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2022-10-10 22:35:38
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Subject 0025 Chapter 40: Surprise
((Into The Fire by Asking Alexandria))Every minute, every second counts. Even a decisecond can decide between living and dying for someone like Blaise DaSilva. The end was unexpected, had never been in scenarios he had imagined, though maybe it was too early to be described as an end. It was a matter of seconds before he was discovered. The dead man in the stall, the blood, and the gun lying a few feet away; he could rash into one stall to hide but it would be useless. The bathroom didn’t have a door; nothing was there that would separate it from the corridor. Like the room where the kidnapped were placed, it had very basic functions. The computers along with other devices embedded around the bathroom had been carved out; the slots the size of two fingers were empty and broken. He had checked them so he knew. Something beeped, but before he could find out what it was; he heard a shout from the open entrance. “Bast!” He was yet to see the person but he recognized the voice. The
Subject 0025 Chapter 41: The Gifted Children
For the first time since his escape from the abandoned city, he was in a real life-threatening crisis. He had defined this outcome, more or less, when he chose to gamble his life half a day ago. They wasted no time before opening fire. If it were both sides, Blaise would be left with little to no chance. But for some reason, one side was only watching. What changed his mind?As usual, life flickered before his eyes as he waved through the brief period of time whose minute details were ever changing with his movements and choices. Time had passed five minutes since the last starting point when he was selecting a duration for the virtual key. That was the only saving grace for him. The battle was very short-lived. In less than ten seconds a dead body decided a conclusion that was unexpected for everyone except one person, the shooter.The shot came from the opposite direction. Instead of him who should be lying there, the bullet penetrated one of their own. Their attention immediate
Subject 0025 Chapter 42: Affordable AIs
Noah didn’t recognize him until it was too late. ‘What’s wrong with this kid?’ was the gist of his thought process when he noticed what he was doing. He gave off a bad vibe that made people want to avoid him, normal citizens like himself at least. He couldn’t speak for the villainous people who kept them here.Most teenagers had rebellious streaks, and some went to the extreme lengths, wearing phosphorus tattoos on their faces, cutting their flesh, and doing suicidal stunts such as jumping off their hoverbikes without anti-gravity shoes. ‘Was he one of them?’ the question flew out of his mind as quickly as it entered, at the time.Slowly, he tried to turn on the bed as hard as the concrete floor, the pungent smell flooded into his nostrils. His ribs hurt him. A groan escaped his mouth. It must be late or even the next day; this felt like such a long time after the last meal. He tilted his head to check the bed next to his; his face also hurt. Daniel was asleep, as well as several othe
Subject 0025 Chapter 43: This Bloody Place
The second time walking or rather crawling on this short route was extraneously longer than the first time. Noah had become a punching bag for two extremely thuggish-looking gang members. Despite all of them being thugs, these two had more the ‘look’ than the majority.The tats glowed white on their arms and chests coated in sweat. Like bloodsuckers, their eyes tinted red, and dazed–but not so much that he could have escaped from their torment. The bulkier one was the one who tried to rouse the other gang members to kill him back in the bathroom. “What’s the point of living?” A foot landed on his already painful ribs. “Like a slave?!”“Pointless.”“Die.” He curled up in a fetal position on the floor, his face covered in snot and tears, just wishing for them to stop. He was a damn reporter; he couldn’t believe he had ended up as a victim himself.Noah could see the irony in his own surprise; still, it wasn’t helping. Many people assumed they were safe, like the world revolved aroun
Subject 0025 Chapter 44: Not Torturing You
“Whose clothes are they?” Blaise asked, a couple of minutes later. He sat at the edge of the bed with one hand holding the gun on his knee. “Umm… Henry’s,” Ivan answered, standing at the black slide door of the wardrobe which had emerged with a touch. Antonio stood awkwardly nearby his buddy, groaning, the knife still in his shoulder. Once in a while, both threw the defeated and yet treacherous peeks at him. “He was almost your underboss once, but dead and gone?” “Y–yeah.” Both their faces said silently why he was asking if he already knew, and under the surface was the confusion: how he knew this.“Who killed them? You?”They threw out a few names swiftly, even included a few descriptions for their appearances without him asking, such as, ‘you know that one with the birthmark on his neck?’ or ‘the two motherfuckers with the glow tats on their arms,’ and so on. For their own names, he had them introduced earlier.“Antonio, tell someone, a girl or an AI, to send the first aid kit
Subject 0025 Chapter 45: Easy Targets
Four hours later, he woke up to see the glass frosted with a thick, white layer of snow. ‘The abrupt climate change within the past 24 hours.’ The text twirled above his arm before it disappeared. Pages, texts, and walking, talking figures squeezed out of his wristband, and dwelled around him as he headed to the adjoining bathroom to clean himself. Right before his eyes hovered tiny 3-D figures in a miniature room. Just out of curiosity, he muted the rest, to hear what they were talking about although he already figured out the gist.The former owner of TheGalaxyHero127 was complaining to the cops. He was almost fully recovered within a few days, sitting in an upscale living room while the two police sat opposite him. He was describing how some low-life dragged him out of his hovercar and beat him to a pulp while he was minding his own business inside. The surveillance system didn’t completely cover The Ground, which was why the police had not been able to hunt him down, one officer
Subject 0025 Chapter 46: Like Insects
He gave them a warning by looking each of them straight in the eyes. They moved their hands away.They crossed the air toward him, up, left, and right. He had experienced neither this attack nor some of what he had faced during this timeline, despite his rewinds. Regardless, he could calculate their moves.One after another, he sent them down, in under a minute. The hall was silent again, just like when he had entered.“Underboss…” someone breathed, who had been among the four kidnappers of his. Blaise let the gravity pull him down and crouched down by his side.“Wh–what do you want?” “That,” he tapped on his own wristband.“Sure thing.” Sticky long hair shaking, he nodded quickly. “And password.”The answer was immediate.“Anything else?”“That’s enough, for now.”He headed in the direction away from everyone. He passed through the dark portal shape which was blinking with static. Somebody—from the audience—had damaged pixalates near the door on his way out, after being caught in
Subject 0025 Chapter 47: You Are Special
“How long are you… I mean, are we going to stay here?”He sighed. “That’s to see, Noah.”Escaping had not been his intention. If he had to resort to that, his abduction had been more than impulsive, bordering on foolishness. Blaise didn’t say out loud that while it was possible to wipe out this entire criminal ring, Noah would probably not escape in one piece. But, to sacrifice everything for one man’s life—if there were a choice he had to make—, he had little understanding of nobility. Besides, who was ‘he’ to him? A reflection of a ghost at most. “It’s because of me? I’m a liability. I know it. I am such a loser.” The silence was broken.He slid down the bed and went to stand facing the man, who was clouded with angst and disappointment. Noah was a couple of inches taller than him. “It’s not because of you. I am not that good of a man.”“You are definitely not bad, Jayson. You are still a minor.”“I don’t consider myself a minor. Not in that sense at least.” He changed the subje
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- Subject 0025
Chapter 62: One and a Half Years Later
***AD 3028, September 28th***Noah glanced at Ivan, his hand pausing on the brake, sighting a hustling bustling rooftop. He zoomed in on the view on the widescreen. They were at the top layer of the troposphere, and this ordinary sunny rooftop less than a hundred meters away from them rather looked like…“It looks like a picnic spot. Doesn’t look like a headquarters of anything, unless it is a headquarters of ‘the Aero-volleyball Association’,” he voiced his concern.“You’ve become quite witty… and charming during the last two years, my guy,” Ivan pushed his shoulder, nearly shoving him against the curvature of the window glass beside him. He cleared his throat, straightening up and shoving him back. He’d trained like hell for two years, and he’d be upset if this scum of the earth could still take him out in a melee.“Don’t be stupid, Ivan. You know these guys. Usually, one or two of them would patrol on the roof, while the rest of their nest spent their days and nights doing their p
- Subject 0025
Chapter 61: A Mole [Volume II Ends]
The silhouette was as still as a piece of lifeless furniture as he approached. As though it didn’t belong to a human or an intelligent being. It moved, separating away from everything around, revealing the masked man who fired right at him.He had quick reflexes: by then, he had already moved out of the path of trajectory. He fired back, at the same time as his shot. Along with the explosion in the living room, the masked man slammed sideways to the shelves; in his attempt to balance himself, ornaments and devices scattered.He tipped a toy bird away. It flew up to the nearest human in its front who was aiming for another shot despite his injury in the ribcage; caught off guard, he yelped and slumped to the floor, losing his grip on his weapon. “You’re dead! You shouldn’t have snooped around,” growled he.“A message… from who? You?” “From them, motherfucker! You’d be dead soon.”He appeared to be pumped up with adrenaline. “Do you know me?” Blaise watched him clambering around bef
- Subject 0025
Chapter 60: Adopt You
He found two issues in keeping their lives intact: Macio and whoever contacted him. He had taken the photograph of the message screen while he was at it, which cloned the screen itself, including the embedded links. As he held the avatar, a tiny man in a suit smiled at him. Like a soft, flimsy object, its movements rubbed his palm. Leaving it afloat, he touched the linked name. Heads appeared out of the garage; when they sighted him near the ceiling light, their steps faltered. He waved his hand at them to mind their own businesses. He sent the first message under a false name. #B: How’s your evening, Mr. Stone? This might be your last. This was one effective way of getting a response from ‘Xavier’ if they had any connection. The page stayed blank under his message bubble. He made the hologram only visible from his viewpoint before repeating the same message until the notification would be so glaring. #X: Who is this??? Who is Mr. Stone? This confirmed he knew Mr. Stone. Peop
- Subject 0025
Chapter 59: Green
A flicker of disappointment flashed on Peter’s face, at those words. His hand went to a screen, a casual gesture, as though he was planning nothing serious. “Don’t insist on your lie. Tell me where he is.”“I can make you die faster than what you are attempting to do,” Blaise warned. The gaunt man snorted, seeing now he had a gun at his face instead of at Natalie. He halted his hand. Instead, he opened his mouth, to make a voice command instead. Wheez! Argh! He slumped to the floor, gripping his leg. Blaise made a dash and got his hand on the program controlling the weapons in the hall, in a blink. Under his eyes were simple panels of load, reload, discharge, and disable for each and all machine guns albeit without the images. Simple things had a tendency of being secretive. “NO! Don’t!” Hands grabbed his leg.[Discharge and Disable] he pressed because that was the only possible choice. Despite choosing the right button, the weapons were not shut down. Because someone else was re
- Subject 0025
Chapter 58: Crucial
They were not following her yet, he muttered to the headset, ending one communication. Although Natalie had the potential to be a crucial lead, hell might be breaking loose as Ivan informed him. That involved a few people dying, including Antonio and probably the caller since he made the call.“O-kay. We’re driving back to the den.”“Do you want to take the task?” “What do you… following her? Sure. I should get off then. I can try searching her around.” In the wristband he was holding, he selected the tracking map. [Sent] and [arrived] Noah’s hovercar was right behind his. “Her location? How convenient. I didn’t notice you put a tracker on her, Jayson.” Because he used his ability to obtain that information about her. He didn’t say it out loud. And, one of these days, he needed to stop everyone calling him by that name. The vehicle in the rear views successfully switched to a further air-lane. Later, a group of children in nursery-logo shirts crossed the air. Blaise waited to av
- Subject 0025
Chapter 57: Girlfriend
He took in the entire cafe that maintained its calm but noisy demeanor just like when a quarter hour ago. A seemingly safe spot with no sudden bursting in, nobody screeching for killers. Seeing Noah stuttered, looking in his direction, he added. “Leave. Stay in the act.”As his own advice, he was also still a lone teenager, visiting here for random browsing over a cup of coffee. In-between the rush hours, he didn’t have to look out for too much to not get hit by some vehicle whilst crossing. He spotted a white shirt in the distance. Even if they walked side by side, they would hardly look dangerous. But, he wanted a bird’s-eye view. This Hector person had something to do with Isaac, someone close to him. His/her absence was the proof itself. A girlfriend? Boyfriend? Or a close friend?He spread the map in the vision of the headset, and instructed. “Turn right. We’re going to the Fountain Plaza.”“Got it. What is there though?” the response came into his ears.“Cobblers mostly.” He di
- Subject 0025
Chapter 56: I'm Fake
The news was so insignificant that he might as well be stalking people around on his own and met an accidental death. There was no mention of an undergoing investigation. Was he on duty or not? Not included. “You were right! They don’t even care!” Noah said, as they crossed paths in the den. ‘They didn’t care?’ That was doubtful. Blaise resorted to getting into casual conversations with his former colleagues at a crime scene, a high-end restaurant at the top of the troposphere. Certain types of questions demanded casualness.Half of the staff, especially the servers, were AIs; with a borrowed suit, he made himself as immaculate as possible to pretend to be one of them. And be polite.Nobody seemed suspicious of him, not to mention they didn’t recognize him. A wealthy couple was murdered, possibly poisoned, and he answered their questions by modifying the AI’s answers.“Last week, we had fewer reservations compared to this week, officer. The majority were regulars except for Detective
- Subject 0025
Chapter 55: He's Gone
Oh, shit! Shit! Shit! Noah swore inwardly in shock. He was dead! He was not thinking straight when he made that shot. The damage was so obvious even before he broke into a run, under the dimmer lights at the ground level. He had been following him since he spotted him across the sky-lanes. Only when they got to a street market, he realized that the one behind Jayson had not been going his own way as he had first thought. He had tried to warn him, but he had nothing. That had been quite a fall. At first, he considered taking a road-elevator. That looked like a suicide but he would lose sight of him while he had an enemy so close behind him. When he got to his side, he showed no surprise at seeing him or him shooting someone to death. “You killed him.” Jayson sat down by the body. “I guess. I thought….” he blabbered. “Are you having regrets?” “No. Not really.” Jayson removed the remaining headset, a chunk of it at the back was gone. A revolting sight that was, and he did that. T
- Subject 0025
Chapter 54: Encounter
A new noise he hadn’t heard during the first visit prevented him from immediately going out of the vehicle: a usual beeping sound that didn’t belong to his wristband. Noah should have nothing on his body that gave off that sound, except…Crap! He rushed to the door; though the noise stopped, it had already alerted the surrounding. Upon his exit, he pressed his back against the vehicle and looked over to where Noah stood, who started to explain. “I didn’t—”“Get here!” he whisper-yelled. “I’ll go check,” said a cop from a distance. Noah moved, but it was too late.“Who’s there? Kevin?”The voice and the footfalls came from the other side of the vehicle line, already in proximity. He must have seen a suspicious figure. “Freeze! Hands in the air! Announce yourself?”Blaise straightened up, to intervene if necessary. “I’m a reporter.”He might not be necessary. A ray of light fell; he silently moved his leg away. “Show me your ID! You’re trespassing!”“WHO IS THAT, LIEUTENANT?!”“SAI
