“Excuse me miss, “ One of the Enforcers walked towards me, “May we have a talk with you?”

My shoulders tensed up, "Have a talk"? Shit, have they caught on to me?!

The Enforcer took their helmet out and I realized that it was actually a woman, just around my age, an inner suit housed her hair, but small brown strands peeked out of it. Is she a trainee? I think I can get aways from her, but the other one... he looks rugged.

But a trainee wouldn't be handling things like this, and iff they actually wanted to arrest me, they wouldn’t need to ‘Have a talk’ with me.

I relax a little bit knowing they’re not here for me.

“Oh, what is it about, officer?” I took my hood off and spoke to the Enforcer; it looks like her partner has caught up.

"I am Officer Aria McCarthy, and this," She pointed at her partner, "Is Cedric Gilberts."

She whispered something to Cedric and nudged his shoulder.

He took off his helmet and a rugged man that looked like in his mid-thirties emerged from underneath. He grabs something from the pocket of his exo-suit.

Oh, is that paper?

Yeah, think so. Had the Council finally ran out of budget? Usually, they’d use holograms to easily show people stuff…

Those jerks wouldn’t even think to remove budget from the Department though.

Yeah, the Department usually trains and sends out Enforcers, but on the inside, the officials are the ones that does the ‘dirty’ jobs for the Council.

As I was immersed in my own brief and conspired thoughts, the man spoke up.

“Have you seen this person?" Cedric held up the paper, it contained a single picture.

I examined the photo closely, the man in the picture seemed to be around his late fifties and of southern origin.

His black hair was trimmed neatly and his muddy brown eyes seemed to stare at me through his glasses; wrinkles can be easily seen all around his face.

I raised an eyebrow due to a sudden realization.

I thought, 'Why would the Department look for such an old man?'

"I haven't seen him before," I said while still looking at the picture, shaking my head for an extra confirmation.

I looked up at Aria and asked, "Why are you looking for this old guy?"

Just before the she can answer my question, Cedric spoke up.

"This is Department matters ma'am, we can't tell." He held up his palm, signalling me to stop digging deeper.

I shrugged ay their secrecy, i'll find out sooner or later anyway.

"I'll just report to the Department if I see the man," I said as I pull my hood back over my head, "Bye, officers. I have personal matters to attend to."

I started walking away, but Aria stopped me.

"Sorry, ma'am. What's your name again?"

"It's Elise. Elise Portwell."

"Thank you, miss Elise. You can go now."

Another fake name?

Yep. I can't just give away 'Alice Mayers', you know?Especially right after breaking into the port.

After walking a safe distance away from the duo of Enforcers, I turned to a dark alley. I need to change clothes. I have to leave as less of a track as I possibly can—and dark alleys are currently my best bet.

Well, the only problem with dark alleys is...

"Hey'a, little miss," A man emerged from the shadows of the alley just in front of me.

Two more men stepped out of their hiding place and surrounded me.

In this dim environment, I can't easily make up their facial features. But it seems like the one in front of me has a lean stature.

"If you give us yer bag, we'll let you go," The man stepped closer.

How did he even know i'm a girl?? I have my hood on, an i'm not even, you know... 'bountiful'.

Thug instincts?

Most probably, yeah.

I took off my back pack and opened it. Inside, I grabbed a knife.

Dropping the bag, I held the knife forward at the man with two trembling hands.

"Don't... don't go closer!" A feeble voice came out of my throat. My hands shook at I tried to keep my knees from buckling.

The hood i'm wearing was excellently positioned that I can see the man's expression but he doesn't see mine.

He was grinning, probably thinking "It'sa good catch today, huh."

He took out his own knife, held it on his right hand and pointed it towards me. I took a momentary step back.

"Can you kill, little girl? Can ya really take us three on with just you?" His buddies are already laughing behind me. Looking back, I see the the two holding a knife and a baseball bat separately.

"I... I..." My knees trembled and my hands shook, the knife i'm holding seemed to be useless against this three.

"Hah! Just kidding!" I dashed towards the man in front of me, a grin from ear to ear was plastered on my face. I held the knife on my right hand

The man took a step back and was stunned for a moment.

And a moment was all I needed. I infused my bones and muscles with nanites. I slapped away his still outstretched hand with my left hand.

A stab in the stomach and another one in the lungs is enough to incapacitate him, but another stab in the head wouldn't hurt right?

I giggled. At least it won't hurt for me, for him on the other hand...

His bloodied corpse dropped to the ground and leaked blood, I kicked him on the side but he doesn't move or flinch in the slightest. Probably dead.

The two goons behind me seemed to have snapped out of their shock. One charged straight towards me with his bat.

"Haaaah!" he shouted as he swung the metal bat towards my torso.

I crouched and avoided the bat, I stood up and tried to stab the guy at his side, but he immediately did a backstep and avoided the stab.

I charge towards him, but he swung his bat upwards, preventing me from going closer. As soon as the bat was high enough, I slided in front of him, grabbed the hand he was holding the bat with, and swiftly brought it down to my shoulder.

A crunching noise could be heard as the joint in his elbow was broken.

"Ahhhh! Fuck!!" He shouted, I kicked his stomach and sent him lurching back and down to the ground—unconscious, I walked closer to his body and stepped on his neck. That should do it.

The last goon was nowhere to be seen, I guess he hid? I would have noticed if he ran away.

"We can't let him escape, now can we?" I said to myself.

[3rd Person]

Bert knew that mugging was bad. He knew that stealing and killing was bad, he knew he'll get imprisoned, and if worse, killed if the Enforcers found him.

That didn't stop him from being hungry though.

He was tired of eating food scraps and rotten fruits. Sooner or later, he knew he'll get sick. He'll die.

He met the other two thugs when he was out mining for food in the trashcans of Sector 6. They offered him food, real food. Not just some sick amalgamation of mold and bread.

They moved here to S7, right after they angered one of the big shots on S6.

He knows he has brothers now, he knows that they would take care of him.

Well, he had brothers.

Now, he has corpses. Bloodied, unconscious, and definitely dead.

He feared for his life. He knew she was coming for him next. That ghastly smile was one of a predator, one that wouldn't let prey get away. Her eyes were sharp as if she was just looking at playthings. 'Not even prey!' He thought, 'She looked at us as if we were playthings!'

He can't see her properly in the dim lighting of the alley, but he swore he saw her eyes shone with madness and joy.

The sound of her giggle sent shivers down his spine. She acted and killed without guilt or remorse, he saw in her eyes that she was just enjoying what she did. Even when the blood splatters soaked her hood and jeans.

Bert knew his end is near. But he still hid, hoping for that small glimmer of hope among the darkness.

"Come out, come out, wherever you are," her high pitched voice reverberated through the dark alleyways, it reverberated through his skull.

Bert shivered and pressed his back closer to the trashcan behind him, hoping for some sort of encouragement from the dirty metal it's made of.

He could hear hear foot steps getting closer and closer.

And then it stopped.

'Is she gone?' He thought to himself.

"Aha!" The girl threw the trashcan away, revealing a trembling man behind it—Bert. "Found you!"

Bert mustered up all his strength and courage, 'At least I need to kill this monster, I need to avenge them!'

He spun around and stabbed the girl in the chest with his knife. The tip dug deep into the young girl's torso.

The grin on the girl's face faded and revealed a surprised expression which only lasted a split second before going back to her crescent moon-like-grin.

"Was that supposed to hurt?" She asked, Bert could be nothing but flabberghasted. ''WHAT THE BLOODY HELL???"

He backed away, leaving the knife in the girl's chest.

She looked down at the knife and slowly pulled it out.

She stepped a little bit closer to Bert.

"Mister," She said, her grin getting wider, "It seems you forgot this."

He was rooted into place by sheer terror. He knew he'll die right now.

The last thing Bert saw was the girl's devilish grin and a knife between his eyes.