[100% Completion!]
[Requisitioning shock in 10...9...]
The pounding downstairs stopped.
[...8..7..6..5..4..]
Even if the user was unconscious, without being directly turned off, VPP still functioned. It was a feature one could turn off in the settings page, but most kept it on, in case of emergencies. This feature allowed a controlled electric shock to be released, potentially waking the user.
[..3...2...1]
[Initiating shock.]
Kai jerked awake. Colors swam in his vision, cool air touched his back. He shivered, goosebumps dotting his arms and neck. Kai tried to move, but his hands were tied. What the...what had happened? Kai squirmed on the floor, trying to loosen the rope. Eventually, he managed to sit up, but the knot held and his hands remained strung tightly together.
[Shock complete.]
"Shock?" Kai peered around the deserted room, clothes and shoes, bags and jewelry were strewn across the floor. "What happened?" Someone had left in a hurry.
[Do you remember the car?]
Kai nodded. "Yeah someone pushed me out of the way. I still don't get why a car showed up, shouldn't they have laws against stuff like that? How does anyone walk down their street without the worry of a truck hitting them huh?"
[They do have laws against it. You were the one in violation.]
"Me? How?"
[Road: a wide way leading from one place to another, especially one with a specially prepared surface which vehicles can use.]
"Yes, but you said it was the sidewalk."
[My apologies, I mixed up the two definitions.]
[Sidewalk: that portion of a highway, other than the roadway, set apart by curbs, barriers, markings or other delineation for pedestrian travel.]
"I didn't understand half of what you just said." Kai rubbed his forehead. "What's a pedestrian?"
[Pedestrian: a person walking along a road or in a developed area.]
"Wait---define person."
[Person: a human being regarded as an individual.]
Kai thought for a moment. "So I'm a person pedestrian in a developed road. Or no... I'm a person pedestrian walking on a developed road area."
[...no]
"...developed area road?"
[That's worse.]
"What am I supposed to say?"
[Nothing.]
Kai sighed, nursing his tied hands with his thumbs. "I can't do that."
[If you say something wrong, you will become suspicious.]
"And if I say nothing?"
[...]
"Still suspicious?"
[...]
Kai finally remembered the guy with the strong features and predatory eyes. What had his name been? Roe? Today had not turned out the way he'd hoped, but what the heck---it was his first week, things were bound to get better eventually. Getting jumped on his first day. It might have been a bumpy start, but he'd been through worse.
'Just shoulder the load.' Kai thought. 'Maybe this kind of stuff happens regularly around here.'
[One new message from: Z]
Message? So they were reaching out to him? Why the change of heart?
[Would you like to read it?]
"Yes."
[Shuttle with the people. Make sure to tip the driver. Ask for his/her name, then get back to work.]
Kai stared at the message. 'Code?' He wondered.
[Kai.]
What kind of code was shuttle? And what was 'to tip'? Did Z mean tip of a sword? A weapon? Was he supposed to KILL someone? Who? And who entrusted something like that to Kai of all people? Kai wasn't the least bit reliable, let alone trustworthy.
It was difficult enough trying to be an everyday person pedestrian, but add 'lawbreaker' to the pile...no thanks.
[Kai!]
The word was expanded across his entire vision. A setting VPP controlled was the magnitude---or size---of each word. Sometimes, VPP would enlarge a single word to emphasize or catch the user's attention. "What?" Kai blinked the word out of his vision.
[They took your case.]
"Wha---" Kai paled. "You mean---"
[Yes..]
Kai was silent. 'This is bad.' Z's face popped into his head. He remembered Z's words: "Come back without yer gear and I kill ya."
Besides the threat, there were other concerns roped with the loss. Without the VPP case, Kai couldn't charge his lenses. If his contact lenses died on him, he would have no way to contact his superiors. In other words, he'd be stuck here. Possibly forever.
[Would you like me to start a search for them?]
"You can do that?" Despite the circumstances, the corners of Kai's mouth tugged to something of a smile; the VPP was really something.
[Yes. As long as the user initiates it via voice recognition.]
As the words faded away, Kai cleared his throat. "Begin search for VPP C%i*GL2&!?." Kai waited.
And waited.
And waited.
[...]
"What?"
[It is called a charger here.]
[Charger: a device for charging a battery or battery-powered equipment.]
"But we don't use---"
[Closest word in their dictionary.]
'Ah.' Kai thought. 'Okay then, charger it is.'
He tried again. "Begin search for VPP charger!"
The door to Kai's room was violently shoved open. Kai didn't notice, too concerned about the words popping up in his vision.
[Voice recognized.]
[Initiating tracking feature.]
[Increasing power.]
[Warning! Due to the increase of power, lenses may produce heat. Please proceed with caution. Removing lenses is advised.]
Removing lenses? Why would---
He noticed the movement then. Someone was approaching him. Was it Roe?
[Increasing power levels...]
Heat flooded Kai's face, his eyes began to burn. A girl stepped into the light cast from the window, her eyebrows creased. She was holding a knife, tip pointed at Kai. Shock green beautiful eyes sat on a prim nose, speckled with freckles. Peppered black hair tied loosely in a ponytail, a scowl secured firmly in place. Grey pants, a tight top covered with a tight black jacket. A metallic wolf badge hung over her heart, the blue and yellow dichotomy a perfect contrast to the black coat. She was beautiful.
[Speeding up process...]
[Kai are you alright?]
The heat rose. It was too much.
"ACK! You're HOT!" The boy yelped. He blinked tears down his face.
Shoot. The girl looked pissed.
*****
Naturally, Nataly slapped him.
"Who the hel---"
"Hey now! Before you go swearing, please---" The boy sack hopped towards Nataly. "Untie me."
Untie? Him? Who did he think....
"..." Nataly looked down her nose at the boy. She took in his sorry clothing, beat up arms, swollen red eyes, and disheveled hair. "What's your name?"
The boy's confused face looked up at her. "Me?"
"No the guy besides you."
He actually looked.
"Yes you, genius." Nataly sighed. How many more idiots did she have to put up with? Seeing Quinn's face had sapped her energy. "I'm really not up for this. So just don't try anything funny, okay?"
The boy's smile turned serious. "Yes of course ma'am."
Nataly shuffled over, muttering under her breath. She fiddled with the ropes, they were thick but frayed, and with a few quick tugs fell loose. A muted thud sounded, and the boy immediately began rubbing his eyes. Nataly moved onto the bags and boxes of garbage sprawled around the room like a neglected garden. She rustled through the contents, occasionally pulling out an item that might have been labeled 'valuable' at a point of time. Most of the clothes were filled with little holes, eaten away by moths and time. The jewelry looked salvageable, so she pulled the little boxes out and placed them in a small accumulating pile.
When the boy finally finished rubbing his eyes Nataly pointed him towards the door. He got the message and shuffled in it's direction, coming to stop at the door, pausing in the open frame. One of the hinges was broken.
Another box drew her attention away.
"It's Kai."
Nataly glanced up, hands still digging for gold. She raised an eyebrow. "What?"
"My name." Kai ran a hand threw his hair. "You asked earlier."
"M'huh." She was exhausted. Just a couple more boxes, then she could leave. "Just head downstairs. They'll be a tall guy beaming, tell him Nataly sent you."
"Okay." Kai didn't leave. He watched her work for a few minutes.
"Thank you." Kai finally said.
She shrugged. "Just doing my job. Some people like giving others a hard time. Jumped you right?"
Kai hesitantly nodded.
"I figured as much."
She stared hard at him. "Hey...somethings been bothering me about you...but...I can't seem to..." Aha! Kai's golden eyes, that was it. Hadn't they been brown before? "You're eyes..."
"Oh! Yeah! Actually I just put in contact lenses! I...I have a problem viewing so as soon as you freed me I put them in!" Kai began to sweat visibly.
Nataly cocked her head. What was his problem? Speech impediment?
She remembered the first words he'd said to her.
'Yeah.' She dismissed him internally. 'He's probably got some kind of condition.'
"Thanks---bye!" He disappeared down the stairs.
******
Kai's heart begged him to calm down, beating twice as fast as normal. That was close. Way too close for comfort. He needed something to cover his eyes with. What could he use? Growing longer hair wasn't exactly an option. Sunglasses? Or maybe a hoodie?
'Take a couple breaths.' He thought. 'Keep your head down, and don't draw the wrong attention. New start.'
He tripped down the stairs. A lovely way to make a new start, if you liked eight guns and a sparkling dagger pointed at your head. In the corner of the room, a boy about Kai's age stared wide-eyed at the ceiling. His face swung towards him at the sound of Kai's fall.
The man with the dagger stepped forward. "Identify yourself!" He barked.
He tried to get up but eight guns clicked. "Kaisir!" Kai said.
"Stay down! Don't move!" The man raised his dagger and squatted down, his clothes spreading out as he did so. "How did you get here? This is a crime scene, only members of my team should be here."
The way people talked, it was confusing him. Without VPP to specify and point out certain words, Kai just stared blankly at the man before him. Crime scene? Like murder? Theft? "Don't worry sir! I'm not a lawbreaker! I've had many honest jobs before! I was a bar-tender once, a painter, and a food worker! Never got a penny from anything but hard luck!"
Was luck the right word?
Kai glanced around. Nataly had said to find the beaming man. What was beaming? A kind of fish?
"Is that so?" The man with the dagger smiled at him. "Watcha name kid?"
Personality swings? "Kai Waltz, sir."
"Where'd you come from?"
Kai pointed above them. "Upstairs, sir."
"Did Harper send you?"
"No, sir." Kai said. "Her name was Nataly."
The group looked at each other. The man with the dagger seemed to be the leader. "Alright then." The man was still smiling. "Please come with us. The name's Quinn." He stuck out his hand. Kai took it, and was pulled up.
"Sorry 'bout earlier." Quinn led Kai to the door. It had a large blood stain, with several scuff marks. When Kai took a closer look around, he could see the clear signs of a fight. The desk in the corner was on its side, a light about him hung down too low, its light cracked by a silver stretch of metal. The window was broken, the metallic taste of blood was in the air.
The group made their way outside, where a large car sat under the only streetlight on the block. Silver, blue and yellow paint adorned one side of the car, splashed on the car in the same manner as Nataly's pin. Was this group organized?
'I didn't realize how much I depend on VPP.' Kai thought as they assured him into the black car. Two metal circles were fixed onto his hands, but when Kai had questioned this, Quinn had waved it off as formalities, whatever that meant.
One other person occupied the back. He had white hair with a blood red streak in it, eyes were unnaturally wide.
The car ride was nice. A calm, peaceful moment Kai tried to sleep through.
A boy stared at him. It was unnerving. Every time Kai thought he might fall asleep, he'd feel the stare and look up at the boy, make awkward eye contact and try to sleep again.
Quinn had said the ride would take about thirty minutes.
With an extra set of eyes on him, Kai couldn't sleep. He felt like prey, locked under a predator's gaze. The little metal locked around the boy's wrist did not comfort Kai.
People were terrifying.