“Great. Lead the way,” Frankie suggested.

  Following the trail of Essentia across the Undercity was refreshingly easy, compared with what these kinds of missions usually demanded. The total lack of anything supernatural in this world meant that any Magic use stood out, like a glaring beacon in the night.

  It was fading, slowly, as it naturally would, and such a minor trail back home would soon get lost a busy city. But not here.

  The fact that there was a trail to follow at all was the most refreshing thing about it, because it meant only one thing. Whoever these guys were, they were not powerful enough to Port from place to place.

  This fit with Void’s assessment of the force they were facing, and reassured him.

  ~Looks like Void was right, then,~ Amanda remarked in his head.

  ~I hope so. It certainly looks that way, anyway.~

  ~How are you getting along with Frankie?~

  ~She’s been fairly quiet and all business, so…~

  ~You should talk to her. Get to know her a little. If you want her to back you up, you should forge some kind of friendship.~

  Matt nodded and glanced back at Frankie.

  HIDEOUT

  Keeping just behind the young man who called himself Matt, Frankie followed him out of the camp. Exiting onto the road, she glanced at the sky, wondering where the flyer was, and grimaced.

  “Do you know how far we’re going?” she asked.

  Matt glanced at her and sighed. “Difficult to say, really. I’m um… getting updates as I go, but I don’t think it’s far.”

  Frankie frowned briefly. It didn’t sound like he knew what he was doing. Was he making it up as he went along? Maybe not. He seemed to know exactly where he needed to go. He probably wasn’t telling her the full truth, she reasoned, but that didn’t exactly make him a bad guy. After all, she wasn’t about to announce she was part of a secret government agency.

  Still, best to be careful.

  “Why?” Matt asked. “Do you have somewhere to be?”

  “No,” Frankie answered. “I was just wondering if it was worth getting a lift.

  Matt stuck his bottom lip out and shrugged. “I don’t know. Up to you.”

  Frankie considered her options. “No, it’s okay. I’ll leave it.”

  Matt nodded and set off again. He seemed keen to press on, and she saw no reason to delay him. She fell into step with the group, who kept the discussion to a minimum, something Frankie didn’t mind. She wasn’t sure how to handle questions about what she did, other than to just make some stuff up.

  Well, she’d deal with those if they came, but for now, everyone seemed content to follow Matt and keep a watchful eye on the surrounding streets.

  Several blocks later, it became clear that they were heading towards one of the nearby support buildings that reached up to the upper city. Were they in there?

  Ahead, she noticed Matt glance back at her.

  She smiled.

  “How did you end up at the camp?” he asked.

  So much for the comfortable silence. “I had a call from my friend during the attack, asking for help.”

  “Tell me about your friend.”

  Frankie bit her lip before answering. “Her name’s Gema. She’s a Cyber Doc and works down here in the Undercity. She likes to help those a little less fortunate.”

  “Admirable.”

  “I do the same… when I can. The corporations treat people like shit and take everything. They need to be stopped.”

  “Not an easy task,” Matt remarked as they pressed on.

  “No. I’m not sure we’ll ever be able to really hurt them.” Frankie sighed as she thought about Gema, and then her University friend Mal who’d been killed by Corpo forces. She shook her head to banish those thoughts, preferring not to dwell on it. She had a job to do. “There’s only four of us now your friend has left us. How many Reavers are there?”

  “I don’t know. Enough. But Amanda will be back. Just wait.”

  “I hope so. Five would be a better number than four,” she suggested. “Can you trust your friend?”

  “She’s my wife, and I trust her implicitly.” There was a hardness to his tone, a confidence that she liked.

  “Wife?” she asked, surprised by this development, it wasn’t what she expected in an operation like this.

  “Yeah…” He smiled, giving her a knowing look. What was he thinking?

  “Congratulations,” she said, wondering if he expected her to comment about it, or say something negative. “You’re a lucky man.”

  “I count my blessings every day,” he replied, a satisfied smile on his face. That was a man in love, she thought. It was nice to see.

  “She’s pretty.”

  “She’s beautiful,” Matt added. “And she’s changed my life in so many ways. I couldn’t be happier.”

  “I’m sure she is too,” Frankie reassured him.

  “She’s… She’s more independent than I am. She’s led quite the life before I came along.”

  She wondered what he meant by that. Was he intimidated by her? “Does that matter?”

  Matt shrugged. “I guess not.”

  He was probably wondering if he was enough for her, or if this redheaded woman would get bored with him. They were probably silly, unfounded fears that had no basis in reality.

  She sighed and decided to change the subject. She didn’t really want to have a heart to heart with this guy. “So, what’s the plan when we find them?”

  “We take them out. We’ve been dealing with the Reavers for a while, and they don’t mess around. They’re here to cause trouble, and if we don’t stop them, people will die. I have no doubt about that.”

  As the gravity of the situation settled over her, she grunted and swallowed. “Understood.” These Reavers sounded serious.

  They pressed on and approached the support building. As they neared the massive edifice, they came upon some warehouses clustered at the base, some of which seemed occupied.

  “There,” Matt said, pointing up the street to a wide, flat structure on the far side of the road and a side street beside it. “They went that way.”

  With no reason to disbelieve him, Frankie nodded but couldn’t make out anything that suggested the Reavers had passed this way. Matt led on, jogging across the street to the side road, and peered along it from the corner.

  “It’s definitely this way.”

  “Great. Lead the way.” She followed him as he ducked around the corner and hustled up the side street. On either side, huge dumpsters on wheels lined the road, with more trash bags piled up around them. She spotted a couple of homeless guys huddled in doorways, trying to keep out of the drizzle.

  At a crossroads, Matt stopped and looked left. Frankie let her gaze rise to the gigantic support building above them. It was so close now that parts of it overhung where they were standing. Sporadic lights lit up the side of the structure, while massive pipes and cables snaked their way down across the face of the building, carrying waste and power.

  “They’re here,” Matt remarked, turning to them.

  Frankie snapped her attention back to him and leaned forward. On their left, she could make out a small door on the opposite side of the road. A small lamp above the door illuminated a man in a long coat, who looked like he was keeping watch. They had a guard. As she peered at the man, he raised both arms and inspected them. They were both cybernetic, and they looked very new.

  “Looks like you were right,” Frankie muttered. “He’s rocking a fresh pair of cyber arms.”

  Matt took another look. “He is.”

  “So, what’s the play?”

  “We take this one out and move inside.”

  “Do you know him? Is he one of your Reavers?” Frankie asked, curious.

  Matt took another look. “He’s one of them. It’s a large organisation, and I can’t say I’m familiar with its entire membership, but he matches a description I have. Also, my intel points to that building. So, if there’s a guard outside with fresh implants who matches my intel, I suggest we’re probably at the right place.”

  “Is this why they’re here? They’re looking for upgrades?”

  “Makes sense,” Matt replied.

  Frankie bobbed her eyebrows. “So, do we give him a chance, or do we go in hard and take him out.”

  He took a moment to think about it, before settling on a plan. “Take him out.” Matt pulled his gun and checked the chamber.

  Frankie eyed his use of the gun, his familiarity with it, and was pleased to see he knew what he was doing. She waved her hand towards the guard. “Be my guest.”

  Briefly, she considered offering to do it herself. The easy way in which she’d joined up with this rag-tag group had put her at ease, but she had to remind herself that she’d only just met these guys, and they could be feeding her all kinds of lies, so she forced herself to take a step back. She needed to see if what they were saying about these so-called Reavers was true before she opened fire on random people.

  So far, their story checked out with the information she’d gleaned from the exiles in the aftermath of the Reavers attack, but it always paid to be cautious.

  Pulling a suppressed pistol from his belt, Matt took aim. He fired, and the man in the distance fell to the floor.

  “Let’s go.” Matt jogged up the alleyway.

  The suppressor reduced the report from the gun significantly, making it one of the most efficient and quiet suppressors she’d ever heard. She was impressed with both the tech and Matt’s shooting skills.

  The two other members of Matt’s team had drawn their weapons as they rushed towards the door. Reaching the corner of the building, Matt glanced up a side alley, and pointed. Frankie spotted another door.

  “Howie, Jinx, take that door. We’ll take this one.”

  “On it,” Howie replied, all business.

  “Oooh, exciting,” Jinx added, sounding thrilled with the turn of events, before both jogged towards the second door.

  Matt turned and pressed on. Frankie followed. They soon arrived at the door. The guard writhed on the floor, clearly in pain. Matt kicked him across the face, knocking him out as Frankie watched.

  He could have killed him, finished the man off, but she got the impression that he didn’t want to do that. Was he purposefully avoiding killing anyone?

  She found herself warming to Matt.

  Leaving the man behind, Matt stepped up to the door, and tried it. Predictably, it was locked. Taking a tighter grip, Matt forced the door. With a bang, the door opened.

  Frankie raised an eyebrow. He was strong. Was he augmented too? She wasn’t getting any electromagnetic signals from him, so maybe he was genetically enhanced with bio-tech?

  Raising his gun, Matt moved inside. Frankie did the same, feeling her confidence rise as she followed Matt into the building.

  BACK STREET

  Back at the black-market warehouse, Amanda had only had a few seconds with the man issuing orders before Frankie and her friend had barged into the room unannounced. But that was all she needed to ransack his mind for the info she needed, and port out of there.

  The man had known little, but Amanda had fished out memories of the attack and seen some faces of the people involved. She’d also picked up on the trace Essentia inside the man’s head, and her poke through the man’s mind quickly revealed that she wasn’t the first magus to read his memories. One of the Reavers had been in here too, looking for something.

  Luckily, the magus in question hadn’t covered her tracks, and it was easy enough for her to work out what had been stolen.

  They’d been looking for a well-stocked back alley cyber lab that they could either use or steal, and it looked like they’d found one.

  Amanda had taken the location of that lab as well before porting from the room.

  After leaving Matt and the others with Frankie, it was a short magical hop across town to find the lab.

  She appeared in a dark corner of a back street, lined with trash and dumpsters. Stepping out into the dingy thoroughfare, Amanda could see anonymous doors set into the walls, kiosks selling noodles and fried chicken, small shops, their windows filled with neon and the latest bootleg tech straight from the black market, and lap dancing clubs blasting music and selling five minutes of fake pleasure for the last of your rent money.

  It was a dystopia of the purest form, and it made Amanda shiver with revulsion. Weirdly, though, there was an allure to the scene, a dark, inviting feel to the place that she found fascinating. But only as a visitor. She’d hate to live here.

  Using her aetheric sight, Amanda followed the trail of energy to an unmarked door, down a short narrow alleyway that came to a dead end. A single flickering light hung above the door, which hung slightly open, the metal frame bent from the force of the door being smashed open.

  Adjusting her aetheric sight, Amanda could make out a couple of human life signs within. Both were weak, but one was close to death. Amanda shunted Essentia into her aegis, topping it off to make sure it was fully powered before she stood back and with a minor working, opened the door with her mind.

  It creaked as the metal hinges protested, but it swung open regardless, revealing a destroyed room beyond.

  The first space was small, with an old sofa and broken table. A destroyed coffee machine sat in the corner, leaking water over the floor.

  With a minor working of Magic, Amanda telekinetically turned off the stopcock, and the water dried to a drip.

  Through an archway that was one separated off with a beaded curtain that was now on the floor, was a mostly empty box room. Cables hung from the ceiling and walls, sparking from their ragged ends, and in the middle of the bare floor, a woman kneeled beside an injured man, who wore a blood-stained lab coat. But the blood was no from a patient.

  Above him, the woman sniffed, and looked up at Amanda. “Do it. Get it over with. You’ve taken everything from us anyway.”

  Amanda grimaced, and enforced her will on reality, working her magic. A quick tweak in the woman’s head, and she fell unconscious, dropping over her partner.

  “Sorry. It’s easier this way,” Amanda muttered. She worked her Magic again and healed the pair of them. The man would have died in short order, but he would survive now. Secondly, she dove into the memories of both of them, and relived the attack they’d suffered through at the hands of the Reavers.

  They had barged in, thrown the pair of them to one side, shooting the man, and then proceeded to teleport the cyber surgery gear away, clearing the room in seconds, before leaving.

  Looking around, Amanda could see where the machines had stood, where the dust and dirt had failed to land. The Reavers had destroyed this business, and likely ruined the owners’ lives.

  Sucking in a deep breath, she wondered if she could get them back, or find replacements somehow?

  For now, these two needed to rest. It was a moment’s work to work out the layout of the rest of the rooms and find a bed. She ported the pair to the bed, and made a small adjustment to their memories, removing any memory that hinted at something supernatural, before putting the pair into a deep, healing sleep so they wouldn’t wake up for a while.

  Satisfied, she returned to the front door and used her magic to fix and lock it.

  ~Amanda, we’ve found the Reavers hideout. We’ve taken out one guard and we’re about to enter the building. It would be great to have you here for backup.~

  ~Shite, already? That was quick. Okay, I’m on my way.~ Amanda took a moment to check around and make sure there was nothing else she needed to do, before she used her Magic to check were Matt was, and then Port there, making sure she kept out of sight in the process.

  SKIRMISH

  Frankie stalked in through the door of the warehouse with Matt close behind. Racks of old shelving covered in mouldy boxes stretched away into the vast room, obscuring their view.

  Hearing movement to her right, she turned to see a man she didn’t recognise edging round a corner with his arm raised. A gun sprouted from his limb.

  Frankie spun and snapped off three quick shots before the man had time to react. He spun and fell, landing hard with a grunt.

  Further into the building she heard shouts and the sounds of movement.

  If there had been any doubt whether they were being attacked before, there was none now.

  “Let’s go,” Matt urged.

  Frankie nodded. They set off at a jog, pausing at intersections to check down the rows of racks before crossing them, making sure they were clear.

  Shouts up ahead caught their attention.

  Matt pointed to cover as he ducked behind a box. Frankie did likewise on the opposite side of the row, crouching behind a stack of pallets. She peered around them and saw two more figures, one male, one female, both with gleaming cybernetics that were clearly fresh implants. The woman held a pistol while wicked blades extended from her arms, and the whole of the man’s right arm had transformed into a mini-gun. He grinned maniacally.

  Frankie glanced at Matt, and bugged her eyes, projecting an expression of concern towards him.

  He shrugged, and shifted his stance, getting ready to shoot.

  She heard the mini-gun spin up as gunshots sounded further away. Were Howie and Jinx dealing with some resistance too?

  The man’s gun suddenly erupted, sending a hail of lethal metal that tore into Matt’s cover.

  Matt threw himself through a gap in the shelving as Frankie watched helplessly. Gritting her teeth, she squeezed the handle of her gun and turned to duck out and fire.

  The Reaver woman leapt over the pallets, screaming as she came.

  Frankie rolled onto her back and fired. Her shots went wide as the Reaver swung her blade. Frankie ducked right as the hardened steel slammed into the concrete.

  The woman grabbed Frankie’s right arm and pinned it to the floor as she raised her blade, ready for another strike.

  Frankie slammed her boot into the woman’s pelvis and sent her flying over her head. She twisted into a crouch, facing the woman with her gun coming to bare. The Reaver rolled and turned to face Frankie with a hiss, both blades ready.

 

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