Quince
Sunday May 16th 2088
Brantford Station
New Detroit
1:42 AM
I sat in the Light Rail after a long night of drinking. I could feel my gut wanting to open its airlock and my head spinning, but tonight wasn't too memorable. All I really did was drink with a couple friends at Club Judas. They were obsessed with old 2020s bands, but I didn't really give a damn. We may have grown up together, but I couldn't relate to them anymore. Not like I could with some of our crew. I had tons of respect for Ray because he was one hell of a leader and quite the bulwark. Dragon's augments only served to give a small incremental boost to his already deadly martial arts abilities. Even an asshole like Yata had his good days, and he was one of the top hackers in New Detroit despite being one of the most well known. Ray seemed to be the only one of us who liked him though. He would either make snide remarks about something, or he'd never seem to shut up about daemons. But he earned Ray's respect, so I tolerated his 'better than you' attitude. Dragon was a man of few words who preferred to attack rather than speak. At all. Though I knew he was always loyal, I was never sure what to say to him. I'd been on this rail car for what seemed like hours. I could hear the system announce that we've arrived at Brantford Station, though I was tempted to fire off a gun at the speakers. What a headache. Normally, I'd be in bed at this hour but I had to let them talk me into hitting up Club Judas. All four of us. Edie went home first because she needed to meet with her input. Alicia was most likely in bed with the guy she met at the bar who invited her to the VIP lounge. And I was pretty sure Lizzy was already home. Before I could gather my thoughts, I got a call from Lizzy's roommate, Jake.
"Yo, Trinity," He asked. "Is Lizzy still with you guys?"
"No, I thought she was home already." I replied.
"Fuck. She said she'd be home an hour ago. I need her help getting Basket to sleep. You know that mutt only listens to her."
"I don't know what to say. She left the club at 11:30."
"Sounds like you've had too much to drink telling by your voice and look. I guess I'll call back in the morning."
It still felt weird being called by my given name instead of my handle. None of my closest friends knew I was a mercenary. To think, the great deadeye Quince could've easily been tracked down as Trinity Naomi Quincy. I would have chalked that up to nothing short of a miracle or a little birdie saving my bacon. Jake hung up, probably annoyed with Basket, who was very much worried about his owner coming home safely. I leaned back in a drunken stupor as I tried to relax. But in the moment, I was too worried about Lizzy's safety. We all knew what could happen to women like us in New Detroit. Just thinking of the horrible possibilities was almost enough to sober me up. Finally, I got a call from Ray Hatchet.
"Quince, is everything alright?" He asked. I found the fear in his voice odd.
"Yeah... I feel like shit right now."
"Someone has been targeting known associates of ours. One of my old colleagues was stabbed multiple times. Bastard knifed his organs in alphabetical order. Then one of Yata's hacker buddies was shot in the head executioner style."
"I think we might've pissed someone off after our last job. Wouldn-"
I was interrupted by a sight, very unpleasant to the eyes. Lizzy just boarded the rail car and she was with three guys. Lizzy was still wearing her pink dress and blue hair, and she was making out with one of them while the other two were groping her. My mind was in shock at the sight. This was very much unlike her. The trio looked like they belonged to a new poser gang, dressed like dapper 1950s suits. However, I knew they were anything but suits. She seemed to pay no attention to me, focused on the three. The one she was kissing broke away and approached me. I was ready to draw my gun, but the other two brandished knives. Lizzy simply looked back at me. No fear in her eyes. It didn't take a rocket scientist or even a genius like Yata to figure out they did something to her. The leader shook his head.
"If it isn't Trinity Quincy," He said. "Or should I say Quince..."
"What the fuck did you do to her?" I yelled out.
"Wouldn't you wanna know. But that doesn't matter right now. What matters is that you don't take the job that was given to you. The one where you're attacking Libra Industries."
"How the fuck did you know about that?"
My eyes were wide with shock. I didn't know what was worse, the fact that Lizzy was in immediate danger or how they knew about the job we were given. I reached for my sidearm, but the two men held knives to Lizzy's throat. I couldn't help but wonder why Lizzy wasn't afraid despite knowing well she was drugged somehow. Fear and anger were taking me over. I had completely forgotten that Ray was still on the line.
"What's happening, Quince?" Ray asked.
"Let her go..." I pleaded with tears in my eyes, "Please."
"Then tell your crew to call off the job. It's that simple. And if you warn your friends we're here, the dame gets it."
I hung up the call. I knew my only option was to play ball. I assumed that Ray and Yata had the same threatening conversation with different mercs that someone hired to stop us. Our client had fucked us from the start and this was the moment I realized that. The leader looked in shock behind me.
"Kill the bitch!!" He screamed.
The two men tried to follow their boss' orders to the best of their ability, but I could see that their limbs move unnaturally away from Lizzy. They moved away from her as if they had lost control of themselves. It was then that they were forced by something to turn the knives on themselves. One quick slash of the jugular, followed by another, was seemingly as long as it lasted. I heard a familiar voice come from behind me. Nobody else I knew had a tone that went beyond condescending. I looked behind me to see a familiar looking man. His bangs covered his eyes, but the black hoodie and cargo pants made him stand out evidently. He didn't look very happy to see them. Now I knew he had hacked the two thugs into killing themselves and he looked like he was about to have a field day with the other. Lizzy's face turned in terror as she now realized the danger she was in.
"You know," He replied. "There are two people I hate most in this world. Poseur gangs and Corpos. And you scumbags bring the worst of both worlds..."
"How long were you here?"
"Just got here. Right place at the right time."
The leader drew his revolver, with intent to turn it on Lizzy. However, he was now pointing it at his own head thanks to Yata's intervention. The leader struggled to move the gun away, but there was not a single inch given. They had pissed Yata off and he didn't look like he had a shred of mercy to spare. However, there was no bang. No shots fired yet. Yata seemed to be waiting for something. It wasn't like Yata to play hero, but his hidden eyes may have told me this was personal if I could see them.
"Yo, Quince. Care to do the honors of ridding the world of this piece of shit?"
"With pleasure." Was my reply.
I drew my gun and took aim. Unlike most people, I didn't have a HUD or Optics. I just knew exactly where to shoot by instinct. No matter how hard I tried to explain it, I would always fail. It was like a feeling in my gut and my eyes focusing on my target. My hand knowing exactly where to aim and compensating for recoil. I pulled the trigger once. My old glock was aimed perfectly so that the bullet struck the leader in the head, tearing off a large chunk of his skull. Bits of grey matter and blood spilled everywhere, some of it over a poor traumatized Lizzy. He fell to the ground face first, creating a pool of blood. Fortunately, the rail car we were in just had us. No bystanders to witness the situation. Yata would walk over to my friend who would now have PTSD...