The sun had just risen over Solai. I left Alice’s place in Greenlake and took a ride around the suburbs before heading into the city. The one constant for me throughout this entire journey has been my bike's ability to calm me down. Cruising through the streets of Solai, beneath a canvas of neon lights helps filter the shit from my mind. I spent hours and hours on my bike, driving the same route over and over, replaying the awful scene’s from my encounter with Alice in my head. Her scrunched up, distraught face became etched in my mind the more I tried to rationalize what had happened. Eventually the sun started to set and I decided to cut through the city one last time before heading back to Shadowtask HQ. Shortly after starting my journey back to STHQ my helmet’s visor flickered with a notification, displaying location coordinates and a time, the message read “DD, RB13, SOLAI”. The destination was located on the edge of the city. I made my way there quickly, cutting through the dense streets of Solai until I reached my end point, the Dark District. I’d heard about this place and it’s endless corruption, but this was a first for me. Luckily, I entered from the other side, steering clear of its beating heart. The coordinates led me to a collection of abandoned buildings, 20 at least all tightly packed together with not much room between them. With each building resembling a half-finished monolith of concrete and steel.
These towers had no windows, no doors and no sign of any work being carried out at all, the site was clearly abandoned and had been for some time. There was trash all around the area, as well as sleeping bags and make-shift fire bins. It wasn’t hard to imagine that people most likely occupied a select few of the rooms in these towers, I’d imagine they’re the best option for many of the homeless people here.
I parked my bike up and carried on by foot. I made my way through the maze of half finished structures, all of which had identifiers in the form of large, white spray painted text. The buildings were labelled ‘RB01, RB02’ etc. One building in particular stood out to me, it was derelict like most of the others, except this one had a faint red glow emanating from a room near the top of the building. The glow bled out softly into the cold, dark atmosphere surrounding the structure. I walked around to the side of the building to confirm my suspicions, the identifying number matched my instructions, ‘RB13’.
At this point I was sure that there was no way a teenager made their way here from Green Lake into the Dark District on their own. I was too curious, there's always a chance it could be the boy.
I climbed the skeletal stairs, making my way toward the faint light above. I reached the room on floor 32, a dimly lit space holding remnants of a forgotten past. A computer sat on the floor in the corner, the monitor giving off a familiar red hue. Clearly someone had been there. I walked closer to the monitor to read what was on screen, it was a command terminal, with instructions issued to send a device its current location. Someone had used the terminal to direct me there, and I was about to find out who…
Suddenly, this low hum of machinery hit my ears, instinctively I tightened my fists, ready for self-defense. I turned around, and there it was—an android, about 6 feet away from me. It stood still for a moment, this polished metal, intimidating machine with its orange eyes glaring at me. The tension was high as we both stood still for a moment.
Without saying a word, the android charged at me. I barely dodged its claws, diving out of the way before grabbing a metal scaffolding pipe off the ground. The machine was too fast, by the time I’d picked up this pipe the android was already towering over me with its emotionless orange glare. The android swung at me multiple times, the force of which would probably kill me if they made direct contact. I tried my best to block its shots with the metal bar, with each clash of metal on metal filling the room with a piercing resonance. After three parried blows the android grabbed me by the leg with both hands, before I had time to think it spun around and threw me sideways across the room.
My body hit one of the supporting concrete pillars, with the force of the impact breaking off a large chunk of concrete off the beam and onto the floor. My adrenaline was so high that I didn’t feel the impact at all.
I tried to get up as fast as I could but it was too late. The machine picked me up by my throat, lifting my feet off the ground whilst squeezing its grip around my neck, tighter and tighter. I was helpless in what I thought were my final moments. I started thinking about my journey so far, about Alice, about her child, about everything. If I died would that be so bad? Do I have anything to live for? Part of me was willing to accept the hand that fate dealt to me. The more I thought about my life and my search for answers, the more enraged I started to feel. All my built up anger and frustration began bubbling inside of me, coursing through my body and gathering itself inside my chest. The tighter the android squeezed the more this power grew inside my chest, like a battery being charged to max capacity. Every second this feeling grew stronger and stronger, like I was being drip fed a constant dose of all the anguish and sadness I’d ever felt.
It sounds strange, but I think the android pitied me. It loosened its grip on my neck, allowing me to fall to my feet and catch my breath.
It took a few steps back and remained still, almost as though it was waiting for me to make the next move. I hesitated, the android was blocking the entrance to the floor, there was no way out. I panicked as I looked around the room, trying to find something that would aid me in either escaping or winning this fight. I picked up a chunk of concrete that came off the pillar I’d been thrown into, gripping it tightly in my hand. What follows next is unexplainable to me…
The android charged forward, faster than before. So fast I didn’t even see it until it was about three feet away from me, it had leapt off the floor, twisting its body and drawing its right fist behind its head. It looked like a killing blow, its final move to complete its objective. Within a fraction of a second my left arm swung up as my clenched fist opened, with both my feet planted on the ground, the android's iron fist landed flush inside the palm of my hand, absorbing the full force of the blow. The android recoiled from the impact as my feet sunk into the solid concrete ground beneath me. The force of the impact sent shockwaves through my body as my fingers firmly locked themselves around the androids fist. I became enraged and the energy I’d felt building up my chest finally found its release. As my grip tightened, the android’s movement’s became sporadic and jittery, as though it was panicking. It tried to pull itself from my grip, and in doing so I made sure to squeeze harder and harder. Its attempts were useless and my anger engulfed me. My fingers sank themselves into the machine's polished metal hand, crushing it, squeezing tighter and tighter the more it tried to move away. This all happened in the space of about 10 seconds, and in that time I saw the androids demeanor completely change. It was no longer the aggressor, I was.
It pulled itself away from my locked fingers and in doing so tore its own arm off from the shoulder. It staggered backwards looking at its right shoulder to assess the damage. Its emotionless face never changed, yet in that moment I felt nothing but fear emanating from the polished metal machine. ‘What the fuck just happened’ I thought to myself, my hand should be obliterated, a puddle made of soup and stringy flesh and bone on the floor.
Before I had time to really think about what had happened, I decided to double down. The android was trying to kill me, I had to defend myself. I loosened my grip and tossed its metal arm across the room whilst the android looked me up and down, assessing its next move. I clenched my fists again, clearly I stand a chance against this thing, especially now it only has one arm.
My adrenaline was through the roof, I yelled at it “come on then! What are you waiting for?!”. The android seemed distressed as it shifted its attention to the wall behind me. Without hesitation the machine lunged forward, sprinting past me with its insanely fast speed before hurling itself out of the rough opening in the wall. I watched the machine fall 32 stories in a matter of seconds, its orange eyes disappearing into the darkness below. Its heavy metal body hit the ground with extreme force, shattering to pieces on impact.
As I caught my breath, I couldn't believe what just happened. Why did that android try to kill me? How did I manage to defend myself? My back and hand were sore, still are, but the adrenaline gave me the boost I needed to get out of the building as quickly as I could and head straight for my bike. I’m currently pulled over, about a mile away from STHQ. I need to get inside and have Clova take a look at me, I feel like shit…
