Ex-MACHINA

WRITTEN BY: SAINT

 EDITED BY: Ronin & M.Will.S

A Steel City

   A dreary night blanketed the city. Lights of various colors broke through the veil giving this neon jewel a lucent beauty that hid what lay underneath. Bodies with umbrellas in hand and coats worn moved through the wet, shimmering sidewalks and streets. Vehicles moved to and fro as bright hues of blues, purples, and reds illuminated the area from the various signs advertising this and that hanging off the buildings. 

Distant sirens rang out from a chase or arrest. Poor sickly people lay in the alleyways away from society, sleeping in the garbage and munching on gnat-infested food. 

A few machines, known as Auto Droids, moved about the streets, tending to this, that, and the other thing, them mindlessly and unemotionally going about their daily tasks programmed into them by their creators.

  This is Shiko City, the city of steel and neon. A facade of bright lights and opportunity, at least to onlookers and dreamers. But at its core, a cesspool; a hell ringed in metal, pretty lights, and false promises for many of its residents save for the rich and powerful. Where high life and low society were the cities' calling cards.

A frightened man scurried frantically about, rushing through the crowded streets with desperation as sweat beaded down his face and his tan, coat trailed in the wind.

“No, no, no. I screwed up, I screwed up,” the man lamented as he ran, not caring nor paying any attention to the people he plowed through as they slung curses and dirty looks his way.

‘I’ve got to get out! I’ve got to get out! I’ve got to go now before…’ He stopped mid-thought as he froze in place. A few paces in front of him stood a masked figure. A dark cloak adorned the individual’s body. Fear crept its way up his spine.

“N-n-no! No way! NO WAY! DAMNIT,” he shouted. “STAY THE HELL AWAY FROM ME!” He made a mad dash back the way he came, looking back occasionally to see if the figure was following him. He didn’t see the individual anywhere.

He turned sharply into a large space between buildings and made a dash to the other end and back out into an open area. The man bumps into a few others as he frantically looks for a place to hide.

‘There,’ he says to himself, spotting an entrance into an underground tram station. He sprinted in the direction of the entrance, sweat beading down his face while doing his best to bob and weave through the swarm of people. He leaps over the turnstiles and practically jumps down the stairs. 

‘Please let these be running at this hour,’ he thinks to himself in a panic as he rushes towards the end of the corridor only to be met by a locked gate.

“No,” he exclaims. He sticks his hands out to stop himself on the gate and begins frantically shaking it. “No, no, NO!!!”

He could hear the splashes of his pursuers footsteps behind him as he tried desperately to open the gate. He stops and trunks back placing his back against the gate. “Who’s there,” he breathes fearfully while trying to catch his breath.

“S-show yourself!” he shouted out in fear and a pain-laced voice. The air was still and apart from the ambiance of the city above and the slight buzzing of the lights, all was quiet in the station. He reached carefully into the inner pocket of his coat while darting his eyes from left to right. The sound of a metal pipe falling over alerted him causing him to draw the pistol in a panic. There was more silence. Suddenly his attention was drawn to a faint shimmer in front of him.

“Stealth-camo,” he thought in a panic. He fired three rounds in the direction he saw the shimmering figure. More silence followed. His own breath was becoming uncomfortably loud in his head and the sweat nearly stung his eyes as fear gripped him even tighter. Coiling around him like a snake. Before he could process what happened, the invisible figure struck him hard sending his body into a wall. The man's body went numb briefly. He could barely breathe once the pain set in. He could taste the metallic flavor of blood in his mouth.

The figure uncloaks itself and stares down at the man. A single glowing eye, amber-like fire light, bore into the man's very soul from behind a stylized show mask of some sort. The man spots the gun to his right and desperately reaches for it before being stopped by a foot coming down onto his hand like a bolder. He could hear the bones let out a resounding crack and pop.

The man howled in pain as tears and saliva traveled down his face. The figure impacts the man's right arm at the elbow with a powerful kick causing the limb to snap and bend at an awkward angle. The man scrambled and groaned. He felt as if he was going to throw up and then pass out from all the pain. Beneath the tears, he glances up towards his assailant laying his eyes on the stranger's masculine form hidden behind an all-black outfit consisting of a cardigan, jeans, and combat boots. 

Before he could question the stranger about who he was or what he wanted the assailant reached down and picked the man up by the throat. He could feel his windpipe closing as his throat was being crushed and began to panic more as he flailed around. His vision started to blur and a slight buzzing rang in his ears. His face felt like it was going to explode into a shower of bloody gore. Through it all the man managed to spot something that caught his attention. Something familiar. Something that he has seen in his line of work.

A series of numbers imprinted on the assailant's wrist. His heart dropped when he read the number.

‘T-THAT’S... YOU'RE,’ the man mentally slithers out in realization as his vision darkens.

CRACK!!!

 Within minutes, his arms went limp as a crack reverberated out and his body was dropped to the floor. The figure stared down at the man for a few seconds before its attention was drawn to the sound of someone approaching. He quickly cloaks himself as a maintenance Auto Droid enters the area. It spots the man's lifeless form at the end of the corridor and trots over to him. It begins scanning his body. 

“Sir, are you okay,” it asks. There was no reply. Only a motionless body lying mangled and bleeding all over the porcelain-colored floor.  A few hours later, authorities were on the scene. Holographic yellow tape cordoned the entrance to the station as seven individuals stood inside the area. Four of them were members of the Shiko City Police Department; two of whom were regular officers, both male, one older with a thick mustache and the other a very young-looking man who looked a bit green around the ears. The other two were detectives. One was a dark-skinned male with a bald head adorned by a long scar with another lining his cheek, just under a metallic eyepatch. He had a well-kept goatee decorating his middle-aged and grizzled face.

The other detective, his subordinate and partner, had medium-length chocolate brown hair that hid a scar obtained from a childhood incident. Her skin was of a fair complexion with light makeup adorning her features. Her hazel eyes were accentuated with dark eyeliner. Both she and her partner wore the signature dark blue trench coats of the police department’s investigation bureau over their standard business attire. The acronym, SCPD, was written in bold yellow lettering on the front left breast and back of their coats.

A drone hovers about the area, stopping by the corpse lying in a bag as it’s being inspected by the male detective. The lens on it focuses in on the body and a light flashes as it captures a photo of the corpse followed by the dead man's weapon and work I.D. badge. It then hovers over to the younger police officer as he stands behind his more seasoned senior who is looking down at a pad-like device connected to the back of the maintenance Auto Droid. 

“What are you doing with that boss,” the young man asks while rubbing the back of his bowl cut.

“Oh this,” the man replies. “It will allow me to scour this bot's memories.”

“Hoping to find some clue as to who did this inside of this things head,” the rookie asks the man.

The older cop grunts in affirmation. “Well, it was the one that sent the report to the department. It’s sure to have seen more.”

The senior officer sighed. “I need a change of scenery.”

His partner noticed the man’s expression. “Let me guess. This is pretty commonplace around here, huh Sarge?” he asked.

The Sergeant shrugged lazily as he walked toward the detectives. “Welcome to Shiko City kid. You’ll get used to shit like this real quick.”

“I’m missing Washington already,” the rookie replied in amusement.

“Excuse me, sir. We will soon need to move the body to the nearest medical facility,” an individual not to far away said in addressing the male detective. 

The rookie police officer glances back to see one of the three medical Auto Droids with both of the detectives. He couldn’t help the blush that crept onto his face when he spotted the brown-haired woman. He felt a hand suddenly land on his shoulder and shake him out of his thoughts.

“Focus, rook. Continue getting more photos for analysis back at the station with that drone, yeah?”

“A-ah, yeah! Sorry! On it,” was his embarrassed reply.

The Sergeant stared at him then at the two detectives. “Sooo… what’s the story behind those two,” the rookie asks the Sergeant. The older man didn’t reply. He takes a few steps toward the pair of detectives.

The male detective scanned over the corpse with a device mounted on his wrist, then stared at it as information started projecting in holographic hues of green. 

“Found anything interesting on this poor sap here, Jones,” the sergeant asks the detective as he approaches.

The detective looked at his scanner. “Outside of some information on the victim and his injuries, not much. Not even a damn fingerprint or loose hair from whoever did this,” he grumbled. 

Jones continues as he takes his eyes off the scanner and shifts them to his old friend. “He did manage to get pretty scrounged up though, clearly. Guy looks like he got hit by a truck.”  He began reading off the information on his scanner.

“Mathew J. Conner. A former employee of the Tomaru corporation, who worked as one of their chief engineers. Aged 33, single,  and diagnosed with cartilage deterioration in his lumbar. Cause of death, broken neck, with other notable injuries being internal bleeding, dislocated at his left elbow, and fractures along his right hand and chest.”

Garfield whistles. “Whoever is behind this did a number on this guy.”

Jones nodded in agreement. “You can say that again. Poor bastard.”. The sergeant glances over to Detective Jones’s partner.

“What about the brood queen over there,” Garfield asks while gesturing to the woman in question with a slight nod of his head.

Jones glances over at her as she goes from scanning a puddle of water to what looks like some random smudge on the ground.

“You’ve got something?” Jones calls to her as she continues scanning. She paused to look down at her scanner for a moment before glancing back at the smudge. Jones sighed as Garfield chuckled.