She picked up the last few tankards off the table, placing them on a tray, and setting it on the next table over. Attentively she wiped the metallic table with a wet cloth. Upon returning to the bar stand with the tray, she was greeted by a large man in an apron who smiled widely at her.
“Thanks Isabella. You can head home for the night.”
“You sure Tom?”
she asked softly.
“Still got a few tables to clean up.”
He shook his head.
“It’s alright. Go get some rest, you’ve covered for Jake’s shift too, you must be exhausted. Go now.”
She let out a soft sigh.
“Thanks Tom, see you in a ten-day.”
He grinned widely.
“Enjoy the vacation.”
The doorbell chimed softly, indicating her departure.
She walked down the brick street. Street lanterns illuminated the otherwise dark and barren streets. As she approached a guard post. Two men in plate armor stepped out of it to greet her. Each step they took was heavy and accompanied by the rattling metal plates that clanked and grinded against each other.
“Miss Isobella? Heading home mmh?”
She nodded tiredly at them.
“Mhmm. Has brother gone home already?”
The 2nd guard tapped the first on the shoulder and turned to leave on a patrol.
“Himie has been repositioned temporarily into the inner circle. There’s been another, erhm… well, accident.”
The guard hesitated.
“So, they pulled some of our men into the inner city for increased patrols.”
He glanced over his shoulder at the gate behind him.
“Might I accompany you back home?”
Isobella smiled wearily.
“No, it’s quite alright. You’re on duty and I can’t be receiving special treatment because my brother is a guard. Do your diligence! I’ll be alright. You said it yourself, inner circle has enhanced guard presence now, I’ll be fine.”
The guard nodded.
“That’s right, it’s safer than ever, I reckon.”
He saluted her, and she bowed in response, passing the guard post and venturing onward.
As she passed the gates and looked over her shoulder, a chill ran down her spine. The guard that offered to walk her home was staring intently at her. His helmet cast a shadow over his face, but she could’ve sworn she saw him grin.
Walking hastily home she heard steps. Her body shuddered but she dismissed her paranoia. ‘Inner circle people often return home late, relax, you silly girl,’ she tried to reason.
The steps got closer. Panic nearly consuming her she turned around with a gasp to see a man in a suit. He bowed his head at her, and went past her.
“Hah… idiot…”
Isobella uttered while trying to catch her breath.
“Indeed…”
a voice replied to her from the shadows behind. She jumped, took a few steps forth and turned on her heel, standing in the light of a lantern that shone brightly.
“W…who’s there?”
she stuttered.
“I wonder…”
the voice spoke again, again, from behind her.
“Your death? Or your salvation?”
The same voice came from the shadow beyond the light’s reach once more.
She peered intently.
“D…don’t step closer! I have a whistle. Guards will swarm here should I blow into it!”
she threatened, holding a metallic whistle in her trembling hand.
“Right…”
Something popped quietly, she felt sudden pain rush through her hand as something pierced her hand, leaving a gaping hole in its wake. The whistle clattered on the brick street beneath her feet. The voice spoke from around her.
“Here, and now I’m here.”
She kept throwing her stare around, holding onto her bleeding hand that had a hole in it now.
“My… brother is a guardsman! S…stay back… Hnnf…”
She opened her mouth to shout, but only a soft whimper escaped her lips when she felt cold steel of a blade pressed against her throat.
“Hush now…”
the voice spoke, coming from a monster that stood before her now. He had golden hair, like wheat that glistened in the sun. His purple eyes were glowing, fixated on her frightened gaze. The rest of his face was hidden.
“Hnnff… kff… n..no…”
she whimpered and then felt warmth running down her body from her throat. Soaking her clothes. No other sound except gurgling could escape her slit throat. The monster lowered her onto the ground gently.
“Lemon! Lemon wake your sorry lazy ass up already we have shit to do!”
He felt a violent kick on his bed. As he opened his eyes, he glanced up at his squad leader.
“By the royal family and the holy tech, Alice, why are you so violent?”
“Violent? Me? When have I ever!?”
she pulled her fist back. From the skin of her palm, a blade emerged and in a violent thrust, full of kill intent, she thrust at him.
He dodged out of the way, a few pieces of his golden hair got caught by her blade and cut off.
“Holy Bors family of the royal blood are you trying to kill me you crazy woman?”
He clung to the wall, his fingers digging into the stone behind him.
“Finally you’re awake!”
she said with a menacing grin, turned and stormed out of his room.
“Briefing in five! MOVE!”
Lemon stumbled through the door that hissed open before him, into the briefing room.
“Good morning sleeping beauty, did you like the kiss I sent your way?”
Grinned a bulky man with a metallic jaw and ruby-red eyes.
Lemon glared at him sourly.
“That was your idea? I’ll end you in the next spar.”
“Good luck, kid.”
Lemon sighed, he hated his squad.
“So, the hell is going on?”
The bulky man shrugged.
“Dunno, Alice told me we have a gig.”
A few moments later the door hissed again. Through it entered Alice. A tall, white-haired girl. Each step she took produced a noticeable clank as her metallic heels impacted the tile floor. Following her was a man in an all-white uniform.
Lemon and the bulky man quickly jumped up from their seats and saluted.
“Royal commander!”
They addressed him in unison. Alice bowed at him and went to 1 of the empty chairs.
The commander nodded.
“At ease, sit down.”
As he pressed a button, a holographic display popped up before him, between his podium and the seats. It contained a map of the royal circle, the inner circle, and the outer circle of their kingdom’s capital. The inner circle had over 2 dozen red markers on it.
“We finally caught a glimpse of the murderer.”
Lemon leaned back in his chair, staring intently at the display. The image flickered and got replaced by a video recording of a disoriented girl in a medieval-looking dress, glancing around while standing beneath a street’s light. Suddenly the image got distorted. A shadowy figure, barely recognizable as a human being, emerged from the shadows into the light, and a moment later laid down the bloodied body of that girl.
“Well shit.”
commented the bulky man.
“You see it, yes? Robert?”
the royal commander asked.
The bulky man with a steel jaw nodded.
“That’s no coincidence, that’s military-tech accessible only to us, angels.”
“Indeed,”
the woman commented.
“And that’s a problem…”
“The Angels are coming? No way! Down here? To the inner circle? But they hardly ever show around these parts. I had never seen one in person.”
Spoke a young, short haired man in plate armor.
“Easy lad. They might not be humans like us, but they’re messengers of the gods, they bear protection, righteousness and often, gifts.”
Replied an older man in armor while signing some papers.
“Your squad will be their escorts, they will arrive tonight, at 1700 at the Mayor’s palace. Dismissed until then.”
“Roger.”
The younger man saluted and left.
The crowd gathered around the mayor’s palace, but it wasn’t a happy crowd cheering and anticipating the angels, rather it was an angry mob ready to storm the palace to seek justice.
“We’ve been terrorized for months now! Angels took too long to respond!”
shouted someone from the crowd.
“Angels don’t care, gods abandoned us!”
shouted another person.
A group of guards holding the rampart mob at bay were getting tired as they continued to resist and endure the endless push of the mob who were desperately trying to storm the mayor’s palace.
“Reinforcements are on the way!”
shouted the guard’s commander, but the reinforcements were not necessary. With a loud bang, a star exploded in the night sky, and then another.
The shockwave of the explosion and the blinding whiteness toppled half the crowd and sent them tumbling to the ground. The more resilient ones remained standing, but well disoriented.
Three figures landed behind the guards. A woman in steel boots, with long, beautiful wings that folded away and disappeared. A bulky man with a steel jaw, and a golden-haired young man.
The woman held out some kind of cylindrical item in her hand, tossing it up and down.
“Silence and obedience! Or we’ll make more stars explode!”
she shouted in a commanding tone. The ruckus died down as the crowd slowly regained their senses and focus. The guards remained in their positions, between the angels and the mob.
“We are angels, sent here to your aid.”
She pointed up with her finger.
“And by our command, the skies shall split, and for your obedience you shall be rewarded.”
A moment later, something bright shone down upon the crowd from the skies, and then items began to fall. Small packages with little parachutes, slowly descended upon the previously rowdy crowd of peasants that knew no better than to obey the gods and angels.
“You have suffered, but we came to your aid.”
Alice spoke again and tapped her foot. The lights in the skies disappeared.
One of the men opened the package in front of the young guard in charge of the unit of guards stationed here. The guard stared in awe at the pouch of money within the package.
“Gods blessed us!”
a man proclaimed.
“They rewarded us for our suffering,”
someone else called out.
Lemon glanced at Alice, letting out a soft sigh.
After a brief exchange with the mayor of the inner city the angels were led to the first crime scene. As per the royal order they were to interact with people, affirm them of safety, and walk among them so as to strengthen the common folk’s belief and trust in the gods, known as the royal family. The trip took them long as every shop owner tried to make them offerings and gifts, and every regular person tried to hold their hands and receive their blessing.
“Whoa man… look at that magic. They really aren’t human huh?”
One of the young guards said to their commander, while observing the angels at the crime-scene who were using what to them looked like strange magic and spells they had heard of only in school. Only the angels and gods are able to use magic in this world, or so they were taught.
Lemon knelt by a garbage can, scanning for traces of tech-use.
“Definitely mil-tech.”
Concluded Robert, the steel-jawed man.
“I also picked up traces of radiation, power suit or enhancements.”
Alice responded, jumping down from the street’s light. Her steel heels cracking the bricks beneath her.
Lemon swallowed hard as he noticed a small speaker attached to a wall. He grabbed it quickly and stashed it away in his pocket, turning around swiftly.
“What ya got there?”
Robert queried, 1 of his red eyes focused on Lemon.
“Nothing… t’was a bug, I hate bugs.”
“Right, because they eat lemons, hah! Get it?”
Lemon sighed.
“Alice, I’ll scout the area.”
“Keep the comms up,”
she ordered him.
“Roger,”
he replied and squatted, and then in a blink of an eye he was already standing on a roof.
That night the angels did not sleep, they were patrolling the streets and scouting the inner city for clues and hints. In some dark dank corner someone lost a few teeth, in some tavern somewhere a barkeeper made a bank. Each had their distinct way of acquiring intel.
“Alice, this is Lemon, come in.”
A voice rang in her head.
“What is it?”
Alice replied. Her lips did not move, only her eyes flickered slightly. The barkeeper’s eyes were as wide as 2 full moons, staring in shock at the angel before him.
“Another corpse, I’m in pursuit of the suspect. Transmitting coordinates.”
Alice ran out of the tavern and disappeared into the night.
When she arrived at the received coordinates she saw her subordinate, Lemon, laying in a pile of garbage, knocked out.
“Lemon wake your lazy ass up already and GIVE ME A GOD DAMNED REPORT!”
She shouted, kicking his bed aggressively. Lemon slowly opened an eye and glanced at her.
“Seriously, see a psychologist, you’re out of control.”
“I will end you…”
she glared down at him with bloodlust.
“No thanks.”
Lemon replied, jumping up from the bed and stretching.
“I saw him, but he’s quick… quicker than me even.”
Alice stared at him.
“Details…”
“Right right. He, I… don’t remember much.”
Sharp pain jolted through his cybernetically enhanced body as he tried to recall memories of the last night’s events.
“I saw a shadow sneak in after a guard. When I arrived at the scene the bloodied guard was drowning in his own blood. Activating thermal vision I saw nothing. He was cloaking his presence. But I managed to pick up his electro-magnetic signature and chased. When I almost caught up he disappeared, turned invisible to my sensors, and then… I saw it…”
Her steel heel sunk into his foot.
“Stop with the dramatic pauses and just lay it all out to me, Lancelot!”
He grunted from pain, gritting his teeth.
“Ugh, his eyes. Purple like gems glowing in the night, and golden hair. He uploa….AGGHHH!”
Lemon fell to the ground clenching onto his head.
“His… my aagghh! It’s going to burst!”
Blood dripped from his nose as Alice continued to glare down at her subordinate, squirming in pain on the floor.
“Pathetic…”
she spoke softly, stepping over him.
“Report back to the HQ, get your head checked, I’ll request a replacement for the time being.”
Lemon’s fingers dug into the floorboard. Blood dripped from his lips as he glared up at her.
“Oh, I don’t think that’ll be necessary,”
he whispered into her ear, his body pressed against hers from behind, his knife pressed against her back but unable to pierce her enhanced skin.
“I am not an idiot,”
she whispered softly in response, glancing over her shoulder with a smirk.
“I had been keeping an eye on you since your nightly ‘trainings’ and the exhaustion during the day.”
Lemon’s eyes rattled in their sockets, he winced from pain and stumbled back, clenching onto his head.
“No… Ughh! Commander… What? W… why?”
He glanced at his trembling hand that clung onto the knife’s handle.
“Ughhh… Alice…?”
She eyed him carefully. His disorientation seemed genuine, his expression was that of fright.
“Lemon, where were you last night?”
“Commander… I, uhm. Patrol. I followed a few guards, stalking them from the rooftops. The murderer always targeted the guards, I used them as bait and then, I… remember seeing a face, and purple eyes. And… what’s going on?”
Alice eyed him closely for micro-reactions. His body was honest, as were his words.
“Hysteria…”
she mumbled under her breath.
“Lemon, listen carefully. You will activate full systems shut down and surrender yourself. Understood?”
Lemon nodded softly.
“I… I remembered. I saw, myself… It was a reflection of myself in a window, yesterday. It was me.”
He glanced down at his hand that no longer trembled.
“I did it.”
“Lemon, obey my command! Systems emergency shut down protocol, NOW!”
Alice barked an order to him, but her order fell on deaf ears.
Lemon’s grimace twisted into a grin.
“Hehe… Hehhe… Heh! Oh commander, we meet at last, well, second time today.”
Lemon’s voice sounded slightly different as he proceeded to flip the knife.
“Die for me, dar-ling,”
he smirked.
Alice twisted her head to the side.
“Lemon, you don’t want to…”
she began but before she could finish her sentence, the cold, vibrating steel of the blade was pressed against her neck. She bent out of the way, following up her movement with a firm and precise kick of her steel boot to the underside of his jaw, sending him flying.
He grabbed onto the ceiling, hanging there like a strange mannequin, grinning at her.
“Yes! YES! That’s better, unlike those boring guards, I knew I should’ve started hunting royal’s marionettes sooner. All, I’ll hunt you all, little birdies! Down with the empire!”
Alice’s steel boot impacted the side of his torse with enough force to shatter his ribs and send him straight into another wall.
“Commander Alice?”
A destressed voice called out to her as Robert rushed into the room to see a wreck of a human, formerly known as Lemon to him, collapsed on the floor, and Alice standing there, staring down at him. A couple of drops of blood dripped from her cheek where Lemon had managed to cut her.
“Robert, back away slo…”
Before she could finish, Lemon’s body disappeared. In a blur to her vision, like a hungry beast, he had launched himself at Robert, with blade firmly held out in front of him.
“And another one.”
Lemon’s distorted voice came from a small speaker behind Alice, momentarily drawing her attention behind her.
The blade was aimed at her eye.
“Lemon for the royal’s sake, I don’t want to kill you!”
Skillfully she diverted the blade’s path, utilizing her flexibility, countering with a kick to the side of his head. She heard a crunch and winced, realizing the damage she had caused. Lemon ignored the damage to his body and struck again and again, until only a bloodied mess remained sitting on his knees, no longer capable of standing, or holding the blade.
Yet when Alice attempted to connect her data port to his, he snapped, biting at her and the cord, severing it in the process. He refused to let her shut him down, he refused to go out quietly.
“Hysteria? That’s your conclusion, commander Alice?”
“That’s right sir. It appeared to have been a case of hysteria, symptoms aligned with previously recorded cases. The cause remains unknown. Research lab are currently…”
she clenched her fist and swallowed hard.
“They’re dissecting him, in hopes of finding the issue in tech that influenced his brain to this degree… I, tried to keep his head intact as much as I could.”
“Understood. Dismissed. The royal family ever appreciates your service, angel.”
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