Titanium (a Miki story)
Posted: Tue Sep 11, 2012 6:51 am
Author's Note: Hello all, I haven't put anything out in a while. I'm still working on the route, but needed to get some other writing done before I completely lost my momentum. If you do not like AU stories or stories that are not about cute girls doing cute things, I suggest you leave this thread now. Otherwise, enjoy!
=========04 April 2017 – 20:47pm=========
I’m so tired.
I’m running and I’m tired.
I’m tired of running. Been running for years and it’s never gotten me where I wanted to be. It all just slips away through my fingers no matter how hard or fast I run.
Running on some track isn’t the same as running for your life, and right now that’s what I’m doing. So no matter how tired or sick of it I am, I carry on. Foot, knee, thigh, up, forward, down, repeat. Every stride against the dull concrete sends echoes down through the corridor, another sound to try block out from the growing clamor around me. Sirens, shouts, lockdown bolts slamming shut, gunfire. I blaze past an adjacent corridor, but the muzzle flashes and bullets flying by don’t encourage me to stop. Nope, not that turn, probably just a bit further now.
Even though my lungs burn as I try to force more air into them, I’m thankful that this place isn’t rigged with some of the nastier countermeasures I’ve heard about... like those turbine vent systems that can turn a room into a total vacuum in less than two minutes.
I round a corner, nearly skidding from taking it at such speed, and continue down another straight corridor. This is the one. I see the doorway at the end of the hall and... shit, another lockdown gate grinding into place slowly. Gotta go faster now. Dents and sparks dance across the surface of the door, and I try not to think of what may be behind me. The opening continues to narrow, but I’m almost there.
I take one last stride, leaping forward and kicking my legs out, sliding through the gap and beneath the door just before the reinforced ‘teeth’ settle down into the grooves of the threshold. The dull thud of it closing is the only sound that can be heard in this room. I pause for a moment, staring back at the solid metal wall behind me just to reassure myself that I made it this time. Slowly my breath comes back to me, and I push myself off the floor to... agh, fuck! A sharp tug at the base of my skull nearly causes me to fall over again. I notice that the very end of my hair is caught under the door. Shit.
A slight flick of my left wrist sends small razorlike blades out from each fingertip and they lock into place. I slice myself free and then slump against the door, holding my hand out in front of me to give it a quick check. The electric servos whirr pleasantly as the actuators engage, causing the rest of my metallic arm to shimmer a little in the dull light. I grip my wrist with my right hand and smile as the blades retract with a satisfying clink.
The room I’m in is nondescript, mainly containing racks and shelves lined with boxes filled with who knows what. Nothing that I came for, that’s for sure. I reach up to tug at the zipper of my black armored bodysuit, opening it just enough so I can reach inside to pull out a small lighter-sized hardcase. I knew it was still there, but I just needed to make sure that I really did get it. Clutching it protectively, I rest my forearms on my knees and let my head slump forward. The guys on my tail are probably on the other side trying to break through already, but it’ll be at least a couple minutes before I have to get moving again.
I absentmindedly run my fingers along the contours of the case, taking a moment to remember just how I got here. I close my eyes and think back to where this all started.
It began with change.
They say change comes when you least expect it. I don’t know who ‘they’ are, but they sure know what the hell they’re talking about. I remember when I lost my hand and I thought I knew what change meant. Thought I could deal with it and take every day in stride. Once I’d mastered the situation I’d been forced into, everything else that came after didn’t seem so bad. But I was just a conceited little high-school brat back then. Those are the days when you can easily delude yourself into thinking that you’ve got it all figured out, even though in the back of your mind there's this small voice whispering a warning that the façade could crumble at any moment. Then, when you least expect it, reality will undoubtedly sneak up and kick you right in the ass. It sends you tumbling down into the mud and stands over you, laughing as you try to pick yourself up. You turn around and say, “Why? Where did this all come from so suddenly?”
And the only response you’re given is: “You’ll see soon enough.”
But for all the mud and metaphors in the world, nobody really could have seen the change that was coming until it was already there. Nobody would have guessed that some genius biotech grad-student from Tokyo U. would blow the whole field wide open by finally reverse-engineering the human brain. You couldn’t have paid anyone to believe that Honda would jump on that bandwagon so quickly and dish out an arsenal of robotics projects that they seemed to be pulling from thin air. They had fooled everyone into thinking they were resigned to quiet mediocrity, and years of parading around that dumpy-looking spaceman robot had really driven the point home. But all the while they were up to something else, and they got us good.
The futurists and tech gurus all said it wouldn’t happen for at least another few decades, but it did—the second electronic revolution. Much to the chagrin of some and the delight of others, it kicked off almost overnight right here in Japan. Pulled us straight out of the depression we’d been stewing in since the 90’s and put us right back at the top of the global economic foodchain. Only this time instead of TVs, cellphones, and video-game consoles it was cybernetic limbs, organs, and neural implants. Like some twisted fantasy out of a sci-fi manga brought to life, the future was here.
One of the first changes that came was the improvement to the quality of life for a lot of people. Before the big defense contracts came through at least, that’s how the companies got their foot in the door for all this stuff. A new technological revolution marketed to eliminate the suffering of the elderly, sick, and... the disabled. In the blink of an eye, the problems that had derailed the course of so many lives and forced people into places like quaint little Yamaku were now easily mended. No more coping, no more coming to grips with the fact that you would never quite be normal at best. Just a quick surgery to run some wires here and there, and then you’re good as new.
Within a few years the student headcount began hemorrhaging until the school was no longer able to pull in enough grant money to stay above water. Probably had something to do with the bill the lobbyists passed that eliminated the old welfare system as a way of forcing people to adopt the new treatments and augmentations. After all, why would anyone choose to stay an invalid when the alternative is now so cost-effective, simple, and most importantly--profitable?
There were a few people who were happy to see Yamaku fade away, though. I guess they never grew to view it as the haven it was, so when they looked back they only saw a prison that mocked them and separated them from the world where they used to belong. That group even made an attempt to burn it down, but thanks to rumors in the net, myself and a few others showed up to ‘talk’ some sense into them that night. The only talking that ended up being done was with closed fists and thankfully, the school still stands there to this day as a shadow of its former self--a monument to a quieter time when life was simple and serene.
The revolution didn’t save everyone, though. As with anything new, there are bound to be some bumps in the road, and people who get left behind.
Like the boy I used to love.
Arrhythmia had given way to something far worse, and being on the transplant list for years, his heart had so many holes in it that they refused to operate any further.
He died a week before the first cybernetic heart hit the market.
We buried him up on a hill near the school, close to the place where he and I shared our first kiss. I still go there from time to time. I went there this morning because I knew it would probably be the last chance I’d have. My mind begins to wander and I can almost feel the wind--laced with the smell of jasmine--caressing my cheeks.
Molly had given me the third-rate when I showed up late at the lab because of that trip...
=========04 April 2017 – 17:21pm=========
“What took you so long? Honestly Miki...” the small Indian girl folds her arms across her chest and puffs up her cheeks while looking away, but it’s hard to take her seriously since she’s still sporting her signature pigtails.
“Sorry Molls,” I say while pretending to fidget with my left hand, trying not to stare down at the girl in the white coat sitting in a wheelchair before me, “I had to go. You know it’s important for me.”
“I have diagnostics to run, Miki! You can’t expect to do this unless you’re at 100%, you know it!” she huffs, reaching up to snatch at my hand and pull it closer for inspection. She pushes up her glasses and turns it over, gaze taking in every detail as she does.
Molly was always one of the brightest kids in our class, and she wound up going to med-school after graduating. Secured herself a pretty nice fellowship and eventually became one of the expert researchers who had the luxury of riding this new technological wave. Despite that, I’ve never been able to figure out why she still kept using those old metal prosthetics and eventually wound up right back in a wheelchair because of it. She’s been a good friend to me over the years, and helps with my implants when I need it, so I don’t press her about it too much as I’m sure she has her reasons. I wouldn’t want to risk upsetting her considering she’s pretty much all I’ve got left now except...
Except Suzu.
As Molly continues to inspect my hand and mutter to herself, my gaze drifts over to the far wall of the lab where tubes and cables hang down from the ceiling like a spiderweb, connected to various monoliths filled with cooling and life-support systems that surround a plexiglass cylinder. There, sealed off from the world, dreaming dreams of eternity, lies my best friend.
I pull away from Molly and walk over to gaze down at the figure trapped inside the tube, wishing more than anything that I could reach out to stroke her sea-green hair one last time.
Suzu was among the ‘fortunate’ ones too. Her parents had scrimped and saved for years, so they were able to buy her one of the first implants that could regulate brain-chemistry to correct her narcolepsy. It was the gift they had always wanted to give their little girl... until it stopped working, that is. The early neural implants were far from perfect, but it was a risk they were willing to take. What the doctors didn’t foresee is just how badly it would malfunction. She started having relapses and then one day she just shut down completely. Permasleep, they said, the chip was no longer able to regulate the signals properly and was like a light switch stuck in the ‘off’ position. They tried removing the implant, but the methods used to insert it were crude by today’s standards, and there was too high a risk of scar-tissue forming and causing irreparable damage to the gray-matter unless they replaced the chip entirely.
Things with that big a pricetag don’t come with a warranty, so now Suzu rests here in deep freeze until the day we can bring her back.
Until I bring her back. Today.
I’d spent years abusing my connections and hounding the best infobrokers before I finally got a lead on a new kind of chip that was being developed. Military-grade, big-budget, some seriously tricked-out shit. No doubt the next generation of soldier mind-hacks to give the powermongers an even more reliable and compliant army.
I brought the leaked schematics to Molly and, after I managed to talk her down from a mild panic-attack upon seeing them, she was able to figure out a way to modify the chip and make it a suitable replacement for the one keeping Suzu under without causing any damage. All of her excitement about getting to play with fancy new hardware like that went away as soon as I told her what I’d have to do to get it, though.
“Miki,” her voice snaps me out of my daze, and I hadn’t even realized that Molly had rolled up next to me, “Come on. You can look later. I’m not sending you out there until I’m certain everything works right.”
“I...” my mouth opens and I try to form words of protest as I cast one last look at the sleeping girl before me, “Yeah... okay.”
Molly wheels herself over towards a table at the center of the room and begins adjusting various monitors, sensors, and robotic arms suspended around it.
I kick off my boots unceremoniously and slide my trenchcoat off, tossing it on a nearby chair, soon to be joined by my socks, pants, and tanktop. Once I’m lying flat on the table, I try to suppress a shiver from the cool feeling of the surface against my skin. Molly busies herself by connecting various lead cables to sockets on my left arm and my legs. Heh. Yep, legs.
After I graduated I was able to get a full-ride to run track for a university and eventually made it onto the national team to train for the Olympics. I used to enjoy it, but once it became my job I stopped looking forward to getting out there and doing laps as time went on. Especially when people with augments began showing up. I had always counted down the days until we graduated Yamaku and I’d no longer have to face the humiliation of running against Emi, but the board decided to rule that the new artificial legs no longer demanded amputees to have a category of their own as long as their prosthetics were closely regulated and appropriately tuned-down to mimic real ones. Something snapped inside me when I knew that she and I would be on the same track again.
It didn’t take long to convince my sponsors to buy me a new set of legs to ensure I’d keep winning. The excuse made for the public was easy enough--severe muscle and tissue damage from years of rigorous training, not easily mended by traditional methods. Acceptably tragic.
I’ll never forget the look on Emi’s face when she saw me walk out onto the track the first time after my surgery. I shot the same smirk back at her she always gave me and was met with a look of utter disgust and hatred. She stormed off the track and forfeited the race. Guess the legless wonder isn’t so wonderful when she’s running on last year’s model. Serves her right, smug bitch.
My attention is brought back to reality as my left leg gives an involuntary jolt and is totally enveloped in that awful pins-and-needles sensation, making me wince.
“Jeez Molls... a little warning?” I hiss, tilting my head to the side to look at the control deck, where Molly now sits and has started doing her tests.
“To borrow your own words: ‘suck it up, kid.’ You’ve been through benchmarking plenty of times before to know how it is,” she replies nonchalantly, brow knitted in concentration as she calmly taps commands on the screen and checks readings.
“Still doesn’t mean I like it,” I say, narrowing my eyes and doing my best to pout. It’s not really that bad, but Molly worries about me and teasing her is my way of reassurance.
“Have you had any mods done since the last time?” Molly asks, raising an eyebrow at me, “I’m not registering anything new here, but these levels look...”
“I raised the limiters a bit. Just a little overclocking, you know?” I flash her a toothy grin, but I’m only met with a frown in return.
“Right,” she says flatly, clearly not impressed, “I’m just going to turn these back down.”
“No! Don’t!” I shout, sitting bolt upright and almost tear some of the cables out of their sockets as I do.
Molly jumps visibly at my outburst, and for a brief moment she looks like that timid girl who used to sit in the same row in class as me again.
“I... I’m sorry Molly it’s just... I’m gonna need every bit I can get today,” I try to keep my voice low, feeling guilty for startling her.
“I know you will, Miki,” The look of fear is gone and replaced with her usual calm, concerned one, “But what good will any of it be if you go and blow a servo or... something worse? I still don’t think you should...”
“Molls...” I sigh, flopping back down onto the table, “We’ve been through this. You’re not talking me out of it. If you’re that worried, then dial it back a few points, but I already know how much I can take. Just trust me, okay.”
She looks at me for another moment but then shakes her head and gets back to work. After she flips a few switches on a control box, the robotic arms above spring to life. They swivel and realign themselves, standing at the ready until Molly enters the next sequence of commands. One by one they descend and begin to poke and prod at my legs and left arm--checking screws, removing and replacing panels, testing the actuators. For half a moment I almost wish having these kinds of limbs wasn’t so troublesome and high-maintenance, but the thought quickly leaves my mind when I remember the alternative.
A short while later, Molly comes over to unhook the cables and pronounces me a-okay with a curt but satisfied nod. I hop off the table and begin to re-dress solemnly. As I do, I begin mentally going through the rest of the preparations I need to finish up before showtime. Lost in thought, I turn and nod to Molly, mumbling a quick thanks.
“Miki wait,” she calls out as I reach the door. I turn around to see her wheeling towards a desk to carefully remove something from the drawer. In a moment, she makes her way back over to where I’m standing and looks up at me expectantly.
“What’s up?” I ask, slinging my coat over my shoulder.
“Tell me your backup plan,” she says firmly, fixing her gaze on mine.
“Hm... You mean if waltzing in and asking nicely if I can have it doesn’t work?” I smirk a little while rubbing my chin thoughtfully, “Well, I guess I’ll just have to give them some personal time with the Fist.”
I wink once at Molly and raise my left arm threateningly for effect, but she looks seriously unimpressed and shakes her head.
“I know you might not worry, Miki. But I do...” Molly reaches into her pocket and pulls out a small object, which she slowly hands to me.
I bring it closer for inspection—it’s a polyhedron made of some kind of metal. It sits neatly in my palm and as I tap at the surface it... ripples ever so slightly but still retains its overall shape.
“What... the heck is this?” I say, utterly confused.
“Something to protect you,” she smiles at me sweetly while looking rather proud of herself, “It’s nanotech, still being researched. I had to pull a lot of strings to get it, and it only lasts for a couple of minutes, so don’t waste it ok?”
“Molls you didn’t have t—” I start to say, but she reaches up and grabs my hand--my real hand--and clasps it firmly for reassurance. Hers are so warm and soft. Damn it.
I blink away the tears that are starting to form in my eyes, hoping she won’t notice. As I do, I lean forward and gently plant a kiss on her forehead, whispering a final ‘thank-you’ before I turn to go.
I take one last look back at my friend, returning her wave before stepping out of the lab and into the twilight.
=========04 April 2017 – 20:52pm=========
My consciousness drifts back to the room I’m in, jolted into awareness by percussive thuds coming from the other side of the thick metal plate behind me. Probably time to get moving again.
I push the small case back into my suit, pulling up the zipper again and then doing a quick check to make sure all my gear is still intact. I reach behind one ear and tap a spot at the base of my skull--an audio-visual implant used for accessing the net and stuff, almost everybody has one--to pull up a 3D wireframe grid of the building’s floor-plan. There’s only one main corridor left beyond the room I’m in before the main entrance, and only the team banging at the door behind me seems to know I’m here. I frown as I look at that final stretch of hallway, the last thing that stands between me and my future. I was hoping I wouldn’t have to take the front door on my way out, but when you’ve just busted into a high-security military facility and stolen an expensive, weapons-grade microchip, you can’t be too picky I guess. Get it together Miki, no time to waste sweating the details now.
I stand up and make my way through the rows of shelves towards the single door at the other end of the room. The door that awaits me is dull and nondescript—one of those pneumatic sliding ones, so it shouldn’t make too much noise when it opens. Good.
I take a moment to eye the touchpanel next to the door, taking one nervous breath before tapping it and dropping down into a runner’s lunge. The door slides open with a slight hiss and in the fluorescent light that floods in from the hallway before me, I see about ten soldiers in generic-looking black riot-gear leaning against the walls casually. That comm-jammer I threw down earlier seems to have done the trick during the chaos of my break-in. It looks like they thought I was taking a different route. Maybe this won’t be so bad after all.
My lips part in a wicked grin as I fling myself forward, legs springing to life and actuators propelling me full speed down the hallway. The first soldier looks up a half a second before I reach him, landing a flying kick straight to his jaw with a sickening crack. Pretty sure I broke it.
I hit the ground at the same time he does, not missing a beat and carrying on to the next members of the group. The other soldiers fumble for their rifles, alerted by sound of the swift takedown. Two of them move to try and flank me, but I pull a couple of small black spheres from my waistpouch and hurl one at each of their chests, crossing my arms as I do. The contact explosives detonate with a percussive thud and burst of flame, sending each of the soldiers flying back and slamming against the walls of the corridor. Ignoring their screams, I emerge from the cloud of smoke and then I’m staring straight down the barrel of a rifle. Too easy. I duck low, dropping my right hand onto the forearm of the hand that holds the rifle, and sending my left fist up in the opposite direction to connect directly with the elbow.
I smile in satisfaction as I hear the splintering of bone before I throw a leg out sideways to knock him to the ground. Reaching into the holsters on my legs, I grab two throwing knives and embed them in the foreheads of the next couple soldiers rushing down the hall towards me. After leaping over their crumpled bodies, I press forward and weave as bullets tear past me through the air. The lines of all the edges around me start to blur as the adrenaline kicks in full force, and I pull my left arm back to extend my claws before raking them across the throat of the next soldier, causing an eruption of brilliant red that spatters onto the wall and my hand.
Despite keeping low, a bullet grazes my right cheek and I grit my teeth in anger, relishing the white-hot fury that’s been building up within me. Three of the four remaining soldiers grow closer, looking unsure of themselves as they glance between me and the carnage I’ve left in my wake.
“RRRRRRAaaaaAAAHH!” I let loose a primal growl and catapult myself forward to tear them down one by one, almost rhythmically, “Get. The hell. Out. Of my. WAY!”
I once knew a girl who, despite the tough-act she liked to put on, would’ve never thought about wreaking havoc like this. But that girl died the day Hisao Nakai was put in the ground, the rest of her hopes and dreams buried right alongside him. Take a loss like that, throw a new arm and some legs into the mix, and you’ve got a recipe for something fierce. One moment she’s a track star, the next she’s leaping rooftops to make illegal stim deliveries or pulling down high-profile freelance hit contracts. After a few years, stuff like this just comes easy.
Three more bodies fall amidst a shower of blood and the final soldier looks as though he’s about to drop his rifle and run. Before he can move, I lunge forward and flatten my left hand, driving it deep into his stomach and ripping straight through to the inside. He coughs up blood and slumps over my shoulder as I grab hold of his spine and snap it on one swift motion.
I only take a moment to look back at my handiwork behind me and reach for my last impact grenade to toss at the double-doors before heading outside. That’s it... I made it.
I can go... I...
==============
As I stride out into the night air and away from the smell of death and ashes, I start to enjoy the heady sense of freedom more with every step I take. I just made the run of my life and managed to come out in one piece. Not bad, Miura. Not bad but.... What’s that?
Before I can figure out what the loud, repetitive droning sound coming from above might be, I’m nearly blinded as dozens of floodlights click on and hum to life all around me. I bring my arm up to shield my eyes while skidding to a halt.
Lined up some fifty meters ahead of me is a solid wall of soldiers, tanks, bipedal mechs, and hovering above all that I spot at least four helicopters. Once my eyes adjust to the brightness, I raise my hands up high and take a better look at the spectacle laid before me. My heart sinks as I realize just how utterly surrounded I am.
Somewhere in the distance, a loudspeaker crackles and a gruff, authoritative voice shouts out:
“You are trespassing and are in possession of stolen government property! This is a federal offense! Cease and desist or we will open fire!”
The words hang in the air like a question waiting for an answer. Time slows and each second seems to be punctuated by the beating of my heart. I close my eyes.
Doing my best to look defeated, I let my hands drop, carefully reaching into one of the pouches on my waist. From it, I withdraw the small polyhedron that Molly gave me, holding it behind my back.
“Lie face-down on the ground so that you may be detained!” another shout booms over the loudspeaker.
I exhale slowly and crush the metal object in my fist. It disintegrates almost instantly, as if it were made of sand or a fine powder. Rather than falling to the ground, it clings to my fingers and begins to envelop my hand. The material expands and continues to creep across my skin, flowing like mercury and glittering menacingly under the floodlights as it does. It feels cool, refreshing--almost like jumping into a lake on a hot summer’s day. Within a matter of seconds I can feel it coating every surface of my body, and as the last bits of exposed skin vanish, I open my eyes and shoot a look of pure malice into the crowd. The claws on my left hand are still extended, so I take them and slowly drag them across my right forearm.
Not a single scratch to be seen.
“Do you hear me? I repeat, cease and desist!” the voice growls again.
Yeah I hear you, asshole. Nothing is going to stand in my way anymore. Not you or anything else. This is my reality now. Just watch and I’ll show you what I mean.
My answer comes in the form of a laugh, resonating somewhere within my chest--from that place where I store all the pain of having things taken away from me. It rings out bitterly, echoing through the night and casting a veil of silence over the expanse of pavement outside the facility.
I’m coming, Suzu. I’ll be waiting for you when you wake up, just like I always used to.
I slide one leg back and send fire into every extremity of my body. Remembering all of the smooth, practiced motions from my old training, I lean forward and kick off, breaking into a determined sprint. Almost immediately, I see flashes erupt all around me. The air crackles with gunfire and I can feel the impact of the bullets but...
But as they hit, it registers as nothing more than the feeling of someone tapping you gently on the shoulder. The volley of lead seems to melt away and drop to the ground unimpressively as I run. The mechs have spun up their gatling-guns, and soon enough the buzz of high-caliber rounds in the air joins the assault rifles. These ones carry a little more force and it almost feels like they’re slowing me down a bit. I push back and carry forward, though, swinging my legs and enjoying the magnificent, precise bursts of energy with every step. I’m almost at the line and ready to break through, but suddenly a deafening boom erupts and I feel something hit me straight in the chest like a truck. It sends me flying back a few feet and knocks me to the ground. When I look up, I see smoke rising from the barrel of the closest tank.
Bullets continue to rain down on me heavily from all sides, pulverizing the concrete around me into dust, but I rise to my feet again and continue to move forward. I force myself into motion, running to my goal with every last ounce of strength I have.
Stride after stride, I propel myself towards the future that I’ve set my gaze on. I can see it now. Even if it’s not what any of us originally envisioned, I’m gonna get back one of the only things left that matters to me. Change has taken away so much already, but I won’t let it take you. Not this time. Never again.
Can you see it, Suzu?
You’re what’s keeping me moving, and nobody’ll ever stop me.
===============================
"Titanium" is a song by David Guetta
=========04 April 2017 – 20:47pm=========
I’m so tired.
I’m running and I’m tired.
I’m tired of running. Been running for years and it’s never gotten me where I wanted to be. It all just slips away through my fingers no matter how hard or fast I run.
Running on some track isn’t the same as running for your life, and right now that’s what I’m doing. So no matter how tired or sick of it I am, I carry on. Foot, knee, thigh, up, forward, down, repeat. Every stride against the dull concrete sends echoes down through the corridor, another sound to try block out from the growing clamor around me. Sirens, shouts, lockdown bolts slamming shut, gunfire. I blaze past an adjacent corridor, but the muzzle flashes and bullets flying by don’t encourage me to stop. Nope, not that turn, probably just a bit further now.
Even though my lungs burn as I try to force more air into them, I’m thankful that this place isn’t rigged with some of the nastier countermeasures I’ve heard about... like those turbine vent systems that can turn a room into a total vacuum in less than two minutes.
I round a corner, nearly skidding from taking it at such speed, and continue down another straight corridor. This is the one. I see the doorway at the end of the hall and... shit, another lockdown gate grinding into place slowly. Gotta go faster now. Dents and sparks dance across the surface of the door, and I try not to think of what may be behind me. The opening continues to narrow, but I’m almost there.
I take one last stride, leaping forward and kicking my legs out, sliding through the gap and beneath the door just before the reinforced ‘teeth’ settle down into the grooves of the threshold. The dull thud of it closing is the only sound that can be heard in this room. I pause for a moment, staring back at the solid metal wall behind me just to reassure myself that I made it this time. Slowly my breath comes back to me, and I push myself off the floor to... agh, fuck! A sharp tug at the base of my skull nearly causes me to fall over again. I notice that the very end of my hair is caught under the door. Shit.
A slight flick of my left wrist sends small razorlike blades out from each fingertip and they lock into place. I slice myself free and then slump against the door, holding my hand out in front of me to give it a quick check. The electric servos whirr pleasantly as the actuators engage, causing the rest of my metallic arm to shimmer a little in the dull light. I grip my wrist with my right hand and smile as the blades retract with a satisfying clink.
The room I’m in is nondescript, mainly containing racks and shelves lined with boxes filled with who knows what. Nothing that I came for, that’s for sure. I reach up to tug at the zipper of my black armored bodysuit, opening it just enough so I can reach inside to pull out a small lighter-sized hardcase. I knew it was still there, but I just needed to make sure that I really did get it. Clutching it protectively, I rest my forearms on my knees and let my head slump forward. The guys on my tail are probably on the other side trying to break through already, but it’ll be at least a couple minutes before I have to get moving again.
I absentmindedly run my fingers along the contours of the case, taking a moment to remember just how I got here. I close my eyes and think back to where this all started.
It began with change.
They say change comes when you least expect it. I don’t know who ‘they’ are, but they sure know what the hell they’re talking about. I remember when I lost my hand and I thought I knew what change meant. Thought I could deal with it and take every day in stride. Once I’d mastered the situation I’d been forced into, everything else that came after didn’t seem so bad. But I was just a conceited little high-school brat back then. Those are the days when you can easily delude yourself into thinking that you’ve got it all figured out, even though in the back of your mind there's this small voice whispering a warning that the façade could crumble at any moment. Then, when you least expect it, reality will undoubtedly sneak up and kick you right in the ass. It sends you tumbling down into the mud and stands over you, laughing as you try to pick yourself up. You turn around and say, “Why? Where did this all come from so suddenly?”
And the only response you’re given is: “You’ll see soon enough.”
But for all the mud and metaphors in the world, nobody really could have seen the change that was coming until it was already there. Nobody would have guessed that some genius biotech grad-student from Tokyo U. would blow the whole field wide open by finally reverse-engineering the human brain. You couldn’t have paid anyone to believe that Honda would jump on that bandwagon so quickly and dish out an arsenal of robotics projects that they seemed to be pulling from thin air. They had fooled everyone into thinking they were resigned to quiet mediocrity, and years of parading around that dumpy-looking spaceman robot had really driven the point home. But all the while they were up to something else, and they got us good.
The futurists and tech gurus all said it wouldn’t happen for at least another few decades, but it did—the second electronic revolution. Much to the chagrin of some and the delight of others, it kicked off almost overnight right here in Japan. Pulled us straight out of the depression we’d been stewing in since the 90’s and put us right back at the top of the global economic foodchain. Only this time instead of TVs, cellphones, and video-game consoles it was cybernetic limbs, organs, and neural implants. Like some twisted fantasy out of a sci-fi manga brought to life, the future was here.
One of the first changes that came was the improvement to the quality of life for a lot of people. Before the big defense contracts came through at least, that’s how the companies got their foot in the door for all this stuff. A new technological revolution marketed to eliminate the suffering of the elderly, sick, and... the disabled. In the blink of an eye, the problems that had derailed the course of so many lives and forced people into places like quaint little Yamaku were now easily mended. No more coping, no more coming to grips with the fact that you would never quite be normal at best. Just a quick surgery to run some wires here and there, and then you’re good as new.
Within a few years the student headcount began hemorrhaging until the school was no longer able to pull in enough grant money to stay above water. Probably had something to do with the bill the lobbyists passed that eliminated the old welfare system as a way of forcing people to adopt the new treatments and augmentations. After all, why would anyone choose to stay an invalid when the alternative is now so cost-effective, simple, and most importantly--profitable?
There were a few people who were happy to see Yamaku fade away, though. I guess they never grew to view it as the haven it was, so when they looked back they only saw a prison that mocked them and separated them from the world where they used to belong. That group even made an attempt to burn it down, but thanks to rumors in the net, myself and a few others showed up to ‘talk’ some sense into them that night. The only talking that ended up being done was with closed fists and thankfully, the school still stands there to this day as a shadow of its former self--a monument to a quieter time when life was simple and serene.
The revolution didn’t save everyone, though. As with anything new, there are bound to be some bumps in the road, and people who get left behind.
Like the boy I used to love.
Arrhythmia had given way to something far worse, and being on the transplant list for years, his heart had so many holes in it that they refused to operate any further.
He died a week before the first cybernetic heart hit the market.
We buried him up on a hill near the school, close to the place where he and I shared our first kiss. I still go there from time to time. I went there this morning because I knew it would probably be the last chance I’d have. My mind begins to wander and I can almost feel the wind--laced with the smell of jasmine--caressing my cheeks.
Molly had given me the third-rate when I showed up late at the lab because of that trip...
=========04 April 2017 – 17:21pm=========
“What took you so long? Honestly Miki...” the small Indian girl folds her arms across her chest and puffs up her cheeks while looking away, but it’s hard to take her seriously since she’s still sporting her signature pigtails.
“Sorry Molls,” I say while pretending to fidget with my left hand, trying not to stare down at the girl in the white coat sitting in a wheelchair before me, “I had to go. You know it’s important for me.”
“I have diagnostics to run, Miki! You can’t expect to do this unless you’re at 100%, you know it!” she huffs, reaching up to snatch at my hand and pull it closer for inspection. She pushes up her glasses and turns it over, gaze taking in every detail as she does.
Molly was always one of the brightest kids in our class, and she wound up going to med-school after graduating. Secured herself a pretty nice fellowship and eventually became one of the expert researchers who had the luxury of riding this new technological wave. Despite that, I’ve never been able to figure out why she still kept using those old metal prosthetics and eventually wound up right back in a wheelchair because of it. She’s been a good friend to me over the years, and helps with my implants when I need it, so I don’t press her about it too much as I’m sure she has her reasons. I wouldn’t want to risk upsetting her considering she’s pretty much all I’ve got left now except...
Except Suzu.
As Molly continues to inspect my hand and mutter to herself, my gaze drifts over to the far wall of the lab where tubes and cables hang down from the ceiling like a spiderweb, connected to various monoliths filled with cooling and life-support systems that surround a plexiglass cylinder. There, sealed off from the world, dreaming dreams of eternity, lies my best friend.
I pull away from Molly and walk over to gaze down at the figure trapped inside the tube, wishing more than anything that I could reach out to stroke her sea-green hair one last time.
Suzu was among the ‘fortunate’ ones too. Her parents had scrimped and saved for years, so they were able to buy her one of the first implants that could regulate brain-chemistry to correct her narcolepsy. It was the gift they had always wanted to give their little girl... until it stopped working, that is. The early neural implants were far from perfect, but it was a risk they were willing to take. What the doctors didn’t foresee is just how badly it would malfunction. She started having relapses and then one day she just shut down completely. Permasleep, they said, the chip was no longer able to regulate the signals properly and was like a light switch stuck in the ‘off’ position. They tried removing the implant, but the methods used to insert it were crude by today’s standards, and there was too high a risk of scar-tissue forming and causing irreparable damage to the gray-matter unless they replaced the chip entirely.
Things with that big a pricetag don’t come with a warranty, so now Suzu rests here in deep freeze until the day we can bring her back.
Until I bring her back. Today.
I’d spent years abusing my connections and hounding the best infobrokers before I finally got a lead on a new kind of chip that was being developed. Military-grade, big-budget, some seriously tricked-out shit. No doubt the next generation of soldier mind-hacks to give the powermongers an even more reliable and compliant army.
I brought the leaked schematics to Molly and, after I managed to talk her down from a mild panic-attack upon seeing them, she was able to figure out a way to modify the chip and make it a suitable replacement for the one keeping Suzu under without causing any damage. All of her excitement about getting to play with fancy new hardware like that went away as soon as I told her what I’d have to do to get it, though.
“Miki,” her voice snaps me out of my daze, and I hadn’t even realized that Molly had rolled up next to me, “Come on. You can look later. I’m not sending you out there until I’m certain everything works right.”
“I...” my mouth opens and I try to form words of protest as I cast one last look at the sleeping girl before me, “Yeah... okay.”
Molly wheels herself over towards a table at the center of the room and begins adjusting various monitors, sensors, and robotic arms suspended around it.
I kick off my boots unceremoniously and slide my trenchcoat off, tossing it on a nearby chair, soon to be joined by my socks, pants, and tanktop. Once I’m lying flat on the table, I try to suppress a shiver from the cool feeling of the surface against my skin. Molly busies herself by connecting various lead cables to sockets on my left arm and my legs. Heh. Yep, legs.
After I graduated I was able to get a full-ride to run track for a university and eventually made it onto the national team to train for the Olympics. I used to enjoy it, but once it became my job I stopped looking forward to getting out there and doing laps as time went on. Especially when people with augments began showing up. I had always counted down the days until we graduated Yamaku and I’d no longer have to face the humiliation of running against Emi, but the board decided to rule that the new artificial legs no longer demanded amputees to have a category of their own as long as their prosthetics were closely regulated and appropriately tuned-down to mimic real ones. Something snapped inside me when I knew that she and I would be on the same track again.
It didn’t take long to convince my sponsors to buy me a new set of legs to ensure I’d keep winning. The excuse made for the public was easy enough--severe muscle and tissue damage from years of rigorous training, not easily mended by traditional methods. Acceptably tragic.
I’ll never forget the look on Emi’s face when she saw me walk out onto the track the first time after my surgery. I shot the same smirk back at her she always gave me and was met with a look of utter disgust and hatred. She stormed off the track and forfeited the race. Guess the legless wonder isn’t so wonderful when she’s running on last year’s model. Serves her right, smug bitch.
My attention is brought back to reality as my left leg gives an involuntary jolt and is totally enveloped in that awful pins-and-needles sensation, making me wince.
“Jeez Molls... a little warning?” I hiss, tilting my head to the side to look at the control deck, where Molly now sits and has started doing her tests.
“To borrow your own words: ‘suck it up, kid.’ You’ve been through benchmarking plenty of times before to know how it is,” she replies nonchalantly, brow knitted in concentration as she calmly taps commands on the screen and checks readings.
“Still doesn’t mean I like it,” I say, narrowing my eyes and doing my best to pout. It’s not really that bad, but Molly worries about me and teasing her is my way of reassurance.
“Have you had any mods done since the last time?” Molly asks, raising an eyebrow at me, “I’m not registering anything new here, but these levels look...”
“I raised the limiters a bit. Just a little overclocking, you know?” I flash her a toothy grin, but I’m only met with a frown in return.
“Right,” she says flatly, clearly not impressed, “I’m just going to turn these back down.”
“No! Don’t!” I shout, sitting bolt upright and almost tear some of the cables out of their sockets as I do.
Molly jumps visibly at my outburst, and for a brief moment she looks like that timid girl who used to sit in the same row in class as me again.
“I... I’m sorry Molly it’s just... I’m gonna need every bit I can get today,” I try to keep my voice low, feeling guilty for startling her.
“I know you will, Miki,” The look of fear is gone and replaced with her usual calm, concerned one, “But what good will any of it be if you go and blow a servo or... something worse? I still don’t think you should...”
“Molls...” I sigh, flopping back down onto the table, “We’ve been through this. You’re not talking me out of it. If you’re that worried, then dial it back a few points, but I already know how much I can take. Just trust me, okay.”
She looks at me for another moment but then shakes her head and gets back to work. After she flips a few switches on a control box, the robotic arms above spring to life. They swivel and realign themselves, standing at the ready until Molly enters the next sequence of commands. One by one they descend and begin to poke and prod at my legs and left arm--checking screws, removing and replacing panels, testing the actuators. For half a moment I almost wish having these kinds of limbs wasn’t so troublesome and high-maintenance, but the thought quickly leaves my mind when I remember the alternative.
A short while later, Molly comes over to unhook the cables and pronounces me a-okay with a curt but satisfied nod. I hop off the table and begin to re-dress solemnly. As I do, I begin mentally going through the rest of the preparations I need to finish up before showtime. Lost in thought, I turn and nod to Molly, mumbling a quick thanks.
“Miki wait,” she calls out as I reach the door. I turn around to see her wheeling towards a desk to carefully remove something from the drawer. In a moment, she makes her way back over to where I’m standing and looks up at me expectantly.
“What’s up?” I ask, slinging my coat over my shoulder.
“Tell me your backup plan,” she says firmly, fixing her gaze on mine.
“Hm... You mean if waltzing in and asking nicely if I can have it doesn’t work?” I smirk a little while rubbing my chin thoughtfully, “Well, I guess I’ll just have to give them some personal time with the Fist.”
I wink once at Molly and raise my left arm threateningly for effect, but she looks seriously unimpressed and shakes her head.
“I know you might not worry, Miki. But I do...” Molly reaches into her pocket and pulls out a small object, which she slowly hands to me.
I bring it closer for inspection—it’s a polyhedron made of some kind of metal. It sits neatly in my palm and as I tap at the surface it... ripples ever so slightly but still retains its overall shape.
“What... the heck is this?” I say, utterly confused.
“Something to protect you,” she smiles at me sweetly while looking rather proud of herself, “It’s nanotech, still being researched. I had to pull a lot of strings to get it, and it only lasts for a couple of minutes, so don’t waste it ok?”
“Molls you didn’t have t—” I start to say, but she reaches up and grabs my hand--my real hand--and clasps it firmly for reassurance. Hers are so warm and soft. Damn it.
I blink away the tears that are starting to form in my eyes, hoping she won’t notice. As I do, I lean forward and gently plant a kiss on her forehead, whispering a final ‘thank-you’ before I turn to go.
I take one last look back at my friend, returning her wave before stepping out of the lab and into the twilight.
=========04 April 2017 – 20:52pm=========
My consciousness drifts back to the room I’m in, jolted into awareness by percussive thuds coming from the other side of the thick metal plate behind me. Probably time to get moving again.
I push the small case back into my suit, pulling up the zipper again and then doing a quick check to make sure all my gear is still intact. I reach behind one ear and tap a spot at the base of my skull--an audio-visual implant used for accessing the net and stuff, almost everybody has one--to pull up a 3D wireframe grid of the building’s floor-plan. There’s only one main corridor left beyond the room I’m in before the main entrance, and only the team banging at the door behind me seems to know I’m here. I frown as I look at that final stretch of hallway, the last thing that stands between me and my future. I was hoping I wouldn’t have to take the front door on my way out, but when you’ve just busted into a high-security military facility and stolen an expensive, weapons-grade microchip, you can’t be too picky I guess. Get it together Miki, no time to waste sweating the details now.
I stand up and make my way through the rows of shelves towards the single door at the other end of the room. The door that awaits me is dull and nondescript—one of those pneumatic sliding ones, so it shouldn’t make too much noise when it opens. Good.
I take a moment to eye the touchpanel next to the door, taking one nervous breath before tapping it and dropping down into a runner’s lunge. The door slides open with a slight hiss and in the fluorescent light that floods in from the hallway before me, I see about ten soldiers in generic-looking black riot-gear leaning against the walls casually. That comm-jammer I threw down earlier seems to have done the trick during the chaos of my break-in. It looks like they thought I was taking a different route. Maybe this won’t be so bad after all.
My lips part in a wicked grin as I fling myself forward, legs springing to life and actuators propelling me full speed down the hallway. The first soldier looks up a half a second before I reach him, landing a flying kick straight to his jaw with a sickening crack. Pretty sure I broke it.
I hit the ground at the same time he does, not missing a beat and carrying on to the next members of the group. The other soldiers fumble for their rifles, alerted by sound of the swift takedown. Two of them move to try and flank me, but I pull a couple of small black spheres from my waistpouch and hurl one at each of their chests, crossing my arms as I do. The contact explosives detonate with a percussive thud and burst of flame, sending each of the soldiers flying back and slamming against the walls of the corridor. Ignoring their screams, I emerge from the cloud of smoke and then I’m staring straight down the barrel of a rifle. Too easy. I duck low, dropping my right hand onto the forearm of the hand that holds the rifle, and sending my left fist up in the opposite direction to connect directly with the elbow.
I smile in satisfaction as I hear the splintering of bone before I throw a leg out sideways to knock him to the ground. Reaching into the holsters on my legs, I grab two throwing knives and embed them in the foreheads of the next couple soldiers rushing down the hall towards me. After leaping over their crumpled bodies, I press forward and weave as bullets tear past me through the air. The lines of all the edges around me start to blur as the adrenaline kicks in full force, and I pull my left arm back to extend my claws before raking them across the throat of the next soldier, causing an eruption of brilliant red that spatters onto the wall and my hand.
Despite keeping low, a bullet grazes my right cheek and I grit my teeth in anger, relishing the white-hot fury that’s been building up within me. Three of the four remaining soldiers grow closer, looking unsure of themselves as they glance between me and the carnage I’ve left in my wake.
“RRRRRRAaaaaAAAHH!” I let loose a primal growl and catapult myself forward to tear them down one by one, almost rhythmically, “Get. The hell. Out. Of my. WAY!”
I once knew a girl who, despite the tough-act she liked to put on, would’ve never thought about wreaking havoc like this. But that girl died the day Hisao Nakai was put in the ground, the rest of her hopes and dreams buried right alongside him. Take a loss like that, throw a new arm and some legs into the mix, and you’ve got a recipe for something fierce. One moment she’s a track star, the next she’s leaping rooftops to make illegal stim deliveries or pulling down high-profile freelance hit contracts. After a few years, stuff like this just comes easy.
Three more bodies fall amidst a shower of blood and the final soldier looks as though he’s about to drop his rifle and run. Before he can move, I lunge forward and flatten my left hand, driving it deep into his stomach and ripping straight through to the inside. He coughs up blood and slumps over my shoulder as I grab hold of his spine and snap it on one swift motion.
I only take a moment to look back at my handiwork behind me and reach for my last impact grenade to toss at the double-doors before heading outside. That’s it... I made it.
I can go... I...
==============
As I stride out into the night air and away from the smell of death and ashes, I start to enjoy the heady sense of freedom more with every step I take. I just made the run of my life and managed to come out in one piece. Not bad, Miura. Not bad but.... What’s that?
Before I can figure out what the loud, repetitive droning sound coming from above might be, I’m nearly blinded as dozens of floodlights click on and hum to life all around me. I bring my arm up to shield my eyes while skidding to a halt.
Lined up some fifty meters ahead of me is a solid wall of soldiers, tanks, bipedal mechs, and hovering above all that I spot at least four helicopters. Once my eyes adjust to the brightness, I raise my hands up high and take a better look at the spectacle laid before me. My heart sinks as I realize just how utterly surrounded I am.
Somewhere in the distance, a loudspeaker crackles and a gruff, authoritative voice shouts out:
“You are trespassing and are in possession of stolen government property! This is a federal offense! Cease and desist or we will open fire!”
The words hang in the air like a question waiting for an answer. Time slows and each second seems to be punctuated by the beating of my heart. I close my eyes.
Doing my best to look defeated, I let my hands drop, carefully reaching into one of the pouches on my waist. From it, I withdraw the small polyhedron that Molly gave me, holding it behind my back.
“Lie face-down on the ground so that you may be detained!” another shout booms over the loudspeaker.
I exhale slowly and crush the metal object in my fist. It disintegrates almost instantly, as if it were made of sand or a fine powder. Rather than falling to the ground, it clings to my fingers and begins to envelop my hand. The material expands and continues to creep across my skin, flowing like mercury and glittering menacingly under the floodlights as it does. It feels cool, refreshing--almost like jumping into a lake on a hot summer’s day. Within a matter of seconds I can feel it coating every surface of my body, and as the last bits of exposed skin vanish, I open my eyes and shoot a look of pure malice into the crowd. The claws on my left hand are still extended, so I take them and slowly drag them across my right forearm.
Not a single scratch to be seen.
“Do you hear me? I repeat, cease and desist!” the voice growls again.
Yeah I hear you, asshole. Nothing is going to stand in my way anymore. Not you or anything else. This is my reality now. Just watch and I’ll show you what I mean.
My answer comes in the form of a laugh, resonating somewhere within my chest--from that place where I store all the pain of having things taken away from me. It rings out bitterly, echoing through the night and casting a veil of silence over the expanse of pavement outside the facility.
I’m coming, Suzu. I’ll be waiting for you when you wake up, just like I always used to.
I slide one leg back and send fire into every extremity of my body. Remembering all of the smooth, practiced motions from my old training, I lean forward and kick off, breaking into a determined sprint. Almost immediately, I see flashes erupt all around me. The air crackles with gunfire and I can feel the impact of the bullets but...
But as they hit, it registers as nothing more than the feeling of someone tapping you gently on the shoulder. The volley of lead seems to melt away and drop to the ground unimpressively as I run. The mechs have spun up their gatling-guns, and soon enough the buzz of high-caliber rounds in the air joins the assault rifles. These ones carry a little more force and it almost feels like they’re slowing me down a bit. I push back and carry forward, though, swinging my legs and enjoying the magnificent, precise bursts of energy with every step. I’m almost at the line and ready to break through, but suddenly a deafening boom erupts and I feel something hit me straight in the chest like a truck. It sends me flying back a few feet and knocks me to the ground. When I look up, I see smoke rising from the barrel of the closest tank.
Bullets continue to rain down on me heavily from all sides, pulverizing the concrete around me into dust, but I rise to my feet again and continue to move forward. I force myself into motion, running to my goal with every last ounce of strength I have.
Stride after stride, I propel myself towards the future that I’ve set my gaze on. I can see it now. Even if it’s not what any of us originally envisioned, I’m gonna get back one of the only things left that matters to me. Change has taken away so much already, but I won’t let it take you. Not this time. Never again.
Can you see it, Suzu?
You’re what’s keeping me moving, and nobody’ll ever stop me.
===============================
"Titanium" is a song by David Guetta
