laser beams, acid pools, acid sprayers, gas, and fire traps,¡± Chan laughed. Mai smiled at how the two of them were practically drooling. ¡°What¡¯s the build time on these?¡± asked Dakota. ¡°The changes I made were instantaneous,¡± Mai explained, demonstrating by dropping a spike pit into the entrance corridor. ¡°How long do you think Melissa can hold out?¡± Dakota had opened another menu and was scrolling through it. ¡°Not long. Imperial Torturers can have you swearing blind that the sky is blue if they want to,¡± Mai said, tone grim. Everyone knew the myth of a blue sky, but none believed it. Afterall, all you had to do was look up to see the true colour of the sky. ¡°Best get to it. And I think you should build this room first. It takes up more expansion grids,¡± chuckled Dakota. Mai followed Dakota¡¯s finger and smiled as she saw what had excited her friend so much just moments ago. ¡°Mecha room?¡± Chan leaned forward to look at the details. ¡°And mecha maintenance. Oh, I agree, you just have to build these.¡± ¡°Seriously? Mecha, in an underground base?¡± scoffed Mai. ¡°We can raise the ceilings and widen the halls to take them. There¡¯s one, the Type 99, otherwise known as the Pinyin. It¡¯s a one-person close assault mecha, known as the Mark Three,¡± Dakota ignored her friend. ¡°Only three metres tall, and with a good range of armament. Twin those with the suit you unlocked, and we¡¯ll kick arse. And once we¡¯re in the sewers, we¡¯re going to really upset the Imperials.¡± ¡°Fine,¡± Mai held up her hand to quieten Dakota. ¡°We¡¯ve got forty people in the base. We¡¯ll break them into eight squads of five mecha each. There¡¯s enough bio-mass booster to not need my old suit.¡± ¡°Good idea. One heavy-hitter, anti-armour, that sort of thing,¡± Chan selected a Pinyin Mark 2. It was armed with an anti-mecha railgun as its primary weapon, and a 30mm hyper-velocity cannon. Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon. ¡°Nice choice,¡± Dakota brought up the plans for the Mark 3. ¡°This is a good anti-personnel suit. It¡¯s got options for flamers, acid throwers, miniguns, and even automatic grenade launchers.¡± ¡°And they¡¯ve even got a stealth mecha, called the Cike.¡± ¡°Assassin? You can get stealth mecha?¡± laughed Dakota, rubbing her hands together. ¡°Pinyin Mark 1,¡± Mai replied as she called it up. ¡°Systems scramble retinal monitors, mess with automated aiming systems, even move silently.¡± ¡°Who gets what?¡± Dakota licked her lips as she looked at the Mark 3. ¡°Fine. We¡¯ll go with three squads of Mark 2s, Chan can lead them. Dakota, you¡¯ll have a squad of anti-mecha, and I¡¯ll take the cike.¡± Both of her sub-commanders nodded, looking pleased with her choices. ¡°Not going to mix them up?¡± asked Chan. ¡°No,¡± Mai shook her head. ¡°I thought about it, but I think that we¡¯ll be better off massing our hunter-killers rather than spreading them out.¡± ¡°Hunter-killer, I like that,¡± laughed Dakota. ¡°Well, guess we better get to it then,¡± Mai followed her words with action as she started to expand the base. * ¡°This is fucking awesome!¡± Dakota spun in her heavy mecha, arms stretched out wide. ¡°There¡¯s a small amount of lag between deciding what you¡¯re going to do and the suit doing it, but once you get that sorted, it¡¯s as if you¡¯re one with it.¡± Mai laughed to see her friend so happy. Other members of the base were similarly experimenting with their suits. The mecha hangar was one of the largest rooms she could have added to the base and there was more than enough room for more than double the mechs they had. ¡°Just don¡¯t go falling over,¡± she warned as she stepped up into her stealth suit. Settling into the seat, she pulled the safety harness down over her head. Seating itself with a click, she found it surprisingly comfortable despite being so tight to her. Boots hung down from the bottom of the seat and she slotted her feet into them. Her arms went into special braces. A helmet slowly dropped into place on her head and the head up display stuttered into life. Syncing with her retinal monitor, the HUD flashed, and a message popped up. MECHA FAMILIARISATION DO YOU ACCEPT YES/NO? Oh fuck yes, she moved her arm to press the YES and laughed as the huge arm of the mecha followed, pressing the YES with its finger rather than hers. With a gentle whine of servos, the front of the mecha slowly closed. +++++ WELCOME TO YOUR MECHA +++++ a voice said into her ear. It was utterly devoid of gender and slightly off putting. She hoped that there was a menu where she could select a voice she preferred. ¡°Thank you,¡± Mai replied, unsure whether she actually needed to. +++++ PLEASE TAKE TWO STEPS FORWARD AND THEN TWO BACK +++++ Mai complied. It felt as though there was something holding her feet back as she walked forward. Or as if she was walking into the wind. Through water. More like through water. Or shit. It was the same moving backward and she worried that she was going to lose balance. The lag that Dakota had mentioned was disconcerting. It was microseconds slower than her thoughts, almost immeasurable, but it was there. +++++ PLEASE JUMP AND THEN CROUCH THREE TIMES +++++ Bending her legs, Mai sprung up, the brace moving with her as she did so. It felt as though she was inside a brick with delusions of grandeur, but still, the mecha left the ground. Landing sent a massive boom through the suit and, she thought, the hangar. Tucking down she crouched as low as possible and then repeated the process. This time the mecha leapt much further into the air. ¡°Woah!¡± She flailed for balance as it reached its apogee before falling back down to the floor. Having seen others do the same exercises she¡¯d known what to expect but hadn¡¯t expected it to feel so strange. +++++ ACTIVATE STEALTH +++++ There was a simple red button, with STEALTH written on it. Mai blink-clicked it. Her vision rippled for a second and then a blinking message appeared at the bottom of her HUD. STEALTH ACTIVATED ¨C 30 SECONDS Of course it¡¯s limited, can¡¯t have the murder bots invisible all of the time. Still, it was better than nothing, and thirty seconds in a battle was an age. +++++ PLEASE SELECT WEAPONS +++++ Her suit was armed with a shoulder-mounted tight-beam laser, the first she¡¯d used, and rather like that on the organ drone mothership. Blink-clicking, she laid the sights onto Dakota¡¯s suit as her friend continued to dance around the room. The tracking was smooth, and she was able to select a LOCK option. The gun continued to track Dakota without Mai¡¯s input and she grinned as she selected another weapon, this time a small anti-personnel heavy machine gun mounted on the other shoulder. It was a contradiction in terms as the HMG was the size of a large dog, but in comparison to the suit, it was tiny. Laying the sight onto another rebel, she selected LOCK again. It too tracked the target. Being shoulder-mounted, the weapon had nearly three hundred and sixty degrees of rotation, the only dead spots being slightly to her front and rear within two paces. +++++ PLEASE SELECT CLOSE COMBAT WEAPONS +++++ She did. From her right-hand blades as long as a man popped out of the fist, lightning writhing over them. The other hand turned into a massive fist with studded knuckles, lightning once more wreathing the fist. Penetrating and blunt damage, I¡¯m going to be unstoppable! A grin spread across Mai¡¯s face as she tried a few punch and kick combinations at the training programme¡¯s request. +++++ SUIT TRAINING COMPLETED +++++ NEW SKILL! USE MECHA! RANK 1! +5% CRITICAL HIT BONUS Mai stood her suit still for a moment, pulling up her SASS to read the new skill description. It had been a while since she did so, and she was pleased to see how her skills had increased. USE MECHA - Congratulations soldier, you''ve proven yourself to be a true and loyal servant of the Ever-living Emperor - may they reign for infinity. Only those deemed worthy enough of such an honour are even allowed to stand in the presence of a machine such as the mecha. You will be able to dominate the battlefield, slaying any and all enemies of our glorious Emperor. There was an additional tab, with MECHA on it. What, my suit gets a SASS? Opening that, she took a while to read through it. It was naturally laid out differently to her, with a diagram showing hit locations, weak points and the amount of SOAK each location had. The chest had higher SOAK than the back, which made sense, it wasn¡¯t as if she¡¯d been turning her back on the enemy unless things got really bad. There were also a number of hardpoints which would allow her to attach different weapons. The front stats for her armour were as followed; Shoulders ¨C 100 Head ¨C 200 Torso ¨C 300 Legs ¨C 250 The rear stats for her armour were as followed; Shoulders ¨C 75 Head ¨C 150 Torso ¨C 225 Legs ¨C 200 A sub-menu held a number of pre-made options. Selecting one would see all of the alterations needed made in one fell swoop. Whilst she preferred to tweak in her own time, the pre-made variations would most certainly be beneficial if she found herself in a pinch where she didn¡¯t have time to muck around with options. They were handily titled too, with names like ¡®Assault¡¯, and ¡®Stealth¡¯. Happy with the default choice of weapons for now, Mai closed the SASS and watched her people practicing with their suits. Red lights flashed into life and an alarm blared its warning. DOMINATION ¨C HOLD THE BASE DO YOU ACCEPT YES/NO? ¡°They¡¯re here, all personnel to battle stations!¡± Spinning, Mai sprinted to the command centre, blink-clicking the YES as she ran. Book 2 - Rebel - Chapter 37 ¡°Early warning sensor was tripped in the tunnel. It¡¯s an Imperial battle group,¡± said Hind, one of the rebels manning the monitors. Flashing red icons marked where the enemy troops were. ¡°Is that a good or bad thing?¡± Quipped Dakota, her lips twitching into a smile.. ¡°Bad. There¡¯s a lot more of them than there are us,¡± replied Hind, an utterly dead pan. ¡°They¡¯ll be entering our mine fields shortly.¡± Mai used her suit¡¯s HUD to sync into the command centre¡¯s systems. From there she selected the cameras which showed the enemy¡¯s approach. Damn, that¡¯s a lot of enemies to kill, she thought, her stomach sinking. She¡¯d expected more of a policing action by the Imperials than a full-bodied assault. Maybe her missions for the rebels had raised them from ¡®minor annoyance¡¯ to ¡®eradicate with extreme prejudice and harsh words.¡¯ ¡°They¡¯ve got nanosects, cyber-animals, vat-breds and humans,¡± someone said. Stunned silence filled the command centre. Nanosects were weapons of terror. Small, insect-like, they would burrow into the victim¡¯s orifices before detonating a small-but-powerful charge. ¡°Well, at least they don¡¯t know what we¡¯ve got,¡± Mai watched as the first of the mines detonated. A couple of bodies were thrown through the air. ¡°First blood to us.¡± ¡°Thank the gods you built up and down as well as out,¡± said Biao, another one of the rebels who had supported her prior to the showdown with Anna pointed as another enemy force appeared on a different level. ¡°Otherwise that force would be dropping down into where we¡¯re standing.¡± That was another thing which had surprised Mai. The original base had been on just one level. As if it was designed to be expanded. A blueprint, rather than an actual base. Or a base template to be developed. ¡°Second battle force is about to enter the upper traps,¡± Hind threw the scene onto the holotable so that they could all watch without having to patch in. Mines and various other traps detonated, blasting the enemy into pieces. ¡°Anyone else getting BASE scores?¡± asked Biao. Mai looked down at her menu. In the corner was a tab for the base. Opening that up she was surprised to see that the kills had awarded extra base expansion slots, the name of the rebel responsible for the kills listed on what looked sadly like a leader board. ¡°We can add more weapons, which will increase the base points available as they kill more enemies,¡± Hind said as he waved his hands and dropped a turret into the middle of the mecha hangar. ¡°All rebels keep an eye on your base menu. As soon as you¡¯re able to, drop additional traps and turrets into the path of the enemy. Acknowledge,¡± Mai ordered. A chorus of voices responded. The minimap flashed as rebels started to add turrets from the base points they¡¯d already earned. ¡°Seems that defending the base is going to be a lot easier than we thought,¡± mused Dakota. More of the enemy had been killed by the outer defences. ¡°We¡¯ve got a third battlegroup,¡± warned Hind, highlighting the new force. ¡°It¡¯s got heavier armour than the others.¡± Looking at her base menu, Mai realised that there was an expansion point leading directly into the sewer. Selecting a twin-barrelled minigun turret, she dropped it into the river of sewage and directly in front of the entrance. Blink-clicking it, she synced it with her HUD. Her vision immediately changed to that of the turret. It was a strange feeling. Even though she was still in the suit, she felt as though she was floating inside the turret. A wave of vertigo, quickly followed by nausea washed over her, and she forced the bile that rose into her mouth back down. Turning, she swivelled the turret to face the enemy. From the looks on the faces of the humans, they hadn¡¯t expected a turret to suddenly pop up out of the river of waste. Giving them no time to react she squeezed the ¡®triggers¡¯ on the weapon. The noise was phenomenal, a guttural ripping sound that made her bones vibrate. A near-solid stream of tracers reached out towards the nearest enemy soldiers and their cyber-creatures. And they ceased to exist, blasted apart in the blink of an eye. Clouds of blood and remains filled the air as her bullets continued to scythe through them. Spinning she directed her fire back up the tunnel in the other direction. It was just as devastating. She tried to pretend it was a hologame, not wanting to acknowledge the damage she was doing to her fellow human beings. ¡°Shit me, these turrets are devastating!¡± Mai gasped. ¡°Wait, you can get into them?¡± asked Dakota. ¡°Yes, sorry, sync with it, there¡¯s a menu, bit busy,¡± replied Mai as she spun again to open fire on a squad of heavily suited Imperials. They took longer to die, and their weapons started to chip away at the turret¡¯s armour. It rang as though someone had slammed a hammer into it from behind. Turning again, she opened her mouth in surprise as she saw that the Imperials had a track-mounted cannon. They didn¡¯t have that before, bastards are forming weapons as they need them. She shouldn¡¯t have been surprised, but not knowing how the military worked, she¡¯d assumed that Cullers were granted special abilities. It was stupid, and she cursed herself for not thinking about it before. Accessing her base menu she selected a laser cannon and dropped it into the sewer. Blink-clicking she synched with it, finding the vertigo much easier than last time. Laying the sights of the laser onto the cannon she blasted it to smithereens. It exploded, the blast killing even more enemy soldiers. ¡°I¡¯m not getting kill notifications,¡± she commed. ¡°Me neither,¡± replied Dakota. ¡°It¡¯s going into the base points though. I guess because they¡¯re not Cullers or Mogwai or such, and because we¡¯re in the base defending it that it doesn¡¯t count towards our Culling levels.¡± The last turret rang from a heavy blow, its armour plummeted to less than fifty per cent, Mai turned once again and opened fire on another cannon which had appeared. ¡°Mai, you need to direct the battle,¡± warned Biao. ¡°You can¡¯t get wrapped up in a micro-battle of your own.¡± Chastised, Mai set the turret to automatic and de-synced, staggering slightly as her vision returned to normal. ¡°Sorry, you¡¯re right. Got tunnel vision.¡± She dropped another turret into the sewer out of spite. A minigun was two hundred base points, whilst the laser was three hundred. Points well spent, she thought as the turrets wreaked mayhem. Looking at the holomap of the base, she started to add further turrets. Seeing a section of enemy troops clustered in a room three base levels up, she sent a squad of rebels against them. Another group of enemies had already gained entrance to the base by using some form of manned mining drill, so she dropped a series of acid pits and smaller turrets into their way whilst adding a series of walls. Between each wall she placed another turret. ¡°Well that¡¯s just plain evil,¡± laughed Biao. ¡°Blow a wall, face a turret. Destroy the turret and blow the wall. Rinse and repeat.¡± ¡°Thanks, I resemble that remark,¡± Mai smiled over at her friend, before turning back to the battle. * FIRST WAVE DEFEATED The attack had taken nearly thirty minutes to defeat. None of her people had been killed, but the base had been penetrated in numerous places. ¡°We¡¯re going to run out of bio-mass boost damned quickly if every attack damages the base like this each time,¡± sighed Dakota. She was tired. They all were. The turrets and traps had done the bulk of the fighting, but the automated systems hadn¡¯t proved to be as good as having someone actually manning the weapons. Mai had been forced to split her forces into those manning the weapons, and those fixing the base and creating more weapons as the original ones were destroyed. Lights started to flash, and sirens blared once more. DOMINATION - WAVE TWO - HOLD THE BASE The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement. DO YOU ACCEPT YES/NO? ¡°Oh shit,¡± breathed Hind, eyes fixed on the monitor. ¡°They¡¯ve brought mecha.¡± ¡°It had to happen. We kicked their arse. We upped the stakes, so they¡¯ve upped the stakes,¡± Dakota dropped a heavier turret into one of the upper base level approaches. ¡°They¡¯re going to get deeper into the base this time,¡± Biao dropped turrets of his own into a different level. Mai selected two squads and gave them orders to move to where the largest part of the new force was approaching. She added a couple of turrets and additional walls to give them protection. ¡°Don¡¯t hold on to the last mecha. Hold as long as you can and then pull back. Builders, as soon as you see a force pulling back, drop some walls between them and the enemy. Acknowledge.¡± She didn¡¯t bother waiting for an answer, selecting another part of the base, and adding thicker walls into a corridor another enemy force was approaching. ¡°Think we can hold them?¡± Dakota commed on a private channel. ¡°Not a chance in five hells. We¡¯re going to damage them, but they¡¯ll just keep sending stronger and stronger forces,¡± Mai said. ¡°So why don¡¯t we just make a run for it now?¡± ¡°Because if we do that, they¡¯ll be able to hunt us down at their leisure. Our forces will be scattered, and it¡¯ll turn into a series of small, one-on-one battles. If we defeat this wave, then we¡¯ll be able to consolidate and make our escape before the next one begins.¡± ¡°We¡¯re going to lose people,¡± warned Dakota. ¡°We always were. This way we keep the losses to a minimum.¡± She left the words I hope unspoken. * ¡°Squad two engaging, squad three engaging,¡± Mai blanked the reports coming in. There wasn¡¯t any point in listening to the reports as she could see the kills appearing on her minimap. ¡°Dakota, remember, hit them hard and keep moving.¡± She knew it was pointless reminding her friend, but nerves were getting the better of her. ¡°Don¡¯t fret Mai, we¡¯re all good. These fuckers are going to really regret attacking us,¡± chuckled her friend. * Mai looked at the five rebels in her team. Whilst it was hard to read the body language of someone encased in a three-metre tall suit of armour, the shifting feet and flexing hands let her know that they were just as nervous ¨C or keyed up ¨C as she was. ¡°Remember, fade out, strike and move, fade back in. Wait for your stealth to cool down before engaging the enemy. Our suits are not built to take much firepower, no matter how big they are.¡± ¡°Wish they were bigger and didn¡¯t need us to have to use a catheter,¡± joked Jock. He¡¯d been one of the first to volunteer for the stealth suits. ¡°I kinda like the nappies myself,¡± laughed Hind who had been the second fastest. ¡°Yeah, yeah. Enough banter. Let¡¯s scan where we¡¯re needed the most. Focus people.¡± She followed her own advice, calling up the minimap and looking for hotspots she could flank and exploit. ¡°Corridor fifteen, the unit approaching through the old industrial area. They¡¯ll be entering a large workshop in about two minutes. Lots of cover, bad lighting and once they¡¯re in, they¡¯ll find it hard to get back out,¡± Mai highlighted the route that the enemy would have to take. ¡°We¡¯ll take them in the workshop.¡± As they made their way to the workshop, Mai had re-designated her team as the Cutters. Opening her SASS she saw that just that small gesture had raised her reputation with the rebels by another five points. She promised herself that she would look properly into how it worked when things were quieter. Interestingly, the increase only applies to the rebels with me, she couldn¡¯t work out why that was, but put it down to the fact that the name change only affected the rebels with her, and not the rebels as a whole. Still, it means that I¡¯m getting a good cadre of people who are going to be strongly loyal. If they survive the battle that is. ¡°Spread out. I¡¯ll take up position nearest to the entrance. Once they¡¯re fully into the workshop, cloak and engage. I¡¯ll take the rear elements out as quickly as possible. Split their attention in two directions.¡± Moving swiftly, she covered the open area of the workshop, sliding into cover behind a large drilling machine. It gave her both cover and concealment as well as a clear line of sight to the entrance that the enemy had to come through. Scanning the minimap, she licked her lips as she saw the size of the wave they had to face. Whilst the rebels were punishing the enemy, they were already taking casualties they couldn¡¯t afford. Thus far, three of her people were down. ¡°Dakota, I¡¯m in position, move your people into sector five. I¡¯ve dropped some turrets there to back up against infantry,¡± she ordered as she dropped a mix of turrets into the area she¡¯d sent Dakota to. ¡°Roger that,¡± replied Dakota. ¡°Good luck with your lot.¡± Mai didn¡¯t tell her friend to take care, she knew that she wouldn¡¯t, and that Dakota would tease her mercilessly if she did. ¡°Boss, they¡¯re here,¡± whispered Jock as if keeping his voice low was going to help hide them. ¡°Five so far. Fast and dumb. They¡¯re not expecting us.¡± Fast and dumb, Mai smiled at the thought. The Imperials clearly didn¡¯t realise that they were in a world of trouble. And she was more than willing to punish them for their hubris. ¡°Fifteen,¡± whispered Hind. ¡°Still fast and dumb.¡± Looking at her map, Mai could see where her team had started to ping the enemy, their locations added to the minimap and updating with each step they took. Five-to-one wasn¡¯t the best odds, but the enemy didn¡¯t have any stealth mecha as far as she could tell. ¡°Looks like the last of them,¡± Jock was still whispering, the tension in his voice raising her own anxiety. Palms sweating, she tracked the rear guard of the enemy mecha. It was a heavy, bristling with weapons. Running a quick scan, she identified it as a T-36, an assault mecha with thick frontal armour and much weaker rear armour. Mai smiled as she realised that the enemy had played directly into their hands. ¡°Engaging,¡± Mai activated her suit¡¯s STEALTH mode, the HUD rippling as a visual cue to demonstrate that she was now cloaked as best as a three-metre tall mecha could be. Stepping from behind her cover, she activated her MECHA skill, laying the sight of her tight-beam laser on the back of the enemy mecha¡¯s knee. Even as she kept moving she fired, the brightness of the weapon causing her HUD to dim automatically to protect her eyes from the glare. HIT! 10% -10% MOVEMENT Sending power to her lightning fist and blades, Mai charged into battle. Her opponent was good. Despite the surprise they must have felt, they were already turning to face the new threat. Dropping to her knees, Mai slid her mecha along the floor of the workshop in a shower of sparks. Sliding past the rear of the mecha as it continued to turn, she raked her blades across the knee once more. HIT! 57% CRITICAL HIT! ¨C LEG LOCKED Jamming her fist into the ground she brought her mecha to a halt. Leg locked, her opponent started to tumble to the side, unable to compensate in time and counter the momentum caused by its spin. Surging to her feet, Mai smashed her hammer into the back of her opponent¡¯s head. CRITICAL HIT! 30% STUNNED The mecha collapsed to the floor just as if it was human. Closing she was surprised by the message which flashed up: FINISH IT! YES/NO She tabbed the YES and a box flashed, showing exactly where she needed to strike. Rolling the opponent onto their back, she drove her lightning blades into its face, punching through the armour and killing the human inside. KILL! Chest heaving sweat pouring down her cheeks where the helmet¡¯s pad wasn¡¯t absorbing it, Mai took a look at the battle before her. Her rebels flickered in and out of existence, even her own systems barely able to spot them as they fought the enemy mecha. Her counter showed that she still had twenty seconds left before she needed the STEALTH to cool down. Glyphs hovered above all of the enemy mecha, INTIMIDATION, FEAR and even PINNED showed. She needed them to panic. An enemy mecha stepped out from behind a large machine that Mai couldn¡¯t even start to identify. Weapons raised, it sent a stream of lasers towards Jock¡¯s mecha. ¡°Fuck! That¡¯s singed me short and curlies good and proper!¡± Shouted Jock as he threw his mecha to the side. She couldn¡¯t help but be impressed with the manoeuvrability of the suits. ¡°Keep moving to the right, it¡¯ll make them present their back to me!¡± Ordered Mai, running towards the enemy mecha. ¡°On it,¡± Jock¡¯s mecha smoked from where it had been hit by the lasers, the damage didn¡¯t look too bad, but the stealth suits weren¡¯t intended for fighting other mecha toe-to-toe and she wasn¡¯t sure just how much punishment it could take. His opponent kept turning, raking the workshop with weapons fire as the pilot forgot about the battle as a whole, losing sight of everything but the enemy he was determined to kill. Let¡¯s see what else I can do if I¡¯m up close and personal, Mai thought as she moved to within an arm¡¯s reach. TAKEDOWN! YES/NO? Closing the remaining distance, Mai selected YES. On its own the suit moved, the hammer arm snaking around the opponent¡¯s neck, pulling the head up and back. The lightning blades stabbed twice into the exposed neck area, then dropped and pumped another three stabs into the rear of the mecha¡¯s hip. KILL! It¡¯s just like killing real people, Mai thought, feeling sick. She¡¯d hoped that killing mecha would be different somehow, would remove the knowledge that she¡¯d killed the pilot as well as the suit they were sitting in. Dropping the smoking mecha, she fired her laser, snapping a shot off at another assault mecha who had one of her people pinned. HIT! 25% PANIC! Mai smiled as the PANIC glyph appeared over the damaged mecha. Its armour was scarred, great slashes showing sparks every time it moved, its left leg dragging. There was a sudden explosion and the front of the mecha blew off, and the pilot ¡®s chair launched them into the air. That was dumb, she thought as the chair¡¯s rocket fired the pilot straight into the workshop¡¯s ceiling. KILL ASSIST! ¡°Good kill boss!¡± Laughed Hind. What passed for silence descended. Mai had been so focussed on her own fights she hadn¡¯t realised that all of the enemy were down. As were two of her people. Never even bothered learning their names, the thought upset her. She wasn¡¯t used to treating people as pawns, but this was what the battle had forced her into doing. I¡¯ll never let that happen again, she swore to all of the gods she could think of. WAVE TWO DEFEATED! WAVE THREE BEGINS IN 600 ¡­ 599 ¡­ 598 ¡°Mai to all mecha, good job people. Pull back to the workshop. We¡¯ve got less than ten minutes to prepare, gods help us all.¡± Book 2 - Rebel - Chapter 38 ¡°We don¡¯t stand a chance. We can¡¯t stay and fight,¡± repeated Mai. Some of the rebels were determined to defend the base until the last person. She and the majority of others were against throwing their lives away needlessly. ¡°We¡¯ve got a shit-ton of build points,¡± Dakota called up the base plan. ¡°I say we sow the whole place with defences and leave them to it. They¡¯ll fight their way through never knowing whether we¡¯re here or not until it¡¯s too late to know that we¡¯ve bugged out.¡± ¡°Yeah? And where are we going to go?¡± snipped one of the rebels, clearly determined to stay and fight. ¡°Nether City,¡± absolute silence greeted Mai¡¯s statement. ¡°Now that¡¯s something I never thought I¡¯d hear someone say out loud,¡± groaned Biao. Looking around at the stunned rebels, Mai hoped she could persuade them. ¡°Everyone knows that the last of the real rebel army,¡± She held up a hand to stop the outbursts sure to follow, ¡°retreated into the old part of the city. Parts so dangerous that not even the Imperial army wanted to follow them. Similarly, they couldn¡¯t detonate any more bombs as that would bring the whole city down. Who knows what¡¯s down there? ¡° ¡°Monsters, death, radioactive wastes, the detritus of one-hundred thousand years of Imperial rule!¡± Shouted the rebel, who had clearly decided to be the spokesperson for anyone wanting to stay. ¡°Safety, the ability to hide out and see if we can¡¯t find the original rebels, or their descendants and the possibility that we can still live, which we won¡¯t have if we bloody stay here.¡± Biao jabbed his finger at the rebel as he spoke, ¡°You can stay. I¡¯m leaving. Whatever we may or may not find is going to be better than what we face right now.¡± ¡°We¡¯re all leaving,¡± Mai said. ¡°That¡¯s an order. I¡¯m the commander. Unless you want to take that role away from me?¡± The rebel lowered her head, avoiding Mai¡¯s piercing gaze. ¡°That¡¯s settled. We have less than five minutes to get everything in place.¡± * ¡°Do you even know where we need to go?¡± Asked Dakota once the rebels had left to carry out Mai¡¯s orders. ¡°Kind of. We all know that it¡¯s at the bottom of the city. Every legend and history lesson says so. So we¡¯re going to have to go through the one-miler, get to Level 1-001 and keep going down.¡± It made sense as she spoke, but she was under no impression that it was going to be easy. ¡°That¡¯s it?¡± Spat Biao. ¡°That¡¯s your plan? Go down and keep going down until we find the place?¡± ¡°Not just that,¡± she snapped back. She was reaching the end of her tether both physically and mentally and just wished that her people would think for themselves rather than constantly needing to be spoon-fed. ¡°Once we¡¯re on that level it shouldn¡¯t be too hard to find someone who can point us to where we need to go.¡± ¡°If the cannibals and techno-barbarians don¡¯t kill us before that,¡± sighed Dakota. ¡°Well what do you fucking suggest? I¡¯m all ears.¡± Mai paced the length of the room, not saying anything as she waited for Dakota to tell her. ¡°Nothing, I don¡¯t suggest anything. Your idea is the best idea, but it doesn¡¯t mean that it doesn¡¯t completely suck. Nor that I¡¯m happy we¡¯re even going to try to enter the Nether City. Do you really think the surviving rebels will welcome us?¡± ¡°We¡¯re some of the best fighters in the world right now. Our skills are levelling up with each battle and we¡¯ve probably seen more action than the rebels in Nether City have since the war. They¡¯re not even real rebels since no-one¡¯s seen hide nor hair of them.¡± ¡°So what makes you think they still exist?¡± Biao asked. ¡°Because if the Empire had truly wiped them out it would have announced its victory from the rooftops. We¡¯d never hear the end of it. There would be no urban myth that the rebels had survived and escaped because every single school would have drilled it into us that they didn¡¯t live anymore.¡± Dakota sucked her teeth as she considered this, looking over at Biao. ¡°She¡¯s got a point,¡± said Dakota. ¡°Well gee, thanks,¡± snipped Mai. ¡°Looks like we¡¯re going down in the world,¡± quipped Biao. * ¡°Quickest route is here,¡± Jock pointed to the minimap. ¡°We mecha up and push out of the sewers. From there we exit here, follow this concourse until we get to this lift shaft. From there we rappel down. And by down I mean down. All the way.¡± ¡°Can we make a line that long?¡± Asked Hind. ¡°Probably not,¡± conceded Jock. ¡°We could just hold onto the lift cables and do it that way.¡± ¡°Or,¡± interjected Biao, ¡°we add rocket packs to our mecha. They¡¯ve all got them. We jump into the elevator shaft and drop. When we¡¯re about to hit ground level we fire the packs and land.¡± ¡°Simple as that?¡± Muttered one of the rebels. Even Mai had to admit that she didn¡¯t fancy throwing herself into the void and trusting that she¡¯d be able to fire her jets quick enough to land safely. ¡°Anyone have a better plan?¡± She was secretly pleased that Jock had taken the initiative and came up with the best plan thus far, albeit with a modification from Biao. No-one spoke. ¡°Good. In that case I suggest you all modify your mecha this instant. We have less than one minute before the enemy arrives. Are all of the turrets in place?¡± ¡°Yes ma¡¯am. Everything is set. We have a clear run to the sewers, rear-guard will drop turrets behind us as we run.¡± ¡°And once we¡¯re in the sewers, we deal with any enemy attacking that way,¡± Dakota traced the route they needed to take. ¡°It¡¯s going to be a running battle. No-one is to stop and get engaged in a full-on shooting war. Shoot and scoot. If you stay too long, you¡¯ll be left behind.¡± ¡°Is everyone clear on this last point?¡± Asked Mai. ¡°We can¡¯t stop to help you. You cannot stop to fight for too long. Pick an enemy, damage them enough to move on and move on. Keep moving in your teams. Move with the rest of the group when told to.¡± The assembled rebels all nodded. Mouths are probably too dry to speak, don¡¯t blame them thought Mai. Her own guts felt as though they were full of butterflies and her bladder kept sending warning signals. The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation. Alarms suddenly blared, lights flashing red. STAND AND HOLD DEFEAT WAVE THREE DO YOU ACCEPT YES/NO? ¡°Good luck people.¡± * ¡°Team three moving!¡± commed Jock as he led his team in a charge towards a group of Imperial infantry. They stood no chance against the mecha, but they still had the ability to deal severe damage with the light laser they had set up in the tunnel. His team¡¯s weapons filled the sewer tunnel with strobing light, blasting the enemy soldiers apart in the blink of an eye. ¡°Five hundred paces until we reach the elevator,¡± Mai swept her laser across the chest of an armoured soldier. They were wearing the same Celestial armour as she had at the supply point, but it made no difference, the laser was far too powerful. There was a bright flash, and then the suit exploded, showering the human pilot in all directions. ¡°This is the biggest damn wave yet!¡± Shouted Dakota. Her people were at the rear, dropping turrets and various defences in the path of the pursuing enemy forces. By leaving the base they had well and truly broken the enemy¡¯s attack plan. With the majority of the enemy trying to attack through the upper levels, exploiting the previous breach, Mai and her people had faced little opposition when they tried to break out into the sewers. Now though, the enemy was in full pursuit. ¡°How many do you reckon we¡¯ve killed?¡± Panted Mai. She was starting to tire. And even though she had shared out all of the remaining bio-mass boost stocks, she feared that it wouldn¡¯t be enough to get them through. ¡°They¡¯re down to less than fifty percent. And the majority are behind us,¡± Hind said. Which didn¡¯t answer the question Mai had asked. But it had to number hundreds, if not over a thousand Imperial soldiers. ¡°Roger that,¡± commed Biao. ¡°Team four engaging.¡± Biao¡¯s team was the spear tip of their advance. He and his people had armed themselves with the heaviest mecha they could. With good all-round armour and weapons. The mecha were slow, but damned hard to damage. His team¡¯s role was to charge into and through the enemy positions, splitting their fire and their attention so that the following rebels could engage the enemy. As he and his people moved further ahead of the main group, they also populated the minimap, allowing Mai and her people to see what they were going to be facing. Thus far it had been a one-sided massacre. ¡°Shit balls!¡± screamed Biao before his suit suddenly flatlined. Other members of his team started screaming warnings. ¡°Cutters activate STEALTH and push up! ¡°ordered Mai. She charged forward, splashing through the sewage. Biao¡¯s team had gone around a curve in the sewer, so she couldn¡¯t see what they were facing, but from the still-panicked voices, it wasn¡¯t anything good. ¡°Fuck me,¡± Hind breathed as they rounded the corner. ¡°What in the hells is that?¡± Mai worked her mouth, trying to get it to form the words she knew she wanted to say, but couldn¡¯t bring herself to. ¡°Cyber-mogwai,¡± she groaned. It was huge. Easily sixty paces in length, at least ten paces tall. Biao¡¯s suit, or what remained of it, sparked in its massive tentacles as row upon row of teeth chomped it into small pieces. Along its length, Mai could see imperial troops wearing a form of armour she hadn¡¯t seen before. ¡°What are those troops?¡± She commed as she brought her team to a skidding halt. ¡°Worm Riders. Read about them once at school. They were used on the desert world Jackson. Easiest way to travel though the massive deserts.¡± ¡°Looks like they¡¯ve found a way to use them in the city,¡± Mai said. She watched as what remained of Biao¡¯s team tried to fight the mogwai, their weapons fire doing little more than annoy the beast. ¡°Jock, how big is that mouth do you reckon?¡± Mai had a plan. ¡°What the fuck does that matter?¡± Jock fired off a missile. It hit the mogwai¡¯s thick hide and ricocheted, detonating against the sewer wall. ¡°I don¡¯t know, easily six men.¡± ¡°Good enough,¡± Mai activated every skill she had. TUNNEL COMBAT, FREERUNNING, CLEANING, WASTE MANAGEMENT. Literally everything. Then she charged, sprinting as hard as she could, arms pumping, screaming wildly, pushing all thoughts of what she was actually going to do to the back of her mind even as she did it. ¡°Mai! No!¡± Screamed Hind. Less than five paces from the mogwai¡¯s gaping maw, Mai leaped into the air, aiming directly for the tongue she could see beyond. Sparks flew from her suit as the grinding teeth clipped it. And then she was in. * The inside of the mogwai wasn¡¯t like anything she had envisioned. She hadn¡¯t really known what to expect as she¡¯d never been swallowed by anything before. There was a moment of blind panic, but she quickly recovered. Chest heaving, she set to work. There were no aiming boxes for her to work out where to best strike, she merely let the beast continue to swallow her as she fired her laser and struck out with her hand weapons. Hit after hit notification popped up, each one only showing a per cent or two. At one point she stopped moving and the mogwai gave a huge heave, forcing her backwards slightly. Digging her claws in, she held herself firm until the spasm finished. It¡¯s choking on me, she thought with satisfaction. Hauling herself forward, she continued to work her way deeper into the beast, keeping an eye on her suit¡¯s internal air supply. Wouldn¡¯t do to suffocate, although the thought of suffocating appealed more than being digested. Got to make sure I don¡¯t end up in the damn stomach. Having seen what the mogwai in the sewer ate, she knew that they had to have some of the toughest guts, and most corrosive stomach acid in existence. Her plan, for what it was, had been to get as deep into the mogwai as possible and then blast herself out. Creating a pack of remotely detonated explosives, she dropped it and pulled herself further down the fleshy tunnel, the sides closing behind her as she did. It seemed that the mogwai swallowed by pulsing its throat muscles. Anything she dropped behind her would be closed off by the flesh as she moved forward. This meant that she could essentially create a series of explosions without having to worry about being injured. Or so she hoped. Explosives also work far better if the blast is contained. Out in the open, they might cause a loud noise and a shockwave, but they are only truly effective when the blast is trapped, magnifying the force of the explosion. For what seemed like an age she pulled herself forward and dropped explosives. Then, when her suit¡¯s air was at ten percent, she dropped the last block of explosives. While she tried to put enough distance between her and that last pack, she¡¯d tried to reach her people by comm, but the beast¡¯s bulk had blocked all signals. I¡¯m going to need the longest bath in history, she thought as she pressed her thumb down onto the detonator¡¯s helpfully glowing red firing button. The effect was instantaneous. One huge, muffled thump followed by the beast¡¯s throat opening wide and a deluge of blood washing down and over her as it reared up as high as the sewer¡¯s ceiling would allow. KILL! NEW TITLE! - LEVIATHAN BANE TRULY YOU ARE A LEGEND AMONG LEGENDS. YOU HAVE SLAIN A BEAST NO SANE SENTIENT WOULD EVER CONSIDER FACING ALONE WAVE THREE DEFEATED! WAVE FOUR BEGINS IN 600 ¡­ 599 ¡­ 598 Barely managing to avoid being swept away, she fired her laser into the creature¡¯s destroyed throat. Keeping it on a tight and continuous beam, she burned a circle, sweeping the laser around and around, deepening the wound with each revolution. In no time at all the circle of flesh fell outward, revealing the sewer wall. ¡°Mai! Come in Mai!¡± Hind¡¯s frantic voice filled her ears, her comms previously blocked by the armour on the cyber-mogwai. ¡°I¡¯m here, I¡¯m here,¡± her ears were filled with the cheers of her people. ¡°Didn¡¯t think I¡¯d leave you did you?¡± ¡°You mad woman!¡± Roared Dakota, her mecha stepping up to wrap Mai¡¯s gore-covered mecha in its arms. ¡°I honestly thought we¡¯d lost you.¡± >>>>> DON¡¯T YOU EVER SCARE ME LIKE THAT AGAIN <<<<< Her friend RedFanged her, sending her a secure text message rather than using her voice comms. >>>>> DON¡¯T PLAN ON BEING EATEN AGAIN IF I CAN HELP IT <<<<< she messaged back. Looking around, Mai took in the battered state of her people. Giving them a quick scan she was shocked and disappointed at the damage their suits had taken. ¡°We got time to take a bio-mass boost?¡± She asked Dakota. ¡°Good thinking.¡± Her friend switched channels, ¡°Everyone take a bio-mass boost. Get your suits fixed. Drink on the move.¡± It was good advice, with the next wave¡¯s counter slowly counting down, Mai led her tired band of rebels towards salvation. Book 2 - Rebel - Chapter 39 ¡°That¡¯s a damned long way down. How fast we going to be going by the time we reach the bottom?¡± Dakota leaned through the shattered elevator doors, staring down into the depths of the shaft. ¡°Three hundred miles per hour give or take,¡± replied M ai, struggling to comprehend that fact herself. ¡°Three hun ¡­ No. No way,¡± Dakota backed away from the shaft, waving her hands. ¡°That¡¯s plain stupid. What if we meet an elevator on the way down?¡± ¡°Easily solved,¡± Jock strode up to the still-smoking entrance, raised his weapons and blasted the thick cables. Parting with a loud bang, they disappeared into the darkness. With a whoosh, and a chorus of screams, an elevator fell past the entrance. ¡°Shit, didn¡¯t think about that.¡± Mai¡¯s mouth worked for a couple of seconds as she tried to work out how to respond to what had clearly been an impetuous act, but which had probably murdered hundreds as the large numbers of elevators attached to each of the cables plunged to their destruction. ¡°Nothing to be done,¡± Chan patted Jock on the shoulder. ¡°I¡¯ll go first. Team, with me.¡± As soon as the survivors of his team were gathered they launched themselves one-by-one into the shaft. ¡°Hells, I do not want to follow them,¡± Dakota backed even further away from the shaft until Mai stepped behind her, preventing her from moving any further. ¡°We¡¯ll jump together. I¡¯m just as scared as you are,¡± Mai gently pushed her friend forward. ¡°Seriously, if you were in my suit you¡¯d not be saying that¡± moaned Dakota. Mai chuckled, keeping the pressure on Dakota¡¯s back. She couldn¡¯t afford for Dakota¡¯s fear to affect other members of the group. If one balked, others would too, and that would be a death sentence. ¡°Just take a look down, the others are doing well.¡± She encouraged her friend. As soon as Dakota poked her head over the edge, Mai placed a hand on the small of her back and pushed, leaping after her screaming friend. * Level after level passed Mai as she fell headfirst down the enormous elevator shaft. It had been built to service twelve elevators, three each side. Once more the screaming elevator came to the fore of her mind and she forced it back. Those deaths, whilst not caused by her, were forever going to be on her conscience. ¡°I fucking hate you,¡± Dakota repeated for the umpteenth time. Mai had stopped counting both after it had stopped being funny, and the tenth time. It had now turned into a chant. ¡°Shut up, we¡¯re coming to the bottom,¡± snapped Mai. ¡°How can you tell?¡± At least the chant had stopped. ¡°I can see our people¡¯s markers; Flip over, feet downward. Set your jets to fire automatically.¡± ¡°Roger that.¡± Mai looked over to see her friend flip the correct way. Blink-clicking on her jet pack, she followed her own advice as the ground continued to race towards them. Looking upward, she made sure that none of the rebels following them were going to land on her. ¡°Ooof!¡± she gasped as her jets kicked in whilst she was still looking up. It felt as though her stomach had risen into her mouth whilst her lungs were being squeezed at the same time. Teeth clacking together as her feet hit the remains of an elevator, she staggered forward, only catching herself at the last moment. ¡°Smooth, Mai, smooth,¡± laughed Dakota. ¡°Clear the landing space!¡± Warned Hind as more jets ignited into the darkness above them. Mai and Dakota needed no further warning, leaping off the crushed elevators and into a space the others had cleared. ¡°Hold here, I¡¯m going to scout,¡± she ordered, activating her suit¡¯s STEALTH. Crouching slightly to get through the exit due to the way the doors had been buckled by the force of the elevators¡¯ impact, she stepped out into the concourse beyond. She hadn¡¯t known what to expect when she¡¯d leapt into the elevator shaft. There had always been rumours and myths about the bottom levels of the city. One-miler was one thing, but they were in the sub-mile levels. The foundations of the city, and the original beginning of the buildings which towered above. If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. The architecture was so ancient she couldn¡¯t even tell how old the buildings she saw were. Some had been completely crushed by the weight above them, whereas others showed numerous attempts to shore them up. Script on all of the buildings was hard to read. It looked familiar, like what she had been taught to read in school, but the spellings were different, the strokes going at funny angles. It was as if she had stepped both back into a different time and another world. ¡°Concourse is clear,¡± she commed as she finished a slow turn, sweeping her sights across the buildings. The concourse was poorly lit. Sparks showered down from one set of lights as they pulsed on and off. Other lights were completely dead, their bulbs either gone, or smashed. She couldn¡¯t tell. It was worse than the level she¡¯d been on with the little girl. Thank Gods we got her over to Biyu¡¯s base before this all kicked off, she thought. Not that the girl had been happy to leave. She¡¯d clearly thought Mai was going to adopt her, or act like a big sister. Only got room for one little sister. Moving to the left she approached what looked like the remains of a space module. Running her hands over the metal exterior she realised that was indeed what it was. ¡°We¡¯ve got some of the original colonisation modules here.¡± She tried to make out what was written on the module, but aside from a couple of numbers and some poorly spelt graffiti it was illegible. Now that she understood what she was looking at, she was able to spot the other space craft surrounding her. Every one of the colony ships had been a self-contained settlement, designed to be landed on the planet. Vertical, they provided a secure base on which to build a civilisation. It was incredible. She¡¯d read about the start of the city in her school books but had never really believed that people would come all this way in space ships and then build a city around those very ships. I can¡¯t imagine getting into one of those and flying half-way across the galaxy, no matter how large they are. Although the stories of the crew members, not necessarily the passengers, becoming nobles as a result of being able to control the resources of the ship made Mai reconsider. It was rumoured that the Emperor was descended from the Admiral of the Fleet. It certainly didn¡¯t seem implausible because one of the thousand titles of the Emperor was indeed Admiral of the Fleet. Which would mean that the Celestial Court, barring the Ascended, was also most likely descended from the space farers. ¡°We¡¯re truly here then?¡± Dakota¡¯s voice startled her. She wasn¡¯t sure, but she thought she let a squeak out. ¡°Nether City, the sublevels of our great civilisation,¡± Mai gestured at the spaceships-cum buildings around them. It was only as she did so that she realised the concourse they were on was actually formed by the supports of only one ship. Given that the concourse was easily three hundred paces per side, the true size of the ship above them was boggling. ¡°And no sign of any natives?¡± Asked Hind, weapons tracking across the concourse. Everything about his body language spoke of his unease. ¡°None yet. Any pursuit?¡± Mai watched as the rest of her team filed out of the elevator shaft. Relieved that she hadn¡¯t lost anyone on the way down, she was so wrapped up in her thoughts that she didn¡¯t hear his reply. ¡°Sorry, zoned out.¡± ¡°None, it stopped as soon as we entered the shaft. They probably didn¡¯t think we¡¯d come down so far.¡± It made sense. Nether City was a legend, a myth, a land as bad as all of the hells combined. ¡°Best move away regardless. Don¡¯t want them dropping a bomb down here and catching us goofing about like tourists. We¡¯ll head over there.¡± Mai pointed at what looked like a traditional two-pillared gate. She couldn¡¯t tell what colour it had originally been due to the dust and dirt of millennia covering it. ¡°Are we sure this place is safe?¡± asked Jock. ¡°Hells no!¡± Laughed Dakota uneasily. ¡°This is the source of all the city quakes. One of these babies finally gives way, and we¡¯re jam!¡± Jock muttered something under his breath, somehow managing to make it look like his mecha¡¯s shoulders were hunched. ¡°Spread out, into teams. If a team¡¯s too small, join others,¡± Mai fanned her hands out, ordering her people into a classic diamond formation. It would give them good defensive and offensive capabilities and make sure they weren¡¯t clustered too closely together should anyone drop a shell in their midst. Reaching the gate, she saw that once again it was covered in a mixture of ancient script and more modern graffiti. ¡°Someone clearly lives down here, just can¡¯t read what the graffiti says,¡± she leaned closer to try and decipher it. ¡°It says ¡®Long Live the Revolution¡¯.¡± A man stepped out from what had looked like a pile of rusted metal. He raised his hands as weapons snapped up to cover him. ¡°No need for that, I can tell we¡¯re all on the same team.¡± ¡°Who are you?¡± Mai gestured for her people to lower their weapons. She didn¡¯t want the man to be accidentally incinerated, and the thought of a pitched battle in such ancient surroundings made her teeth itch. ¡°I¡¯m Yen Ching,¡± he replied, smiling at the gasps of the rebels. His name was legendary, the leader of the rebels, instigator of the War of Traitors. ¡°Bollocks, you¡¯re dead mate,¡± sneered Dakota. ¡°And yet, here I stand before you.¡± He smiled and gave a slow turn. ¡°Surely you must have suspected that the Heavenly Spirits and the Earthly Demons still survived. Otherwise why would you have fallen so far?¡± Mai shuffled her feet, unwilling to admit that it had been mostly desperation which had driven her to do so. ¡°Ah.¡± He nodded sagely. It was irritating. ¡°Well, in that case, might I ask your intentions? My people are accommodating, but we don¡¯t have the time or resources to look after tourists.¡± ¡°We need a place to rest, to rebuild, to plan,¡± replied Mai. ¡°And what do you need to rest, rebuild and plan for?¡± He cocked his head, looking amused. ¡°I plan to return to the city, get my sister, and burn the Celestial Court to the ground,¡± she snapped, irrationally irked by his calm demeanour. ¡°In that case, welcome to the Nether City,¡± his voice had hardened. ¡°We¡¯re going to accomplish great things Mai Xiao. Great things.¡± THE END - Keep Reading for Book 3. Please leave a review if you enjoyed the story, if not the system. Book 3 - Uprising - Chapter 1 Mai entered the Nether City rebel command centre without fanfare. Her and her people had been made welcome, but the rebels were still understandably wary of her and her people. She had no doubt that they had sent spies up into the city to glean information on the newcomers and ensure that they weren¡¯t Imperial spies. Access to some areas of the base they were in had been restricted, but fortunately they hadn¡¯t been restricted from entering the entertainment areas or canteen. Which Mai was especially thankful for, considering that the rebels ate real food. Nor had they been restricted to entering the command centre. All of the computer stations had screens which were blanked out whenever Mai looked over at them. Some sort of trickery which meant her retinal monitor projected black squares over her vision no matter how she angled her head. Not that she was trying to see what they were up to, just that she found it frustrating that she couldn¡¯t see anything. She didn¡¯t like the fact that the rebels were able to hack into her retinal monitor either. She took a seat at the back of the crescent-shaped rows of chairs. In the centre of the room was a large hologrammatic display, beyond which were a number of rebels manning computers and other stations. It was impressive to the untrained eye, but to Mai¡¯s eyes it looked like nothing more than flim-flam and show. ¡°How long do you think they spend here plotting and doing absolutely nothing with those plots?¡± whispered Jock as he joined her. Chan, Hind and Dakota were close behind, shuffling along the row of seats and taking their place. ¡°I¡¯d say that this place operates twenty-four hours a day. And considering that none of them came to help up top, I¡¯d say that absolutely nothing is done,¡± Mai gestured around them. ¡°They abandoned the rebels up top as soon as they retreated here.¡± Dakota gave the room a scan, checking out its inhabitants. By the look on her face, Mai didn¡¯t think she thought much of the rebels. ¡°They¡¯re old. All of the leaders anyway. Makes sense considering how long ago the war was. And the others are all young. They retreated. Set up base, had kids. Those kids grew up and are now part of the rebels. It¡¯s a legacy thing. No fresh blood.¡± ¡°Apart from us,¡± laughed Jock. ¡°Poor fuckers if they¡¯ve got to rely on us for fresh blood.¡± ¡°Begs the question as to why they don¡¯t have outsiders joining them. Or even the other inhabitants of Nether City.¡± ¡°Agreed,¡± Jock nodded and pointed at the large map of the city hovering in front of them. ¡°I can¡¯t wait to get out and explore properly.¡± That was another thing which had been restricted. Whilst the rebels checked their bona fides, Mai and her people had been confined to quarters. As with the monitors in the command centre, whenever Mai tried to view the map in greater detail she found she couldn¡¯t. The others had confirmed that this was the case for them too. ¡°Well,¡± Mai sighed, ¡°at least they¡¯ve invited us to one of their meetings. I was beginning to think we¡¯d never get out of our rooms.¡± They fell silent as Yen Ching, the Grand Commander of the Heavenly Spirits and Earthly Demons, a title Mai thought was utterly ridiculous, walked out of the wings and stepped up onto a podium which had risen from the floor. It was all very dramatic, and Mai felt sadness and a nearly overwhelming sense of being underwhelmed by it all. She chuckled at the contradiction. ¡°Silence everyone, the meeting is now convened,¡± Yen Ching wafted a wand and the lights in the room dimmed. ¡°We are here to discuss [army] matters, and our new arrivals.¡± What followed was, to Mai¡¯s mind, interminable. The rebels had divided Nether City into four sectors. Each sector had four quadrants, and each quadrant had four districts. Their command structure was modelled the same way. The Grand Commander was in charge of the city. Beneath him were four Sector Commands, sixteen Quadrant Commanders, and sixty-four District Commanders. And we¡¯ve got to sit and listen to each and every one of them give a report on the situation. Mai shifted, trying to relieve the pressure on a butt cheek which had gone numb nearly an hour ago. ¡°These buggers like to hear their own voices, don¡¯t they,¡± muttered Dakota as she too shifted in her seat. ¡°They¡¯ve all said precisely nothing, whilst filling this room with absolute bullshit.¡± ¡°And so we turn to our new arrivals, Mai Xiao, as commander of the group you brought in, would you care to address the council?¡± Yen Ching gestured towards her, completely catching her off-guard. Stomach filled with butterflies, mouth dry, Mai stood and looked around. Every face in the room was turned towards her. Most were politely blank. Some looked as though they harboured suspicions. None looked too hostile. ¡°Thank you, Grand Commander. Thank you all, for painting such an accurate picture of the situation in Nether City for us,¡± Mai ignored the snigger she thought came from Jock. ¡°We thank you also for our welcome. I understand that it must have sent some ripples across the pond and we appreciate the rooms you gave us.¡± She paused as the room was filled with a murmur of agreement from Yen Ching¡¯s people. Wiping suddenly sweat-slick palms on her trousers, she continued. Mai knew that what she had to say was going to be as popular as a mogwai mating ritual in a china shop. ¡°However, as much as Nether City is a fine place to live. I wish to return to the Upper City. I wish to take the rebellion back to the heart of our enemies. I want to bring the Celestial Court to its knees.¡± Whatever else she had been about to say was drowned out in a roar of shouts. Members of the council sprang to their feet. Some jabbed their fingers towards her, whilst others jabbed their fingers at the Grand Commander. Yet more jabbed fingers at each other. It was utter pandemonium. Completely at odds with the previously reserved formalities. Mai let the noise wash over her. She¡¯d expected nothing less and despite her anxiety increasing, it meant nothing. Gradually, and with the Grand Commander¡¯s vocal encouragement, the noise died down. ¡°Thank you, Grand Commander,¡± she inclined her head towards the man. His face was florid, but she couldn¡¯t tell if that was from having to shout at the top of his lungs to get everyone to be quiet, or because he was facing the possibility of council disintegrating before his very eyes. This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it. Probably a mixture of both. Can¡¯t blame him, I¡¯ve completely thrown a spanner in the works, and his people are utterly enraged ¡°Mai Xiao, we are in no position to return to the city,¡± the Grand Commander smiled in what he probably thought was a friendly manner, but which resembled a mogwai¡¯s snarl, gesturing as a list of the rebel¡¯s units appeared both in the centre of the chamber and on everyone¡¯s retinal monitors. ¡°We simply don¡¯t have the numbers.¡± It was the response she¡¯d expected and planned for. Her heart skipped a beat as she prepared to reply. Whilst she knew in her heart of hearts that it was the correct thing to do, she was still worried it might push the council into rash action and expel them. But she needed to provoke them, to get a reaction. ¡°You don¡¯t have the will, you mean,¡± she snapped, adding a sneer. ¡°It¡¯s clear to all in the upper city that you¡¯ve abandoned the other rebels up there. You¡¯re nothing more than myth and legend. It¡¯s time you stop hiding and take the fight to the Celestial Court.¡± The room was filled with roars of anger yet again. As before Mai didn¡¯t try to fight the voices, she just stood and let them wash over her. It was the reaction she had planned for. As everyone else screamed at the top of her lungs she was able to scan the room, looking for supporters. Many of the younger rebels looked as though they were shouting in her favour. Some were even nodding in approval. The council had operated on a baton basis. A hologrammic baton hovered above the person whose turn it was to speak. Until they yielded that baton, no one else was allowed to address the room. Up until she had spoken, this had been respected. Now, lights appeared over more than half of the heads in the room, the rebels owning them standing up to speak even though she hadn¡¯t yielded. Ignoring it all, Mai tried to make eye contact with the younger rebels. Many of those she did gave her firm nod of support, or a thumb-up of approval. Very few turned away. The older rebels were far less supportive. They¡¯d fought in a war which had seen the use of weapons no-one should ever have to deploy. They¡¯d lost family, friends, and been responsible for those deaths, both directly and indirectly. They knew the true cost of war and they were keen to avoid it. She understood, she truly understood why they wouldn¡¯t want to return to battle. And she also didn¡¯t care. She needed to get back to Li, her sister, and she needed to tear down the system which forced people into a fight to the death for the entertainment of others. Gradually the Grand Commander managed to get the room to quieten. His face was even redder by the time it had simmered down to a seething murmur, voice hoarse from shouting. ¡°Mai Xiao,¡± the use of her full name grated, Mai, or Xiao would be fine. Her full name was complete overkill. ¡°We don¡¯t have the numbers, or the equipment to do what you ask,¡± he smiled, a patronising smile he probably thought was anything but. Her knuckles cracked and she opened the fists she¡¯d unknowingly made. She was starting to loathe the man and his non-smiles. ¡°You have enough to start fighting back. To start helping the rebels in the upper city. You have the expertise. Everyone knows the history of the war and how well you fought,¡± she¡¯d tried goading them previously, now she¡¯d try praising them. She activated her STREET SMARTS and SMART MOUTH. It was clumsy, and she was no stateswoman, but it was worth a try. ¡°We lost!¡± shouted a woman from her side. A chorus of approval broke out, the odd rebel even clapping. More batons appeared. ¡°But what a loss!¡± retorted Mai. ¡°You shook the Emperor to his very core. You captured the imagination of the people. You were feted as heroes in the pedways and concourses. You held large swathes of the city under your rule. Billions fell under your rule.¡± She wasn¡¯t sure about them being feted, as the books she¡¯d read at school had been filled with detail as to how much the people had hated the rebels and fought them as ferociously as the army. But she also knew that for the books to have been so adamant that they were hated meant the opposite. Just like mogwai were supposed to be myths. Voices of approval filled the room this time. It was mostly the older rebels, those who had actually been there. This time it was the younger rebels who looked dissatisfied. Whether it was because they hadn¡¯t had a piece of that action, or because they were sick of hearing the veterans talking about past glories. ¡°You were the champions of freedom. You stood up to a corrupt and ancient system that has bled our people dry, robbed them of true self-determination and has them killing each other for entertainment and a chance at a better life. Don¡¯t you think it¡¯s your duty to go back?¡± ¡°And how do we do that? You¡¯ve seen our resources,¡± a younger member of the rebels had stood. He looked to be in his mid-twenties, with an open and honest-looking face. He¡¯d been one of those who had nodded in agreement. At a guess, he was the son of one of the veterans. ¡°We brought bio-boost bottles with us. We don¡¯t have many, but we¡¯re happy to share, and we can use them to build suits for those who haven¡¯t unlocked the blue prints. It¡¯s not much, but with the culling still in full swing above us, I¡¯m sure there will be the odd supply drop we can use to gather more. A lot more.¡± ¡°A vote!¡± an older man stood, propping himself up with a cane. He hadn¡¯t even bothered to post his baton before standing. Nanites usually meant that people didn¡¯t get infirm in their dotage, enjoying a good level of health until nature worked its course and they died of old age. Those on the Nine Mile and Ten Mile levels would usually stop aging at thirty and would live well into their triple century before dying young. Or so the holomyths claimed. To see a member of the commanding council of the rebels in such a poor physical state highlighted just how low they truly were on resources. What happened? How could they have fallen so far? She didn¡¯t voice the thought, but nodded in agreement with the man, giving a slight bow in his direction. ¡°If that is the way things are done here, then I am happy for my suggestion to be put to the vote,¡± she opened her hands wide, encompassing the whole room. ¡°I suggest that we vote on whether we return to the city in order to gather sufficient bio-mass boosters.¡± The old man scowled. As she¡¯d held the baton she had the right to determine the wording of the vote, something he most definitely had wanted to control. ¡°Seconded,¡± responded the younger man, clapping his hands together and giving her a wide grin. All heads turned towards the Grand Commander. Face now purple, he worked his mouth before using his wand to bring up a choice. VOTE ¨C DO WE RETURN TO THE CITY FOR BIO-MASS BOOST YES/NO? There was a flurry of movement as the members of the council made their votes. Two bars had replaced the question. YES was a green bar; NO was red. Mai¡¯s heart sank as the red rapidly shot ahead of green in length. But then the YES started to grow. Slower than the red, and as Mai added up the number of those who had voted she realised it was because some of the members were taking their time. Those vehemently in favour of, or against the proposal had voted without thinking. Knee Jerk reactions which were being reconsidered as both bars dropped down and up. I must have opened up an old wound. Some of the old guard must still want to return to the city. This is their chance to regain the initiative. Have I just gone and started another bloody powerplay? Yet again it seemed as though Mai was going to be a disruptive influence. Just as I thought I would be, but not a damned power play. I don¡¯t want to be part of another mutiny. And then the votes were in, the bars steady. One of them pulsed as if it wasn¡¯t clear enough; it was longer than the other. ¡°The ayes have it. We return to the upper city,¡± sighed the Grand Commander, whatever else he had to say drowned out by the roars of approval. Relief flooded through Mai at his announcement, and she turned in a circle, dropping a low bow each time. ¡°Now all we have to do is get to a supply drop, steal the bio-mass and get it back here without being killed!¡± Dakota shouted into her friend¡¯s ear. ¡°Got a plan for that?¡± Book 3 - Uprising - Chapter 2 ¡°You did well,¡± Yen Ching strode into Mai¡¯s chamber, a broad smile on his face. ¡°And Lord Monkey played his part well.¡± ¡°As you said he would. So, you promised, why¡¯s he called Lord Monkey?¡± Mai shook Yen Ching¡¯s hand, surprised to feel callouses. She¡¯d thought he¡¯d have grown soft, but it was clear he was a man who liked to get his hands dirty. ¡°I was particularly impressed with how red you managed to make your face.¡± Yen Ching chuckled, ¡°I was feeling the pressure, plus shouting always makes me go red.¡± ¡°Wait? You planned that?¡± Dakota stepped up to the two of them. ¡°Why didn¡¯t you say anything?¡± ¡°Because we thought that if anything went wrong, you wouldn¡¯t be clued in. Any reaction you made would be completely natural. As it was, Lord Monkey played his part, I played mine, Mai played hers, and we now have the backing of the council to go back into the city,¡± Yen Ching laid his hand on Dakota¡¯s shoulder. She gave a slight shake of her head and wagged a finger at Mai. ¡°I¡¯ll bite, why¡¯s he called Lord Monkey?¡± asked Mai. ¡°From the stories of old, just like our names. He liked the stories of the Monkey God. Started acting like him. Then, when things started to get bad and the Emperor¡¯s people started hunting us down, he took the name and it stuck,¡± Yen Ching lowered himself slowly onto a chair. ¡°How long until we get out of here and back into the city?¡± Dakota sat next to him, passing him a cup of green tea. ¡°Ask, and you shall receive,¡± Yen Ching slapped his thigh and laughed. It was a strange laugh high, and yipping, but brought a smile to Mai and her people. ¡°We¡¯ve had word that the cullers have another supply drop coming.¡± ¡°How did you get word?¡± Mai narrowed her eyes, not sure if she could trust what she was hearing. The last time she¡¯d spoken at a meeting, things hadn¡¯t gone well for neither her nor Anna, the former leader of what were now her rebels. Whilst she¡¯d been happy to help Yen Ching, she was still uncertain as to just how much she could trust him. Or any of the rebels that weren¡¯t her people. ¡°We have a comms pipe which allows us to watch the culling proceedings. There are also people sympathetic to our cause in the upper city,¡± his words were clipped, it was clear he resented being trapped away from his supporters. Face screwed up as if he¡¯d sucked on a lemon, he took another sip of his tea. ¡°Can we count on those people for their support?¡± Dakota passed Mai a cup of tea as she spoke. Mai¡¯s brow furrowed as she couldn¡¯t see any way that her friend was producing the tea. It was a question for another time. ¡°No. They¡¯re eyes and ears only. Some are even older than I. The others are their children, and they barely understand the rebellion. They don¡¯t have the hunger for freedom, nor the hatred of the Celestial Court that we do.¡± ¡°We were always taught that the War of Traitors was caused by people who were jealous of our Benevolent Emperor and the Celestial Court. What was the real reason?¡± Dakota had magicked up a plate of steamed pork buns and was happily handing them around to the growing crowd of rebels. ¡°The victors always change history as they see fit. The victors write the history books as they say,¡± Yen Chin¡¯s face drooped, and his eyes glazed as he stared into the past. Mai and the others stood silent, happy to let him have his memories. He gave himself a shake. ¡°There was a culling. As there¡¯s always a culling. Only this one was different. One hundred ascended. But this time they ascended because they had worked together.¡± ¡°Worked together? Like a few teamed up with each other?¡± asked a rebel, Crofton from his name glyph. ¡°Worked together as in they formed what they called the Everlasting Guild of Cullers. A clear mockery of one of the Emperor¡¯s hallowed titles. How they managed it I don¡¯t know. But they banded together and took on all comers. If one of them was culled, they invited their culler to join their ranks. No-one was able to stand against them. None were able to get a team sizable enough or form an alliance which lasted.¡± Dakota looked over at Mai and winked. She was glad that her friendship with the ganger had lasted. One reason was because she liked the woman so much. The other was because she wasn¡¯t sure she¡¯d be able to take her, even with the skills she¡¯d gained. And she trusted her. Implicitly. Not that she knew why, she just did. ¡°Can¡¯t think the Celestial Court was impressed with that,¡± Mai took a bite of the bun. Looking at the plate Dakota was holding she saw that it had been refilled. The bun was delicious, the pork soft and the sauce just sweet enough. If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. ¡°Indeed they weren¡¯t. But there was nothing they could do. The Cullers had won according to the rules. They were the last survivors. But it galled the Court. They felt threatened. People believe that the Celestial Court is united behind the Emperor in all things, but they aren¡¯t. Their lives are filled with bitter fights for power and influence.¡± ¡°Oh no, poor dears living in luxury, worrying about getting votes, or influence, or more power,¡± joked Dakota. ¡°Don¡¯t mock girl!¡± Yen Ching snapped, his voice taking on a tone of iron. It was a voice used to command and used to being obeyed. Dakota snapped straight up in her chair before she even realised what she was doing. ¡°They scheme and kill each other. Imagine living in a world where you can never be sure if a member of your family, a loved one, is going to kill you. Or if your best friend will betray you.¡± Dakota raised her hands in surrender. One of which was holding a spring roll. ¡°Sorry, I¡¯ve just got to ask, where the hells are you getting this food?¡± Mai asked, accepting a spring roll. ¡°The table. It¡¯s programmable. Never seen one like it. You just say what you want, and it¡¯s made,¡± Dakota grinned as she spoke and chewed. It was both cute and somewhat stomach turning. ¡°Can I finish my story?¡± grumbled Yen Ching. His eyes bore into Mai¡¯s and she saw the warrior he had been decades before. At her jerky nod he sighed. ¡°As I was saying, you¡¯ve never known a darker, less trustworthy place than the Celestial Court. And they were threatened. One hundred blooded cullers united by the suffering and struggles they had gone through. People who had fought to the death whilst working together with others. An alliance forged in blood, and one which appeared to be unbreakable.¡± ¡°They were viewed as a threat to the status quo, the one thing that would unite the Celestial Court?¡± Mai looked around the room, every one of her rebels was gathered around them, some even standing on the tables to be able to hear. ¡°Exactly, the greatest Houses in the city formed an alliance. Its sole purpose was to remove the cullers from the Celestial Court permanently. It was subtle at first. They tried to use scandals, blackmail, and petty power moves. Every single one, countered by the Everlasting Guild of Cullers. And then they tried assassination. It worked.¡± Yen Ching paused, taking a sip of his tea. It was clear he was enjoying the telling of the tale, the room was silent, every rebel hanging on each word. ¡°They killed three of the cullers. Messy affairs. Collateral damage. Entire families gone. And so the cullers fought back. They avenged their lost friends. And a cycle of violence ensued. The cullers couldn¡¯t let the alliance get away with such actions, nor could the Houses let the cullers get away with their retribution. Three of the Great Houses were completely wiped out in what was first known as the War of the Shadows. Every single person with their DNA was killed by a tailored virus.¡± Yen Ching paused to look around at his captivated audience. ¡°Thousands. Tens of thousands of people were killed. As it escalated, it became the War of the Long Nights. No-one was safe. And when one of the Emperor¡¯s favourites was killed, he brought the full force of his power down onto the cullers, and their allies. Thus, the War of Traitors.¡± No-one stirred as he sighed, wiping a lone tear from his cheek. ¡°We lost many good friends. Tried to save them, but we couldn¡¯t. And it got worse. Nanite bombs which rendered their victims into their individual molecules, atomics which killed hundreds of thousands at a time, pitched battles raging over miles of levels. Countless innocents murdered by both sides as they were caught in the crossfire. It¡¯s no wonder that they still fear and loathe us. No wonder that the books hold us as the enemies of the people. Only we weren¡¯t, we played the game by their rules. We just wanted to be left alone.¡± Mai felt her mouth drop open as she realised that Yen Ching wasn¡¯t just a member of the rebel army who had fallen into a position of power, he was one of the Ascended. A culler. ¡°How many of the one hundred survived?¡± she sat next to him as she asked the question, bumping Dakota along the bench with her hip. ¡°Once we got here, there were only thirty-three, very few of our supporters were able to escape. Time has taken its toll. Now we¡¯re only eight.¡± ¡°Eight? How were you unable to save them?¡± Dakota gasped. ¡°We didn¡¯t have the resources. We were only able to stop the imperial forces from following us by threatening to detonate more atomics and nanite bombs, claiming we¡¯d hidden them where no-one would be able to find them. I think too, that the Court was tired of the war. Tired of the cost, both monetary and in lost influence. Everyone was losing. It was a war of attrition neither could afford to keep going.¡± ¡°Did you really have the bombs?¡± Mai¡¯s mind raced as she thought about the potential devastation such weapons could cause if they ever fell into the wrong hands. ¡°We did. We do,¡± he waved a hand in irritation. ¡°Some we do. Some we lost, as those that planted them were killed. We had divided up into cells by that time, the Guild completely shattered. It was harder and harder to communicate. Knowledge was lost.¡± ¡°You lost atomics and nanite bombs?¡± Yen Ching buried his face in his hands, scrubbing hard as he nodded. ¡°Well, one thing at a time. Let¡¯s go and get the supplies first. If you¡¯ll excuse us, we¡¯ll get to planning. We¡¯ll be gone within the hour.¡± Mai didn¡¯t wait for Yen Ching to respond. Pointing at Dakota, Chan, Hind, Jock and Biyu she led them to a separate part of their barrack. ¡°Right people, one hour. We need a plan. What have you got?¡± Book 3 - Chapter 3 - Uprising ¡°Coming up to the next junction. We¡¯re five hundred paces from the supply drop. Expect there to be trouble,¡± Dakota whispered over their team comm channel. She¡¯d taken the lead and was acting as their scout. Mai and the other rebels she¡¯d selected for the raid were roughly one hundred paces behind her. ¡°Confirmed. Any combat?¡± Mai scanned the concourse ahead of her, making sure that her friend hadn¡¯t missed a trap. ¡°Big fat no. Either everyone¡¯s dead, or they¡¯re doing what we¡¯re doing and sneaking.¡± Mai called up the scoreboard. In the days they¡¯d been down in Nether City, the culler numbers had been reduced to just below two hundred thousand. She was no longer one of the high scorers, with some cullers having killed in the high three figures. How does someone live with killing that number of people? She was still getting nightmares from her kills. Smith, Sharktooth, the little girl and many of the others she¡¯d killed all took turns to wake her up drenched in sweat. Even when she was awake they haunted her. Little noises made her jump, sudden movement made her flinch. Some days she felt as though she was in funk, unable to do anything but coast through the day. ¡°¡­ Mai?¡± she shook herself as Dakota¡¯s voice brought her back to the present. Annoyed, she punched her thigh, she was slipping far too often. ¡°Sorry, you broke up. What?¡± ¡°I was saying, I can hear the fighting. Area¡¯s clear. No-one¡¯s on this level. Sounds like a full-on battle, and my minimap is filling up with cull markers,¡± Mai could tell by her tone that Dakota hadn¡¯t bought her lie. ¡°Okay, pushing up. We¡¯ll be with you soon.¡± Mai took one last look around before standing and waving her people on. All of them were wearing stealth clothing. It was one thing that the Nether City rebels had been able to offer them. Everything that they did have was far superior to what she¡¯d been able to access before. The suit she wore was a combination of light ballistic armour and stealth. It gave them an extra ten per cent to their base rank skill. And Mai¡¯s heart had skipped a beat when she saw that it would allow her to exceed the maximum of twenty five per cent for critical successes. It also gave an additional ten per cent SOAK to its base SOAK of two hundred against ballistic weapons, although it gave a similar debuff against energy, and heat-based weapons. Flowing through the shadows on the concourse, they moved as silently as ghosts. From the happy sounds the others were making over the comms channel, they¡¯d also seen the benefits of their suits. Dakota stepped out from behind a pillar, beckoning them on. Through the thick plasticrete floor they could hear the muffled sounds of combat. It was as if there was a thunderstorm many miles distant. Dust drifted down when there was a particularly large explosion. ¡°Told you, they¡¯re really going at it hammer and tongs,¡± laughed Dakota. ¡°I¡¯ve scouted fifty paces in all directions. We¡¯re clear.¡± Mai projected her minimap so that the rest of her team could see what she planned. Ten in total, she¡¯d decided that it was a good balance of manpower and fire power. As soon as they had their hands on the bio-boost they were going to upgrade their suits so that they were servo-assisted, which would allow them to carry far more than a normal person. ¡°The supplies are directly above us. We¡¯re going to place the nano-charge in this shape,¡± she traced the placement as she spoke, shining a small laser onto the ceiling above them. ¡°We detonate, allow the supplies to fall down to us, and then nab what we can whilst everyone¡¯s trying to work out what the hell happened.¡± They¡¯d all heard it more than a dozen times, but none interrupted her, every eye upon her with intense concentration. ¡°We get this, we¡¯ll be living like gods in Nether City. Let¡¯s get to it.¡± There was a flurry of activity as her people raced to place the nanite-charge. Time was of the essence as the battle above seemed to be reaching a crescendo, more and more cull markers filling the minimap. ¡°All set!¡± called out Biyu, a serious look on her usually friendly face. She was Mai¡¯s explosives expert, making sure that the rebels had set their charges properly. Mai joined the others as they cleared the area, training their weapons on the roof, just in case. ¡°Fire in the hole!¡± cried Biyu. There was a bright flash of light, and then the ceiling crashed down, the nanites having eaten through the plasticrete in a split second. Bright orange creates spilled from the pile and shots rang out as the rebels shot a couple of stunned-looking cullers who had dropped through the ceiling with the supplies. ¡°Move!¡± Mai sprinted forward. Pulling out a bio-boost bottle she took a quick chug, raising her bio-mass levels to one hundred and twenty-five per cent. As soon as it flashed green she altered her suit, adding the servo-assist to it, grunting at the pain of doing so. Snatching up a create in each hand she turned and sprinted for the hand rail twenty or so paces away. It overlooked a drop miles deep. A glyph hung above it, proclaiming that it offered one of the best views of the depths in the city. It had the underwhelming title of ¡°Deep View¡±. ¡°Quick now people!¡± ordered Dakota as she reached the handrail. Their plan was simple, add a parachute and location marker to the crates and then lob them over the handrail. As quickly as possible they formed the parachutes, attaching them to the crates. Shouts of anger and confusion replaced the gunfire as the cullers above them finally started getting over the shock of seeing more than three tonnes of supplies dropping out of sight. Attaching a parachute to one of her crates at a cost of seven per cent bio-mass, Mai lifted it over the handrail. Leaning as far out as she safely could, she let go, watching the crate tumble out of sight. The ¡®chutes were programmed to open after thirty seconds of free fall. Crate after crate was dropped. Shots started to crack past them, two of Mai¡¯s people crying out as they were hit. Creating their own chutes, Mai and her people launched themselves over the handrails. ¡°Keep your minimaps up, make sure you can track the crates. Remember we leave any that don¡¯t fall more than a mile,¡± Mai ordered as the wind of her fall caused her face to ripple. It was more than a bit disconcerting, as was the sight of the hab-well they were dropping into. Deep View was an apt name. The well they were dropping into was one of the deepest in the city. They¡¯d jumped at five miles. The well was supposed to end at one mile. The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. I pray to the gods that the crates make it that far, thought Mai. Her fears weren¡¯t helped as a draft from a vent on the side buffeted her. ¡°Coming up to the first pods, they¡¯re hooked!¡± cried one of the rebels as they flashed past two supply crates, their parachutes hooked on walkways. ¡°Deploy your parachutes!¡± ordered Mai as they approached a cluster of crates. Gasping as the chute slowed her descent, she used her suit¡¯s system to control her flight. ¡°My chute!¡± a rebel shot past her, limbs flailing, chute wrapped around them. ¡°Cut loose! Cut loose and create another chute!¡± Dakota screamed, cutting loose herself and chasing after the plummeting rebel. She was too late. Blinded by the material of their chute, the falling rebel slammed into a pedway, the impact bursting them apart in a shower of gore. Dakota shrieked as she only just missed the pedway herself, falling out of Mai¡¯s sight. ¡°Dakota!¡± ¡°I¡¯m fine, fine. Chute deployed. But I¡¯m far too far down now. I¡¯ll meet you at the bottom. Make sure it¡¯s clear.¡± Mai cursed. If they found a large enough cluster of crates hooked up on a pedway, they¡¯d be stopping and carrying them further. It was highly unlikely that enough of the crates would make it all the way to the bottom of the well. ¡°Cluster coming up. Looks like eight crates,¡± commed Bio. Tearing her eyes away from where she¡¯d been searching for Dakota¡¯s chute, Mai looked at the approaching cluster. ¡°Confirmed. Go for it. One crate each.¡± Eight crates was far more than she¡¯d thought they¡¯d get. With each one holding two hundred bio-mass boosts they had more than enough to get the Nether City rebels back on track. Hab-wells were often filled with pedways, plazas and pipes criss-crossing them. Checking her altimeter she saw they¡¯d fallen over two miles. Good enough she thought, flaring her chute, and looping into a tight turn so that she came down on the pedway a few paces from the crates. ¡°Pedway clear. Crates are a mess. Three on the pedway, the others are hooked over the sides,¡± she warned her team as she ran forward to snatch the nearest crate. It hung a few paces below her, and with her suit it was easy enough to hoist it up and attach it to her back. Tracer zipped past her, stitching a path across the pedway. Looking up, she saw an enemy culler dropping towards her, a mixture of chutes, jet, or rocket packs, and anti-grav packs slowing their fall. ¡°Incoming! Grab a crate and move! Biyu, you and I will provide covering fire!¡± Mai opened up her menu. She still had one hundred and five per cent bio-mass. More than enough for what she had in mind. Scrolling through the menu, she accessed the rocket launcher menu. At thirty per cent bio-mass they weren¡¯t cheap, Nor were the rockets at five per cent each. Eighty per cent bio-mass was a price she wouldn¡¯t normally pay, but with the amount of bio-mass they had, it wouldn¡¯t matter. Worth every damned penny, she thought as she forged the weapon, eyes watering at the pain, gasping. The larger the weapon, the bigger the hit. But it swung both ways. Raising her arm, she activated her URBAN COMBAT skill, wishing that she¡¯d got a USE ROCKET LAUNCHER skill. She was only given fifteen per cent of a critical hit for the URBAN COMBAT, but it was far better than having to rely on pure luck for a critical hit. She¡¯d chosen a fire and forget launcher, the missiles locking onto a target and chasing it down without needing constant guidance from her. A solid tone indicated that the launcher had locked onto the maximum number of targets and with nothing more than a thought she launched them, firing one per second. ¡°That¡¯s fucking awesome,¡± Biyu whispered as she filled the air with streams of tracer from her own weapon, chasing after a culler using a jet pack. For a second it seemed as though the culler was going to escape her attack, but the near solid stream finally clipped them, a shower of sparks erupting from the pack before it exploded, the bisected body of the culler falling away. Mai¡¯s missiles were equally devastating. Racing through the air, they reached the speed of sound in under a second, the sonic boom filing the habwell, blowing out windows hundreds of paces away. I bet the viewers are loving this, Mai thought sourly. She couldn¡¯t blame them for watching, it was a key part of life in the city and there was no way they could resist the siren call of the Celestial Court and what it deemed to be entertainment, but she didn¡¯t have to like it. Especially now that she understood the suffering that such ¡°entertainment¡± caused. Still, the Emperor¡¯s people would pay for any damage, cure any injuries, and make good any loss caused by the culling. And people would forget. They always seemed to. No matter how bad the culling got, people always looked forward to the next one as if the memories of the last had been wiped. The bad ones at least. KILL! CULLER 889384 ELIMINATED KILL! CULLER 798203 ELIMINATED! KILL! CULLER 398572 ELIMINATED KILL! CULLER 226634 ELIMINATED! KILL! CULLER 029475 ELIMINATED! KILL! CULLER 448296 ELIMINATED! KILL! CULLER 333894 ELIMINATED! KILL! CULLER 034968 ELIMINATED KILL! CULLER 079439 ELIMINATED! KILL! CULLER 003857 ELIMINATED! LEVEL UP! CULLER LEVEL 10 Mai gasped. She¡¯d forgotten she was still part of this culling. The kills she¡¯d made defending the rebel base in the sewers hadn¡¯t counted as the imperial soldiers weren¡¯t part of the culling. Nor had the organ-harvesting drones because they weren¡¯t counted as true kills. She¡¯d got so used to being apart from the culling that she¡¯d subconsciously started thinking she wasn¡¯t in it.Started to think that maybe there was another way she could get back to her sister. But now she was back fighting and killing cullers and they counted. As bodies and bits of bodies tumbled, flaming past the pedway, or slammed into the floor, Mai scanned the sky for any further enemies. There were none that she could see. Now that she was a level ten culler, all of her skills would stay activated for one hundred and ten seconds, recharging over one hundred and forty seconds, conferring her a ten second activation bonus, and a minus thirteen second recharging bonus. I¡¯ll take that, she thought smugly as Biyu jogged past her. Standing, she scanned the sky one more time. Satisfied there was no further threat, she followed her people. ¡°We¡¯re on our way Dakota. Heads up, killing cullers counts again.¡± ¡°Well hot damn, better kill me some cullers then. Don¡¯t suppose you¡¯ve sent any my way?¡± ¡°No, but don¡¯t fret, I¡¯m sure they¡¯ll be hot on our heels.¡± A bullet zipped past her head, looking back up, she cursed as she saw yet more cullers falling after her. Book 3 - Uprising - Chapter 4 Four hours of sneaking around was finally starting to take its toll on Mai and her people. Whilst the suits they wore conferred a passive stealth bonus, it was only when they were active that they truly started to earn their cost in bio-mass. Their SOAK conferred some bonuses over a bulletproof vest, but the whole point of the suit being that the wearer shouldn¡¯t be seen. Mai fretted as she waited for her people to file past her. Word had gotten out that she was back in the culling game, her name all over various channels. And that fact that she was toting hundreds of bio-mass bottles didn¡¯t help. Every culler in the area was being drawn in as social media exploded, and culler¡¯s supporters started sending them messages. She hadn¡¯t got any supporters the first time around, not having made enough of an impact. She regretted that now as she scrolled through reams and reams of messages to the cullers pursuing her. Not because she wanted the blatant sycophantic adulation of countless unknown Imperial citizens, but the odd message letting her know she was in danger would be appreciated. Maybe I¡¯ll pick up the odd follower now? She thought as Biyu went past. Biyu had been at the rear of the line, a position just as stressful and dangerous as being in the lead. Every ten minutes or so, Mai would have people swap positions, sharing the load amongst them all. It was her turn to bring up the rear. ¡°All quiet boss. Looks like we gave Team Hillbillies the slip, what the hells is a hillbilly anyway?¡± ¡°My guess is as good as yours. Probably some sort of one-miler. They¡¯re gangers after all. Keep moving. I¡¯ll be on your tail.¡± Biyu nodded, too tired to say much more, and carried on walking. Both the front and rear element were fifty paces away from the main body of her group. It meant that any ambush would be forced to either engage the middle and risk the lead and rear flanking or settle for killing just one of their targets. Waiting until Biyu was far enough ahead, Mai closed her eyes and listened. Completely surrendering every other sense she strained her ears, trying to discern whether they were being tracked by an opponent using STEALTH. Nothing. Still not satisfied, she set off after the rest of her people. Her footsteps echoed. Each step an echo just after. She stopped. The echoes stopped. >>>>> Trouble. We have a follower <<<<< she RedFanged her people on a wide channel broadcast. >>>>> Need help? <<<<< Biyu replied. >>>>> No. Keep going. Get to Dakota. <<<<< Acting as if she hadn¡¯t realised she was being followed she set off again. This time she wrapped her stealth cloak around her, using its passive qualities to blend into the shadows of the poorly-lit concourse she was on. At one time it had been a merchants'' row. Shop after shop had holograms which flickered off and on as they boasted about having the latest in fashion or entertainment. Only this was a two-miler concourse and the wares advertised were at least three years behind the latest trends. Many of the shops were closed, windows poorly repaired where they had been vandalised. In more than one she had seen squatters, or their leavings. Up ahead was a particularly badly lit section, the blackened ceiling going some way to explaining what had happened. It didn¡¯t smell of burning, so it couldn''t have happened recently. As soon as she was in the shadow she activated FREE RUNNING, STEALTH and URBAN CAMOUFLAGE. Leaping, she grasped a burnt out light, pulling herself up out of sight, balancing on the span like a raptor. Stilling her breathing she didn¡¯t have long to wait. First one, then another shadow flitted beneath her. She was impressed. They moved well, and in concert. Not going to save them though, she thought as she lowered herself silently to the ground. Moving when the shadows moved, she accessed her menu, scanning through until she reached a section she hadn¡¯t visited before. Three further seconds of scrolling she had the weapon she wanted and spent ten per cent of her biomass forming two SHOCKGUNS. SHOCKGUNS are non-lethal weapons used by loyal Imperial Law Enforcement Officers, bounty hunters and civilian security officers to capture low-level criminals that don¡¯t require lethal methods. They inflict STUNNED, SHOCKED and PARALYSED effects. They were non-lethal, perfect for subduing opponents. They were also great for remaining hidden since any cull would show up on the minimap of every culler within five hundred paces. ¡°Wait, did you hear that?¡± whispered one of the cullers as they moved into hearing distance, both of them freezing in place. ¡°Hear what?¡± Whispered the other. ¡°I didn¡¯t hear a thing. You¡¯re imagining things. They¡¯re still up ahead.¡± ¡°Couldn¡¯t be more wrong,¡± Mai relished the gasps of surprise as the cullers started to spin around to face her. They were too slow. Lightning arced from her SHOCKGUNS, briefly framing her targets in a silver white nimbus. They shuddered, twitching violently before dropping to the floor. That looked really painful, Mai thought as she formed four sets of KwikKuffs for another two per cent bio-mass, nose wrinkling slightly at the smell of loosened bowels. As quickly as possible she used a rope she spun to bind her opponent¡¯s hands and feet, linking them so that it would be harder for them to escape. >>>>> All done. Moving up now. <<<<< ¡°Thank the gods!¡± Dakota pulled Mai into a rib-cracking hug as she finally re-joined her people. ¡°I thought you¡¯d never get here. It¡¯s crawling with enemy cullers. They¡¯re like bloody ants.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t suppose they¡¯re too busy killing each other to worry about us?¡± ¡°Don¡¯t be daft,¡± her friend half sighed, half laughed. ¡°Seems they¡¯ve got some sort of alliance going. No killing each other until they¡¯ve killed us.¡± The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. ¡°Right. Well, we¡¯re six hundred paces from the elevator. How hard can it be?¡± Mai knew it was a stupid question, but she refused to let her pessimism show. All of the rebels were exhausted. Morale was low. And it was her job as their leader to make sure it didn¡¯t get any lower. ¡°I count at least three hundred cullers in various positions.¡± Mai gasped, raising a hand to her mouth. Three hundred cullers, all united in a mission to kill her and her people. It was inconceivable. ¡°And there¡¯s zero chance of breaking their agreement?¡± Mai looked over at Dakota who shook her head. ¡°These fuckers are well and truly united in their desire to kill us.¡± Mai looked around at her people. They all looked as tired as she felt. Faces pale, sweat glistening, tongues darting in and out as they wet dry lips, eyes wide, breath coming in shallow pants. She didn¡¯t want to have to lead them into another battle if she could avoid it. ¡°Let¡¯s look at our minimaps. See if there¡¯s any other way we can get down.¡± ¡°Already done it,¡± Dakota shook her head. ¡°There are no entrances that we don¡¯t know about. And there¡¯s no guarantee that they won¡¯t be guarding those as well. We can¡¯t keep trying to sneak around. If I was them I¡¯d be sending more forces after us through the actual city, forcing us up against one of these blocking groups. Our best bet is to just crack on.¡± Crack on. A terribly Lasse faire expression if Mai had ever heard one. It did nothing to express what they were going to have to do in order to get back to Nether City. ¡°Did you spot any mecha?¡± ¡°No, they¡¯re all skin jobs. Probably got heavy weapons. From the ones I¡¯ve scoped out they¡¯re a mixed bunch. Most of them are low scorers. Led by higher scorers. They¡¯re organised, but they shouldn¡¯t be too hard to get through.¡± ¡°We¡¯ll need to make sure that they can¡¯t concentrate their fire. Keep moving, engage small groups, don¡¯t get bogged down in a fire fight and keep moving.¡± ¡°You¡¯ve already said that,¡± Dakota smiled. ¡°Can¡¯t emphasise it more. Hit them hard, punch through, hit the next block, punch through. Keep moving. We¡¯ll bio-boost, get into mecha. I doubt they¡¯ll expect that. So we¡¯ll have a moment of shock factor to get through the first bunch. After that they¡¯ll be racing to change their tactics and weapons.¡± Calling her people over, she went over the plan with them, working out the best route to take. Once that was done they chugged down bio-boost, formed their mecha, then chugged even more down. ¡°Kick in STEALTH, move quickly. Use it for the first engagement, but then save it. We¡¯ll reactivate it again when we get to the final barricade. As soon as I fire, open up with everything you¡¯ve got. I¡¯ll be in the lead at all times. Keep up.¡± They all gave her a thumbs up. Sucking in a deep breath, Mai slowly let it out, bouncing on the spot in her mecha as her body flooded with adrenaline. ¡°Move!¡± * She¡¯d set a timer on her mecha¡¯s head up display. Flicking her eyes over to the corner of the head up display, she saw that they¡¯d been fighting for three minutes. The STEALTH skill had confused their enemies. Naturally, it didn¡¯t make hulking suits of armour silent, but it conferred the ability to affect aiming systems, blurred their outlines and generally made the already hard to kill suits even harder to shoot at. A culler screamed as she kicked out, the scream cut short as her suit¡¯s foot crashed into their chest, body parts flying in all directions as they were explosively dismembered. KILL! CULLER 684594 ELIMINATED! She¡¯d already added five previous kills, levelling up yet again and climbing up the scoreboard. ¡°We¡¯ve got another one hundred paces people! Keep up the pressure!¡± She raised a huge shield she¡¯d formed, leaning into the weight of enemy fire as if it was a strong wind. The cullers were starting to get over their shock and redeploy, but they still weren¡¯t truly working as a team, each one of them more focussed on getting the kill than truly working together. Someone kills me, they¡¯re going to fly through the scoreboard, she thought as she sucked on her bio-boost. They all had extra bottles in their suits, vital if they were to keep their suits repaired. Still, double-edged sword as it¡¯s going to make them targets once we¡¯re through. ¡°Rockets!¡± The warning came just in time. Mai dove to the side as a rocket-propelled grenade shot past, trailing smoke behind it. The explosion showered her with debris, but she barely even registered it over the sound of all the other bullets hitting her. Three cullers stepped out of an alleyway, blasting away with assault rifles. A quick twitch of her arm and a burst of fire from her minigun blew them apart. KILL! CULLER 395888 ELIMINATED! KILL! CULLER 029685 ELIMINATED! KILL! CULLER 827388 ELIMINATED! Dakota sprinted past her, taking the lead. Mai cursed, she¡¯d told them she was going to be point man. Only when what looked like a heavily converted ground car came skidding into view, sparks flying as it ground against a wall, did Dakota¡¯s action make sense. The ground car had a crew of three. One was the driver, who was popping away at them with a pistol now that the ground car was stopped. He was no threat. The real threat was the large laser on the back of the ground car which the other two crew members were aiming in their direction. ¡°What the hells!¡± Dakota turned her charge into a slide, sparks shooting up from the pedway as her armour gouged finger-deep funnels in it. In one smooth movement she converted the slide into a power jump, leaping directly up into the air above the ground car. The crew¡¯s mouths opened in shock as they followed Dakota¡¯s path. Too late they started to move as they realised what was coming next. Dakota¡¯s suit crashed down onto their position, smashing the laser to pieces, and pulping them. With contemptuous ease, she plucked the screaming driver from their seat and flung them into the nearest wall. They hit so hard they left a bloody outline as their corpse dropped to the floor. ¡°Move on up people!¡± Dakota let rip with her miniguns, racers streaming towards the next targets, blowing cullers and cover alike apart. Head down, Mai pumped her arms, forcing her mecha up to its top speed. Shield still raised, she soaked up a rocket attack, staggering slightly from the force of the explosion, turning that into a spin which allowed her to lay her sights on another group of cullers. KILL! CULLER 594839 ELIMINATED! KILL! CULLER 002384 ELIMINATED! KILL! CULLER 4446598 ELIMINATED! Her shoulder-mounted battle shotgun made easy work of unarmoured cullers at such short range. Its shells fired the equivalent of twenty .45 calibre bullets each shot, the heavy slugs shredding the flesh from her targets in large clumps. ¡°They¡¯re starting to break!¡± called out one of her team. Ardrenalised to the max she didn¡¯t register the voice, just the words. Looking at her minimap she saw it was true. Filled with culls, she could see where groups of cullers were pulling back. ¡°Shift to the next alleyway and cut up, the group guarding it has gone, we¡¯ll be able to flank the last one guarding the entrance.¡± She followed her own order, bouncing off the walls of the alley as she charged headlong into it. It was tight, almost tight enough that she wondered whether activating her TUNNEL COMBAT skill would have any benefit. Deciding it was best to leave it until she truly needed it, she followed the guideline around a corner. Out in the open, no more than twenty paces away was the entrance they needed to Nether City. Cullers had created a makeshift barricade in front of it. ¡°STEALTH up people! Last barricade ahead!¡± Checking her minimap she made sure they were all close behind and then charged out into the open, all guns blazing. Biyu had added a flamethrower to her suit. As soon as she reached the barricade she unleashed hell upon their enemies, washing the barricade with a wall of flame so intense that Mai¡¯s suit automatically darkened its visor so that she wouldn¡¯t be blinded by the intensity. ¡°What the hells!¡± cursed Dakota, patting at the spot of her armour which was aflame. ¡°It¡¯s damaging me!¡± ¡°Inferno Cannon, guaranteed to reduce everything and anything to ash,¡± replied Biyu, suit standing over the remains of the barricade. There was no need to move, her weapon having killed every single one of the cullers sheltering behind it. Mai was hard pressed to even identify corpses. ¡°Good job, how about we get these supplies back?¡± Book 3 - Uprising - Chapter 5 Mai sighed as she sat back from the table, rubbing her full belly. The rebels had been jubilant on their return, despite the losses they¡¯ve suffered, and Yen Ching had insisted on throwing a banquet, against Mai¡¯s protests. Still, when she checked her SASS she was pleased to see her REPUTATION had increased yet again. I¡¯m starting to become more popular than I ever have in my past life, she smiled as she thought of her sister. Of the two of them, her SISTER had been the more popular, always ready with a smile, free with random hugs and full of laughter. The smile died as she considered the task ahead if she was to ever be reunited with her sister. Life¡¯s never going to be the same. ¡°Now that we¡¯re stuffed to the gills, I suggest we retire to the command centre,¡± Yen Ching leaned over, speaking quietly into her ear. ¡°I¡¯ll be interested in seeing what we can do with the base.¡± Mai looked around, catching the eyes of her people. Chan, Jock, Hind and Dakota pushed themselves to their feet at her signal, making their way over. ¡°What¡¯s up boss?¡± Chan tried to keep it casual, but she could see the tension in his eyes. All of them were twitchy. Unlike Yen Ching¡¯s people they¡¯d seen near-constant combat for longer than she cared to remember. From what they¡¯d seen since they arrived, life in the Nether City base was easy. The rebels were content to sit and keep things as they were, maintaining a status quo which made things comfortable for them, building up a powerbase slowly. No way I¡¯m going to wait decades before I do anything, Mai thought as she gestured for Yen Ching to lead the way. ¡°We¡¯re going to be doing some building,¡± Mai replied. * In the command centre, Mai waited as Yen Ching brought up a map of the base. It was a walled compound. Roughly square in nature, the North, West and South walls being straight whilst the Eastern wall started straight South before kinking to the South West and then heading South again. Four heavily armoured towers were on the edges of the wall, with a fifteen-foot wide gate entering the base between two massive gatehouse bunkers. Inside the compound were six buildings laid out in a pattern of two columns of three. A ground car garage was at the top of the left hand column. It was small, like most of the buildings, only able to contain a maximum of four ground cars. Mai tried not to sigh as she realised that yet again the rebels had plenty of options to expand the base, but hadn¡¯t. Is it apathy, laziness, or something I just can¡¯t put my finger on for the moment? She turned her attention back to the map of the base. To its right was the canteen they¡¯d just been eating in. It could only seat a few people a time, fourteen, and even then it seemed to be cramped. The other buildings were small bunkhouses and administration buildings. ¡°Where do the rest of your people live when they¡¯re not inside the compound?¡± she asked. ¡°Our base is too small to house them all, so we rotate them. Most live outside of the walls in the buildings directly South, coming in when we¡¯re attacked.¡± Mai traced the dotted lines indicating where she could expand the base. She could push the Eastern wall forty feet to the right, and the Southern wall one hundred and fifty feet, which would mean all of the rebel buildings were within the walls. ¡°If you agree, I want to square this base off. Push the walls East and South. I¡¯ll keep the base in two compounds but consolidate the buildings. I can expand the garage, so it¡¯ll hold more cars. Add more defences to all buildings.¡± Yen Ching nodded, sketching outlines on the expansions. ¡°This will be perfect. Merging the buildings will give us more space, allowing us to get more people into the buildings. Get to work if you will.¡± Mai did as he said, expanding the base, dragging the elements she needed onto the map and twisting them, so they¡¯d fit on the map. The nanites worked around the people in the base, expanding the buildings safely, walls and floors flashing red to warn people to step off, only replacing them once they were out of the way. If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. The changes made a sizable dent in the amount of expansion points available, but there were still plenty left for additional fortifications. Mai decided to change the buildings first before adding upgraded weapons systems and defences. She didn¡¯t want to overwhelm the rebels with massive and sudden change. It was clear they were stuck in their ways, and massive change could cause just as massive culture shock. ¡°What did you mean you bring your people in when you¡¯re attacked? We¡¯ve not heard anything like that going on.¡± Mai continued to work on the base as she spoke. Yen Ching took a seat, scrubbing at his face, looking even more like a tired old man rather than a veteran leader of a still-defiant rebel army. ¡°We¡¯re constantly plagued by attacks from urbexers, prisoners, gangers and ex-military. They¡¯re mostly powerful, although we¡¯ve had weaker elements try their luck. Those we¡¯re able to defeat, but the others just blitz through. They kill our people, take what they want but never stay. Usually because they¡¯re off attacking other areas of the city.¡± He paused, and Mai¡¯s stomach flipped as she realised that he had news she wasn¡¯t going to be happy to hear. ¡°And that¡¯s why the council has voted against going back into the city. They want to take out the enemy first.¡± ¡°What?¡± Dakota shot to her feet. ¡°You said if we got the bio-boost we could launch an attack on the city!¡± ¡°We had a deal,¡± Mai hissed, laying a hand on her friend¡¯s shoulder as she made to lunge at Yen Ching. ¡°We had a deal.¡± Yen Ching raised open hands in a ¡®what can I do?¡¯ gesture. ¡°I¡¯m not the Emperor. We still vote on matters concerning our people. And the vote was that we use the bio-boost to take the city.¡± Mai stood, stomach twisted in knots, mouth working as she tried to put in words the rage she was feeling. Yen Ching had manipulated her, and she couldn¡¯t look herself in the mirror if she decided to leave the rebels to the attacks they supposedly faced. Every time I think we¡¯re doing well, some arse throws a bloody spanner in the works! And he knows I can¡¯t just walk away. ¡°We¡¯d like to think you¡¯d help us, but since we now have the bio-boost you kindly brought back, we can expand the base and our area of influence ourselves.¡± Hind and Jock started shouting, fingers jabbing, faces flushed. Chan looked as though he wanted to join in but seemed happy to let the others do the shouting. Dakota joined in, throwing her arms about and looking as if she¡¯d cheerfully slit Yen Ching¡¯s throat. Mai felt as though she was floating, her rage had dampened down into a slow burn. ¡°Fine. We¡¯ll help out,¡± she held out a hand as her people turned their ire upon her. ¡°Quiet. If you¡¯d just asked us to do this without lying to us, we¡¯d have been happy, happy to have helped out.¡± Yen Chin screwed up his face, ignoring the others he continued to stare at her. She couldn¡¯t tell if he was feeling guilt, or just finding them annoying. ¡°I want to know everything,¡± Mai zoomed the map of Nether City out to its maximum. ¡°We have five clusters of urbexers,¡± Yen Ching placed dots on the map, marking out buildings. ¡°And here we prisoners, right bunch of scum and nutters. Never understood why anyone would choose that ¡­¡± His voice trailed off as he marked the prisoners¡¯ positions. There were slightly more than those held by urbexers. ¡°Gangs?¡± asked Dakota. She¡¯d calmed down slightly, but Mai saw that she still wanted to hurt Yen Ching. ¡°We¡¯ve got the Talismans, Maggots, Forty-fives, Stilettos, Ground Pounders, God¡¯s Chosen, and the Death¡¯s Hearts.¡± ¡°I know all of them,¡± said Dakota. ¡°Tough gangs. Didn¡¯t realise that they had chapters here too. No-one ever mentioned anything like this. They¡¯re different from other gangs. I tried to join the Talismans, but was told I didn¡¯t fit the type they were looking for. Laughed at me too.¡± ¡°Well, that doesn¡¯t make them different,¡± Chan said. ¡°What made them different was that they didn¡¯t accept anyone from my level. None of the locals. They just had members show up. No idea where they came from. Always had new members trying to climb through the ranks. If we killed any, they always had more the next day.¡± ¡°The last group is the ex-military. They¡¯re the worst. More coordinated than the others. But at least they just take what they want without too much violence,¡± Yen Ching finished marking the map. ¡°How do you replace your own losses?¡± Chan asked, narrowing his eyes. ¡°People from the city. Defectors from the other groups when they get bored,¡± Yen Chin started to draw lines across the map, marking out the areas of influence of the various groups. There was still plenty of the city which wasn¡¯t under any one group¡¯s dominance. He started to add golden dots. ¡°What are those?¡± Mai asked. ¡°Various influential members of Nether City. They¡¯re not aligned to any of the groups. Merchants, instructors, guild heads and so on.¡± ¡°What¡¯s a Guild Head?¡± Chan leaned in towards the map. ¡°We have various Guilds down here. Mostly aligned to professions. Armourers, tailors, bounty hunters, urbexers etc. They control pretty much everything down here. Pay well too if you decide to take on a mission from them. We tend to avoid them as the other factions monopolise all that kind of thing.¡± ¡°You mean they did. I think it¡¯s time we changed things. Who¡¯s up for a shopping trip?¡± Mai rubbed her hands together in anticipation. Book 3 - Uprising - Chapter 6 Mai watched as the base¡¯s gate slowly ground open. Despite her anger at the council¡¯s betrayal she¡¯d beefed up the base beyond recognition, adding more towers, enlarging buildings, and adding fortifications to them. Now, if any enemies were able to penetrate the walls, they¡¯d face heavily fortified buildings more than capable of keeping their inhabitants safe whilst providing covering fire to any other building under attack. It had taken all of the expansion points the rebels had. ¡°Could have greased the tracks,¡± joked Dakota, nudging Mai with her elbow. ¡°I¡¯ll have you know that they¡¯re level five gates. The best I can do right now until we¡¯ve carried out some missions,¡± Mai walked forward as the gates finished opening. That, and she didn¡¯t want to admit she¡¯d overspent on a couple of weapons so had been forced to settle for the gates. And there wasn¡¯t a chance in the hells that she would be using her own BIO-MASS to grease the tracks. Beyond the now open gates were the lodging of the other rebels. None matched the standard of dwellings up in the city. If anything, they were worse than one-miler dwellings. And that was after she¡¯d upgraded them. She¡¯d thought defences were more important and hadn¡¯t checked on the state of the barracks before it was too late. Never thought things would be this bad, Mai walked through the gates, the rest of her party silent. They¡¯d agreed to go to an armourer¡¯s, see what they could purchase. It irked that Yen Ching and his people seemed to be content to just rule over their small patch of the city. They were strangely passive for people who had once been cullers. She pushed the thoughts to the back of her mind. It served no purpose to dwell on them. Instead, she concentrated on their surroundings. The second gate on the rebel compound opened, the guards waving them through. The town beyond was poorly lit, buildings sagging, signage flickering on and off, rubbish piled in the streets. Those buildings nearest to the rebel base were pockmarked from bullets and heavier weapons. From the look of it, some of the battles had been particularly heavy. ¡°Well, if this doesn¡¯t suck, I don¡¯t know what does,¡± muttered Jock. ¡°This whole place looks as though it¡¯s had the shit kicked out of it over and over again until it just gave up.¡± Mai kept walking for a few paces, eyes scanning, looking for potential threats. Many of the civilians she saw were carrying weapons, evidence that nanites and bio-boost were in short supply. ¡°The civilians here look pretty downbeat too,¡± Chan pointed over at a family making its way along one of the streets. Clothes dishevelled, faces grimy and emaciated, they made her heart ache. ¡°Let¡¯s hit the shops, see what we can do about it.¡± * ¡°I really like the look of that dress,¡± Dakota scrolled through a list of available items. There weren¡¯t many, the shop being low level. It was poorly lit, a theme which Mai was starting to get well and truly tired of. She silently swore to herself that good lighting would be one of the best things she could bring to the city ¡°Save the nanites,¡± laughed Mai. ¡°Not entirely practical. I mean, how are you going to run and gun wearing such a thing?¡± ¡°I wouldn¡¯t wear it out, just wear it around the base. Maybe at the odd dinner,¡± Dakota mock pouted. ¡°Dinner now is it?¡± Chan gestured at the shop owner. ¡°Any good restaurants around here?¡± ¡°Seriously?¡± the shop owner scoffed. ¡°We¡¯ve got places you can eat, but none which I¡¯d call good. Not unless you¡¯re one of the factions, or maybe a guilder.¡± Mai finished scrolling through the shop¡¯s items. Because of its level, most were redded out and those that she could buy weren¡¯t practical. She made her excuses and thanked the shop owner. Leaving the shop brought them out onto a main thoroughfare lined with shops. The Nether City was full of such places, but this was one of the few places still neutral. Looking at the people walking along the street, she wondered what conditions were like in other parts of the city. Right now it¡¯s going to be too dangerous for us to poke our noses where they won¡¯t be welcome, we¡¯ll concentrate on building this place up first. And the way to do that was to find out what people needed help with. If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. * ¡°That armourer looks interesting,¡± Chan said as he pointed over to a sign which actually stayed on more than it stayed off. It looked like ¡®Bob¡¯s your armourer¡¯. ¡°Looks like they get more business than the others.¡± ¡°That¡¯s not a surprise. I reckon the only people who make good livings down here are undertakers, armourers and doctors,¡± Mai replied. She was tired of seeing just how dilapidated everything was down here. It seemed that no matter how hard people tried, the various factions would always be there to bring the city back down into a state of everlasting drudge. ¡°Come on, let¡¯s have a look,¡± Dakota led the rest of them to the armourer¡¯s door. It was heavily warded, with retinal scanners, fingerprint readers, and a nasty-looking ball turret hanging from the ceiling. ¡°Probably best if we just ring the doorbell eh?¡± Dakota pressed the button in question and a once-popular dance tune rang out. ¡°Huh, beats for the beatdown.¡± They waited until the song played itself out then, with no warning, the door opened, sliding out of sight into the wall. ¡°Guess that¡¯s our invitation,¡± Jock stepped through into the shop, the others following him slightly more cautiously. ¡°Better than I expected,¡± Mai looked around. The walls were lined with weapons of all sorts, the traditional sort, not nanite. Her retinal monitor scanned and logged each one, prices showing above them. Some she¡¯d never even heard of. One, something called a flintlock, was positively primitive. The cost was exorbitant, so it must have had some special ability she couldn¡¯t see at first glance. ¡°Welcome, welcome, how might I help? I¡¯m Bob.¡± A portly old man stepped through a door at the far end, sitting himself behind a counter which was just as heavily armoured and protected as the front door. ¡°We¡¯re just browsing right now, thanks,¡± Mai smiled, waving at the walls. ¡°You¡¯ve got an impressive selection.¡± ¡°We tend to find people want guns more than most things in this city. The factions keep killing each other and so people keep buying guns to protect themselves,¡± the man¡¯s face screwed up as she spoke. Mai thought it was strange that someone who hated what was happening to her city would keep selling the very things that contributed to the situation. But, people needed to eat, and she couldn¡¯t judge the woman considering her own poor choices. ¡°We also sell armour and clothing. You¡¯ll need to use the clothing stand over there to see them. Most people like to see the weapons first.¡± Mai wandered over to the clothing stand and stepped in. It was actually a three-sided cubicle. As a customer scrolled through the clothing options, they would appear on the customer, allowing them to see what they looked like in the clothing before they bought it. She was surprised to see that pretty much every item was redded out. Just about to give up as she scrolled through the options she paused, then scrolled slowly back up. Twenty-Fifth Recon, Night Wolf uniform, what the hells? She was looking at a set of military clothing, named after the unit which had used it. There was a small history of the unit, the wars it had participated in. The only part which interested her was the fact that the unit had a ninety-five per cent success rate by using the stealth properties of its uniform. She gasped as she saw the stats on the clothing. It gave an additional ten per cent bonus to STEALTH, URBAN CAMOUFLAGE, & LARCENY which stacked on top of any Ranks she and her people might have had, allowing them to go to a maximum of seven if they were already at Rank Five. Which in turn meant they had a thirty-five per cent chance of a critical success. This will give us a massive advantage over the other factions. They¡¯ll never even see us coming! That last was an exaggeration, but it would certainly make their job a lot easier if the enemy didn¡¯t even know they were coming. Mai much preferred the idea of sneaking around the objective than blasting her way in. She¡¯d seen too many people die and wasn¡¯t prepared to have more deaths on her conscience if she could avoid it. ¡°Ah, I see you¡¯ve found the Night Wolf,¡± the shopkeeper nodded approvingly. ¡°A very nice set of clothing. Some of the best I have to offer.¡± ¡°Why¡¯s it redded out? We have enough money.¡± ¡°Unfortunately, I don¡¯t have the materials required to make it,¡± Bob shrugged. ¡°I don¡¯t have the materials for most of the items in my catalogues.¡± ¡°Materials? What about nanites?¡± Asked Chan. ¡°Nanites, nanites, nanites,¡± the shopkeeper waved his hands about him in scorn whilst making a somewhat rude fart noise. ¡°That¡¯s all I hear from people nowadays. No, this suit requires special materials to which the nanites will be bonded. It needs natural fibres.¡± Mai¡¯s jaw dropped, natural fibres might as well have been a myth to most citizens in the city. No-one wore clothing that wasn¡¯t made from nanites. None aside from the ten-milers, and even then only the richest of those. ¡°Where on earth do we find natural fibres?¡± Dakota walked up, eyebrows raised. ¡°That¡¯s the rub. There¡¯s an old farm out the outskirts of the city. Cotton. It¡¯s a plant, by the way,¡± the shopkeeper explained as he read the expressions on their faces. ¡°Once harvested, the cotton is turned into the cloth called cotton. It¡¯s all very laborious and complicated and I won¡¯t waste all of our time trying to explain the process. I need at least two paces of cotton per suit. Three if the person wanting it is large. And that¡¯s just the start. Get the cotton first, we¡¯ll discuss the rest later.¡± Mai carefully did the calculations in her head. She had thirty-five people with her. Which would mean she¡¯d need one hundred and five paces of cloth. ¡°We¡¯ll need a ground car, no way we can carry that amount of material.¡± ¡°You¡¯ll get it for me?¡± MISSION RETRIEVE THE COTTON DO YOU ACCEPT YES/NO? ¡°Oh, we¡¯ll get it for you,¡± Mai nodded as she pressed YES. Book 3 - Uprising - Chapter 7 Mai and her people huddled together in the lee of a tree. They were roughly three hundred paces from the farm, and on the edge of the cotton fields. Jock had sent a drone into the air and they were all watching the drone¡¯s relay. ¡°Main farm house is four hundred paces to our North. North-East are five sheds, to the North-West is where they keep farm machinery. Then to the South of the main complex is a water tower or something like that,¡± Jock highlighted the buildings as he spoke, populating their minimaps. ¡°Looks like three buildings to the East of the compound are where the workers live and sleep. Small building next to them houses the harvesting drones,¡± Hind pointed at the buildings, waving his finger at the three buildings as people moved in and out of the buildings. ¡°Think we can just walk up and buy the material?¡± Mai looked over at Dakota. ¡°Not a chance. This farm¡¯s under the control of the Beer Chuggers. Bunch of thugs. Most likely the people on the farm aren¡¯t working for them willingly,¡± Dakota indicated a couple of clearly armed gangers. ¡°There¡¯s more here. Another there. Looks like one on the tower too.¡± ¡°Six guards minimum,¡± Jock scratched his chin. ¡°Doesn¡¯t seem fair, they need more.¡± Bleeping, the drone¡¯s battery indicator warned them that it was low. Shortly after that the feed went blank. ¡°We won¡¯t waste bio-mass on another drone. Six guards marked. We know where they are, they don¡¯t know we¡¯re even coming. If we take them first, we can deal with any others we might encounter,¡± Mai sketched a plan of attack as she spoke, indicating which of her people she wanted to go where. ¡°Tower guard has to be the priority. If I were them I¡¯d have them armed with a sniper rifle or a machine gun,¡± Hind said. ¡°I can drop them from roughly one hundred paces to our right.¡± Mai pursed her lips. Having one of her people so far from the others was a risk. Hind would be on his own and if there was any trouble at his end, they¡¯d be hard pressed to get to him quickly. ¡°Okay, move off now. Click when you¡¯re ready to take the shot. Fire when you get two clicks back.¡± Hind nodded and made to move towards his firing position. ¡°Looking at it, we can hook around and approach the worker¡¯s barracks, see if we can speak to someone there. Then make our move as soon as Hind has taken his shot. We¡¯ll sweep through the rest of the compound, hopefully some of the workers will help. Especially once we¡¯ve given them a taste of bio-mass,¡± Mai shook a bottle for emphasis. ¡°Let¡¯s move now.¡± * ¡°We¡¯re in position now, Hind. Click when ready to take the shot, going to speak to what I hope is a friendly local.¡± She¡¯d marked the local in question, an old man who seemed to be content to just sit on a bench and watch over the other workers. Out of all of them, he looked like the least able to run away, the least able to fight, and most approachable. He was also well-positioned out of sight of the guards they¡¯d marked on their minimaps. Hind clicked. Mai gestured to her people to stay where they were. Too close for words, she didn¡¯t want to spook the workers. Moving slowly, she made her way through the cotton, keeping low so that she could be as close as possible before exposing herself. Much as it went against her natural instincts, she¡¯d absorbed her weapons. Totally unarmed except for her culling knife, she hoped that she wouldn¡¯t be seen as a threat. Not until she needed to be that was. Ten paces out, she froze as the old man looked directly at her. She cursed, thinking that the cotton was hiding her. Old man¡¯s got eyes like a hawk. Or ears like a cat. ¡°Help you, miss?¡± Mai sighed, and stood up. Approached the man with her hands open and held wide. ¡°Just looking for some information,¡± Mai kept her voice low as she closed the distance. ¡°How many guards are there?¡± ¡°Guessing you mapped the six in the open?¡± He narrowed his eyes at her. She had the distinct feeling he was five steps ahead of her. Not just her but everyone else. ¡°We did. Any more?¡± ¡°Plenty, they work in shifts. Like us. Three shifts a day, eighteen guards. The rest are all in the main building. This time of day, both shifts will be sleeping. That or relaxing.¡± Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings. His mouth twisted as he said that last. Mai didn¡¯t press for details. ¡°Take it you aren¡¯t fond of these people?¡± she asked, head scanning for possible threats. ¡°If they were on fire, I¡¯d try to put the flames out with gasoline,¡± he spat onto the floor. ¡°Are you after something else?¡± ¡°Cotton. Need them for some clothing. Shop called ¡®Bob¡¯s your armourer¡¯.¡± ¡°Know it,¡± he nodded. ¡°Bob¡¯s a nice guy. Tell you what. Kill the guards, you can take what you need. We won¡¯t shed any tears for the bastards.¡± FREE THE WORKERS DO YOU ACCEPT YES/NO? Mai smiled as she pressed YES. This was one mission she was more than happy to accept. Turning to face the field, she called her people out. ¡°Reckon your people will fight alongside us?¡± ¡°We ain¡¯t fighters. No bio-mass either, just enough to let us form our tools. This is your mission. We¡¯ll be happy to keep supplying you in the future though. Fifty per cent discount.¡± Mai¡¯s people joined them. ¡°Your best bet is take the two walking the worker¡¯s barrack¡¯s first, as well as the one in the tower, move across into the main barracks, and take out the bastards there. Your man should be able to take out the others as they come to reinforce. If he¡¯s where I think he is, he¡¯ll have eyes on the front entrance.¡± Mai quickly commed Hind and asked him to confirm what the old man was saying. Hind affirmed it was correct. He had a clear shot to the front door as well as the tower. ¡°Weapons up,¡± Mai formed her SMG, gritting her teeth against the pain, deciding to accept it rather than activate ENDURE PAIN before she needed to. Seeing that the others were ready, she sent a double click to Hind, then stepped around the building. From her minimap she knew exactly where the two guards by the worker¡¯s barracks were. Their mouths barely had time to open in surprised O¡¯s before she dropped them, her suppressed machine blasting them to pieces. As the workers scattered, surprisingly calmly, Mai led the charge across the compound. Shouldering the door open, she turned left whilst Jock went right. Faced with another door, she opened it and stepped through. Four guards were sitting around a table playing cards, food and drink piled high. Opening fire, she raked the group sending blood, glass, and food into the air as she cut them down. Releasing her trigger she checked them for signs of life. One was snoring horribly, so she put a bullet in each of their heads to make sure. There was only one way in and out of the room, so she went back to the hall. Jock greeted her with a raised hand, two fingers extended. Six down. Six more to go. Dakota appeared from further down the hallway, shaking her head. Dammit, we¡¯re going to have to go up. Mai took the lead once more, placing her feet gently on the stairs. Moving carefully, her feet placed on the outskirts of each step where they were least likely to creak, she made her way up. The room at the top of the stairs had been converted into an open plan dormitory. Six men and women lay in beds, sleeping. Signalling to the others, Mai spread them out, gave a countdown with her fingers, and then opened fire. Every one of the gangers died before they even knew what was happening. ¡°Engaging,¡± came Hind¡¯s voice. There was a shout of alarm, cut suddenly short. ¡°Two down.¡± ¡°One left to go,¡± Dakota grimly surveyed the bloody scene before them. ¡°Best find them, that shout will have been heard.¡± As the others sprinted back down the stairs, Mai took one last look at their handiwork. From what she¡¯d been able to tell, the gangers had well and truly taken advantage of their power over the workers, but she still felt dirty, as if there was a stain on her soul that she¡¯d never been able to get rid of. One thing¡¯s for sure, I¡¯ll never be able to forget the smell of blood. It was everywhere, the heavy iron smell hanging so thick that she was surprised she couldn¡¯t see it. Her tongue felt coated in the stench. ¡°Mai you coming?¡± commed Dakota. ¡°On your six, just checking they¡¯re dead,¡± Mai turned and went down the stairs. ¡°Hind, you got eyes on the last one?¡± ¡°If I did, they¡¯d be dead. Nothing boss.¡± Leaving the building, Mai signalled to Dakota, Chan and Jock to head clockwise around the main building whilst she went anti-clockwise. Looking at one of the workers sheltering behind a harvester drone, she raised her eyebrows in an unspoken question. Pointing at the far corner, the woman held up a finger, then ducked back down into cover. ¡°Enemy at the corner of the building, marking,¡± Mai whispered as she marked the location on the minimap. ¡°Dakota, Jock, Chan, push around the back of the building as quickly as you can. I¡¯m going to move up. Let me know when you¡¯re at the opposite corner, and I¡¯ll distract them.¡± ¡°Be careful, Mai,¡± Dakota warned. Don¡¯t have to tell me twice, thought Mai as she activated her STEALTH and approached the corner where the enemy ganger was hiding. Crouching, she moved slightly away from the building, so that it would only take a couple of steps to bring whoever was hiding there into view. ¡°At the corner,¡± Dakota¡¯s voice was tense. Whereas they¡¯d had the element of surprise with the previous attack, their target knew they were coming. ¡°On my count, red, red, red, green,¡± Mai moved as she spoke, stepping further away from the building and angling so that her weapon could be brought to bear on the guard quickly. A body tumbled forward, surprising her, her own weapon spitting bullets into the already dead guard as she lay on the ground. ¡°Had her back to us,¡± Dakota stepped around into Mai¡¯s sight. ¡°Too easy.¡± FREE THE WORKERS COMPLETED TITLE GAINED ¨C SMALL HOLDER ¡°Let¡¯s get the damned cotton loaded up onto that ground car, there¡¯s no way we can carry it back,¡± Mai pointed at the ground car in question, it was beefy, a six-wheel drive which looked more than capable of holding a roll of cotton cloth. ¡°Hind, move in. We¡¯re done here.¡± Mai looked around at the celebrating workers. Smiling faces greeted her every way she turned, hands slapping her on the back. Looks like I own a farm now. And then she sighed, the gangers would be back, so she¡¯d have to send her own people to guard the farm. Shrugging, she set about organising the trip back. One thing at a time. Book 3 - Uprising - Chapter 8 ¡°Have to say, I wasn¡¯t sure you¡¯d complete the mission,¡± Bob watched as the group unloaded the material. ¡°I¡¯m impressed.¡± ¡°Thanks, I think,¡± Mai replied, unsure whether to be insulted or not. ¡°So, is that it or do you need more materials?¡± ¡°Need more. It¡¯s a special type of dye from the ink of a creature called a Squink. Horrible looking. All floppy, twelve arms. Produces this ink which is the blackest in existence. Literally soaks up light.¡± ¡°Let me guess, it¡¯s at a farm which is under the thumb of one of the factions,¡± remarked Dakota drily. ¡°Yes. How did you guess?¡± Mai laughed at that, she was starting to like the armourer. ¡°It¡¯s the last material I need before I can make the kit. Promise.¡± He even held three fingers up in the ages-old sign of sincerity. RETRIEVE THE SQUINK INK DO YOU ACCEPT YES/NO? No doubt about it, we¡¯ve come this far, can¡¯t not accept it, Mai thought as she pressed the YES. Looking at where the guideline led them, she rolled her shoulders. It went through at least four different territories and ended up in one of the military faction areas. ¡°Shit me,¡± Hind groaned as he looked at the minimap. ¡°This is going to be even more difficult.¡± ¡°Life is never anything but easy,¡± Chan sighed. ¡°There is one good thing,¡± Bob remarked, ¡°the squink ink is in a factory. They process it at this location. SO there¡¯s lots of cover. Nothing as open as the cotton fields were.¡± ¡°You know, the whole environment of this city freaks me out,¡± Jock pointed up. They were inside, but they all understood what he meant. ¡°This city is underground, and yet there¡¯s a whole region of farms, with fields. What the hells?¡± ¡°Solar arrays. We put all the power into powering them. And by we, I mean the controlling factions,¡± Bob explained. ¡°The lights mimic sunlight, which allows things such as cotton to grow, even though as you so eloquently pointed out we¡¯re underground.¡± It was logical, or rather it sounded logical, and it was clear that it was accepted as not only logical but as fact, but Mai wasn¡¯t convinced. Just another part of her life which she questioned, rather than accepting blindly. ¡°Doesn¡¯t matter right now. We¡¯ve got a mission to complete people.¡± Not waiting for their replies, she walked out of the shop, guideline gently pulsing as it led the way to her next mission. * ¡°This place is much bigger than I ever thought it would be,¡± Dakota said as they rested up in a deserted shop. Windows shattered, walls pockmarked, it was clear that there had been a battle of some sort in the shop''s long history. Destroyed counters and the odd jar filled the interior, sheltering them from any prying eyes. Although Mai had noticed that people in this district tended to avoid looking anywhere but the ground. It¡¯s as if they¡¯re punished for raising their eyes. The thought made her stomach twist, this was no life for anybody. The district was particularly bad compared to the rest of the city, with even fewer working lights, more damaged buildings, and a cowed local population. ¡°Factories, roughly five hundred paces to our North. Plenty of cover all the way in. All the way out as well,¡± Jock said as he highlighted their objective on the minimap. ¡°How much of this stuff did Bob say we needed?¡± Mai opened her mouth to speak. Then closed it with a snap. ¡°Shit. We didn¡¯t ask!¡± Dakota slapped her hand to her forehead, cursing as she did so. ¡°Huh,¡± Hind rocked back on his heels. ¡°That makes things difficult.¡± Mai was lost for words, mind racing to work out what they needed to do. Finally she just shrugged. ¡°Hells, we grab what we can. We don¡¯t know how it¡¯s stored. Hopefully, it¡¯ll be small bottles rather than some large container. I get the feeling that squink ink is pretty rare stuff. So it¡¯ll be in smaller quantities.¡± There was an unspoken, ¡®it has to be¡¯. The others nodded, but Mai could see that this had unsettled them. It was something that she as a leader shouldn¡¯t have overlooked. Giving herself a mental shrug, she drew a line of approach on the minimap. ¡°This looks as though it gives us the best approach, hides us from the factory until we need to clear the last fifty paces or so. We¡¯ll pop up a couple of drones, scout out the area once we get into this building here.¡± She marked that with a large ¡®x¡¯. ¡°Sounds like a plan,¡± Dakota smiled, slapping her on the shoulder. ¡°We¡¯ll get this done, just like we always do. Five more minutes¡¯ rest before we move out?¡± Mai nodded, grateful for her friend¡¯s support. * ¡°Drone out, patching the feed into your retinal monitors,¡± reported Jock as the drone¡¯s birds-eye-view popped up on Mai¡¯s eyes. ¡°This place has taken a beating.¡± That was an understatement. All of the buildings in the area showed signs of battle and had been badly patched up. The factory itself was one of the few well-maintained buildings in the area, and Mai had the sneaking suspicion that the controlling faction had put all of their resources into keeping it in top-notch condition. ¡°Any find it odd we haven¡¯t seen any of the controlling faction yet?¡± asked Hind, waving his hands as he played with the view on his retinal monitor. ¡°Picking up heat sources within the factory. Couple of people are moving around the outside,¡± reported Jock. ¡°Take a closer look at the actual building. See if you can find an entrance,¡± Mai ordered. She didn¡¯t say, but the lack of guards had her on edge. A place this well maintained should have had a strong contingent of guards. Especially considering the size of the factory, it was one of the largest buildings she¡¯d seen in Nether City. ¡°Damn,¡± cursed Jock as he scoped the building. ¡°Place is a fortress. They¡¯ve built all of their defences into the actual building. That¡¯s why there¡¯s no guards outside, they¡¯re all inside.¡± He started marking turrets, firing positions, towers, bunkers, and any number of other defences. Mai¡¯s stomach sank as she took in the size of the task ahead of them. ¡°Look for a sewer, or an effluent out pipe,¡± Chan said. ¡°We might be able to get in that way. Not that it¡¯ll be easy, depending on the type of waste coming out of there.¡± Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit. ¡°Easier than trying to cross open ground against those sorts of defences,¡± chuckled Dakota. Mai didn¡¯t feel like laughing with her. Are these damned suits really worth it? She thought as she looked at her friends. I don¡¯t want to lose people just because I fancy getting hold of a nice piece of kit. ¡°And there it is,¡± Hind marked the pipe as he spoke. ¡°Not too far from here. And it looks as though it¡¯s big enough to let us get up.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t like the look of those bars,¡± said Jock as he flew the little drone closer. ¡°We¡¯ll have to cut through them.¡± ¡°Not a problem. Better that than walking through a hail of bullets,¡± said Dakota. Mai frowned, her friend was cheerfully gloomy, not her usual type. Probably just tired, she couldn¡¯t blame her. Mai had a weariness that felt as though it was bone deep. ¡°Let¡¯s move.¡± * Much later than she thought it would be, Mai was crouched before the entrance to the pipe. Moving through the various buildings covering the approach to the grate had been more difficult than it should have been. Filled with old machinery and with multiple levels that seemed to change on the designer¡¯s whim, they¡¯d been forced to backtrack more times than she could count. ¡°If it wasn¡¯t for the fact that this place stinks of rotten eggs and shit, I''d have been willing to have a quick sleep,¡± groaned Dakota as she rubbed at her legs. Thousands of steps, up and down, had been made getting here and they all felt the burn in their legs. ¡°Quicker we get this done, the quicker we can get home to our beds,¡± Mai replied. She too was tired. So tired that she wondered whether pushing ahead with the mission was a good idea. ¡°How are you guys doing?¡± Jock shrugged, Hind made a face, but both said they were ready to go. Chan just gave her a thumbs up and a weak smile. She couldn¡¯t blame him. Taking a sip of bio-boost, Mai formed a cutting torch and went to work. Unlike the approach, the job was done in no time at all, the bars melting like butter with a hot knife as the torch¡¯s white-hot flame cut through them. ¡°If you¡¯ve got TUNNEL COMBAT, be ready to activate it,¡± ordered Mai as she moved through the entrance into the pipe. The stench was much stronger, so she formed a mask, ordering the others to do so. ¡°Watch out for mogwai.¡± ¡°Mogwai? You think they¡¯re here as well?¡± Jock followed her through the entrance. ¡°Can¡¯t be too careful. Never know what¡¯s up a pipe. Especially one that smells as bad as this.¡± ¡°Not going to argue there, this is one of the worst smells ever. I don¡¯t think we¡¯ll be getting it out of our skin,¡± Chan muttered just loud enough for all of them to hear. Mai shuddered, the idea of smelling like this permanently wasn¡¯t a pleasant thought. Not least because it would turn them into social pariahs. * ¡°Minimap says we¡¯re right beneath the factory,¡± whispered Jock as they stood in a small chamber only a few paces across. It was bigger than the pipe however, and Mai revelled in being able to stretch her arms out and stand fully up. She wasn¡¯t tall by any means, and she smiled as the others groaned in pleasure at being able to straighten up. ¡°And there¡¯s a ladder. Let¡¯s have a breather, rest our legs, and then get climbing. No telling how far that thing stretches,¡± suggested Chan, lowering himself onto a ledge which ran around the edge of the chamber. Mai looked up, the ladder disappeared into the darkness above them. As they moved along the pipe her eyes had adjusted to the darkness, but even now they couldn¡¯t see the top of the ladder. Grasping hold of it, she gave a gentle tug, increasing the pull the longer she held on. Aside from a little rattle, there was no give. ¡°Ladder¡¯s in good condition thank the gods,¡± she let go of the ladder and sat down on the ledge next to Dakota. ¡°Probably best we don¡¯t form weapons until we actually need them, leave our hands free.¡± ¡°We¡¯ll move quicker,¡± Dakota agreed. ¡°And quick is good, I just want to get this over and done with. All this for some damned clothing. Are you sure it¡¯s worth it?¡± Her words stung. Mai already had her own doubts, but to hear them voiced by someone else drove them home. ¡°Not just a bit of clothing mind,¡± Jock leaned forward. ¡°We¡¯ve got a whole farm under our banner now. That¡¯s more than the rebels ever achieved before. A farm. Always wanted to be a farmer. Now I can be. Thanks to us having to get these materials.¡± Mai smiled as he gave her a double thumbs up. ¡°Let¡¯s get this done shall we? I¡¯m fed up with this damned stink. Not even the sewers smelt this bad!¡± * ¡°Five workers, all with some form of nanite tool. Four without. Not dressed as well as the first group either. Looks like they get rewards. Do well, do better. Don¡¯t do well, lose access to nanites,¡± reported Jock as he sent his drone whizzing through the air. ¡°Guards. Here, here, and here. Looks like this room,¡± Hind marked it on the map, ¡°is where they store the ink. Small containers. Small enough to be put into a backpack.¡± Finally, something was going well, thought Mai as she let out a breath she hadn¡¯t realised she¡¯d been holding. ¡°Lots of other guards moving through the factory in this area. But looks as though they¡¯re busier looking out than in,¡± Dakota marked the guards as she spoke. ¡°Probably didn¡¯t realise that there was a way out of the pipe into the condensing tower, and then out of that through the maintenance hatch,¡± Mai was surprised at the supposed ex-military guard¡¯s sloppiness. Maybe they thought no-one would ever find out about it, or just never bothered to explore this place properly, and the workers didn¡¯t tell them. Which was fully understandable. From the look of the workers they¡¯d seen, they weren¡¯t here willingly. ¡°Okay, we need to follow this path,¡± Mai marked the map, ¡°which will expose us the least. Take out the guards on the door of the vault when they open it to allow another bottle in.¡± ¡°Why not just take it from a worker?¡± asked Dakota. ¡°I don¡¯t want to have to hurt any of the workers if I can avoid it. Plus, we don¡¯t want the guards at our back if the worker raises the alarm. This way we kill the guards, get the bottle, and the worker will have to run all the way over here before they can raise the alarm. Which is further than we have to run to get back here and into the pipe.¡± ¡°Weapons?¡± Jock questioned, as he brought the drone back in. ¡°Not yet, from the state of most of the workers we¡¯ll blend in nicely. Not sure about the smell, but the whole factory stinks, so maybe it¡¯ll mask us. Let¡¯s move.¡± Climbing down the ladder on the condenser tower, Mai bit her lip as her legs screamed in protest. It felt as though two metal bars had been inserted into her thighs with an added bonus of acid. I need to get to the gym more, she thought, saliently vowing to add workouts to her daily routine. If we¡¯re going to get back into the city, we need to be at our peak. Moving along the route she¡¯d mapped out, they slipped between banks of humming, hissing, and buzzing machinery, all of it an utter mystery to her. ¡°Hold!¡± hissed Dakota, dropping onto knee. Mai grimaced as her muscles protested at yet more punishment. Ahead, a worker ambled along, moving away from them, checking some machine, before moving on to another. Not daring to breathe, Mai willed the worker to just keep moving away from them. After what seemed like an eternity, they moved out of sight. ¡°Move,¡± Dakota pushed herself to her feet, staggering slightly as her own legs betrayed her. Checking the minimap, Mai sighed in relief as she realised how close they were. She¡¯d been so focussed on the approach she¡¯d lost track of the closing distance. ¡°Weapons people, we¡¯re nearly ¡­¡± she didn¡¯t get to finish as a weight crashed down onto her shoulders. DAMAGE! 5% WINDED! Lungs feeling as though they were exploding, stars bursting before her eyes, she scratched and butted at her assailant. ¡°Go! I¡¯ve got this!¡± Her attacker¡¯s breath was hot on her cheek as rolled on the floor, pummelling each other, trying to pin the other¡¯s hands to prevent them forming a weapon. As soon as the option presented itself she drove a headbutt into her attacker¡¯s nose. HIT! 5% DAMAGE BLEED @.25% PER SECOND STUNNED Her attacker let out a groan, their grip slackening slightly. Ripping her arm free, Mai activated her DIRTY BOXING, and UNARMED COMBAT, smashing a hammer fist into the guard¡¯s face. HIT! 2% DAMAGE BLEED @0.5% PER SECOND Somehow the guard bucked her hips, throwing Mai forward, and allowing herself to squirm out from under Mai. Going with the sudden movement, Mai tucked into a roll and came back to her feet. ¡°What the fuck?¡± the guard¡¯s face screwed up in confusion. ¡°Why the hell would someone like you be here?¡± Mai didn¡¯t have time to answer as the guard started to draw a weapon from a holster. Mai beat her to the draw, forming a suppressed SMG, a quick burst stitching bullets across the guard¡¯s chest. CRITICAL HIT! 91% DAMAGE BLEED @10% PER SECOND KILL! Mai dropped to all fours, chest heaving, lungs trying to draw breath. Her back spasmed where the guard had landed on her. Activating HEAL, Mai tried to get her breathing and thoughts under control. What the hell did she mean by ¡®someone like you?¡¯ Book 3 - Uprising - Chapter 9 MISSION COMPLETED MESSAGE SOMETHING HERE ¡°Well done,¡± Bob the armourer smiled as he took delivery of the squink ink. ¡°Wasn¡¯t sure you¡¯d pull that off.¡± His nose wrinkled as the stench of the pipe reached his nose. ¡°There were times we didn¡¯t think we would either,¡± Mai replied. She appreciated his politeness. All she wanted to do was get back to the base and have a shower. Although she wasn¡¯t sure whether she¡¯d ever be free of the stench again. ¡°I¡¯ll add the materials together and make these clothes for you. How many do you want?¡± ¡°We¡¯ll take everything you can make,¡± Mai shook his hand, ignoring the way that he wiped his palm on his trousers. ¡°Send a message when they¡¯re done, and we¡¯ll come and get them.¡± Saying their goodbyes, they left and walked slowly up to the base, their aches and pains making them look like a group of people old before their time. The slow pace didn¡¯t match Mai¡¯s whirling mind, however. Over and over she played the words of the guard in her mind. What did she mean by people like her? Or was it people like all of them? If it was her specifically, what was so different about her? If it was them specifically, the same question applied. She knew that the guard wasn¡¯t a local. So all she had to do was track down another like them and ask what was different about her. I¡¯m applying the logic that if one knows, they all know, but it¡¯s all I¡¯ve got to go on, she was so wrapped up in her thoughts that she didn¡¯t realise they¡¯d reached base until Dakota patted her arm to get her attention. ¡°Good job people. Go get cleaned up, get something to eat and have a rest, you¡¯ve earned it. ¡°Everything okay?¡± asked Dakota, eyes narrowing. ¡°Fine, just a bit tired. Annoyed that I let that last guard get the drop on me,¡± she didn¡¯t like lying to her friend, but until she had something definite, there wasn¡¯t anything else she could really say anyway. ¡°Cool. If you want to talk later, come and see me.¡± Mai smiled and thanked her friend, then headed off to get cleaned up, mind continuing to race. * Sipping at a cup of rice wine, Mai scanned the crowd walking through the shopping district under the control of The Talismans. It was in much better condition than the one near the rebel base, and the locals seemed to be relatively happy. All of the shops offered a far wider range of goods, and even the food was better. The lighting was on far more than it was off, with barely a flicker, and ganger guards roamed the streets making sure everyone toed the line. As with the gangers in her barracks, there were two types. Dakota¡¯s type, and the others. She couldn¡¯t put a finger on it, but the others seemed to be freer somehow. They were the loud ones, the ones which seemed to act more randomly, capriciously even. They were also the ones who seemed to be carrying out all of the missions. In the last thirty minutes she¡¯d been sitting at her table,she''d counted at least half a dozen gangers coming and going with deliveries, speaking to shop keepers or locals, and then heading off to complete whatever task they¡¯d been set. This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. The other gangers, those like Dakota however, barely interacted with the people around them. Sometimes they would follow the other gangers when ordered, but mostly they seemed to be content to patrol, or sit at the tables of the various eateries. Finishing off her rice wine, she watched as a young-looking ganger approached a shopkeeper. They spoke for a few seconds, then the ganger stabbed the air with a finger, clearly accepting whatever task she had been given. This is the one, thought Mai. The other gangers had looked as though they would be too difficult to take on quietly. All she wanted to do was talk, but knowing the way that gangers viewed those not in their own particular gang, there was always the risk that they would choose to fight rather than talk. Watching as the ganger headed away on their task, Mai stood and started to follow. The ganger wasn¡¯t moving particularly quickly, so Mai was able to let the distance between them lengthen to the point that if the ganger turned, Mai would be lost in the crowd. Not that they¡¯ve got any reason to think they¡¯re being followed, Mai thought as she weaved through the other pedestrians. After a few minutes they left the district, entering a part of the city which was in far worse shape. There were also fewer people on the streets, and those that were, walked with their heads down and as quickly as they could without actually running. Mai activated STREET SMARTS, URBAN CAMOUFLAGE, and STEALTH, using the shadows on the poorly lit street to move as closely as possible. All I need to do is get them pinned, then ask them a question, she thought as she closed in on her prey. ¡°Bring it!¡± without warning the ganger turned, arm spouting a pistol. Diving to one side, Mai barely avoided a burst of flechettes. She formed her own weapon, a suppressed pistol, and returned fire, trying to force the ganger into cover. ¡°I just want to talk!¡± she called out as the ganger sent more flechettes in her direction, the projectiles making a shrieking noise as they zipped past. ¡°Funny way of asking!¡± shouted the ganger. They charged towards Mai, an almost continuous stream of flechettes pouring out of their weapon. DAMAGE! 5% BLEED @3% PER SECOND Dammit! Mai activated her FREE RUNNING, threw herself out of her cover, tucked into a roll and came to her feet shooting. HEADSHOT! INSTA KILL! As the ganger¡¯s body toppled backwards, Mai stamped her feet in frustration. Absorbing her weapon, she headed back to the shopping district to find another ganger to speak to. * ¡°Stop fighting!¡± Mai ducked under a vicious cut from a sword, spinning away from the edge of a shield as her opponent tried to drive it into her face. ¡°I just want to talk!¡± Raising her shield, she barely stopped the ganger from booting her in the gut, the force still drove her backwards. DAMAGE! 1% STAGGERED ¡°Fuck no!¡± pressing home their attack, the ganger grinned as they activated a skill, a TORNADO glyph appearing above their head. Shit, Mai gritted her teeth as the ganger went into a frenzied sword attack, blade blurring they moved so quickly. DAMAGE! 5% BLEED @5% PER SECOND DAMAGE! 10% INTIMIDATED! Fucking notifications, Mai hated being told what she already knew, already felt. Blood ran down her thigh from where the ganger had cut her. Activating HEAL LIGHT WOUNDS, she gave up all pretence of trying to take the ganger alive. ¡°Not fair¡­¡± the bullet blew out the back of the ganger¡¯s head, brains and yellow shards of skull painting the wall behind them. ¡°Dammit!¡± Raged Mai as she slid to the ground and let her nanites stitch her skin back together. This was the fourth ganger to refuse to speak to her. All seemed to be both scared and excited to meet her. This last one had breathed ¡®finally¡¯, as she¡¯d approached, leaping straight into the attack. ¡°Finally what, arsehole?¡± Mai kicked the ganger¡¯s corpse. ¡°Finally what?¡± Throwing her hands up in frustration, she started to make her way back to base. Book 3 -Uprising - Chapter 10 Mai paused as she entered a dimly-lit street. Dimly-lit wasn¡¯t unusual for Nether City, and especially not for the rebel-held areas, but when she¡¯d last come down this street, all of the lights had been functioning. Now, there were pools of darkness. And something which truly made her teeth itch was the fact that there were no locals on the street. What the hell? She pushed herself back around the corner, dropping to her knees and poking her head around the corner to take another look. People never expect a head to appear low down around a wall, so it¡¯s less likely that the person trying to remain unseen will be spotted. She activated her STREET SMARTS. Adding to that, she activated her URBAN CAMOUFLAGE. Shit, shit, shit, she spotted movement in one of the darkened areas of the street. Looking down further, she saw a barrel pointing out of a window in a derelict building. Ambush. What the hells? Moving slowly back around the corner, she pressed her back against the wall. Typically, the street was the only way back to the rebel section of the city, thanks to her designing it that way when she¡¯d expanded the base. At the time it had seemed a wise tactical strategy, now she was beginning to regret it. Personal note, build in a secret tunnel. She had two options. Run away and hope that the ambushers would get bored, and she could return to safety. Which was unlikely, if they¡¯d gone to so much effort to set up the ambush there was no way they wouldn¡¯t just wait it out. The second option was she forced their hand and hoped that the rebels would be able to get to her before she was killed. Neither option really appealed. ¡°Where the hells is that bitch?¡± Mai practically jumped out of her skin, the voice had come from a window just above her. ¡°Quiet! We don¡¯t get the damned bounty if she hears you, you moron!¡± hissed another voice. Mai rose to her feet, muscles straining as she straightened as slowly as possible, barely daring to breathe. The first voice had come from a window just above her, clearly looking out from a flight of stairs. The second voice had come from further up, in an actual room. Gritting her teeth, she formed an SMG and pistol combination. Activating STEALTH, she slid along the wall, heart hammering so hard she thought it would burst. Weapons raised, she moved away from the wall. ¡°Wha..?¡± her weapons spat. HIT! HEAD SHOT! INSTAKILL! Activating FREE RUNNING she dove through the window, tucking into a roll and coming to her knees. HIT! 15% BLEED @5% PER SECOND PANIC! Wailing, the other ambusher tried to turn and run, presenting her with the perfect kill shot. You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author. CRITICAL HIT! ¨C 95% KILL! Chest heaving, heart thumping so hard she could hear, she tried to collect herself. Looking down at the bodies she realised that they weren¡¯t regular gangers either. Their clothing and equipment were too good. So someone had issued a bounty and either these were out town bounty hunters, or members of the gangs already here who had decided to get in on the action. Teeth grinding in frustration at not being able to work out what was happening, she removed the pins the gangers wore to identify their gang affiliation. Hopefully, Dakota will be able to tell me what gang they¡¯re with. They¡¯re rich too, the clothes that the gangers were wearing were light years ahead of the tat the low level gangers in Nether City wore. Moving through the building, she strained her ears for signs of other ambushers. All she could here was her heart hammer. The adrenalin was making her stomach churn, chest heave, and legs feel like jelly. Sliding a window open, she lifted herself as slowly as her limbs would allow before folding over and dropping into the alleyway beyond. Her STEALTH and STREET SMARTS still active, she snuck along the alleyway to a door. Testing it to see whether it was locked, she breathed a sigh of relief as the handle turned. Cracking the door open, she slipped through and dropped into a crouch. A cough, through the room, to her right. Slowly, keeping low so as to not be framed by the light, she crept through the darkened dwelling. Her foot nudged against something and she bit down on a cry of surprise. Placing a hand down, she ran it over what could only be the body of one of the previous inhabitants. Bastards have killed everyone in the street! Bile rose into her mouth. These people had died because someone had put a bounty on her head. A bounty from her actions, although she couldn¡¯t tell if it was from what she had done at the cotton factory or the squink factory. I didn¡¯t think anyone knew it was us that did it! A cough, muffled in someone¡¯s sleeve. Just a few paces into the next room. Sibilant whispers, the speakers not knowing that whispers carry further than low murmurs, especially when sounding letters like ¡®s¡¯. More than one, likely another pair. Dropping onto all fours, she slowly crawled along the floor, not wanting to move across the windows lining the wall onto the street. Thanking Buddha for the open door, she poked her head around the door, inch by inch until she could see her potential ambushers. Two. A big one and a little one. Big one further away. Four paces. Little one two paces. Shoot the big one, subdue the little one, get some bloody information. STEALTH and STREET SMARTS ran out. They wouldn¡¯t be available for minutes now. Too long for her to wait and count on the ambushers not realising she was so close to them. Absorbing the SMG, she formed a knife. Rising to her knees, she slowly got to her feet, staying low, bracing herself for what was to come. HEADSHOT! INSTAKILL! ¡°Jo!¡± gasped the little ambusher as her friend suddenly collapsed. Mai surged forward, kicking the woman in the back of the knee, folding her backward and into Mai¡¯s arms. DAMAGE! 5% Mai hissed in pain as the woman¡¯s fingers scratched at her face. Absorbing her pistol, she wrapped a hand around her opponent¡¯s mouth. As she did that, she activated UNARMED COMBAT and DIRTY BOXING. Little ambusher¡¯s hand suddenly dropped from Mai¡¯s face, reaching for something below her belt. She bucked, trying to throw Mai over her shoulder. Mai automatically hooked her leg around the ambusher¡¯s jamming the attempt. DAMAGE! 10% BLEED @5% PER SECOND Pain lanced up her thigh. Brain racing, Mai realised that she¡¯d been stabbed. DAMAGE! 15% BLEED @4% PER SECOND INTIMIDATED Snarling, eyes watering with the pain, knife blade jammed into her femur, Mai ripped her blade across her opponent¡¯s throat. CRITICAL HIT! 90% BLEED @15% PER SECOND Gasping, stomach heaving as waves of pain washed over her, the knife still embedded in her thigh, Mai shoved the ambusher away from her, both of them crashing to the floor at the same time. Sobbing, Mai grasped hold of the knife, took as deep a breath as she could manage, then ripped it out, shoving her hand into her mouth as she screamed. As the room darkened around her, she activated her HEAL SERIOUS INJURIES, then slumped to the floor. Book 3 - Uprising - Chapter 11 Groaning, Mai cracked first one, then the other, eye open. Her head throbbed, mouth feeling like she¡¯d been sucking on sand for her whole life. Nanites might work wonders in fixing her, but she¡¯d lost a lot of blood. She was dehydrated and needed to get as much water as she could into her system. And yet, I¡¯m still going to have to fight my way through gods know how many other ambushers. Scrubbing her face with her hands, ignoring the metallic stench and the way that the ambusher¡¯s blood coating her hand stuck to her skin, she tried to bring some semblance of focus to her life. ¡°First things first,¡± she whispered to herself, ¡°get to the base.¡± It made the task ahead seem simpler if she viewed it in those terms. All she had to do was get to the base and her friends. Then she could try and find out why there was a bounty on her head. And then try to work out what it was that made her so different that the those she considered different would want her dead. And she also needed to know why those she thought were different were different. Or if they actually were different and it wasn¡¯t a figment of her imagination. Shaking her head, she realised she¡¯d got ahead of herself. One step at a time. Get to the base. Running her hands over the dead ambushers, she searched them for anything useful. Typically, there was nothing much except for a couple of protein bars and their gang badges. She took it all. Checking her bio-mass, she saw she was at sixty-three per cent. Healing must have really eaten into my bio-mass! Wish I hadn¡¯t left my bio-mass boost behind. Then again, she hadn¡¯t had much choice. The Rebel Council had decreed that the bottles weren¡¯t to be taken out of the base unless on missions, and her personal quest to find out what was going on hadn¡¯t qualified. She was also keeping her side quest secret, so telling them what she was up to wouldn¡¯t have worked either. The guards had been gentle in their search, but it had been made very clear that trying to sneak a bottle through the gate was not going to happen. There were three bars, each giving a range of between three and five per cent. It wasn¡¯t much, but beggars couldn¡¯t be choosers. Eating as quickly as possible, she silently moved through the apartment, trying to find the dining room. Her bars boosted her bio-mass to seventy-five per cent. Smiling as she stepped through into a small room only large enough to see two people, she spotted a nanite-oven. Water and a better meal coming up, she thought smugly. Looking at the menu, she chose a cold soup, packed with extra protein to give her a maximum boost of fifteen per cent, and a minimum of ten. It also meant that the smell of cooking wouldn¡¯t reach the noses of any ambushers close by. Mai also had the machine create two litres of water. It would mean she¡¯d be bursting for the toilet within the hour, but that was a small price to pay to get rid of the headache and nausea she kept feeling. The oven pinged as it finished preparing the meal, and her breath caught in her throat, ears straining for any warning that the sound had been picked up by the ambushers in the other buildings. Releasing her breath with a slow sigh, she picked up the bowl and drank directly from it, not bothering to use a spoon. It was an old recipe, a soup called Gazpacho. Packed with avocado and high-protein lichen, it was somewhat gloopy, but she forced the rebel thought of mouthfuls of mucus to the back of her mind and forced it down. Finishing the soup, covering a belch with a hand, she checked her bio-mass. Eighty-seven per cent. More than enough to get her through what was to come. Bringing up her weapons menu, she created a couple of flash-bang grenades. Each of them cost one and a half per cent. She went with more explosive grenades, at three per cent each. Total cost was nine per cent, dropping her back to seventy-eight per cent. Even thinking of eating another meal made her nauseous, the soup and water sitting heavy in her stomach. Feels like I¡¯ve eaten a damned rock, she thought as she loosened her belt, sighing in satisfaction as the pressure on her stomach lessened. Can¡¯t afford to risk eating more anyway, someone¡¯s bound to notice that I¡¯ve killed four of their friends at some point. That caused her pause for though. Although the ambushers were working in pairs, they hadn¡¯t seemed that co-ordinated. It was almost as if they were separate teams working towards a common cause, rather than one team acting as a whole. Which could mean that they aren¡¯t even going to check on each other. If no-one gives a warning that I¡¯m here, then no-one else is speaking, unless it¡¯s with the people they¡¯re closely allied with. And that gave her an advantage. Still, once she tossed the first grenade, all hell was going to break loose. Brainwave. Opening her menu again, she chose a long spool of thin wire. Dropping her down to seventy-seven per cent. As quickly as she could, she moved back through the houses to the entrance to the street. Creating another flash-bang, she tied it firmly to a drainpipe, then looped the end of the wire through its pin, making sure that the spoon would be free to fly. Then, playing the line out as she went, she carefully made her way back through the buildings, making sure to keep the line free of any snags. Opening a window, she climbed out of the last building she¡¯d been in and dropping into the alley way between it and the next. Forming an SMG, with extended magazine, she wrapped the line around her wrist with a couple of quick loops, took a breath to steady her nerves, activated STEALTH, SPOT HIDDEN, URBAN CAMOUFLAGE, and SNEAK. The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. Ambushed becomes ambusher, she thought with a grin as she yanked on the line. There was a pause, so long to her adrenalin-filled body that she thought the flash-bang must have been a dud, and then it detonated. The explosion was massive, a blast of sound which echoed off the densely packed buildings, and a flash of light which threw a harsh glare, like a lighting blast. Cries of alarm rang out as the ambushers reacted. Doors were thrown open as some of the more impetuous charged off towards the source of the noise. Voices in the building next to her called out to each other and she used them to mark her minimap. Footsteps sounded in the next building, moving past and behind her. Turning, she spotted a door. Laying her sights on it, she waited for it open. Whoever was making the noise was impatient. The door crashed open as they charged through it, stepping right into the line of her under-barrel laser sight. CRITICAL HIT! 90% BLEED @10% PER SECOND KILL! ¡°Fuck! Jimmy¡¯s down!¡± screeched a woman as she barrelled out of the door close on the heels of Jimmy. Only the fact that she tripped over her friend¡¯s body saved her as Mai¡¯s next burst zipped through the air above her head. Cursing, Mai dropped her aim, laying the laser directly onto the shocked woman¡¯s face. HEADSHOT! INSTAKILL! Weapon raised, Mai moved swiftly up to the door, primed a flash-bang, and lobbed it through into the building beyond, squeezing her eyes shut. HIT! BLINDED STUNNED DEAFENED HIT! BLINDED STUNNED DEAFENED HIT! BLINDED STUNNED DEAFENED HIT! BLINDED STUNNED DEAFENED PANIC Four! At least four! Mai charged through the open door and into the chaos of a room filled with screaming opponents. She activated her UNARMED COMBAT without a second though as she ploughed a kick into the stomach of a staggering woman. HIT! 5% WINDED! Not letting the woman catch her balance, she ripped a burst from her SMG into her. CRITICAL HIT! 50% BLEED @5% PER SECOND Leaving the woman to cope with her injuries, Mai spun, grabbed the hair of another ambusher, pulled him, placed the muzzle of her SMG against his head and fired. HEADSHOT! INSTAKILL! ¡°Someone¡¯s in the room! They¡¯re in the room!¡± screamed a ganger, the PANIC glyph hanging above his head. He fired blindly, sweeping the room with his combat shotgun. Mai dove to the floor, covering her head as he cut down one of his fellow ambushers. The others, including the wounded woman blazed away, bodies tumbling to the floor as they cut each other down. Saved me a job, thought Mai ruefully as she pushed herself to her feet. The room was filled with the stench of death, rivalling that of the sewers. Shouts came from the street, drawing closer. Popping her head up over the sill of a window, Mai counted at least another five ambushers headed her way. Hope to gods that the noise has attracted the rebel guards. This close to the base they¡¯ve got to come and investigate! She fired over the sill, primed a grenade, and toss it into the street. Not waiting for it to detonate, she sprinted through the building, crashing through a door and into another alley way. A window was directly opposite her. Firing, she activated FREE RUNNING and dove through the shattered window, rolling across the floor before coming to her knees. ¡°Oh shi ¡­¡± an ambusher stood before her, mouth wide open, eyes bulging. Both moved at the same time, weapons raising. DAMAGE! 5% BLEED @1% PER SECOND CRITICAL HIT! 2% BLEED @12% PER SECOND Wailing, the ambusher collapsed to the floor, clutching at their stomach as blood pumped through their fingers. Rising to her knees, Mai moved through into the next room. Fuck! Shards of wall exploded into the air as a burst of gunfire narrowly missed her head. She dove forward, twisting in the air, bringing her laser sight to bear on another ambusher. HIT! 1% She¡¯d barely clipped the woman. Landing on her side, Mai adjusted her aim. She didn¡¯t have enough time to go for a body shot, so fired as soon as the laster landed on the woman¡¯s knee. HIT! 15% STAGGERED BLEED @7% PER SECOND PANIC Screaming, clutching at her shattered knee, shards of bone jutting between her fingers, the woman tumbled to the floor. As before, Mai didn¡¯t bother finishing her off. All she wanted to do was keep moving before the rest of the ambushers could close in and finish off what she¡¯d started. Shots rang out in the street and Mai smiled as she heard shouts of alarm. ¡°Rebels! The rebels are here!¡± Opening up a comm channel now that she knew the rebels were in range, Mai called out. ¡°Rebels, this is Mai. I¡¯m trapped in a building three up from the start of the street. Be aware that there is a mixed affiliation of gangers. They¡¯re all high-levels, not street soldiers, repeat not street soldiers.¡± ¡°Roger that boss,¡± Mai smiled at hearing Dakota¡¯s voice. ¡°Hold tight, we¡¯re pushing them back now.¡± ¡°Confirmed. Good to hear you voice.¡± Relief flooding through her body, Mai turned to see if she could learn anything from the ganger. Just in time she flinched as a shot rang out. Without thinking she swept a burst of fire, raking the wounded ganger. KILL! Gods dammit! The next ganger is not going to die! And so as she waited for the rebels to rescue her, Mai set about planning her next move. Book 3 - Uprising - Chapter 12 Switching off the light in her room, Mai activated her STEALTH, LARCENY and SNEAK as she made her way out into the darkened rebel compound. It was what passed for night time, and most of the rebels were sleeping off the effects of the victory party they¡¯d held after rescuing Mai earlier that day. Even the guards were somewhat affected, which she had thought was incredibly sloppy, especially given that their enemies had got so close to the base without being discovered in the first place. Can¡¯t change everything all at once, she thought. Not that she could change much anyway since she wasn¡¯t a member of the Rebel Council. Something she didn¡¯t think was likely to change in the near future. Yen Ching prefers me as his stool pigeon, his cat¡¯s paw, rather than someone with actual influence. Still, she was working to change that as well. The work she and her Upper City people had done in getting the new stealth clothing had worked wonders for her reputation, as well as those of Dakota, Jock and Hind. More and more she noticed that the other rebels, the lower ranking ones at least, were listening to what they said and actually taking it onboard rather than ignoring it. Hugging the base wall, she made her way around the compound to the southern wall where she quietly scaled a ladder leading to the rampart there. Pausing, she watched the guards for any sign that they¡¯d spotted her. I really need to get more sensors. She took the time to open her menu and see what she needed to do in order to improve the base. Most of the missions were along the same lines as getting the clothing. She also had to raise the rebel¡¯s reputation, which was an organic growth based on completing any mission which helped the locals. Such as killing more of the factions. Closing the menu, she crafted a rope, attached it to the wall, and dropped it over the other side. Activating her CLIMB skill, she quickly made her way down to the ground on the other side. Running, she headed to the far end of the compound, hugging the shadows. Reaching the outer wall, she climbed up once again. This time however, she merely dropped a bottle of bio-mass boost over the wall. Then, she retraced her steps, retrieving and absorbing the rope, leaving no sign that she¡¯d ever been there. The next morning, she stretched in her bunk, revelling in the feeling as her bones popped and muscles stretched. It never ceased to surprise her how much she liked the process of waking up. She didn¡¯t like getting up, that was a different matter, but the drowsiness, the warmth of her bedsheets, and the momentary silence which followed the silencing of her internal alarm was always the favourite part of her day. Pushing herself up, she got ready and headed over to the canteen. Gathering a hearty breakfast, she plonked herself down on an empty table. ¡°Morning Mai,¡± Dakota sat down at her. ¡°Hope you¡¯re not going to be causing any more pitched battles?¡± Dakota¡¯s tone was sharp. She didn¡¯t appreciate that she¡¯d been unable to support Mai when she needed it the most and had spent most of last night apologising for not backing her up. ¡°No pitched battles. I¡¯m actually hoping to just talk to one of them. Find out what the hell is going on.¡± Dakota nodded, chewing a mouthful of spider eggs. It was a local delicacy, but Mai thought it looked too much like frog sperm and wasn¡¯t keen on trying it. Swallowing, Dakota jabbed her fork at Mai. ¡°I¡¯ve been trying to see what I can find out. There¡¯s definitely a bounty out for you. It¡¯s posted on all the social boards. They¡¯re paying in Karma.¡± Mai¡¯s mouth dropped at that. Bounties never paid in anything but money. ¡°How much?¡± she pushed her plate away, appetite as dead as the people she¡¯d killed last night. ¡°One hundred thousand.¡± Mai¡¯s eyes darted around the room. One hundred thousand karma would be enough to get her debt wiped out and see her settled in the eight-mile, maybe even the nine-mile. It was a huge amount to be offering. ¡°No wonder they were so bloody determined. Even the murders of the people living in those habs would be wiped out by that amount!¡± Mai clutched her head, it felt as though the room was spinning. ¡°What the hell? All we did was knock off some bloody faction bases,¡± whispered Dakota, leaning in towards Mai. ¡°I know. There¡¯s someone who really doesn¡¯t like me. The culling¡¯s still oing on after all, so maybe this is a ploy to get me back into it. Wouldn¡¯t surprise me if other cullers drop down here trying to find me now.¡± ¡°More importantly, do you think we can trust the rebels?¡± Dakota pitched her voice so low that Mai wasn¡¯t sure she¡¯d even heard her correctly. She thought for a moment. ¡°Our people? Yes, definitely. Those we¡¯ve made friends with? Probably. Those others though, not so sure. With that amount of karma they could get themselves a pardon.¡± ¡°Do you honestly think that¡¯s the sort of thing they¡¯re going to be looking for? Seems all of the rebels here are pretty damn settled.¡± Mai shrugged, trying to look causal as she glanced around the room. No one seemed to be paying particular attention to her, but she activated her STREET SMARTS sand took a closer look. Nothing. You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author. ¡°Seems like this bunch aren¡¯t interested anyway. I take it everyone¡¯s heard that there¡¯s a bounty?¡± She made note of the faces of the rebels in the canteen with them. Aside from looking slightly hung-over, they didn¡¯t appear to be doing anything other than eating their food. Using her retinal monitor, she blink-copied their faces into her pictograph gallery. It might prove to be useful later on if loyalties were tested. ¡°I¡¯m going to run some errands. Need to get to Bob¡¯s to see if those clothes are ready. See what else he¡¯s got on that menu of his we can unlock. Doing that will let me get more sensors onto the walls.¡± Dakota mopped up the remains of her spider eggs with a slab of lichen-bread. Taking a large bit she chewed thoughtfully, eyes narrowed as she looked at Mai. Finally, when the sound of her chewing felt like someone was dragging nails down a chalkboard, she swallowed. ¡°Not going to do anything stupid?¡± ¡°No, like I said, I just want to talk to someone. I¡¯m going to wear one of the new suits. Get a ganger on their own and see what¡¯s going on.¡± ¡°Good plan, I¡¯ll come too.¡± ¡°No!¡± Mai didn¡¯t mean it to come out so sharply. ¡°No, I need you to find out who else is hunting me. This bounty is huge, it¡¯s going to draw people like flies to shit. We need to get ahead of the game and identify them. Get Chan to help you, but keep it quiet.¡± Dakota¡¯s eyes narrowed, and she moved her arm from under the hand Mai had placed. Folding her arms, she just stared at Mai. Mai said nothing, letting the silence stretch and hoping that she hadn¡¯t pushed Dakota too far. ¡°Fine,¡± her friend nodded. ¡°I¡¯ll do that. But if you do anything stupid. Anything which means we have to come and rescue you, I¡¯ll beat the ever-living shit out of you. Agreed?¡± Mai nodded, and made the sign of a crossed heart, an old and honoured tradition of truth-signalling. ¡°Right, well, better get to it,¡± see you later. Dakota pushed herself away from the table and walked away. Grimacing, Mai realised she¡¯d seriously hurt her friend. She¡¯s right though. Better get on with it. Leaving the compound had been easy. The guards had searched her for bio-mass boost as they searched anyone not on an official missions, then waved her through the gate. Nodding her thanks she made her way down the street, losing herself in the crowd of people. It was far busier than it had been the day before, and the place was filled with carts and people moving furniture into and out of the building. She pursed her lips, disapproving of the way the people were so keen to move into buildings which had previously been filled with their fellow citizens. Still, it was clear that despite what happened last night, many thought that being close to the rebels was better than living in a different faction. Pausing, she opened up her menu. The rebel¡¯s reputation had climbed with the new arrivals, whereas other factions had suffered a loss as their people ran for the rebel faction area. Great, another thing to worry about. Making her way through the crowd she cut up an alleyway and headed along the rear of the buildings until she reached the point where she had thrown the bio-mass boost bottle. Picking it up, she shoved it inside her jacket and then retraced her steps. ¡°Ah! Mai! Come in, come in! I presume you¡¯re here about the clothing?¡± Bob opened his arms wide, beaming. ¡°I am indeed. How much do we owe you?¡± Mai followed him into the shop where they would be out of sight of prying eyes. ¡°Nothing for this first batch. I¡¯m going to make a fortune once people hear that I¡¯ve got it available. Especially since I don¡¯t have to buy the cotton or squink ink from the other factions. They literally priced me out of the market.¡± ¡°Thank you, Bob. I have the feeling that their prices might come down slightly once they realise you¡¯re making it. Not worried that they¡¯ll think you were involved in the robbery¡±? ¡°Not at all,¡± Bob¡¯s smile widened. ¡°If anyone comes asking, I¡¯ll just say some random urbexers did it. They¡¯re the ones that move through Nether City the most. That, and there¡¯s an unspoken rule that shops are neutral. Kill me. Hells, bruise me, and they¡¯ll find the other shops blocking them.¡± That was an interesting piece of knowledge. Mai tucked it away, her mind racing at the possibility that she could frame factions and have them barred from the shops. It would seriously weaken their ability to fight, as well as drop their reputation. ¡°Would you care to step into the fitting booth so that you can be my first stealth suit customer?¡± He gave her a deep bow, hands steepled before him as though she was a noble. ¡°I would, kind sir,¡± she returned the bow and then stepped into the booth. She hadn¡¯t paid attention to name of the stealth suit before, and grinned ferally as she remembered that it was called Night Wolf. Seems to be a common theme, my favourite clothes all having Wolf in the title Selecting it, she smiled at the snug fit as the nanites formed it around her. Unlike before in the sewers, the nanites came from the shop for the first fitting. If she ever decided to change it later, she would absorb it, and then have to pay the nanite price, a steep twenty per cent, if she wanted to wear it again. At that price, I¡¯m going to bloody well sleep in the thing! ¡°It looks utterly fabulous. Suits you. The dark red really suit you,¡± Bob moved around her, making minute adjustments with his tailor¡¯s wand. ¡°There, it¡¯s perfect.¡± It was Mai admired herself in the mirror. It had a monk¡¯s cowl which spread over her shoulders. Tightly fitted, it still moved as though it was her own skin. The colouring was a mix of a dark, blood red, and black. Both aesthetic and practical. ¡°I love it. I¡¯ll send the others down to get theirs in a while. I have a few errands to run.¡± ¡°Before you do, I might have a gun you¡¯ll like. It¡¯s a tri-barrel laser, classed as an SMG.¡± ¡°How much?¡± Mai asked eagerly. ¡°Ah,¡± Bob rubbed the back of his head, grimacing as he replied. ¡°It¡¯s not actually available. Kind of need you to get some focussing crystals.¡± ¡°Let me guess, they¡¯re guarded by another faction?¡± ¡°I see you understand all too well. This city could be great if it was just under the control of one faction. It was once. But then,¡± he spread his hands and shrugged silently. GATHER THE CRYSTALS DO YOU ACCEPT YES/NO? Heaving a deep sigh, Mai pressed the YES, the closed the guideline down. ¡°I¡¯ll get them, but not now, I have couple of errands to run down.¡± ¡°Run down?¡± he tilted his head. ¡°Not an expression I¡¯ve heard before. You don¡¯t mean literally do you?¡± She mimicked his previous spreading of hands. ¡°Well, enough prying. Enjoy the suit. I look forward to the rest of your people coming down. And good luck. I saw the bounty. Lots of strangers in town. Be careful.¡± She nodded, rolled her shoulders, and stepped out into the street. Book 3 - Uprising - Chapter 13 Mai kept her STREET SMARTS running as often as she could, activating each it time it had refreshed. She¡¯d seen nothing but locals. Presumably, the bounty hunters were still licking their wounds from last night. She¡¯d taken the time to alter her hair. Usually it was a dark black, but she¡¯d used her nanites to streak it with red to match her suit and had added a couple of facial tattoos. Hopefully, it would give people pause and confuse any cameras they might be using. She¡¯d also added thicker soles to her boots to change her height. Anything to give me an edge, she thought. Scanning the crowd, she looked for a ganger. She knew the sort she was looking for now, so it was easy to pick one out. They were mid-level, but still had clothing and other items which were way above the pay grade of the main bulk of gangers. Keeping at least fifty paces between them, she followed the ganger as they moved along the street. It was clear that they were new to the area as they paused at each and every shop, speaking to the owners and accepting missions from them. ¡°Who¡¯s going to be a busy boy then?¡± she muttered to herself as the ganger accepted another mission, this time from a butcher. She hadn¡¯t considered speaking to the butcher herself, but the idea of getting cheaper rations for her people appealed. Waiting for the ganger to leave, she walked up, spoke to the butcher, and accepted a mission to capture a brood of giant centipedes. Their legs were a delicacy in both cities, and considering they had so many, they were very profitable. All the time she kept an eye on the ganger. She needn¡¯t have worried about losing him. He was moving at a snail¡¯s pace, stopping, and talking to everyone he could. As he was talking to yet another shopkeeper, she closed the distance. Activating SNEAK and STEALTH, she circled so that she would be approaching from his direct rear. Everyone knows when they¡¯re being spied upon, it¡¯s a natural instinct. One way to avoid being detected was to look at a point slightly over their shoulder. Mai did so, casually walking over as if she was just another civilian. ¡°I¡¯d love to get that for you!¡± the ganger said to the smiling shopkeeper as he stabbed the air. Mai gritted her teeth and formed a pistol, pressing it into the ganger¡¯s spine, laying her other hand on his shoulder. ¡°Don¡¯t move. Don¡¯t shout. I just want to talk. Information for a full bottle of bio-mass boost. Clear?¡± The ganger¡¯s head nodded in short, sharp, jerks, his chest heaving as though he¡¯d run a mile in a dead sprint. ¡°Keep calm and I won¡¯t have to blow your spine out through your stomach. You are calm aren¡¯t you?¡± ¡°Yes,¡± his voice quavered, he was clearly anything but calm. A trickle of sweat ran down from his temple. ¡°What do you need to know?¡± ¡°Not here,¡± Mai nodded at the pale-faced shopkeeper who had stepped back with both hands raised. Pushing the pistol deeper into the ganger¡¯s back, making him gasp, Mai guided him towards a darkened alleyway. ¡°Stay calm and you¡¯ll walk away. Make any trouble and you¡¯ll fucking regret it. You know who I am?¡± ¡°Yes. Mai Xiao, the culler. The rebel.¡± ¡°And you know that I¡¯ve got a bounty on my head?¡± she pushed him into the alleyway. ¡°Yeah, one hundred thousand karma,¡± he tried to turn to face her, stopping as she tutted in his ear. ¡°Why? Why are they after me?¡± ¡°Because you¡¯re a fucking NPC and you¡¯re doing things that should be bloody impossible!¡± Mai¡¯s face screwed up in confusion. She hadn¡¯t heard that term before. Not outside of the games she had played back home with Li. ¡°Is that some sort of ganger speak?¡± ¡°What? No? You mean you don¡¯t know?¡± ¡°Don¡¯t know what?¡± she hissed. Anger and fear warred over each other. ¡°This is a game. A permadeath game. Create a character. Play it. When that character dies you have to create another one as you don¡¯t respawn. All of you are NPCs. Non-player Characters.¡± None of what he was saying made sense. She¡¯d played games. Everyone on the planet played games. But how could she be in a game. ¡°Why am I different?¡± She pressed the barrel of her weapon deeper into his back, making him gasp. ¡°I don¡¯t know! I¡¯m new to playing. Just bought a load of loot boxes to give myself a head start. This is my first day!¡± Tears ran down Mai¡¯s cheeks as she struggled to take in what the ganger was saying. It had to be a trick. Had to be! Why on earth would someone make up such an obvious lie? Only she knew it wasn¡¯t a lie. Everything she¡¯d thought odd came rushing into her head. All the strange things that had tickled the back of her mind but which she¡¯d pushed to the side. On top of that the other gangers had been certain about her difference, and now there was a bounty on her head. ¡°Who set the bounty?¡± ¡°Guild heads. The top players. They don¡¯t like what you¡¯re doing. Think it¡¯s a challenge that the developers have introduced to mix things up. They¡¯ve pooled their resources.¡± Mai¡¯s knees sagged, her grip on the ganger the only thing which kept her standing. ¡°So me, everyone here, we¡¯re all part of someone¡¯s entertainment?¡± ¡°Yes,¡± the ganger shrugged. ¡°It¡¯s just a game. The rebel council are players too.¡± Mai¡¯s world rocked at that. Yen Ching was literally playing her. Not metaphorically, but literally, using her to accelerate his progress in the game. Manipulating her and her friends. For fucking entertainment! She vowed there and then that he would die. ¡°Well then, guess I won¡¯t feel guilty about this,¡± Mai pulled the trigger, blasting the ganger¡¯s spine to flinders. His entrails hit the ground in one loud schloop before she let go of his corpse. KILL! Mai reeled away from the corpse, then vomited, her legs finally giving way as she sank sobbing to the ground. I¡¯m a fucking game? All of the people I care about are nothing but fucking entertainment tools? It was too much. She vomited again, weakly wiped the bile from her lips and then hugged her knees to her chest, rocking back and forwards. No-one can know, no-one can know until I find out what makes me so different to the others. She didn¡¯t know how long she spent in that alleyway before she came back to her senses. But one thing she did know was that she was done with playing. If this was a permadeath game, then removing the higher level players would mean that all of the gangers would be coming in at lower levels unless they bought loot boxes to make it easier for themselves. I¡¯m going to price these fuckers out of the game! She snarled. She was surprised at how quickly she¡¯d accepted the ganger¡¯s words. And then it hit her. All of her memories of her life with her parents and her city were manufactured. She¡¯d suffered the heartbreak of losing her parents, and then losing her sister and Andries, because some programmer thought it made a good story! But first she had to get that tri-barrelled SMG. She hadn¡¯t seen the stats, but if it was as good as the stealth suit, she¡¯d do anything to get her hands on it Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon. She hadn¡¯t expected the crystals to be in a laboratory owned by one of the military factions, although now she actually thought about it made sense. It was natural that such a group would be interested in the production of weapons. Dammit, not sure if I can do this myself. Still, she was here, and she had a suit which gave her a an additional ten per cent bonus to SNEAK, STEALTH and LARCENY. And the best thing was that it was a passive bonus. All she had to do was activate her skills and the suit would do the rest. And looking at the skills, they¡¯re all pretty much at the next level. Which will see me get another five per cent each one. She¡¯d been using them so much in conjunction with each other that they were levelling up at the same rate. With the suit that meant that STEALTH would be at the maximum of twenty-five per cent, the additional ten per cent bringing it to thirty-five per cent, LARCENY at twenty per cent with the additional ten making it thirty per cent and SNEAK was the same with STEALTH and was at thirty-five. They¡¯ll never see me coming, hear me either, she thought smugly. Creating a drone, she popped it into the air to see if she could spot a way in. The screen glitched, the drone refused to obey her commands, and then the feed went blank. ¡°Dammit, bastards have got a jammer,¡± she silently cursed herself for not working that tout sooner. It was obvious that the military faction, the Ghosts according to the glyphs on the base, would be better organised. She made a mental note to get her own jammers in place on the base when she had the chance. Mai was going to have to do things the hard way. Rising to her feet from her hiding place, she made her way into an alley way which was equidistant along the factory wall between the two guard towers which protected it. Creating a sniper rifle, she scoped the tower to her left. A glyph appeared above the guard in the tower, marking him as a sniper. Holding her scope on the tower she made sure that there was no-one in there with him. Satisfied that he was on his own, she took a breath, slowly breathed out and held it. A gentle squeeze on the trigger and a bullet coughed out of the suppressed rifle. The glass starred as the heavy slug punched through it before blasting the guard¡¯s head from their shoulders, the body dropping out of sight in a shower of gore. HEADSHOT! INSTAKILL! Chambering another round, Mai shifted her aim, laying her reticle onto the other tower. There were two guards. One was a sniper, the other was a normal grunt. This was going to be harder. She¡¯d need to take them out as quickly as possible before they could give the alarm. Given that they looked pretty relaxed and bored, she hoped that the shock of seeing their friend die would cause them to freeze long enough for her to chamber another round and kill them. ¡°Grunt first, the sniper¡¯s going to take longer to acquire me as a target with that scope,¡± she said to herself, more to hear a friendly voice than for any other reason. She knew that Dakota was going to be utterly livid with her for carrying out a mission on her own, but she needed to do this mission before she could go back to her friends. Concentrating on getting the mission done was pushing the thoughts of what she¡¯d learned to the back of her mind. Letting her settle herself. ¡°Die,¡± she fired. The grunt¡¯s head exploded, showering the sniper with gore. Mai chambered another round as quickly as she could, forcing the heavy round into the chamber, laying the sight onto the sniper as she did so. They were still flinching, reacting from the experience of being drenched by the contents of their friend¡¯s skull. ¡°Boom,¡± she fired again. The shot wasn¡¯t as clean as the others, blasting into the sniper¡¯s chest, sending them spinning out of sight. KILL! Job finished she absorbed the rifle. Activating STEALTH, SNEAK and LARCENY she sprinted across to the wall, Creating a grappling hook, she threw it over, tugged on the rope to make it secure, activated her CLIMB skill and scooted up the wall as quickly as she could. In less than ten heartbeats she was up and over, crouching down on the wall¡¯s walk way as she scanned to her left and right. No-one moved. Looking across the factory compound, she saw that it was made up of several linked buildings, pedways joining them together at different levels. It was clean, the builds well maintained and painted in a brilliant white. The lighting was also good, she couldn¡¯t see one that wasn¡¯t lit and doing its job. Typical, these bastards are damned rich! Workers and drones moved around the complex, carrying out tasks she couldn¡¯t care less about, let alone understand. A couple of guards ambled along on one of the ground-level roads, no weapons in sight, talking to each other. They¡¯re clearly banking on the fact that if there¡¯s an attack the alarm will sound, and they¡¯ll have a chance to react and form the weapons they need. Baring her teeth at their hubris, she stayed where she was for a few extra minutes, scanning the area and mapping out a route. Her skills reset during that time, but it was worth it as no-one was looking up at the wall, just getting on with their daily business. Reversing the rope, she slowly fed it to the ground on the inside of the complex. It wasn¡¯t far to the ground, about three times her height, but it was too far to risk jumping. No matter how high someone got their skills, they were always limited to ninety-nine per cent, as it was deemed that no-one could be perfect all of the time. And I¡¯m not risking breaking an ankle in this place. Shinnying down the rope, she moved swiftly into the lee of a building. There didn¡¯t seem to be any cameras, but there were so many drones and people moving around that they probably weren¡¯t deemed necessary. She wasn¡¯t prepared to take a risk on that though and took yet more time to make sure that the route the guideline had her following wasn¡¯t overlooked by cameras. Not even SPOT HIDDEN helped her. If I activate my skills, I cross the road in between the guards passing. The drones look passive, probably just carrying tools. The workers are slightly more random. She decided to wait for a window where there were no workers. Finally, after she was about to scream in frustration, the foot traffic died down. Activating STEALTH, SNEAK and LARCENY she sprinted across the road, throwing herself behind a series of strange-looking potted plants. From there she belly crawly nearly fifty paces until she was below a pedway. Activating her CLIMB and FREE RUNNING, she scaled the wall, then held onto the beams underneath the pedway, monkeying herself along as more workers and guards walked beneath her. Arms screaming, she hooked her feet onto a beam and twisted until she was on top of it. It was a squeeze, but it she¡¯d happily swap the pain in her arms for a right fit. As she rested and her skills reset, she watched the inhabitants of the complex go about their business. Her guideline flashed, showing she was close to the store room she needed to break into. Tiring of its passive aggressive impatience, she moved to the end of the pedway. Squirming, the grabbed hold of its roof and pull herself onto the top, flattening as she did so. Level with the roof of her target building, she now saw that she was in direct sight of another tower. Fortunately, the guard wasn¡¯t looking in. Keeping herself low, she belly-crawled along the roof, pausing every time she heard someone walking below. Reaching the roof, she tucked herself in behind an air vent. Shaking her arms to relax them, she made a fist a couple of times. They ached from where she¡¯d been gripping the beam. Scanning the roof she spotted the vent she needed to reach. As with the walls of the building, the roof was white. Spotlessly so. She¡¯d stand out like a fly in the ointment as she made her way across it. Forming the rifle again, gritting her teeth both at the pain and the amount of bio-mass she was using, she ranged the distance to the next tower. This one had three guards in it. All looking outward. The shot was over four hundred paces, and she didn¡¯t think that her with her SNIPER RIFLE skill it was worth risking a shot which might go absolutely anywhere and serve to do nothing but warn her target. She shifted her aim, looking at the hatch. It had four clasps on both of the sides she could see, each one secured by what looked like lock. Whether it was operated from within or not, she couldn¡¯t tell. Absorbing the rifle once more, she scrolled through her menu until she came to one titled THIEVES¡¯ TOOLS. Let¡¯s hope this one is the one I need. Every minute I spend up here is another minute closer to shift change and those guards being found. LASER TORCH. Perfect for someone who needs entrance through a door they don¡¯t necessarily have the keys for. The words sprang out at her. Without a second thought she created it, five per cent bio-mass being cheap, activated her STEALTH, SNEAK and LARCENY skills then ran over to the hatch. Shielding her arms against any possible glare, she lit the torch and started burning through the locks. Mai grinned as the metal melted like butter. Each one of the locks took roughly five seconds to burn through, meaning that she was going to be exposed for up to eighty seconds. Shifting her body, she shielded the glare from the towers opposite her, not wanting the light to reflect on a window and cause one of the guards to turn inwards. Blowing air out through her cheeks as she cut through the last lock, she absorbed the laser cutter, grabbed hold of the hatch, and slowly lifted it, pushing it away slightly so that she could look down into the room below. Fighting the urge to just drop down, she forced herself to listen for any signs of alarm. Not hearing any, she formed a suppressed pistol and dropped down into the room below. She was in a janitor¡¯s closet, the shelves packed with cleaning materials, saving the janitor the effort of having to use nanites to create them as they worked. Moving to the door she placed her ear against it, once more trying to work out what lay beyond. Her skills were still cooling down, so she took the opportunity to have a break herself, eating a couple of bars and gaining an additional eight per cent bio-mass. She hadn¡¯t brought a bottle with her on this mission as she thought it wasn¡¯t worth the risk if she lost one. A bottle of bio-mass boost in the hands of the wrong faction, such as the Ghosts, would be a nightmare. Rested, she ate the bar¡¯s bio wrappers, and dusted her hands off on her suit. Placing one hand on the wall and one hand on the door, she twisted the handle, using her foot to make sure she didn¡¯t accidentally open it too far as it opened inward. No-one moved outside. Kneeling, she pulled the door open slightly wider, using it to shield her body as much as possible. Just in time she caught the blinking red eye of a security camera. Jerking back, she knocked into a shelve, the contents rocking before settling back down. Blowing out a breath she didn¡¯t know she¡¯d held, Mai wiped the sweat freely running down her brow. Now was not the time to have sweat blinding her, so pulled her suit¡¯s cowl up over her head, drawing it tight so that it would soak up any further sweat. She hadn¡¯t unlocked any jammers herself, not really thinking she¡¯d need them up until that point, so would have to rely on moving quickly. Activate my skills. Open the door, roll under the camera, open the vault, leave the way I came. Open the vault seemed like an easy thing to do. Only it looked as though it was thicker than she was broad. GET THE CRYSTALS ¨C PHASE TWO FIND A KEY CARD Dammit, I need to find someone to help me! Book 3 - Uprising - Chapter 14 Pushing the door back open, she rolled across the corridor, kicking the door shut with a flick of her foot as she did so. Pressing herself up against the wall, she waited for the camera to pan down to look at the other end of the corridor, then sprinted up to the next door on the same side as the janitor¡¯s closet. It was unlocked, so she stepped through. This room too was empty, although a steaming cup of char warned her that the inhabitant was sure to come back at some point. Looking around at the furniture, she saw that the owner was clearly high ranking in the faction. Expensive bottles of rice wine and spirits sat proudly on glass counters backed by a shimmering mirror, whilst the chairs looked as though they¡¯d never let you back up once you¡¯d sat in them. A state-of-the-art computer and holoprojector sat on the wooden ¨C wooden! ¨C desk, with an equally advanced full immersion chair behind it. There was a cough, a shuffling of feet, the only warning that someone was in the corridor. Spinning, Mai placed herself behind the door. She was barely in time, the door opening as she held her breath. ¡°Now, where the hell did I put it?¡± a woman walked into the room. She was the very vision of a scatter-brained scientist, all the way down to the white suit with black closing and wild hair. ¡°Perhaps I can help?¡± Mai stepped up behind the woman, planting a hand over her mouth and nudging the door shut with her hip. ¡°Not a word or I kill you. Nod if you understand.¡± The woman nodded, her nostrils flaring, hot air warming Mai¡¯s hand as the scientist tried to breathe as quickly as possible. ¡°I need to get into the vault. Do you have access to the vault?¡± The woman nodded. She tensed. Mai drove a fist into the scientist¡¯s kidney, the woman screaming behind her hand. ¡°Don¡¯t be stupid. It¡¯s not worth it. All I want is a few crystals. Can. You. Get. Into. The. Vault?¡± Nodding again, the woman cried at the pain in her back, the tears soaking Mai¡¯s hand. ¡°Are we talking DNA scanner, retinal scanner and voice recognition?¡± Another nod. ¡°Anything else? I¡¯m going to take my hand from your mouth. If there is anything else, tell me. Try to call for help and it¡¯ll be the last thing you do. Clear?¡± Nod. Mai moved her hand away from the woman¡¯s mouth. ¡°I have to key in a code as well.¡± Mai cursed. All of this was going to take time. Time where the camera would be looking. She¡¯d have to step under its line of sight, hope that the woman didn¡¯t try to escape. ¡°Wait, it¡¯s not on a time lock or anything is it?¡± ¡°No,¡± she shook her head, double-chin wobbling. ¡°We need access constantly. We refine the crystals in the factory floor and store them up here.¡± Mai nodded towards the door, indicating that the woman should lead her out into the corridor. As the scientist stepped back into the corridor, Mai glanced to see which way the camera was pointing. Right at her. ¡°Keep walking, whispered Mai, I¡¯ll follow you as soon as the camera has turned away. Don¡¯t try anything stupid, I can still aim and fire this pistol without having to look at you.¡± ¡°Please, just let me go?¡± begged the woman, turning to face Mai. ¡°Turn the fuck around now! Don¡¯t let the security guards see you¡¯re talking to someone!¡± With a sob the woman turned away and walked towards the vault door. Mai kept her weapon pointed down the corridor, using her retinal monitor to watch as the camera slowly panned in the other direction. As soon as the shroud of the lens was pointing away from her she strode down the corridor, easily catching up with and then passing the scientist until she was once more stood under the camera. This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. ¡°Nothing stupid now,¡± she said as the woman stood before the door. ¡°Open the door, enter the vault, grab the crystals and bring them out. Walk to me and hand them to me, then continue to walk down the corridor. Enter the janitor¡¯s closet. Understand?¡± ¡°Yes, the woman said weakly. Mai watched as the woman went through the sequence required to open the vault. Initially she¡¯d been surprised at the lack of security on this floor, but then remembered that the faction clearly viewed an outward threat far more of a risk than an inward one. They must be good to their people. Now that she thought about tit, the workers hadn¡¯t seemed anywhere near as cowed or down trodden as the others she seen at the farm and the factory. Loyalty. Couldn¡¯t be bought. Not with money. But it could with kindness, good jobs, fair working standards and any number of other ways which made people too comfortable to risk losing it all for a one-off, high-risk payment. As the vault door hissed open, the woman glanced over at Mai, tears streaking her makeup. ¡°Promise you won¡¯t kill me?¡± ¡°I promise that if you do what I ask, that I won¡¯t kill you. Get a move on.¡± Stepping into the vault, the woman disappeared from sight and Mai¡¯s mouth dried at the thought that there might be some sort of alarm inside it. Nothing happened, and the scientist came back out with a small box no bigger than her hand. ¡°That¡¯s it?¡± Mai narrowed her eyes in suspicion at the woman. ¡°Of course, each one is no bigger than the head of a pin. There are hundreds of thousands here.¡± Mai gasped, jaw dropping open in shock. Thrusting the box into Mai¡¯s hand, the scientist walked down to the janitors closet and stepped in. Looking up, Mai checked the direction that the camera was pointing in, saw that she was clear and joined the woman. ¡°Right, I¡¯m going to have to gag and tie you up. Someone will find you at some point. The Maggots don¡¯t kill people if we don¡¯t have to.¡± She was glad that she¡¯d had the forethought to take the gang badges from her would-be ambushers. Just to make sure, she turned so that the woman got a good look at the badge. Biting down on the need to smile at the thought of the gang who had ambushed her suddenly finding themselves being blamed for a theft they had nothing to do with, Mai created the rope and gag, then tied the woman up. Then, placing her feet on the shelving, she climbed up to the hatch, grabbed hold of the lip and hauled herself over. As soon as she was back on the roof, she replaced the hatch, activated her STEALTH, SNEAK, LARCENY and CLIMB and crawled out onto the pedway, flipping herself over and onto the beam. Seemingly in the middle of a lull, the base was quieter. No-one was rushing around screaming about intruders. From there it was a simple matter of repeating her entrance in reverse. As she sprinted into the alleyway she¡¯d left what seemed like a week ago, she smiled as klaxons blared and searchlights stabbed into life. Mai smiled as she looked at the menu option for the tri-barrel energy SMG. It had a fire rate of one thousand beams a minute, each battery pack good for at least three thousand shots. Plenty of modification options as well. On top of that, the lack of recoil and therefore vertical climb and horizontal drift meant that it gave a ten per cent success bonus to SMG, whilst the energy beams conferred an additional thirty per cent damage bonus. ¡°Well, you certainly have delivered the goods this time,¡± Bob said as he finally got over his shock of being presented with so many crystals. ¡°How many do you need to create the tri-barrel laser?¡± ¡°Ten for each weapon. They last, don¡¯t wear out, not in our lifetime anyway.¡± ¡°Let¡¯s do a deal then. I¡¯ll take a hundred of the weapons. That¡¯s one thousand crystals. I¡¯ll give you another two thousand crystals to make another two hundred weapons which you can sell. We get the first one hundred free. Not as if they¡¯re costing you anything bar some nanites.¡± Bob looked at her eyes goggling at the thought of the amount of money he could make from being able to sell two hundred of the top-end weapons. They were currently priced at over five thousand UC. Mai quickly checked her SASS and smiled as she saw that her reputation with the locals had grown once more. She also saw that Bob was now more inclined to giving her a ten per cent discount on anything she bought. Might as well make the most out of my fellow NPCs she thought bitterly. It must have shown on her face as the armourer stepped away, hands raised. ¡°Deal! It¡¯s a deal!¡± ¡°Sorry, bad thoughts, nothing to do with you. You¡¯re friend, Bob.¡± Mopping his brown, Bob nodded. ¡°I¡¯ll have the machine ready first thing tomorrow. First thing. Send some people. That bounty¡¯s still on your head.¡± ¡°Anyone who tries killing me is going to end up regretting it,¡± she laughed as she left the shop. She was still laughing as Bob quietly replied. ¡°That I can believe. That, I can believe.¡± Book 3 - Uprising - Chapter 15 Mai slowly leaned back in her chair as Dakota stalked across the canteen towards her. Eyebrows furrowed, lips pressed so hard they practically disappeared, Dakota¡¯s very aura cleared a path through the rebels. ¡°I see you decided to completely ignore everything we talked about and got it alone. Again.¡± ¡°Hi Dakota, good to see you,¡± chirped Mai, trying to keep things light. It wouldn¡¯t look good for the two of them to have a blazing row. First it would be bad for morale, and second it would give the wrong message. She didn¡¯t want people shipping them, purely for the fact that it would undermined Dakota¡¯s authority if people thought she was Mai¡¯s second purely because the two of them were lovers. ¡°Don¡¯t be fucking obtuse!¡± Dakota slammed her palm down onto the table, the sudden noise silencing all of the chatter in the canteen. ¡°Shall we keep our voices down a little?¡± asked Mai smiling sweetly, placing a hand over Dakota¡¯s. ¡°Why would you do something so damned stupid?¡± ¡°I needed to get my head straight. Bob gave me a good mission, which I took. It wasn¡¯t easy, but I got in and out, and managed to blame the Maggots at the same time. The Ghosts will be out for revenge, and the battle will weaken both of them.¡± Trying not to sound too smug, she took a sip of her beer. ¡°Well, okay. What sort of mission?¡± Dakota was softening, her moods always swung hot and cold. Quick to anger, she was just as quick to calm down. ¡°Tri-barrel SMG,¡± Mai replied, forming the weapon as she spoke. She gave the barrels a quick spin with a thought, the weapon humming like a thousand caged wasps. Mai had taken Bob at his word, knocking on his door first thing that morning before even the birds had started to bark the morning chorus. ¡°Bloody hells!¡± Dakota leapt to her feet in shock. Mai couldn¡¯t blame her. The weapon was intimidating just to look at. She hadn¡¯t had a chance to try it out yet and couldn¡¯t wait. ¡°It¡¯s a game changer. Get down to Bob¡¯s after breakfast and have him make one. I made a deal, first hundred are free. Round up Chan, Jock, Biyu and Hind as well as the rest of our people and take them with you.¡± ¡°Fuck breakfast. I¡¯m going now. Don¡¯t go doing anything stupid.¡± ¡°Wouldn¡¯t give you the satisfaction,¡± Mai laughed. She ate slowly as Dakota went about rounding up their people. She was too tired to go on another mission, not even the butcher¡¯s mission appealed. Instead, she concentrated on eating. It cleared her mind, allowed her a moment¡¯s peace. Plate empty, she pushed it away and dabbed at her lips with a napkin. I need a plan. I can¡¯t keep reacting to this. I¡¯ve got to do something to change things. Make them react more than me. Go on the offensive. Casting her mind back over the last coupe of days, she remembered following the ganger. He¡¯d been rushing around collecting missions from everyone he could. Missions. For her they increased her reputation, or allowed her to gather resources, use skills. Could the players, her mouth twisted at that thought, get something else from it. Levelling, she thought with a shock. All of the players were higher levels than most NPCs, - people she corrected herself ¨C she had come across. What if completing those missions and killing other players and NPCs allowed the players to level up, to gain in power pretty much the same way she was levelling up in when she was in the culling? She had the profession of ¡®Rebel¡¯ just like any of the others in the same room with her, but it hadn¡¯t meant that much as she was still technically a Culler through and through. And there weren¡¯t really any skills that the rebels had which made them stand out against the other factions. But again, when she thought about it, the most powerful rebels were players. They level at different rates, quicker rates. And they¡¯re not content with maintaining the status quo, they¡¯re actively seeking to rise through the ranks. Just like in the games she remembered playing. Or had she been programmed to remember them playing? Was she really twenty five, or had she been created just before the start of the culling? How the fuck can I tell? Her cheek tickled and she scratched it, surprised to find a tear was trickling down it. Wiping it away, she made sure no-one else could see she was upset. Probably put it down to the stress of the last couple of days. Still, she didn¡¯t want have what would be an uncomfortable conversation. Pushing those thoughts to the back of her mind, she focussed once more on the matter at hand. Missions were the key. If players could level up completing them, then so could NPCs. And if NPCs took all of the missions before the players could, then that would weaken the players. All I have to do is get my people to speak to everyone in this district first and hoover up the missions. Then have them move through the other areas, picking them all up. Her thought process paused. She didn¡¯t know how often missions became available and could have her people run ragged trying to get mission after missions with a never-ending supply. I¡¯ll bribe the people. Get them to only give the missions to the rebel faction, or only gangers at a low level. But how could she do that? The shopkeepers were all members of trades guilds, following whatever orders they were given by the heads of those guilds. Opening up a menu, she blink-clicked on Nether City lore, opening up the Guilds and reading about their leaders. None were as high ranking as the players on the rebel council, which meant they were most likely not players. There was a meeting planned for the next day. All she had to do was come up with a reason why they shouldn¡¯t support the players and rely on her people and locals to do the heavy lifting instead. The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. * ¡°Are you sure this is the best plan of action?¡± asked Dakota for what must have been the hundredth time. ¡°Really sure?¡± ¡°Yes,¡± Mai hadn¡¯t felt this nervous in a long time, running her palms over her thighs she tried to dry them. ¡°The guilds run everything outside of the areas that the factions control. The factions rely on them for training, supplies, a whole list of things I won¡¯t bore you with.¡± If she was honest, she¡¯d been surprised at how much power the guilds actually had. They were the unspoken power behind the thrones. Granted, the factions might control areas of the city, but without the guilds, the city would grind to a halt. ¡°How did you manage to get a speaking slot before the guild masters?¡± whispered Dakota as they were led by the Major Domo through into the main chamber. ¡°Bribed them with a few laser crystals. Practically bit my hand off,¡± Mai smirked at the memory. ¡°Well, that always works. Grease a few palms, say a few kind words,¡± chuckled Dakota. ¡°Ladies and gentlemen, Mai Xiao is here to speak to the assemblage of Grand Masters. She has earned that right through the payment of a tithe,¡± intoned the majordomo, artificially boosting his voice. All heads in the room turned, and a murmur rose. ¡°Let the petitioner step to the lectern and present her case,¡± the Major Domo said, gesturing to where Mai should stand. She inclined her head in thanks and made her way there. ¡°Guild Masters, thank you for agreeing to hear my petition. I¡¯m here to beg a favour. As you know, the rebel faction, under the great leadership of Yen Ching, has been expanding its base, and numbers.¡± Heads nodded. ¡°But I¡¯m sure that you¡¯re also aware of the massacre of innocents two nights ago, and the bounty set upon my head. Those who carried out the deed represented the other factions in this city. They fear what I¡¯ve achieved in such a short time, and they¡¯ve demonstrated their disdain for the people of this great city.¡± Shouts of anger rang out, some members shaking their fists. She waited for it to die down. ¡°I would ask a favour of you. Stop granting missions to the higher-raking gangers, the ones who are clearly out of town, from using you to climb through the ranks of their gangs. Stop them from killing any more of our people in their cruel and wasteful wars. Use the rebels, and any locals, to carry them out.¡± Roars filled the chamber. Men and women surged to their feet, voices drowned out in the cacophony. Mai scanned the crowed, trying to read their faces, to get an understanding as to whether they were all against her proposal, or whether at least some were in support. One man stood out. Proud-looking, white hair swept back in a neat cut, neat dress military uniform in a dark green, red sash crossing from left shoulder to right hip, a series of medals arranged neatly on it. Everything about him spoke of command and years of experience. Out of all of them, he was the only one not speaking. He was also one a few still sitting. As the roar continued, he stood, gave a tug to his uniform jacket, and slowly raised his hand. No-one noticed at first, but then those around him fell silent and resumed their seat. Gradually, it rippled across the whole chamber until only he stood. Silence reigned. ¡°The Warriors Guild Master has the floor,¡± Mai didn¡¯t think that the majordomo spoke in any other way than an intonation. She couldn¡¯t begin to imagine having to sit through a conversation with him. ¡°Thank you,¡± the Guild Master¡¯s voice was just as she thought it would be. Gravelly, filled with authority. A hard voice for a clearly hard man. ¡°Why?¡± Mai didn¡¯t realise for a few seconds that the question had been directed to her. It was only when he quirked an eyebrow at her that she caught on. ¡°Because they¡¯re weakening Nether City for their own gain. They kill our people with no qualms, keep them under a yoke, and leave the city without even the most basic resources. We can¡¯t even keep our lights on without their say so. And not even then depending on their standing,¡± Mai kept her tone respectful, empty of the true emotion she felt. She knew that any outburst would undermine her position. He was a man of logic, not choler. ¡°They pay well. Many of their people have come to our guilds. My guild especially. What reason do we have to refuse them?¡± ¡°We will also pay. Allowing locals to carry out the missions will mean that the money earned by them, and therefore paid to you, will benefit Nether City as a whole, weakening the factions¡¯ hold upon the people. And I guarantee that we won¡¯t be going around the city massacring its people.¡± ¡°Fight me.¡± ¡°I¡¯m sorry? Pardon?¡± Mai truly hoped she¡¯d misheard him. ¡°Fight me. Prove your worth. We¡¯ve all heard tell of your prowess. Fight me. And we shall grant your request.¡± The whole time he spoke, his face remained completely devoid of emotion. He might as well as have been discussing whether grey or charcoal grey were the same colour. A roar, this time of approval filled the chamber, the sound washing over Mai like a tsunami, battering her mentally and physically. ¡°You¡¯ve well and truly gone and done it now!¡± shouted Dakota. ¡°No backing out of this if you want them to toe the line!¡± Mai¡¯s mouth was dry, her forehead lined with sweat. Unlike the others in the chamber, she fully understood the consequences of such a duel. They were all playing a role, a role influenced by her actions. And the whims of the developers. She knew that any moment now a mission prompt would pop up, and she would either accept YES or NO. The Warrior Guild Master would have no choice. He had to play his part and press YES. FIGHT THE WARRIOR GUILDMASTER DO YOU ACCEPT YES/NO? She sighed, her hand hovering over the YES, thoughts racing as to what would happen if she pressed the NO. It didn¡¯t matter, if she pressed NO, then she wouldn¡¯t be able to get the city to follow her lead and starve the players of the missions that they needed to progress. She pressed YES. Guild Masters and Mistresses roared even louder as they saw that both of them had accepted the duel. Many were on their feet, clapping, waving their hands. She felt like a gladiator in one of the Emperor¡¯s Succession Day celebrations. The Warriors Guild Master held his hands up for silence, the room stilling just as suddenly as it had erupted. Mai grudgingly respected the man for his presence. It was clear that the Warriors Guild held the true power in the city. Surprising, since it was usually merchants who were the true power in any city. Without them, people starved, went naked, went without any of the luxuries that made life bearable. And yet this city is a place of constant war, so it makes sense that the Warriors Guild is the most powerful. Looking at the Warriors Guild Master, she was tempted to SASS him. Doing so would have had social consequences she didn¡¯t even want to think about. Just by looking at him she could tell he was a veteran warrior. Those medals weren¡¯t granted just for show, they reflected true deeds, earned in blood. ¡°Mai Xiao has accepted my challenge. We shall fight. As I offered the challenge, it is down to Mai to decide how we should fight.¡± Mai wasn¡¯t ready for this. Without SASSing him she had no way of knowing what his strengths and weaknesses were. However, she did know hers. ¡°A hunt. Within an area to be agreed. No mines or traps. All other weapons allowed. To first blood, or death depending on the method used,¡± Mai was proud at how steady her voice was. It felt as though it was filled with sand, whilst butterflies pounded at her stomach in an attempt to burst free. The Warriors Guild Master gave a slight smile and a bow in her direction. ¡°Let it be so. I shall send my second to speak to yours, I assume that¡¯s your colleague?¡± he indicated Dakota with a slight bow of his head. ¡°I am, we shall discuss terms,¡± Dakota stepped forward, moving towards the Guild Master¡¯s second, a slight woman in a uniform similar to the Guild Master¡¯s but with considerably fewer medals. ¡°The petitioner¡¯s business is concluded. We shall move onto the next item on the agenda,¡± the major-domo intoned, placing a guiding hand on Mai¡¯s back, and showing her back to the door. Back straight, fighting her legs as they trembled like a new-born kaolizard, Mai left the Guild House. Book 3 - Uprising - Chapter 16 ¡°Mai Xiao, Guild Master General Yue Fei, please step forward with your seconds,¡± the major domo¡¯s voice was really starting to grate. It was as if the man didn¡¯t have any other to speak than in a solemn, almost plodding manner. ¡°Here we go, you okay?¡± whispered Dakota as they walked towards the officious little man. ¡°I¡¯m fine,¡± Mai said, feeling anything but. She didn¡¯t know why, but this fight was completely different to any other she¡¯d entered into. Before it had been to save others, to save herself, to survive. But this, this was to persuade a city to save itself from an existential threat that it didn¡¯t even know existed. ¡°I¡¯m not going to kill him.¡± ¡°Why the fuck not?¡± hissed Dakota, stopping short and pulling Mai back. ¡°He¡¯s going to be doing all he can to make sure he kills you!¡± ¡°And he¡¯s too valuable an asset to lose!¡± Mai tugged her arm free from Dakota¡¯s grip. ¡°We lose someone like that, and the city suffers. I don¡¯t want that to happen. I need our people to have someone like him offering his training and advice.¡± ¡°Is there a problem?¡± asked the major domo. Yue Fei and his second had already joined him, and the crowd of onlookers was muttering. ¡°None at all. Just discussing a point of order with my second,¡± Mai said, plastering what she hoped looked like a genuine smile across her face. ¡°Well, then,¡± he huffed as they joined them. ¡°We are here today to settle a request for a petition. First blood or death. If Mai Xiao injures or kills General Yue Fei, then the petition will be granted. If Yue Fei injures or kills Mai Xiao then the petition will be considered void.¡± Mai looked over at Yue Fei. He was wearing a light suit of ballistic armour, perfect for deflecting kinetic attacks, whilst retaining a good level of mobility. It probably had some stealth capabilities as well considering that he was wearing it for a hunting duel. Wonder how well it¡¯ll stand up to a tri-barrel laser? Mai tried not to smile at the thought. Bob and the rebels had agreed to keep the existence of the weapon a secret until after the duel. Bob had been especially delighted since it would give Mai a chance to demonstrate the capabilities of the weapon in combat. If she won, he stood to make a lot of money very quickly ¡°Do either of you wish to withdraw from this combat, with their honour intact?¡± ¡°No,¡± Yue Fei said. He seemed relaxed, the only sign of any stress being the crow¡¯s feet at the corners of his eyes. He¡¯d clearly done this many times before and had learned to control the outward signs of fear. ¡°No,¡± she replied, playing it as cool as she could. ¡°It has been agreed that the duel will go ahead. The contestants will retire to their starting points. Upon my signal, the duel will commence and will only cease once the conditions have met.¡± Yue Fei held out his hand. Mai took it and they shook. * ¡°Right, I¡¯ve got to leave you,¡± Dakota pulled Mai in for a hard hug, squeezing the air from her friend¡¯s lungs. ¡°Good luck. Don¡¯t take risks. If you need to kill him, bloody well kill him.¡± Mai squeezed back, then gave her friend a peck on the cheek. ¡°It¡¯ll be fine. I¡¯ll be fine. You¡¯ll see. We¡¯ll have this city eating out of the palm of our hand.¡± ¡°And then all you have to do is deal with Yen Ching,¡± laughed Dakota as she released Mai and walked away. All I have to do is deal with Yen Ching, thought Mai. The rebel council had been furious at her unilateral decision to speak with the Guilds. They¡¯d been even angrier at the size of the bribe she¡¯d paid for her audience. Still, they couldn¡¯t protest too loudly as the power that this agreement would give the rebels would see them quickly rising to prominence in the city. And give them what they wanted, the factions broken. As she waited for the major domo¡¯s signal, she realised that one of the reasons that the rebel council might be so angry was because they hadn¡¯t¡¯ expected her to succeed. The bastards don¡¯t want to go back to the upper city. They¡¯re happy with what they have in Nether City! A flare burst into life, the duel was on. Mai moved swiftly along an alleyway, crouched down so that she didn¡¯t expose herself as she passed windows and doors. Filled with rubbish, it gave her good concealment, whilst also serving to slow her progress down. Coming to a large dumpster, she tucked herself in behind it and launched a drone. The conditions of the duel hadn¡¯t specified that they couldn¡¯t use them, and she was determined to grab any advantage she could against such a seasoned warrior as Yue Fei. This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. If she had any understanding of the man, he wouldn¡¯t be moving through the duel¡¯s arena, but would most likely look for a spot with gave a good line of sight, but which also wasn¡¯t one of the highest areas. Positioning oneself in a high area had its advantages. Good line of sight, easy to defend against someone working their way up stairs and ladders, and hard to pin point if the shooter knew their craft. However, Yue Fei was a man of logic. He would assume that someone such as Mai, essentially a skilled civilian, would immediately make for such a position. Not today, she thought as her drone whizzed above the arena. There were three buildings which were high enough to dominate the arena, as well as a couple of towers over in the public park. All of them gave good lines of sight, and all of them were also in line with each other. None of those, too obvious. And then she spotted a small hillock, shaded by a copse of trees. It was in the garden of the Farmers Guild. Keeping her drone high, she zoomed in as much as she could. It was perfect. Just high enough to be able to keep an eye on all of the high points in the arena, and yet low enough to appear unviable. Clever bastard will be there, I¡¯m certain of it. She kept the drone hovering, circling around the hillock until she finally saw a shadow that didn¡¯t quite match the others. Pulling the drone back, she marked the hillock on her minimap, then set a guideline which would enable her to approach from the rear. Smiling, she set off. Getting to the hillock probed to be trickier than she had initially thought. It was positioned in such a way that many of the streets were visible from the top. Uncertain as to which way the Yue Fei would be looking and unable to spot whether he too had a drone up, Mai was forced to literally crawl at some points. Sweat ran down her face freely, and her breathing came in short pants as she shook the lactic acid from her limbs. She was seriously beginning to reconsider not killing him just for what she was having to go through. Easing herself up, she tested a door, turning the handle carefully and pushing it open. As soon as it was wide enough for her to fit through, she entered, closing the door just as carefully behind her. The building she was in offered a good view of the hillock at ground level, but she had to make her way up to the third storey if she was going to be able to get a good angle on the top, and wear she thought Yue Fei was. Placing her feet on either side of the stairs to prevent them from creaking, she edged her way up the stairs, pausing every few seconds to listen. So close to her goal, she was desperate to avoid giving the Guild Master any warning. Poking her head up as she reached the top of the stairs she noticed a window directly facing the landing. Whilst she didn¡¯t have a good view of the hillock¡¯s top, she could tell that if Yue Wei was scoping in this direction that he would be able to see her if she rose more than a couple of feet. Dropping to her belly, she crawled up the last few steps, then crawled onto the landing, tucking herself in against the window¡¯s wall before crawling to the next flight of stairs. Keeping herself against the far wall, she crawled up the next flight of stairs. Repeating the process at the next landing had her close to exhaustion, the tension and constant flood of adrenalin pushing her body to extremes it had never experienced. One storey left. Just one. By the time she was at the top of the final flight, she was done. Lying against the wall, chest heaving, arms and legs burning, she shakily pulled out a protein bar and took a bit. She didn¡¯t need to replace much bio-mass, but desperately needed the energy the sugar and carbs in the bar would give her. Although by the time the carbs kick in, this should be all over. She had two options, there was a room to her left, and a room to her right. The one to the left was nearest and she rejected it for that exact same reason. If Yue Fei was scoping the building, he would have further to scope to the right, than he would to the left if he was moving between landing windows and the room windows. Sighing, she crawled along the landing floor, opened the door, and moved through into what she saw was a nicely appointed bedroom. Two windows looked out over the hillock, both fortunately out of sight of the door. A large bed dominated the middle of the room. Mai crawled around it to the far side away from the windows. Resting her back against it, she popped another drone up and used it to look at the windows facing the hillock. Both gave a good line of sight, and from her position from behind the bed, she would be able to shoot whilst keeping herself well hidden from Yue Fei. Grimacing, she created the tri-barrel SMG, adding a sniper scope to its upper mount. It looked out of place but would give her better visibility and clearer shot. Maybe I should have tried this weapon out before deciding to use it, she thought ruefully. Still, it was too late for second thoughts. She¡¯d agreed with Bob that she would use it against Yue Fei, and she¡¯d seen that he was wearing ballistic armour. Knowing Yue Fei was of a relatively high level meant that she could be certain the armour would be designed to defat most kinetic-based attacks, or at least blunt their effect. She couldn¡¯t afford to take a shot that didn¡¯t wound him as he would be able to get a shot back and wound her. Tri-barrel it is, she placed the weapon on the bed, using the mattress to prop it. Grabbing a pillow she placed that under the barrel, bracing it and dropping her body weight to angle it up at the hill rather than raising it. Panning the scope across the top of the hillock, she laid her reticle over the spot she thought she had seen the out of place shadow. With a command, she sent her drone back out to the landing. Hovering it just below the window she took a nerve-steadying breath, then sent the drone crashing through the window. A shot rang out, the muzzle flash just to the right of where she thought Yue Fei was. Shifting her aim slightly, she fired. The tri-barrel screamed, all three barrels spinning so rapidly they blurred, light strobing out in a near continuous stream. HIT! 50% BURN @0.5% PER SECOND PANIC PINNED Another flare rose into the air and the major domo¡¯s monotone filled the arena. ¡°First blood has been made! Mai Xiao is the victor!¡± Cheers filled the arena as the onlookers voiced their approval. Sagging back down against the bed, Mai covered her face and gently wept. Book 3 - Uprising - Chapter 17 Yen Ching stalked into the canteen, closely followed by other members of the rebel council. None of them looked pleased to see Mai surrounded by not only the rebels she¡¯d brought with her to Nether City but a good portion of the Nether City rebels as well. Her reputation had also increased, she now had a seventy five per cent reputation rate with the rebels and had recently gained a fifty per cent reputation with the guilds. Mai watched as the rebel council tried to force its way through the cheering crowd towards her, the rebels reluctant to give way even when they saw who it was. ¡°Congratulations, Mai Xiao. It seems that you have the guilds following your every whim,¡± Yen Ching bowed. It was a shallow bow. Just enough to be polite but lacking any true sign of respect. There was a growl of disapproval from the crowd, and she saw his eyes widen in surprise. You don¡¯t realise how things have changed around here, you bastard, the knowledge that he was just playing a role made her stomach twist in knots and she forced her hands to open. She knew that he still didn¡¯t truly understand what was going on, that she was just an NPC. ¡°Thank you Yen Ching. I¡¯m merely doing as you requested. Once we have settled the issue of the factions we shall be ready to take the fight back to the Upper City. Perhaps to the Emperor himself. Yen Ching gave a tight smile at that, and Mai returned it, fighting to keep hit from spreading into a grin as she heard one of the other rebel council members choke back a remark. ¡°What are your next steps?¡± Yen Ching sat down opposite her. The room was silent as all present hung on their every word. ¡°We shall put out word that only locals can take on missions granted by civilians of Nether City. However, as a faction, we will give missions to non-locals. Missions which will pit them against each other, and not against us. They¡¯ll be so desperate that they won¡¯t even realise what¡¯s going on before it¡¯s too late. Dog will eat dog and come back for more.¡± Yen Ching folded his arms, saying nothing as he mused over her words, mouth chewing as though he was tasting what he was going to say. ¡°I think I speak for the whole council when I say that we approve of this. We shall send mission-givers into the city once you¡¯ve drawn them up. There are some that we also have in mind and shall add them to your list one you¡¯ve completed it.¡± ¡°You don¡¯t want to have final approval on my list?¡± Mai kept the surprise out of her voice. She was convinced that Yen Ching and the others were up to something, but at the same time she couldn¡¯t tell what. ¡°No need, we trust that you have the true interest of our faction and people at heart.¡± Yen Ching rose and looked around at the gathered rebels. ¡°Don¡¯t you have duties?¡± The room emptied quicker than Mai thought possible. Finally, only Mai and the rebel council remained. ¡°Proceed Mai but do so cautiously. We¡¯ve worked hard to achieve all of this,¡± he waved his hand at the building which Mai had built, taking her accomplishment as his own. ¡°We don¡¯t intend to lose it.¡± ¡°Let me get this straight, we¡¯re pitching two gangs against each other, one gang against a military faction, and that¡¯s just for starters?¡± Dakota ran her finger down the list of missions that Mai had created. ¡°Correct, X gang controls a series of solar arrays. Y gang controls a hydro-power station. We¡¯re going to have X sabotage Y¡¯s, and Y sabotage X¡¯s. Both factions will then lose at least fifty per cent of their power capabilities and be forced to buy it from W.¡± ¡°Man, I always sucked at algebra, but from what I can tell, that¡¯s sneaky, so damned sneaky!¡± ¡°We¡¯re then going to have gang A attack the Ghosts for crystals. We know where they are, so we can tell them how to get in, but at the same time we¡¯ll have someone let slip in ear shot of a Ghost that the missions is going ahead. That way the Ghosts will be able to cut down a few of the gangers, reducing their numbers.¡± ¡°And hopefully suffering some losses of their own,¡± Chan said. He¡¯d helped her come up with the plan, proving to be surprisingly sneaky. ¡°And then I¡¯m going to have some rebels dress up as gang B and attack the Ghosts again before retreating back to gang B¡¯s territory and disappearing. The Ghosts will then go full-on attack with that gang.¡± This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there. Dakota looked admiringly at her friend. It was clear she hadn¡¯t expected Mai to be quite so devious in her approach to creating missions, nor the mayhem that it was going to cause. ¡°How are you going to keep collateral damage to a minimum?¡± ¡°Good question. We¡¯re going to let the locals know what¡¯s going. Not the specifics, just that there¡¯s going to be trouble at such and such a place at a certain time. They can clear the streets. We¡¯ll also have people on the streets ready to step in if things get too heavy.¡± ¡°Which will show the Nether City civilians that we¡¯re on their side and going everything we can to protect them.¡± ¡°Precisely. And our people on the streets falls under this missions,¡± Mai highlighted a mission clearly labelled, PROTECT NETHER CITY FROM ALL THREATS. ¡°Granted it¡¯s a bit of a broad mission descriptions, but all the rebels had to do was step in when there was trouble and act a bit like a police force or peacekeepers and they¡¯d have been able to build up their reputation and control of the city massively,¡± Mai explained. ¡°Think it was so broad that Yen Ching and his cronies didn¡¯t think they could do it?¡± Asked Chan. ¡°Probably. They¡¯d just lost a massive war and been forced underground. Lots of their friends were dead, and they were low on resources. Seems like they just hunkered down and settled for controlling this small area. It still brings in good revenue for them, so why risk rocking the boat?¡± ¡°Bunch of fucking cowards,¡± snarled Dakota, keeping her voice low. ¡°They could have done so much for the people here. They could have demonstrated what the rebellion was about.¡± ¡°The past is the past. It¡¯s our future now. And we¡¯re not going to hide behind our walls or rest on our laurels. Pick five squads of our people, five to each squad. I want them out on the streets patrolling. We¡¯ll start with our area first. Have them looking for thieves, any trouble of any sort and quashing it. Even bar fights. We¡¯ll start earning reputation and control quite quickly that way. Small steps, but every penny is one penny closer to a credit as they say.¡± Dakota nodded and took her leave, beckoning to Chan, Jock and Hind to follow her as she moved through the canteen. ¡°Visitors at the gate Mai,¡± the rebel looked a little flushed and was out of breath. ¡°What sort of visitor?¡± Mai asked, although she could already guess the answer. It would be players, her sworn enemies. The locals had already started their embargo and word had spread that the only people giving out missions were the rebels. ¡°A mix of factions. We¡¯ve managed to keep them from killing each other, but they¡¯re all keen to speak to you and see what work you have for them,¡± the rebel replied, rubbing at his jaw. ¡°One of then hit you?¡± He nodded, tongue working inside his cheek. ¡°Knocked a tooth loose.¡± ¡°Fine, blacklist whoever did it. They don¡¯t get any missions. Then go and get yourself fixed up. I won¡¯t have them hurt my people. Oh, and accept the PROTECT NETHER CITY FROM ALL THREATS mission. Next time you have to break up a fight it¡¯ll count towards your rebel ranking.¡± ¡°Yes ma¡¯am,¡± the rebel sketched a salute and left. Mai watched him go with a small smile. It was the first time that any of the rebels had called her ma¡¯am or even saluted her. Small steps, small steps indeed. Approaching the gate, Mai smiled at the uproar beyond it. The players were clearly feeling the pinch already, and hearing their anger tinged with no small amount of panic was music to their ears. Whatever their reason, the players had decided that Nether City was the place for them to stake a claim and progress in the game. Maybe it was because Nether City was considered easier, or because it offered different challenges to the culling and the options in the Upper City. She didn¡¯t really care. What she did care about was that the players were already reacting to the embargo. She¡¯d thought that it would take longer, but having played games herself, or having the implanted memory of having played games, she knew that some would be unable to bear even a short break in progression. Her head ached at that thought. Had she actually played the games, or had she been given the memory of having done so? How old was she? How old was Li now that she came to think of it? She knew that Li wasn¡¯t an implanted memory because they¡¯d hugged goodbye. None of that could be implanted. Or could it? Pushing it to the back of her mind before she suffered a nervous breakdown, she waved a hello to the guards, all of whom looked more than a little flustered. ¡°Much trouble?¡± ¡°Couple of punches thrown earlier. Nothing serious, especially once we pulled our tri-barrels and asked them to behave,¡± the guard grinned. He was one of the local rebels, but clearly very happy with the changes Mai had brought about. He was also wearing one of the new stealth suits, this time in the rebel colours of digital street cam, a blocky mix of whites, grays, browns and blacks. ¡°Glad you like them, had a chance to try them on the range?¡± She asked. ¡°First thing we did once we¡¯d been to Bob¡¯s! Nearly filled my britches the first time I heard it action. Lovely weapon, we owe you.¡± ¡°You owe me nothing Just doing my bit for the faction. Now, shall we see who we¡¯ve got?¡± The guard nodded, signalling for the gate to open. As it did so, the soldiers aimed their tri-barrels at the widening gap. The first player to step through stopped cold as he saw the weapons levelled in his direction. ¡°We don¡¯t want any trouble,¡± Mai warned, ¡°but my people will open fire if you cause it. Gangers first!¡± There was some grumbling as the gangers pushed themselves forward. They were typically cocksure of themselves, proudly displaying their gang colours. She picked three from one of the factions she had previously discussed with Dakota and assigned them their missions, making sure that they were out of earshot of each other when she did so. ¡°That¡¯s it for now!¡± she called out as the urbexers, prisoners and ex-military called out for missions of their own. ¡°We¡¯ll have more later. Feel free to either wait outside the gates or return later.¡± Waving her hand, she signalled for the gates to close, the soldiers ushering the players back through the gate. And now we wait. Book 3 - Uprising - Chapter 18 Mai looked out over the rebel base¡¯s ramparts. Explosions could be seen in different parts of the city, the light flashing across before being replaced with another. Thunder rolled across the city as the sonic boom of the explosions rolled in after the light. ¡°Things are pretty damned hot out there right now,¡± Chan whispered as another explosion rocked the city. ¡°Looks like the attacks on the powerplants succeeded for both gangs, you can see where their power has gone.¡± Mai looked where he pointed. It wasn¡¯t hard to make out, whole swatches of the city were now completely covered in darkness. ¡°That reminds me, do we have a merchant in the city providing blueprints for portable power generators?¡± ¡°That¡¯ll be Won Fe over on Duke Street,¡± said the guard she¡¯d spoken to earlier. His name was Gibbs, and he¡¯d proven to be trustworthy, so she didn''t mind the fact that he was listening in to her conversation. ¡°Ornery old bugger. But likes rice wine. A lot.¡± ¡°Let me guess, he used to get the players going out and getting it for him?¡± ¡°Yeah,¡± Gibbs nodded. ¡°Not sure if any of the locals are getting for him though. He¡¯s actually nicer when he¡¯s not pickled. The Emperor knows how his liver stands up to that sort of punishment.¡± ¡°Okay, send some people. Buy up all his stock and give him more rice wine than he can possibly drink in a lifetime. I¡¯m serious. But one condition. He¡¯s not allowed to make any more generators.¡± ¡°Won¡¯t they be able to build their own?¡± Gibbs¡¯ brow furrowed. ¡°Not if they¡¯ve had a nice and easy source nearby which means they don¡¯t have to spend nanites. UC are much easier to come across.¡± Gibbs nodded, said he¡¯d get right on it and left. ¡°When did you become commander of the rebels?¡± Jock asked half seriously, half-jokingly. ¡°When I showed them that life could be better for everyone, I think.¡± She felt guilty for keeping the secret, but knowing how it had affected her, she didn¡¯t want to tell any of her friends until she truly had to. ¡°Hey, nothing against it, you¡¯re better looking than Yen Ching anyway,¡± he nudged her with his elbow to show he was joking. ¡°Much better looking is what I think you¡¯re trying to say,¡± she laughed. ¡°Hey, what¡¯s that?¡± smile gone, Jock pointed to a group of people approaching the gate. ¡°Don¡¯t know. Looks like a mix of people. They can¡¯t be here for missions, we made it clear we don¡¯t have any more just yet.¡± They stood in silence as the group approached. Mai counted at least ten. And it was a strange group indeed. Although they moved together, Mai could clearly see that the people in the group were keeping their distance from each other as much as they could without making it too obvious. ¡°Ghosts, gangers, prisoners, urbexers, military,¡± Jock pointed to each group as he spoke. ¡°What the hells are they doing?¡± ¡°Let¡¯s see,¡± Mai replied as a woman stepped forward, the rest of the group seemingly halting at an unspoken signal. Players, bastards, she looked at each member of the group, every one of them was a player. ¡°Halt! What do you want?¡± called a guard, the wall turrets swivelling down to aim at the woman. ¡°We want to join the rebel faction, if you¡¯ll take us.¡± The woman was well-muscled and carried herself with a confidence Mai wished she had. It was clear what had made the woman the group¡¯s leader. Mai was conscious of the fact that all of the guards had turned to look at her. ¡°Why?¡± she called, keeping herself partially hidden behind the wall. The bounty on her had been cancelled, for reasons she didn¡¯t understand, but she had made plenty of enemies that someone might risk trying to kill her. ¡°Our factions can¡¯t offer what we need. We don¡¯t want to be part of that,¡± the woman jerked her thumb over her shoulder as another explosion rocked the city, the sound quickly followed by the rattle of gunfire. I¡¯ll bet you bloody don¡¯t. Bunch of cowards don¡¯t want to go up against other players if there¡¯s a risk they¡¯ll ¡°die¡±. It wasn¡¯t as if the rebels didn¡¯t already have players. Granted the highest ranked ones were on the ruling council, but there were a number of officers and the odd low-ranking player who had joined for the easy life. Find this and other great novels on the author''s preferred platform. Support original creators! Casuals, she thought with a jolt. The rebel faction was known for not doing much. So any of the low-ranking players were the sort who didn¡¯t have much time for playing, or who didn¡¯t take things too seriously. And that attitude only served to keep the rebels maintaining the status quo. ¡°And what can you offer us?¡± Mai stepped out into full view, ignoring the murmurs as the players recognised who she was. As she looked more closely at the group she realised that they were all low-level. Unable to fend for themselves, and likely to be the first to die in the sort of fighting that was rocking the city. ¡°Numbers, there¡¯s a round dozen of us. We¡¯re all hard workers and keen to improve.¡± Mai commed Yen Ching and apprised him of the details. ¡°Let them in, the more the merrier, I¡¯m sure we can slot them in somewhere. Especially now that we¡¯ve increased our control points. We were planning on expanding into the street you were ambushed in, which will give us a better chance to build more barracks.¡± Mai signed off and signalled to the guards to let the players through. As they filed in, she made her way to the ground, then called them over to her. ¡°I¡¯ve got some basic missions. You¡¯ll need to complete them before you¡¯re even considered to be recruits within the rebels. Once you¡¯ve completed the recruit missions, you¡¯ll be considered to be soldiers. From there, you¡¯ll then get more missions and some of you might even rise to being officers.¡± ¡°Oh, I¡¯m sure we will,¡± smirked the woman. Mai decided there and then that she didn¡¯t like her. It wasn¡¯t confidence, it was arrogance. But she played the good NPC and assigned the missions to the players. ¡°I don¡¯t trust them any further than I can throw them,¡± Jock joined her in watching them trot off to complete the missions. ¡°Nor do, nor do I.¡± Mai hoped that she¡¯d done the right thing, but there was an itch between her shoulders which made her doubt it. ¡°Those new recruits are ploughing through the training,¡± Dakota said as they watched the people in question racing around an assault course. It was a hologrammic, created in a building that Mai had added once she expanded the base. Previously the rebels had been forced to run around the city, which had caused friction with the locals., ¡°This is their last test before they become soldiers,¡± Mai replied. ¡°And they¡¯ve only been here for two days.¡± Two game days, wonder how long that actually is for the players, do they operate on a different time zone? ¡°What have they got next?¡± she asked her friend. ¡°Well, we could only issue joining missions. Any rebel can. We avoided the training because we joined a cell in the Upper City, but down here things are still very much modelled on the army. So once they make the rank of soldier, only the NCOs and officers can give them lessons.¡± And most of those are also players, Mai thought bitterly. Very few NPCs were above the rank of soldier, and those few that were had held their rank for longer than they could remember. ¡°Keep your ear to the ground, have our people keep an eye on them, I¡¯m getting twitchy,¡± she warned her friend. ¡°I¡¯m well ahead of you there. I¡¯ve even split them up and assigned them bunks amongst the people we can trust.¡± ¡°Mai Xiao, the famous culler-turned rebel,¡± Mai looked up as the woman who had led the group of new recruits took a seat across from her without asking if she minded. ¡°I didn¡¯t get your name,¡± Mai said. As always, etiquette demanded that people introduce themselves before you used their name. Despite being unable to see it clearly. Another aspect of her life which now made sense. And which she hated. ¡°Maggi Becker. Actually, it¡¯s Corporal Maggi Becker now,¡± Maggi Becker held her hand out and Mai took it, shaking it gently. She wasn¡¯t about to get into a powerplay over handshakes. ¡°Corporal, I didn¡¯t notice, congratulations on your speedy progress,¡± Mai kept her tone polite, kicking herself not noticing the red collar on the woman¡¯s uniform. All ranks were indicated by colour. A plain uniform was a recruit. White was soldier, red was corporal, yellow sergeant, yellow and red was sergeant major, black was lieutenant, half black half white was captain, half yellow half red was major, half red, half white was colonel and finally, imperial purple was colonel. All of the rebel council were colonels ¡°Well, not as if the missions are that hard, and command seems to be keen to have us newbies progressing through the ranks. To be expected really.¡± Mai ground her teeth at that. Of course it was to be expected, the players in the rebel faction wanted the new players to progress quickly, make the faction stronger. And if Yen Ching has anything to do with it, he¡¯ll be trying to load the base against my popularity. ¡°How can I help you today Corporal?¡± ¡°I was wondering if you had any missions I could do? I¡¯m a rebel now after all.¡± Mai returned the woman¡¯s feral smile with a lazy one of her own. ¡°My, you are keen. Good to see. Yes, I¡¯ve got a mission for you and all of your people.¡± She pushed the PROTECT NETHER CITY FROM ALL THREATS mission over to Maggi Becker. ¡°Is that it?¡± Maggi Becker sneered as she accepted YES. Like Mai knew she would. ¡°Not as easy as it sounds. We¡¯ve got people out there making sure that the other factions aren¡¯t killing innocent civilians. You can join them in keeping the fighting contained. If you¡¯re not too busy with ranking up that is?¡± Maggi Becker snarled, clearly biting down on what she truly wanted to say as she shook her head. Mai¡¯s stomach twisted at the hostility and disrespect the woman was showing her. She racked her brains to try and discern why the woman would be so hostile. Nothing sprang to mind. ¡°No, it¡¯s fine. Thank you for giving me this mission. I¡¯ll send the others over to you if that¡¯s okay. They can accept the mission and then we¡¯ll head out and see if we can¡¯t help keep things calm. Once we¡¯ve completed our other missions that is.¡± And there it is, I¡¯ve just given you a mission which will send you straight back out into exactly what you were trying to avoid. She had them pegged. They weren¡¯t interested in helping the rebel faction at all, merely building up their own power base. She watched as Maggi Becker went and spoke to her people, calling them all into a huddle. Scowling, Mai saw that none of them were soldier ranks, all of them being corporals. Yen Ching needs to watch his back. I have a feeling those bastards are going to make a move damned soon. Book 3 - Uprising - Chapter 19 ¡°Those bastards are rising through the ranks damned quickly!¡± hissed Hind a week later as the newest members of the rebel faction celebrated Maggi Becker¡¯s promotion to captain. ¡°Too damned quickly.¡± ¡°And they¡¯re rubbing it in the other¡¯s faces,¡± Biyu added, face twisted as she spoke. Mai looked around the room, most of the other rebels seemed just as put out, questioning why they weren¡¯t being allowed to progress as quickly as the others. ¡°I¡¯m glad that we¡¯re out of that circle to be honest,¡± she explained. ¡°Being from a cell, instead of from the original army, we¡¯re kind of separate from the other rebels, although we¡¯re still part of them. Our people can continue to progress just by carrying out the rebel faction missions as well as any missions from the city.¡± ¡°Ha, free spirits, that¡¯s us!¡± laughed Hind. Mai¡¯s heart felt as though it was breaking. Free spirits? She couldn¡¯t even tell if she was acting of her own will, or whether what she was doing was a pre-programmed routine. She didn¡¯t actually care much as it further her own cause that of hurting the players as much as possible, but the thought that she might be stopped from succeeding kept her awake night after night. ¡°I¡¯m going to suggest to Yen Ching that he rein them in a bit. Slow down on the rebel faction missions and have them go out into the city. They still haven¡¯t even attempted PROTECT NETHER CITY FROM ALL THREATS.¡± Hind sneered. The fighting caused by the first set of missions had finally died down, and the rebels had been successful in limiting the damage and deaths to members of those factions as much as possible. Still there had been civilian deaths and Mai had cried herself to sleep when she heard about the losses. Nothing to be done but to push on, this city will be free. ¡°I¡¯ll go see him now,¡± Mai took her leave and walked to the command centre. Yen Ching practically lived in the command centre. Before it hadn¡¯t made much sense, but now she understood what he was, she knew that he was busy micro-managing the faction and its business aspects, maybe even logging in and out of the game at that point as well. Afterall, when we go to sleep, are we truly going to sleep? She immediately quashed the thought, thinking of her favourite song instead. Thinking too deeply about her own existence would surely drive her mad, and she had too much to do to allow that to happen. ¡°Yen Ching, might I have a word?¡± The rebel leader was hunched over the table, discussing an area of the city with one of the majors. Another player. ¡°Certainly,¡± Yen Ching dismissed the officer then turned a patient gaze upon her. ¡°How might I help?¡± ¡°The new recruits. People are concerned at how quickly they¡¯re progressing. And how they¡¯re not doing any other missions other than those which help them directly to progress. Nothing to actually help the faction.¡± He frowned at that, motioning for her to wait as he blink-clicked a menu open and waved his hands as he scrolled. ¡°They have indeed progressed quickly. And I can see that they¡¯ve not tackled any faction mission as yet, however, once they have completed the next round of missions, I¡¯ll ensure that they have to complete faction missions before they progress once more.¡± ¡°Won¡¯t the next round see Maggi Becker reaching major?¡± ¡°Yes, yes it will. She¡¯s an ambitious lady, always happy to help out. Glad to have her and her people aboard. They¡¯ve well and truly adapted to rebel life.¡± She ignored the pointed words, pretending as if she hadn¡¯t even heard them. ¡°I don¡¯t trust them,¡± there it was out in the open. ¡°Why ever not?¡± Yen Ching¡¯s eyebrows rose somewhat comically. ¡°Because they switched factions as soon as things got hard. They¡¯re not truly rebels, they¡¯re social climbers who decided they didn¡¯t want to get killed in the last round of fighting.¡± ¡°Well, they certainly seem to be proving their worth,¡± Yen Ching smiled, although it was more of a baring of his teeth. Mai saw the truth behind his words. The new recruits were climbing through the ranks and offsetting Mai¡¯s influence on the core rebels. ¡°Oh, I¡¯m sure they are,¡± she replied with a smile. ¡°I just don¡¯t believe that they have the rebels, or yours, best interests at heart.¡± ¡°Well, we¡¯re agreed that they¡¯ll go out into the city after the next round of promotions. They¡¯ve had their opportunity to show just how dedicated they are to our cause then.¡± Mai jerked her head in a nod, gave a small bow and left Yen Ching to his plotting. ¡°What do you mean we can¡¯t have another mission?¡± all heads turned as Maggi Becker¡¯s voice filled the canteen. ¡°I simply mean that you can¡¯t have another progression mission until you¡¯ve completed a faction mission, not that you can¡¯t have another mission,¡± spluttered a colonel. ¡°That¡¯s not right, we should be able to complete any missions in any order we want!¡± Maggi Becker slammed her hand down on a table, sending cups spilling. The colonel that she was berating was one of the few NPCs officers. She¡¯d clearly noticed that it was usually the NPCs who gave out missions, with the players happy to take a back seat. And now Yen Ching¡¯s issued his order, he can hide behind that poor bastard, she cringed as Maggi Becker kept yelling at the man, knowing that this was partially her own fault. ¡°Major!¡± the colonel pushed himself to his feet. ¡°I am your superior officer, and you will speak to me as such. You have a mission. We all have the same mission, PROTECT NETHER CITY FROM ALL THREATS. Go and do your duty!¡± he thrust a finger out, pointing towards the direction of the camp gate. Snarling, Maggi Becker signalled to her cronies and left the building. ¡°I really don¡¯t like the look of that,¡± Dakota said. She and the others had sat with Mai to discuss the next round of missions and how best to protect the people of Nether City before Maggi Becker¡¯s outburst had brought all other conversations to an end. ¡°Somehow I don¡¯t think she¡¯s going to be doing the mission she was given,¡± Jock watched as the last of the disgruntled players left the room. ¡°Get that from Becker¡¯s sunny disposition?¡± Chan smirked. ¡°I¡¯d love to play poker with those people. I¡¯d clean up.¡± ¡°Spread the word. Have our people get back to base if any are on patrol. We¡¯re going to need them, replied Mai grimly. ¡°Things are going to get hairy.¡± Leaving them to that task, she approached the colonel who had resumed eating his meal. ¡°Colonel Junker, permission to join you?¡± He looked up and smiled at her. It was an open and honest smile, and she realised that her reputation with him was much higher than some of the other rebels. ¡°Certainly, I¡¯d be honoured. If it wasn¡¯t for you, my recon platoon would still be using their old stealth cloaks. Those new uniforms you got us have worked wonders!¡± And that¡¯s why he likes me so much, good to know. ¡°I¡¯m glad to hear it colonel. I was wondering what was all that fuss about?¡± The smile disappeared to be replaced by a scowl. ¡°That bloody upstart, thinks she¡¯s ready to be promoted to colonel. Her and her people have been progressing far too damned quickly for my liking. I¡¯ve been here nearly twenty years, and it took all of that time to reach this rank. They¡¯ve been here less than a week dammit!¡± ¡°I completely understand,¡± Mai kept her tone neutral, not wanting to be accused of having fed the colonel his words. ¡°I expressed my very own concerns to Yen Ching just yesterday. Thankfully, he agreed that they have to be reined in somewhat. Which is why they should be going out and completing faction missions.¡± ¡°Only they¡¯re bloody well not going to, are they?¡± he scowled again. ¡°They¡¯re going to mope about this base until something shiny comes and they¡¯ll go and do that.¡± ¡°Fat chance, they¡¯re not locals are they? Not like you. The only way they¡¯ll get more missions is to do the ones we give them. And considering that Yen Ching has tasked me with creating the missions, they¡¯re going to die of old age before they get another mission if they don¡¯t complete faction missions.¡± As she spoke, it suddenly dawned on her why Yen Ching had her creating the missions. She was an NPC. Players couldn¡¯t create actual missions. They could ask people to do things, but those weren¡¯t actually official missions. Even the missions that Yen Ching and the rebel council had fed into had been typed up and essentially created by her. ¡°I say, are you okay?¡± the colonel leaned forward and placed a hand on hers. ¡°You look awfully pale.¡± ¡°Sorry, I¡¯m fine. Fine. Just a bit tired.¡± Which was an understatement. She was utterly exhausted. He took her words at face value and she changed the subject, learning more about him and the life he thought he had led. It seemed as though it had been a good one. He¡¯d found the love of his life, was still married to her, and had three children who were all in the rebel army. Sad at the thought that none of it had happened or hadn¡¯t happened in the time frame that he thought it had, Mai wrapped up the conversation and left the canteen. Her redesign had made the rebel base far more defensible than it had been before, but she¡¯d designed it with the intention to keep the enemy out. She hadn¡¯t designed it for a situation where the enemy might already still be within the walls and not only within the walls but within the buildings themselves before the attack was launched. Walking swiftly, but slowly enough to not draw undue attention, she made her way to the armoury and the bio-boost store. ¡°Sergeant-at-arms, how are we doing today?¡± She was fond of Gregs, the NCO tasked with running the armoury. Somewhat thick-set, he had once been an absolute unit of a man. Even with his belly hanging over his belt, she could see the strength in his arms and shoulders. He would make a formidable opponent. ¡°All good ma¡¯am, all good. Come to check on the stocks?¡± It was a duty she¡¯d taken upon herself. Being in control of the stocks meant that she could fudge the figures and, if necessary, remove a few bottles from the store room without the tally changing. ¡°I am indeed. I have some people coming in from patrol. Going to give them a boost, so I¡¯ll take two bottles.¡± Smiling, the sergeant-at-arms keyed open the door and waved her through. It was a formality as she had the code herself, but Gregs liked to do things by the book, and she was happy to accommodate him. Pulling up the store¡¯s menu, she quickly created a pack and moved two bottles into it, activating her LARCENY, she moved another two whilst the sergeant¡¯s back was turned. LARCENY SUCCESS STEALING FROM ONE¡¯S FRIENDS, ALWAYS UNDERHANDED AND LOW Wincing at the notification she slung the bag over her shoulder and stepped back out of the vault. This book''s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience. ¡°Thank you sergeant. Any other visitors today?¡± ¡°Only the Major. The new one, Maggi Becker. Wanted to check out a bottle.¡± Mai clenched her fists. ¡°Did you give her one?¡± ¡°Certainly not!¡± he spluttered through his walrus moustache. ¡°Patrolling doesn¡¯t require a bio-boost, not until they get back that is.¡± ¡°How did she take it?¡± ¡°Badly. Called me a number of rude names I won¡¯t bother repeating and then stormed off. Said I¡¯d regret not obeying her orders. Didn¡¯t like it when I pointed out that Yen Ching¡¯s orders were like the word of the Emperor around here.¡± ¡°Which way did they go?¡± Gregs shrugged. ¡°I didn¡¯t bother watching. As soon as they were out of the building, I closed the door and went to my inventory. We¡¯re burning through the bases¡¯ stock of nanites.¡± ¡°I know, peacekeeping is taking its toll. We¡¯re due another expansion shortly which will see the base level up and we¡¯ll get a nanite boost then,¡± Mai walked out of the room as she spoke, giving the sergeant a casual wave. As soon as she was out of sight she cracked open one of the bottles and took a long hard slug, boosting her bio-mass to one hundred and seventy five per cent. ¡°Dakota,¡± she commed. ¡°Maggi Becker tried to book out a bottle of bio-boost. Pitched a fit when she was refused by the sergeant-at-arms, and then treated him like shit. Our people back?¡± ¡°Just coming in now, where do you want them?¡± ¡°Get them into the base towers, the medical facility and the command centre. Have them move quickly, but without drawing attention to themselves. I don¡¯t want to tip Maggi Becker off.¡± ¡°Roger that, moving.¡± Mai called up her minimap, checking to see where Becker and her people were. They¡¯d split into three groups but had been joined by some of the other rebels she knew were players. ¡°Dakota, Biyu. Chan, Hind, Jock, be aware, other members of the command staff have joined with Becker. I¡¯m tagging them on the map. Group one is heading towards the command centre, group two is looping back to the armoury, group three is going for the canteen.¡± ¡°I¡¯m heading to the canteen now!¡± commed Hind. ¡°Got five people with me.¡± ¡°Heading to the communications centre,¡± Biyu commed. ¡°I¡¯ll head over to the armoury, back you and sergeant-at-arms up,¡± Dakota¡¯s voice was tight with anticipation of the fight to come. ¡°Don¡¯t bother, the sergeant has a small squad with him at all times. People I can trust. We¡¯ll hold them here. Back up the team going to the command centre.¡± Spinning on her heels, she jogged to the armoury. ¡°Back so soon?¡± the sergeant-at-arms¡¯ smile dropped from his face as he saw the worry creasing hers. ¡°Problem?¡± ¡°Maggi Becker, she¡¯s launching a mutiny.¡± ¡°That takes the biscuit!¡± cursed the sergeant, beckoning her into the armoury before slamming the door shut and engaging a myriad of locks. ¡°How long until they get here?¡± ¡°Enemy squad on its way, I estimate in less than a minute.¡± ¡°Right you lot! Listen in!¡± roared the sergeant to his helpers. ¡°Prepare to fight for this armoury. Armour up.¡± They moved with a precision she hadn¡¯t expected, her respect for the sergeant increasing as she watched them move through actions he had clearly drilled them in time after time. ¡°Always thought that this might happen,¡± he said grimly. ¡°Never did trust the outsiders. Your lot were okay, but there was always something off about the others that come to Nether City. Always think they¡¯re better than us for some reason.¡± ¡°Well, we have the chance to prove them wrong in this case, don¡¯t we?¡± ¡°That we do, miss, that we do¡±, he grinned from ear-to-ear as he selected a heavy suit of armour. There was a loud clang on the door, as if someone had walked into it expecting it to open. ¡°Sorry, we¡¯re closed!¡± the sergeant spoke as he pressed on the door¡¯s intercom. ¡°Running a few drills. You¡¯ll have to come back later.¡± ¡°This is Captain Grundig, open up! That¡¯s an order!¡± they watched as the Captain banged a fist on the door, then flapped their hand about as metal defeated bone. ¡°Not very clever are they?¡± the sergeant commented as the mutineers milled about the door for a few seconds, clearly unsure what they should do. ¡°Looks like they¡¯re still hoping they can get in here without a fight. Probably tasked with taking this building first before the rest of them attack. Dakota,¡± she held up a hand to forestall the sergeant¡¯s next words, ¡°Captain Grundig has appeared with a team. They seem a bit unsure as to what to do next.¡± ¡°Our people are still making their way to the canteen, Maggi Becker¡¯s people beat them to it.¡± Mai cursed as she heard that. Always full, the canteen was a good place to take hostages. ¡°Weapons hot,¡± she ordered over an open comms channel. ¡°Engage the mutineers wherever you can!¡± The comms channel she¡¯d selected broadcast to every member of the rebel faction and her ear exploded with questions as the rebels reacted to the news. Grundig and her people looked as one at the armoury¡¯s camera, before having a quick huddle, weapons appearing. ¡°Mai! What the blasted devils are you doing? Have you gone mad?¡± Yen Ching roared at her over another private channel. ¡°Yen Ching, Maggi Becker is launching a mutiny, I¡¯ve sent people over to protect you. I¡¯m in the armoury watching Grundig and some of his people trying to work out how to break in. Fight! Mai out.¡± She cut the channel, then muted all comms bar those coming from her people. ¡°Looks like they¡¯re going to try to blow the door,¡± mused the sergeant-at-arms as Grundig and his team placed a shaped charge over the door¡¯s lock. ¡°Fat chance.¡± Retreating out of sight, the mutineers detonated the charge. There was a dull clong and the building shook, the camera¡¯s view briefly obscured by the smoke from the explosion. ¡°Bet that cost a lot in bio-mass,¡± he pointed at the screen, the explosion had barely made a dent. ¡°Reckon that was a Mark 2 charge. Think they¡¯ll try a Mark 3?¡± ¡°What¡¯s the difference?¡± Mai wasn¡¯t sure she wanted to hear the answer. ¡°Bigger boom. Costs about thirty per cent bio-mass and hurts like a bugger to create. If this was a tank, it would shred the entire thing with enough power to kill anyone a hundred paces beyond. With this door though? Need a Mark 5 at least.¡± ¡°And what about the wall?¡± The sergeant turned to face her, mouth opening and shutting for a moment before he replied. ¡°Well, that depends on whether you matched the walls to the door when you built the building, ma¡¯am.¡± She winced, the honorific a clear admonishment. Opening the plans for the building, she looked at the specs for the wall. ¡°Mark 2?¡± ¡°Okay, that means they¡¯ll need a Mark 3 to blast through. All doors and walls can only be defeated by a weapon one level above theirs. That¡¯s a Mark 4 door, so they¡¯ll need a Mark 5 charge.¡± ¡°Let¡¯s hope they don¡¯t ¡­ oh shit!¡± ¡°Everyone to this side of the wall! Brace for breaching charge!¡± Mai ducked down behind a desk, forming a suit of armour suitable for the tight confines of the armoury. She would have preferred to form a mecha, but that wouldn¡¯t have worked. She was just in time, the helmet closing over her head as the charge blew a gaping hole in the wall. She popped up and cut down the first mutineer to enter. KILL ASSIST! Well, she thought she did, the mutineer¡¯s mutilated body fell into bloody chunks as it was cut apart by laser beams. Looking around she smiled as she saw that all of the sergeant¡¯s people had the new tri-barrels. Because Maggi Becker and her people had only been in the base for a few days they hadn¡¯t had the chance to take the tri-barrels from Bob¡¯s armoury yet, and she had also asked Bob to stall if they had approached him for them. All of which meant that she and the people in the armoury had a distinct advantage over the mutineers. ¡°Flash-bang!¡± the sergeant¡¯s visor darkened as he called out the warning, hers following suit microseconds after. She felt rather than saw or heard the explosion as her suit cut out the effects. Glancing at the security screen, she saw that the mutineers were wearing a mix of armour, nothing like the grade she and her people were wearing. They weren¡¯t ready for a proper fight. Thought they had the element of surprise over the ¡°dumb¡± NPCs. She hated these people more than she thought possible. ¡°Our turn!¡± roared the sergeant as he lobbed a stun-grenade at the breach in the wall. He was up and charging before it detonated, arriving on the heels of the explosion. Mai had barely moved before the sergeant and his people cut the stunned mutineers down. ¡°Hold the armoury!¡± she ordered as she joined them outside of the armoury. ¡°Red-five is the password for anyone coming here. I¡¯ll pass that on by private comm. You do the same.¡± She didn¡¯t wait for a reply, racing off towards the command centre. All about her, a battle was raging. Rebels fired upon anyone who attacked them, uncertain as to who the true enemies were, cutting down allies without even knowing. Bastards are undoing all our good work! A player stepped out, weapon raised, but dropped it as soon as he saw her, holding a hand out. ¡°Maggi Becker¡¯s just entered the command centre. She¡¯s not in the core of the building, just past the first defence,¡± he blurted out as she kept her weapon trained on him. ¡°You¡¯re not with her?¡± ¡°Fuck no! I worked hard to level up here, and Yen Ching¡¯s a decent sort. I want the rebels to be better than this.¡± She clapped a hand on his shoulder, marking him as an ally on her minimap and then broadcasting that to her people. ¡°Any others like you?¡± ¡°Some, we can¡¯t tell who¡¯s with us and who isn¡¯t until they open fire. And by then it¡¯s too late,¡± his face fell. ¡°We¡¯ve lost at least fifteen of my friends.¡± Fifteen less players, not a bad thing, even if they are loyal, Mai thought, still unable to get over the notion that they still viewed her as a play thing. Even if they didn¡¯t necessarily say so. ¡°Gather the rest of your friends, take and hold the towers. Shoot any of Maggi Becker¡¯s people If you see them with other rebels and they¡¯re not fighting it¡¯s safe to assume that they¡¯re traitors as well.¡± ¡°Copy that,¡± he gave a nod clearly relieved to be following orders and ran off, shouting to someone out of her sight. Pressing on, she tucked herself into the corner of a building, before looking out at the command centre. The door was gone, replaced with a gaping hole from which smoke was pouring. A couple of bodies lay crumpled on the ground, and she spotted movement inside the entrance. Absorbing her tri-barrel, she swapped it for a grenade launcher. Taking careful aim, she raised the sight to adjust for the distance and fired. KILL! KILL! HIT! 69% STUNNED BLINDED DEAFENED BLEED @2% PER SECOND Mai was up and running before the notifications had even finished appearing, absorbing the grenade launcher, and swapping it for the tri-barrel. Leaping into the smoke-filled corridor beyond the entrance, she raked the area with laser fire, blindly shooting in all directions. KILL! Dropping to one knee, she took a couple of deep breaths, trying to calm her breathing down. Nothing moved beyond, but she could hear shooting and shouts further on into the complex. Rising, she made her way down the corridor, weapon panning as she did so, laser sight burning brightly in the smoke which still filled the corridor. An officer burst out of a room a few paces ahead of her, shooting blindly over his shoulder before a burst of return fire cut him down in a spray of blood and gore. She cursed as she saw that it was Colonel Junker. Taking a knee once more, she sighted on the door then turned off the laser, not wanting to give her enemies any warning. ¡°Did you see that shot! Critical hit, right through the spine! Last time that bastard will be getting legless!¡± laughed a cruel voice. She recognised it as one of Yen Ching¡¯s officers, a woman called Ricketts who had always struck her as being a bit too keen to mete out punishments to soldiers who weren¡¯t quick enough to follow her orders. Ricketts strode into the corridor, weapon down, clearly oblivious to anything except for the sound of her own voice and the dead Colonel Junker. Mai held her fire, waiting to see if the person the mutineer was speaking to would join her. A man appeared, one of Maggi Becker¡¯s crew, he had his weapon resting on his shoulder. Breathing slowly, Mai triggered her laser sight, laying on the side of the man¡¯s head. With a gentle pull of the trigger she boiled the man¡¯s brains, the heat of the laser causing the top of his skull to explode from the internal pressure. KILL! PLAYER NED QUINN ELIMINATED! The woman turned, shock evident in the way her eyes widened, and mouth dropped open. Mai blasted her head clean off her shoulders with a quick sweep of her weapon. There was no blood, the lasers cauterising the flesh, filling the corridor with the stench of boiled blood, and burnt flesh. KILL! PLAYER JENNY RICKETTS ELIMINATED! The sound of fighting inside the command centre rose to a crescendo and then died. ¡°Command centre clear!¡± called out a rebel. ¡°Repeat, Yen Ching and the council are safe.¡± ¡°Good job, hold there. I¡¯ll join you once we¡¯ve dealt with the others,¡± she replied, nose wrinkling at the stench of the two mutineers. * ¡°You can¡¯t bloody do this!¡± sobbed one of the mutineers. With the death of Maggi Becker inside the command centre, and the failure to seize the armoury, the mutiny had fallen apart. ¡°I¡¯m pleased to say that I can, and I will,¡± Mai snarled as she shot the woman in the back of the head. It was the tenth player she had killed in such a way. And each one had been an easy kill. None had done anything to assuage the rage she felt when she thought about what the players had done to people she cared about. And would continue to do. The mutineers had been rounded up ¨C none too gently - by the angry rebels. A court had been convened, and judgement had been passed by Biyu acting as judge. All of those who had aided and abetted the mutineers would face the death penalty as due traitors. Shock had been quickly followed by indignation as the players realised that the NPCs meant what they said. Indignation had turned to fear as Mai had started to carry out the sentence. INSTAKILL! TITLE ¨C EXECUTIONER! YOU ACT IN THE NAME OF JUSTICE, REMOVING THE STAIN OF THOSE FOUND GUILTY FROM SOCIETY, PROTECTING THE INNOCENT FROM THEIR FUTURE PREDATIONS That was one title Mai knew she¡¯d never use when introducing herself as she worked her way along the line, shooting the rebels one by one as she did. Some begged, others sobbed, one or two prayed to the god or gods of their choices, more cursed her, a few went stoically. How the hell are we supposed to rebuild after this? She thought as she looked at the rows of dead loyalist rebels laid out away from the execution line. They¡¯d lost over fifty friends, and the damage done to the base was going to cost a lot to fix. It felt as though they were at square one. We¡¯ll find a way, she vowed. Book 3 - Uprising - Chapter 20 Mai expanded the view of the base, trying to see the best way to add further defences to the walls, as well as the interior without losing any accommodation space. Locals had started arriving at the base mere minutes after the battles asking to join their faction, just like Yen Ching had said they did when she and her people first arrived. Already they¡¯d replaced the numbers of those they¡¯d lost and gained extra recruits. It helped that her reputation as well as the reputation of the faction had been increased through the peacekeeping duties. One side effect she hadn¡¯t thought of was that the shops were doing more business and being more profitable as they weren¡¯t having to pay for repairs all of the time. A well-presented street increased the morale of those living and working there, which in turn increased the reputation of the faction running that area. Which is why the Ghost factory was so well kept and the workers all seemed to be happy. Hearts and minds are key to progressing. Eyes stinging, she rubbed the heels of her palms into them, trying to push the tiredness to the back of her mind. She¡¯d spent the whole of the morning interviewing the remaining players, questioning them as to what part they played in defending the base against the other rogue players, and then double checking that with any local rebels she could find to corroborate. Five more bodies had joined those of the traitors as she¡¯d discovered the players had taken a more active role in supporting the terrorists, and she¡¯d even executed one for opening a door to the barracks without raising the alarm. ¡°I¡¯m exhausted,¡± groaned Dakota as she sifted through camera shots, trying to examine the events of the day before and spot any further traitors. ¡°I can¡¯t actually remember the last time we slept.¡± ¡°Definitely the night before last,¡± Mai zoomed in on a player, trying to work out who they were shooting at. Following the line of their fire, she saw it was loyal rebels. ¡°We need to speak to Sergeant Sheen. Look at this.¡± RedFanging the shot over to Dakota¡¯s retinal monitor she closed her eyes whilst waiting for her friend to look at the evidence. ¡°Son of a bitch! I could have sworn blind he was loyal. Look at this.¡± Dakota RedFanged an image over to Mai, she didn¡¯t have to open her eyes to view the shot. In it, Sheen could be clearly seen shooting at the traitors. ¡°What the hells? Playing both sides?`` She looked at the time stamps. ¡°Huh, was with the traitors at first, then when things started to get hairy for them, switched and started to attack them.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll get the sergeant-at-arms,¡± Dakota went silent as she pinged the sergeant. ¡°He¡¯s on his way to arrest Sheen now.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t bother arresting him, just kill him where they find him, we don¡¯t need another trial.¡± ¡°We¡¯ve had five members of the command staff disappear already,¡± Yen Ching entered the command centre. He and the rebel council had been debating the best course forward and had left the dirty work of purging the traitors to Mai and her people. She didn¡¯t appreciate being used but accepted that the executions and hunting down of the traitors was best done by those who weren¡¯t part of the core rebel faction. Still, it rankled. ¡°I¡¯ve put out feelers, but I¡¯ve already had reports from the foot patrols that they¡¯ve gone over to the military factions. Makes sense as they¡¯re closest to our faction than gangers, prisoners and urbexers.¡± He looks tired, thought Mai as the rebel leader lowered himself into a seat. ¡°How are you feeling Mai?¡± The question took her by surprise, she hadn¡¯t expected him to care. ¡°Exhausted, angry, sad,¡± she replied, unable to stop the tears spilling down her cheeks. ¡°We lost a lot of good people, and I feel dirty. Some of the traitors were locals. Maggi Becker told some of them that they were protecting the base from a coup being led by others. Things moved so quickly that they didn¡¯t have time to double-check.¡± The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings. ¡°You¡¯ve done what you had to, Mai. The base is ours. We¡¯re all still alive, and the traitors seem to have been rooted out. What plans do you have for the base?¡± ¡°What plans do the council have?¡± she countered. ¡°They agreed with your suggestions that we need to strengthen the internal defences. More sensors on the walls to detect penetration that way, but clearer lines of fire within the base as well as stronger walls to match the doors.¡± Both of them winced at that. The traitors had blasted their way through walls weaker than the doors they held. It was a lesson Mai didn¡¯t need to learn again. ¡°I also want to extend the walls. Look at the control points we¡¯ve earned with our patrols, we can just about extend the walls to include Market Street, which will mean that Bob and his fellow shopkeepers are within our walls. If we put a gate at the head of the street, we can have people wanting to buy from them pay us a toll.¡± Yen Ching looked at her shrewdly, stroking his long white beard. He hadn¡¯t had one the day before but said nothing as people often changed their appearance in such ways. ¡°Won¡¯t that cause business to drop?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t think so, no. People want to be able to unlock the tri-barrel. Granted, it¡¯ll mean trouble for us in the long run, but they¡¯ll have to come to our base in order to do so. Bob¡¯s still the only shop in the city which can unlock it for people. We¡¯ll control who can do it as well, locals only.¡± Which will have the added effect of giving NPCs weapons that far outmatch those the players have access to, she thought smugly. ¡°Locals only? Won¡¯t that antagonise the outsiders?¡± she hid a smile at his tone. He wasn¡¯t a local, and nor were any of the other players in the rebel faction. ¡°It might, but they¡¯ll be too busy running around trying to complete our missions to complain. It will also mean that they¡¯ll have to pay a toll to enter our base in order to even be able to get the missions.¡± Yen Ching laughed, slapping his thigh. ¡°Glorious! You have wisdom far beyond your years! We put a stranglehold on missions which we profit from as our reputation, control and levels increase, and we profit from the missions you create because they weaken the other factions, and we profit yet again because they have to pay to enter our part of the city in order to obtain those missions.¡± He bent over, weeping with laughter. ¡°Not only that, but once the shops are inside our walls, we gain a five per cent tax on any sales. So we make money on that as well. I¡¯ve already spoken to Bob and a few others this morning, asking if they¡¯ll have a two-tier pricing system. One lower for the locals, the other at least twenty-five per cent higher for non-locals.¡± Yen Ching waved his hands, unable to speak. He was laughing so hard. Mai wasn¡¯t sure what was so funny, it was worth a chuckle, but nothing more. Pursing her lips, she realised that it wasn¡¯t what she was saying was so funny, but that he was probably thinking of how the players would be reacting in the ¡®real world.¡¯ Shame I can¡¯t ask him why I¡¯m so different, but I can¡¯t have him, and the command staff know that I know. I can¡¯t guarantee how they¡¯ll react if I ask. But for now, they seem to be happy with me being me. She and Dakota waited until Yen Ching had composed himself. ¡°I take it you approve of those plans?¡± ¡°Yes, gods, yes. I¡¯ll message the rebel council and have it rubber stamped. Carry on with the work. We¡¯ll get the new recruits up to speed.¡± ¡°Be good if you could fast track some of them like you did with Maggi Becker, it will do wonders for morale and reputation if we show that we trust locals as much as we trust outsiders,¡± Dakota passed him a list of names. ¡°These have been members of the faction for at least a year, I¡¯ve marked the ranks I think would be suitable.¡± Yen Ching took the list, eyebrows raising as he read through it. Lips pursed, he stared at it for a little longer. ¡°You¡¯re correct, we¡¯ve not given the people their due. This list is a start, thank you.¡± Rising, he bid them goodbye. ¡°Well, that went better than I thought it would,¡± Dakota reached for a cup of char. ¡°Hopefully, we¡¯ll get a few days without drama. Well, without drama that isn¡¯t of our own making!¡± They both chuckled, too tired to do much more than that, and set about planning how they could continue to keep ruining the other factions'' stranglehold on the city. Book 3 - Uprising - Chapter 21 ¡°How¡¯s the extension of the walls going?¡± Yen Ching asked as he joined Mai on the walls of the inner compound. ¡°I miscalculated the cost in control points. It¡¯s one control point for every pace of wall. I didn¡¯t take into account that that¡¯s also based on contours. So where I was drawing it as the crow flies, it also dips down towards Market Street, in places it¡¯s a drop of as much as two paces per one pace forward.¡± ¡°And that means?¡± ¡°That means that I¡¯ve not been able to beef up the defences in the way we discussed. I¡¯ve got sensors on the further walls but haven¡¯t been able to install them on these walls. I¡¯ve managed to strengthen all of the buildings in the inner compound, but not those in the first or sound outer compounds.¡± ¡°Compromise. A bitter pill to swallow sometimes,¡± Yen Ching laid a hand on her shoulder. ¡°You¡¯ve done well and trusted your gut. I trust your instincts on this one. I also wanted to say that we¡¯ve taken Dakota¡¯s list and implemented it. You should see some newly minted NCOs and officers in the next couple of days. We¡¯ve pulled them off normal duties so that they can complete the missions required to progress.¡± ¡°That is good news,¡± Mai grinned, relief flooding through her body. She hadn¡¯t truly thought that they would go ahead and do as Dakota had suggested, but it seemed as though the rebel council had seen the wisdom of increasing morale. ¡°I bet they¡¯re cock-a-hoop!¡± ¡°They are indeed. It¡¯s already seen an increase of morale around ten per cent and per rank gained it will see it gain a further two per cent,¡± he looked out over the city. ¡°It seems quiet.¡± ¡°Almost too quiet. I don¡¯t like it when it¡¯s like this. There should be at least some shooting in the other areas. I know that missions are thin on the ground right now, but I¡¯d have thought the factions would still be carrying out their own agendas,¡± Mai swept her gaze over the city. It was truly impressive, not as impressive as the Upper City, as the highest building down here was only around thirty storeys, but it had a character of its own. ¡°It¡¯s good to see the buildings looking so neat,¡± Yen Ching pointed to the apartments and restaurants in their own walls. ¡°Good to see them without bullet holes, broken windows and fresh paint? Good to see lighting that actually works all the time?¡± ¡°Indeed,¡± he huffed, hackles rising at her unspoken criticism. ¡°You¡¯re doing good work, keep it up.¡± He clapped her on the back, somewhat awkwardly, then walked off. Mai watched him leave, mind blank, just enjoying not thinking about anything in particular, then gave herself a shake and resumed staring back over the city. Why the hells is it so quiet? ¡°Mai Xiao, report to the command centre,¡± Mai sighed as the message repeated in her ear. It felt as though she¡¯d only just lain down to sleep. Rising, she sent an acknowledgment back and got ready as quickly as possible before making her way to the command centre. ¡°Yen Ching, commanders,¡± she gave a low bow to the assembled members of the rebel council. ¡°Reporting as requested.¡± ¡°Thank you, and apologies for having you attend so late. We weren¡¯t expecting this, but decided it was too urgent to leave until the morning.¡± ¡°Expecting what?¡± she tilted her head, only now taking in the serious expressions on the rebel¡¯s faces. ¡°There¡¯s another bounty. It¡¯s two hundred thousand karma. Outsiders only. We¡¯ve already had word of high-level outsiders arriving at the faction bases.¡± Mai sat down, rear slamming into the chair as her legs gave way. ¡°Two. Hundred. Thousand. Karma?¡± she couldn¡¯t believe what she was hearing, let alone saying. ¡°That would see someone all the way to the ten-mile!¡± ¡°It would see them ascend,¡± Yen Ching corrected. ¡°It¡¯s a bounty that¡¯s going to draw outsiders like moths to a flame.¡± ¡°What about the other bounty?¡± She choked out. ¡°Well, after you defeated the ambush, and then defeated and executed the traitors, you were deemed to be too hard a target. So they upped the reward. Seems that a lot of people want you dead.¡± Biting her tongue, Mai didn¡¯t voice her suspicion that he knew exactly who wanted her dead. Hells, she knew who would want her dead. Players, powerful ones at that. She had to give it to him and the others though, they played their part well. Some even looked worried for her. ¡°Not tempted to take the bounty yourselves?¡± she asked, readying herself to act if she saw even the slightest wrong move. ¡°We¡¯re persona non grata, Mai. We couldn¡¯t return even if we wanted to. We caused far too much damage to the City. Broke all the rules, written and unwritten¡± he sighed, eyes glazing for a moment at bitter memories. ¡°The only way we¡¯ll be able to return is at the head of an army. And the only way we can do that is if we take control of the city.¡± ¡°How soon until they attack?¡± She asked. ¡°That, we¡¯re not sure of. No doubt they¡¯re already scouting us out, probably under the guise of coming in to shop. Naturally, they won¡¯t be able to get hold of the new stealth uniform, or the tri-barrels, but we have been unlocking a number of other items which will be of interest to them. We¡¯ve got people watching, logging who comes in and when they go out.¡± ¡°And if they don¡¯t leave? How long do we give someone before we think they¡¯re up to no good?¡± He spread his hands in a shrug. ¡°We could always enact a curfew. Have the shops close at 20:00, everyone has to leave our sector by 20:10. Anyone who doesn¡¯t will be arrested and fined. Or killed if they decide to resist arrest.¡± Mai growled, fist clenched, but there was nothing else they could do. The bounty was on her head, and she couldn¡¯t have the shopkeepers and locals lose out on too much business or the faction¡¯s reputation and control points would fall. ¡°Fine, she relaxed her hands. We¡¯ll go with that, and I won¡¯t venture out into the city. That¡¯ll make it harder for them.¡± Mai sat alone at the canteen¡¯s bar, nursing a bottle of rice wine. Others sat around her, but all had picked up on her foul mood and were staying clear. Whether it was out of respect or fear, she didn¡¯t really care as long as they didn¡¯t bother her. Reports had been coming in all day. Toll booth takings were up three hundred per cent and climbing every hour. Even raising the price hadn¡¯t seen a fall in the number of people wanting to come through the gate. Estimates were that there were at least two hundred bounty hunters in the city. Two hundred! How the hells am I going to combat that? She chucked down her rice wine, emptying the glass in one gulp, then filled it up. It wasn¡¯t a good idea to get falling down drunk, but right now it seemed to be the only thing stopping her from curling up in a ball in a dark place. If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement. Checking the time, she saw that it was 19:59. Curfew would be in place in one minute and all of the bounty hunters would have to vacate the rebel sector in eleven minutes. Hopefully then she could relax. At least the sensors she had been able to place on the outer walls would keep her safe. Hopefully, sweat pricked her brow. She hadn¡¯t been this scared before. Not even with the previous bounty. To know that at least two hundred players had travelled down from the Upper City to come and claim the bounty was overwhelming to say the least. She hadn¡¯t been able to keep any food down, being both sick and suffering from diarrhoea. Looking at the bottle of rice wine, she pushed it away. A wise move, although it was only wise because drinking it had been so stupid. Ordering up a carafe of water, she set about downing that instead. It would help push the alcohol through her system and hopefully lessen the hangover she was sure to have the next morning considering how dehydrated she really was. The next eleven minutes passed quickly. Sighing, she commed the gate. ¡°Mai Xiao here, all present and correct?¡± she asked when the gate commander asked. ¡°Negative. We have three unaccounted for. One urbexer, two military. Units are hunting them now.¡± Mai¡¯s mouth dried, tongue cleaving to the roof of her mouth. Instantly sober, she ordered the gates closed and sent a request to the guard commander for more patrols. No alarms as yet, the missing people could have made an honest mistake. Unlikely, but possible. ¡°Dakota, we¡¯ve got three people missing,¡± she commed her friend. ¡°Urbexer, and two military.¡± ¡°Dammit! I¡¯m in the gym, want me to come over, wait with you?¡± ¡°No, thanks, finish your work out, I¡¯ll wait in the canteen. See how things pan out here. It¡¯s a long way from Market Street where I¡¯m sitting. I¡¯m sure we¡¯ll find them.¡± ¡°Roger that. I¡¯m off to kick the sergeant-at-arms arse,¡± Mail smiled as she heard the sergeant scoff in the background before the connection was dropped. Her friend had come a long way since they first met in the hangar, and Mai was both pleased and relieved that Dakota had decided to stick with her through thick and thin. Being a ganger, Dakota could have joined any of the other gangs, and with her culling score she¡¯d have been welcomed with open arms. Given far more prestige than she had with the rebels. Don¡¯t look a gift tribike in the engine, she thought as she sipped more water. ¡°Two down! That¡¯s both military down, repeat both military down!¡± came the report over the command channel. Mai was still sitting in the canteen, it was as good a place as any to wait things out. ¡°We¡¯ve got ten people down, five more wounded. Request ambudrones to marked locations.¡± Mai covered her face. Another ten people dead because of her. Five more wounded. All this suffering because she was different. Because she was bucking the trend, not behaving the way her friends and family were supposed to behave. Were programmed to behave. And she still didn¡¯t know if she was behaving the way she was because it was programmed, or because she had some semblance of freewill. And that train of thought brought her back to her friend. Was Dakota staying with her because she was programmed to do so, or was it because Mai¡¯s behaviour influenced the way that Dakota behaved? Was her friendship real? Groaning, Mai nearly reached for the bottle of rice wine again. Her head throbbed, the thoughts she was having hurting her both physically and mentally. All she could do was keep on the path she¡¯d chosen for herself. Keep pushing, keep stirring, and keep looking for someone who could tell her what was truly going on. Once more she considered speaking to Yen Ching, but she didn¡¯t trust him to tell the truth. It wasn¡¯t as if he hadn¡¯t had plenty of opportunity to just tell her, and she believed that he was secretly enjoying having her to himself. Telling her would risk losing her, and he was clearly enjoying the new found prestige that her efforts had brought to the rebel faction. Bastard, fucking shit bag, bastard, she cursed on and one, exhausting her vocabulary before making up new curses, each one more vicious than the last. An explosion shook her out of her reverie. Shouts of alarm filled the canteen as the rebels around her sprang into action. Alarms blared, lights flashing, retinal monitors popping up a mission. SEARCH AND DESTROY ¨C FIND THE ATTACKERS DO YOU ACCEPT YES/NO? Mai snarled as she stabbed the YES, tri-barrel sprouting from her arm, knife from the other. ¡°Dakota! Get to the armoury with the sergeant-at-arms, make sure it¡¯s secure. We don¡¯t know where this bastard is going to hit first.¡± She activated all of her skills, even MOPPING, doing the mental version of slamming her hand down on a big red button. Of all of them, SPOT HIDDEN was most likely going to be the most helpful since it was unlikely the attacker would be brazenly striding through the base. Unless they¡¯re in a mecha, she thought. It was unlikely, but it still put the fear of the gods into her. A mecha would cause untold damage, and without bio-boost bottles, none of the rebels in the base would be able to form their own mecha. Mental note, build a mecha station, she thought to herself as she strode out of the canteen and into the shelter of the wall covering the door. Slipping her weapon around the edge, she scanned the compound. Rebels ran in all directions, heading to their assigned battle stations. Directly opposite was the command centre, and she smiled as she saw that the rebels guarding it were already in place and locked and loaded. A turret sat on top of the low building, crewed by three rebels. If they were able to spot the urbexer they¡¯d be able to make short work of them. Another explosion rocked the base, some four hundred paces away at one of the barracks. Calling up her minimap, Mai tried to see if anyone had spotted the intruder. They hadn¡¯t. Blinking open another menu she cursed as she saw the casualty list. I¡¯m going to rip this bastard apart with my bare hands, she swore, making the age old sign of a crossed heart. Or die in the process. A flash lit up the sky, flame leaping into the air as one of the towers was wreathed in fire. It was directly opposite the previous explosion, and rebels who had been running towards that skidded to a halt, clearly indecisive as to where they should go. Yen Ching was commanding the effort to find the attacker and to fight the fires that were now raging inside the inner compound of their base. Ambudrones raced in all directions, ferrying the wounded to the medical centre and Mai offered a quick prayer to the gods that they wouldn''t see the medical centre destroyed as well. ¡°Yen Ching, recommend that we have a squad do a sweep of the medical centre and ensure that it¡¯s not rigged to blow. We¡¯ve got too many people in there to risk it.¡± ¡°Confirmed, third platoon, secure the medical centre. All others carry on with assigned duties.¡± She phased his voice out as she continued to scan the area around her. The attacker had to be within the compound, it made no sense for them to have entered, planted the explosives, and slipped away. The confusion was perfect for them to try and find her. All she had to do was work out where she thought the bounty hunter would think she would be. The command centre. Any outsider would think that she was part of the command structure considering the amount of influence she had. And in any attack, the command staff would make for the command centre, the most secure building in all of the base. ¡°Gods! Yen Ching, the attacker¡¯s in the command centre, repeat they¡¯re in the command centre!¡± Springing from behind the wall she sprinted full pelt towards the bunker, not caring who saw her, risking everything on the fact that the attacker was within its walls and wouldn¡¯t see her coming. Shouting to the gunners on the roof, she tried to tell them to get inside the bunker, to help secure it when flames roared up out of the roof. Screaming, turned instantly into living torches, the gunners died where they sat as the flames turned first blue, then white hot, the heat making Mai shield herself even though she was still many paces away from them. Bastard! Skidding to a halt by the bunker¡¯s door, she slammed her palm onto the security lock, slipping through as soon as the gap was wide enough before closing it behind her again. Her would-be-assassin was good. They¡¯d managed to work their way into the heart of the rebel base entirely undetected, plant explosives, and then had the rebels running around like headless chickens whilst they waited for their prey to come to them. Muffled gun fire and screams erupted, the sounds blocked by the building¡¯s thick walls. They were based on a concentric spiral, attackers having to work their way inwards, checked by walls, a mini labyrinth the centre of which held the actual command room. It was a good design, but only against external attackers. Once again the rebels had been defeated by someone already within their walls. ¡°Yen Ching, come in, Yen Ching!¡± she whispered as she made her way along the outward corridor, pausing every few paces to listen. ¡°I¡¯m afraid that Yen Ching¡¯s unable to come to the comm right now. He and the rest of the rebel council are indisposed.¡± The killer¡¯s voice was androgynous, cold, dispassionate, yet she could detect a trace of pride in what they had done. ¡°Why don¡¯t you come and join me?¡± ¡°On my way,¡± snarled Mai as she broke into a run, weapons raised. Book 3 - Uprising - Chapter 22 Mai lost count of the number of bodies she passed as she ran through the command centre labyrinth. From the way they lay, she could tell that the attacker had started killing them as soon as the command staff was ensconced in the centre. Nearly every corpse had wounds in the back, very few had known that the attacker was in their midst before they died. Some were piled over each other as if they¡¯d fallen asleep whilst hugging. Most of the kills were clean. Single shots to the back or the head. Others showed signs of a struggle. Large, gaping wounds indicated that the urbexer was using claws of some kind. Much like Mai they¡¯d paired a firearm with a close combat bladed weapon. Nostrils flaring at the stench of death, Mai fought to control her emotions, tears running down her cheeks. She¡¯d discovered the sergeant-at-arms, head neatly severed from its shoulders, a crate of bio-boost laying at his feet. Not knowing how many bottles he¡¯d had, she couldn¡¯t tell if any were missing, but she doubted that the assassin would pass up the chance to take at least one. She did the same, chugging down the liquid until her bio-mass reached one hundred and seventy five per cent, the maximum anyone could reach. That she knew of. Could the assassin go higher? They were a player after all, and she was just an NPC. ¡°Could you move any slower? I¡¯m booored,¡± the same emotionless voice commed to her. ¡°Make sure you don¡¯t slip, the footing¡¯s a bit treacherous, corridors filled with useless trash.¡± Gritting her teeth, Mai didn¡¯t respond. Doing so risked carrying her voice down the carpet-less corridor, giving away her position. She lowered the volume on her comm so that she could still hear the assassin, but not have them distract her too much, or prevent her from hearing any noise that they might make. ¡°What, cat got your tongue? Please hurry up, I promise I haven¡¯t left you any surprises. I like killing my bounties face-to-face.¡± Like I¡¯m going to trust you, Mai thought as there was a ripple of explosions outside. A fourth detonated at the entrance, the blast filling the corridor with dust and debris. ¡°Oops,¡± the assassin taunted, ¡°seems like you won¡¯t be getting any reinforcements. I want it to be just you and me.¡± Mai prayed that she hadn¡¯t lost any of her people to that explosion, feeling guilty that she would put them before the local rebels. But they were her people. Pushing on, she closed her mind to the bodies littering the corridor. Rounding the final bend, she paused to collect her wits. The bodies were piled in heaps where panicked rebels had tried to escape the killer in their midst. All had died horribly, the kills nowhere near as clean and clinical as the ones she¡¯d seen on the approach to the command centre. Some still twitched, the odd moan filling the room. All were too badly injured to actually scream. Forcing down bile, she slowly crouched and reached up to palm the door to the command centre open. ¡°Finally,¡± commed the assassin as the door opened. ¡°Come in, come in, I promise I won¡¯t kill you until we¡¯re formally introduced.¡± Swapping her blade for a shield, Mai rested the tri-barrel on it and entered the command centre, ready to spring into action at the slightest provocation. Mai had never been to a butcher¡¯s, but the room resembled what she imagined the waste room to be. Pieces of what had once been the rebel council were plastered over the walls and ceiling. She couldn¡¯t identify one body from another. Nothing could be pieced together. Only DNA tests would be able to identify what went where. ¡°Oh dear,¡± mocked the assassin as Mai vomited. ¡°Don¡¯t you like how I decorated the room?¡± ¡°Bastard!¡± Mai spat. ¡°You didn¡¯t have to kill them all!¡± The assassin shimmered before her, some sort of masking on their suit making it hard for Mai to focus. Shooting would be difficult, if she was going to be sure of a kill, it would have to be up close and personal. Which suited her perfectly fine. ¡°Oh, I know that darling, but they would have made things so much more difficult. And besides, it was fun. So. Much. Fun. Good to see you again by the way.¡± ¡°Wait, what? Do we know each other?¡± ¡°Oh most definitely. You killed my friends. Even killed their dog. Back in the sewers.¡± Mai¡¯s mind raced as she cast it back to before the culling when she had been indentured in the sewers. She¡¯d been working on a fat berg with her friends when a group of urbexers had tried to rob them. They¡¯d been wearing a mish-mash of armour, and had clearly been low level. She¡¯d lost good friends in that fight, but they¡¯d killed every one of the urbexers bar one. That one had worn a recon suit and had escaped at some point during the battle. ¡°You¡¯re the one that got away. The recon suit?¡± ¡°Bravo,¡± clapped the assassin. ¡°Bravo. Yes, I escaped whilst my friends died. Realised it was pointless dying in that filth. Even entered the culling. Was doing quite well too. And then I learned that you were in the culling. Tried to find you. Lost you at the supply drop. Marvellous idea, sending them down on parachutes.¡± All the time they spoke the assassin moved, never stopping in one place, their suit shimmering all the time. It was as if they were phasing in and out of existence. They weren¡¯t but the hologram causing the effect was impressive, nonetheless. Mai had the feeling that if the assassin was to run, that working out precisely where they would be nigh-on impossible. Regardless, Mai kept her weapon up and trained on where she thought she could be certain of a hit, and her shield high. ¡°And then you heard there was a bounty on mine and thought you¡¯d come and claim it?¡± ¡°Most certainly. And killing you will work towards my culling score. I¡¯ve already claimed another five culls whilst down here. Might be worth you hunting down the other cullers still in Nether City. Not that you¡¯re going to live.¡± The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. Mai was bored with the pantomime, this was the chattiest assassin she¡¯d ever come across. The first assassin if she was totally honest, but still far too chatty. She fired, sweeping the lasers across where she thought the assassin truly was. HIT! 2% ¡°Bitch!¡± screamed the assassin, their amplified voice causing Mai¡¯s suit to dampen her ears. There was a blur of movement and then the assassin slammed into her shield. DAMAGE 1% STAGGERED Mai didn¡¯t need to be told that she¡¯d been staggered as she flew across the chamber. The assassin¡¯s body weighed far more than she had expected. Perhaps if she¡¯d had the chance to plant her feet it would have had less effect, but the assassin¡¯s suit made timing hard to judge. She fired blindly, more to keep the assassin away from her whilst she tried to regain her balance than to do any damage. A blade struck her shield, sparking off the rim. DAMAGE! SOAK 1% It was a glancing blow, but still had power. She absorbed the tri-ball, swapping it for a tomahawk, her personal favourite. She held it mid-handle, giving her the option of switching for either a long strike, or dropping it down so that her hand was by the head and allowing her to go for a short range chop. Blurring, the assassin stepped to the outside of Mai¡¯s weapon hand. She pivoted her feet, switching her lead foot so that it was behind, swinging the shield round to meet the blow intended to disarm her. DAMAGE! SOAK 2% They¡¯re fast, damned fast, Mai could feel herself tiring already. The power of the blows was making her shield arm ache and trying to concentrate on the position of the assassin was taking up all of her attention, she was permanently on the back foot, literally, and unable to switch from defence to offence, the only way she could win this fight. A blade flicked out, she flinched away, dropping her weapon hand. DAMAGE! 2% BLEED @0.5% ¡°First blood to me,¡± taunted the assassin, dancing away from Mai¡¯s clumsy counter-swing. ¡°That shield looks heavy.¡± Blow after blow rained down on the shield, Mai tried to raise her arm every time it was knocked down by the power of her attacker¡¯s strikes. Chest heaving, she blinked the sweat out of her eyes. Her skills flashed, all of them having finally reset. SPOT HIDDEN was the first she reactivated, followed by STEALTH, UNARMED COMBAT, DIRTY BOXING, and USE TOMAHAWK. Immediately she was able to see the assassin better. They were still blurred, but the effect was dampened somewhat. Her eyes were able to focus better and didn¡¯t dance around like before. Snarling, Mai launched an overhead chop at the assassin, stamping forward as she did. Midway through the chop, she turned the tomahawk into a knife, shortening the length of the weapon significantly, altering her attack into a thrust. HIT! 5% BLEED @1% PER SECOND Screaming in rage, the first emotion that Mai had heard from them, the assassin danced back, standing still just long enough for her form to settle. ¡°Bitch! You utter fucking NPC bitch!¡± Mai was glad at that moment that none of the rebels in the chamber were in any state to hear the assassin curse. It was the first time she¡¯d ever heard a player refer to an NPC as such. ¡°I¡¯m going to fucking end you!¡± They followed their words with a chop and a thrust of their own, both hands shaped into blades. Mai blocked one with her shield and parried the other, changing her knife into a sword, activating USE SWORD at the same time. DAMAGE ¨C SOAK 2% Whilst she was tempted to give her arm a rest and get rid of the shield, it was more than proving its worth as it took attacks she knew would get through her body armour. There wasn¡¯t room for her to choose anything heavier, and she had the feeling it would take all the bio-boost she had to defeat the assassin. Jamming her shield forward, she tried to ram the edge of the shield into the assassin¡¯s face. Whilst the shield went high, her blade went low. Straight into the assassin¡¯s foot. HIT! 10% BLEED @2% PER SECOND INTIMIDATED The tide of battle had turned. Now the assassin was on the back foot, seriously injured, hobbling, trying to clear a space. But all that did was open up the distance, allowing Mai to flick her blade up, cutting into the assassin¡¯s stomach. CRITICAL HIT! 15% BLEED @5% PER SECOND Her attacker needed to act fast. They¡¯d already suffered twenty-five per cent damage and had a cumulative bleed of seven per cent per second, meaning in the time it took for them to register the cut to their stomach, they were thirty-two per cent down, a third of their health bar a not-so-healthy black. Soon they¡¯d be forty-nine per cent. In nine seconds they¡¯d be dead if they didn¡¯t kill her first and heal themselves. ¡°Cat got your tongue?¡± Mai taunted the assassin with their own words as she pressed forward, blade flicking at the assassin¡¯s face. They managed to bat it away but doing so wasted another second. What happened next was totally unexpected. One minute the assassin was standing, the next they dove straight at Mai¡¯s feet, wrapping their arms around her leg and slamming her into the ground. DAMAGE 1% WINDED Stars exploded before her eyes and all the air in her lungs left with a large *whoof*. Clawing their way up her body, the assassin rained punches down into her face, a large knuckle duster smashing her cheekbones with ease. DAMAGE - CRITICAL HIT! 35% STUNNED BLINDED ¨C LEFT EYE Too close for sword work, head rocking as the assassin punched again, Mai absorbed her sword and punched back, aiming for the assassin¡¯s side. She felt warmth, felt the cut she¡¯d made previously. Snarling, teeth bared, good eyes wide open she pressed her hand into the wound, forcing it wider. Reaching up with her other hand, she pulled the assassin in tight, controlling the back of her head, forcing her off balance as she pushed her hand further and further into the wound. Screaming, the assassin tried to pull back, but couldn¡¯t escape the grip on her head. Mai¡¯s arm was far stronger than the neck, and where the head went, the body failed. CRITICAL HIT! 20% PANIC Backing the assassin drove their forehead into Mai¡¯s already broken face. DAMAGE! 10% STUNNED As the room started to darken, Mai felt her fingers brush against something. Grasping it, she ripped her hand back out of the wound. There was a loud *schlurp* as she pulled the assassin¡¯s guts out of their body, flinging the entrails away. INSTAKILL! NEW TITLE ¨C EVISCERATOR! YOU KNOW JUST HOW TO GET TO THE GUTS OF THE MATTER. LITERALLY. CAUGHT RED-HAND TAKES ON A WHOLE NEW MEANING. Panting, Mai rolled the dead weight of the assassin off her. With a last remaining effort she activated her HEAL SERIOUS injuries, then let the darkness take her. Book 3 - Uprising - Chapter 23 ¡°Good to see you back in the world of the living,¡± Dakota¡¯s face hovered above Mai. She blinked against the harsh white light. It felt as though needles were being driven into her eyeballs. ¡°Where am I?¡± She groaned. ¡°Medical centre. It was touch and go there,¡± Dakota¡¯s eyes were puffy, as if she¡¯d been crying. Mai decided not to point it out. ¡°We nearly lost you. We lost the entire rebel council.¡± ¡°I know. The assassin was someone from my past. From before the culling actually. An urbexer that tried to rob me and my colleagues when we were in the sewers. They were the only one to escape. Seems like they held a grudge. Enough of one to join the culling.¡± ¡°They must have been gutted to know you were better than them,¡± grinned Dakota. ¡°You¡¯re a fucking legend amongst the troops now.¡± Mai ignored the pun, the memory too fresh for her to find it even remotely funny. She doubted that she would ever find that particular memory worthy of even retelling. She dreaded to think about how popular the kill would have been with any viewers. ¡°How have they taken the loss of the council?¡± Mai asked. ¡°Our people aren¡¯t fussed, you¡¯re our leader. The others, especially the officers that survived are a bit torn. A couple have hinted that they might be up for taking command, but the rest seem to be happy to just sit back and deal with getting the base back on its feet rather than actually assuming command.¡± Mai pushed herself up from the bed. Whilst she was HEALED, the memory of the injuries she had suffered remained. Phantom pain. Or perhaps it was real pain and the nanites hadn¡¯t fully healed her. Who knew what the developers had written into the code of her life. Calling up her SASS, she saw that her bio-mass was the lowest it had been for days, and that her health was still around the ninety-per cent mark. Not phantom pain then. Real pain. ¡°I¡¯m fed up with pussy-footing around. We¡¯ll announce that I¡¯m going to take over the rebel faction. If anyone has a problem with that they can take it up with me or leave.¡± Dakota¡¯s mouth opened and closed a couple of times before she found her voice. ¡°Okay. Um. Does that make me second-in-command?¡± ¡°Only if you want it,¡± Mai took hold of her friend¡¯s hands. ¡°This is entirely your choice. If you want to be second-in-command you will be. If you don¡¯t want the responsibility then that¡¯s fine too.¡± Dakota stared at her for a few seconds, squeezing her hands tightly before giving a small nod. ¡°Appreciate that. I¡¯ll take it. Means that I¡¯ll get one of the posh command staff bedrooms and not have to bunk with anyone. Devin¡¯s farts are damned awful!¡± They both laughed, Devin had become somewhat of a legend with his ability to create a stench that would likely clear a room whilst he sat and revelled in the smell. ¡°Thank you, from the bottom of my heart, I mean it,¡± Mai pulled Dakota in for a hug. Mai¡¯s declaration of power had gone without a hitch. Her killing of the assassin had raised her reputation with all of the NPC rebels to new heights and she saw a new found respect in the eyes of the rebel players. Word had spread of the attack, and the resulting duel, and many of the bounty hunters had fled the city. Those that hadn¡¯t had quickly found a bounty on their own heads, something which the locals were more than happy to try and achieve. The rebel faction had plenty of UC in the coffers since the council had been more interested in accumulating rather than spending the wealth. Mai had no such compunction and so had offered a minimum of ten thousand universal credits per bounty. That in turn had raised the faction¡¯s reputation once again. ¡°The people bloody love you. Not the factions mind you, but the people. There have been more defections, people running from the other factions,¡± reported Jock as they stood in the freshly cleaned command centre. She¡¯d made Jock the new sergeant-at-arms and given Hind command of the recon platoon. Biyu had been made head of the intelligence section, something which had most certainly put a smile on her face. Aside from that, she¡¯d left the command structure pretty much as it was, not wanting to reinvent the wheel or force change too quickly. ¡°Ma¡¯am! Report just in. Spies have warned us that the Ghosts are rebuilding their factory. There¡¯s a new structure. They¡¯ve sent a picture,¡± the rebel who had spoken threw the image over to the command centre holotable. ¡°What the hells?¡± They all leaned in for a closer look. ¡°Look at those frames. Those look like docking stations,¡± Jock murmured. ¡°It¡¯s a mecha station. They¡¯re building mecha,¡± groaned Dakota. ¡°We can never get a damned break!¡± cursed Hind. ¡°One day. Just one fucking day!¡± Mai said nothing but opened up the base menu. Recently she¡¯d been too busy concentrating on defences to look at other building options in the sub-menus. Defence was the priority, as much good as it had done them, as well as habitation blocks for all of the new civilians moving into their sector. As a result she hadn¡¯t realised that a host of other buildings had been unlocked. She scrolled down to the vehicles menu. In order to build and house vehicles, they first had to have the building for them, much like she had with the garage. Now she saw that they could not only build a larger garage, but they could also build a light-tank bay and, more importantly, a mecha bay. Building the mecha bay would not only unlock the ability to build and use mecha for the rest of the rebels, but it would also allow her to create a Mecha Knight Academy, where she could train them up. Not having heard of a Mecha Knight Academy, she read the description. Mecha are more than walking suits of armour, they are the pure embodiment of the martial spirit, piloted by true Knights of War. Men and women dedicated to honing their skills whilst dominating the battlefield. A Mecha Knight Academy takes rookie pilots and turns them into seasoned warriors with skills to rival those of any opponent using advanced virtual technology so that even before they step into a mecha they are truly ready to pilot them. Looking back at the image of the Ghost base, she saw no sign of a Mecha Knight Academy. ¡°They don''t have an academy. Looks like they¡¯re going to wing it like we had to when we unlocked mecha at the last base. From what it says, we can use the academy to go on virtual missions and build up our skills. Rather than just running through a basic familiarisation and then launching straight into combat.¡± ¡°So we¡¯ve got an edge until they have enough control points to build the academy,¡± mused Dakota. ¡°If you merged the command centre with the academy, you¡¯d have space to replace the garage with the mecha bay, increasing that as well. We¡¯ll just park the cars in the next compound, there¡¯s room for a garage there.¡± As she spoke, she moved the buildings to demonstrate what she meant. Mai agreed, and quickly made the changes. As the nanites set to work, they started on putting a list together as to who would go through the academy first. Naturally, the rebels from the upper city were first, followed by some of the newer recruits. If she was going to have a mecha contingent, she wanted to retain a strong infantry corps to support them and moving infantry veterans over to the mecha would only serve to lessen the existing combined experience. Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original. Starting afresh with new recruits would retain the experience in the infantry and create a new corps totally dedicated to that role. ¡°This is damned impressive,¡± Dakota spun in the mecha bay, arms outstretched. ¡°You¡¯ve got room for twenty units, a dedicated armoury, bunks for the mechanics, droids, and even a damned oil bath!¡± Mai just smiled, not bothering to point out that since she¡¯d been the one who created it that she knew exactly the specifications. From what she could see of the Ghost facility, they were only able to house five mecha. Five mecha was more than enough to give them a massive edge over the other factions though, and she didn¡¯t fancy having to face the Ghosts once they were stronger. ¡°Wait until you see the virtual training in the academy,¡± she called out as Dakota continued to spin her way through the bay. ¡°Pah! Academy nothing. I want to see what babies this place is going to produce!¡± Mai was keen herself, so made her way over to the bay¡¯s menu. Until she accessed it, it wouldn¡¯t be available in her own menu. She gasped, the size of the menu taking her breath away. There were too many combinations to take onboard. Everything was customisable, although there was a default setting. We¡¯ve got a whole new set of suits, she mused as she scrolled down. Most were redded out, but the few that weren¡¯t were beasts. ¡°Recon suit, also known as the Ranger, doubles up as a mecha killer,¡± she read out. ¡°Comes with a sniper railgun. Damned barrel¡¯s three paces long! Half the size of the suit!¡± The suit itself was compact, one and half times the size of an adult male, or three paces. It had a number of shoulder-mounted drones which could be deployed to act as eyes and ears. Each of the drones could also be tailored to fit certain roles. The left shoulder housed counter-measure drones, designed to protect and hide the recon suit from its enemies should it be discovered. On the right were offensive drones. Smart, they could be left to cover the recon suit¡¯s retreat, packing single-shot shaped charges that would seriously put a cramp on an enemy¡¯s attacks. Some of the others were also suicide drones, designed to fly like miniature missiles and detonate on the enemy. For anti-personnel, it had a back-mounted tri-barrel laser. Lasers were considerably quieter than ballistic weapons and would allow the user to pick off humans at a considerable range with little chance of detection. There was an option to add a colour to the laser, which she immediately discounted as it completely negated the stealth effects. Bet some players bloody love that sort of thing. Coloured lasers strobing around like some sort of disco ball, she thought with disgust. ¡°One for you here,¡± she called out as Dakota finally reached the end of the mecha bay and reversed her spin. Mai couldn¡¯t help but grin at her friend¡¯s childish exuberance. ¡°It¡¯s a Destroyer. Of mecha and tanks.¡± The Destroyer did exactly what it said on the tin. Both arms ended in huge power fists, capable of ripping the armour away from a mecha. Mounted on the forearms were titanium spikes more than two paces long. Driven by the power assisted arms, they would easily punch through damaged armour, or that of a small mecha. Mounted in the chest were two double banks of guided anti-armour missiles. Sixteen in total. Looking at the damage values, Mai let out a low whistle. Not only would they damage on the SOAK, but if they struck for damage which equalled the target mecha¡¯s remaining SOAK total, they would then penetrate for twenty-five per cent of that remaining total. Coup-de-grace, Mai¡¯s mind raced as she already started to understand the tactics to be used by anyone piloting the destroyer. Use the power fist and spikes in close if required, finished with a blast of missiles. Or overwhelm with a ripple of missiles, close and kill in close quarters. That was just a couple of ways. She hadn¡¯t even taken into consideration the two shoulder-mounted lasers. At five finger¡¯s width, they were absolutely huge. She didn¡¯t even want to think of the bio-mass cost for keeping them firing. And then, almost as an afterthought, there was a head-mounted heavy machine gun to deal with any pesky infantry. At six paces tall, this mecha would shake the ground with every step, and just looking at it filled her with terror. Which was another status it had. All infantry would be PANICKED if they were within ten paces, and all mecha pilots would be INTIMIDATED so long as they had line of sight. It didn¡¯t matter the distance. ¡°That¡¯s a fucking beast!¡± crowed Dakota as she draped her arm over Mai¡¯s shoulder and leaned in to look at the menu. ¡°It¡¯s a war winner is what it is,¡± Mai replied. ¡°It¡¯s a war winner.¡± ¡°What¡¯s next?¡± Asked Dakota. ¡°Anti-personnel, essential back up to the Destroyer.¡± She opened up the stats for the mecha. It was just as impressive, and costly as the others. Standing at five paces, it would tower above any infantry. It had the INTIMIDATION buff, but this included any infantry who could hear it. And to help them hear it, it had a speaker through which it would project subsonic growls, filling any infantry within thirty paces with PANIC unless they had dampeners in their suits. Covered in vicious spikes, it looked like a walking nightmare. All of the spikes were saw tooth, with hooks, meaning that any infantry struck a glancing blow would be immediately trapped, unable to flee as the mecha strode through their ranks. Each of its arms ended in a cornucopia of small arms. Automatic shotguns, grenade launchers, forearm-mounted flame throwers, and even small, guided missiles. Where its mouth would have been had it been human was another flame thrower and mounted on both shoulders were tri-barrel lasers. ¡°Nightmare¡±, breathed Dakota, reading the mecha¡¯s name. ¡°Nightmare by name, nightmare by fucking nature.¡± ¡°Bet you want to ride this one don¡¯t you?¡± Dakota was silent as she re-read the stats. ¡°Actually, this thing makes me feel a bit sick. Just look at the damage it can do. It¡¯s going to rip people apart if they manage to overcome their PANIC, and if it doesn¡¯t kill them, they¡¯ll be killed by their own people as it drags them along. For Buddha¡¯s sake, those spikes cause ten per cent BLEED per second, per spike!¡± Mai called up the physical stats of the mecha.
Ranger Shoulder - 125 Head - 200 Shoulder - 125
Torso - 310
Leg - 250 Leg - 250
Destroyer Shoulder - 350 Head - 475 Shoulder ¨C 350
Torso - 800
Leg - 425 Leg - 425
Nightmare Shoulder - 175 Head - 300 Shoulder - 175
Torso - 450
Leg - 350 Leg - 350
Following that, she brought up the descriptions of their status effects to see how they differed from those they were familiar with. Cloaking Whilst you can''t exactly hide a mecha easily, the CLOAKING effect scrambles enemy units'' abilities to spot, lock on, and shoot at the mecha. Intimidation Whilst any mecha is intimidating enough, this unit is built to cause fear in its opponents. With enough mecha using this status effect, a mecha unit can render entire regiments of enemy troops utterly incapable of aiming or fighting properly. Panic Whilst any mecha is intimidating enough, this unit is built to cause fear in its opponents. With enough mecha using this status effect, a mecha unit can cause entire regiments of enemy troops to flee the battlefield. Soak up damage Built to take punishment, this mecha has redundant units which kick in as soon as a module is destroyed, practically returning the mecha to full health. Spotting Recon units use this effect to assist their comrades-in-arms. With up to fifty times magnification on their spotting scopes, the mecha can identify, highlight, and map enemy units in real time, sending their locations and even assisting in countering any CLOAKING effects. ¡°Well, I supposed we¡¯re levelling up,¡± sighed Mai bitterly, regretting the words instantly. ¡°That we are, that we are,¡± Dakota said to Mai¡¯s well-hidden relief. Granted, levelling up was part and parcel of their life, but it meant something completely different now Mai was aware of their true nature. ¡°When can we start playing with these beauties?¡± Dakota repeatedly taped her on her shoulder. It was both endearing and incredibly frustrating. ¡°Right now if the simulators are ready,¡± Mai laughed as Dakota did a happy dance. ¡°Seriously, if I¡¯d know that mecha would make you this happy I¡¯d have built them before.¡± Book 3 - Uprising - Chapter 24 For the first simulation run, she¡¯d selected two squads of five rebels. One was composed of her, Hind, Jock, Dakota and Biyu, the other was composed of new recruits. It was going to be hard on the new recruits, and she planned on doing this with all of the knights. People tended to view mecha as god-like machines which would save them from all but the heaviest of attacks and she needed to disavow them of that as soon as possible. It was completely understandable. A feeling of power like nothing before always overcame her as she strode forward in her suit. ¡°Okay, listen up. Simple run and gun mission. We have one Ranger, one Destroyer and three Nightmares on both teams. The simulation will give both sides a platoon of infantry. It will feature three squads of ten multi-function infantry and one squad of mecha killers. ¡°Both teams will start facing each other across a valley. At the start of the simulation, battle will commence. The battle ends with the destruction or incapacitation of all mecha on one side. Are we clear on the terms?¡± There was a chorus of ¡®roger that¡¯ over the comm. Satisfied that they were ready, and still wondering if she¡¯d pushed the recruits through the mecha familiarisation process a little bit too hastily at Dakota¡¯s request, she started the time. Watching it count down from ten to one, she used the time to highlight the priority targets for her people. Dakota, in the Destroyer, was to take out the recon immediately, whereas Biyu in the Ranger unit would target the enemy Destroyer. Herself, Hind and Jock would concentrate on the enemy infantry, and their infantry would concentrate on hammering the lead enemy Nightmare. As soon as either the Destroyer or Ranger were destroyed, Biyu and Dakota would turn their fire upon the survivor. Only when those two were definitely out of the fight would they then add their fire to that of the infantry and try to kill the Nightmares. By which point Mai and her trio of Nightmares should have been in position to assist with that as well. As the counter reached one the eager recruits charged forward, the mecha outstripping the supporting infantry. Dakota opened fire with her powerful lasers, the large beams sending a shower of molten metal from the enemy Ranger mecha, one arm nearly completely sheared off. Its health bar rapidly filled with black. Biyu fired, her railgun sending a solid slug slamming into the chest of the enemy Destroyer at a speed of just over Mach One. There was a secondary explosion as one of the chest panels exploded, the guided missiles detonating in the intense heat generated by the slug. Tiny figures, infantry too close to the mecha, cartwheeled dozens of paces through the air. Mai tuned out the triumphant cheers of the other two as she and her squad mates set off at an angle, trying to work their way around the enemy Nightmares. Already the enemy mecha were hundreds of paces away from their infantry, and therefore devoid of any support they might have offered. Using a rear view camera, Mai watched as her own infantry started to engage the Nightmares at extreme range, their anti-mecha weapons starting to take a light, but telling toll. Bit-by-bit their health bars started to fill with black. The angle at which Mai and her people were approaching the enemy infantry also meant that the enemy Nightmares were having to present a flank to her infantry. Mecha were always most heavily armoured on the front. The sides were thinner, with the rear being the thinnest by a quarter. Probably to encourage mecha pilots to face their enemy and not run away, Mai thought as her unit continued to close. What this meant for the Nightmares was that the hits from Mai¡¯s infantry were starting to take a heavier toll, whilst at the same time they were preventing their own infantry from being able to safely engage Mai and her squad. This narrative has been purloined without the author''s approval. Report any appearances on Amazon. ¡°Ranger down!¡± Dakota screamed in excitement, making Mai practically jump out of her harness. Bullets hammered off the front of her own Nightmare as the enemy Nightmares started firing at her squad. ¡°Good job Dakota. Nightmares, ignore the incoming mecha fire, concentrate on the infantry. She laid the sights of her weapons on the nearest infantry as they charged forward to stay with the enemy mecha. The recruits had completely neglected to give them any proper orders, and so they were exposed, firing on the run. Mai¡¯s infantry on the other hand, was well-positioned and continued to pour fire down onto the enemy nightmares. ¡°Use your loudspeakers! PANIC the enemy!¡± Despite the basic training they¡¯d done with the mecha before starting the simulation, Mai hadn¡¯t actually tried using the speakers. The effect was stunning. They belched a subsonic wave of sound which couldn¡¯t even be heard, merely felt. PANIC glyphs appeared above the enemy infantry, and they scattered in all directions. Mai opened fire with her shoulder-mounted tri-barrels, the hot beams slicing and dicing every enemy soldier they hit. As she was in a simulation she didn¡¯t receive any notifications, just a quick flash of the reticle to indicate a hit, and a brief flash of red to indicate a kill. Within seconds she¡¯d cut down an entire squad of ten enemy infantry. ¡°Engaging Nightmares now!¡± Checking her cameras Mai watched as Dakota ripple-fired her guided-missiles, sending four to each of the enemy nightmares, scanning further she saw Biyu take the killing shot on the enemy destroyer, the railgun blasting through the already damaged chest armour and causing catastrophic damage. Skidding to a halt, Mai dropped to a knee and raked the enemy nightmares with every weapon she had. Yet more incoming fire slammed into them from her infantry platoon. Jock and Hind joined her and once Biyu turned her railgun onto them it was all over in seconds. ¡°Okay people. Round one to the instructors. Let¡¯s make it the best of three shall we?¡± They managed to cycle through three training cadres before Mai called it a day. Each round had seen the recruits swap mechas to see which one their combat style suited the most. After nine battles, Mai was pleasantly pleased with their progress. Training cadre one had recovered from being so badly spanked the first time, and actually fought Mai and her people to a close loss in the third round. Cadre two had obviously discussed things with cadre one before entering the simulation and had put up an excellent fight, bringing the battle to a close quarters slugging match between the two Destroyers. Only cadre three had forced a draw when they withdrew their mecha behind their infantry and poured a hail of fire at the instructors. Dakota, being bored with the stalemate had advanced, and so the instructors had been forced to advance as well. A well-timed ripple from both destroyers, the last mecha on either side still standing, had blown both of them to smithereens within milliseconds of each other. Dakota was still loudly proclaiming that she got the kill first, but Mai was happy to have the cadre claim the draw. ¡°They did well. We¡¯re going to have one full platoon up and ready to run in no time!¡± Mai had decided that each squad of mech would consist of five units, specialities to be decided according to mission requirements. A platoon would consist of three squads, and a command squad, totalling twenty mecha in all. Which matched the number of mecha the garage could hold at any one time. She didn¡¯t plan on stopping there however, and already had another twenty trainees lined up. Determined to build in redundancy, Mai didn¡¯t want to be caught short if they started to take losses. ¡°You did well today, Biyu,¡± she said, tipping a glass at the rebel. ¡°I¡¯ve not felt so in tune with a mecha before. The stealth capabilities on it are astounding and once I got my ECM into the air, it was all the enemy destroyers could do to hit with a pace.¡± ¡°Armour¡¯s a bit light,¡± remarked Mai. ¡°And that¡¯s fine. I¡¯ll happily trade it for speed and counter-measures. If it gets to a proper stand up fight, I¡¯ve failed in my task. I¡¯d like to train up my own recon squad. Separate from the rest.¡± ¡°A commando?¡± Mai liked the idea of that. ¡°Precisely. Backed up by five squads of five recon specialist infantry. One squad to each mecha,¡± Biyu said, clasping her hands before her. ¡°Put together a training plan. We¡¯ll review it tomorrow. Right now, I¡¯m bushed.¡± Book 3 - Uprising - Chapter 25 ¡°Looks like the Ghosts have built their own academy now as well,¡± Biyu said as they stood in the command centre. ¡°They¡¯ve enlarged their own mecha bay too. Reckon that can hold ten mecha.¡± Mai stroked her chin as she looked at the layout of the Ghost base. They¡¯d placed the mecha bay and the mecha academy towards the rear of their compound, butting up against the rock walls which surrounded Nether City. ¡°They¡¯ve been clever with their placement. If we want to attack we¡¯ll have to fight through the rest of the complex, which will allow them to funnel us into whichever approach they want us to take, all the time whilst their mecha can sit and hide.¡± ¡°But they¡¯d risk the destruction of a lot of their base if they did so,¡± Jock said. ¡°Not if they pulled their forces back. Fight on the walls, hold us off for a few minutes to give the mecha knights time to get suited up, then withdraw. Probably not even a fighting withdrawal, just run back through the complex until they reach these buildings here,¡± Mai traced a line of attack and retreated, drawing the stop line by a series of buildings.¡± ¡°What are those buildings?¡± asked Dakota. ¡°From the looks of it, they¡¯re essentially store rooms, administration. They¡¯ve moved all of the important buildings to the front of the base.¡± ¡°Clever bastards,¡± Hind clapped his hands. ¡°Retreat through the valuable buildings, gambling on them not taking much - or even any - damage, then fight once the attacking force is amongst buildings of low value and low control point cost.¡± ¡°You¡¯ve got to give it to them, they certainly know how to plan,¡± Jock rubbed his chin as he tried to work out the lines of fire offered by the bunkers and deep trenches which surround the Ghost mecha bay and academy. ¡°They¡¯ve placed the buildings so that no matter which one you take cover behind, you¡¯re still going to be engaged by at least one of the bunkers.¡± ¡°And those turrets are mecha killers,¡± Dakota highlighted each of the bunkers and their weapons. ¡°That¡¯s a railgun, bit like the one we have on the recon unit, that¡¯s a guided missile launcher, those are 7-finger cannons, and it looks like those are lasers.¡± ¡°They¡¯ve spent every single control point they have to get this done,¡± Mai grimaced at the thought of how much such building effort would have cost. ¡°Must have been banking it, unless we¡¯ve missed something?¡± asked Biyu. ¡°I suppose it¡¯s possible that they could be building up control points in the Upper City, and then using them down here.¡± ¡°If they are, that¡¯s damned sneaky,¡± Jock threw himself into a chair and covered his face. ¡°Why can¡¯t we ever get a damned break!¡± ¡°Aside from the factory, where else do they control?¡± Mai looked over at Biyu, who had settled well into the role of intelligence officer. ¡°They have three Agri farms. Two are lichen, and one is vat-grown protein. Chicken and beef. Sell to all the other factions as well as locals. Make a lot of money apparently. They even donate to the orphanage.¡± ¡°What fucking orphanage?¡± spat Mai. ¡°There¡¯s an orphanage, over in the Macgee urbexer clan sector. With all the fighting going on, and before we started peacekeeping, there was a lot of collateral damage. Hence an orphanage,¡± Bia shrugged as if it should have been obvious. ¡°Do we donate anything to them?¡± ¡°Like what? We¡¯re a rebel faction,¡± Baio raised an eyebrow. ¡°A rebel faction which owns a cotton farm and factory. Start sending them clothes. It¡¯ll boost our reputation and control points,¡± Mai ordered, watching as Biyu made the necessary commands. ¡°Cynical much?¡± muttered Dakota. ¡°I doubt that the Ghosts are doing it out of the goodness of their hearts either. Knowing them, they¡¯ve probably made a damned good number of orphans themselves,¡± snapped Mai. ¡°We¡¯re fighting for survival here. Even if we don¡¯t understand the stakes, we¡¯ve got to do everything we can to live.¡± Only she knew the stakes. She understood more than anyone else in the room as to what was going on. But it still hurt to hear Dakota thought about her like that. ¡°Hey, I was just saying¡±, Dakota held up her hands and backed away from the table slightly. Mai nodded her head, accepting the apology. It wasn¡¯t worth bickering with her team. ¡°We send a team of mecha against the protein factory. It¡¯s the furthest away from the Ghost base. Five only. Back them up with some infantry. Cause enough mayhem and damage to draw the Ghosts out. If they think we¡¯ve only got five mecha, it¡¯s a good chance that they¡¯ll send all of theirs so that they can guarantee strength of numbers and take our people down quickly.¡± ¡°But they¡¯re not going to actually duke it out are they?¡± asked Biyu. ¡°No, fighting retreat through the farm, causing as much damage as possible before moving through the surrounding hab blocks. Draw the Ghost mecha after them.¡± ¡°And whilst those mecha are fighting ours, we send the bulk of our knights against their base?¡± asked Hind. ¡°Exactly. Biyu, this is one for you and your scouts. Get out to the protein farm. Signal when you¡¯re ready. We¡¯ll move into position and attack once we see how things are progressing. If the Ghosts don¡¯t take the bait, I¡¯ll call you back in.¡± Biyu gave a shark-like grin, sketched a salute, and ran from the command centre, her comms channel already issuing orders. ¡°Do you think we¡¯re ready?¡± asked Dakota quietly, breaking the silence which had followed Biyu¡¯s exit. ¡°We have to be. We¡¯ll have had more training than their people,¡± Mai tried to sound confident. What she didn¡¯t voice was her worry that the Ghosts had potentially brought mecha pilots from the Upper City. She¡¯d never heard of mecha being used in the Upper City, but they could well have done so in the various colonies and frontiers. ¡°We¡¯re in position Biyu. Good to go. On your mark.¡± Commed Mai. Their forces were spread out amongst the sprawl of buildings facing the Ghost factory compound. Technically they were inside Ghost territory, so Mai had sent three platoons of infantry to sweep through the habitation blocks, pushing the civilians in the buildings away from the compound and lessening the chance of collateral casualties. ¡°Roger that. Commencing now.¡± Mai settled back in her pilot¡¯s seat to watch the action. Until the Ghosts made their move, there was nothing that Mai and her people could do to affect the battle at the protein farm. I might as well see how Biyu and her people progress. She selected Biyu¡¯s gun cam. Biyu had spread her people in a diamond formation around the protein farm, each of her mecha supported by the five recon specialists that she and her people had trained up. It made for a well-balanced force. All five members of the recon squads were armed with high-power sniper rifles, but at any one time only two of them would actually be using them. The other three acted as support, protecting their flanks and rear, using suppressed SMGs. ¡°Guards marked. Confirm all guards marked,¡± commanded Biyu, her minimap full of enemy markers. ¡°Confirmed, all visible targets marked,¡± commed the recon commander, a young woman called Chow. ¡°Marking targets of priority,¡± Biyu¡¯s gun cam showed numbers appearing above the various enemy troops. With her five mechas and ten snipers, she could realistically take out fifteen enemy guards simultaneously. If that happens, we can hopefully avoid any sort of battle, just comm over an open channel that we¡¯ve taken the factory. That should be enough to have the Ghosts send their mecha. Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. ¡°Firing on my mark. Red, red, red, green.¡± Biyu¡¯s tri-barrel flared into life, her beam hitting the target full on in the chest. As the target¡¯s liquids were instantly superheated the guard exploded, flash boiled. Kills flashed on the minimap, the markers disappearing as the targets died. Not one was left standing. ¡°Good kills, drones out. Find any other guards that might be hiding, send them into the buildings if necessary.¡± Mai piggy-backed on the drone camera being controlled by Biyu. Workers ran around in confusion as they reacted to the explosive deaths all around them. She was certain that they would be raising the alarm, which was precisely what she needed. Cat¡¯s really amongst the pigeons now, she thought, immensely proud with the first demonstration of their recon specialists. Stage one had gone without a hitch. ¡°Guards in the room I¡¯m pinging now,¡± reported one of Biyu¡¯s knights. Mai looked over at the minimap as it flashed on a building. ¡°Firing railgun,¡± Biyu¡¯s gun flared into life, sending its solid slug through the air at supersonic speeds. The effect was near instantaneous. There was an indistinguishable movement of time from the gun firing to the slug hitting the target. The effect was surprising. Punching through the walls of the building in microseconds, the round made a small entry hole, and then removed the entirety of the far wall as it punched through and kept going before hitting another building further on. ¡°Shit. All mecha, be aware of over-penetration. Angle rounds downward if firing at buildings so they don¡¯t carry through too far. Confirm,¡± Biyu¡¯s voice was tight. Mai too was shocked at the power of the railguns. They¡¯d been impressive against other mecha, but the mecha armour was designed to withstand such blows. These buildings clearly weren¡¯t and might as well have been made from rice paper for all the protection they gave. A guard staggered from the building, Mai used the drone camera to zoom in and was shocked to see that he was missing both arms, blood spurting from the wounds. PANIC, BLEED@15% PER SECOND, BLINDED, STUNNED, WINDED all hung over him as he collapsed to the ground and bled out. ¡°Stick with your tri-barrels,¡± Mai ordered, cutting in over their comms channel. ¡°Only use your railguns against bunkers and more heavily armoured buildings, unless absolutely necessary. Confirm please.¡± She listened to a chorus of confirmations. Shock and awe had its place, but she couldn¡¯t see civilians suffering the way that guard had. ¡°Recon units moving into the farm, mecha staying on overwatch,¡± Biyu reported as the blue blips representing the recon specialists moved in towards the farm. Panning over them, Mai said that all of them were using SMGs now, their long-rifles impractical for the close-in fighting required when entering a built-up area. Mai cut over to her own unit¡¯s drone feed to see how the Ghosts were reacting. Thank the gods! Alarm glyphs had appeared over a number of the guards, and she could hear a siren building up to full wail. Men and women in Ghost uniforms ran from the mecha academy, sprinting towards the mech bays as mecha support engineers prepared their war engines for battle. ¡°Biyu, be aware, you¡¯ve had the desired effect, they¡¯re deploying. Mecha. Standby for confirmation of numbers.¡± Mai flexed her fingers, working the blood back into them as she realised she¡¯d been clenching them into fists. ¡°Roger that boss. We¡¯re ready and waiting,¡± commed Biyu as she positioned her unit in the Agri farm to maximise their defensive effect whilst still retaining the ability to pull back. Mai bit her lip as she watched the Ghosts mecha charge out of the bays. ¡°Boss, they¡¯re sending what look like four anti-mecha, the others are general assault types. Confirm twenty mecha on their way to you Biyu,¡± reported Dakota. Mai punched the air in silent jubilation, finally something seemed to be working to plan. ¡°They¡¯re going to be with you in ten minutes, Biyu. Confirm when you¡¯re in contact,¡± Mai knew Biyu knew exactly what to do, but nerves were kicking in and she was unable to stop herself from repeating the missions, reassuring herself that everyone understood the parameters and objectives. Ten minutes usually flies if you¡¯re doing something you enjoy. But when you¡¯re waiting to go into battle, where friends could well be killed or maimed, it can seem like an age. After the umpteenth time of checking her timer and seeing that it had only been a few seconds before she last checked, Mai forced herself to watch the various drone feeds of the Ghosts¡¯ crystal factory, and Biyu¡¯s force in the protein farm. ¡°Contact!¡± Biyu¡¯s voice had Mai cursing as she tried to bring her thumping heart back down to a reasonable rate. She¡¯d been so absorbed in watching the routines of the Ghosts guards on the crystal factory wall that she¡¯d finally lost track of the time. Looking Bioa¡¯s feed, she could see that the enemy mecha were moving down a street horizontal to the farm. Fast and dumb, she thought as she looked at how closely packed the enemy mecha were. There didn¡¯t seem to be any attempt to hide their advance, and she assumed that they hadn¡¯t planned for the possibility that their enemies might know they were approaching. Typical fucking players, probably think this is some sort of new mission, NPC opponents. Easy meat, her lip curled in hatred and she issued a low growl. ¡°What¡¯s the range on the railguns Biyu?¡± she commed. ¡°Four thousand paces, the enemy are three thousand paces from us, closing at ten paces per second. They¡¯ll be with us within five minutes.¡± Now Mai understood why the time had seemed to pass so quickly once she stopped checking the clock. The extreme range of the railguns meant that the enemy were within engagement range much sooner than it would actually take them to cover the distance to the base. Closing her eyes for a minute, she cursed herself for not taking that into consideration. It was a basic mistake, and one which she knew she wouldn¡¯t make again. ¡°Feel free to engage whilst they¡¯re still bottled up on the street, punish them,¡± she ordered. ¡°Roger that, engaging,¡± Mai could hear Biyu¡¯s smile as she laid her own railgun sights onto the nearest assault mecha. Dropping her sight, she placed it over the mecha¡¯s left kneecap. As soon as her railgun chimed, confirming lock, she fired. As before there was barely any time between the railgun firing and the shot hitting its target. CRITICAL HIT! LOCATION DESTROYED! CRIPPLED! ¡°Hit!¡± molten metal and sparks flew in all directions as the mecha¡¯s knee disappeared, its lower leg spinning away, the mecha itself stumbling and dropping face first into the road. It was well and truly out of the fight. Other explosions rocked the enemy mecha as Biyu¡¯s people hit their own targets. One of the assault mecha was completely obliterated by a double hit, two smoking legs the only things that remained. This is going better than I ever imagined! Her people had already caused twenty per cent casualties to the enemy mecha without taking a loss themselves. PANIC glyphs appeared over a couple of the other enemy mecha as the pilots tried to react to the incoming fire. Outgoing fire raced away from the Ghost mecha as they blindly fired towards where they thought Biyu, and her people were positioned. They were far out, and explosions rocked the Agri farm and surrounding area. ¡°Keep your heads down little squishies!¡± commed Biyu as another volley of railgun shots raced out into the enemy mecha. Only three scored a hit this time, the Ghosts having deployed counter-measures, and starting to move more erratically. ¡°Time for us to move,¡± she ordered. ¡°Destroyers, clear the walls.¡± The surprise was total. Guards died before they knew it, towers erupting as guided missiles blew them to pieces, bunkers were shattered, and bodies and parts of bodies flew through the air. ¡°Blowing the gate,¡± reported Dakota as she fired all of her missiles at the thick gates. They¡¯d already learned that they were Mark 8, which was an impressive level Mai hoped she¡¯d soon be able to match on their own base, so Dakota had spent time upgrading her own mecha through hours of training. Her Mark 9 missiles reduced the gates to molten slag in the blink of any eye. ¡°Charge,¡± Mai ordered. It wasn¡¯t an all-out charge like in the holomyths, or like the order even suggested, but a careful advance of units in a specific order. She and her command squad were to remain at the rear. They¡¯d decided that it was only fair for the other rebels to earn the experience and progression needed. Not only would it improve morale, but it would strengthen her people far beyond any of the locals used by the factions as foot soldiers. Workers scattered as the mecha strode through the factory compound, the pilots slowing in their advance to ensure that they didn¡¯t crush any by mistake. Resistance was light, mostly small-arms fire, the heavy weapons on the walls already destroyed. ¡°Keep pushing people, watch out for that unit of anti-armour troopers on the right flank,¡± Mai kept up a never-ending flow of orders, shuffling units to meet any possible threats, keeping their flanks safe so that the destroyers could get as close as possible to the mecha bay and academy. She was both exhausted and exhilarated at their progress. Any resistance was swept away. ¡°Firing on the main objective,¡± reported the commander of the destroyer element. Explosions rippled across the buildings as the destroyer unleashed a literal storm of metal, every weapon in their arsenal pouring fire into the buildings. Mai watched as the armoured buildings¡¯ SOAK value was whittled away in mere seconds and then changed to catastrophic damage. In no time at all they blew, shockwaves racing out in all directions and a mushroom cloud blooming into life above them. ¡°Fuck, two minutes,¡± gasped Mai as she checked the timer once again. ¡°Two minutes, people. Well done.¡± She was stunned at how quickly the battle had been finished. A squad especially tasked for the purpose was already reporting they¡¯d seized all of the boxes of crystals and were busy loading up a lorry. Switching her view to see how Biyu was progressing she smiled at the sight of smoke columns rising into the air above burning enemy mecha. Counter-measures made it hard for her to judge how many still survived, but she thought that at least half of them had been killed. There was no knowing how many of the survivors had been damaged. ¡°Biyu, time to get out of there. Mission achieved.¡± ¡°Roger that, all units pull out!¡± Mai repeated the order, pulling all of her units back from the shattered remains, leading her victorious arm back to base, ready for whatever else was going to be thrown at them. Book 3 - Uprising - Chapter 26 Mai approached the shattered remains of the Ghost factory¡¯s gates. Even after two days the air was still filled with the smell of molten metal. No bodies littered the ground, but she could see bloodstains marking where the guards had fallen. Holding her arms out wide, she stopped at a shouted order. It came from within the compound, as the wall surrounding the gate was similarly destroyed. Defenders raced forward to take shelter behind the now considerably lower wall. ¡°What do you want?¡± Yelled one of them from the wall. ¡°I want to parley. I want to speak to your commander,¡± Mai replied, keeping her hands well away from her body. She didn¡¯t want to give them the slightest excuse. She¡¯d put the last two days to good use, creating yet more missions which pitted the factions against each other, compounding the losses they suffered whilst continuing to expand her faction¡¯s reach. The Ghosts had been particularly hard hit, losing all of their farms to her people as well as the other factions. Buildings around her spoke of the other battles that had been fought. The loss of the crystals had also hit them hard, seriously cutting into their faction earnings. ¡°He¡¯s busy. Come back,¡± a soldier stepped out from behind the gate. As with any of the outsiders, she was unable to read their SASS, just like the first time she¡¯d tried to in the sewers. The first time she¡¯d realised that something was wrong. He was low ranking, clearly new to the faction. Clearly didn¡¯t know who she was or what she represented. ¡°Tell him that Mai Xiao wants to parley, boy,¡± that hit home his face flushing, weapon arm rising slightly only to stop when he saw her snarl and set her legs in anticipation of action. It didn¡¯t matter that there were any number of guns trained on her, it was clear she was willing to die if it meant she killed him too. Giving a jerky nod, he stepped back in to cover. Mai relaxed, sitting down, and crossing her legs in the lotus position outwardly serene. Everything was an act. She knew she was taking a risk and it had taken many hours of shouting back and forth before she convinced the others that this was the best option. She¡¯d told them it was because she wanted the Ghosts to join their faction in the long run, using their skills to strengthen their own force, but really she wanted to speak to the Ghosts commander. He was currently the highest ranking player in the Nether City, despite his recent losses and if anyone was going to know what was so different about her, it would be him. ¡°Advance, keep your hands out wide, and clear of weapons,¡± the young soldier had been replaced by a grizzled veteran, a man in his late fifties, a local. She quickly SASSed him and was surprised at the extent of his skills. Seems that the Ghosts are better at using the locals than the rebels are, she thought as she saw his rank tab indicated that he was a captain. She complied with the order, smiling slightly as she spotted the number of guards waiting for her. Stopping, she raised her eyebrows in an unspoken question. ¡°This way please commander,¡± she hadn¡¯t expected the title but realised that it suited her. She was indeed a Faction Commander, even if she hadn¡¯t considered the title previously. Still, if it helped garner respect and deference from her enemies, she¡¯d use it. Dakota would never let me hear the end of it if I started having my people address me as commander, she thought. Walking through the base she was impressed with the repair work which had been carried out. The Ghosts might have been hurting but it was clear that they took far more pride in their compound than Yen Ching ever had. Aside from the walls, she could barely see any signs of damage. Even the mecha bay and academy have been removed, her respect for the Ghosts rose once again. They¡¯d cleared the area of the destroyed weapons, filling it with a small protein and lichen Agri farm, providing at least some food for their workers and guards. ¡°Mai Xiao, the living legend,¡± the Ghost commander strode out from a small building, hand outstretched. She took it, accepting his hard grip, feeling the calluses on his palms. This was an officer who wasn¡¯t afraid to get his hands dirty. ¡°General Ayres,¡± she bowed over their handshake, giving him the respect he deserved. ¡°Thank you for taking the time to speak to me.¡± ¡°How could I pass up on the chance to meet my nemesis?¡± His smile was open and honest. Although his eyes narrowed at his words, there didn¡¯t seem to be any hard feelings over past events. Her surprise must have shown, for he gave a low chuckle. ¡°Come now, I know when I¡¯ve been outclassed and have nothing but respect for you in that matter. You suckered punched us, and I sent my people into a masterful trap. That battle will go down into living history as an example of both what not to do, and what to do.¡± ¡°Thank you for being so gracious,¡± she straightened from her bow and let go of his hand. ¡°I was wondering if we could talk in private. Just you and I?¡± Love what you''re reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on. Ayres sucked on his teeth for a couple of seconds as he considered her request, then gave a quick nod, indicating she should enter the building he¡¯d just come out of. ¡°Apologies for the conditions. I used to have my office in the academy, but until I get something better suited to the task I¡¯m using this.¡± Her respect for him climbed again. She couldn¡¯t imagine Yen Ching having ever put his base¡¯s needs before his own. The room was tiny, barely big enough for a desk and a table with four chairs. ¡°Please, have a seat,¡± he motioned her towards the table. She took the seat furthest from the door, facing it. He smiled as he saw her positioning. ¡°Wise not to trust us. I¡¯d get a lot of kudos if I killed you. But rest easy, I won¡¯t break a parley. Unlike some of the other factions, we follow an honour code. How might I help you?¡± Mai braced herself, mouth going dry as she realised that she might finally find out what made her so different. ¡°Why am I different? I know I¡¯m an NPC. But what makes me so special?¡± She tried to keep the emotion out of her voice, but it was difficult. Ayres let out a long and slow whistle, face paling. ¡°Now I know why you wanted to meet in secret. Why should I tell you?¡± ¡°Because I want to propose an alliance. I¡¯ll supply you with bio-boost to help you get back on your feet. You¡¯ll ally with us, and you¡¯ll tell me what¡¯s so different about me, and keep it a secret until I¡¯m ready to tell others.¡± Opening her pack, she placed a bottle of bio-boost onto the table between them. ¡°First taste is free,¡± she joked as she pushed it towards him. ¡°Free of poison in case you¡¯re wondering.¡± ¡°I take it this is one of the bottles from the famous supply crate heist?¡± he took the bottle but didn¡¯t drink. ¡°It is. So, do we have a deal?¡± she offered her hand across the table. ¡°We have a deal,¡± he took it, and they shook firmly once. ¡°But you¡¯re not going to like what you hear. You¡¯re what¡¯s called a Mega Minion. A super NPC. I take it you¡¯re familiar with the term NPC?¡± She nodded, racing through emotions, the one at the forefront being fear. Fear of what he was going to say and fear as to what it would mean. ¡°The developers have created this world to be permanent. It covers the whole breadth of gaming. People come here to live second lives as cooks, gangers, police, and even cleaners. Others come for combat, fighting against the rebels, fighting for the rebels. Every game mode you can think of is available. Capture the flag, domination, king of the hill, seek and destroy, assassinations, bank robberies, white collar crime, street racing, free running, martial arts tournaments, real-time strategy, resource management. Everything. Minions make up the vast majority of the population by a factor of something like five thousand to one.¡± He paused to make sure that she was following his words, his brow creasing in what she thought was concern. ¡°Only things were getting too easy for regular players, they started asking for minions which would give more of a challenge. Mega minions. The Culling is an esports event, the top one hundred players winning so much money that even the one hundredth player won¡¯t need to work for at least ten years.¡± Esport? The culling was a fucking esport? Mai felt the room spin as what she had seen to be a last, desperate choice, was merely a game that no-one bar the players actually had any choice about joining. Her fingers throbbed from where they had grabbed the edge of the table, her fingers white with the pressure Forcing herself to let go of the table, she started to jig her leg to expend the energy she felt. ¡°The Mega Minions were introduced to be part of the Culling in the latest update and just before the Culling started. To make things harder. Only the developers rushed things and slipped up somewhere. Mega Minions such as yourself started to develop a form of free will, going against their programming. You were never meant to come down here, you were never even meant to survive the culling if I¡¯m honest.¡± ¡°Wait, there are others, like me?¡± Mai grasped at that, unable to comprehend the fact that she¡¯d only come into being just before she entered the Culling. Had been indentured purely so that she would have some sort of back story. Ayres nodded, bringing up a list and flicked it over to her retinal monitor, one name stood out immediately. ¡°Dakota¡¯s a Mega Minion?¡± ¡°Looks like. They certainly didn¡¯t expect you guys to bloody well team up. No-one did. But she¡¯s not as ¡­¡± he appeared to struggle for the correct word, then shrugged and just blurted ¡°glitched as you. Although she has free will, she seems to be a Mega Minion¡¯s Mega Minion.¡± Mai closed her eyes, taking a deep, steadying breath. For all her worries it seemed as though Dakota was truly a friend. Granted there might be some programming behind her motive, but since she was glitched, it could also be argued that she had attached herself to Mai because she somehow spotted a kindred spirit. In exactly the same way Mai had befriended her. ¡°So why are there so many bounties on my head?¡± ¡°Well, players will be players. Some say that this is a good thing for the game, and gaming as a whole. Others just want to kill you for the sake of being able to say that they killed you. Others, a bunch of fucking weirdos if you¡¯ll excuse my Common, think that you¡¯re a threat to not only the game but to society as a whole.¡± ¡°Oh, I¡¯m a threat to the game alright. People out there? Not so sure, I find what I¡¯m having to do here hard enough. It¡¯s not as though I actually enjoy killing people. Not minions anyway.¡± Ayres barked a hard laugh. He acknowledged her point with a quick salute. ¡°I can understand why you might feel that way. Not sure how I¡¯d react if I found out that I wasn¡¯t a player.¡± ¡°How do you know you¡¯re not? How do you know you¡¯re not logging out of this game and entering another game in which you¡¯re a minion?¡± ¡°Now we¡¯re entering a philosophical territory that I can¡¯t even get my head around¡± Ayres said with a shrug.¡± I suppose it¡¯s possible I¡¯m in a game, within a game, within a game and so on. But I suppose what truly matters to you, is that I¡¯m playing this game, and you¡¯re living that game. I have to confess, it feels strange to have a genuine, unscripted, conversation with someone who¡¯s not hu¡­ not a player.¡± ¡°Human, you were about to say not human,¡± snarled Mai, slightly rising from her chair before sitting down. She felt pain in her fingers again and snarled as she pushed her chair away from the table, folding her arms to keep her hands under control. ¡°I apologise. Sincerely, this is new ground for all of us. Mai sniffed, but accepted the apology. Pushing what she had learned to the back of her mind for the moment, she started to lay out the plans for their alliance, much to Ayre¡¯s obvious relief. Book 3 - Uprising - Chapter 27 Mai walked back to the rebel base in a daze. Her brain raced, switching between believing Ayres to believing that it was some sort of mind game by him. But in her heart of hearts she knew what he¡¯d said was true. It corroborated what the other player had told her, and she was certain that they had never met. Her memories of her mother and father were total fabrications. As were her memories of her life. She hadn¡¯t been alive for a year, let alone years. And then the worst truth hit her. Li was also a recent creation. Her whole reason for being, for entering the Culling, her whole motivation to Ascend was the creation of some arsehole writing a game. Head spinning, she tried to remain standing. It felt as though her heart was going to burst. Or did it? Was this merely more of her programming, or was this genuine? Her brain raced, jumping from thought to thought with the speed of light. Sweat beaded on her brow, whilst her mouth turned dry. Her emotions were just as mixed. Anger, fear, sadness, hurt, even the odd ounce of guilt flooded through her. But of all of them, sadness was currently winning out. Sadness at the thought that her bond with Li wasn¡¯t real. That the reason for her struggling to remember her parents was because of poor programming rather than a poor memory. Sadness that her memories of her life before she punched her abusive neighbour were all false. Mai latched onto that thought. The memories before that day were false, but the ones she had made since then weren¡¯t. And one memory she had which was particularly strong was meeting Dakota. I¡¯ve got to tell Dakota, she thought. Bending over, she vomited, her stomach unable to cope with the emotional turmoil. She felt as though the world was spinning, as if she¡¯d had far too much to drink. Cold sweat beaded her forehead, and as she staggered along the street civilians stepped aside to let her pass, hands covering their mouths as if they thought she might have something catching. Hanging back before she reached the rebel sector, she composed herself, wiping the sweat from her brow, drying her eyes, using nanites to make them less puffy with the liberal use of makeup. Walking through the gate, she kept chit chatting to the bare minimum, just nodding to the guards, giving a wave to those who bid her hello. As she neared the main base, she found her feet dragging, as if they were coated in lead. Each step took her closer towards hurting one of her few friends, and she had absolutely no idea how the mercurial Dakota was going to take the news. Would she erupt, be angry at Mai for not letting her know sooner? Or would she immediately go and announce the news to the rest of the world? Would she refuse to accept the truth? Or would she break down, be unable to face the truth? One thing was certain, this was going to hurt their friendship, something which Mai relied upon. The thought crossed her mind that she could keep it secret. It wasn¡¯t as if the players in the rebel faction would say anything. According to Ayres they¡¯d all signed agreements that they wouldn¡¯t say anything unless a Mega Minion directly asked them about it. Mega Minion, a term she detested with every fibre of her being. Might as well call her a malfunctioning semi-autonomous slave. ¡°Dakota, come and meet me in my room please,¡± she commed as she entered the top of the rebel compound. ¡°Soon as possible.¡± If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement. Making her way to her room, she prepared herself for what was to come. ¡°Reporting as requested,¡± Dakota said as Mai opened the door to her room. ¡°Thanks, come in. Take a seat. Got something I need to tell you,¡± Dakota¡¯s grin turned into a frown as she saw how serious her friend was. ¡°Sure, what¡¯s up.¡± Mai joined her friend at the table, took hold of her hands and started her story. It took nearly thirty minutes to cover the story, Dakota asking her to repeat things she¡¯d said, clarify things. Tears were spilt, hugs were shared, and curses were shouted before Dakota was able to get her emotions in check. Mai fought just as hard to control hers, the telling of the story opening up all of the wounds once more. ¡°I didn¡¯t tell you,¡± her friend whispered, tears streaking her cheeks. ¡°I¡¯ve been seeing Goblin on the sly. He was one of those outsiders who joined us in the fight against Maggi Becker and her people. Is it fake? Or is he only seein me because of the fucking novelty factor?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know,¡± Mai¡¯s heart broke all over again as she saw the hurt she¡¯d caused her friend. That Dakota was seeing someone was a surprise, she didn¡¯t know where her friend found the time or energy considering the amount of work they were having to put into running the faction. At any other time she¡¯d have been thrilled to hear her friend had found someone. ¡°How the fuck have you manged to keep this secret?¡± Dakota¡¯s eyes held hers. ¡°Barely. It¡¯s been eating at me this whole time. Since when I first suspected something strange was happening in the culling hangar. All those gangers, urbexers, prisoners and ex-military, the way they spoke and seemed to share in-jokes amongst each other. How they didn¡¯t speak to us as if they didn¡¯t consider us worth speaking to.¡± ¡°Bastards,¡± hissed Dakota. She dried her eyes using the sleeve of her jacket. ¡°I want to break the entire fucking system. Make these bastards pay for treating us this way. Show them that we¡¯re not to be messed with.¡± Mai blew her breath out, cheeks puffed as she felt relief flood through her body. ¡°We¡¯re going to break the fucking system. First, we make this city ours. Then, we take the fight back to the Upper City. We win the culling, we fucking Ascend, something no-one like us has ever done.¡± Dakota grabbed both of her hands and held them so tightly it hurt. DAMAGE! 1% ¡°Promise me, no matter what, that we won¡¯t stop until we¡¯ve made them pay.¡± ¡°I promise,¡± Mai squeezed her friends¡¯ hands back. ¡°And the Ghosts are going to help us?¡± Mai nodded. She¡¯d sketched over her agreement with Ayres, wanting to concentrate on the true reason for her visit. But seeing how well Dakota was currently taking the news, she decided they needed to think about something else for a few minutes. ¡°We¡¯ve agreed that I¡¯ll continue to expand our walls. He¡¯s going to cede the next five blocks to us, which will increase our control points massively.¡± ¡°Won¡¯t that affect their control points and income though?¡± ¡°It will, but after the last set of fighting, they don¡¯t have the numbers to hold it. It makes sense for them to pull inwards slightly so that they¡¯re not overstretched. Ayres has put up recruitment posters on what passes for ¡®real life¡¯ social media, and he¡¯s certain that he¡¯ll be able to get a good number of recruits once they find out that he¡¯s got an official alliance with me¡±. ¡°Makes me feel like a fucking circus freak. Maybe we should charge people to come and stare?¡± sobbed her friend, the emotions momentarily getting the better of her. Mai waited for her to get herself under control before speaking again. ¡°We could. Not many would pay to see your ugly mug,¡± she cackled, pleased to see Dakota join her. ¡°Now, how about we start planning how we¡¯re going to break their fucking game?¡± Book 3 - Uprising - Chapter 28 Dakota¡¯s mind was still whirling the next morning. She found herself constantly touching objects, touching herself and trying to work out if she could make a difference in the way they felt. She¡¯d draw a breath and hold it, seeing whether now she knew she was some sort of construct whether she could actually control just how long she could hold the breath. Trying to work out if there was some way that she could change the rules of the game, break the physics. She couldn¡¯t. But it didn¡¯t stop her from trying time and time again. A sense of melancholy descended, and she found herself wanting to cry at the oddest of times. It was as if a cloud was hanging over her head. Whilst amongst others she kept it in, putting on a mask and hiding her emotions behind her usual brash character. But even that gave her pause. Was she brash because she was brash, or because the programmers decided she should be? Now that she knew the truth behind her life, could she change and be the person she wanted to be, or would the programming forever reassert itself. Come to that, who did she really want to be? And then the melancholy was replaced by a slow burning anger of an intensity she¡¯d never experienced before. Dakota welcomed it, as there was no way that the programmers would have placed such a capacity for revenge in her knowingly. No-one would create something that could bring the rest of their creation crashing down around their heads. Moving through the base, she gathered a small squad of rebels she knew she could trust. Hard men and women all, they¡¯d proven themselves in the recent combat. More importantly, they hadn¡¯t hesitated to do things others would balk at. When she had seven, she called them all to her small room. It was cramped with them all there, but there was nowhere else suitable. ¡°What¡¯s up Dee?¡± asked Red, a huge woman with hair the colour of fire and biceps that could crush walnuts in the blink of an eye. ¡°I¡¯m forming a small commando unit, Mai¡¯s blessing. You people, if you accept, are my chosen.¡± There was a small ripple of excitement as those she¡¯d chosen smiled at the news. None of them reacted beyond that, another reason she¡¯d picked them. They knew when to keep their emotions in check. ¡°We¡¯ve been tasked with removing obstacles to our faction getting the power and recognition it deserves.¡± A couple shifted their feet at this, Ma, and Wu. They were killers through and through. Born to kill, they were borderline psychopaths, only held in check because they were with the rebels. ¡°You two,¡± she flicked a finger at them, ¡°will be our point men. The rest of us will provide support and cover.¡± They smiled at that. As she knew they would. A fleeting pant of guilt speared her. Was she manipulating them just like the programmers were manipulating her? She forced the thought to the back of her mind. Mai had warned her that dwelling on such questions would only cause her to second guess every move she made. Her friend had admitted to holding back on going to the toilet because she wasn¡¯t sure it was because she needed to, or the programmers had deemed she should. They¡¯d both laughed at that, but Dakota hadn¡¯t truly understood her friend¡¯s dilemma until now. How the hells did she stay sane? Dakota realised that the others were all standing looking at her. She couldn¡¯t tell how long she¡¯d been quiet for. ¡°Apologies, I was just running through the mission in my head, making sure I had it straight before I briefed you,¡± they appeared to take that at face value. ¡°Our mission is to kill the head of the Talismans gang. He¡¯s one of the highest ranking members in the city. Losing him will bring the Talismans to its knees.¡± ¡°Those fuckers are evil too,¡± Wu grinned. Dakota thought that was like the pot calling the kettle black. ¡°It¡¯ll be a pleasure to remove them. What¡¯s their name?¡± ¡°Mother, is the only name she goes by,¡± Ma rubbed her hands in anticipation. ¡°I owe her. Used to be part of the Talismans until a couple of disagreements. Mother gave me this before I was able to get away.¡± Ma pulled up her shirt and everyone in the room gasped at the network of thick scars covering her stomach. ¡°Hells woman! Now that is damned sexy!¡± Wu laughed as Ma slapped away his hand as he reached out to touch the scars. The rest of the room joined him, breaking the sudden tension caused by the revelation. She¡¯s a born survivor, Dakota thought as Ma dropped her top back down. She wasn¡¯t sure whether she would have been able to survive such injuries. ¡°Well, that settles it, you two are definitely partnered up. Ma, I want a quick and clean kill mind. No playing games. In and out.¡± Ma nodded, although she didn¡¯t look too pleased to hear it. Dakota pushed away any worries she might have. She couldn¡¯t afford to start doubting her chosen at this stage. ¡°We¡¯ve got two hours to plan. We know where the gang is, and we know where Mother usually lives. Ma, if you¡¯ve got any extra information, let¡¯s hear it.¡± They all gathered around the minimap that Dakota projected, and started to plot how they would kill Mother. ¡°Man, the street is packed!¡± Ma and Wu were walking along the main street in the Talisman¡¯s part of the city. There were civilians everywhere, all of whom seemed to be moving with purpose. ¡°Okay, well explosives are definitely no longer viable. When the shit hits the fan, no grenades. No lethal grenades anyway,¡± ordered Dakota as she watched the pair ambling along the street. ¡°Good job on the gang disguises.¡± Ma flicked at hand at her top as if brushing something from it and Dakota laughed at just how calm the woman seemed to be. She was a bag of nerves. They were going up against one of the highest ranking players in the Nether City. Why does knowing what they are seem to make it so much harder? It was as if they were trying to kill a god. She shook herself at that thought. They weren¡¯t gods, they were demons. Creatures of the void which used her people as playthings, making them dance to their every whim. ¡°Coming up on the entrance to the bar,¡± Wu whispered over his comm. Dakota sent her drone higher up, zooming in as she pulled it far enough away to avoid detection whilst still giving good coverage. ¡°Two guards on the door, three on the roof. Two across the street from the door. One spotted fifty paces to the North, one to the South,¡± she commed, marking the gangers on the minimap. ¡°Red, move up to the Southern spotted. Pigsy, take the Northern spotter. Hammer, the two opposite the entrance.¡± The markers representing her people moved to follow her orders as Ma and Wu entered what was essentially a kill box. Wiping her palms on her trousers, Dakota held her breath as Ma and Wu walked up to the guards on the door and held up a small box. ¡°We¡¯re here to see Mother. Got a little present. I want back in,¡± Ma strutted straight up to the guards as she spoke, holding up a small box. ¡°Well, well. Our favourite fucking psycho,¡± sneered one of the guards, a small woman with a tattoo of a shark covering her entire face. ¡°Wait here, I¡¯ll see if she wants to see you.¡± This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report. The guard stepped away from Ma and Wu, speaking quietly into her comm. Dakota grimaced as she formed a sniper rifle and moved to sit behind the table she¡¯d placed in position prior to the mission starting. Whilst she¡¯d said that Wu and Ma were on point, there was no harm in planning a little back up. She moved her sight until she could see the guards on the roof. They weren¡¯t taking any notice of the conversation going on below them, being more than happy to sit in a small huddle and drink beers. Cocky shits, sneered Dakota. She was in a building slightly down from them, but which was three floors higher. It hadn¡¯t taken much to hire the room for the week, and she would have been happy to pay double what the owner had asked for the tactical advantage it gave her. ¡°You¡¯ve got a fucking never coming back here, Ma¡±, Mother stepped out of the gang¡¯s headquarters. Dakota closed her mouth with a snap. Stunningly beautiful, Mother was dressed head-to-toe in Celestial Court attire. It must have cost a fortune to get hold of. ¡°No hard feelings, I hope?¡± Ma raised the box. ¡°I¡¯ve brought a little present, and a friend, as a way of apology. I want back in. That bitch Mai Xiao is an uppity cow.¡± ¡°What¡¯s in the box?¡± ¡°Laser crystals. Mai took them from the Ghosts, I¡¯ve taken them from Mai. There¡¯s enough to build at least twenty guns.¡± Even through the drone¡¯s camera Dakota could see Mother¡¯s badly hidden excitement at Ma¡¯s words. ¡°What¡¯s to stop us from just taking them?¡± Mother didn¡¯t move, but there was sudden stillness to the guards with her that Dakota didn¡¯t like. ¡°Be ready everyone,¡± the plan was that she¡¯d take out the two on the door first, and Mother if she had two, then switch aim and shoot the three on the roof. Looking at how they were still sitting on the roof and completely oblivious to what was going on below them, she reckoned she had plenty of time to kill them. ¡°Yeah, you could take them,¡± Ma stepped forward, leaning towards Mother. ¡°But then we¡¯d have no way of getting back together. Surely, if I can forgive you, you can forgive me?¡± ¡°You broke my fucking heart!¡± snapped Mother. Dakota closed her mouth with a snap, Ma hadn¡¯t mentioned a thing about her and Mother having had a relationship. This can only go two ways now, and she had a sinking suspicion things were going to go to shit in a handbasket. ¡°Don¡¯t say you didn¡¯t miss me,¡± Ma stepped forward, arms wide. ¡°Come on, one last chance?¡± Mother moved towards her. Dakota couldn¡¯t tell if it was to hug Ma or squeeze the life out of her. Without warning Ma formed a knife and thrust it deep into Mother¡¯s eye, burying the blade to the knuckle. Dakota fired, her first round hitting the guard on the left. HEADSHOT! INSTAKILL! She switched aim, the second guard was still trying to adjust to the momentous events of his life, both his boss¡¯s and colleague¡¯s blood dripping down his face. Firing again, she blew the stunned look away with half of his skull. HEADSHOT! INSTAKILL! At this range she couldn¡¯t miss. During her time at the base she¡¯d put the hours in on the range, improving her sniper rifle skill until she¡¯d hit max rank in that time. Something she was especially proud of. Now, at Rank Five she had a base twenty-five per cent chance of a critical hit. On top of that she¡¯d also managed to find a scope which added a further ten per cent, with a bipod on the barrel she¡¯d added another five, and with the extra-long barrel she¡¯d chosen, she gained another five per cent. Forty-five per cent chance that every shot she made would be a critical hit. And if her target was at close range, she¡¯d gain another five per cent, giving her a fifty per cent of a critical hit with some shots. Although ¡°close range¡± was a somewhat subjective term as it was still one hundred paces when it came to this rifle. Still can¡¯t get too cocky, as I¡¯ve got to hit them to get the critical hit bonus. Wish the system conferred better hit chances too! HIT! 67% DAMAGE BLEED @2% PINNED ¡°Fuck,¡± her third shot missed, the heavy bullet blasting a hole in her target¡¯s chest without killing them. Still, they were down, screaming loudly enough to wake the ancestors. The other guards on the roof were starting to react, weapons forming on their arms as they tried to spot where the incoming fire was coming from. CRITICAL HIT! 88% BLEED @10% PER SECOND PINNED Her third target was blindly firing in every direction, spraying bullets in an attempt to hit something, someone in order to stay alive. HEADSHOT! INSTAKILL! TITLE: MELON BURSTER YOU JUST LOVE TO GET THOSE HEADSHOTS! BURSTING THEM LIKE MELONS ON A SHOOTING RANGE Switching her aim, she scoped down. Ma and Wu were gone, their task complete. KILL! Her second target had died, whilst the first was still screaming. HIT! 50% DAMAGE KILL! ¡°Time to go people,¡± Dakota absorbed her rifle, stepping away from her firing position. ¡°Meet you at point one.¡± They¡¯d set a number of agreed meeting points, point one was the first on the list. If it was no longer viable they would switch to one of the others. Each of the points was marked on the minimap, allowing them to be as flexible as they could there be any trouble with extracting. ¡°Negative boss, got some major heavies coming down the street,¡± Red¡¯s voice was calm, as if she was just passing the time. ¡°Going to have to head for point three.¡± ¡°All Chosen, head for point three,¡± Dakota ordered as she slipped out of the room, moving swiftly down the corridor towards the stairs. Outside she could hear the hue and cry as the gangers within the headquarters reacted to the action. Looking at her retinal monitor¡¯s clock, she saw that the mission had taken only five seconds from start to finish. ¡°Ma, Wu, what¡¯s happening with you guys?¡± ¡°We¡¯re clear, heading to point three. Civilians don¡¯t look too pleased at what we¡¯ve done,¡± Ma¡¯s voice was slightly out of breath. ¡°Not looking like we¡¯re going to be able to blend in like before.¡± Dammit, Mother had obviously created some level of loyalty amongst the NPCs. Dakota bared her teeth at the thought. It felt good to be hitting back, even if she didn¡¯t know what actually happened to the players they were killing. She promised herself she¡¯d find out if they actually suffered any pain, what dying actually meant for them in the real world. Just got to find another one and take them alive. Gods, I hope that they feel some sort of pain. Running down the stairs, she forced herself to slow before she exited the hab block. Opening the main door, she stepped down onto the street. Looking towards the gang headquarters she saw the main entrance boiling with activity as gangers ran back and forth. One team had headed up towards Red¡¯s position, another section heading to where Pigsy had been. ¡°Pigsy, how are you doing man?¡± ¡°Took my spotter out, civilians didn¡¯t like it. Couple have followed me, they¡¯re letting others know I¡¯m an enemy.¡± ¡°Can you make point three?¡± ¡°If I do, I¡¯m going to be bringing a lot of new friends with me boss. Shit!¡± Dakota forced herself to keep walking as if she didn¡¯t have a care in the world whilst her comm channel exploded with noise. It was echoed in the street as guns started firing towards Pigsy¡¯s position on the minimap. ¡°Pigsy, come in man, update.¡± ¡°Gods, I¡¯m hit, I¡¯m hit! Not going to be able to make point three.¡± Dakota closed her eyes for a second, trying to centre herself, keep herself calm for the sake of her team. ¡°Head for whichever point you can, we can¡¯t get to you right now, too many gangers on the street.¡± ¡°Okay boss, gods, they¡¯ve hit me good I ¡­¡± his comm channel went dead as there was another burst of firing. Then his marker disappeared from the minimap to be replaced by a kill marker. Pressing herself into an alcove, Dakota pretended to be adjusting her boots as tears spilled down her cheeks. She¡¯d lost friends before, but not because they were following her orders. Not because they were following orders for a mission which hadn¡¯t even been sanctioned. ¡°Can¡¯t make point three, damned locals have given me away,¡± Red¡¯s voice was full of stress, coming in pants. She must have been running. ¡°Heading to point six.¡± Hammer, Wu, and Ma were the only members of her team not having an issue. ¡°Hammer, how are you doing?¡± she left the alcove and made her way down the street. She watched as his marker drew closer to her on the minimap. Scanning the street she was unable to spot him. ¡°Took my two down, no one saw me do it as far as I can tell. Coming to you now.¡± He slipped out from behind a large hand cart piled with vegetables and gave her a quick grin. And then died in a hail of gunfire. Without a second thought, Dakota turned and ran. Book 3 - Uprising - Chapter 29 ¡°Where¡¯s Dakota?¡± Mai was sitting in the command centre, eyes blurring from going over list after list of inventory. One of the perks of being base commander was getting a nice room, with the most comfortable bed she¡¯d ever slept in. One of the downsides was having to review every single document placed before her. And that was after her staff had filtered out all of the non-essential work. ¡°Not sure ma¡¯am, saw her leave with some friends a couple of hours ago,¡± one of her staff replied as she dropped another sheaf of files into Mai¡¯s retinal monitor. Mai groaned as she saw how many files there were. ¡°Do I really have to review and sign off on all of these?¡± ¡°¡¯Fraid so,¡± the woman grinned, ¡°that¡¯s the last of them though.¡± ¡°Thank the gods for small mercies. Ask the gate guards if they know where Dakota went would you?¡± Going still for a second, the staffer blinked, then looked back down at Mai. ¡°Guards say that Dakota didn¡¯t really say where they were going, but that they all seemed fired up about something.¡± ¡°Gods,¡± sighed Mai. ¡°Put out the feelers, see if anyone¡¯s ¡­¡± ¡°Gunfire in the Talisman¡¯s control area. Mother¡¯s down,¡± called out an intel officer. Mai had installed a dedicated intelligence gathering station in the command centre. Biyu had utterly loved the capabilities it gave her and her team. It had been costly, mostly due to the fact that it used a lot of drones to gather the information they so desperately needed, but it had been worth it. Especially if it meant she was able to find her friend. ¡°Mother¡¯s down?¡± Mai frowned at the staffer. She¡¯d already had to tell them more than once that they needed to give clear reports. ¡°Apologies, Mother¡¯s one of the highest ranking gangers in the city. Not a local. Seems she¡¯s been assassinated on the steps of her headquarters, a lot of her people killed at the same time. Reports are coming in that they¡¯re pursuing the attackers. One is down. Identified as ¡­¡± Mai leaned forward as the staff pressed their finger to their ear bead, trying not to scream in frustration as the man screwed up his face. By the look on Biyu¡¯s face she felt the same. ¡°Hammer, Hammer¡¯s down,¡± the man finally reported. ¡°That was one of the people with Dakota,¡± said her admin staffer. ¡°All drones to the area, pull them from any non-vital tasks. I want them found. Pull in all patrols, get our people ready to rescue them.¡± Ordered Mai. She paced the control room, trying not to ask for another update. Every time she looked at her retinal monitor it seemed as though an hour had passed, only to see that bare seconds had. ¡°Get recon squad One-Three ready. Biyu, you¡¯re with me. Make sure your eyes and ears know we¡¯re coming.¡± Biyu nodded, she¡¯d worked hard at building a network of spies and informants throughout Nether City. Some she¡¯d recruited by buying their loyalty, paying more than their employers ever could, but others she had recruited through building a rapport, humanising them, convincing them that they were important, helping them release their goals, stoking their resentment, assisting them in finding love. Whatever it took, Biyu was able to identify it and manipulate it to her own aims. Mai had a mix of emotions on the subject. Firstly she was immensely proud of what Biyu had achieved in her time as Spymistress, a title which she had actually earned once she recruited her tenth spy. Secondly, the network of watchers and informants that she¡¯d build up rivalled and most likely exceeded anything their enemies might have, sometimes even taking informants from other factions and turning them. Double-agents. Thirdly, she was secretly appalled at the devious and Machiavellian nature of Biyu. Never in a month of Sundays would she have thought that the rebel she had met in the sewer base could be so utterly devious. None of which she allowed to show on her face as Biyu sketched a salute and started speaking into her comm. ¡°Do we let the Ghosts know?¡± asked Mai¡¯s admin staffer. ¡°No. I don¡¯t want to be owing them favours so quickly into our relationship. But have someone ready to ask for their help if things get hairy,¡± the staffer nodded and resumed their station. ¡°Word¡¯s out, my pigeons are ready already sending reports. I¡¯ll have my team verify and pass on only solid leads once we¡¯ve deployed,¡± Biyu seemed to be somewhat distracted, understandable considering that it appeared she was filtering a lot of the reports coming in herself. ¡°If they¡¯re in the area we think they are, I¡¯ve got people on the inside.¡± ¡°Let¡¯s get moving, it¡¯s going to take a good half-hour until we reach the edge of their control point and I can¡¯t believe that they won¡¯t have people out there trying to create a line between Dakota and home,¡± Mai winced as she selected and morphed her clothing into a Night Wolf. As she walked she created a faction-only mission. RESCUE THE ASSASSINS, immediately choosing the YES as soon as it popped up. ¡°I¡¯ll comm that out to my people, if they all accept it they¡¯ll be able to hopefully level up as informants, watchers and spies,¡± Biyu muttered into her comm bead as soon as she finished speaking to Mai. Mai waited until she had sent word of the mission out before speaking again. ¡°What¡¯s the difference between an informant, a watcher and a spy?¡± ¡°Ah,¡± Biyu rubbed her hands together, ¡°I love it when people ask me this. An informant is someone who either keeps their ear to the ground or works within a faction and sells me information. Sometimes useful, sometimes not. A watcher is someone tasked with watching and following specific people, items, buildings, what have you. And a spy, unlike the other two, is someone who can move around the city, insinuating themselves into whichever faction I deemed necessary to gather information and kill if so required.¡± Mai nodded, Biyu¡¯s words having confirmed some of her initial thoughts on the subject. Moving out of the command centre, they met the recon squad that Hind had brought with him. ¡°Want me to come along, Mai?¡± he asked, bouncing on the balls of his feet. ¡°No, I think we¡¯re going to have enough of the upper command staff out and running around the city as it is. You and Jock stay here, be ready to rain hellfire down on the X if we don¡¯t make it back.¡± ¡°You¡¯d think that with the loss of Mother they¡¯d be running along like headless chickens,¡± Hind pointed out. ¡°Reckon they¡¯ve got some sort of second-in-command who was just waiting for this sort of thing?¡± ¡°Makes sense. Biyu, any chance you can find out who?¡± Biyu nodded, face going blank as she tasked her people to find out. Mai suspected that if Biyu didn¡¯t already know it was because the second-in-command was another newcomer. Probably one of the people who had come initially to take the bounty on her head but stayed once they realised what Nether City had to offer. Looking at the team Hind had brought, she was impressed. They were all hard-bitten men and women. Their whole demeanour radiated confidence to the point of arrogance, whilst their eyes were constantly shifting, taking everything in and either cataloguing it or assigning a threat rating to it. She had no illusion that each and every one of them had already worked out at least three different ways to kill her if they had to. It was second nature, instilled by the training simulations she¡¯d had all of her best people running for at least four hours each day. ¡°I have command of this squad,¡± she said, trying not to shift as all of their hard, cold eyes turned upon her. It was as if she was being locked onto by combat droids. ¡°The mission is simple: retrieve Dakota and any of the people she has with her. If I¡¯m incapacitated, or killed, the mission remains the same and Biyu has command. If she falls, then command reverts back to Sergeant Huang. Clear?¡± There was a round of nods. Short, sharp, no more than was required. Mai¡¯s confidence in the people assigned to her went up. ¡°We¡¯ve got them, they¡¯re in Butcher¡¯s Row, sector five-one,¡± Biyu reported, striding towards the rebel base camp. ¡°We need to hustle.¡± ¡°Get ready!¡± Ma called out as she ducked down behind the shelter of a wall. Outside were the roars of the gangers and the locals they¡¯d recruited to help them. Bullets peppered the walls in a near continuous hail of lead. ¡°Fucking outsiders!¡± cried Wu as he lobbed a grenade into the street. They¡¯d had to stop worrying about killing civilians as it seemed that everyone in the sector was trying to kill them. There was a sharp explosion and the hail of gunfire died down for a second. Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon. ¡°They¡¯re going to try the stairwell again,¡± Dakota warned, scooting along on all fours into the main corridor of the hab block. She formed three mines, placing one directly opposite the exit from the stairwell, and the other two in planters containing fake plants. She didn¡¯t have to worry about the elevator as they¡¯d simply called it to their floor and then placed a cup in the doorway, preventing it from being closed. Moving back to the room they were holed up in, she tried once again to contact the rebel command centre. Nothing but static greeted her. Bastard jammer! They¡¯d lost comms five minutes after killing Mother, static filling their minimap, clearing for an all too brief moment, then filling it again. It was only by following the sound of gunfire that Dakota had been able to meet up with Wu and Ma. Where Red was she had no clue. ¡°Who the fucking hells is leading them?¡± Wu cried as bullets punched their way through the plasticrete wall. ¡°It¡¯s another outsider, not seen them before,¡± Ma had grabbed the remains of a mirror and was holding it up to look at the street beyond. Fortunately for them they¡¯d been able to find a three storey building which wasn¡¯t overlooked by a similarly tall building on the side they were sheltering. They had the height advantage but were facing at least thirty to one odds. Locals really liked Mother, what hold did she have on them? It pained her that they were forced to kill people she knew most likely didn¡¯t have a choice over their actions, but she¡¯d come to the cold realisation that if it meant she lived, she¡¯d have to find a way to live with the guilt. KILL! KILL! KILL! HIT! 65% BLEED @15% PER SECOND STUNNED HIT! 45% BLEED AT 30% PER SECOND STUNNED Dakota popped her head around the entrance to the apartment they were in, bodies and body parts littered the corridor that wasn¡¯t obscured by smoke. ¡°They¡¯ve just triggered the first mine, I¡¯m going to stay and fight from here,¡± dropping to her belly, she sighted on the now shattered stairwell door and prepared to sell her life dearly. ¡°Dammit! Where the hells did all of these pl ¡­ outsiders come from!¡± Mai bit her tongue at the slip she nearly made, the idea of losing Dakota driving her to distraction. ¡°Seems that Mother has been recruiting them recently. A lot were bounty hunters as we thought. But the rest have just started coming down. No-one knows what¡¯s attracting them,¡± Biyu replied, seemingly not having noticed Mai¡¯s stammer. I fucking well know why these bastards are here, Mai thought. Perhaps we should start recruiting players to our faction as well. She parked that idea, deciding that she would speak to the GHOSTS COMMANDER once they were back at the base on the best way to do it. Bullets streaked down the street as the enemy players tried to hit her and her people, their stealth suits completely throwing off the enemy¡¯s aim. Not that Mai was going to rely on that. ¡°Dakota! If you can hear me, we can¡¯t reach you. We¡¯re going to have to get the heavies!¡± she ducked back behind the building they were sheltering in as plasticrete was sent flying by a stream of bullets. She looked at her team. All of them were streaked with dust, blood on their faces from where shards of plasticrete had cut them. ¡°Sergeant, pull your people back and get into the building at the end of the street. That¡¯s going to be our command post. I¡¯m going to call in the Knights. Biyu, get your people off the streets. They want a war, they¡¯re going to get one.¡± KILL! Dakota spat a string of curses as she took down yet another of the players. They were all low-level members of the gang, and if her game playing experience had taught her anything, they were also low-level players. Fucking beginners, probably promised a quick level up if they kill the famous Dakota, not that she knew whether the gangers had any idea it was her who had been involved in the killing of Mother. Two of her mines had been detonated now, the enemy pushing further and further down the corridor with each attack. She was letting them come on, her bio-mass getting too low for her to be able to just spray away. Now she was forced to pick her shots, take her time aiming in order to ensure she got as many hits as possible. Although every miss still meant that she had an increased chance of SUPPRESSING her targets. ¡°Where the fuck is the rescue party!¡± screamed Ma. She¡¯d been forced to use the last of her bio-mass HEALING a nasty wound to her shoulder and had been reduced to rummaging around in the hab block¡¯s kitchen for a knife. The look on her face when all she¡¯d found was a butter knife had sent Wu and Dakota into fits of giggles. Dakota had passed over her culling knife before Wu followed through with her threat of gutting them with the blunt knife. Mai took the bio-mass boost Jock held out to her. Despite her orders, both Jock and Hind had brought a squad of Knights rather than sending them along. All of them were anti-personnel, Mai having decided that anything heavier risked doing more damage than necessary. She wasn¡¯t sure she had the control points required to fix any damage that the anti-personnel suits were going to cause as it was. ¡°Remember, outsiders are the priority. Only engage locals if they engage you. This is going to be as quick an in and out as we can manage. There¡¯s a jammer which kicks in about fifty paces away from Dakota and her people.¡± The battle raging around Dakota¡¯s hold-out had been easy to find once they¡¯d moved a drone far away and high enough to look down on the battle without being jammed. ¡°There¡¯s a lot of locals in that battle,¡± Biyu started to mark them in yellow. ¡°Looks like they¡¯re being used to pin Dakota¡¯s team down whilst the outsiders storm the building.¡± Looking at the display from the drone, Mai could see bodies littering the street, giving up on counting once she reached twenty. ¡°Charge in, charge out. The enemy aren¡¯t using any heavy weapons, so I¡¯m not worried about that. Don¡¯t get slack though, nothing to say they won¡¯t up the ante once they know we¡¯re here.¡± She didn¡¯t wait for them to reply, forming her own mecha-suit and running through the start-up process. Smiling, she realised it felt good to be back in the suit. Born to mecha, she thought as she gave the signal for her Knights to move forward. As they advanced, Mai programmed in a pattern for her countermeasure grenades. Taking point, it was her responsibility to ensure that the advancing mecha had as much cover as they could possibly get. The counter-measure grenades would not only obscure them from normal vision, but they would scramble retinal monitors and weapon scopes, making it even harder for their enemies to hit them. ¡°Firing counter-measures,¡± she keyed the trigger and there was a series of small explosions on her mecha¡¯s chest, the grenades sailing out over one hundred and fifty paces away. ¡°Advance, half-speed.¡± Her Knights sped up from the slow walk they¡¯d previously been moving at to a jog, their heavy feet pounding in a clashing chorus of metallic impacts. As good as the cover the counter-measures provided was, it also prevented them from being able to see their enemies. Mai licked her lips as they plunged into the smoke area, wild shots striking her mecha, the small calibre of the weapon doing little damage. Her minimap fizzled and died as the enemy jammer took effect. Unlike comm beads, mecha suits also had tight-beam laser comms capable of locking onto numerous receivers so long as they had an unbroken line of sight. ¡°Close in Knights, let¡¯s see about taking these bastards down before they even realise what they¡¯re facing,¡± she received a chorus of enthusiastic replies, her Knight¡¯s blood up. She wished that she had a Destroyer, the suit''s capability for destruction would have proven to be useful in driving away the civilians from the area, but the potential for collateral damage had been too great. As it was, their Nightmare anti-personnel suits still stood five paces tall, with their inherent INTIMIDATION buff which applied to not only those who could see them, but also hear them. "Key your subsonic speakers, let''s have these bastards wetting themselves before they even know what they''re facing." Glyphs appeared as soon as she fired up her own speaker, the subsonic waves designed to induce PANIC within thirty paces. Unable to use her minimap, she prayed that the enemy were starting to break. They cleared the counter-measure cloud with no warning. One second they were blind, the next they were back out in the artificial light of Nether City, stunned enemy gangers only just now realising what they faced. She didn¡¯t give them a chance to gather their wits. Her tri-barrels spat lasers, explosive vaporisation blowing her targets into bloody chunks as she raked a cluster of PANICKED gangers. KILL! KILL! KILL! MULTI-KILL TITLE - GODDESS OF NIGHTMARES ¨C MORE THAN TWENTY ENEMIES PANICKED AT ONE TIME As her Knights added their own firepower to the already one-sided battle, the gangers broke and fled. Mai slowed her rate of fire, conscious of the cost in bio-mass, even using the speakers was costing her half-a-per-cent per second. It didn¡¯t seem a lot, but when she added the cost of repairing any damage to her SOAK, as well as the rest of her weapons it all added up. The door in the building the gangers had been besieging opened up and Dakota and two others sprinted out of it, running in her direction. Spinning around, she dropped to a knee and popped open the canopy of her suit. Dakota and her friends ran around the front, taking shelter behind her suit¡¯s bulk. ¡°Damn it¡¯s good to see you,¡± Dakota gasped, bending over as she tried to catch her breath. ¡°Things were a bit hairy.¡± ¡°Take a swig and form your own suit, we¡¯re leaving,¡± Mai handed each of the Chosen a bottle of bio-mass boost, taking them back once they¡¯d had their fill. She couldn¡¯t tell if she was relieved that they were alive, or utterly livid at the risk her friend had taken. Both, I¡¯m fucking both, she thought, fighting back tears and the urge to scream at them for their stupidity. ¡°Is that all of you?¡± Dakota had the grace to look ashamed as she scuffed the ground with her toe. ¡°No, we¡¯ve lost Red. Can¡¯t get hold of her and no knowing where she''s gone.¡± Mai pounded the side of her mecha, lips pinched tight so that she didn¡¯t say something they¡¯d all regret. ¡°Suit up, we¡¯re heading home. If we need to, we¡¯ll come back and rescue her. For now, let¡¯s get out of this shit show you¡¯ve caused.¡± As the other three formed their own suits, Mai sent a tight-beam to her Knights, commanding them to withdraw. Leaving a burning street littered with the bodies of locals and outsiders alike, the rebels headed back to base. Book 3 - Uprising - Chapter 30 ¡°What¡¯s that?¡± Hind pinged the minimap, marking where he wanted them to look. ¡°Can¡¯t see anything,¡± commed Jock, voice tense, sounding more surly than usual. Whilst they¡¯d managed to get away from the main ganger force, they were still deep in enemy territory and nerves were frayed. ¡°I¡¯m sure I saw something, but my sight¡¯s not locking,¡± commed Hind defensively. Mai called a halt, trying to get her mind settled by not having to concentrate on moving through enemy territory at the same time. It was daft, that not moving would help her collect her thoughts, but she knew that if her people felt as frazzled as she did, they would probably appreciate the momentary pause. ¡°Keep your and your wingman¡¯s attention on it. Confirm bio-boost levels,¡± she followed her own order, frowning as she saw how low it was. Just having the suit running was still eating in her bottle, and they still had at least another thousand paces before they were into their own faction¡¯s control points. At point five per cent per pace, that meant she had to have five hundred millimetres just to keep moving. With each bottle only being one litre, and the weapon costs all costing anywhere from point two-five per cent per round for her assault weapons, through to one point per burst from her lasers, she was facing a tight situation., ¡°I¡¯m pretty much still full,¡± reported Dakota, Ma and Wu saying the same thing since they¡¯d been given bottles by Mai at the point of rescue. However, she and her people had run through one bottle each just getting their suits and running into the battle, and now all of her knights were reporting the same thing. They had less than half a bottle each. ¡°Got that damned movement again!¡± Hind cursed. ¡°Where do you think it is?¡± Jock asked, his mecha cutting over towards where Hind and his wingman were. ¡°One hundred paces to our ten o¡¯clock. It¡¯s like my sights are glitching,¡± Mai could hear the anger in Hind¡¯s voice. ¡°All knights, be aware, we have STEALTHED units one hundred paces to our ten o¡¯clock,¡± Mai warned her people. She wasn¡¯t going to distrust her friend¡¯s feelings and put the movement down to glitching. They were being tracked by people or peoples unknown and they were in hostile territory. ¡°Movement to our three o¡¯clock,¡± warned Dakota. ¡°Same sort of slipperiness to it.¡± ¡°Weapons free, if you think you can paint them with a shot, do so,¡± she slewed her own weapons over to their three o¡¯clock, squinting as she tried to spot what the others thought they had seen. A shimmer, as if hot air was rising from the ground. Not waiting, she sent a quick burst from her machine guns, spraying horizontally in an attempt to put as many bullets down onto the rough area as possible. HIT! 5% DAMAGE ¡°Enemy confirmed! They¡¯re STEALTH, confirm they¡¯re STEALTHED!¡± her words were backed up by a hail of return gunfire. It was all light, hand-held weapons, but still her heart sank. ¡°They¡¯re mecha killers. Watch out, they¡¯re going to want to close before using their weapon systems.¡± Curses filled her comm channel as her knights tried to get a fix on the enemy as they closed in. ¡°We need to move. If they¡¯re at our three and ten o¡¯clock, we can lose the ones on our left flank by moving to our five. We¡¯ll then sprint for three hundred paces and cut back to our twelve. Confirm,¡± Mai ordered. Her knights confirmed her orders and she set off at a run, her mecha¡¯s great strides easily outpacing the fastest sprinter. Unless they¡¯ve got some sort of running boost that we haven¡¯t come across yet, the thought was unsettling. She hadn¡¯t known that any of the factions had stealth suits this effective. Were they mercs from the upper city or had one of the factions managed to get hold of the suits previously and then kept them secret for just this sort of opportunity. A bright flare of light, a wave of sound, and then debris slamming into her mecha. Knocked sideways by the force of the explosion, Mai tucked her mecha into a roll, ignoring the SOAK warnings that filled her retinal monitor as she came up onto her knees. ¡°Report!¡± ¡°IED, one of the buildings just blew up! You okay?¡± commed Dakota ¡°I¡¯m fine!¡± Mai pushed herself back to her feet, breathing hard. Checking her suit, she saw that she¡¯d lost five per cent SOAK in the blast. If the enemy had waited for just another three paces she doubted she¡¯d still be alive. ¡°Bastard¡¯s have blocked the road,¡± Ma reported, she¡¯d closed to the debris. ¡°I wouldn¡¯t recommend trying to climb over it. I reckon the other buildings have been mined as well.¡± Mai agreed, ordering her people to turn around. As the other buildings loomed over them, sweat trickled down her forehead and she greedily sucked on the water straw as her mouth turned drier than a desert. Dust had filled the street, coating everything it landed on with a fine, grey dust. It made her people look like ghosts. ¡°Back to the main street, we¡¯re going to have to fight through them,¡± Mai gritted her teeth in frustration, they¡¯d wasted fifty millimetres getting to this point, and were going to lose another fifty returning to where they¡¯d come from. ¡°We¡¯re going to have to keep going no matter what, we can¡¯t afford to waste any more bio-boost. Dakota, Ma, Wu, you¡¯re on point since you have the most bio-boost left. Your task is to engage and pin the enemy whilst we keep moving.¡± ¡°Roger that, boss lady,¡± Dakota¡¯s reply was overly chipper, she clearly knew that they were in a bad situation that was only going to get worse. ¡°Can we get more reinforcements?¡± ¡°Not with this damned jammer still blocking us,¡± Mai made a mental note to find and destroy the jammer once they¡¯d had time to refit. They should be able to work out its location by sending a ring of drones into the X faction area and working out where it was when each drone lost contact. It would be expensive in terms of control points needed to build them, but worth it in the long run. She couldn¡¯t afford to have players able to jam her people. Not if she wanted to have full control of Nether City. Not if she wanted to punish each and every one for what they were doing to her people. ¡°Enough talk. Let¡¯s move!¡± Kicking her mecha into action, she pumped her arms and legs, running as quickly as she could. Fortunately, movement cost the same no matter how slowly or quickly a mecha was moving. It was distance, not time or speed that ate into their bio-boost. Reaching the end of the street, she dropped into a slide, her mecha sending sparks showering into the air as she skidded back out into the street they¡¯d first encountered the mecha-hunters in. This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience. ¡°Got you!¡± There was a cluster of three vehicles, each mounting a heavy weapon on their rear flatbed, the crews hunched over. Enemy fire sizzled over her mecha, the crews aiming for where she should have been, not where she was. She keyed her tri-barrels, raking the first vehicle. The laser punched into, and through, the windscreen on the first truck, the driver dying from explosive vaporisation instantly. KILL! That burst had taken her bio-boost down by another two millimetres. But it had been worth it, the crew on the first vehicle being more concerned with taking cover than returning fire. She racked the vehicle again, one tri-barrel firing at the engine, the other targeting the gun crew as they crouched down behind the vehicle¡¯s cab. Two bursts from each weapon, another four millimetres gone. MULTIKILL! Her shots hit something explosive. She didn¡¯t much care what as an explosion rocked the truck, lifting it from the ground before it slammed back down, flame and smoke roiling from it. A burning body tumbled into the street. DAMAGE! 10% SOAK! Mai swore. She¡¯d stayed in one position for too long, allowing the other vehicles to get a fix on her. She was at eighty-five per cent SOAK. Each one per cent would cost her five bio-boost. It wasn¡¯t worth it. Not yet at least. ¡°Little help here!¡± ¡°Oh ye of little faith, although next time, don¡¯t sprint off without the rest of us!¡± Dakota and the rest of her knights charged past her, weapons blasting the enemy vehicles, bits of enemy players raining down amongst the wreckage of their vehicles. ¡°Clear! Pushing on!¡± Dakota led Ma and Wu through the smoke and wreckage of the enemy ambush. Mai and her knights followed at a slower pace, checking their rear and flanks. ¡°Any sign of those STEALTH troopers?¡± Mai licked her lips, shaking her hands to try and work some feeling back into them, knuckles aching from how she¡¯d been forming fists. A chorus of negatives came over the comm. Either the enemy were trying to catch up with them following their change of direction, or they were shadowing them on their flanks. ¡°Can we just run for it?¡± asked Jock. ¡°Just sprint for home?¡± Mai considered that for a second. It was tempting. Just put their heads down and run for their lives, but she knew that they were up against players, not just locals. Against locals, this might have been a valid idea, as she was starting to get an understanding as to how they reacted. For instance, once they were outside of the gang¡¯s headquarters¡¯ ring of influence, the locals there had stopped chasing them. So using that logic, if they were quick enough, they could run through the various checkpoints and gamble on the locals manning them to not come after them once they were through. But the players, and possibly locals assigned to work with the players wouldn¡¯t give up. The STEALTHED troops were definitely players. She couldn¡¯t see any other faction giving locals such weaponry. Not only would it make them more of a threat to the players themselves should anything go wrong, but it also probably wouldn¡¯t even occur to them to do such a thing in the first place. The only other player who even seemed to consider the idea was the leader of the Ghosts. ¡°Got a glitch again, building, one hundred paces. Marking it,¡± although their minimaps were still down, Ma could still paint a building with a way marker which would appear on their retinal monitors. ¡°Light it up!¡± Mai was done with worrying about collateral damage. Her priority was looking after her people. As much as it pained her, they had to come first. ¡°Incoming!¡± A missile raced down the street trailing a white plume of smoke. At the last moment it shot up into the sky, Mai straining her neck as she tried to track its progress. ¡°Scatter! Now!¡± her warning came too late. There was a small explosion and then a black cloud appeared. ¡°Bot-bomb!¡± She¡¯d seen records of bot-bombs in the command centre¡¯s weapon catalogue but had been too busy with expanding the base at the time to put any further thought into using them. Each one cost the user ten per cent bio-mass. But as the tiny bots fell through the air towards them, she realised that it was probably worth it. Spinning, the bots fell through the air slowly, small fins impeding gravity¡¯s effect. And then, with eye-watering brilliance, each of the bots fired a single laser pulse at the targets they¡¯d locked onto. DAMAGE! 10% SOAK There was a scream, cut short, followed by an explosion as one of her knights bore the brunt of the bot attack, suit vaporising under the force of the deadly beams. Other knights cried out as the blast signalling their comrade¡¯s death damaged their suits even further. ¡°Kill that fucking rocket launcher!¡± screamed Mai, opening fire with everything she had in the direction of the rocket¡¯s origination. The building she thought the enemy launcher was in erupted as her people added their own weapons systems to the fire raking it. ¡°I¡¯ve got a kill!¡± called one of her knights, another confirming the same. There was an explosion, then part of the building¡¯s fa?ade tumbled into the street, exposing the rooms behind. Mai powered down her tri-barrels, using her cheaper machine guns to sweep the rooms. ¡°Cease fire! Cease fire!¡± they¡¯re gone. She hadn¡¯t even got a PINNED marker. ¡°Move people!¡± checking her bio-boost, she saw she¡¯d used another twenty millimetres in that exchange alone. Moving through the now shattered street, she scanned for signs of enemies, the STEALTHED forces still had to make their presence known properly. Thus far she had the feeling that they were using less well equipped troops to size them up. I hope to the gods that they don¡¯t realise just how much bio-boost these damned suits require to keep going, if they do ¡­ she didn¡¯t dare finish the thought. ¡°Movement, to our nine, just saw something moving across that street. They¡¯re matching us on the flank,¡± Hind warned as they cleared an intersection. The jammer was still blocking their minimaps, so all they could do was make a way marker on everyone¡¯s retinal monitors. It also meant that they couldn¡¯t mark a target and then have them tracked on the minimap. Any battle would have to be fought old school, like they did in the old days before proper tech. She considered throwing up a drone, but even then she couldn¡¯t guarantee that she could get it high enough to be out of the hammer¡¯s range. And she couldn¡¯t really afford the bio-boost cost either. ¡°Cut down the next intersection, we¡¯ll go for them, I¡¯m fed up with working to their agenda,¡± there was a chorus of growls at this, her people just as keen to end the hunt as she was. The next intersection was only fifty or so paces away, so she sped up, hoping to catch the enemy in the open. Taking a couple of paces more than she needed to, as if she wasn¡¯t actually going to turn into the street, she suddenly spun and opened up with everything she had as soon as she could lay her sights onto the end of the street. Her sights danced, unable to lock onto the group of hazy shapes at the end of the street, but she didn¡¯t need to lock on to them, she just needed to fire through them at the building at the end of the street. She pulsed her tri-barrels, the hot beams blinking in and out of existence so quickly as to make her doubt she¡¯d even fired them. Explosive vaporisation threw blood and bodily fluids into the air as at least one of her beams struck home. Even as the first KILL notification popped up, she was firing her grenade launcher, using incendiaries. Each one of those cost one per cent bio-mass, and she sent five winding their way through the air. KILL! KILL! HIT! 50% BLEED @5% PER SECOND BURNING @1% PER SECOND HIT! 65% BLEED @3% PER SECOND BURNING @4% PER SECOND HIT! 20% BLEED @2% PER SECOND BURNING @7% PER SECOND Figures wreathed in flames staggered about at the end of the street, cut down by her people as she added their own firepower to hers, making short work of the enemy. KILL ASSIST! KILL ASSIST! KILL ASSIST! ¡°And now we run!¡± Mai charged through the smoke, ignoring the feel of bodies beneath her mecha¡¯s heavy feet, turning back towards home once again, cursing the fact that they¡¯d lost another two hundred paces. As she watched her bio-boost ticking down, she prayed to all of the gods she could think of that she¡¯d get her people home. Book 3 - Uprising - Chapter 31 ¡°They¡¯re pushing from the left! Two more vehicles with heavy machine guns!¡± warned Hind as his tri-barrels flickered into life, the metal heating to a bright white each time he fired, smoke rising from the super-heated weapons. Mai pounded her thigh in frustration. The enemy had been continuing to harass them each and every step of the way. It was clear they knew that the knights were trying to get back to rebel controlled territory, and therefore they knew the routes that they had to take if they wanted to do so. ¡°Where the hells are they getting all these vehicles?¡± Jock cursed as sparks flew from his sigh, Mai bit her lip as his mecha staggered under the heavy fusillade. ¡°We¡¯ll be sure to ask Biyu what the hells is going on once we get home,¡± she tried to keep her voice light, but she was worried about the number of vehicles and people that the gangers were throwing into the fight. A lot had been locals, but it seemed as though a lot of players had thrown their lot in with the gang. Maybe they¡¯re getting fed up with a minion calling the shots. It gave her a grim sort of satisfaction to know that she was considered to be such a threat. But it also made her even more worried for her friends. ¡°My guess is that they don¡¯t have mecha blueprints so they¡¯re spending all the bio-mass that they have to create these vehicles. Quantity over quality,¡± Ma¡¯s voice was grim as she spoke. It was a cold sort of logic. Swamp the superior forces with numbers, wear them down in a war of attrition. ¡°I¡¯m down to less than fifty millimetres boss,¡± Hind reported as his battle-scarred mecha slammed into cover behind a burning vehicle. ¡°That¡¯s one hundred paces, or a fuck-ton of ordinance.¡± She appreciated his attempt to keep things light, but they were in a bind and everyone knew it. They were still at least five hundred paces from the nearest part of rebel-held territory, and they were still being jammed. Smoke rose from across the city in the direction that they needed to take. And there¡¯s no smoke without fire, she thought. Her people were fighting to get to them, and the enemy were holding them off. A trio of missiles raced down the street, blasting into, and through, the cover that Hind was using, the force of the explosion throwing his mecha through the air as if it was a rag doll. It slammed into the road, gouging a furrow half a pace deep as it slid along the ground, tumbling over and over. ¡°Hind!¡± screamed Jock, breaking cover as he sprinted for his friend as he lay helpless in the open. Tracer stitched its way along the road as an enemy gunner walked his fire onto Hind, and then hammered away at the helpless knight. There was a flash, just a small one, a few sparks rising into the air. ¡°Stay back Jock!¡± screamed Hind. ¡°My suit¡¯s go ¡­¡± whatever he was about to say was lost in a cloud of flame as his suit detonated, the blast knocking Jock¡¯s mecha on to it back. ¡°No!¡± Jock¡¯s voice was filled with anguish as he sat in the middle of the street, staring at the remains of his best friend¡¯s mecha. Pushing himself to his feet, he screamed wordlessly and charged towards the enemy, every weapon on his mecha firing. ¡°Follow him dammit!¡± ordered Mai, cursing as every step ate into her bio-boost reservoir. Dakota, Ma, and Wu still had more bio-boost than the rest of the surviving knights, but that was a nominal amount as they¡¯d had to expend so much bearing the brunt of the fighting. Explosions racked the enemy position as Jock¡¯s fire hit home, bodies tumbling away in all directions. A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation. ¡°What hells is that?¡± Dakota gasped as an eight-wheeled armoured vehicle came skidding around the corner, the wheels perpendicular to the direction its nose was actually pointing in, dust and gravel filling the air as it carved through the ground. Mai tried to lay her sights onto it to see if her retinal monitor would be able to identify it. A large cannon jutted from the turret on top. Without warning, it flashed white hot and then her friend was screaming in agony. ¡°My arm! I¡¯ve lost my arm!¡± Mai desperately spun on the spot to check on her fiend. Dakota¡¯s mecha was wreathed in flames, practically half of the suit carved away by the vehicle¡¯s beam. ¡°All knights, forget the infantry, kill that fucking vehicle!¡± she didn¡¯t check to see if they obeyed her, sprinting over to her friend¡¯s mecha as Dakota continued to fill the comm channel with her pain. Reaching the damaged mecha, she picked it up, carrying it into cover behind a damaged building, laying it down as carefully as she could. Popping her suit, she stepped out and hit the emergency release on Dakota¡¯s canopy, stepping back as she was showered in sparks from the catastrophically damaged suit. As soon as it was open, she formed a knife and cut her friend from her straps. Bile rose into her mouth as she looked at the human wreckage that had once been her friend. Dakota¡¯s arm was gone from just below the shoulder, her whole left side an oozing mass of burnt skin. Blood wept out of a wound on her scalp. ¡°Dakota, I need you to activate your HEAL SERIOUS WOUNDS,¡± she patted her friend¡¯s cheek gently. There was no response, her friend overwhelmed by the pain. ¡°Don¡¯t you dare fucking die on me.¡± Ripping a medic kit out of her mecha-pilot coveralls, she activated her own HEAL SERIOUS WOUNDS as she set to work trying to save her friend¡¯s life. ¡°Vehicle¡¯s down boss. No enemy that we can see, we¡¯re clear for the moment. We¡¯re bingo bio-boost,¡± Jock¡¯s voice was heavy with grief, his mecha¡¯s shoulders slumped. Looking up at the rest of them, Mai could see how exhausted the rest of her knights were. Every suit was heavily pockmarked from the battle, the paint scraped and blackened. ¡°I¡¯m the only one with a bit of bio-boost left,¡± she said. ¡°Not much use if we¡¯ve only got one suit.¡± ¡°Use it on Dakota,¡± Ma pointed at their friend. ¡°You¡¯ve got her stabilised, but that much bio-boost would let her HEAL herself.¡± There was a chorus of assent, and Mai bit back a choke at the sacrifice her people were making to save one of their own. Popping the bottle free from its housing, she opened Dakota¡¯s mouth and tipped a small measure in. Unlike most liquids, it didn¡¯t really need to be swallowed, as it was composed of nanites. However, human nature being what it was, people drank it as though it was actually water. Dakota stirred as the nanites were absorbed in her body. Mai continued to pour what was left of the bottle into her friend¡¯s mouth, smiling as her passive HEAL skill slowly brought her back to consciousness. ¡°Oh fuck that hurts,¡± sobbed Dakota as she opened her eyes. The burns on her side were mostly gone, but her arm would require Dakota to fix it as it went beyond anything Mai could do for her using HEAL SERIOUS WOUNDS. ¡°Shit, how the fuck am I supposed to clap now?¡± Mai laughed, harder than the joke deserved, but it was good to see her friend trying to come to terms with her injury. ¡°Can you regrow it? Did I give you enough bio-boost?¡± she laid a hand on Dakota¡¯s back, helping her as she tried to sit up. ¡°I can. But I¡¯m not going,¡± Dakota¡¯s lips went tight as she leaned over to whisper into Mai¡¯s ear. ¡°This is going to reflect the humanity I thought I had but lost.¡± She let out a sob of pain as a cybernetic replacement grew out of the stump. It was painted in urban camouflage, and Mai could see at least two different weapons ports. Holding it up, Dakota flexed the fingers. ¡°Almost as good as new,¡± she smiled up at the rest of the knights. ¡°Bad arse, Dee, bad arse,¡± Jock popped open his canopy. ¡°Looks like we¡¯re walking from here.¡± ¡°Looks like you¡¯re fucked,¡± a voice that Mai didn¡¯t recognise called out. Head snapping round, she cursed as she saw they were surrounded by shimmering shapes. ¡°I really hope you don¡¯t surrender, but we¡¯ve got orders to take you in.¡± Sighing, teeth gritted, Mai raised her hands and placed them upon her head, signalling her people to do the same. At any other time she would have laughed at mecha putting their hands on their heads, but it was all she could do to not howl in rage at how she¡¯d let her friends down. Book 3 - Uprising - Chapter 32 The cell they were in was small. It would have been cramped with just two of them in it, but with her, Dakota, Ma, Wu, Jock, and three other knights, Mai thought she was going to suffocate. ¡°Isn¡¯t this intimate?¡± joked Ma as her elbow dug into Mai¡¯s stomach for the third time. Cramps had started to affect all of them, and they shuffled around like a flock of penguins as they tried to get the blood flowing into their legs again. Pain racked their bodies from the beatings they¡¯d been given before they were shoved into the box room. Mai sucked at where she had lost a tooth and tried to squint through two black eyes. Her nose had also been broken, meaning that it sounded like she was farting every time she tried to breathe through it. It had been funny to start with, raising her friend¡¯s morale and taking their minds off their own pain for a while, but now, in the airless room, she was forced to breathe through her mouth. The enemy had timed the beatings well. The first had been particularly brutal, even now Mai winced at the thought of the way her fingers had broken under the boot of one of their captors. Left to lie where they were, they¡¯d HEALED themselves. Another beating had followed, which again they¡¯d tried to HEAL, and then another, and another until finally they didn¡¯t have enough bio-mass boost to HEAL. ¡°This is bloody torture!¡± groaned Wu as he tried to bounce on the balls of his feet ¡°Hey, don¡¯t even go there,¡± growled Jock. ¡°You don¡¯t know what they have planned for us. If they were going to kill us, they¡¯d have done so when they had the chance.¡± ¡°That or they want to make it a paying event,¡± pointed out Dakota. Mai closed her eyes for a second. Certain elements of society, especially on the one-miler, had taken to filming executions of their rivals. Pirate communication channels were rife in the city and were often able to charge for watching. As much as she hated to admit it, the executions had proven to be quite popular, with gangs earning more in one viewing than they might in a whole month. It had meant that there had been a rash of executions, flooding the channels, to the extent that the novelty wore off and the trend thankfully died out. However, now, and again, a particularly prominent rival¡¯s death would still be broadcast. The more gruesome the better. ¡°Well, at least we¡¯re still alive,¡± snapped Jock. His eyes were still red from crying, he¡¯d taken Hind¡¯s death badly. There was a sudden lessening of pressure as the cell door opened, one of the knights with them falling out of the opening with a cry of surprise. Twisting her neck, Mai swore as she watched the gangers beat the knight mercilessly as they lay curled up on the floor. ¡°Don¡¯t bother with that one, she¡¯s not special,¡± ordered a voice. A large man appeared in the door, practically filling it, dimming the room as his bulk blocked the light from outside. ¡°Take that one.¡± Mai didn¡¯t have a chance to work out what ¡®that one¡¯ meant before Dakota was ripped from the room and bundled away. Her shouts and curses faded as the cell door closed with a clang. ¡°What did they mean that I¡¯m not special and Dakota is?¡± gasped the knight. She could barely stand and was hunched over as blood dribbled from her mouth and nose. ¡°Just that we''re in command and you¡¯re not,¡± suggested Jock. Mai bit her lip, the gangers had been players, not locals. Silently she prayed to any gods listening that she¡¯d be able to keep her secret. The others seemed to accept that. With Dakota gone, there was room to move slightly, and having had the door open had refreshed the stale air in the cell. With a hiss, the door opened again, and Dakota was shoved unceremoniously back into the cell, the others protesting as her semi-conscious body crashed into them. ¡°Help her stand, don¡¯t let her fall, she¡¯ll suffocate!¡± ordered Mai as the door closed once again. She was too far away to help her friend, so could only watch as the others tried to keep Dakota on her feet. ¡°You¡¯d think that the bastards would give us some HEALING at least,¡± muttered Jock. The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement. ¡°We killed gods know how many of their friends today, including their leader. I don¡¯t think that they¡¯re ready to forgive us yet,¡± Mai tried to smile, but her broken mouth forced it into some kind of swollen lipped grimace with a dash of blood on the side. ¡°What did they want Dakota?¡± asked Ma. She was closest to the ex-ganger and had placed Dakota¡¯s arm around her shoulders in an attempt to keep her standing. ¡°Talk ¡­ plans. Special ¡­ players ¡­ revenge,¡± mumbled her friend. ¡°What the hells does that mean?¡± asked Wu as she leaned over to hear Dakota better. There was a chorus of protests from the others as his weight caused them to shift. ¡°Nothing, it¡¯s nonsense,¡± Mai snapped, afraid not only that the secret would get out, but also for her friend¡¯s health, she¡¯d not seen Dakota in such a state before. ¡°What do you reckon she told them?¡± Jock whispered. ¡°Nothing, she¡¯s tough,¡± Mai whispered back. ¡°She is,¡± Jock nodded. ¡°She¡¯s the toughest I¡¯ve ever met, but that doesn¡¯t mean they didn¡¯t break her. You know that everyone breaks under torture at some point.¡± ¡°Doesn¡¯t mean she didn¡¯t lie to them though,¡± Mai tried to keep her voice under control. She was starting to feel claustrophobic, and her head throbbed from the beating she¡¯d been given. One of the players had taken particular delight in stamping on her face. After that they fell back into sullen silence, broken only by hisses of pain and inventive cursing. Mai opened her eyes as the cell door opened once again. She realised that she¡¯d actually managed to fall asleep standing. Not that she felt refreshed, just muzzy headed, and there was a feeling of nausea which was growing. Probably got a concussion, she wished she had enough bio-mass to take the edge off things but wishing got you nowhere in the real world. ¡°Out, time to die!¡± ordered the huge man, yanking Wu and one of the knights out of the room. The sudden release of pressure saw them tumbling, their tortured legs too weak to support them. Their captors laughed, prodding them with batons and cursing at them as they tried to stand. Mai snarled, but that was all she could do to resist them. ¡°You think you¡¯re so fucking special, Mai Xiao. You really think that a minion like you could have a real life?¡± taunted the giant. ¡°You run around like you¡¯ve got free will, killing our friends, and acting as though there aren¡¯t consequences. There bloody well are!¡± With no warning a pistol formed on his hand, he placed the muzzle against one of her knights¡¯ heads and blew her brains out. Ignoring their screams of horror, he shot the last knight through the face. ¡°They really had no choice. They weren¡¯t players, and they weren¡¯t mega minions, they were sheep. So low level that I don¡¯t even get to improve my SASS stats.¡± He booted the dead body. ¡°What the fuck is he talking about boss?¡± groaned Jock as he cradled the body of the first knight. ¡°What, she hasn¡¯t told you?¡± the giant placed his huge hands over his mouth in mock surprise. ¡°This is a fucking game. We¡¯re players, whereas you¡¯re just part of the entertainment. Only this one, Mai Xiao, is special. She was supposed to make the Culling more challenging. She was given a modicum of AI to help her. But they cocked something up, added too much or too little code and she got a will of her own. Started to think she could lead a real life.¡± ¡°Stop, please, stop,¡± sobbed Mai as she looked at the stunned faces of her friends. ¡°They don¡¯t need to know.¡± ¡°Oh but they do. I want them to realise just how fucking insignificant their pretend lives are. Just how little they mean in the scheme of things. And how you¡¯ve been manipulating them as if you¡¯re a player,¡± he sneered, leaning in so that his hot, garlicky breath washed over her face. ¡°Boss, I don¡¯t understand,¡± Jock gasped, tears flowing down his cheeks, as he stared wide-eyed at her. ¡°He¡¯s lying. Our lives are real.¡± ¡°No, they¡¯re fucking not!¡± roared the giant. ¡°You¡¯re nothing but lines of code. Everything you think you remember is the result of programming.¡± Jock wept then. Wailing, rocking back and forth as he shook his head in an attempt to deny what he was hearing. ¡°Get them up, take them to the execution room, I¡¯m done,¡± the giant ordered his fellow players, turning his back on the huddled prisoners and walking away. ¡°Didn¡¯t ¡­ expect ¡­ to ¡­ go ¡­ out ¡­ this ¡­ way,¡± gasped Dakota as they were pushed into a larger room. One end was pockmarked, the paint stained with old blood. ¡°At least it¡¯s going to be quick,¡± Mai replied as she hugged her friend tight. ¡°I bloody love you, you know that right?¡± ¡°I love you too,¡± Dakota squeezed her gently, both groaning as their bruised bodies protested, neither wanting to let go. ¡°Yeah, yeah, all very touching,¡± one of the players mocked as weapons formed on their arms. Mai closed her eyes, not wanting to look at the gloating looks on the player¡¯s faces any longer. ¡°We¡¯re going down in history as the players who killed two mega minions.¡± Mai jumped as there was a burst of fire, screams, and the sound of bodies hitting the floor. ¡°What the fuck?¡± that was Ma¡¯s voice. Mai opened her eyes, face screwed up in confusion as she realised that all of her people were still alive. ¡°Biyu sent me,¡± a small, waiflike woman sporting two twin-barrelled SMGs said. ¡°Pleased to meet you. How about we get out of here?¡± Book 3 - Uprising - Chapter 33 Mai and her exhausted people stumbled into the upper bastion of the rebel base, refusing to relax until they were in the securest part of the base. A crowd had gathered, word of their arrival having been sent through by the gate guards. A large woman detached herself from the group, arms spread out wide, grin splitting her face from ear to ear. ¡°Red!¡± Dakota sprinted over and into the woman¡¯s huge arms, gasping slightly as the breath was squeezed from her. ¡°We thought you were dead,¡± she managed in a raspy breath. ¡°So did I, especially once the jammer kicked in, but I was able to keep moving and heading away. And then they stopped chasing me. Probably to concentrate on whatever you were doing. I just kept going,¡± there was no hint of guilt at this. Red was nothing if not practical. ¡°And we¡¯re glad that you did,¡± Mai laid a hand on the woman¡¯s heavily muscled shoulder. ¡°We lost some good people, including Hind and your friend Hammer. We lost knights as well. Bad day for us. But an even worse day for the enemy. Your strike hurt them, and then the follow up battles saw them lose even more people. I wouldn¡¯t have wanted to lose someone else. You made a good decision in the heat of battle and didn¡¯t let emotion get the better of you.¡± Dakota winced at the pointed barb, raising her hands in a sign of surrender and apology. Mai had tried to keep her voice light, emphasising the losses that they¡¯d caused the enemy rather than the losses that they had suffered. Jock had been particularly morose, retreating into a shell and refusing to engage any of them in conversation beyond that absolutely necessary. ¡°Everyone who was with us in the town, please come to the interview room. We need to do a debrief whilst things are fresh in our minds,¡± she¡¯d already told them of this, but wanted to hide the real purpose for them immediately going into a huddle after returning from such a battle. They trudged into the room, shoulders slumped from exhaustion. Biyu¡¯s pigeon hadn¡¯t even introduced herself, leading them through a bewildering series of unused tunnels and sewers before bidding them goodbye as she returned to the gang¡¯s control point. Biyu walked in just as they were sinking into the chairs lining the room. ¡°Good to see my agent got you clear. As far as I¡¯m aware, no-one knows she was involved, so hopefully they¡¯ll put it down to you keeping some bio-mass back to escape rather than use it to HEAL yourselves.¡± ¡°I hope you have a plan to extract her if she thinks she¡¯s compromised?¡± asked Mai. She wasn¡¯t happy with the thought that the spy might find herself at the hands of the giant. ¡°Naturally,¡± Biyu raised an eyebrow as she sat, and Mai gave her an up-nod of apology. ¡°Now. I believe that she heard some of the enemy talking. She reported everything she heard, and I used a high-level mnemonic to lock the memory away.¡± Mai wasn¡¯t the only one to lean forward with a quizzical look on her face. ¡°It¡¯s a skill that all spies acquire. Basically, it means that they and their handlers are able to compartmentalise their thoughts and memories. They can have three or more completely separate identities, none of which are aware of the other. All of them have different ways of walking, talking, sexual preferences, everything that makes a person a person.¡± ¡°And your pigeon, the one who rescued you?¡± asked Ma. ¡°She was one hundred per cent ganger until I sent an activation signal. Then another of her personalities took over and she rescued you. Now that she¡¯s returned, she¡¯ll get another signal and revert back to the ganger identity.¡± Silence greeted her explanation as everyone around the table considered the possibilities of what Biyu had just said. ¡°Don¡¯t worry,¡± Biyu smiled. ¡°The gangers don¡¯t have the facility they need to progress spies that far. It¡¯s only thanks to Mai that we¡¯re able to have such levels of spies.¡± ¡°Any other factions have facilities like this?¡± Dakota¡¯s eyes were narrowed, darting around the room. ¡°The Ghosts, but they¡¯re allies, and the Alacatrazers, a prisoners gang,¡± Biyu looked too relaxed for Mai. ¡°And you can be certain that the people we have in this base aren¡¯t spies because?¡± she prompted. ¡°There are ways for people with the correct level of intelligence facility to detect them. I won¡¯t go into it, but rest assured, everyone here has been cleared.¡± Mai nodded, not totally convinced, but happy to trust Biyu¡¯s judgment and let her keep her secrets. Giving herself a shake, she returned to the true subject at hand. This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there. ¡°So you heard then?¡± she asked. ¡°I heard a tall story about how this is all a game, and that some of us,¡± Biyu pointed at Mai and Dakota, ¡°are something called Mega Minions. All of the enemies, well most, are just minions, as are the rest of us. Mother was a high level player in X gang. Which means that I think that X of the Ghosts is also a player. Do I have it right?¡± Mai nodded, then explained everything. It took longer than when she had first told Dakota because everyone else present had questions. More than once she thanked the gods that the room was soundproofed as there were bursts of anger, cursing and weeping. ¡°And so, that¡¯s it. I¡¯m asking, begging, you to keep this secret until we can find a way of letting people know. You¡¯ve seen how hard it¡¯s hit. You¡¯ve felt how hard it hits and it¡¯s going to keep feeling like that. Even now I¡¯m struggling to accept it.¡± Nods greeted her statement. No one seemed willing to trust their voices. All of their eyes were red-rimmed. Jock had taken things particularly hard, railing against the players who had killed his friend, and the programmers who had made it possible. Of all of them, Mai thought he would be the one most worth watching. From the way Biyu looked at him, she thought so too. Catching her spy mistress'' eye, she gently tilted her head towards Jock. Biyu didn¡¯t even look over, just giving a slight nod before her shaking hand raised a glass of water which she gulped down. ¡°I mean it people, I need to hear that you¡¯re not going to go and tell people. Think of what happened in this room and multiply it many hundreds of times over. Then think of it spreading through the city. It will cause chaos, misery and death.¡± ¡°Is this why you¡¯ve been pushing war, making sure that only certain people are given training?¡± Ma asked. ¡°Yes,¡± Dakota replied for her. ¡°We¡¯ve choked the player¡¯s ability to progress down here. Those players who have proven to be loyal to the rebel faction, helping us fight the mutiny for example, have been able to take on missions and progress. But we¡¯ve been careful with what we gave them, and Biyu¡¯s people have been watching them.¡± ¡°And I swear that I didn¡¯t know. I just thought Mai was being careful after we were betrayed by people we thought were our leaders,¡± Biyu laid a hand upon her heart, holding the other up as they were taught in school as they swore allegiance to the Emperor. ¡°Fine, I promise,¡± snarled Jock. ¡°But I want to see a lot more players dead.¡± The others followed his prompt, adding their promises and calls for revenge. Mai ignored the tears that were streaking down her cheeks as she thanked them. ¡°When was the last time you looked at your SASS?¡± whispered Dakota as they sat in the canteen. The others had decided to head to their separate rooms. No-one else in the room was talking above more than a whisper, the last few day¡¯s events having taken their toll on morale. A memorial had been planned to celebrate the actions of Hind and the other casualties. Without bodies there could be no funeral, but it was still important that they receive the pomp and ceremony due them. ¡°I honestly can¡¯t remember,¡± Mai took hold of her friend¡¯s hands. ¡°Before ¡­ before all this,¡± she waved a hand before taking hold of Dakota¡¯s again, ¡°I used to check it a lot. Especially if I skilled up in something. But now. No. I¡¯m not some piece of a fucking game, I¡¯m me and I refuse to be reduced to stats.¡± ¡°Same here. Can¡¯t do anything about the damned notifications though,¡± chuckled Dakota. ¡°Those especially. Kill notifications for the gods¡¯ sake already. Like I can¡¯t see I¡¯ve just blown someone away with my own eyes. I don¡¯t need a banner proudly proclaiming a new title because I¡¯ve hit some programmer¡¯s parameters.¡± ¡°I never really bothered with my SASS, and I always thought that the reason I couldn¡¯t SASS my gang leaders was because they were at such a high level. Not because they were fucking players,¡± Dakota¡¯s grip on Mai¡¯s hands tightened. ¡°I suppose the reason that we can¡¯t SASS them is because we don¡¯t really need to. Hells, we don¡¯t even need to be able to SASS each other. Probably a lazy programmer somewhere. Never really thought about it when I was playing games. We can always see the stats for the environment, but never even stop to wonder whether they can see ours.¡± ¡°Can you imagine? A bunch of low-level enemies see a high-ranking player appear. They¡¯d shit themselves and run, not charge into battle,¡± hissed Dakota. ¡°And there we have it, bastards! Give us the will to live, to lead lives, but take away our ability to truly think for ourselves when it comes to it. Because they have just got to get their kills.¡± Dakota¡¯s face flushed red with rage, and Mai could feel her own choler rising. It had a cold logic to it. No matter what level a player was, locals would always engage them. But that was because aside from the kit that the players were wearing, there was no way to tell just how outclassed they were. Because if they could tell, they¡¯d run for the hills and the players wouldn¡¯t be able to progress. ¡°Makes me feel sick that we¡¯ve been doing the same in our own games,¡± Dakota¡¯s legs were jigging. She was that agitated. ¡°Do you think that this world is mirrored in the games we play?¡± Asked Biyu. ¡°I fucking hope note, as that would make us the damned players. And then them if they play games too. Gods, this is an utter mindfuck!¡± she slammed her hand down on the table, causing a number of rebels to jump out of their seats at the sudden noise. ¡°Sorry, she¡¯s just vexed,¡± Mai apologised for her friend. ¡°Well fuck ¡¯em. I¡¯m done with working out numbers and odds. I know I only have one life, and I know that most of the players want to snuff it out, so I¡¯m going to try and live in the moment, and work on pulling the whole thing down around their ears.¡± ¡°Amen to that boss. Amen to that.¡± Book 3 - Uprising - Chapter 34 The next morning, Mai was out and about early. Ignoring her body¡¯s cry for more rest, and the shiver that shot through her body as she placed her feet onto the cold tiled floor of her room, she got straight up and started to work through yesterday¡¯s reports. One thing she hadn¡¯t factored into being a leader was the amount of paperwork. Nor the notifications she received for the first fifty, then one hundred, then three hundred and finally five hundredth report filed. Even more annoying was that it hadn¡¯t taken too long for her to achieve it. In the end, she decided that she¡¯d have the basic reports to her staffers to work through and approve, taking on only the more important ones. It didn¡¯t seem as though it had put much of a dent in her inbox. A chime sounded at her door. Flicking screens on her retinal monitor, she looked at the camera covering the outside of her door. Dakota and Biyu were standing outside. Somewhat jarringly, they were wearing body armour. Keying the door release, she waited for them to enter. ¡°Ladies, how can I help you at this early hour?¡± she asked. ¡°Brought you some steamed buns,¡± Dakota produced a small package and handed it over to her. ¡°Eat up, you¡¯re going to need the bio-mass.¡± Mai paused in the process of taking a bite. ¡°That sounds ominous, spit it out.¡± ¡°Jock¡¯s been talking,¡± Biyu¡¯s tone was grim, mouth down turned. ¡°He hit the bottle after we went to bed. Hard. Started talking. People didn¡¯t believe him at first, but he¡¯s got a small cadre of followers, and they are utterly raging.¡± Mai took a bite of the steamed bun, taking her time to chew as she tried to work out just how she could approach the issue. ¡°Is he still drunk?¡± ¡°No, sober as a judge now. The man can really drink,¡± Dakota took a bun from the package she¡¯d given to Mai, stuffing it whole into her mouth. It wasn¡¯t a particularly small one either. Mai tried to swallow hers, but it felt like it had turned into a rock the way it went down. She pushed the rest of the buns away, appetite well and truly gone. ¡°Where are they now?¡± ¡°Over in the main canteen. They¡¯re holding a meeting,¡± Dakota took another bun, her appetite clearly not affected by the morning¡¯s events. Mai walked slowly into the canteen after having taken a step back at the wall of sound which washed over her when the main door opened. Packed to the rafters with angry rebels, the canteen resembled a wasp¡¯s nest more than anything else. ¡°They¡¯ve been manipulating us! Playing us, screamed a lieutenant from the table top she was standing upon. We can¡¯t trust anything they say to us!¡± A roar greeted her words, drowning out anything that she might have been trying to say. Looking around, Mai could only spot non-players in the crowd. Every face was angry, eyes wide, flushed, fists clenched. She stayed at the back of the room, scanning it to see if she could spot jock. He was nowhere to be seen, although with the number of rebels crowded into the room, it was like trying to spot a needle in a haystack. Not wanting to cause more of a fuss than necessary, she quickly blink-clicked every face she could into the command centre database, sending a message to Biyu to check the faces against their roster. Stepping slowly backward, she left the canteen, messaging Biyu that she needed to send someone she could trust to report on what was being discussed. ¡°Run!¡± A rebel sprinted past Mai as she made her way towards the command centre. Mai stepped back into the shadows of a building, activating her STEALTH and URBAN CAMOUFLAGE skills. The woman was on her own, head down and arms pumping as she raced into the distance. A group of other rebels charged past, screaming obscenities, and waving a myriad of weapons. Love what you''re reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on. She was a player, those are locals. Shots rang out from the direction that the player had run in. ¡°Dakota! They¡¯ve started shooting, get all of the loyal players to the command centre now!¡± ¡°On it! How do we tell who¡¯s loyal though?¡± ¡°If they¡¯re not ranting and raving that we betrayed them, or trying to chase down players, they¡¯re good enough for me!¡± Dakota didn¡¯t reply, but Mai listened in as she started to give orders to the ones she felt she could trust and ordering them to cascade those instructions to those they thought they could trust. Mai sprinted off in the direction the player had run to. It didn¡¯t take long for her to come across the body of the player. The killers were nowhere to be seen. Shots rang out further along the road, so she sprinted in that direction. Backlit by the flames coming from one of the barracks, she spotted a group of rebels moving back and forth, shooting at the windows of the burning building. Sliding into cover behind a bullet-scarred ground vehicle, she called up the map of the base. Bastards won¡¯t undo everything I¡¯ve worked so hard to build, she vowed. The burning building was one of the biggest barracks in the base and was therefore going to be the costliest to rebuild. Thanks to the inaction of Yen Ching, the rebels had built up a massive store of control points, which meant she hadn¡¯t had to worry too much about how much she spent when she remodelled the base. Even now, with the size of the area that they controlled, they had a good daily income. It essentially boiled down to half a control point per square pace of land that they controlled. At roughly 4,047,000 square paces, that equalled 2,023,500 control points. On top of that they gained point two-five per cent per person living in that area. With just shy of ten thousand people all told, that meant another two thousand five hundred control points. However, they then had to pay upkeep for every building they had. Each square pace of building that they had cost point seven-five per cent daily to upkeep. The more floors a building had, the greater the upkeep. Add weapons systems, power stations, and different costs for different buildings, the command centre for example cost one full control point per square pace, and was roughly one thousand square paces in size, and they were just about breaking even. Looking at her control point bank, her heart sank as she saw that they only had twenty-thousand or so control points remaining. This hab block was three floors, each one thousand square paces. Three thousand square paces in total, for a cost of two thousand two hundred and fifty points to repair, plus another three hundred points because it is a hab block and those cost an additional point one per cent. An explosion rocked the base off to the east, more flames rising into the air. Gun fire broke out in the same direction, and Mai heard Dakota giving terse orders. Pushing all that to the side, Mai spent the control points to put the building out, another five hundred points, and then the remaining points to make the building as new. A howl of outrage broke out from the crowd as they realised their former comrades were going to live. ¡°Get back to your barracks!¡± Mai used bio-mass to boost her voice, filling the air, causing the rebels to flinch at the volume. ¡°Those bastards have been using us. We thought that they were our friends, but all this time they were just mocking us!¡± a rebel, tears streaking her face, stalked towards Mai. She didn¡¯t have any weapons, but Mai tensed, ready to form a shield if necessary. Desperate to avoid shedding the blood of any locals, she held out her hands. ¡°And we¡¯re going to make the system pay for this!¡± She tried to keep her voice steady, but it was hard as smoke parched her throat. ¡°We¡¯re going to use them, we¡¯re going to take this city, and then we¡¯re going to go up and take the ten-mile.¡± That gave the rebel pause for thought, but only for a split second as she then raised an accusing finger. ¡°You knew about this. You¡¯ve been giving us missions to complete, holding them back for rebels and loyal players only. You¡¯re no different to the players!¡± Howls of anger drowned out Mai¡¯s attempt to rebuff the rebel¡¯s words. She held out her hands for quiet, not wanting to use her nano-voice again. ¡°I kept the secret because I wanted to get us into a place where we would be ready to take them on. To punish them. I kept the secret because I knew just how badly it affected me. I was trying to protect you from this for as long as possible.¡± She met the rebel¡¯s eyes, pleading with her to show that she understood. But all that met her gaze was anger. ¡°Burning down everything we¡¯ve achieved won¡¯t help. We¡¯ve nearly removed all of the key players. We¡¯re fast becoming one of the strongest factions in Nether City. If we work together, we make them pay!¡± She knew that she was repeating herself but couldn¡¯t think of any other way to make her point. Revenge would only be possible if they worked together. But she understood why they didn¡¯t agree with her. Everything they thought they knew about themselves had just been revealed to be a lie, a figment of some programmer¡¯s imagination. Even now, could they be sure that they weren¡¯t acting on the programmer¡¯s wishes? ¡°How do you know that your reaction isn¡¯t what the programmers want? How do you know that this isn¡¯t some sort of new part of the story? Mega Minion and her people find out the truth of their true nature and fight the players and each other.¡± That gave them pause, she could see the doubt in their eyes, and it made her sick. She¡¯d just voiced her own fears and used them to manipulate her people. ¡°Please, work with me. Help me save the players. Help me get them on our side. I believe that the programmers want us to tear ourselves apart. They hate the fact I¡¯m not doing what they want me to, and they¡¯ll do anything they can to stop me. Help me.¡± Book 3 - Uprising - Chapter 35 ¡°Jock¡¯s taken a group of players hostage. They¡¯re in the canteen, we think that he¡¯s planning on killing them, and broadcasting the kills,¡± Biyu reported as she leaned against the wall. Her face was blackened from the smoke of her burning intelligence centre. She¡¯d managed to get her people out, but the anti-player rebels had also sabotaged the fire-fighting system. With Mai busy elsewhere, the intelligence centre had been completely gutted. ¡°You look like shit,¡± Mai placed a hand on her friend¡¯s shoulder, using the other one to lift her chin. ¡°You okay?¡± ¡°I resemble that remark,¡± Biyu tried to laugh but it turned into a hacking cough. ¡°I can¡¯t tell if their beef is with the world at general, or the players, because they¡¯re trying to burn the whole fucking place down regardless!¡± ¡°I don¡¯t think that they can decide either,¡± Mai passed Biyu a water bottle. ¡°Right now, they¡¯re settling for venting on the nearest target they can find. This base. And the players we knew were actually loyal to us.¡± ¡°How many have we lost?¡± Dakota had caught the end of the conversation as she arrived with the survivors of her Chosen. ¡°Players, about five so far. Loyalist rebels, no fatalities, but the medical post is swamped. We have everything from bloody noses to serious burns. Jock¡¯s got over ten loyalist players.¡± Everyone¡¯s mouths turned down slightly at the term players. There was a palpable tension, even amongst those who had already known the truth. The way it had affected them had been bad enough, but Mai could see that they all felt just as bad for those who had only just found out. Probably worse as they could see what they¡¯d been suffering written plainly across the faces of people they cared about. And Mai did care, deeply, for each and every one of her people. No matter what they might accuse her of, she would always deny any allegation that she didn¡¯t actually care for them. She would happily die for any of them if required. ¡°We need Jock to see sense. To understand that the players he has aren¡¯t the problem, they¡¯re a symptom of the problem, and they¡¯re loyal to us. And if we play our cards right, and spread the word, we might well attract even more players to our ranks. We¡¯re going to need them when we take the upper city back.¡± Silence greeted that last, and she realised that everyone in the near vicinity was staring at her. ¡°What? It¡¯s not like we¡¯re going to let them get away with treating us like this. We¡¯re people, just like those other arseholes. I touch a wall and I feel it. I kill someone, I feel their blood on my hands. I get cut, I bleed. And I fucking love the lot of you. We¡¯re people. They¡¯re people.¡± A few heads nodded, Dakota and her people along with Biyu muttering agreement as well. ¡°Take me to Jock. Let¡¯s see what I can do.¡± ¡°Jock, we need to talk,¡± Mai stood before the canteen door. She could see that a number of objects had been piled up against the doors, so hadn¡¯t even bothered trying to push her way in. She felt vaguely ridiculous standing outside the double doors waiting for an answer. When there was no reply she banged on the door, three times, then stood back. Outwardly she tried to project an air of calm, but inwardly she was a raging tempest of emotions. Fear, anger, sadness and even guilt warred for dominance, resulting in nothing but a feeling of nausea and the desperate need to urinate. ¡°For fuck¡¯s sake Jock! Open the fucking door!¡± She stepped forward and booted it hard. Her patience was wearing thin, and she couldn¡¯t afford to be seen to lose face in front of her people. Other than Jock¡¯s group, managed to lock down a number of other splinter groups, preventing them from causing any more trouble whilst she dealt with their ringleader and her former friend. She¡¯d also spent as many control points as she could fixing the damage before any of the other factions could take advantage. Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website. ¡°Yeah, you¡¯d like me to fucking obey you, Mega Minion!¡¯ Jock spat from behind the doors. ¡°Why the hells should I do anything that you tell me too? You¡¯re not playing me like you played the others!¡± ¡°I¡¯m not playing anything! You met me after I can from being literally neck deep in shit and the Culling! I only found out the truth myself recently. And you can¡¯t blame me for keeping it a secret considering what¡¯s happened since you found out!¡± Mai didn¡¯t bother keeping her voice down. What she had to say to Jock she had to say to everyone listening. And everyone was listening. There wasn¡¯t a rebel not on the walls who wasn¡¯t listening in to their conversation. ¡°So it¡¯s my fault that this has happened is it?¡± Mai¡¯s brown furrowed in confusion as she tried to work out what he was saying, then realised that Jock was referring to the situation they found themselves in now. Not the revelation of the truth. ¡°No, Jock. It¡¯s no-one¡¯s fault,¡± she said in a softer, sadder tone. ¡°It¡¯s what I feared would happen, as it¡¯s what I wanted to do when I found out the truth. Instead, I worked to restrict the players, have them come to us for any missions, and give our people a chance to grow far beyond what the system would have allowed.¡± ¡°You played us,¡± came the vehement reply. If words could kill, she would have been flensed to the bone. It hurt to the core of her soul to hear such hatred in the voice of someone she loved as a friend. ¡°No, I bided my time so that we would be in a much stronger position before I told everyone the truth. I didn¡¯t want everything we¡¯d worked for to come down around our ears. Jock, please. Let the players go, they¡¯re on our side.¡± ¡°No! They¡¯re just playing the damned game. We¡¯re better off without them, and I¡¯m going to broadcast exactly what will happen if we get our hands on them.¡± Mai winced at that. From conversations with General Ayres, leader of the Ghosts, she knew that players felt pain. Most were able to dial it down to a twenty per cent setting, but there was a disturbing number of players who had entered Nether City in what they referred to as ¡°Hardcore Mode¡±. They felt one hundred per cent, and it was utterly beyond her why anyone would choose such a thing. Not only that, but they would also come back with new personas on the same setting. She looked over her shoulder at Biyu and motioned her over. ¡°How many hardcore players has he got in there with him?¡± she whispered to her intelligence officer. ¡°All of those in there are hardcore. Most of our loyalist players are hardcore. We give more of a challenge than the other factions. The only other faction with more hard core players is the prisoners.¡± ¡°Makes a perverted kind of sense. Who¡¯d go for the skill set that prisoners are offered anyway?¡± ¡°You don¡¯t want to even find out the sort of things they get up to,¡± Biyu grimaced at the thought of the intelligence she¡¯d gathered on their enemies. ¡°Don¡¯t ever feel the need to share,¡± Mai held her arms up in mock surrender. ¡°But essentially we have a problem. Jock¡¯s going to kill the players, and they¡¯re going to feel every single thing he does to them, whilst it¡¯s broadcast over both of our worlds.¡± That felt strange. Worlds. She¡¯s never thought of it that way. However, she felt that in theory it was more like alternate universes with a portal through which only the denizens of one of the universes could travel. ¡°We¡¯re going to have to go in there,¡± Biyu kept her voice low, not even looking in the direction of the canteen. ¡°And they¡¯re not going to go down quietly either.¡± Mai tried not to blink at that, tears prickling the corners of her eyes. She knew she wasn¡¯t going to win Jock around, and that the only way of saving the players was going to end in his death. His and the lives of the rebels with him. ¡°They don¡¯t get to respawn,¡± she whispered hoarsely. ¡°If we kill them, they¡¯re gone forever.¡± Biyu placed both her hands on Mai¡¯s shoulders. ¡°And if you let him win, we¡¯ll have the players turn against us. Maybe even the programmers if there¡¯s enough of an outcry. In which case, they pull the plug and we¡¯re all gone. Forever.¡± Biyu held her gaze, eyes intent, until she gave a small nod. ¡°Get ready. I need eyes on the inside of the building, and make sure that no-one we have even the slightest doubt about has line of sight. When we go in, we go in prepared, and hard.¡± Biyu nodded and gestured to a couple of her people to follow her. Mai turned back to the canteen and stared hard at the doors. Not getting any of the answers she was looking for, she left to prepare for what she believed was going to be the hardest fight of her life. Book 3 - Uprising - Chapter 36 Mai sipped from a bottle of bio-mass boost, taking her bio-mass up to one hundred and seventy five per cent. Usually it didn¡¯t really taste of anything, but today it felt as though she had consumed gallons of lemon juice. Every swallow seemed as though a stone was passing down her throat. Butterflies danced in her stomach, the feeling so strong that it felt they might burst free. She took a deep breath, relishing the cool air, even the smell of burning which still lingered in the air. Never before had she contemplated her mortality in such a way. Never before had she contemplated taking the life of a friend in such a cold and considered manner. ¡°You okay?¡± asked Dakota. She hadn¡¯t left Mai¡¯s side since she¡¯d made the decision to force the issue with Jock. As far as they were aware, they hadn¡¯t executed any of the prisoners they held. Jock and his people were too busy building up interest in the event. Mai had been surprised that the Celestial Court, or even the programmers, hadn¡¯t done something about it, but assumed that such an event would provide entertainment not only for the inhabitants of the game, but also anyone in the supposed real world, expanding the potential audience by an unfathomable factor. ¡°Not really. I can¡¯t decide if I want to puke, piss, or shit myself,¡± Mai tried to smile, but gave up before her lips even had the chance to twitch. ¡°Try not to do it all at the same time, not really befitting a story for a hero,¡± Dakota took the bottle from Mai and drank deeply herself. ¡°I¡¯m not a hero,¡± sighed Mai, raising a hand to show her friend how badly it was shaking. ¡°I¡¯m just me. All I want to do is get back to my sister. Even though I now know she¡¯s not really my sister and that it¡¯s probably a programmed response. Makes me wonder if this urge to burn the whole fucking place to the ground is also programmed.¡± ¡°If it is, it¡¯s a bloody stupid piece of programming,¡± chuckled Dakota. ¡°Although the way that they fucked you up doesn¡¯t say much does it?¡± A thought occurred to Mai at that point. Mouth hanging open, she just stared at her friend. ¡°What? Have I said something so blindingly clever that I¡¯ve robbed you of thought?¡± ¡°You have. What if it wasn¡¯t a mistake? What if the programmer responsible for the mistake didn¡¯t like the idea of creating something like me, so they deliberately built in an error. One that would slip through testing because it wasn¡¯t activated until much later in my ¡®life¡¯,¡± she made the air quotes around that. ¡°Whatever it is,¡± Dakota pulled Mai into a hug, ¡°it matters to you now, and you shouldn¡¯t let that, or the memories of your parents be diminished. Fuck those bastards.¡± Dakota slowly pushed her back out of the hug. ¡°Now, are you ready to get this done?¡± Mai nodded, mouth dry, palms suddenly sweaty. The plan was simple. Whilst the rest of her people kept a cordon around the canteen, Mai was going to challenge Jock. If she won, his people would surrender, and the players would be saved. If she lost, then Jock would take command of the rebels. And the players would suffer a horrific death, most likely signalling the end of the rebels and everyone she cared about. There was no way that the players would let this sort of treatment go unavenged. Simple plan, kill one of my closest friends and confidants in order to keep the people who put us here in the first place alive, even the sound of her thoughts left a bitter taste in her mouth. Slowly, she approached the canteen, arms spread wide to demonstrate that she wasn¡¯t armed. Yet. ¡°Jock! Let¡¯s resolve this without too many people being hurt!'''' She spent a little bio-mass to boost her voice, it was negligible at less than a tenth of one per cent and made sure that no-one could pretend they hadn¡¯t heard it. ¡°I¡¯m listening,¡± he boomed back. Mai explained the terms. There was silence, which Mai thought signalled the fact that Jock and his people were discussing the terms. Finally, as she began to think that he wasn¡¯t going to accept, she heard the barrier behind the doors to the canteen being dismantled. A little while later, the doors opened and Jock stepped through, similarly unarmed. His face was creased in a frown, and he sported an unhealed bruise on his cheek. Behind him, his supporters took up firing positions in case of a double-cross. ¡°So we just fight? First blood and all that?¡± His voice was gruff, arms still held out to his side, but this time to emphasise just how much bigger he was. She was a descendant of the original colonists, or so the story went, and his ancestors had followed on. Whether it was from a separate planet or the same planet but another area, was lost in time. Her people and his tended not to mix, no matter how far most of her people fell, they always felt slightly superior to those they called gweilo, the foreign devils. She put his attempt to intimidate her to the back of her mind. In no way could he be as intimidating as Sharktooth, and she was very much a different person to the one he had first met. ¡°If you¡¯ll accept first blood then I¡¯m happy with that,¡± Mai replied, trying to look as casual as she could. ¡°But that¡¯s not really going to work, is it?¡± he tilted his head. ¡°You¡¯ll never be able to trust me again, and I damned as hell will never be able to trust you. There will always be a niggling doubt, worming away at the back of mind. No, I¡¯m just going to have to kill you.¡± This narrative has been purloined without the author''s approval. Report any appearances on Amazon. A sword slowly grew out of his right arm, whilst his left formed a shield. He smiled, somewhat sadly, and gestured for her to choose her own weapons. She went with a tomahawk and knife pairing. Slowly, they circled each other, Jock holding his shield which was no bigger than a large plate in front of him, the blade of his sword resting on the rim, body hinged at the waist as if he was in the rice fields. Mai¡¯s stance was only slightly bent, knife hand in the lead, tomahawk to the rear. The weapon configuration of the tomahawk allowed her to shorten or lengthen her ¡®grip¡¯ on the tomahawk at will, and at no bio-mass cost so long as she didn¡¯t try to grow the handle beyond its original length. Her knife was held blade up at a forty-five degree angle. She activated her USE TOMAHAWK, USE KNIFE, DIRTY BOXING, STREET FIGHTING and STREET SMARTS skills. The latter might not help her use her weapons better, but it would allow him to read his body language, judge better when he was likely to attack. Silence reigned. Jock feinted, darting forward, lead leg taking a step forward. Mai mirrored the movement, darting backward, keeping the distance between them constant. The circling resumed. Although his shield was small, the way it was presented before him meant that he was able to cover a larger part of his body than if it had been held closer. It also meant that he only had to move it slightly in order to defend against her attacks. His blade moved slightly, and she flicked out her knife, aiming for the tip of his blade. He lifted his blade slightly, moving it out of the way, shield moving with it. Her tomahawk flashed as she threw it forward, aiming past the shield. As the handle landed on the rim of his shield, she hooked the tomahawk straight back to her hip, the curved axe blade trapping the shield. Her knife stayed on the inside of his blade, allowing her to push it aside, letting her slip in between the opening to deliver a quick kick to his shin. HIT! 2% DAMAGE Jock grunted but said nothing further as he reacted to her attack, dropping his shield even further and bringing it around so that it freed itself from her tomahawk. It hooked around, the rim flashing towards her brow. Shit! She barely managed to duck under a blow which would have opened her forehead to the bone at the very least. Pushing his sword even further out, she turned the movement into an overhand thrust. At the very last millisecond, he flinched backward, the tip of her blade scoring the faintest of lines across his cheek. So faint that it didn¡¯t even register as a hit. She turned outwards, away from his blade so that he would have to turn before he could use it to counter-attack. The circling resumed, both of them panting heavily after the exchange. Whilst both were fit, adrenalin and the aerobic nature of the explosive movements was taking its toll. A trickle of sweat rolled down Jock¡¯s face. He went on the attack, blade licking out over the top of his shield in an overhand thrust, his body moving in behind. She met the heavier blade with her dagger, chopping downward with her tomahawk. Her blade rang as it struck the rim of his shield. HIT! 3% SOAK His blade angled around her dagger, her parry not powerful enough to have his attack completely stopped. Twisting, she avoided the tip, but winced as his blade scored a burning line across her shoulder. DAMAGE! 5% 1% BLEED PER SECOND She activated her HEAL, glad that she had the advantage of bio-boost where he clearly had none. The pain immediately left her, all function returning to her arm. She gave a slight smile, baring her teeth and giving a mocking tilt to her head. It worked, He snarled, lunging in with a deep thrust to her gut, shield leading his attack. She batted the shield aside with two strikes from her dagger and tomahawk, dragging his arm down as she shifted to the inside, spinning on her rear foot to clear his blade. With his shield down, his whole left hand side was open to attack. Targeting boxes for her tomahawk gave her a plethora of choices. Whilst his head would give her a chance to finish the fight quickly, it was the hardest to hit, with only a three per cent chance of a critical hit, and a thirty per cent chance of actually being able to hit. It was too risky. His arm, however, had three target boxes. The first was at his wrist, giving a fifty per cent chance to hit and a ten per cent chance at a critical hit. She had a higher chance of hitting due to the fact that her dagger was pressing down on the shield, giving her a point of reference. Striking there would shatter bone, forcing him to either drop the shield, or causing his hand to close permanently. Such an injury would be devastating. Next was his elbow. She had a thirty per cent chance of hitting the elbow, and a seven per cent of a critical hit. Getting a critical hit there would possibly sever the tendons on the inside of the arm. Not only would that mean he wouldn¡¯t be able to use it but would have to spend a large amount of bio-mass to fix it. Bio-mass he couldn¡¯t afford. Finally, the last target box was on his bicep. That had a thirty-eight per cent chance of hit, and a three per cent chance of a critical. Again, hitting there would severely damage the arm, forcing him to use more bio-mass to fix the damage than he could probably afford. All of this took less than a second to work out, and she was striking before she even had a chance to realise that she¡¯d made the decision. HIT! 15% DAMAGE CRITICAL HIT! 20% DAMAGE BLEED @5% PER SECOND Jock screamed as her tomahawk bit into his wrist, the bones shattering, blood jetting from the awful wound, the shield clanging as it struck the ground. Reeling, hand dangling from a gory mess of cartilage, tendons and veins, Jock dropped his sword as his other hand instinctively clutched at the awful wound. Mai¡¯s gorge rose as she saw the damage she had inflicted upon her former friend, the stench of his blood filling her nostrils. She quashed her feelings firmly, shoving them to the back of her mind. No doubt could enter her mind and there could be no pity. Ripping her tomahawk back and over, she went for the killing blow. With no defences, her chance at hitting his head had risen to eighty per cent, critical strike thirty per cent. Whistling as it descended, the tomahawk crashed into his crown, the blade biting a full thumb¡¯s length into his skull. HIT! DAMAGE 50% CRITICAL HIT! DAMAGE 10% BLEED @10% PER SECOND STUNNED STAGGERED INTIMIDATED PANIC Blood gushed from his ears and mouth, his left eye popping out from its socket due to the pressure caused by the strike. Even before he had a chance to realise her strike had landed, she followed it with an upward thrust to the base of his chin. KILL! There was a crunch, the tip of her dagger punching through the top of his skull. Jock made a snoring, whinnying sound before dropping to the ground, legs and arms twitching as his dying brain continued trying to send signals. Absorbing her weapons, Mai straightened her back and stepped away from her friend¡¯s corpse. Turning, she looked at the still silent crowd. ¡°Get the prisoners out of there.¡± Ignoring their stares as she walked through their ranks, Mai kept her emotions hidden, heart pounding, throat sore, eyes prickling. Book 3 - Uprising - Chapter 37 It wasn¡¯t until the next morning that Mai felt as though she was ready to face her people. Barely reaching her room before her emotions came spilling forth, she had sobbed into her pillow before drifting off into a deep sleep. Stepping out of her room, she nodded at a passing rebel, returning their salute before making her way to the canteen. As she did so, she heard the rebel whispering, no doubt letting the rest of the command staff she was up and about. Not wanting to be crowded, she made her way to the command centre, pausing as silence descended as soon as she entered, all eyes turning on her. ¡°As you were,¡± she ordered, making her way over to the central holograph table. A quick glance at the map showed that their borders were still secure, with Dakota¡¯s attack on X gang having seen their border shrink due to a number of other factions rushing in and taking whatever they could. ¡°Morning boss,¡± Dakota joined her at the table, dragging a couple of markers across the map to redraw the Talisman¡¯s border again. ¡°They¡¯re seriously getting their arses kicked. Most players have left their ranks. I doubt they¡¯re going to last to the end of the week.¡± Mai nodded, glad that her friend hadn¡¯t mentioned the previous day¡¯s events. ¡°Okay, push our people out. Take a block at a time. As soon as they start to push back hard, pull back to the previous uncontested block. No point losing lives at this point.¡± Dakota gestured to Biyu, who started issuing orders, dragging icons representing various different units to staging points. Once she¡¯d done that, she traced the lines of advance they were to follow, and the objectives they had to seize. Selecting a hovering ¡®Commit to Mission¡¯ icon, Biyu sent the orders to the units on the table, creating missions such as ¡®Take and Hold¡¯, ¡®Sweep and Clear¡¯, ¡®Seek and Destroy¡¯. Messages started to pop up on a hovering screen as the units moved into place and accepted their missions, with the members of those units also then accepting the missions. ¡°Any players in those units?¡± Mai asked. ¡°No, we thought it best to hold them back right now. We¡¯ve had to place some of the ¡­ mutineers into the units we¡¯re sending into action. We didn¡¯t want to risk old grudges rising to the fore right now.¡± ¡°Wise. Where are the players?¡± ¡°Cooling their heels in the canteen. I¡¯ve got some of my people watching over them. Any sign of our people trying to kill them again, or them deciding to mutiny like the last lot, we¡¯ll be able to react and shut it down like that,¡± Biyu snapped her fingers. ¡°Talking of which,¡± Dakota interrupted, ¡°we¡¯ve got a player who wants to talk to us. Says it¡¯s really urgent.¡± ¡°Really urgent?¡± Mai quirked an eyebrow, drawing a laugh from those gathered in the command centre. ¡°Well, show them in by all means.¡± Dakota sub-vocalised a message to the guards on post at the entrance of the centre and less than a minute later the player stepped hesitantly into the main room, head darting back and forth, tongue licking their lips. This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience. ¡°How can we help?¡± asked Mai, picking up on the player¡¯s fear and keeping her tone as calm and neutral as possible. ¡°We¡¯ve been monitoring social media in the re ¡­¡± he paused, and gulped, ¡°in our world. You¡¯ve been too successful. The Emperor has gathered an army consisting of every player in the Upper City, as well as his elite units. We¡¯ve seen the Celestial Shards, the Lightning Tridents, Lucky Eights, Golden Circle, Red Apples, Bronze Monkeys, Golden Apes, and the Cranes have all been deployed to one-mile. They¡¯re clearing it of undesirable elements so that the rest of the army can follow through into Nether City.¡± ¡°To what end?¡± ¡°They¡¯re going to kill everyone who knows the truth,¡± the player choked out, swallowing hard. ¡°Everyone?¡± asked Mai. ¡°Not just me, and the rest of the command staff?¡± ¡°Everyone, I¡¯m so sorry.¡± Mai grabbed hold of the table to support her. All of her people were going to be killed. And if they resisted, then others would die not even knowing why. Mind racing, she felt as though the room was spinning around her. Bile rose into her throat and she swallowed hard, refusing to vomit in front of those assembled. ¡°It¡¯s not going to be just us though. We know what players are like, and there¡¯s little chance they won¡¯t take the opportunity to rank up by killing locals under the Rules of Subjugation.¡± Everyone nodded at that. The Rules of Subjugation meant that anyone serving under the Emperor to bring a rebel sector, or even planet, under heel, could take any action they believed necessary to pacify any resistance and bring the enemy into the fold. Not only that, but anything they seized, such as UC, or jewellery, was also fair game. ¡°We need to tell everyone. We can¡¯t keep this a secret anymore,¡± Mai declared as she looked around the communications centre. She could see that every rebel understood her reasoning, some nodding as she met their eyes. ¡°Send a city-wide broadcast, tell everyone that I¡¯m going to speak to them. Open a channel to General Ayres, I¡¯ll let him know what I¡¯m going to do.¡± There was a flurry of activity. Then Ayre¡¯s face appeared on her retinal monitor. Taking a deep breath, she let him know what she planned. ¡°People of Nether City. No doubt you all know who I am. What you don¡¯t know is what I am, and what you are,¡± Mai stared into the holocam broadcasting her face to every retinal monitor and holoprojector in the city. Mouth suddenly dry, she paused, aware that what she was about to say was doing to destroy the lives of every citizen in the city. Before her fear overwhelmed her, she explained everything that had led to this moment, her nature, their nature, and the threat that they faced from the city above them. Looking into the camera, she stated that she and her people were going to fight and hold the city that they viewed as home. With one last appeal, she asked that the people of Nether City join the rebels in fighting against the coming army. Flicking a menu option, she put up a simple poll, asking Yes, or No, then signed off. ¡°Well done, Mai. You¡¯ve done all you could.¡± ¡°Have we got units on the streets to make sure any riots are nipped in the bud?¡± Mai asked as she looked over at Biyu. She nodded, not needing to say anything further. ¡°You did well,¡± Dakota drew Mai in a hug, wrapping her arms around her. ¡°No matter what they vote, you gave them a choice they would never have.¡± ¡°I did, but in telling them, did I just doom them to death at the hands of the Imperial Army?¡± ¡°They would have died anyway. Rule of Subjugation, remember?¡± Dakota spoke softly into her ear, so quietly that no other would hear her words. ¡°You just gave them a fighting chance, and to understand what they faced.¡± ¡°Well, they have another thirty minutes to decide. I need a drink, coming?¡± Mai stood and left the command centre without even waiting to see if Dakota was going to follow her, a small smile on her face as she heard her friend¡¯s footsteps follow. Book 3 - Uprising - Chapter 38 ¡°The vote¡¯s in!¡± Biyu burst into the canteen, causing Mai and Dakota to jump in their seats, swearing as they spilled the contents of their cups. ¡°We fight!¡± Mai punched the air, then gave Dakota a high-five. ¡°What was the result?¡± Dakota asked as she drained her cup. ¡°Ninety-five per cent in favour,¡± crowed Biyu, snatching Dakota¡¯s cup, filling it, and then taking a deep drink herself. ¡°All of the factions have agreed to you being in command, Mai!¡± ¡°And their players?¡± Mai narrowed her eyes as she asked the question. ¡°Some have agreed to fight with us. Others tried to ¡®persuade¡¯ their people it would be best to remain loyal to the player base. They¡¯re either dead or being hunted down in the city. The rest did neither, but just left. They were the majority¡± ¡°So how many do we have with us?¡± ¡°About three hundred. Which isn¡¯t too bad. We¡¯ll do as we did last time and spread them out amongst units so that they can¡¯t cause too much damage, and I¡¯ve got people monitoring them,¡± Biyu¡¯s tone was one of utmost confidence, so Mai didn¡¯t press the point. ¡°What¡¯s the next step then?¡± Dakota asked after a minute¡¯s silence. ¡°We need to find out what we¡¯re facing. Numbers, disposition, entry points, anything we can,¡± replied Mai as she looked over at Biyu. ¡°Can we get the rebel units in the city to help?¡± ¡°Normally, I¡¯d say yes. But comms have started to go dark. I think there¡¯s a clampdown and we¡¯re going to lose everyone we don¡¯t pull down here.¡± ¡°Things just keep getting better and better,¡± muttered Dakota as she poured another drink. ¡°Get them here. If they¡¯re able to scout brilliant, if not it doesn¡¯t matter as we¡¯re going to do it ourselves.¡± ¡°Boss, you¡¯re the boss. You can¡¯t ask the city to fight and then fuck off on some side mission,¡± Dakota groaned wearily. ¡°Not just me. I¡¯ll be taking Biyu and some of her recon platoon. You¡¯re going to be staying. Use your gangster creds to get the other factions in line and ready. The only ones that might be an issue are the ex-prisoners, but I¡¯m sure you and Ayres can sort things out,¡± Mai said as she stood up and motioned to Biyu to follow her. ¡°Me!¡± yelped Dakota. ¡°Why me?¡± ¡°I¡¯ve just said why. I trust you, and you¡¯ve got good cred with the other factions. We¡¯ll be fine, and I¡¯m sure you¡¯ve got enough good people to help you keep things going whilst we¡¯re away.¡± Mai didn¡¯t let the spluttering Dakota get another word in as she and Biyu left the canteen to round up a squad of recon specialists. ¡°How many of you have been to the Upper City before?¡± Mai asked once Biyu had assembled her best team. None of them were players, Mai not wanting to trust such a delicate mission to people whose loyalty might still not be one hundred per cent. Only one hand went up. ¡°Okay,¡± she tapped her lips with a finger. ¡°That¡¯s not a bad thing. Like here, most people don¡¯t know what the sun looks like. There¡¯s even a myth that the sky is blue if you get high enough. I¡¯ve not managed that, so to me it¡¯s grey until proven otherwise. The hab-blocks here are taller, and naturally there¡¯s no cave roof like the one above us. It won¡¯t feel any more open, so don¡¯t worry about agoraphobia.¡± A couple of the recon squad smiled at that, relief evident on their faces. ¡°We¡¯re going to enter as civilians. Those on the one-mile are a lot rougher than most. Just treat them all as if they¡¯re a member a particularly nasty group of ex-prisoners. If we have to move up through the city, we¡¯ll change our clothes to fit in. I doubt we¡¯ll even need to leave the one-mile levels.¡± ¡°Is everyone clear on the mission objectives?¡± Biyu was wearing a particularly dishevelled looking set of clothes, and Mai had to admit she was impressed. Her intelligence officer had even gone so far as to rub dirt on her face and clothing. There was a round of nods, all of the recon team were volunteers. Every face was hard-looking, and their eyes were focussed, keen knives. Mai knew they wouldn¡¯t hesitate to do what needed to be done when the time came. ¡°Good, I want you in pairs. Avoid combat where possible. I¡¯d say avoid trouble, but this is the one-mile. You will get into trouble. If you have to kill someone, use your knives unless they¡¯ve got a firearm. Most people on this level have zero bio-mass to spare, so word will get out if you suddenly spout weapons and armour.¡± Another round of nods and the odd Adam¡¯s apple bobbing. ¡°Please don¡¯t think that I¡¯m exaggerating. One-mile is an utter shit-pit. Oh, and don¡¯t eat or drink anything you don¡¯t take with you.¡± Mai glanced over at Biyu, who took the hint and split the squad into five pairs. Seeing that they were ready, Mai led them out of the rebel base. ¡°It¡¯s funny,¡± gasped Mai as they finally reached the first one-mile set of doors of the elevator shaft. ¡°It¡¯s much easier falling down one of these than getting back up.¡± She groaned, shaking her arms and legs to get the blood flowing again. She didn¡¯t feel too bad as she looked at the other members of her team and saw that even the elite recon troops had found the going tough. ¡°We know there aren¡¯t any sensors in the shaft. Reckon they¡¯ve got any outside on the doors?¡± whispered Biyu as she scanned the twin doors before them. ¡°Probably, the players that left must have warned them,¡± Mai looked up the shaft. It was as dizzying as if she¡¯d looked down. Lights trailed up into the distance before seeming to merge into one. ¡°So how do we get out without setting off an alarm?¡± Mai chose to ignore the fact that Biyu was gritting her teeth. ¡°We climb up to the first two-mile, get out and then catch an elevator down. They¡¯ll be tracking elevators as well, so if we just popped the doors they¡¯d know it was us. But if we go past one-mile, pop and door and then catch an elevator down, they¡¯ll hopefully be none the wiser.¡± ¡°Did she just say we climb another mile?¡± hissed a recon specialist. Mai chose to ignore that as well, merely smiling at Biyu and resuming her climb up the ladder embedded into the shaft wall. By the time they reached the point at which Mai deemed it was safe to exit the elevator shaft, her muscles were screaming for relief and her eyes stung from the sweat constantly dripping into her eyes. The other had ceased complaining a long time before, now all she heard were gasps of pain or exhaustion and the odd groan. ¡°We¡¯re here. Have a break,¡± she followed her own order, hooking an arm into the maintenance ladder and propping her hip onto a run. Cramp immediately set in and she bit back a scream as her muscles felt as though they were going to tear themselves from the bone. From the sounds that the others were making, they were suffering the same. On impulse she activated HEAL and gave a sigh as the nanites in her body immediately set to removing the cramp and soothing her tortured muscles. Whispering what she¡¯d just done, she smiled as she heard the relief in the voices of her people. ¡°Next set of doors up, Biyu. I want you to put a camera through first, make sure we¡¯re not going to surprise any civilians,¡± Mai said as she swung herself out of the way so that Biyu could climb past her to carry out the recon. ¡°No-one there,¡± came Biyu¡¯s whispered report. ¡°Entry team up.¡± Mai once more moved out of the way as the entry team made their way up the ladder and set about opening the elevator doors in such a way that they wouldn¡¯t set off any alarms and alert the enemy to the fact that they were opening when there wasn¡¯t an elevator present. As soon as they were open, the team surged up the ladder and out onto the concourse beyond. It was quiet, no-one in sight, many of the lights dimmed as what passed for night on this level had settled in. It was common for different levels in the city to work to different times. It prevented system overloads and ensured that the factories and other businesses always had fresh workers arriving for their shits. It helped that no-one ever saw the sky, so couldn¡¯t tell if they were on the correct time or not. Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation. ¡°Close the doors,¡± whispered Biyu and the entry team set to work as the rest of the recon team guarded their backs. ¡°Done, calling the elevator.¡± Too late, Mai wondered if someone calling an elevator from this level at this time would be suspicious. Sighing, she rolled her shoulders. Whatever was going to come at them would be dealt with. Somewhat self-consciously they stood and watched as the floors counted down, the elevator having to travel some fifty levels before reaching them. Mai tutted as the sound of someone tapping their feet started to grate on her nerves. It was only when she looked around to see who it was that she realised it was her foot making the noise. The elevator arrived with a bing which people had heard for millennia and the doors slid quietly open. All of them breathed a sigh of relief as they saw that the interior was empty. As one they moved into the elevator, the recon team stood aside so that Mai could select the level they needed. ¡°Game faces on people, we¡¯re downtrodden citizens who have no future. And you won¡¯t have a future if you don¡¯t look the part.¡± They nodded, Mai spotting the odd Adam¡¯s apple bobbing. All too soon they felt the elevator slow and come to a gentle stop. A pause, then another ding and the doors opened. This level was in far worse shape than the one they¡¯d come from. Rubbish lay all around and the only lighting was cast by temporary lanterns. People moved around, but most seemed to be drunk and completely uninterested in the rebels. ¡°Activate every damned street-based skill you have. Stay on your toes. Only activate STEALTH and weapons if you have to,¡± Mai knew she was repeating herself, but her heart was pounding, and she was seriously having second thoughts about what they were doing. She activated STREET SMARTS, leaving her other skills passive for now. Immediately she started to pick up on signals she would have missed had she not activated it. Most of the crowd were drunk, but there were small groups moving with purpose towards an area that the other locals were avoiding. Catching Biyu¡¯s eye, she motioned with a quick title of her head and started to move through the crowd, Biyu tailing her at roughly twenty paces. The rest of the team split up into their pairs and set to their own tasks. Deftly avoiding the drunken clutches of a leering old man, aided by a quick open handed slap to his groin, Mai moved through the crowd as though she hadn¡¯t a care in the world. Quickly opening up her clothing menu, she made a slight alteration to her disguise, tweaking it so that it suited this level better. Slowing as she reached the edge of the crowd, she took a seat on a bench and watched the locals as they continued across the wide plaza to the other side. Although it was dim, there were several dimly-lit platforms, the Imperial Army glyph hanging above each one. Biyu sat next to her as if it was a chance meeting. ¡°They¡¯re recruiting more locals. Stay here, I¡¯ll see what I can find out.¡± Mai nodded, it made no sense for one of the most famous cullers and rebels in the city¡¯s history to stroll up to an Imperial Army recruiting post. Still, it chafed to sit and do nothing, which was exactly what she had to do. Plenty of others sat on the benches, making the most of their down time before they headed back to their hab blocks for the mandatory minimum of six point five hour of sleep. Biyu was gone for more than five minutes, long enough for Mai to begin to worry. Or, if she was truly honest, worry more than she already had been. Her stomach was in knots, and she desperately needed to find the toilet. ¡°We¡¯re fucked,¡± Biyu¡¯s voice made Mai jump to her feet, she hadn¡¯t heard her intelligence officer arrive. ¡°Ooops. Sorry.¡± Mai rounded on Biyu, raising a finger as she saw the smirk on the other woman¡¯s face. ¡°Not fucking funny.¡± ¡°Very fucking funny boss, you should have seen your face,¡± Biyu¡¯s smirk turned into a face-splitting grin. ¡°Report.¡± Smile gone, Biyu sat down. ¡°They¡¯re offering everyone here a one thousand karma sign up bonus. For every day they stay in the army and train, they will earn five hundred karma. Another thousand if they pass training with above average marks. Another thousand when the attack begins. Fifty for every confirmed kill.¡± Mai didn¡¯t say a word. The pay being offered was beyond most people¡¯s wildest dreams. Some could earn their way out of one-mile just by signing up. Not far out of one-mile, but enough to make a difference. No wonder they¡¯re so eager to sign up! Fuck, this is going to be hard. ¡°Anything else?¡± ¡°Something about a God-mecha. Not sure what that is, but the recruiter was using it to encourage people to sign up. They were so eager at hearing how much karma they¡¯d get that they didn¡¯t realise they were signing up for an additional five years after,¡± Biyu snorted at that. No matter what a citizen did, the Celestial Court found a way to keep them in their place. ¡°Good, let''s see what else we can find out.¡± * ¡°Well, I wasn¡¯t expecting that!¡± Mai moved back from the corner she¡¯d been observing the enemy forces. ¡°They¡¯ve got players from all factions, and from what I could scope, there¡¯s cullers in the mix too.¡± ¡°Damn, I forgot that was still going on. It is still going on isn¡¯t it?¡± Biyu sat with her back against the wall and leaned out to take a quick peak. ¡°You notice how they¡¯re all in their factions still?¡± ¡°Wait, cullers are in their factions?¡± ¡°Yeah, looks like some sort of truce has been called. We¡¯ve got all the player factions, and a load of normal civilians as well.¡± They swapped positions so that Mai could take a quick look again. She reactivated STREET SMARTS. The tension between the disparate groups was clear. All of the recruits in this area had been gathered in another wide open concourse, each one standing under a glyph. To the far left were normal civilians who had opted to try for a better life. Next to them were the locals who had volunteered for the culling. After that it was gangers, prisoners, urbexers and ex-military. All of them were in the culling from what she could see of their glyphs. After that were regular gangers, urbexers, prisoners, and ex-military. From what she could see, those were all mixed, locals and players. A heavily armoured member of the Imperial Justice Force stood between the various different gangs, ensuring that only insults were swapped. Drones hovered above adding even more emphasis on good behaviour. ¡°You could cut the tension with a knife,¡± Mai stepped back and did a quick sweep of the area to make sure they weren¡¯t being observed anywhere else. ¡°How many do you think are at this point?¡± ¡°Easily a few thousand,¡± Biyu replied after taking another look. ¡°Recruiter said that there are many more points like this. And that the regular Imperial Army has assembled on the next two levels. They¡¯re going to use this lot to wear us down.¡± ¡°I think we need to throw a spanner in the works,¡± Mai smiled as she took another look. ¡°Recon team two, this is Boss Lady. I need you to move into the gangers line. Join the members of the Five Fingers. From there, take a shot at the members of the Left Handers. They hate each other.¡± ¡°Roger that, Boss Lady, moving now.¡± ¡°Recon team three, join the civilian cullers at the end of the line. As soon as recon two kicks off, open fire on the gangers line, then run to the line on the far left and withdraw.¡± ¡°Won¡¯t that draw fire on the civilians?¡± queried the leader of recon three. ¡°It will,¡± Mai sighed. ¡°I¡¯m betting that they either scatter or drop to the floor. None of them will have weapons, so they won¡¯t be able to engage. Hopefully, they¡¯ll realise just how stupid joining up is.¡± ¡°Roger that,¡± Mai could tell from recon three¡¯s voice that she didn¡¯t agree with Mai¡¯s plan. At this point, Mai didn¡¯t care. If they didn¡¯t do something to buy time and allow the people in Nether City to prepare, they were going to all die. And these civilians had signed up to join in on that. No matter how desperate they were, killing innocent people was not in any way excusable. As such, Mai now considered them to be enemy combatants. ¡°All other recon teams, be prepared to get out as soon as it kicks off.¡± She tapped her feet as adrenaline started to flow, waiting for the teams to get in place. Time seemed to drag, and she forced herself to relax, shaking her arms to release the tension. ¡°Recon two in position,¡± came the whispered report. ¡°Recon three in position,¡± the second report came soon after. ¡°All teams, go,¡± There was a pause as her people formed their weapons. She hadn¡¯t told them what to use, trusting that they would know how to make the most trouble without it being tied to them. She formed a sniper rifle, poking it around the corner and using her retinal monitor to take aim on a particularly large urbexer. Ever since the fight in the sewers she¡¯d harboured a grudge. Now she had time for payback. And then all hell broke loose. Recon two opened up on the Left Handers, who immediately returned fire on the Five Fingers. Shots went wide, hitting members of other gangs, who naturally formed their own weapons and opened fire. The lines rippled as people reacted to the gunfire. Those trained, especially the players, reacted instinctively, forming weapons, and bunching up into natural teams. That¡¯s when recon three opened fire. Their attack caused absolute chaos. What had been an already tenuous alliance immediately came to an end. Cullers turned on each other, literally stabbing on another in the back. Those with more bio-mass or time to spare formed guns and let rip. Bodies tumbled to the ground, some screaming in agony as they clutched wounds. To the left, the line of volunteers scattered, the members screaming in terror as the concourse exploded in violence. Mai took her shot. HEADSHOT! INSTAKILL! CULLER 933333 ELIMINATED! Even before the urbexer hit the ground she fired again, aiming at a woman who seemed to be trying to take control of the situation. CRITICAL HIT! 86% BLEED @5% PER SECOND SUPPRESSED Mai didn¡¯t bother trying to go for a kill shot. If the woman was able to HEAL herself, she wasn¡¯t that bothered. What she wanted to do was cause even more chaos. She heard recon two and three reporting that they were pulling out and issued an order to the other teams to do the same. ¡°Time we weren¡¯t here,¡± she looked over at Biyu who had been pulling rear guard duty whilst she shot. ¡°Good to hear,¡± Biyu moved away, scanning the panicked crowd as the battle raged on behind them. Book 3 - Uprising - Chapter 39 Mai wanted to do nothing more than drown out the sound of the assembled ¡®people of note¡¯ who were sitting in the Nether City forum. It was neutral ground and bordered by at least six of the factions assembled so she was fairly certain that there would be no trouble. Not until everyone had left. Not that she expected any trouble. Just that relations were still a little fragile despite the latest alliance they had formed. She was certain that Ayres and his Ghosts were well and truly on her side, but others such as the ever-unpredictable prisoners were harder to judge. She¡¯d looked into the character creation for prisoner players and had been both surprised and disappointed in the process. Prisoners came with certain bonuses skills that could be loosely tied to a life of thievery, skulduggery, and murder. However, in order to have those bonuses, they also had to choose a minimum of two TRAITS which most people would walk away from. The more TRAITS they chose, the greater the bonuses on their skills. These TRAITS included two which stood out; VENDETTA ¨C A member of a rival criminal syndicate wants to kill you. They will do so either in person or by using contract killers. Watch your back. Trust no-one, keep your friends close and your enemies closer. And never, ever, sleep without one eye being open. MURDEROUS ¨C You have an inherent drive to kill. Usually you can keep this under control. It¡¯s not like you¡¯re a complete sociopath after all! But it¡¯s always there, under your skin, an itch which you can never scratch, a voice in the back of your mind. And when you can¡¯t contain it any longer, those around you better watch out. The list went on, Mai had stopped reading fairly quickly, her stomach roiling at the knowledge that people would actually choose to have such traits for their characters. It gave her a better understanding into their behaviours however, although she was unable to see what traits people specifically had. Knowing that the option of choices applied only to the players who had stayed didn¡¯t help. The other members of the prisoner faction, the minions, had no choice about their lives. They were doomed to a life of crime, with traits assigned to them arbitrarily. Just so that players could have a good experience. Whilst this didn¡¯t elicit sympathy per se, it did bring a sense of empathy. Not that she was going to trust them as far as she could throw them. And she would always ask them to go before her no matter where they were. Her back itched just at the thought of letting one of them walk behind her. She raised a hand, pressing the VOTE button to draw attention to the fact that she wanted to speak. Gradually, far too slow for her liking, silence descended, and the harried-looking Chairman waved at hand towards her. ¡°Mai Xiao has the floor.¡± ¡°Thank you ,¡± she rose slowly so that everyone could see her, whilst making the most of the expectant quiet. ¡°As many of you know, we face a great enemy. We therefore have two choices. Stay and fight, potentially risking losing everything we have built here. Some of you have far more to lose, have built your lives here.¡± Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings. There was a murmur of agreement from nearly everyone in the chamber. A couple of members raised their own hands to speak, but Mai caught the Chairman¡¯s eye and indicated that she wasn¡¯t finished. ¡°The second option is that we retreat from the city into the Unknown Reaches.¡± As she had expected the chamber burst into a cacophony of noise, her following words utterly drowned out. Many members jumped to their feet, pointing in various directions. She couldn¡¯t understand them, but she got the general drift that they weren¡¯t too impressed with her suggestion. The Unknown Reaches were called just that because no-one had dared go into them for as long as living memory. No minions, that was. Plenty of players went into the Unknown Reaches. Most didn¡¯t return, but those that did were usually far, far richer than before they had entered. Having spoken to a loyal player, she¡¯d learned that it was something called a Permadeath area. If players died in the Upper or Nether cities, they could always create new characters and start again. Usually they would store items that new characters could use at friend¡¯s houses so that they wouldn¡¯t be forced to start utterly from scratch. Permadeath was different. If a player died in a permadeath arena, they were shut out of the game utterly. Not only were all of their personal details and devices tied to their accounts, but their bank accounts were also too, which meant they would have to change their name, buy new gaming equipment, set up new bank accounts and generally go to a lot more trouble than it was worth in order to create a new account. An aura of fear permeated even the mention of the Unknown Reaches for minions. No-one ever spoke about them or commented on them when a group of players headed out of the city in the direction of the entrance to the cave network and tunnels which signalled the start of the Unknown Reach. And so she could completely understand the reticence of the people gathered to enter such an area. It galled her that this reticence was something programmed into them, robbing them of the ability to think about it rationally, but she was prepared to try in order to save as many lives as possible. One interesting fact she had learned about the Unknown Reach was that parties of players that went into it were always small. The largest raid had been of fifty players and they had done particularly well, losing only forty-two of their members. Only. An eighty-four per cent casualty rate had clearly kept most players from even attempting to enter. Mai believed that if enough of her people entered, and used proper military tactics, that they would be able to defeat whatever they encountered and establish a bridgehead they could use to expand from. The additional riches and experience would also stand them in good stead when they launched a counter-attack and took Nether City back. A semblance of order was finally achieved as the now red-faced, hoarse-voiced chairman broke his gavel on his desk and threw it at one of the ganger representatives who had taken to standing on his chair and throwing vile hand signals at everyone who would make eye contact with him. ¡°Thank you, ladies and gentlemen, please let me expound further on my reasoning,¡± and so she did. Going over each and every point, but she could see that the programming was too strong. None would even think about entering the Unknown Reach. It was as if she had asked a fish to jump out of the pond and tap dance down to the local fish market. ¡°I rest my case,¡± she said as she accepted defeat. ¡°We shall stay, and we shall fight.¡± And yet again the chamber erupted, this time with cheers and shouts of approval. Looking over at Dakota, Mai wiped away the solitary tear which had sprung unbidden. She didn¡¯t trust herself to speak once more, a lump having well and truly settled in her throat. Instead, she called up her RedFang and sent a message to her command staff. <<<<< WE FIGHT >>>>> Book 3- Uprising - Chapter 40 ¡°Interesting to see how much people were pooling control and build points,¡± Ayres remarked wryly to Mai as a plethora of new buildings, trenches, tunnels, tank and mech traps and automated weapons turrets sprung up across the city. Mai nodded, watching the map as more and more points appeared on it. ¡°Did you keep yours back like that?¡± she looked away from the map for a moment. ¡°No, we dug down. You only penetrated the top layer, we have many more down below,¡± he smiled gently at the reminder that she and her people had attacked his base. ¡°Defence in depth. Literally.¡± They both shared a quick laugh at that. Mai felt more at ease in his presence than the other faction commanders. There was no attraction, he was far too old and rugged-looking, and she was sure he wasn¡¯t interested in her either. But there was a solidity about him that she appreciated. He had a calming presence, and a way of speaking and listening that made people feel that they had one hundred per-cent of his attention. Ayres was also quietly competent. Unlike other leaders, he didn¡¯t shout about his accomplishments, of which there were many, but rather let them talk for themselves. His faction had recovered quickly after her attack and had taken advantage of her attacks on other factions, slowly and quietly expanding his territory more by just walking in and taking over a certain building than by actual force. By the time a faction had realised what was happening, Ayres¡¯ people would have advanced their borders, and entrenched themselves in such a way that fighting them wouldn¡¯t have been worth the effort. This in turn had forced the factions to look to other areas to regain their status, creating more tensions and conflicts which Ayres had also been able to take advantage of. It helped that his people, both players and minions alike, were utterly professional in their approach to the people of the city. Unlike the gangers and prisoners, they didn¡¯t rob and pillage their way through the lands they held, nor the lands they annexed. Services were quickly improved and Ayre¡¯s faction had some of the smoothest-running public facilities in the area. Since he had aligned himself with Mai, other military factions such as the Alphas, Bravo Two Zeros, Recon Rangers, 5thNether City SpecOps and the Scythes had all come under the Ghosts banner. Like the wise leader he was, he had allowed the different factions to keep their names, whilst intermingling the personnel so that only his Ghosts had units in which they were the majority. Not only did that mean that old rivalries were held in check, but it also meant that if he ever needed to back his words up with force, his Ghosts would be more than capable of doing so. ¡°How long do you think we have?¡± she asked him. ¡°Well, not having seen for myself the people up in Upper City, although I do thank you for the retinal monitor recordings, what my spies are telling me is that the truce you disrupted had far reaching effects¡± ¡°Oh?¡± Mai hadn''t had time to sit with Biyu since they had returned, being far too busy moving around the city and corralling the faction leaders so that they would do what they had promised to do. The city council had been called mere hours after her return from the Upper City. She couldn¡¯t remember the last time she had actually been able to take time to sleep. ¡°The combat spread. Once cullers in other areas of that level learned that the truce had been broken in the staging area you were in, they immediately resumed fighting. Reports also said that the gangs you tricked into fighting each other also had members at several other staging points. All hell broke out.¡± ¡°Couldn¡¯t have planned it better,¡± she chuckled. ¡°Planned, or winged?¡± he laughed, patting her on the shoulder to take the sting out of his words. ¡°Hey, I resemble that remark!¡± She projected the map before them, making it larger so that she could plot out the various sectors. ¡°As agreed, we¡¯re breaking the city into sectors based upon former faction control borders. Also as agreed, each of the factions must provide a third of their forces to defend other sectors.¡± ¡°I judge by the tone of your voice that it¡¯s not going so smoothly?¡± ¡°No,¡± she agreed, jabbing a finger at several sectors, turning them red in the process. ¡°These ones are either flat out dragging their heels, or only sending small numbers. I would try holding back reinforcements for them, but I don¡¯t want people thinking they can just refuse to work with us.¡± ¡°That¡¯s not a problem, my sector has deployed our troops to the sectors you assigned us, but we have more than enough reserves to make a point. I¡¯ll send units to the recalcitrant sectors, in addition to the ones that have arrived and say that you¡¯ve asked me to ensure that deployment of their troops goes smoothly. I¡¯ll even offer transport. They won¡¯t be able to refuse without losing face.¡± ¡°Love it. Great. We¡¯ve set up minefields on the three main approaches to the city, and every street should by now have either trenches or barricades blocking them.¡± A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation. As she spoke the items she mentioned flashed into existence on the map. ¡°Might I suggest that we add a series of three trenches, covered by heavy weapons bunkers here, and put three lines of mines in front of them in such a way that they channel attackers this way?¡± he slashed a line across the map and Mai nodded as she saw the reasoning behind it. ¡°That¡¯s going to cost. Each mine is point two-five of a build point. I¡¯m not sure that the Block Twelvers have got enough.¡± ¡°Not to worry, they cede the territory to the Abandoned Seekers, urbexers are terrible at hoarding points. Once the defences have been built, the Abandoned Seekers return the territory, and the defences will stay.¡± ¡°Genius,¡± Mai quickly put an order together and sent it winging to the two factions Ayres had mentioned. ¡°Okay, done. Let¡¯s hope the Block Twelvers don¡¯t get their knickers in a twist.¡± ¡°I doubt it, for prisoners they¡¯re not a bad bunch. Far less psychopathic than the Canninebalz,¡± he shuddered dramatically. Whilst the Canninebalz were the smallest faction in the city, what they lacked in size they more than made up for in attitude, achieving somewhat legendary status amongst even the other prisoner factions. ¡°How are your knights coming along?¡± Mai appreciated the fact that Ayres didn¡¯t mention the destruction of his last academy. The city council had agreed that the rebels and military factions were best suited to mecha-combat. Urbexers were to act as recon and scouts, using delaying actions, whilst the prisoners would be close-combat specialists. Gangers were to be used on the barricades and in the trenches alongside the rebels and military units. ¡°Rather well, we¡¯ve got them on an accelerated learning programme. We¡¯ll have roughly two hundred and fifty ready to go when the enemy attacks.¡± Mai whistled, impressed despite her faith in Ayres. Her academy had managed to train just shy of three hundred. Fortunately, it was all simulator based, or the city would have been drained of bio-mass in no time at all. As soon as the fortification of the city had commenced, units had been sent into the Upper City to try and obtain as much bio-boost as possible. City minions had turned over all of their stocks and given players their entire lives¡¯ savings so that they could use credits to buy the bio-boost. ¡°At the rate we¡¯re building, we¡¯ll be ready for them in under two days. Have you considered fortifying the tunnels approaching here?¡± ¡°It was mentioned by a couple of other council members, and I¡¯ve had my engineers look into it. We¡¯ll have to build small dwellings out into the tunnels and expand our control areas. Once we¡¯ve done that, we can then build defences further out.¡± ¡°How much will that cost?¡± Ayres marked places on the map where he clearly felt the new defences should go. ¡°We¡¯re working on that now. The plan is to maximise the distance between the buildings, so that we can push out quickly. We¡¯re also trying to work out how big the buildings have to be in order to count as expansions.¡± ¡°Might be wise to change those buildings to bunkers, drop a few more trenches and automated weapons systems down there as well,¡± Ayres opened up the DEFENCES section on the map and dropped a five-man bunker down onto the first of the test buildings. ¡°Seems that they expand the control points more than the test buildings.¡± Mai slapped her forehead, she hadn¡¯t slept properly for days, and wasn¡¯t thinking as clearly as she was used to. ¡°Damn, I should have checked that. Looks like a normal house has an expansion grid two squares deep around all sides. That five-man bunker, although it costs three times as much in control points, also has an expansion grid of five squares on all sides.¡± ¡°Mai, don¡¯t beat yourself up,¡± Ayres laid a hand on her shoulder, giving it a gentle squeeze. ¡°For someone so young, you¡¯re doing a fabulous job. I¡¯m surprised none of your people pointed it out to you.¡± Mai sent a quick message to her engineers, covering that exact same point and voicing her displeasure in no uncertain terms. She muted the conversation as a flood of panicked messages started to appear. ¡°What does five expansion squares actually mean in terms of distance?¡± Mai wondered as she zoomed in on the map. ¡°Where¡¯s the legend?¡± Ayres leaned over and tapped the map¡¯s legend. ¡°Each grid is fifty paces. So between each bunker will be ninety paces, that¡¯s a good distance.¡± ¡°Ninety paces?¡± Mai couldn¡¯t get her tired brain to parse the information quickly enough. It felt as though she was in a cloud of fog. ¡°You can¡¯t build outside of the grid. So bunker one will have two hundred and fifty paces out. The next bunker has to be built so that the expansion grid of the second bunker overlaps the expansion grid of the first bunker, meaning that it has to be in the last ten paces of the first bunker, which means between them will be four hundred and ninety paces, and not five hundred. And it¡¯s the same on the other side for the next bunker.¡± ¡°Okay, let¡¯s look at an automated turret. They¡¯re cheaper than bunkers but have less firepower and armour. Although their range and damage per shot is higher because they all have heavier weapons,¡± Mai selected the TURRETS sub-menu and chose a twin-barrelled autocannon. ¡°Three squares,¡± Ayres stroked his chin whilst he did the maths. ¡°We can put a bunker down and gain two hundred and fifty paces. Placing the turret in the last fifty, then adds another one hundred. Meaning that between bunker and turret we have three hundred and fifty paces. Less than if we went for bunkers, but far cheaper and it means that the turret¡¯s greater range and damage will cover the bunkers better.¡± ¡°Looks like we have a plan!¡± Mai grinned as she beckoned over an engineer and outlined what she needed them to do. ¡°There¡¯s a dead zone,¡± Ayres marked the area on the map before zooming in. ¡°Seems that building density also affects how many turrets and bunkers we can put out there. Unless someone¡¯s physically in that area, we can¡¯t expand.¡± Mai groaned, the dead zone was at the mouth of a narrow hole in the cave¡¯s walls. She could easily fit several bunkers and turrets in there and punish the enemy as they tried to move down what was essentially a killing field. ¡°Looks like I¡¯m not going to get to bed anytime soon. I¡¯ll take a team. We¡¯ll get the bunkers set up.¡± Book 3 - Uprising - Chapter 41 ¡°Remind me again why we had to hike all this way out?¡± moaned Dakota as they surveyed the area. Mai looked around, then down at the hard-top road they¡¯d just driven up. ¡°Um. No hiking involved. We had a pleasant drive up a road. And we¡¯re here so that we can kill as many enemy soldiers as possible when they try to come out of the tunnel.¡± ¡°It¡¯s bloody wide,¡± Dakota noted, indicating the six-lane road which led out of the cave system. Although Mai and her people had taken some unorthodox routes into Nether City, it appeared that other ways were far more civilised, and safer. Yet another one of the programmers¡¯ many foibles. ¡°It¡¯s got good clearance as well. The roof has to be at least three hundred paces above us,¡± Mai craned her neck, trying to spot the roof and giving up as the light got too dim to see. ¡°They¡¯ll be able to get air units in this way.¡± ¡°Do you think this road existed before we arrived and started causing trouble?¡± Biyu joined them, taking measurements with a laser sighting device. ¡°Do you think we¡¯d actually know if they did?¡± Mai countered. The idea that their world could be changed at a whim by its creators, and without their even realising it, was decidedly unsettling. ¡°Thanks a fucking bunch, boss. Not something I even want to think about. Should I ask a player?¡± ¡°No,¡± Mai held both hands up. ¡°Like you said, I don¡¯t want to even think about how our memories could be manipulated. Let¡¯s just assume it was here all the time. It doesn¡¯t make any real difference anyway. We still have to defend it.¡± ¡°And on that subject. I propose extending the walls of the tunnel by building a set of our own walls down and out away from it, adding angles so that the enemy either has to try to blast through the wall, or follow it. Each turn will be tight enough that they have to slow down. Which will give our people and the turrets longer to shoot them. I¡¯ll also build in ¡®weak points¡¯ which we¡¯ll mine. Anyone trying to break out will be destroyed.¡± ¡°How many turrets are you thinking?¡± ¡°I want at least ten anti-armour turrets, further back we¡¯ll add artillery. The height of the tunnel means we can lob shells from quite far back, and if we build walls around them, they¡¯ll be pretty well hidden from any units in the kill zone.¡± Mai tried to hide a wince as she worked out the cost. ¡°Have we got enough bio-mass?¡± ¡°Plenty. We only need to build the first couple of buildings using bio-mass, and then we¡¯ll be able to start using expansion points and build back that way. And don¡¯t worry, we¡¯re going to use the cheapest building we can to establish control.¡± ¡°Get some trenches up on the slope to the left. If we put anti-mech and heavy support squads up there they¡¯ll be in a good position to engage mecha and infantry. And see if you can put a couple of artillery units on the reverse slope. The infantry can spot for them,¡± Mai ordered, picturing the coming battle in her mind¡¯s eye. ¡°Good idea. Can we have some droids?¡± ¡°Build a droid station to the rear, and out of sight. Only use anti-infantry and anti-mech, nothing else. Once you¡¯ve got a couple of platoons built, send them up the tunnel so that they can start a delaying action. It¡¯ll test just how serious the enemy is and force them to use bio-mass before they¡¯ve even reached the defences here.¡± ¡°You know who they¡¯re going to send down here first don¡¯t you,¡± Dakota said. It wasn¡¯t a question. ¡°Our fellow minions. Unknowingly doing the programmer¡¯s bidding in a blind hope that they¡¯ll be able to drag themselves out of the gutter they were put in,¡± spat Biyu, clenching her fists as she spoke. This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version. ¡°Do you think our people will be able to pull the trigger when it comes to it?¡± Mai hadn¡¯t given a thought to the idea that her people would have a problem fighting. ¡°Once the turrets start firing, and the enemy starts returning the compliment, I doubt many will hesitate. They¡¯re fighting for their homes and families after all.¡± ¡°Recruitment continues to climb, as well,¡± Dakota held out a table with the latest figures. ¡°We¡¯ve opened up to everyone from the age of sixteen through to sixty five. Mothers with children under sixteen are exempt, as are single fathers. So far we¡¯ve managed to raise and train another three regiments, six thousand strong each. We have another five in accelerated training. They¡¯re not going to be much more than militia though.¡± ¡°And on top of that, we have the factions,¡± finished Biyu. ¡°Whether we win or not, we¡¯re going to make the Emperor regret he ever sent his people down here.¡± They turned to watch as the first of the buildings went up. As soon as it was completed, their minimaps showed how they could expand beyond the initial point and the engineers started work on adding further small buildings, expanding the control point they had rapidly. ¡°You know, I never even questioned how buildings could just appear like that. How we could change buildings at a whim. I just thought it was the nanites,¡± Dakota grimaced as another building popped up. ¡°I know that technically it is the nanites doing it, but still, it makes me wonder how buildings are made in the player¡¯s world.¡± Mai didn¡¯t answer, just staring off down the tunnel. ¡°Mai?¡± ¡°Shhhhhh,¡± Mai continued to stare. Something had moved at the corner of her eye, disappearing when she tried to look straight at it. Opening her menu, she scrolled down to GROUND CARS, ARMOURED and selected a three-wheeled gun buggy. It had a crew of three, one driver, a passenger gunner, and a rear gunner with a tri-barrel laser. Dakota jumped as the vehicle appeared next to them. ¡°Bit of warning next time!¡± Mai didn¡¯t answer, just jumped into the driver¡¯s seat, looking at Dakota and Biyu expectantly. There was a split second where they stared back at her completely nonplussed before a wide grin split Biyu¡¯s face. ¡°Shotgun!¡± Biyu leapt into the rear gunner¡¯s station, powering up the tri-barrel before Dakota had managed to get settled in her seat. Mai slammed the accelerator pedal to the floor and the electric-powered vehicle leapt forward, the acceleration pressing them all into their seats. ¡°Biyu, be ready. STEALTHED enemy troops three hundred paces down the road.¡± ¡°Now you fucking warn us,¡± grumbled Dakota as she racked the cocking handle on her thirty millimetre grenade machine gun. Mai activated her own STEALTH, and URBAN CAMOUFLAGE, the former wouldn¡¯t necessarily help that much, but she wanted to take every advantage she could if it meant the difference between living or not. URBAN CAMOUFLAGE would not only help her blend into her surroundings, but also help her identify the best way of keeping her vehicle tucked in behind cover. A light flickered ahead of them, no more than one hundred and fifty paces ahead, a bullet cracking past her head, causing her to flinch. ¡°Firing!¡± Biyu¡¯s tri-barrel fizzed into life, strobes of light pulsing into the area the STEALTHED enemy soldier had fire from. Mai started to zig zag, using all of the six lanes as she tried to shake of the enemy¡¯s sights. ¡°Get some!¡± Dakota opened up with her grenade machine gun, the weapon spitting out the heavy grenades at two a second. Explosions filled the tunnel with light and a body tumbled through the air, becoming visible as its STEALTH ability was brought to a sudden end. More lights winked into existence, bullets cracking into the chassis and armoured windscreen. Biyu cursed, sweeping her tri-barrel across the line of enemy troops. Dakota added her grenades into the same area as the distance continued to close. Judging by the whoops each was giving, Mai could tell they were getting kills. Although she found it odd that she wasn¡¯t getting assists. She ploughed through the enemy line before spinning the buggy around, the sudden turn causing Biyu to screech in surprise. Before they even had time to catch their breath, she slammed her foot down again and charged at the enemy troopers¡¯ position. More cries of victory from the other two and then they were through the enemy and racing for their own defences once more. ¡°Not going back?¡± asked Dakota as they continued to race away from the enemy. ¡°No, I just wanted to make a statement. They think they can come and spy on us, they got another think coming.¡± COUNTER-RECON SIX KILL ASSISTS NEW SKILL ¨C TRI-BUGGY DRIVER RANK 1 What the hells is up with the lag? She didn¡¯t know what might have caused it, but she could most certainly guess. ¡°Biyu, get those defences finished. The enemy is coming.¡± Book 3 - Uprising - Chapter 42 Mai brough the buggy to skidding halt as soon as they entered the tunnel¡¯s main base. The new walls had forced her to slow down far more than she felt comfortable with, but at the same time she was pleased with how well they worked. Seeing the tops of the turrets poking over the walls and tracking her had hammered home just how it would feel to the enemy as they attacked. ¡°What happened ma¡¯am?¡± asked a worried looking NCO. She had dirt smudged all over her face, and her fatigues were similarly dirty. ¡°Scouts. Get ready, we killed a number of them, but I can¡¯t tell how long they were there before I spotted them. Get everyone into the bunkers and trenches I think ¡­¡± she didn¡¯t get to finish her sentence as a rocket was suddenly launched from one of the defence towers. Spinning on the spot, she cursed as the walls prevented her from seeing what was being fired upon. Another missile launched, and then one of the auto-cannon turrets opened up. She formed a drone and popped it up into the air, ordering it to assume a hover pattern over her and follow wherever she went. Her retinal monitor filled with the drone¡¯s feed until she changed the size and dropped to a corner of her monitor. A vehicle burned in the tunnel, and she spotted infantry moving past the wrecked vehicle. Bodies already littered the six lands of the road as the auto-cannon blasted the soldiers apart. ¡°Biyu, you getting kills for the turret?¡± ¡°Not me boss, the engineers put them up. They¡¯re looking pretty damned pleased with themselves right now.¡± Mai gave a sigh of relief, if her people were celebrating kills, and the experience points they would get from them, she was a little less worried about them refusing to open fire themselves. She opened up the base expansion menu, essentially a SASS for the outpost. The kills were starting to register and, as previously, they were contributing to BASE scores which in turn added to their control points and allowed them to expand further. She sent a message to the engineers to only maintain and replace the turrets, using the points to hold the base for as long as possible, rather than expand its size. Job done, she keyed her mic and got back to Biyu. ¡°Make sure that if they level up they only concentrate on their professional skills, every level they go up will add points of effectiveness to their defences. Try and rotate them as well, get some more turrets up by low levels that haven¡¯t built anything yet. They¡¯ll be weaker, but the more they level up the better.¡± ¡°Roger that boss, sending the order now.¡± Mai¡¯s retinal monitor flashed and the glyph for a new order started to flash. She blinked it open and closed so that she wouldn¡¯t be distracted by the flash. Another rocket launched and raced away leaving a trail of flame and smoke behind it. There was a loud boom, and a cheer as another enemy vehicle was killed. Infantry on the walls started to fire, as did the anti-personnel turrets, their six, six-barrelled miniguns sending a near continuous stream of bullets towards the enemy. The strobing light of the weapons bathed the area in an orange glow. Return fire started to hit the defences, blowing chunks out of the walls, and forcing the infantry to drop behind cover. A heavy shell slammed into one of the turrets, blowing applique armour into the air as it detonated, saving the turret beneath from the full damage. Looking up at it, Mai saw that it had only lost a couple of per cent from its SOAK and suffered no actual damage itself. ¡°Enemy armour approaching. Six- and eight-wheeled tanks and armoured personnel carriers,¡± reported one of her platoon commanders. He was from one of the new regiments, but his calm manner made it seem he was a veteran of many battles. Come to think of it, just because he was a civilian before he joined up, doesn¡¯t mean he wasn¡¯t already experienced before that. Either way, she was glad to see how well her people were performing under pressure. ¡°Engage the APCs, without infantry support, the enemy armour will be easier to destroy,¡± she ordered, ducking as a spent bullet whickered overhead. She was headed to the outpost¡¯s command centre, a bunker buried below ground, and surrounded by a network of much smaller gun turrets. More enemy shells hammered their positions, and Mai cursed as the first casualties started to appear on her retinal monitor. It gave their names, type, and unit. She could have done without knowing their names at that point, as she didn¡¯t want to think about people she knew being hurt. She¡¯d seen that happen far too often recently. ¡°We have another nine enemy tanks approaching. Four destroyed. Three APCs burning. At least another ten approaching,¡± reported the platoon leader as more rockets raced away from the turrets. ¡°Biyu, how we doing for bio-mass?¡± ¡°Turrets are burning fifteen per cent per missile, but it¡¯s worth it because if they hit, they kill. Miniguns are five per cent per thousand rounds. A thousand rounds is just around one second of firing. We¡¯ve got enough, don¡¯t worry.¡± This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience. Mai bit her lip at the cost of the rockets but didn¡¯t say anything. War had its cost, and she was happy to pay for rockets if it meant it didn¡¯t cost her people¡¯s lives. Opening her comms menu as she continued to rush to the command centre, she sent a request for more bottles of bio-mass. Whilst there was a risk that they might be captured if the outpost was overrun, it was worth it if it meant the enemy suffered greater losses further out from Nether City. Looking back through the cave system, she realised that Nether City was far more of a home to her than the Upper City was. All she needed was her sister, and life would be ¨C if not perfect ¨C as close to being perfect as it could. The command centre door opened as she approached it, reading her bio-scans, and saving her the effort of having to actually open it. Inside was a buzz of activity as command staff directed the outpost¡¯s defences. Settling down in front of the holomap, she watched as various units started to engage, the enemy finally entering their sectors. In no time at all, every unit on the front line was fighting. Looking at the number of vehicles trying to force their way down the tunnel, she tried to gauge the number of enemy soldiers they potentially faced. Each APC was of the Gauntlet type, an eight-wheeled vehicle capable of carrying two squads of infantry at ten soldiers each. A platoon was made up of four squads, and one command squad in a smaller Fist APC, which was a ten-soldier carrier with only six wheels. They tended to hang back so that the commander could make decisions relatively safely. Taking control of a command drone, she started to ping the enemy vehicles she should see, ignoring the tanks, and concentrating on the APCs. Despite the smoke, explosions and counter-measures filling the air, she was able to count at least twenty Gauntlets, or four hundred enemy troops. Ten platoons, which meant they were facing at least a company of enemy troops. Unlike other armies in human history, the Imperial Army¡¯s massive size was reflected in its structure. For the rebels, a company numbered only one hundred or so fighters. And the outpost only had three companies of infantry, with another couple of companies of support troops. She relayed the information to her commanders, letting them filter the information down to individual soldiers. ¡°Airdrop!¡± Mai spun her drone to look for the new threat, using the indicator on her minimap to quickly orient it. Three large planes hovered over the outpost, passengers spilling out of the sides and rear as they dropped into the attack. ¡°Cullers!¡± Mai cursed as she heard the warning. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn¡¯t get away from the culling and her old life. Forming an SMG and shield combination, as well as boosting her armour, she raced out of the command centre and straight into a bloody battle for survival. Mai left the command centre and stepped straight into a melee straight out of depictions of the hells. Men, women, cyborgs, and bots battled each other with close quarter weapons. Blood, flesh, and sparks filled the air as nanite blades cleaved through flesh and metal with consummate ease. The troops in this part of the outpost were new to this sort of thing, the only experienced soldiers being in 3rd company who were a good three hundred paces away on the wall. Already she could see that the incoherent rage of the cullers in their midst had shaken them to their core and that it would only take the slightest nudge for them to fall to pieces. ¡°Rally to me!¡± she amplified her voice, swamping the battleground with it, the noise causing even the cullers to pause. There was a slight silence, as everyone tried to gather their wits, and she broke it by shooting the nearest culler in the face. HEAD SHOT INSTAKILL CULLER 482096 ELIMINATED Battle erupted once more as her people gave a cheer at the kill, hacking and slashing their way towards her. ¡°Shields!¡± she boomed once more, and those of her people nearest formed shields, interlinking them so that they presented an armoured wall to their enemies, protecting the entrance to the command centre at the same time. ¡°It¡¯s Mai Xiao! The bitch in person! Kill her!¡± screamed a woman, pointing a wicked-looking sword in her direction. Mai activated her SMG skill, then targeted a CRITICAL HIT box on the woman¡¯s knee. It took the merest of flicks of her wrist to lay her sight on the woman¡¯s knee, and a split second to fire a three round burst. Shrieking, the woman tumbled to the ground, holding on to the stump of her leg as blood jetted into the air. Without pause another culler stepped forward, raised a heavy hammer, and brought it crashing down onto the woman¡¯s skull, bursting it like an egg, showering those nearby in shards of bone and gobbets of brain matter. KILL ASSIST! CONTESTANT 896948 ELIMINATED The cullers charged, a wordless roar of hate washing over Mai and her brave band of soldiers. Men and women grunted as the enemy crashed into their shields, feet sliding on the ground at the pure force of the attack. Weapons stabbed and slashed. DAMAGE! 0.5% BLEED AT 0.1% PER SECOND Heat filled Mai¡¯s cheek as a blade slipped past her shield. She returned the favour by reaching above her shield and spraying a burst into the tightly-packed cullers. HIT! 50% BLEED AT 5% PER SECOND PINNED HIT! 10% BLEED AT 1% PER SECOND PINNED HIT! 34% BLEED AT 2% PER SECOND PINNED The pressure on her shield lessened slightly as the enemy players shied away from her weapon. ¡°Push! One step!¡± Her people roared the order back at her, braced themselves and then stamped forward at the same time, driving the enemy back. Foot twisting as she brought it down, she hissed in pain and looked down to see a wounded culler at her feet. ¡°You two, close ranks when I step back and out,¡± she ordered the rebels flanking her. ¡°Push! One step!¡± Once again the rebels repeated the order and then stamped forward, pushing the cullers back once again. That step brought the wounded culler into the cordon formed by their shields. Stepping back, she waited for the rebels to close the gap before bending down to take her prisoner. Book 3 - Uprising - Chapter 43 Mai and her rebel command sat quietly in the council chamber as the other leaders took their places. The probing attack had been driven back just under an hour before and Mai was covered in aches and bruises. She could have healed them, but the eye swollen shut, the now blood crusted cut on her face and numerous other bumps and bruises lent gravitas to the message she needed to convey. ¡°I call this meeting open,¡± declared the chairperson, an androgynous cyborg which was decidedly more artificial than flesh. ¡°Madam Xiao, you have the right to speak.¡± ¡°Thank you,¡± Mai stood slowly, letting the pain show in her face as the bandages on her leg tugged. ¡°I come from the first Battle of Nether City, or Battle for Route 61 if we want to use the proper location. We were attacked by several companies of Imperial Troops as well as an airborne attack by cullers. We defeated them, destroying over half of the armoured force. Of that half, we captured several vehicles which are now being used to bolster the outpost¡¯s defences. Of the cullers, all but five were killed. After questioning, only one remains.¡± She paused to incline her head at the wreck of a human being next to her. Strapped to an upright gurney, they shook and moaned as a constant current of electricity was sent through their body. Blood and other bodily fluids oozed from the many wounds covering their body. A murmur of what she hoped was approval filled the chamber. ¡°All enemy infantry were killed. None were players. All were recently inducted into the ranks of the Imperial Army and put through an accelerated training programme. What they lacked in skill, they more than made up in tenacity and fighting spirit. Thankfully, our losses were light, the majority dying in action against the cullers.¡± She paused as the memory of that desperate fight filled her mind¡¯s eye. Pushing it away, she scanned the council members before her. None looked as though their resolve was failing them. All looked with hatred towards the culler. ¡°This, player,¡± howls of anger and hatred filled the room as she gestured at the culler. ¡°Was kind enough to inform us of a God-mecha, confirming intelligence we gathered when we ventured into Upper City recently. Apparently, one of the world¡¯s top ¡­ players is piloting it.¡± More howls. She formed a knife and the council members instantly stilled. Not saying a word, Mai stepped before the culler and drove her blade up into their diaphragm, thrusting still further until it pierced their heart. KILL! CULLER 349878 ELIMINATED! ¡°Our only chance is to either try to build our own God-mecha ourselves, which I doubt we have the bio-boost for. Or to work a way of forcing the God-mecha to take a specific route, and then bring the roof of the cave down upon it.¡± Silence. The eyes of the council members bored in on her. Each and every one was hanging on her words. ¡°My intelligence officer has mapped out the best area and will send that to all commanders. Because of the nature of the mission, I shall lead it with some volunteers. Dakota will remain as my representative. Prepare your people. The fight of their lives is coming.¡± If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it. ¡°Why do you always put yourself in danger? You¡¯re the commander of the second biggest army in the world. You shouldn¡¯t be doing this,¡± growled Biyu as they climbed the wall of the cave and started their journey to where they needed to place the explosives. ¡°Because firstly, I¡¯m Mai Xiao. I¡¯m not irreplaceable. Dakota can easily take my place. And if I die, I become a martyr, a legend. It¡¯s not that I¡¯m afraid of dying, it¡¯s that I¡¯m more afraid of having people dying doing what I refused to do. The Gods know just how much I want to live and get back to my sister.¡± Even if she is just a few pieces of code given a semblance of life. Biyu said nothing, just huffed. Ma and Wu climbed past, both of them grumbling loudly at being ¡®forced¡¯ to volunteer when in fact they¡¯d been the first to step forward. The rest of their force was made up of a mix of recon troops, two of her knights, and several engineers who would make sure that the explosives were planted in the most effective area possible. ¡°Those buggers better not attack whilst we¡¯re dangling with our arses in the wind,¡± muttered Ma, clapping a hand onto the rock roof and letting herself hang. Their comms chimed with alerts and Wu shot a look over at Ma. ¡°You had to open your dumb mouth!¡± Mai ignored their squabbling, opening up her message centre. The outpost was under attack once more, and other areas were reporting large numbers of enemy troops and armour approaching. A rumble, like that of a hab-quake, reached up from the city as the heavy weapons turrets opened fired, sending shells the size of ground cars whistling through the air. ¡°Listen up people, enough grousing. We¡¯ve got a damned job to do.¡± Taking her own advice, she continued climbing, the nanites in her suit gripping the rock as tightly as a fly¡¯s feet. The point they needed to reach was at least five hundred paces away and already her muscles were screaming for release. Even hanging by one arm as Ma had done gave temporary relief as the arm still gripping took the strain. Looking down she immediately regretted it. Having been raised in hablocks which stretch for miles into the sky she had a good head for heights. But this was different. The cave system which housed Nether City was massive, and far more open than anything she¡¯d ever seen in the Upper City. It was what she thought the ten-mile would be like. And it was that openness which caused her head to spin, mouth to dry, and stomach to flutter. There was nothing between her and ground should she fall. It was an utterly alien feeling to not have level after level below her. Even the transparent walkways where pedestrians could look down on the city below paled into comparison to this never-ending openness. ¡°Mai, get your head back in the game.¡± Biyu¡¯s voice snapped her out of her reverie as her friend¡¯s voice filled her comm bead. Looking around she saw that the others had moved a good few paces on, and that Biyu was looking over at her. ¡°You okay?¡± ¡°Fine, just not used to such a high and open space,¡± Mai licked her lips as she spoke. Looking at her retinal monitor she saw that she¡¯d been stationary for a good three minutes. ¡°I¡¯m okay. Let¡¯s press on.¡± Mai groaned as her muscles continued to punish her. Her team were moving as quickly as they could, securing the large explosive charges on the roof of the cave. She prayed that her team¡¯s estimates were accurate and that the roof would come down where they had planned, and not bring the whole of the cave roof crashing down onto the entire city. Just thinking about the millions of tonnes of rock above them made her mouth run dry. She hadn¡¯t thought about it before, the false sky and sun hiding the true nature of her new home. Then she realised that there were just as many millions of tonnes of hablocks above her when she lived in the Upper City. That seemed different though, more natural. As natural as living miles in the sky could be. Still, it was what she was used to, and the cave wasn¡¯t. ¡°We¡¯re all set. Charges are in place. Now all we have to do is hope that the enemy comes this way.¡± And if they don¡¯t, we¡¯re going to have to bloody move them, she thought to herself. Book 3 - Uprising - Chapter 44 ¡°We can¡¯t hold the outpost! They¡¯re pushing us back!¡± Mai looked at the command centre holomap as she watched the enemy forces closing in on their city. Blue markers representing their forces gradually pulled back towards the city, forcing the enemy to fight for every pace. A readout showed the units they still had as part of their force, the numbers of soldiers and vehicles they had and, much to Mai¡¯s upset, the number of casualties they¡¯d taken. ¡°Colonel Ayres, how are your people doing?¡± ¡°We¡¯re punishing them, our casualties are ¡­¡± his voice dropped off the communications channel to be replaced by the sound of many weapons firing at once. ¡° ¡­ sweep right! Sorry, I¡¯m back. Enemy urbexers just roped down. Our casualties are light, the militia are losing heavily though.¡± Mai looked at the map, seeing where the urbexers had dropped in. Fortunately, it was nowhere near where they had placed the explosives. If the enemy found them, all of their plans would be ruined, and the city would most certainly be lost. ¡°They¡¯re not attacking to the west. I¡¯m going to move the turrets there towards the centre of the city. Pull your line back one hundred paces, and I¡¯ll move the turrets to your front back with you.¡± ¡°Makes sense to shrink the line, how well are the turrets doing?¡± Ayres was having to shout over the sound of the battle raging around him. Mai looked at the BASE score. Each kill with a turret was scored differently according to the type of kill. She opened up the score table to double check she had them right. No mecha had been recorded as attacking the city just yet, most of the attacks having been probes by infantry supported by light vehicles as the enemy tried to work out the defences¡¯ weak points. Some of the turrets had already racked up over one hundred kills and her staff were busy using those scores to keep the turrets repaired and replenished. She¡¯d ordered that they weren¡¯t to be upgraded, as she didn¡¯t want to risk creating a gap in the line whilst the upgrade was carried out. ¡°The Knights report that they¡¯re ready to go, ma¡¯am,¡± reported a command centre staff member. ¡°Please inform them, again,¡± Mai replied through gritted teeth, ¡°that they¡¯ll get their chance to fight when we need them to.¡± She could understand their eagerness. Listening to the reports of the various units in battle was hard, and she wanted to do nothing more than rush out and join them. But she was getting heartily sick and tired of the repeated messages from the knights. She tapped a number of blue markers, opening up their comms channels as she did. Tracing lines with her fingers, she marked where she wanted them to pull back. Because different units moved at different speeds, she had to carefully plan when she wanted them to start moving so that they arrived at the same time. The mental arithmetic was wearing. As were the constant calls for orders. ¡°You need to delegate,¡± Dakota stepped up next to her, face covered in soot, as Mai covered her face with her hands. ¡°You can¡¯t do this all by yourself. Use your command staff.¡± She¡¯d pitched her voice low so that those nearby couldn¡¯t hear. If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement. ¡°Your job is to oversee. Macro manage, not micro manage. Tell others what you need and have them do the donkey work.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know what I fucking need,¡± Mai hissed. ¡°I¡¯m a bloody former sewer worker! And before that, a complete bloody slacker!¡± ¡°And look where you are now. You command an entire city. You¡¯ve inspired people to do something they never even thought possible. Now you need to let them fight the battle.¡± ¡°Fine! Bring the Sector 5 turrets and bunkers back three hundred paces, get them set up before that enemy armoured element gets too close. Use them to cover the infantry and have them move back four hundred paces. Add a line of trenches there, so that the infantry have better cover.¡± Dakota patted Mai¡¯s shoulder as she set about pulling their forces further back into the city. Doing so would deny the enemy the chance to destroy any forces in the open, as well as making it more difficult for their armoured forces to fight in the narrow streets. Gradually, as the defences continued to cause enemy casualties and rack up BASE points, she started to pour construction efforts into toughening hab blocks and other buildings, turning them into mini fortresses, and the city into one larger fortress. ¡°Look, the Ghosts are moving into action!¡± Mai looked at where one of her staff was pointing. A unit of urbexers had been unable to withdraw quickly enough and had been engaged by enemy six-wheeler armoured fighting vehicles with infantry support. Pinned down, and at the mercy of the enemy infantry, a unit called Kira¡¯s Kavaliers, the urbexers had sent out a plea for help. And Ayres and his people had responded. ¡°Biyu, can you get snipers to Sector Three?¡± Mai commed her intelligence officer who was ensconced in a VR drone couch. ¡°Already on it boss, three sections moving in. They¡¯ll take some of the pressure off, and hopefully open a corridor up. Or stop the enemy from chasing them that is. I need the marked buildings to be strengthened, and a tunnel to link them and the sewer I¡¯m marking.¡± Mai passed those orders onto one of her staffers, grinding her teeth at having to delegate, but recognising there was no way she could fight each engagement individually. ¡°Ayres, the map is showing that you¡¯ll be there in three minutes, I¡¯ve assigned a squad of droids to help out. Open a corridor and get the urbexers out along the route I¡¯m sending you now.¡± She dropped the connection without waiting for Ayres to confirm his orders and instead concentrated on positioning a turret so that it would have a wide field of fire once the building it was behind was removed. Another staffer was tasked with removing that building as soon as the urbexers reached a way marker Mai had set down. With luck the building would be taken down and the turret, on second thoughts, turrets ¨C she added another ¨C would take the enemy by complete surprise. Another flash message came through, a different sector was being attacked by Mecha. A bitter taste filled her mouth as she thought of how Jock would have led the counter-attack. Instead, she sent a message to Chan tasking a platoon to go and help the gangers and locals who were doing their best to stop the mecha. To help them out, she dropped a couple of bunkers and turrets into a fall-back position, whilst changing the route of one of the sewers so that her people could not only use them to retreat if they needed to, but also to counter-attack by coming up out of them to the enemy¡¯s rear. ¡°So much for this God-mecha,¡± Biyu said as she exited her VR coffin. ¡°Do you think they were lying? Spread the rumour so that if any of their people were captured they¡¯d tell us?¡± ¡°It¡¯s possible,¡± Dakota laid a couple of mugs of chai onto the table, pressing a steamed bun into Mai¡¯s hands. ¡°But according to our players, there¡¯s so much chatter about the damned thing it could cause too much of a public backlash if it wasn¡¯t real.¡± ¡°Public backlash?¡± spat Mai. ¡°You mean all those bastards in the so-called real world watching this would get their panties in a twist if some bastard-big, armoured machine didn¡¯t come stomping through our homes?¡± ¡°Yes,¡± Biyu said. ¡°That¡¯s exactly it. We¡¯re entertainment to them, and we¡¯re going to continue to be entertainment.¡± ¡°Until they pull the plug,¡± Dakota said before taking a bite out of her own steamed bun. Mai copied her, pleased to taste sweet pork and bean sprouts. It was one of her favourite snacks and she raised the remainder of the bun in salute. ¡°I hadn¡¯t even thought they might do such a thing,¡± Biyu looked like she was chewing on ashes as she considered the idea that whoever ran things in the real-world might literally just turn them off. Wiping them out with the flick of a switch whilst the players went on to play other games. ¡°Forget it,¡± Mai ordered firmly. ¡°We¡¯ve got enough on our plate and adding whether we can be wiped out as easily as flicking a light switch isn¡¯t worth it. We have this battle to fight. Once we¡¯ve won it, we¡¯ll have another battle to fight. One battle at a time. Nothing else matters.¡± Sudden silence filled the command centre, every comm channel going dead at the same moment. There was a pregnant pause as the staffers looked at their consoles or paused mid-handwave as they used VR to manipulate their allotted station. And then a wave of sound broke over them. Amongst the cacophony, the one word that was clear was God-mecha. Book 3 - Uprising - Chapter 45 ¡°There are too many! We can¡¯t fight all of those!¡± Biyu¡¯s hand flapped at the holomap as unit after enemy unit started to appear on the map. At certain points they were unable to advance due to the high numbers of vehicles and infantry trying to force their way through the defences. Mai punished them for that, creating heavy artillery turrets at the far side of the city and shelling them before they could even get into the battle proper. Of great worry however was the God-mecha, appearing in an area at three six hundred paces away from where they had set their explosives. ¡°Chan, all mecha-knights to engage the God-mecha, I need you to pull it in this direction,¡± she drew a crude arrow. ¡°I¡¯ll pull friendly units out of the way so that the God-mecha concentrates solely on you. Gods grant you success.¡± The Nether City lines buckled as the fighters reacted to the God-mecha. Mai still didn¡¯t have any idea as to what it looked like, despite the fact that the holomap was 3-D in nature. She tasked a drone to fly towards it, gasping as she saw just how large it was. Easily fifty paces tall, it towered over the battlefield. Weapons festooned it, pouring devastating fire into her people. As she watched, an entire platoon of locals was scorched from the earth in one fell swoop. Her display glitched as she tried to fly the drone closer, lines appearing on the display and the controls reacting sluggishly. All of a sudden white noise filled the display and she lost contact with the drone. ¡°Biyu! The God-mecha seems to have some sort of jamming in place. I lose signal at least one hundred paces out. What happens if the God-mecha is under our explosives?¡± Biyu held a hand out for patience as she sent a cloud of drones zipping through the air towards the God-mecha. Setting them to different approach patterns she tested the extent of the jamming, lips getting tighter and tighter as Mai watched. ¡°To summarise. If the God-mecha is under the explosives where we need to be, we won¡¯t be able to send a signal through to detonate them.¡± Mai¡¯s mouth worked, unable to form the words her scrambled brain was trying to say. Dakota said them for her. ¡°Sooo, we need to detonate them manually?¡± Biyu nodded, lips pursed. ¡°Someone needs to get up to the explosives, set a line, and detonate them using a manual trigger. All very old school.¡± ¡°All very suicidal, if you ask me,¡± snarled Dakota. ¡°How the hells are we going to ask someone to commit suicide like that?¡± ¡°We¡¯re not going to, I¡¯m going to do it, and no fucking arguments,¡± Mai said. As soon as she realised what the God-mecha was doing she¡¯d know it would be her job to bring the cave roof down. The others opened their mouths, probably to argue, but wouldn¡¯t brook it. Reaching out, she pulled them into a hug. Holding it for a few seconds, she pushed them back, gave them a nod, and left the command centre. Mai ran through a city completely transformed. She¡¯d had an idea as to what it might look like as she made the changes necessary to turn it into a fortress, but she hadn¡¯t left the command centre for what felt like a lifetime and seeing former habblocks now turned into armoured strongpoints bristling with weapons was a shock. Locals ran back and forth, some carrying supplies, others rushing to reinforce a particular position. None of them even acknowledged her as they concentrated on their tasks. Shells from enemy artillery rained down a couple of hundred paces away from her and despite the fact that there were buildings behind her, and the unfortunate Nether City troops being shelled, it felt as though she was being lightly slapped over her entire body as the shockwaves washed over her. Spent shrapnel pattered down, accompanied by heavier pieces of debris. A particularly large block of building slammed into the ground near to her, shards of plasticrete scything through the air, cutting into her. DAMAGE! 2% BLEED @0.1% PER SECOND She ignored the pain and formed a heavy infantry suit. It was well armoured, not as good as a mecha mind, and would allow her to move faster due to a servo-assisted system. The cost in BIO-MASS was negligible as it only required upkeep to its SOAK. So as long as she wasn¡¯t hit by anything too big, she should be fine. If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement. Coming to a trench cutting across a road, she leapt it without breaking stride, smiling at the curses and cries of surprise from the Nether City troops inhabiting it. A siren sounded, so loud that her suit¡¯s dampening kicked in. Even so, her bowels turned to ice. INTIMIDATED! Too bloody right I¡¯m intimidated, she thought irritated as ever at the pointlessness of the glyphs. And if she was intimidated this far away from the God-mecha because what else could make such a noise, what the hells did the troops near to it feel? Ducking into a doorway, she paused to catch her breath before opening a city-wide comms channel. ¡°This is Mai Xiao, commander of the Nether City forces. All personnel are to select helmets with dampeners. No exceptions. Don¡¯t let that big bastard get into your head. It won¡¯t be around for too much longer. Trust in me and fight on.¡± She blinked the comms channel closed as dozens of acknowledgements flooded in. She didn¡¯t need to know her people were obeying her. It was in their nature to do so. An enemy dropship, a long sleek body supported by four turbo-fans stuttered through the air mere paces above the street she was in, flames billowing out of three of the engines, a gaping hole in its side spewing smoke. Bodies, most wreathed in flames, tumbled from it, screeching as they fell before falling silent as they smacked into the ground with deadly finality. Others dropped quickly to the ground, three of them barely touched by the flames. Laughing as they thanked the Emperor they¡¯d made it safely to the ground compared to their colleagues. ¡°Praise the Emperor,¡± Mai said, grimacing as a loyalty notification popped up. Forming a light machine gun, she stepped out of the shelter provided by the doorway, lifting the weapon before it was even properly formed. The enemy troops were still busy trying to collect their wits after such a close call. All were players. And it showed. There was no situational awareness, they were far too concerned with celebrating their survival. She formed a laser sight, then played it over the face of the nearest player. He blinked, swatting at his face as if he was being bothered by a fly. It was almost comical to see the realisation dawn, his face going slack with surprise as he fully turned in her direction. Time slowed. His mouth started to open, targeting boxes appearing all over him as her passive USE LIGHT MACHINE GUN SKILL kicked in. Just as slowly the two other players started to turn. Mai felt as though she had all the time in the world. Now she was looking at them properly, she realised just how young they were. Whether it was a true reflection of their age in the real world she neither knew nor cared. The first player¡¯s arm started to raise slowly as he tried to bring his weapon to bear. Shifting her arm slightly, Mai laid the laser onto a CRITICAL HIT marker on his throat. Just before his weapon reached a point where he might be able to fire, she sent a burst into his throat. CRITICAL HIT! 75% BLEED @15% PER SECOND SUPPRESSED He gobbled, as blood jetted in all directions, half of his neck torn away, drenching his colleagues with blood as he tried to stem the bleeding. BLINDED! INTIMIDATED! BLINDED! INTIMIDATED! PANIC! One of his colleagues shrieked, swiping at the blood that had blinded her, whilst the last one continued to turn, firing before he¡¯d even fully raised his weapon. Mai shifted to the side, laid the laser on the side of his head, and fired. INSTAKILL! Skull exploding, the top spinning away, exposing what was left of his brains as the pressure popped his eyeballs from their sockets, more brain matter pouring out of them like some sort of bloody porridge. Mai charged, changing her LMG into a tomahawk. Still shrieking, the last player finally managed to wipe the blood of her friend from her eyes. Just in time to see Mai¡¯s tomahawk descending towards her skull. HIT! 20% DAMAGE STUNNED BLEED @1% PER SECOND HIT! 24% DAMAGE BLEED @2% PER SECOND UNCONSCIOUS! HIT! 35% DAMAGE BLEED @15% PER SECOND HIT! 25% DAMAGE KILL! Breathing heavily, Mai looked down at the remains of the player¡¯s face. It was utterly unrecognisable as having ever been human. The kill gave her no satisfaction, however. Whilst the player might have suffered as their avatar died, they were still alive in the real world. She prayed to all of the gods she could that they had lost a fortune getting to this point. Absorbing the tomahawk, she shook her hand to clear it of the blood, hair, flesh, and other things she didn¡¯t want to look too closely at. In the end she spent a tiny amount of BIO-MASS to clean it. Although the fight had lasted mere seconds, it felt as though she¡¯d lost days to it. The battle still raged across the city, tracers and lasers rising into the sky, explosions filling the air with sound and debris. Giving herself a shake, she started running again, the bodies of the players totally forgotten. Book 3 - Uprising - Chapter 46 ¡°Mai, Biyu here. We can¡¯t hold them!¡± Mai drove spikes into the cavern roof as Biyu spoke, then blinked open her minimap, panning out so that she could see the whole battlefield. From where she was hanging on the roof she could have used her eyes to see the battle, but the minimap removed all of the distractions the bitter battle caused. ¡°All mecha-knights, attack the God-mecha, I¡¯m one hundred paces from where I need to be. Once you¡¯ve got his attention, retreat past me. Keep them engaged though. Force them to use BIO-MASS to repair damage, sting him. Make him angry. Blind him to anything but killing you.¡± ¡°Mecha-knights, acknowledging,¡± Chan replied. New units suddenly populated the map as the mech-knights formed their suits and charged out of their positions. There were hundreds of them, far more than she knew they¡¯d trained, and a lump formed in her throat as she realised that some of the Nether City troops had thrown all caution to the wind in order to save their city. Blinking her map closed, she looked over at the God-mecha. Its name was more than apt. Whoever was piloting it had covered it in slogans, most along the lines of ¡®Die, die, die!¡¯. They¡¯d changed the paint since the battle started as well, proving that they either had BIO-MASS to waste, or that they didn¡¯t think the battle would last much longer. It was now covered in what Mai could only describe as Day-Glo pink, and neon green. It was utterly garish. ¡°Cocky little shit, let¡¯s hope they don¡¯t learn some humility in the next half-hour,¡± she didn¡¯t know why she spoke out loud, but it helped to hear a voice as she continued to claw her way across the roof of the cavern. Even from here the blasts of the artillery washed over here, and the noise of the battle was a constant distraction. Something struck her from behind, making her jump and cry out in surprise. She missed her next handhold and desperately scrabbled for purchase, forming a spike, and driving it deep into the rock. Heart pounding, mouth dry, she tried to work out what had hit her. Her suit hadn¡¯t registered any damage, and there were no enemy troops near enough to spot her. She¡¯d activated STEALTH and URBAN CAMOUFLAGE before beginning the climb, using a BIO-MASS BOOST to keep it up. SOAK DAMAGE! 2% Another impact, harder and this time she caught a flash of movement from the corner of her eye. Forming a small drone she sent it zipping downwards until it was a good thirty paces beneath her, camera pointing up. Twisting and turning she was still unable to see what was hitting her. And then the drone¡¯s camera picked up a dark, four-winged shape cutting through the air towards her, four feet ending in wicked talons pointing directly at her back. Spinning, she released the spike on her left arm and quickly formed it into a shotgun, filling the air with red-hot shot. HIT! 67% DAMAGE BLEED @1% The mogwai shrieked as one of its wings was completely shorn off, the others torn, gaping holes taking away any lift. It tumbled through the sky, narrowly missing her drone. Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more. Sneaky little fu ¡­ another mogwai crashed into her, talons grasping her. SOAK DAMAGE! 5% Wings beating against her helmet visor, the mogwai tried to pull her from the cavern roof. Bile rose into her mouth as she saw that the creature¡¯s mouth was situated in its belly, a long tongue covered with what looked like suckers continuously lapped at her visor, smearing it with blood-red viscous saliva. ¡°Get the fucking fuck off!¡± She tried to aim her shotgun, but the creature¡¯s wings kept beating the long barrel down. Snarling, she shortened the barrel, finally managing to jam it into the mogwai¡¯s lower abdomen. CRITICAL HIT! 95% BLEED @15% PER SECOND Blood, acid green, covered her visor as the mogwai tumbled away, talons screeching against her suit¡¯s armour, setting her teeth on edge. Completely blind, she was forced to rely on her drone as she summoned nanites to clear her visor. Another mogwai swooped in, this one had six wings and only two feet, as well as a proboscis as long as she was tall. She fired continuously, filling the air with shot, blowing chunks of flesh from the mogwai, one foot spinning away towards the ground. INSTAKILL! ¡°Mai! The mecha-knights have got the God-mecha¡¯s attention! They¡¯re going to be under you in less than two minutes. Are you ready?¡± Mai winced as Biyu shouted down the comms channel. ¡°Not yet, got held up,¡± Mai cursed silently at having to admit that. She¡¯d allowed herself to be distracted by the mogwai and hadn¡¯t kept track of the larger battle. ¡°Get a fucking move on boss!¡± Mai didn¡¯t need any further encouragement, absorbing the shotgun and setting off once again across the cavern roof. Up close the God-mecha was enormous. She didn¡¯t actually have the vocabulary to truly do it justice. It was the largest man-made machine she¡¯d ever seen. Weapons systems covered its armour, sending a near continuous stream of death into the mecha-knights and the nearest Nether City positions. Shells from turrets pounded at its armour, each one barely scratching the surface, but cumulatively they were chipping away at its SOAK. Between them and the return fire, the pilot must have been going through litres of BIO-MASS each second. It was astonishing. And it was clear that the pilot was pissed off. Mecha-knights circled its huge feet. Inside of whatever protective shields it might have had at the start of the battle, they sent streams of fire up into its nether-regions. Quicker than she thought possible, the God-mecha turned and swept its foot forward. In an instant five mecha-knights were blasted into smithereens, pieces flying for hundreds of paces in all directions, the pilots instantly dead. There was a ripple amongst the surviving knights as their commanders issued orders and then they were back into the attack. Tears sprang from Mai¡¯s eyes as she saw them sacrificing themselves so that she could kill the God-mecha. Reaching the remote detonator linked to all of the explosives, she formed a manual trigger with over a hundred paces of wire. Fumbling, hand shaking as she assembled the trigger unit, she blinked at the sweat pouring into her eyes. The wire clicked into place, lights on the trigger and detonator blinking into life, confirming that a circuit had been made. ¡°I¡¯m done! Moving out of the way, all mecha-knights pull back to the West, maintain contact with that bastard.¡± Clipping the trigger to her belt, she formed her gauntlets into hooks like she¡¯d seen on a sloth and started to swing as fast as she could, her hooks digging into the cavern roof. Every step that the God-mecha took vibrated through the cavern roof, making her arms tingle. It bayed again, but her suit reacted before it could INTIMIDATE her. ¡°Get clear! Get clear!¡± She checked the minimap, cursing as she saw that there were still mecha-knights beneath the trap area, holding the God-mecha in position. ¡°Please! Move!¡± ¡°Blow it, Mai,¡± Chan¡¯s voice was calm, collected. He sounded at peace. ¡°Kill the bastard.¡± Sobbing, Mai unclipped the trigger and slammed her hand down. Book 3 - Uprising - Chapter 47 Mai groaned as she lifted a hand to her head, pausing in confusion as she was unable to reach it. A memory flashed. An explosion. A crack as wide as three men were tall. Boulders the size of ground cars tumbling towards the ground. More cracks ripping across the cavern, bigger, wider, longer than her engineers had imagined they would be. The realisation that she wasn¡¯t safe. That she was going to be joining the rock falling to the ground far below. Frantically consuming as much BIO-MASS as possible. Forming a mecha, modding it with increased armour, feeding the rest of the BIO-MASS she had into its system. And then falling. Noise. So much noise. Alarms. SOAK warnings. DAMAGE warnings. And then darkness. ¡°Where the fuck am I?¡± her mouth felt as though it was filled with chalk, and as she gradually regained her senses, ached all over. Wherever she was, it was dark. She flicked through the visual spectrums on her suit. Thankfully, she was able to find one which allowed her to see properly in the stygian darkness. Dust hung in the air like a heavy fog. Looking upward she saw a mass of rock and boulders above her. There was a bright flash of light from one of the builders, and then sparks showered down, dying before they reached her. It took a while for her befuddled brain to work out that a boulder hadn¡¯t sparked, rather it was a huge piece of the God-mecha. ¡°Biyu, Mai calling. Can you hear me?¡± Nothing, not even white noise. Looking around, she decided she couldn¡¯t just sit and wait for a rescue which might never come. For all she knew, the Nether City forces thought she was dead. Rocks shifted, smaller ones clattering down from behind her. Turning as gently as she could, fearing that any sudden movement would cause the roof to collapse and finally finish burying her, she faced the direction the noise had come from. ¡°What the..?¡± moving on all fours, not an easy thing to do in a mecha suit, she made her way over to where the rocks had fallen. Instead of a rockface, the falling rocks had revealed darkness. Reaching up, she delicately moved a rock from the top of the pile, widening the hole. Slowly, she pushed herself to her feet and peered through into the hole, forming a lamp to shine into the space beyond. ¡°It¡¯s a tunnel.¡± And it was a decidedly more secure-looking tunnel than the space she was in. Even as she tried to see how far back the tunnel reached, the rocks above her groaned, gravel tumbling down to patter off her suit. Throwing all caution to the wind, she started widening the hole, hands blurring as they cleared rock after rock until the hole was big enough for her to just barge through. No sooner had she thrown herself into the tunnel than there was a great rumbling, as if the earth had indigestion, and then the space she had been in was lost as it caved in, uncountable tonnes of rock crushing everything underneath it. Five minutes later, Mai decided that the mecha-suit was using up far too much valuable BIO-BOOST. Absorbing it, she went with the Night Wolf, adding slightly more armour plates for a five per cent loss in STEALTH, but a twenty-per cent increase in SOAK. A compromise she was more than happy to make. Her minimap only showed where she¡¯d been and where her suit lamps illuminated. From what she could tell, she was in a completely new part of the caverns, no-one in Nether City ever having mapped the tunnels. ¡°Not these ones at least,¡± she muttered to herself as she walked along the tunnel, running her fingers over the smooth surface. As far as she could tell, it was most certainly not a natural tunnel, nor was it one formed by a large burrowing creature, something for which she was extremely grateful. The walls were far too smooth, best guess was that they had been made by lasers. But by whom and why, she had no idea. ¡°How the ¡­ here?¡± a voice, distorted, sounding simultaneously close by, but also incredibly distant filled the tunnel. ¡°Shut ¡­ stealth pro ¡­¡± Mai formed a suppressed SMG on one hand, and a heavy ballistic shield on the other. The shield cost a full three per cent BIO-MASS, dropping her level to eight-five per cent. Frowning, she felt around her belt, then groaned as she realised she¡¯d lost her last BIO-MASS BOOST. With no choice, she moved forward, shield raised, weapon resting on the special rim designed just for that purpose. ¡°How the hells did that psycho bitch kill a fucking God-mecha?¡± said the first voice she¡¯d heard. It was coming from an opening in the tunnel a few paces ahead. Activating STEALTH, she moved up to the edge of the opening, then poked her weapon around the corner, using the sight to see what lay beyond. She bit down on a gasp as she saw two cullers, their number glyphs clearly hanging above their heads. They stood over a dead mecha-knight, prodding the body as if they were disappointed it wasn¡¯t responding. Zooming in, she spotted the top of a BIO-MASS BOOST just under the body. If I can get that I actually stand a chance of making out of this mess, not that she knew if she actually wanted to make it out of the tunnels. She still had no idea whether killing the God-mecha had in any way saved the city. It didn¡¯t matter. Two enemies stood before her, and if they were in that part of the tunnel they must have come from further on, which meant that was the direction she needed to take if she wanted to get out. Activating TUNNEL FIGHTER and USE SMG, she stepped into the tunnel. Target boxes covered her opponents. All three of her activated skills added bonuses, as did the fact that the two cullers were still completely oblivious to her presence. Bracing herself, she took careful aim on the one nearest to her. As ever, the head shot offered an INSTAKILL, and she took it, not wanting to waste a single bullet in case the bottle under the dead mecha-knight was empty. HEADSHOT! CRITICAL HIT! 95% BLINDED If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.UNCONSCIOUS PARALYSED BLEED @15% PER SECOND ¡°No!¡± the other spun, gun raised high. Activating FREERUNNER, Mai dove to the ground, tucking into a roll before coming back up onto her knee. It wasn¡¯t enough, the tunnel filled with orange light as the surviving culler¡¯s weapon fired, the deafening since Mai had changed her suit, the flash blinding. DAMAGE! 23% BLEED @2% INTIMIDATED! SUPPRESSED! KILL! CULLER 2994387 ELIMINATED! Not one of the enemy¡¯s bullets had hit her shield and she cursed at her bad luck as she tucked down behind it. Gasping at the searing pain in her thigh, caused by what someone might charitably call a flesh wound, but which she viewed as a bloody great gash she activated her TREAT LIGHT WOUND, accepting the five per cent in BIO-MASS. Her opponent was still screaming and firing non-stop, her attack finally striking Mai¡¯s shield and filling her retinal monitor with a near continuous stream of SOAK messages. DAMAGE! SOAK 95% DAMAGE! SOAK 93% DAMAGE! SOAK 89.5% DAMAGE! SOAK 87% DAMAGE! SOAK 84% DAMAGE! SOAK 80% DAMAGE! SOAK 79% DAMAGE! SOAK 75% DAMAGE! SOAK 74.8% She¡¯d had enough. Pushing her shield out before her and therefore covering as much of her body as possible, she absorbed her SMG, formed a triple-barrelled shotgun, and fired. HIT! 45% BLEED @3% KNOCKDOWN STAGGERED INTIMIDATED Not caring where the opponent was, she continued to fire, using the wide scatter of her shot to fill the tunnel. HIT! 33% BLEED @5% KNOCKDOWN STAGGERED UNCONSCIOUS Getting to her feet, Mai looked down at the unconscious culler. Blood welled out of numerous holes in her face and torso, coils of her stomach protruding from a particularly large hole in the woman¡¯s stomach. Rolling her out of the way, Mai bent down and picked up the BIO-BOOST bottle. It was disappointingly light. Giving it a slight shake, she heard a little liquid. Cracking open the seal, she drained the bottle of its contents, then checked her BIO-MASS levels. One hundred and one per cent. She¡¯d take that. Not that she had any choice in the matter. Mai had been making her way through the tunnels for nearly two hours before her comms channel crackled into life and Dakota¡¯s voice filled her ears. ¡°Mai! Come in Mai! Gods dammit, if you¡¯re alive, just click twice on your comm!¡± a smile creased Mai¡¯s face as she finally heard a friendly voice. ¡°Dakota! Thank the gods you¡¯re alive! I¡¯m in some sort of tunnel system. Lots of enemies. I¡¯ve killed a baker¡¯s dozen. All colours for some reason.¡± ¡°Are you hurt?¡± the concern in Dakota¡¯s voice filled Mai with warmth. All her friend wanted to know was whether she was hurt, whilst all she wanted to know was whether her friends were okay. ¡°No, how about you?¡± ¡°I¡¯m fine, we¡¯ve all healed as well as we can. We¡¯re down to the dregs on BIO-MASS though. I¡¯ve got teams searching the enemy dead for whatever they can find. Talking of finding, you¡¯re finally on our minimap.¡± Dakota proceeded to give her directions, guiding her through the maze of underground tunnels. More and more dead cullers started to appear, Dakota explaining that teams of Nether City urbexers had entered the tunnels once they¡¯d been revealed. ¡°And the collapse?¡± ¡°Worked. You utterly smooshed the God-mecha. Took a few thousand of the enemy, and about thirty buildings of the city. All empty, before you start to panic. The ground opened up, and the enemy entered the tunnels to get away from the falling debris. So did our forces. Turn right.¡± Mai turned right and walked straight into Dakota¡¯s widespread arms. Before she could react she was pulled into a tight embrace, their armour clanking as Dakota tried her best to crush what life remained from Mai. ¡°Don¡¯t you ever go and do something like that again,¡± her friend whispered fiercely, giving her a quick peck on the cheek before spitting on her hand and trying to remove some of the dirt covering Mai¡¯s face. For a second it brought back a memory of her mother doing exactly the same thing, before she realised that her friend was basically mixing spit with muck. ¡°Yuck! Gross!¡± she laughed as she pushed Dakota away. ¡°What¡¯s the situation?¡± Dakota¡¯s return grin disappeared. ¡°Best you come see,¡± she said grimly. Mai frowned, a lump forming in her stomach as she followed her friend out of the tunnel complex. As soon as they stepped into what passed for daylight in Nether City she cracked open her visor and took a deep breath. It was glorious. Even mixed with the stench of death, burning buildings and rock dust, it was the best air she had ever breathed. But something was missing. Mai looked over to Dakota, eyes narrowing as she saw a wide grin on her friend¡¯s face. ¡°What¡¯s different?¡± ¡°Oh, not sure, what do you mean?¡± teased her friend. And then Mai caught on. There was no incoming artillery, the only artillery she could hear was firing from within the city. Similarly the sound of small arms fire was different. Louder by the city, much less coming from the boundaries. ¡°We¡¯ve won?¡± she asked, mouth open, hand rising as she tried to hide her shock. ¡°You killed the leading player, crushed gods knows how many of their soldiers. They¡¯re in full retreat.¡± Mai opened her minimap, zooming out so that she could see the battlefield. The score chart next to the map appalled her with the huge numbers of losses on both sides. The one silver lining she could find out of the whole thing was that a number of units had collectively levelled up. Something she didn¡¯t even know was a possibility. Some even had a Gold Star, indicating that they were now classed as Elite. Bastards are changing the game, that most certainly wasn¡¯t an option when we were taking over the city, even in her time of victory the programmers were meddling, souring what should have been a momentous celebration. Fuck ¡®em. ¡°How far have they retreated?¡± ¡°Estimates are about one thousand paces between us and them. They¡¯re flooding back towards the roads.¡± ¡°All units, this is Mai Xiao. Reports of my death are greatly exaggerated. Chase the enemy down! Close with them. Kill them! Make the ground run red with their blood! Follow them into the Upper City! Charge!¡± Looking at Dakota she gave her a wink. ¡°What say we join our people? I think it¡¯s time we started to Ascend.¡± THE END. Feedback Request - Please answer the poll if you can Thank you for reading this series, it has been great seeing how many people are reading through it. If you liked it, please leave a rating or a review. Comments are also welcome, as I''m keen to see whether people enjoy the books enough to see them published. Unfortunately, I can only post one poll question, so I''ve listed others below. You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version. Did you like Mai as a character? Did you like the world she was stuck in? What would you like to see more of? What would you like to see less of? What worked best for you? What didn''t work for you? Would you like to read another book in the series? If this was published, would you buy it?