Chapter 5
Jakson
1:00 pm the next day
Rick’s hand shook as he peered at the massive concrete brick of a building located in the Upper Nexus District. After the talk with Brick the day before Rick had planned what he could and gathered what supplies he needed. Lockpicks, Knife, his P.M.9R.G. which holds 10 rounds and an extra 10 on his body, a speaker connected to his earpiece and a brace on his foot and leg making him able to walk without a cane, but it would hurt fiercely, and he would be unable to bend his foot. Nothing fancy for infiltrations but it was what he had.
He watched a guard pacing in the front of the building, not someone from the special guard just an ordinary dude in black armor, a facemask, and a Rail Rifle. On his chest a golden sword stood out on a field of green. Rick breathed slowly, in through the nose, out through the mouth. The plan was simple cause a commotion down the alley Rick was currently in so the guard would come down it. Rick could then subdue him and change into his clothes without the cameras picking up a thing.
Rick moved deeper into the alley and began playing a recording from his speaker, then when the sounds of a woman calling for help began to emanate from the speaker, he began to strike a board and curse loudly while watching the alley entrance.
Rick was about to hit the board for only the third time when the guard darkened the mouth of the alley his Rail Rifle leveled. “You there,” He barked, “What are you doing?”
Rick smiled and sent a translucent green rope out of his hand and connected it to the guard’s breastplate and yanked pulling the guard off balance and into the alley. Rick grabbed the guard by the throat with one hand and with the other he fumbled with the guard’s chin strap trying desperately to get it off. The guard yanked his head back out of ricks grip then slammed his helmeted head into Rick’s exposed head causing blood to warm Rick’s cheek and for both to fall back into a heap.
They struggled like that for what felt like an eternity, one on top in a position of power then the other. The guards Rail Rifle had been kicked farther down the alleyway away from either of them and Rick did not want to bloody the Guards uniform with his knife or pistol.
They struggled deeper into the alleyway, the Guard got the advantage, on top of Rick, one knee pressing on his chest Rick could feel his ribs straining against the pressure and his leg screamed from being knocked around. The guard punched him, his nose cracked, and his mouth was filling with blood. Desperately Rick reached for anything but there was nothing but solid concrete around them. Except. Rick felt the barrel of the Rail Rifle, smooth to the touch. Grasping it he used it as a club bashing the side of the Guards helmet.
The guard fell off him and Rick lunged, undoing the clasps on the helmet, and throwing it aside before ripping the guards face mask off and shoved the rifle barrel into the guard’s mouth pointed upwards. The guards’ eyes grew wide with terror and Rick felt a pang of guilt which he quickly crushed and pulled the trigger.
There was a soft pew sound, then the sound of metal against brick. The Guards’ eyes stared out lifelessly at Rick as blood pooled onto the guard’s tongue and down his throat from the hole in the top of his mouth. Rick spit the blood out of his mouth as well as a tooth he did not realize had been knocked out of his head. He ripped his shirt and shoved some cloth into the dead guard’s mouth and then used some more cloth to wrap around the dead man’s head to keep blood from ruining the suit.
With that accomplished he got to the slow task of removing the dead guard’s armor and putting it on himself. The process took an excruciating Thirty minutes partially due to his bum foot, nowhere near as short as the process seems in films. With the helmet and mask in place and his beard tucked into his breastplate he was ready to move undetected. He had hidden his gun inside his pants, and he carried the rifle which was only a little banged up.
He left the body where it was due to there being no convenient dumpsters to hide it in. walking to the edge of the alley, he heard a voice behind himself, “Rick, stop.” Rick froze as he recognized the voice. Turning, he saw Brick, gun pointed towards him. “Rick, why do you make this difficult?” he said, sadness evident in his voice. “I considered you a friend. I routinely argued against killing you. The rest of the precinct hated how you constantly stuck your nose in our revenue streams, whether drugs, or amulet smuggling you were always there to make arrests and reports. I had Vernon-” the image of a shadowy man missing the middle finger on his left hand flashed in Ricks mind. “Hire some of the drug smugglers to ensure you would be too broken to ever function as a policeman again. And yet you-” Brick was shaking, his voice hard “-You got your detective license a month after you killed and took on Alice’s memories, then… then you continued poking your nose where it didn’t belong so I finally went along with hiring the same people and having you dispatched of, but when you… when you killed them all and took on Kite’s memories, when it came out you had been carrying out an illegal investigation, when your detective license was revoked, I could not be happier. You were not dead and yet you also could no longer meddle. And yet look, you are still meddling, talking traitorously against the Nextian Church, I cannot let you continue, I am sorry.”
Hot tears streamed down Ricks cheeks, “I am too,” he pushed the panic button on his suit as Brick fired. The bullets crashed into his armored chest causing himself to stumble backwards, out of the alleyway, and into full view of the prison. Within seconds guards swarmed out. Brick was gone, but Rick was ushered inside. Nearly identical guards surrounded him. Carefully he dropped the transmitter on the belt and tried to meld into the bustle of armored bodies.
He moved upstairs into an empty corridor, White walls, and a slightly darker white floor. There was an office to the side, so he went up to it and poked his head in. “Hey,” He rasped to the lady behind the desk. “The boss said the inmate, Jakson needs me to go and take a shift guarding him.”
The lady shuffled some papers, “Well he has been uncooperative so, go to room 2-12. Also stop by the nurse’s station and get some medication for that voice.”
“Will do.” He gave a quick nod and left.
He moved down the hallway approaching from the other direction was a tall guard with the black spike of the governor on a green field emblazoned on the silvery metal of his breastplate, every bit of skin was covered, except for his hands, a man in the special guard.
“Where are you headed soldier.” the man said in an emotionless robotic voice.
“2-12. You?”
“3-5”
“Ok.” Rick said nodding, trying to act casual, as the special guard continued his way.
Rick walking down the Hall to door twelve which had no guards outside the door, Ricks heart raced hoping that was a good sign. He had not changed his voice when talking to the Special Guard.
opening the door, he tried to casually look in the window while fumbling his lockpicks. He had not used them in years and was rusty. Most normal locks he could unlock with a bit of inchemy, but these locks would surely be Inchemically infused with a green gemstone from the Nexus to prevent such tampering.
Rick sweated, he could not get the door, Jakson just laid there in his cot wearing nothing but his white underwear. Ten minutes passed and rick saw a guard walking toward him, panicking he fumbled more quickly with the lock when he suddenly heard a click. Freezing he looked down to see that he could turn the doorknob. Opening the door, he slipped in and rushed to Jakson. A weak pulse, bruises and welts covered his body and a broken arm. He slapped Jakson but he would not wake up. “I cannot carry you man; I need you to wake up.”
The door creaked behind him, spinning he came face to face with the barrel of a gun. Without thinking Rick shot a translucent pole to the side of himself throwing himself sideways away from the gun long enough to level his Rail Rifle at the man and fired, in the neck, the man quietly crumpled.
Rick spun around to Jakson but blessedly he was unharmed. He continued shaking Jackson, panicking that he would not come to when his eyes opened revealing green gemstones in the place where his eyeballs should be. And in an emotionless robotic voice he stated, “You are in violation of the law, your vocal patterns have been analyzed. You are Rick Arthur Estle. You do not have clearance to wear that uniform. You do not have clearance to be in this building. You do not have clearance to be in this room. You will be executed by the power granted by The Laws of The Lord Governor, and The Reverend Saint.” From his hand there lept a green light, what Rick knew to be the very ability he had used to kill his wife and Kite. His vision wavered as he realized, political prisoners were turned into special guards, some sort of hive mind. His vision turned black at the edges. The dark edges of the room seemed like dark fathomless pits. And in anger, he shot his gun, as he ran towards the window. He felt Kite scrambling to take control, which Rick resisted until Jackson sent a beam of light which successfully connected with him. Knowing that to kill him he would sap his memories he allowed Kite to take control. And Rick blacked out briefly. When he came to he saw Jacksons eyes glow an intense green then begin to fade Kites memories were gone but he still had his own and Alise’s. In the hallway he heard footsteps. And behind Jacksons ear he saw an implant. He ran for the window Before Jakson could try to kill him and crashed out the window, he quickly prayed that the implant would not be Inchemically infused then sent a translucent rope to attach to it as he hung in the air two stories high. He felt a slight tug, as the implant ripped free of Jakson’s head causing him to begin to crumple right before Rick lost sight of him. Hurriedly he disengaged the rope, yet he would not be able to cast another one for 86 heartbeats far longer than the fall would take.
Rick smashed into the grassy ground, his adrenaline was high, so he felt no pain as he jumped up and ran.