Stupid, stupid. Should have never come.
Everyone at the hospital talked about it. A Culling. It had been decades since the last one. A chance to bring the Denizens to justice. Take part in their execution. Mira couldn't resist. She took a look at her sister asleep in her bed, broken mentally and emotionally. Mira felt anger burn in her chest and knew she had to be there. It was easy to put the firebomb together. She made those since she was barely able to walk.
By the time she pushed through the crowd, the Denizens were already dead. Their blood slicked the steps of the RCE precinct; their bodies hacked to pieces by the Magistrates and the crowd. Mira threw her bomb anyway. It exploded against Electra's corpse, the fire gorging on her mutilated remains.
It didn't make Mira feel any better. She was sickened by the sight, unprepared for the smell of burning flesh and the pounding, deranged screams of the crowds. They erupted in an explosion of bloodlust and rage, taking out their anger on anything nearby. Some fought each other, clubbing and stabbing like ancient warriors. So long as no firearms were used, Haven Core would make no attempt to quell the violence.
She was trapped.
She barely recognized the neighborhood. All the streets in the city looked the same after a while, and that was before they were choked by gas clouds and smoke. She jumped onto a pile of old crates to get a better vantage point.
It was only by chance that she saw the Sentry.
He wore an all-black ensemble with only his face visible, pale skin and red lips like a movie vampire. A winking visor covered his eyes; scanning everything, recording everyone. His head jerked her direction. She froze under the cold, digital observation. Alarm bells blared in her head when he placed a hand to the implanted receiver in his ear. It didn't make any sense, but she knew he was tracking her.
Leaping off the crates, she ducked into an alley and ran, weaving between masked goons and violent acts. She should have been able to lose anyone in the chaos, but the Sentry didn't have to follow her physically. He had her marked. Cameras on the buildings, cameras in the air, tiny cameras designed like the clouds of insects that plagued the city. There were too many ways to track her no matter where she went.
It was only a matter of time before they caught her.
Her holoband buzzed. Jett's profile appeared on the screen.
"Mira, where are you?"
"Stay away from me, Jett. I got rats on my tail."
"I know. That's why I'm headed your way."
"Didn't you just hear me? Too dangerous."
"Mira." Jett's voice sounded on the verge of severe annoyance. "You're in the crosshairs of some very bad people. This isn't the time to be stubborn. Keep your holoband on. I'll use it to track you."
"How you gonna do that?"
"I have my ways. Just do what I tell you for once."
"That has to be a mistake, Incognito."
Vigil whirred past enormous ruins of formerly majestic skyscrapers, hunched over the controls of the zip bike. It felt like riding a rocket through a junkyard, and it took all of his self-control to squash the panic that tried to paralyze him. The thrum of the motor echoed behind, booming as if between canyon walls. The high-speed travel turned his surroundings into blurred shadows and laser lights. The auto-nav system was the only thing that prevented him from plowing into the nearest building at two hundred miles per hour.
Incognito's voice buzzed in his ear. "No mistake, Vigil. The Hellrazors are a seven-man kill squad employed by HC for special missions on the outside. And by special, I mean lethal."
"That doesn't make any sense. The Hellrazors are dead. They've been dead for centuries."
"How could you know that?"
Gunfire erupted, turning the chamber into a close-quarter bloodbath. Jett fired at the nearest Deviants, howling as his team took mortal wounds from point-blank range. Bodies jerked in grotesque motion as the room flickered with muzzle flashes, the air filled with screams…
"Because I was their leader. I was there when they all died."
"Well, it's just a name. Nostalgia is huge with all the holovisor video libraries. Maybe this team just adopted the name. Or maybe it's just coincidence."
"I don't know. There were seven of us on that last mission. Something isn’t right."
"We'll have to solve that mystery when we get to it. I jacked into the surveillance system and have eyes on their floater. Just touched down on a rooftop in Freshkills Island."
"Okay. First I get Mira, then I'll see what this kill squad is all about. Kill communications. They'll be scanning."
"How do you know?"
"Because that's what I'd do."
The zip bike swerved, dipping into the darkness of the city.
Ronnie jolted upright, confused and aching. Pain exploded everywhere, flaring across her limbs and chest. She tried to remember what happened. Something about being shot at. Then she crashed…
A sizzling sound distracted her. Sparks and molten metal rained down from the tough outside with a buzz saw, cutting her way in. Other masked and hooded figures gathered around, whooping and shouting encouragement.
Buzzsaw paused, tapping on the glass. A garish devil mask covered the woman's entire head, but cold eyes peered from the carved shadows.
"You woke, pig? Dropped in the wrong part of town, didn't ya? No backup coming for you? Too bad. Gonna peel you outta there. Then we skin you like the—"
"Sorry to interrupt, but you're boring me." Ronnie hit the window button and shot Buzzsaw in the chest with a heavy stun round. In the same flow of movement, she leaped out the spinner, tossed a sick bomb at the approaching gang, and ran the opposite way, holding her breath when it exploded and swamped the vicinity with nauseous gas. The sounds of uncontrolled vomiting immediately followed. She flung a flashbang explosive behind her just for good measure, turning the corner as it detonated.
Destitute tenements made for good cover, a maze of overpopulated brick and mortar that housed residents by the thousands. Ronnie turned her jacket inside out, snatched a cap from an unconscious drunk and placed it on her head. She kept her head low and her firearm ready, though no one paid her any attention.
"Isaac?"
His voice buzzed in her datcom. "On my way to you right now."
"Don't worry about me. Try to locate Nora or Mira. They're more important."
"You're deep in the wild, Ronnie. I need to be there guarding your back."
"I can take care of myself for a minute. I have to be close to the Hellrazor's first target, or they wouldn't have bothered taking me down. I'm taking a look around."
"Be careful, Ronnie. Next time they won't be shooting at a vehicle."
"I will. Call me when you find something." She pulled the badge from around her neck and flung it in the air. It went into drone mode, tiny thrusters pulsing as it went higher and scanned the vicinity. She slipped a thin holovisor over her eyes. The drone's data was sent to her screen, allowing a bird's eye view of the area. The rioting wasn't out of control yet on the island, but there were plenty of crowds out. Packs of predatory gangs roamed the streets, looking for trouble or rivals to battle. It was just that kind of night.
Subtle movement on one of the rooftops caught her eye. She magnified the view. A man in tactical gear was positioned in the shadows, aiming a sniper rifle down a nearby street.
Ronnie stepped up her pace, but the gunfire erupted before she could turn the corner. Screams rebounded off the walls along with more shooting. By the time she made it to the scene, the fight was over. A pair of soldiers in combat armor remained: A large man with features concealed by a helmet and a red-haired young woman with hard eyes. They stood over a half-dozen dead gang members.