Benjamin Wray: Acid Reign: Genesis

Lilly stopped running as she reached the end of the dimly lit alley and looked behind her. Through every gap in the metal walls of the gambling pits an array of blue and yellow colors ebbed and flowed like an arc-grenade frozen in mid-ignition. Behind the pits, reaching into the sky, was the outline of Nucrea’s city center that illuminated the night with a bright blue glow.

She knew she didn’t have much time before Bean realized she was gone, but luckily, Nun’s place wasn’t very far. She turned to run, and charged right into a tall man that smelled like vinegar and old grease.

“Easy there,” the man said, followed by an eerily friendly laugh.

“Whuch ya’ runnin’ from Miss?”

Lilly felt the grip on her arm tighten. She twisted and wrenched herself free. She tried to move around him, but he quickly stepped in front of her. She backed up just as a younger, but equally disheveled man stepped out of the shadows.

She looked around to see if there was a third.

Only two of them .

“Aw, don’t go. We just want to talk.”

The other man that had come out of the shadows started to move behind her.

“Not a good idea,” Lilly replied with a confidence that caught the rancid man off guard.

He tilted his head, closed one eye, and looked her up and down.

“I think it’s a great idea,” added a rusted voice from the man trying to flank her.

Lilly moved to where she needed to be and stopped backing up. She needed to prove herself to everyone, and she wasn’t going to let two drunken bastards get in her way.

“There ya go. We just want to talk. What’s your name?”

Distraction.

“Not really in the mood for talking, but I have an idea,” she said in an innocently patronizing tone.

The rancid man laughed.

“Me, too,” he said.

Lilly held up her hand as he tried to move closer.

“Hold on a sec, big guy.”

He looked quizzically at his partner as she took out a walnut Skynut drone, and tossed it into the air.

“That’s cute,” mocked the younger man.

The rancid man straightened his posture as his face turned as sour as his stench.

“A pigeon cam isn’t going to help you,” he said as Lilly finished synchronizing the feed from the drone with her Pigeon.

Confidence.

“Let’s do this,” she said as she opened her arms as if she was going to give them both a hug.

The rancid man lunged at her, but Lilly was ready for him. She avoided his grab, swung under and up, elbowed him in the ear, and then kicked the back of his leg, forcing him down hard on one knee.

“You little bitch,” the younger man said.

Lilly looked up at the drone and smiled as the older man got back to his feet. She could have gotten away easily now, but she felt alive and wanted more.

Diversion.

The two men came at her from different angles. She made it look like she was focused on the older man, but as soon as they went in to grab her she dodged his attempt and with a combination of moves took the younger one to the ground hard. His face hit against the crumbled cement, breaking a front tooth and splitting his skin in several places.

The older man hit her in the back of the head, sending her rolling. She used her momentum to get her footing and countered with a sharp punch to his throat. The younger man got up, blood flowing from multiple cuts in his face, and pulled out a long knife from inside his coat. Even though she was turned towards the older man, Lilly heard the slide of metal on fabric.

The young man, knife drawn and furious, lunged at her. She hit his wrist and folded it hard against him, just like she had practiced with Ripp a million times. She grabbed the knife as it came loose, stabbed him once in the neck and again in the back part of the shoulder, then moved past him to engage the older man.

She dropped low, and drove the knife deep in the thick part of his upper leg. He hit her hard in the back, making her stumble and yell out in pain. She got her footing and turned to assess the threat. The old man winced as he put his weight on his leg. The younger man was lying unconscious in his blood.

One left .

“I’m gonna kill you now,” the man said quietly with complete conviction.

Finish.

He looked at his dying son, then, holding nothing back, rushed toward Lilly. She let him get close, and, in one instant, shoved the knife as far as she could up underneath his chin.

He did exactly what Ripp said these kind of people would do, he lost focus and let uncontrolled rage take over.

They both stumbled backward as the knife broke through the soft part under his chin and on through the bone protecting the top of his mouth.

He fell on top of her, but instead of fighting he stared, confused. She pushed him away and got to her feet, expecting a fight.

Nothing.

Disoriented, with the knife hilt jutting from under his chin, the man ignored Lilly, struggled to stand up, and hobbled in slow motion back toward the pits. She thought he would collapse but he kept going, silently.

Lilly held out a bloody hand as the Skynut landed. She put the little drone back in her pocket, waited for the file to finish and uploaded the video on her Pigeon.

She typed, “Just getting started…,” and then ran into the shadows.

Ripp and Gus turned back onto the main road. They drove around a few piles of rubble at the intersection and headed north again. Gus stayed close behind in the Nucrean Guard transport as Ripp took the lead.

“Those soldiers keep getting younger,” Gus said through a crackling com.

“You’re just getting older,” Ripp shot back.

“Ha! I know they were coming after us to kill us but I still feel bad about it all.”

“Drinking at Johnny’s before a con makes you soft I think.”

“Probably,” Gus admitted thoughtfully.

“Luckily that didn’t take very long. Only about an hour or so from the depot.”

“Depot? As in the military depot we have picked clean already?” Gus asked with growing irritation.

“The very one.”

The comms went silent.

“Nun wants us to locate information,” Ripp added with a large dose of hesitancy.

Ripp looked at the monitors and saw that Gus had slammed on his breaks.

“Have fun. I’m heading back,” Gus said, obviously hurt.

“Whoa, c’mon.”

“You know I don’t do paper work! That’s why you wouldn’t tell me what the con was about isn’t it?”

“It’s not like that Gus. C’mon. Easy money.”

“I ain’t gonna risk my neck out here for some damned file. Not sure if you remember what happened last time we were out here, but I do. I’m good. Go on and find your files. I’m heading back.”

Gus turned his transport around, hiting a railing hard. “Hell! Who’s gettin’ soft?” Gus shouted.

“Not much of a market for stolen Nucrean transports you know?”

“You let me worry about that.”

“Look, I’m sorry I didn’t tell you, but I need you, brother,” Ripp said.

“You know how I feel about these kind of runs. On your own Ripp.”

Gus finally got the transport turned around and headed south.

“I’m sorry. I should have told you. Just stay. We already know the area and it’s three times the normal fee.”

Ripp said the last part slow and loud waiting for it to set in, but there was nothing.

Ripp stopped his transport and waited. “Yes, Nun is paying us triple our fee.”

Still, there was nothing.

“Well?” Ripp said getting a little nervous that Gus was out of range.

“Gus?”

Ripp cursed to himself under his breath and put the transport in drive just as Gus flew by.