9

Indeed, that was true. Luna was surprised that she hadn’t seen her mugshot attached to multiple buildings on the way up here – the Cyber Devil finally has a face!

She tried desperately to think of a way out of this, but she was surrounded. She still had her weapons, yes, but she wasn’t about to risk reaching for them now, not while Silica had a revolver pointed right at her.

“The balls of you to walk on up here.” Silica chuckled grimly, shaking her head. “Who’s this next to you, Luna? Tagalong?”

Vanderman stuffed a hand in his pocket. “Why do you care so much?”

The group oohed at his response. Silica didn’t.

She scoffed and approached, keeping her gun aimed at them and swiping her sword back and forth. “Vanderman Cox, is it? Her partner in crime? Or is she your partner in crime and we got this all wrong?”

His eyes lit up. “What’re you talkin’ about?”

“You know what I’m talkin’ about, Big V.” Silica walked around him, eyeing his frame from top to bottom. “Take their weapons.”

Rye got on his tiptoes and unstrapped the rifle from Vanderman’s back. Then he frisked his pants and took out the phantom pistol. “Clean-a-roonie,” Rye said sweetly.

Vanderman never took his eyes off Silica. “No, I don’t know what you’re talkin’ about. Tell me.”

She neighed, looking off into space thoughtfully. “What was it… four, five years ago at this point? Grimes Paolini.”

“What about him?” snapped Vanderman.

“You’re obviously not very smart, Cox,” she said, and almost unwillingly Luna agreed with that. If he was, then he might have seen this coming. If Luna was smart, she might have, too. Silica stepped in front of him, staring into his eyes with a cocky smirk. “He’s alive, dipshit. He works for us now.”

“You’re bullshittin’,” said Vanderman, louder than before. “I slit that fucker’s throat.”

“I’m aware of how the events went down,” she said. “You tracked him in Zemon and, funnily enough, caught him in the middle of a drug deal. You thought he went out the same way your father went out, didn’t you?”

“Shut your goddamn mouth!” Vanderman shouted, and he took a step forward, fists clenched.

She whipped her revolver up to his throat and hooked her finger around the trigger. “I dare you,” she said in a low, eerie voice. “What are you gonna do, big boy? Big man’s not so tough without his weapons.”

“Neither are you,” he said. He looked around at the crowd. “What? You have the whole army of assholes around here, a gun, and fucking sword, and yet you still wanna talk tough?”

She tittered evilly. “You a swordsman, Cox?”

Vanderman didn’t answer, only glared at her.

“Hmph,” said Silica. She turned her attention to Luna. “What about you, sweetcheeks? You good with swords?”

Luna was still too terrified to speak clearly. Thoughts of her sister, along with distant flashbacks to her mother’s death, had taken up space in her mind. She stuttered: “No, I’m not.”

The horde brayed once again. This time they tossed a few whistles in there.

Rye took Luna’s machine gun, and then her phantom pistol. He strapped one around his back and placed the other on the electrical box. He pulled his tactical knife from his front pocket and started picking at his nails again. “I’ve an idea!” he shouted, and the crowd quietened. “What if we make her fight one of the girls? Make it fair? Bitta fun.”

Now the crowd was roaring. They cheered: “Fight! Fight! Fight!”

Silica gave a thoughtful smirk. “You know what?” she yelled. “I like your thinkin’, Rye. That sounds like a great idea.”

“Don’t it?” Rye hooted and chuckled.

Before Luna could process what was happening, a woman stepped out from the crowd. She had spiky blue hair, black surface wiring in her face, and a set of mechanical arms, one red and the other yellow. It was the girl from the fight, one of them anyway. She was still holding the laser sword, still dressed in that silver qipao, and still wearing that walleyed gas mask.

Shit.

“Sweetcheeks!” a woman’s voice shouted from behind.

Luna turned. It was the other girl. She tossed Luna her sword and she failed to catch it. The crowd laughed. She bent down and picked the sword up off the ground.

“Now listen up!” Silica said, and she motioned towards Vanderman. “First things first, take Big V out of the circle. His face is starting to annoy me.”

Laughter, and then a couple of men did exactly that.

“Second,” she said: “Luna, I’ll give you a break, how’s ’bout that? If you manage to beat Io in a swordfight, and by that I mean kill her, then I’ll let you live. Obviously, if you lose, you die. Io will kill you.”

Luna took a deep breath and her mouth quivered infirmly. Once again she didn’t know what to say. Well, she did, but she lacked the courage to do so. Why are you doing this? Is this a game to you? Are you an asshole for the sake of it, or do you have something to prove?

She could have even directed these questions towards Glitch, the man behind it all, but she figured that there was a reason for why he acted the way he did, for why he wanted Luna in prison for the rest of her life, or dead: money. He wanted money. An already rich man looking for more. Greed.

“She’s shitting herself!” said Rye. “Look at ’er. Big ole baby gonna go crying for her mamma!”

Luna gripped the sword, unsure if she was holding it right. She didn’t even bother to mimic Io’s stance, that stance which showed that she was no rookie to the art of the swordfight, and which showed that Luna had little to no chance of coming out on top. The best she could do was hope and pray. Pray to some imaginary god who never helped a single soul in the history of life itself.

The imaginary god who couldn’t clear cancer from children, or her mother, or anyone at all.

She was alone, and this time she couldn’t rely on sheer luck.

Luna inhaled deeply once more. Silica aimed her revolver at the sky. The gun fired and Io approached, quick, so quick that Luna had no time to think.

Luna backed up, holding the sword diagonally from her shoulder to her ribcage, heart pumping in her chest. One of the people from the crowd shoved her forward and she almost stumbled.

Io came in swinging.

Luna shrieked and dashed away, dodging the attack. “Stop! Stop! Stop!” she cried, though even she could barely hear what she was saying with the hubbub.

Io charged, taking another swing. Luna dashed away again. This repeated for another five or so times.

“Stop running!” snarled Io.

Luna’s eyes were wide and glassy as she panted. “Fuck no!”

“Coward,” said Io. “You weren’t this much of a pussy when you stole from all those innocent people, were you?”

Luna gritted her teeth, brow creased. “You don’t know shit.”

“Everyone does.” Io shook her head. “How many people have you killed for money?”

“Like you're one to talk,” said Luna, strong yet fearful still. “Working for these scumbags?”

“I didn’t have a choice!” She ran forward and swung.

Luna ran around her, kept moving, kept doing her best to avoid her. She wasn’t sure how much longer she could keep this up. She was running out of steam fast.

Silica shouted: “Make the circle smaller! I’m getting bored.”

One by one the crowd enclosed Luna and Io further, leaving little room for them to navigate.

“You gonna fight now?” Io gripped the blade and held it in a close right stance. “No more running.”

Adrenaline pulsed through Luna’s body. She was fucked. Royally fucked. “Well this is a fair fight, isn’t it?”

Io began making her way towards her, now slower. And for a moment all Luna could think of was that evening four years ago, where Sarah had found out that Luna was lying about their mother’s health. She imagined her mother’s dead body sprawled across the carpet, the way Sarah hugged her corpse as if she was still alive, and the way Sarah cried for the first time. Death.

And then she thought back to the billboard, the one which read BREATHE, and she knew what it meant. She understood. Death was inevitable, darkness was temporary, life was a spiralling mess of ups and downs, and the universe didn’t care about her problems or whether or not she got to see Sarah again. It was heartless, cold, meaningless. So just breatheeee, she thought. It will all be over soon.

Io stepped forward and swung. Luna, using all her might, pressed her sword across from her body, waiting for the blade to connect in what felt like cinematic slow-mo. The blades clashed and –

RAT-TAT-TAT!

Gunfire. Sweet, holy gunfire. It was so loud that all the commotion stopped and everyone covered their ears. They turned and Io swayed back, focusing her attention on the electrical box, where Rye would normally be sitting.

“What in God’s name was that?” shouted Silica. She cocked her revolver and the people split to reveal the electrical box. Through the gap, Luna saw a familiar face. Beacon. He was standing against the thermopane window, the same Jade roll-up sticking out from his mouth, still maintaining that eerie calmness.

“Beacon?” Silica said, shocked.

“’Course,” he said coolly, blowing smoke. He aimed the machine gun at her, pressing the buttstock in his armpit, and pulled the trigger. The weapon went off in the same way it had in the corridor. The bullets sprayed. Everyone backed off, bellowing and shrieking in terror.

When the bullets stopped and everyone was quiet again, Luna looked over at Silica.

The woman had still been standing on the helicopter port, but this time her mouth was wide open, and blood spilled from it. She snorted and gargled. And then Luna noticed the holes in her waistjacket. Blood poured and streamed down her legs.

“Beacon,” Silica stuttered, and then she dropped the revolver and the sword. She fell onto her side. “Christ….”

Rye gasped and reached for the weapon around his back.

Beacon shot him in the head and he fell down with a dusty thud.

The horde looked in horror.

“Right.” Beacon threw the Jade roll-up on the ground and quenched it with his boot.

Just then, Liz spoke through Luna’s earpiece: “Are you two alright?”

Luna wasn’t sure. She needed time to process the situation. “Liz….”

“Yeah?”

Beacon grabbed the machine gun from Rye’s corpse and wrapped it around his back. He hopped onto the helicopter platform and strode over to Silica at the centre of the circle. He got down on one knee, picked up the revolver, and tossed it to Luna. Then he grabbed a small box of ammo and tossed that over. Luna dropped the sword and caught both effortlessly.

When Beacon stood up, he said: “You guys are stopping the fight over that? Those weren’t the rules, were they?”

Luna panted, tears oozing from her sunlit eyes. She seized the opportunity and shot Io right in the head. Io dropped dead and everyone clamoured in a panic.

A hand touched her shoulder and she jerked, frightened. She almost pulled the trigger on the person behind her but stopped once she saw that it was Vanderman. Her stomach knotted.

“Game over,” shouted Beacon. “All of you: over there. Except for Luna and Vanderman, ’course.” He pointed to the electrical box.

Suddenly a man bolted towards Beacon, a truncheon in hand, screaming wildly. Beacon turned and shot him in the face. Down and out.

“Anyone else?” said Beacon. “I’ve got enough rounds for all of you, y’know.”

That was a lie. He must have been running low at this point, thought Luna.

A load of noes. Everyone walked over to the electrical box. Beacon strode over to Vanderman and Luna.

“Thank you…” said Luna, unable to string together any other coherent sentence.

Beacon smiled. “Don’t mention it.” He took her revolver, rubbed the barrel clear of powder, and fired at the electrical box.

BOOM!

The explosion was massive, like a bomb being dropped from the skies, and the shockwave knocked the three of them off the port.

A shrill ringing in Luna’s ear. It cleared. Screams, terror, all hell let loose. She coughed, picked herself up, made sure Vanderman was okay, and then looked over at the large blaze. Limbs were scattered across the ground, burning to a crisp, and those that still managed to hold onto every bit of life left in them were shrieking in agony.

“Holy shit!” Luna yelled. “You killed everyone!”

Beacon nodded. “I know. Good, aren’t I?”

Maybe good was not the word, but hero might have been a better suit.

“We needa get out of here!” shouted Vanderman. “The whole place is gonna be on our ass in a minute!”

Beacon nodded again. “’Course. That’s why we’re gonna break into the storage facility and grab more than just an anti-virus,” he said.

“What do you mean?” Luna asked.

He grinned. “Those Tier-1 Power Gauntlets for a start. And maybe something to… ya know, take the edge off.”

Vanderman and Luna exchanged glances, unsure what to make of it.

“Oh!” Beacon said suddenly. He picked up the laser sword, went back over to Silica, sat her upright, and with a quick SLASH! sliced her head clean off. “Just in case,” he said. “That’s all.”

Luna felt sick to her stomach, but at the same time extremely thankful. Things were looking up from here, but she wasn’t sure how long that would last.