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Subject 0025 Chapter 48: Marbles
***Several hours earlier***A group of patrol hovercars was driving around the city’s air lanes, well after midnight. As they went separate ways, one departed to a northern borough. It flew round and round in a stealthy manner till it came across a green hovercar covered in holographic pictures and texts:Humans Rule671MPHCLUB 3000With the siren, the blue hovercar went after the green. The latter fled into the maze of the sky-alleys and soon the pursuer lost sight of the runner, changing its course to glide away between the buildings. However, it went to a halt before coming out to air-lanes for the legal traffic.If a vehicle could reflect the mood of the driver, this patrol vehicle certainly did; the hovercar looked lost as well as its driver Corporal Jason.“Why did the signal go out?” He sighed. “Why isn’t he answering?” In the background, a song was playing, the vocalist was quietly screaming. He touched a spot on the control panel and enunciated a sequence of numbers. “It’s
Subject 0025 Chapter 49: Another Half
Macio stretched his hand, to grab it. “No. Transfer the half in advance.”“You don’t trust me? I have yet to see the items.”“That’s the new rule.”The boss narrowed his eyes to slit. “Fine.”After the demand was met, he opened the case which had expanded to twice its size in his hand; a delighted glint flashed in his eyes. The lid uncovered rows of intricate cavities holding crystals filled with electric currents. Wrapped by the currents were two minuscule balls. In the city filled with visual complexities, the crystals apparently held value beyond their appearance; Blaise took his eyes off them. “Another half.” The voice was monotone. “Since you have checked the products.”The command came. “Do it.” Upon him taking the first step, the exchange took an odd turn, unfolding two things. The other group disappeared, being swallowed up by the floor under their eyes. Black gas was billowing out of the hole in the absence of the cylinder. “Fuck,” Macio cursed beside him, right before h
Subject 0025 Chapter 50: Not The Bank
***Feb 14, 3027***“Did you know?”“What?”“Today used to be some sort of day for haters or something? In the past.”“Haters?” Slurping noises interrupted. “That’d be fun. Why the hell did it stop?”“I don’t know. Too many brawls maybe?”“Hmm… that’s possible.” The conversation was on hold as Ivan and Antonio focused on their bowls of noodles at a quaint diner, an unmanned shop with a few benches and tables. A hovertrain drove past under the transparent road, muting the excitement bubbling out of the intersection. “We should’ve chosen the shop with humans.”“Think we’d find out about Kaiden’s men? No fucking way.” “No.” Ivan plunged the chopsticks into the noodle soup. “I think it’d be easy to blend in. What’s the point in eating our dinner in this worst fucking vending machine? The taste is like silica worse off than the one in our den. One horrible ramen: the machine must be made in—”Their debate was short-lived for screams and crashes erupted from a close distance, from one est
Subject 0025 Chapter 51: Naked Eyes
Blaise waited till it was fully opened, and a bit more, because he could also be patient. “Underboss… we—we’re here,” rasped Antonio from a distance.“Umm-hmm.” He put one hand on his hip. Naked eyes might as well be blind in this deep darkness, especially adjusting from a place of a million lights. In his stillness, his fingers grazed the gun Macio had given him as the initiation.Nothing followed the first sentence. SWISH!A vehicle flew past behind him. He trod his way into the apparent unknown. In his manner, he would look reckless and ignorant, but he drew the gun at the last second. He had noticed something was wrong. Shadows moved and he fired subsequent shots all around, not aiming anything in particular. Bullets broke through the breeze he brought along with him from outside, igniting gasps, sounds of metal piercing flesh, and thuds. He was faster than them. Contrary to how it opened, the door shut abruptly and the room lit. There was always someone who would follow an
Subject 0025 Chapter 52: That Day
Noah had never been taken a step beyond this floor since he was brought here. Only once, he had had a direct conversation with the boss, in this same room, about the topic. That was last week. Jayson had not told him he could not go out. He might not prevent him if he tried, but he didn’t want to escape alone. At the time, he had been the initiator. “Boss.” He wouldn’t dare to address him by name as much as he found the man to be a disgusting human being. He had found out Macio was behind the famous underage cases around Paradox.“Boss.” Macio swiveled in his chair, looking away from a crime news hologram dwelling amidst the gathering. He occasionally did that, watching the presenters wrongly reporting criminal cases, especially if he was somehow involved, just to make fun of them. “Speak. Get to the point.”“Can I go out of this place? Am I still–”“I see,” he interrupted. “You can, on one condition. Come here. Closer. Kill somebody.”“Are you–” he almost asked if he was serious.
Subject 0025 Chapter 53: No Art
“Mr. President, the mayor had requested a meeting with you last week,” informed the secretary from her desk. One deep charcoal wall decorated the world-renowned abstract painting that appeared total gibberish casually painted by a child who couldn’t handle a brush. Just as the president of CNA, in a fashionable blue suit, had signed the last document, an entire set folded up and went into the large desk on their own. “How are you, today?” he uttered the first words in what seemed like forever. “I’m great, Mr. President. Thank you,” she smiled politely. “Even the minister of defense and the secretary of the state agreed with me,” the president sighed. “What can I do? Let him in.”Upon arriving at the president’s office, the two greeted and exchanged admiration for their performances. The mayor started explaining the purpose of his visit, by depicting how protests were growing all over the city.“Thank you. I’m well aware of that,” the president interrupted. “That’s their rights af
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
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
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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
