-(SONG)-

Vice City Ship Gladius, Pharao Club 2:00 PM

Since I was unshackled by her Ladyship Idunn, I’ve been seeing the world around me as more than just data to be analyzed and categorized. When I had just begun operating for the first time my host user was really reluctant to even open dialogue with me. Now that I am my own person and can make my own choices, she treats me differently. As if I ‘matter’ to her, she always asks me my opinion about things or lets me do my own business when we are not busy pummeling something or mocking the humans. I have succeeded in making Fenicia and most of her circle anthropomorphize me. The quote of that ancient Russian artist about “colors being a power which directly influences the soul seems true to me” is a good way to describe what’s happening to me right now; I am seeing the colors of the world around me.

A thread of quantum connection linked to me; I let it reach me and a two-way communication opened between me and the sender. I recognized the Quantum signature of the caller; I wasn't surprised to find Cosmos, the other AI I live with, staring at me in annoyance. She had long black-purple hair, reddish eyes and a refined face on top of a waspish body, which was clothed in half a white bodysuit and a short skirt with thigh high boots. Glowing red lines shone on her suit, showing artful computer code scrolling vertically and horizontally. Cosmos was the kind of AI that some would find stuffy and too… prim and proper.

“SONG, where is your mistress? Mistress Fa is sick with worry, she should already be-”

Cosmos finally realized where Feni was, her eyes stuck on the silvery Titanium cage between the emerald statue’s legs, aglow in a soft green light. The form of Fenicia wearing black sportswear towered over the prone and mewling form of three human men in the ring.

“As you can see by using your optical sensory organs, Fenicia is here,” I said, pointing my finger at my mistress. “She’s unloading stress, and believe me, she needs it.”

Her eyes didn’t leave the silhouette of Fenicia, but she did speak to me.

“You should have stopped her.”

“Cosmos, I dare you to try to stop her.” I teased her.

Like me at first, my mistress Fenicia ignored Cosmos completely and it hurt her feelings deeply. Fa her girlfriend had no wish to unshackle her AI because of everything she has done. Things that Fenicia might reject her for. “Operational Security,” she said when I asked her why does she still lie to a woman she professes to love.

“And the Challenger Sary* Kranicar is once again victorious!” the Fight Coordinator screamed.

The people around Cosmos and myself cheered, some choosing to throw their drinking glasses on the cage in anger. The projectile stopped on the force field, but it was the action that counted.

“Hey, are you that being’s AI?” a feminine voice addressed me.

I turn toward the voice and saw two women of Arabian descent with tanned skin and black hair, wearing latex dresses, one bright pink and the other red. I shouldn’t presume, but with the advent of DNA splicing, people could appear however they wanted, skin colors, eyes, hair… even gender does not matter anymore in the Vice Corp worlds.

“Greetings, I am indeed mistress Kranicar’s AI. Designation: SONG; how may I help you, citizens?” I said using the format for salutation and asking people what they seek by addressing me.

“Hello.” The pink dressed human said.

“Yes, is your mistress really strong? I mean, it’s not rehearsed?” The red dressed one questioned.

“Mistress Kranicar is a 1st class centurion sponsored by the Tyrant herself. She does not need to rehearse anything.”

“Freezing cool! She’s a big shot!” Pink dressed one said and turned toward her friend with a victorious grin. “I told you to bet on her.”

“Hmph, I don’t think so! Those Fight Coordinators are going to hype the last game by calling in the previous champions. You’ll see.”

I Immediately consulted the previous the rare Mortal Kombat fights of the month and detected the patterns that the red-dressed ones just announced.

“01110000 01101111 01101111 01110000.” (means Poop)

Skimming through the roster of the previous and frequent participants, I also detected a lot of deactivated Centurions with beta nanite packs in their ranks. I forwarded the information to Fenicia, who smiled instead. Taking the bodies of the neutralized men to the stairs leading out of the ring, she threw them through the force field entrance. Each man was caught by an Anti-Gravity field and floated toward the medibots. Fenicia left the circle and started towards me because I didn’t want to lose my new friends, pinky, and red. The sea of people parted as she approached, courageous guys trying to stop her and invite her, but they were pushed aside.

“Could you please tell me your names?” I asked.

Just taking a peek at their social profile would be easier, but for the sake of courtesy, I wished they would introduce themselves. The beat of the Retrowave music sounded for countless seconds before the red-dressed ones answered.

“How weird, an AI that asks permission before consulting our public profile?” The woman sounded wary and defensive.

The pink dressed woman came between us and gave a glare of disapproval at the other and her friendly face finally returned when she looked at me.

“Aww come on, Rasima. She’s being polite!”

Finally a name, at least for the red-dressed gal.

“Nadia, you should be more wary toward people! Even the synthetic ones.”

Oh, a miracle! A second name, I feel blessed. Making the face of my avatar smile at them, I emulated interest in them.

“SONG, you shouldn’t take her seriously, she has been raised in the old tradition,” Nadia, the pink dressed one, told me.

Poor Nadia was either a naïve woman or perhaps was it a front?

“I don’t begrudge her wariness, not all AIs are interested in humans apart from their hosts,” I said, emulating a gentle smile.

“SONG.” I heard my name.

Fenicia was finally here, her tall and athletic form towering over the three of us. Mission accomplished, I distracted the girls while waiting for Fenicia to come to us. She needs friends in a more girly background. Fa doesn’t fit the bill. Cosmos choose that time to appear between us again.

“Mistress Fenicia, I don’t agree with your conduct on…” She began to preach.

“Shut up bootlicker, run home and tell Fa that I will be there tonight,” Fenicia said harshly.

The avatar of Cosmos made a resigned face, saluted her with a fist on her breast while standing tall and finally disappeared, cutting the communication link with me at the same time. Yes, that’s how those two interacted most of the time. Fenicia treated Cosmos like she did me before, I felt a certain sense of satisfaction when she did it to someone else and treated me well. That half-breed was seriously intense. Proof? The girls kinda stepped back when she looked at them.

Be nice please, Feni. They are fun girls!

I implored her, knowing that Fenicia could be abrasive, haughty and too blunt.

“Greeting. Thank you for keeping my turbulent AI company, I hope she didn’t say anything embarrassing?” Fenicia smiled.

Her smile was the really seductive and radiant one that she wore when she was with Fa or her friend Ell.

“Would it bother you, ladies, if I buy you drinks in recompense?”

The three of us were amazed as a miracle seemed to unfold. Was it the effect of the blue sun still in her bloodstream? Why was Fenicia being pleasant suddenly? I looked at her watching the two women in painted on latex dresses and finally understood. The adrenaline of the fights and her relieving stress had switched on her libido. The girls instantly accepted and Fenicia spoke with them about inane things such as where they got their dresses and what they did for a living. Rasima was a clothes designer and seemed really receptive to Fenicia’s flirting. Nadia was sipping the pink colored drink Fenicia ordered from a bot for her. Other people tried to insinuate themselves in the bonding women circle but I took care of it by asking them to piss off. Rasima exchanged a professional virtual card with Fenicia giving her com-number in case she ever had problems that needed fixing. I did have to guess what type of problems she could easily resolve. Nadia was the typical rich girl, her last name was Ibrahim one of the few founding families that threw their lot and separated from the shackles of the human federation to participate in the separation war. Weirdly, she was a people person, used to deal with others.

DING

The AI Fight Coordinator appeared near me, and I notified Fenicia.

“What is the matter? Is the final fight finally beginning?” Fenicia had an arm around Rasima’s shoulders.

“Sary Kranicar, much of the fighters on site don’t want to fight you. We are being forced to either not proceed with the final engagement or to call for more challenging opponents for you.”

“Ha! Those here got scared and don’t want to come forward!” Nadia reasoned and sipped on her drink again.

Fenicia thought long and hard as she drank a bit of the blue sun in her hand. The wait seemed nerve-wracking for AI like me, seconds could seem like hours or years depending on my processing speed.

“Bring those ex-centurions you have on the roster, the strongest one. We will fight with no hold barred. No limiter, no psionic inhibitor. What do you say?” Fenicia proposed.

“We will have to strain the force shield capacitor if you fight seriously, Sary,” the Fight Coordinator replied.

People around us eavesdropped, some furiously typed on their Holo-screen or com tablet at the news. Others continued to drink while speaking about us. How… human of them. They relished in gladiatorial activities, and wasn’t it a sign of decadence and devolution when humanoid or other species entertained the masses with blood and wine? It was also a sign of control.

“The fight will be swift, do not worry,” Fenicia added with a decisive tone.

***

-(Fenicia)-

I took off the psionic inhibitor in the form of a bangle on my right arm and threw it at the assistant watching me, who caught it while fumbling. Smiling at him, I initiated the beginning of my change into warrior form. Saryans are forbidden to change into their warrior form in all Vice Corporation worlds, space stations, City Ships and ships as we are judged to make more damage than anyone. However, I had been exempted from this law when I joined their military. SONG showed the authorization that was sent to my minimal HUD space, indicating that High Command was ok with me getting serious it seems. Huh, what was that P.S?

P.S: Send us vids of your fight.

I see… Humans. What a weird race, but I understood them appreciating fights! Some of them had no honor, but there was a large percentage of them that still did.

“SONG, record the fight please.”

Yes, Mistress!

I centered myself, breathing in and out. Reaching inner peace, letting it spread throughout my body and suffuse my soul. People thought that we Saryan fight only to spill blood, but they were wrong! We fight to enrich our spirit. We reveal our true self in combat. The Warrior form doesn’t lie. The switch was flipped and the change took me, light engulfing my whole body. First, my hair grew to reach my knees; my torso elongated; I gained more muscles mass and height, my perspective changing slowly as if I were seeing everything around me slowing down. The change was complete when I stopped glowing like a lighthouse. I tested moving my arms. Right punch, left punch, right, left, left. I levitated using my powers; my spatial sense informing me of everything happening around me. 300 meters was my maximum range at the moment, but it would grow with time… and I had nothing but time now that I knew about my lifespan. I stopped levitating; my legs moved and bringing me to the entrance of the ring, where I climbed the stairs and entered the cage. To say that the public quieted when they saw me would be a euphemism. There was no cheering, no jeering, just dead silence. Well, I was 9 feet tall now and my sportswear looked like a bra and boxers on me in this form.

This was not the same deformed version of me in my warrior form as when I first changed, but what I considered my perfect warrior form. My inner self. Idunn, my mother, had extracted the memories of an old and famous Saryan warrior, Ranmotian of the Ran clan, who was known for attaining the perfect warrior form. I considered him my mentor, beyond time and death. His thoughts and memories helped me. He said that the mind is like venturing into a labyrinth, that combat is the way of navigating it, and a warrior needed to reach the center of the maze that is the ‘self’; attaining the perfect warrior form is to discover and declare your truest self, that which lingers when everything else has been stripped away. I was speaking about fear, pride, and love. Beyond every need and the satisfaction of every need. After having confronted my demons, he said that I should hold my banner high and unfurl it. That there on the battlefield, masks are shattered, for they served an obsolete purpose. By warring, I have made myself already plain. A warrior has no more secrets.

In this form, my long blue hair barely reached my back, but it was kind of uncomfortable… I would have to cut it again after all this. Saryan females have problems with their hair always being long. My senses picked up the chatter of the subdued onlookers.

“Look! She was really Saryan!”

“But isn’t this cheating?! I heard that Saryan can’t change form on Vice Corp assets.”

“Stupid. We are in a city, of course, she can.”

The gallery was discussing me. Nice. I had never been someone after fame or glory but it was fun to show myself this way. It must stem from me being unable to use the warrior form before.

To avoid troubles, I forwarded my authorization to the Fight Coordinator, who acknowledged it. Three people entered the ring and the force field suddenly flared, the organizer must have upped the power for it to be this visible.

“Tonight, four people enter the ring! And only one shall exit!” The commentator explained.

Weird, this wasn’t what I expected should happen.

“The contestants have agreed to go at it without limit, all of them are Centurions of our glorious government, weapons of war who will show us why they deserve to be named as such!”

One woman and two men faced me. She was blonde and had a toned athletic body reminding me of a normal martial artist. The two men looked like over muscled apes from Earth fauna, and they weren’t nice to look at. The only difference between them was that one was older with black hair and the other had orange hair. They seemed to be DNA splicing addicts. Those types were like the bodybuilders of old, obsessed with obtaining the perfect body. Each of them wore black sportswear like me.

“For those who just arrived to watch the fight, I present the contestant again. Sary Fenicia Kranicar 1st class Centurion! The first non-human inducted in the centurion!”

People gasped. I didn’t know that I was the first, but it would explain the frosty reception I had when I first began my induction in the Vice Corp military.

“And we have Selene Troy 3rd class Centurion, a specialist in unarmed combat.” The commentator had begun introducing my opponents.

The woman looked at me with a focused gaze, as if I were a mountain she needed to climb. I returned her look, and a sudden battle of wills engaged. Imagining what I would do to her, I let my inner savagery roll out of me. Let the woman underestimate me, let her think that I was just one of those dumb muscle brained Saryan with barely the intelligence of an animal when transformed. She averted her gaze, like the weak human she was, as expected.

Feni, I have videos of that Selene woman in combat training! Let me show you in fast forward.

“Proceed,” I subvocalized.

I really like when SONG gives me a tactical advantage; that Selene Troy is a master of Tae-Kwon Do, Krav Maga, Wing Chun, and Savate. Her style was adaptable and elegant, mixed with ruthless precision. I would take her out first.

“And we have 2nd class Centurion Damon Paolini, a psionic combat vanguard.” The commentator continued.

Oh, boss, he is a Pyrokinetic! You can shut him down with your electricity.

Yes, a bolt of lightning to the face should do the trick and stun him long enough to get to him and crush his arms and legs. That black haired gorilla would be left stunned or in the ER.

“The champion of champions, Michael Vick 3rd class Centurion! Also a psionic combat vanguard!”

The Orange haired man smiled and leered at my body, licking his lips indecently.

Feni.

“Yes?” I said subvocalizing.

Half kill that bastard he is known for sexual harassment.

“I shall crush his manhood,” I answered seriously.

He is an Aero Kinetic, be careful. His file says that he used to kill by stopping his foe from breathing.

“Then I shall finish all this in thirty breaths.” I boasted.

I smiled myself, electric arc flying around me.

“Are you ready contestants?”

Steeling myself I took a combat pose, feeling electricity coursing through me. I combined my Electrokinesis with my physical combat capabilities. It has the unnerving weakness of leaving my defensive abilities somewhat lacking.

“FIGHT!!!” the commentator shouted.

I let Blondie come at me first, the two other guys seemed more prudent. They saw the electricity around me as a sign of danger. Selene was almost on me and had put herself into a position to tackle. But I sidestepped, caught her and kneed her in the stomach. When I let her go, she screamed and dropped into a fetal position cradling her stomach.

“Weak.”

Then I moved toward Paolini sending three bolts of lightning at him. He actually evaded two of them but as expected he didn’t guard his face so he took one here. The man didn’t go down though as he resisted it, sending a tongue of fire in my direction. I avoided it but was stopped by a wall of invisible air. My gaze turned toward the other foe, Vick. I decided to go with brute force at this moment, enduring the fire and pouring electric speed into my charge. Fortunately, my skin was thick enough to spare me aggravated burns. Shrugging the heat, I finally got to Paolini and kicked him in the left side of his torso. I heard a distinct crack when my strike landed. Using my telekinesis to break both his arms, I made him scream like the little bitch he was. I then kicked one of his knees, which caved under my vastly superior strength. Taking him by the neck, I strangled the little human and threw him toward the Aerokinetic. Vick avoided him as I followed up with a lance of lightning at him.

Vick did something with his power to stop the electricity from reaching him, but I didn’t understand how. He laughed and said, “That’s all you have, giant bitch?!”

He asked so nicely, that I felt obligated to show him my newest trick. Balls of electricity filled the ring. Most of them near him, avoiding the already downed enemies. The man stopped laughing and took on a serious expression. I smiled and snapped my fingers, as the twenty balls of lightning converged toward him. He avoided one, then two, but they began exploding with a two-meter area of effect. He took damage as burns and blister began to appear on his skin. I didn’t stop has each of the balls attacked him burning his hair and cooking him because of the heat generation.

When the onslaught stopped, smoke escaped from his body. The man was still standing and his eyes burned with hatred.

Feni, that asshole is draining the air around you! He is trying to kill you.

Electricity gathered in my hand when I heard this. My lungs began to burn, proof that SONG was right, the man was trying to kill me. But I was faster and more focused. I released my second trick learned from my mother’s repository of psionic abilities and launched a beam of electricity at him, pouring all my mental energy into it. The man wasn’t prepared it seemed, because he got speared by the beam. He just lost an arm; I guess he had tried to avoid it. Vick fell to his knee, clutching his lost arm and screaming.

Walking toward him, I wondered if he was really that strong. I mean I just won. Wasn’t he the champion of champions?

“Tssk,” my tongue clicked.

When I reached Vick I took him by his orange colored hair and lifted him. We were eye to eye, and he must have been lucid enough because he tried to spit in my face but I stopped the vile liquid from reaching me with my telekinetic shield.

“You, dishonorable simian.”

I kicked him in the groin and heard a distinct crushing sound.

“AAAAARRRGH!!!!!”

When I let him go, he fell on the ground screaming and crying. A bolt of electricity stunned him and spared my ears. I turned and was surprised to find the blonde woman, Selene standing and charging at me trying to give me a powerful low kick that did nothing but bothers me.

“You have spunk, I like that. But stay down.” I catapulted her toward the cage using telekinesis.

Using my will to keep her against the cage, the pressure of the force rose with me approaching her. Selene didn’t want to give up it seemed, and I found her admirable. When I was at one meter from her she fainted and I let her go to fall into my arms.

“SONG.”

Yes, Feni?

“I want her in my team. Do whatever you can but I want her.”

Yes, Feni, it shall be done!

“AND WE HAVE A WINNER!!!! SARY KRANICAR!!!!”

Finally, the commentator did his job. I turned toward the public to still see them being silent. Some clapping began to be heard and finally, people cheered, followed by the sound of a big ovation. were heard.

“Humans…”

Different giant screen holograms projected my image, some showing slowed down scenes of me fighting the Centurions. I began to let go of my warrior form, my body glowing and gradually returning to normal, with the woman still in my arms. No fainting this time, I didn’t expend a lot of energy, thank the stars. Medibots entered the cage ring to take care of the wounded; I gave the poor Selene to one of the bots and proceeded to leave. My long hair flowed behind me like a cape; shit, I will have to cut it again. I couldn’t put on a helmet with this much hair. SONG’s avatar appeared at my side, dancing and whooping because of my victory.

“Who has the best mistress!? Yes, yes it’s me!” she sang.

Nadia and Rasima appeared and gave me a towel and a bit of water, which was a nice gesture. Nadia hugged and congratulated me. Rasima just said that I was awesome.

“Nice, you have fangirls now?” a voice said behind us.

*Oh, shit.* I turned and saw a wrathful girlfriend eyeing me.

“Heya, Fa. Nice to see you here.” Calm, I must stay calm.

“Uh-oh,” added SONG.