Noir, City Shrouded By Darkness Read online

  Kat ignored Kim as she clung to what she remembered from the Drifting Time and wondered, "Did what I envision really happen? Who were those women? And what happened to them? Did they get hurt?"

  She looked up, noticing Kim's trembling hand and her watering eyes. Kat felt a little pang in her chest, seeing Kim near tears and asked, "Are you crying?"

  "No." Kim wiped her eyes. "Shut up and sit there!" She rubbed her throbbing temple and asked, "Who sent you?"

  Kat crossed her arms as if pouting. "You just told me to shut up."

  "Ah!!" She grabbed Kat's t-shirt, balled it in her hand, and yelled, "Tell me, who sent you?"

  Kat dropped her arms. "Sent me?"

  Kim lost her professionalism and like a common thug thrust the gun in her face, yelling, "Yes, who sent you to mess with my head?!" She released her t-shirt and put that hand on the gun to steady her shaky aim.

  "Why am I trembling?" Kim wondered. “This isn't like me.”

  "No one,” Kat answered. “I’m with no one." Concerned, she started to stand. "Are you all right?"

  "Don’t move! Sit right there!" Kim took another step back. Since the flood of memories, she felt as if they were not alone. Her headache faded as she glanced at a shelf in between the entry and the living room. There, her mother’s picture rested. Theresa’s photo gazed at her. The photo watched her threaten Kat and her mother’s eyes were more alive than ever. Kim whispered to the picture, "I can’t take a life with you staring at me." She lowered the gun. "Why did you forsake me? Why did you abandon me?"

  "Forsake you?" Kat watched her, looked where she did, and saw the photo. At first, she thought the picture was of Kim, but realized the woman with blonde hair pulled back in a bun wasn’t her. The blonde woman seemed familiar. "Is that your mo..." Kat put a hand to her chest.

  lub-DUB... lub-DUB...

  Kat turned and stared out the window down at the street. She felt the urgency to flee as Ultra-Epi coursed through her blood. "They’re here."

  "What?" Kim was still deeply upset. "Who’s here?"

  "The Un-Men. They’re just outside,” Kat answered.

  She then wondered out loud, "But why haven't they come in?" She remembered the apartment’s wall and the black spheres. "The barrier must be to keep them out. So Sphinx has created safe zones."

  Kim glanced out the window. "I don’t see anyone."

  "I can feel them. They’re out there. Six of them."

  "You’re imagining things." Kim walked over to the couch, picked up the backpack, and tossed it to her. "Get out of here."

  Kat caught it and glanced down at the bag. "I don’t understand. I thought you couldn’t let me live."

  "What part of get out of here don’t you understand?! I’m not going to kill you, at least not here." Kim glanced at the picture, muttering, "Not in front of her." She pointed to the entry. "Now get out!"

  Fearing what waited for her across the street, Kat gripped the backpack tightly. "Please don’t make me leave." She knew the apartment was safe and protected from the Un-Men. "I don’t want to live like that anymore."

  "Like what?" Kim asked.

  She then wondered, "What's her problem? She has to be mental. Anyone else would run at the chance to escape the Phoenix’s fury."

  Kim yelled, "Get out! Get out before I change my mind, and I kill you now!"

  Filled with hopelessness, Kat stood, grabbed the Note and worn business card, and left the blood speckled one on the table. She bent down, snatched up the Music Box, and put the three items in her pocket. She slung the backpack across her chest and headed out. Within a minute, she stood in front of the elevator. She saw Kim watching her from the apartment.

  The cab opened, Kat walked in, and a few minutes later the doors opened to the ground floor. She walked out as if going to her own execution, continued through the building’s glass front doors, and into the courtyard. Kat stopped half way to the gate. Once she walked through it, the Un-Men could attack her and the hunts would begin again. She hoped Kim would change her mind and glanced over her shoulder. Kat saw her watching from the entrance and making sure she left.

  Disheartened, Kat pulled the business card from her thigh pocket and thought, "One of the three clues to my identity." Many questions came to her mind. "Or is it? Are any of them? Maybe these were not meant for me. Or... Maybe they are just another test. A test to see what I would do with them. Crap... I am an idiot."

  She dropped the card to the path. "I don’t need this anymore." Kat watched it fall to the concrete as one hope died. "First Preacher and now this... How much more can I take?"

  She sniffed her runny nose and forced her mind to move on to the current crisis. She removed the Beretta from the backpack and checked the clip. "Four bullets. This won’t be easy," Kat thought as she removed the Ravlek Vest from the outside of the bag. She put it on over her jacket, opened the gate, and stepped out to the sidewalk. "Why must I always run or fight? Why are they my only choices?"

  West 1000 Avenue was as desolate as Kat’s life. She crossed the street. Lamp posts lined the path heading into the empty Zeus Park as Tainted Rain poured from the thundering sky. Kat shivered in the cold rain as her hair soaked with the black filmy water. She slowed her pace to hold off the inevitable attack to give herself time to prepare and observe her surroundings. The Ultra-Epi caused anxiety with her inactivity.

  lub-DUB... lub-DUB...

  Filled with gloom, Kat ignored the bio-mecha warning and paused, watching the Transgenic Grass soak up the rain. "Scientists modified Kentucky Bluegrass with an extra-genome from the bath sponge," she thought. "They then modified it further. What they created was a hybrid plant capable of absorbing large amounts of Tainted Rain." She felt the Un-Men move into position and knew only moments remained before they attacked. "The Transgenic Grass releases the H2O properties of the liquid to be absorbed back into the atmosphere through the water cycle. All absorbing Transgenic Plants are created with the water release function in the World’s attempt to correct the Dry Clouds problem."

  The Un-Men separated and circled her.

  "Why do I know this information?" she wondered. "Why do I know the grass then uses the petroleum base of the liquid to create energy? How do I know that's how the plant survives? If scientists can do this... What could they have done to me?" She looked at her gun hand, thinking of her uncanny marksmanship. "What did they do to me?"

  Kat felt the Un-Men watching her, and she hurried past a metal bench. "They’ve surrounded me."

  A green line of light hit her hand as a spot, and she watched it as the laser aim moved up her arm to her chest. Five more green laser aims pinpointed kill shots on her body. Kat removed her backpack, threw it back to the bench, and unset the safety on the Beretta. She dashed for cover in a thicket of trees, splashing through puddles of Tainted Rain as gun fire erupted around her. Several shots struck her back. The spongy Transgenic Grass cushioned her fall as she rolled with the impacts. She arched her back for the pain, forced herself to move on, and sprung to her feet.

  "Run!" she thought. "Run or I’ll die!"

  Chapter Sixteen

  They Are Here

  9:59 A.M...

  Hellenistic Sector, Residential Vicinage...

  Nexus Apartments...

  Moments earlier...

  "Hades! This is ridicules!" Kim thought as she watched Kat leave through the front and saw the look of hurt she gave her before walking through the gate. "Why didn’t I kill her?" Kim followed, paused, and glanced through the gate's metal bars. "For Ares’ sake! I let her escape again." She waited till Kat walked out of sight. Kim pulled the strap of her purse over her head so it crossed her chest. "What happened in my apartment? What came over me?"

  She noticed something on the ground. "Oh my Zeus! What did she do?" Kim noticed the Phoenix business card on the path. "That little... Why did she just drop this out here? I definitely don’t need someone finding my calling card." She picked it up and placed it in her purse. "So... Do I follow her? D
o I finish my work?" She pushed the gate open. "What about these Un-Men she mentioned?" Kim stepped onto the sidewalk. "Are they really out here?"

  After crossing West 1000 Avenue, Kim trailed her and headed into the park. A few black droplets fell on the sleeve of her dark green pant suit then thousands fell from the menacing sky. "Great, just great! Rain and me without an umbrella." She hid behind a large Transgenic Maple a couple hundred feet away from Kat. The tree, like the Lantern Pine, created its own light with the help of an extra-genome from a firefly. The light emanated from the maple's trunk and branches. Its leaves grew upside down to gather the light for photosynthesis.

  "Why have I followed her?" Kim wondered as her hair darkened with Tainted Rain. "I still need to kill her, but that’s not it. Do I believe she can detect the Un-Men beyond the visual plain?" Her suit jacket soaked through. "Hades! I’ll catch a cold if I stay out here much longer."

  In the distance, she saw Kat pause and the beams of green light hit her. "They’re aiming at her, but who?" Kim searched the park. "Are the Un-Men here? Can she detect these robots?"

  Gun fire erupted from all around the park, lighting up the bushes and trees with muzzle flashes as Kim ducked into a thicket of trees. She pulled the PPK from her purse and searched the park, hearing movement coming from her left and her right. She turned and leaned her back against the maple as the area fell silent and her heart thumped for fear. "Are the Un-Men really hunting her? Why? Is there a bounty on her head? Or a more malevolent reason?" She thought about their conversation from before. "Katharine said the Council calls her the Pandora Project. She said that they're testing her. Did the Council send the robots after her? Is this another one of their tests?"

  In the thicket, Kat crawled through the small trees deeper into the park. About twenty yards away, she caught sight of a small tunnel underneath a stone bridge. Kat ran for it, and as she entered the tunnel, an Un-Man stepped out at the other end. The e-field of her body changed, and her irises shivered with cobalt Ult L-E.

  Over the past year, Kat learned many things about herself, about the Pandora Project. Her abilities came in levels. This level was the Beta Phase. She couldn’t miss when she was in this phase. With her extraordinary gift, Kat aimed, fired once, and hit the Un-Man in the head. It fell, disabled. She started down the tunnel to collect its AK-47, when two more Un-Men appeared at the end and opened fire. Kat scampered back, ducked around the tunnel as bullets sprayed past her, and a few ricocheted off the stone wall. Her hot moist breath showed up as steam in the brisk October air as she heaved from the exertion. She wiped black water from her brow, waiting for the metal barrage to end, then fired twice around the corner. Kat hit the last two Un-Men in the tunnel.

  "One bullet left. Three more Un-Men. I’ll have to run for it." She started down the tunnel and heard Kim scream. Kat paused and looked back. “Did Kimberly follow me out here?” Again, a voice deep within her reasoned with her heart not to let anyone suffer. She needed to protect those who needed her. Kat stared at the stone ceiling as the burden of doing what was right weighed on her. "If I could only shed tears. I know I would feel better." She put her hand to her chest. "It’s as if these caged emotions are going to claw their way out, but never do."

  A cool breeze swept through the tunnel as Kat looked to the one end that meant her freedom and to the other that meant confrontation. "Wouldn’t it be easier to run? Kimberly's an assassin. She can take care of herself. Anyway, I have ignored these pleads before. Why do I need to help her?" She gripped the gun. "Why do I need to endanger myself?" Kat turned, imagining Apartment H in the distance. "Kimberly wouldn’t help me. Why should I help her?" Kat headed toward her freedom. "She’s on her own. Just like me. She’s on her own."

  Minutes earlier...

  A gust shook rain droplets from the maple, turning Kim’s green outfit to the color of oil. "Hades! I’m vulnerable in this spot," she thought. "I have to get out of here. The apartment is about a ten minute run." She looked down at her pumps. "For Ares' sake! I’ve ruined these shoes. But I guess it's better to cry over their loss than my life. Time to leave."

  She ran back toward the apartments and neared the next large tree. A muscular man stepped from the bushes. She saw its tangerine colored dot-light brighten the dark shades it wore and knew it was one of the robots.

  "Team Leader here," the Un-Man, a T-5, relayed over its I-Link in a Russian accent. "Civilian encountered.” It paused for a few seconds then repeated the orders it received from the Factory, "I will take civilian as hostage." The Team Leader aimed its AK-47 at her. "Stay where you are and you will not be hurt."

  "Right. I’ll do that." Kim shot three times, hitting it in the chest.

  The Team Leader marched toward her. She fired four more times, emptied the gun, ejected the clip, and slid in a new one. She fired twice. The Team Leader hit her across the face with the back of its hand, bruising her cheek and grabbed her arm. It squeezed her wrist, till she dropped the gun and cried out in pain.

  The Team Leader dragged her to a clearing and yelled, "Pandora. Surrender or we will kill this woman." It scanned the area, detected two of its brethren still functioned, and that the other three had been disabled. "Come out now!" The Team Leader squeezed her wrist, and Kim cried out again.

  Kim struggled against its hold, trying to free herself from its mechanical grip as she said, "Do you really think she's going to come back for me?" She mockingly laughed. "You’re wrong!" Kim remembered how she almost killed her. "We’re not the best of friends." She punched it in the jaw with her free fist. "Ow!" She shook her hand.

  "Stupid move," Kim thought. "Come on. Stay smart, stay alive."

  "Be still," the Team Leader ordered and shouted, "Pandora, you know we will kill her if you do not surrender."

  "I know," Kat replied as she walked down the path and stopped about ten feet away. Her eyes blazed like a demon's in the darkness of the late afternoon. Kat sensed the other two Un-Men change position. They moved and stood one on each side of her.

  "Oh my Zeus! Look at her eyes!" Kim thought. "They’re burning with blue fire!" She shook off her dismay, reverting to the cold calculating mind of a Closer. "Get a hold of yourself." She focused on a new realization. "Unbelievable, she actually came back. I thought she would be long gone." Kim denied the next notion. "Surely she didn’t come back for me. Why would she?" Her confusion turned to suspicion. "What is she up to?"

  "Drop your gun," the Team Leader ordered as it pulled Kim close, wrapping her up in its arms.

  Kat glanced at the Beretta, thinking, "One bullet. Three Un-Men." She assessed the situation. "There’s no way I can win without one of us getting hurt." She stared at Kim. "Why did she come out here? Did she come to kill me in the park, hoping to find me alone?"

  "Let me go!" Kim struggled against it again and yelled at her, "Shoot it!"

  "What can I do?" Kat wondered. "Kimberly has nothing to do with my problems, so I can’t let her get hurt, but I don’t want to be captured." She shivered, not only for the cold, but in fear of what happened eight months earlier. "Not again." The decision ripped at her soul. On one side, she feared torture at the hands of the Factory, then on the other, Kat couldn’t let someone suffer because of her. Even if they were an assassin. She laid the gun on the ground as the Ultra-Epi Light Emissions faded.

  Kat stared at Kim to get her attention then told her, "Once the Un-Man releases you, run, abandon your weapon, and they will leave you alone." Kat knelt to the spongy grass and soaked her pants as her weight forced the liquid to the surface of the green blades. She placed her hands on top of her head as the other two Un-Men walked out of the shadows. Kat felt sick, knowing the pain that waited for her at the Factory and yelled, "Hurry! Go!"

  The Team Leader threw Kim to the side. "So Pandora, we finally have you again."

  Kim stumbled to a tree and ran toward her apartment, glancing over her shoulder. The Un-Men ignored her, focusing on Kat, so she ducked into a few bushes after running some distance and
watched.

  The Team Leader relayed to the Factory, "Pandora has been secured. Send in a retrieval team." It told its brethren, "ETA fifteen minutes." It pointed to a T-3, a brown hair, five foot eleven model. "You, secure the area."

  The T-3 nodded its understanding and walked off.

  The Team Leader picked up Kat's weapon, checked its clip, and turned to her. "One bullet. You should have fled, but we were fortunate to find someone strolling the park." It pushed the bullet from the clip and the 9 mm cartridge fell to the ground, disappearing into the grass. The Team Leader inserted the clip and tucked the gun in its waistband.

  Kat remained silent, stared at the ground, and searched for the weapon Kim dropped. She swore to herself, "I won’t go back to the Factory. They won’t torture me again. No matter what, I won't let them take me."

  Chapter Seventeen

  Zeus Park

  11:16 A.M...

  A cool dry breeze replaced the wet wind and evaporated the moisture on the grass. A round clock, sitting on a steel post about a hundred yards down the path, ticked the seconds away as a screech owl perched in the maple. The small bird turned its head a hundred and eighty degrees, studying the two Un-Men and the kneeling woman.

  Mud and oily water soaked Kat's shoes and the shins and knees of her pants. She stared at the ground and shivered, keeping her fingers locked and her hands on her head. "Thirteen minutes before the retrieval team gets here," she thought, wiping the black filmy water from her face on the shoulder of her jacket. "Thirteen minutes to change my fate."

  A Type One model (Kat dubbed Pretty Boy months ago) stood behind her. Its shoulder length bleached blond hair swayed in the breeze, and that along with the lanky Un-Man’s corky smile, gave it the appearance of a surfer even in the business suit. The Pretty Boy kept its AK-47 leveled on her.

  A grenade's throw away, Kim hid in some bushes. "Now what?" she wondered, looking at her ruined pant suit. "Do I go back to the apartment? No. Robots or not, they saw me with a gun. They must be eliminated along with Katharine. But how? My weapon’s by the tree."