The traffic was light on the street,
the air traffic was
unusually heavy. Hillworth's beat was in the downtown area, a mix of
glass and steel towers, small synthetic parks and preserved
historical buildings. Hillworth looked to the sky, what little
he
could see of it past the air cars and the enclosed walkways, was a
washed out grey. No stars tonight, like every night. Hillworth
hadn't seen stars since his last vacation.
"Paperwork." he said aloud with disgust as
he stopped at a god
box. Hillworth fished out his ID and accessed the meter tall machine
to file his report. Hillworth was surprised that the slang "god box"
hadn't been used by Fundimentalists as proof of the godlessness of
the times.
You could make Vid calls, handle bank transactions,
pay fines,
obtain permits, vote, and have basic medical tests preformed from
these "Telecommunication and City Service Access Points". Too much
of
a mouthful for most people, and "god box" was easier, and more
accurate. Fall into ill favor with a god box and be cut off from your
bank accounts, your right to vote and often medical attention.
Hard
to get an ambulance if you can't prove you need one.
The report was the usual, attempted Stim
sale, fired upon by
bolt chucker, evaded bolts, subdued dealer and buyer with paralyzer
spray. As much as Hillworth hated paperwork it was worth it to
feel
like a cop again. His time on Air Patrol made him feel like a clean
up crew for gangs and street trash. From the usual cruising height
of seventy stories it was hard to tell if a crime was occurring until
too late.
Hillworth had refused a promotion to Homicide
to head up a new
Foot patrol, officers walking a beat could know who was trouble and
actually prevent crime again. He had to champion the program
to drum
up interdepartment interest in the project and to appeal to the Mayor
for funding to start the program. Mayor Winfeild approved the
program on a small probationary status, and required that a civilian
committee, chosen by the city council, would decide the test
neighborhoods. Hillworth agreed, anything to get Foot Patrol
started. Of course none of the areas chosen were actually those
that
needed Foot Patrol the most, still well educated voters had been
exposed to the program, and liked it. With public support building,
soon the patrol would cover most of the city. Maybe starting in the
clean neighborhoods hadn't been such a bad idea after all.
Hillworth ran a check over his equipment. In
his shoulder
holster, 12 mm with 30 round clip.In his vest, rocket round,
paralyzer spray, civilian distress beacon, and grappeling hook
launcher tube. On his belt, line reel with grappleing hook at his
waist, and floater pods at his hips. And of course his sit-suit.
The E.S.I.D.a.R.S. , emergency situation
impact diffusion and
redirection riot suit.It was a lightwieght flexable material until
the suit was activated, then it hardened solid. A cybernetic link at
the back of the neck let the suit anticpate movement and provide
flexability in those areas. Since problematic situations were
over
the radio just called situations the suit was first a situation suit
then sit-suit, the assigned name was too hard to figure out how to
pronounce.
As Hillworth was about to run a radio
test, someone did it for
him.
"Well hello down there." Hillwortrh looked
above to the Air
Patrol unit above him. The voice was young and friendly, probably a
rookie.
"How's things on the ground" he asked. Hillworth
looked out
across the streets, a little break from his patrol couldn't hurt.
"Things are alright, apprehended a Stim sale
in progress,
confiscated a bolt chucker" Hillworth heard a whistle of surprise
over the radio.
"Wow, you Foot patrol run shifts parallel
to ours don't you?"
Hillworth was sure this had to be a rookie, probably just got a solo
patrol.
"That's right our patrols run just like yours.
I'm on graveyard,
been out for two hours and thirteen minutes."
"You Foot Patrol guy's are crazy or somethin'
you can get
yourself killed real easy alone down there." definitely a rookie.
"Take a look at your officer badge display
Airman" Hillworth
said trying to conceal his amusement.
"Captain Hillworth," he thought the rookie
was going to die up
there from the sound of his voice
"I didn't realize Sir, uh no offence toward
the Foot Patrol Sir,
I didn't know you had a patrol Sir, I'm sorry if I offended you Sir,
I just.." Hillworth interrupted him.
"Don't worry about it, I heard more admiration
in your voice
than contempt. I need to be going, but if our patrols overlap then
I'd like to know your name. We don't have badge displays down here."
The rookies answer came tentatively.
"Officer Laterio Sir." Hillworth shook his
head.
"Laterio call me Hillworth leave formalities
for reports and
briefings, on the streets we're all equals."
"Alright Hillworth, see ya later." Laterio
turned his Air Patrol
unit to continue on his patrol.
"Good luck Laterio." Hillworth replied.
Hillworth rounded the corner and hadn't gone
a block before he
heard a scream. Hillworth ran toward the source of the sound and
ducked the alley it issued from. Hillworth drew his sidearm and
yelled at the perp.
"Freeze! Police, get your hands up, NOW!"
the perp dropped the
shaking woman and put his hands up. The perp was bald with ears
filled with rings and one in his nose, black sunglasses a long black
leather coat and pants, a "Stone Age Polymers: Caveman Coffee Break"
tour t-shirt streaked with what might be blood stains. A worn,
well
used bolt chucker hung on his back. The perp looked at Hillworth over
his $500 designer sunglasses and smiled. Hillworth was taken
by
suprise as the perp rushed past him in a blur. Hillworth tossed his
civilian distress beacon to the woman and kicked on Pursuit Mode. A
start-up display rolled over the lower right hand corner of his
vision.
"Boosted cops catch boosted perps." Hillworth
said aloud, he had
said that same thing to convince the Comities to augment the entire
Foot Patrol. Hillworth felt that familiar tingle of implants
firing
up and then pulled the sit-suit's hood up and face mesh down. With
a
hum the suit hardened around him, Hood and mesh becoming helmet and
visor. Hillworth took off after the perp, with a smile on his face.
The Chase was on.
Hillworth radioed for Air Patrol.
"Hillworth in pursuit of a suspect. Requesting
support." only
static answered.
"Dammit" Hillworth thought, this perp was
a gutsy bastard.
He must have a jammer on him, it didn't make much sense to Hillworth.
If you could afford a jammer you could afford to buy yourself a real
gun. Bolt chuckers were common rilfe-like firearms used by street
trash, clunky and simple they used improvised contact explosives to
fire a bolt, literally. Any descent mechanic could fabricate one, and
often Stim dealers pushed the explosives right along with the
other
chemical garbage they hooked people on. A bolt chucker could blow up
and take you with it at practically any time, he could see spending
all your cash on implants but a jammer was a luxury. This bastard
must enjoy the danger of a bolt chucker. Hillworth felt a sinking in
his stomach, this was going to be a rough arrest.
The display's flashing arrows directed
Hillworth to a shopping
plaza packed with designer teenagers. From their faces, skin tone,
eyes, clothes, and shoes they had been carefully assembled by the
latest trends, the perp stood out like a sore thumb. He should have
ditched the bolt chucker and the coat. Hillworth moved through the
crowd, the world moving slowly around him, paralyzer spray in
hand.
The perp took off like a shot, matching Hillworth's speed and dashing
through the crowd. The designer teens turning and moving away in slow
motion. The perp jumped onto a display case, leaped to a small
decorative ledge, landing only for a split second, then straight up
through the break in the ceiling between escalators.
"Damn," Hillworth said aloud. These ceilings
were high, at least
15 meters.
"I hope your heart explodes." Hillworth switched
on his floater
pods and leaped up the same way the perp had gone.
Hillworth didn't even pretend to understand
how they worked, by
some principle they reduced your weight to a few hundred grams. Last
week Ying got bored and stuck a paper clip in a flaw in the casing
of
his set. They worked in reverse, smashing through his desk and
cracking the floor, before they burned out. He needed to sign Ying's
suspension forms when he got back.
The perp ran into a walkway to an accounting
firm smashing
through the door labeled "For use by employees only" knocking a
janitor down. Hillworth stopped just long enough to check if he was
all right and then went after the perp. He might be out of
Hillworth's sight but his jammer told Hillworth right where to go.
He
rounded the corner and found an express elevator to the 65th floor
in
use. The elevators Executive ID slot hung from it's panel by wires.
It had just been torn out, a patch humming in it's place. Hillworth
ran to another express to the 65th and used his police ID as an
override.
In the elevator Hillworth couldn't help
but wonder where this
guy got all his cash, to afford jammers and patch units, especially
a
self adjuster, this guy has to be a pro and well paid at that. The
maintenance on his implants alone had to cost a bundle. The patch he
left behind most Techs would kill for. Need to by-pass an electronic
lock or other regulatory component, just tear it out and use a patch.
The system won't be able to tell the difference. Hillworth had heard
that you could rob a God Box with two patches and a decent set of
decryption software . Leaving a patch behind in the elevator
controlls like that told Hillworth right where to go. This had to
just be a game to him, like he enjoyed Hillworth chasing him. The
jammer also kept everyone else out of the game. Hillworth wondered
how crazy this guy was.
He moved the paralyzer spray from one
hand to the other as he
neared the 65th. What would this guy do with his head start? The
display flashed wildly stating the jammer was in close proximity as
the elevator stopped on the 65th.
"Not much." Hillworth thought. The door opened
and Hillworth had
just enough time to take in the image of the perp posed dramatically,
a foot up on an overturned wastebasket brandishing his bolt chucker,
before he stylishly filled the elevator with a barrage of cheap
steel. The bolts hit Hillworth and knocked him off his feet.
"Shit" Hillworth mumbled under his breath,
he had forgotten to
shut off the floater pods. With the sit-suit on he couldn't feel the
impact of the rusty 3" bolts or smell the thick acrid smoke from the
cheap explosives as the perp bounced him around the elevator like a
kid throwing rocks at a tin can. As Hillworth turned off the pods and
struggled to his feet the perp fired his last bolt at the paralyzer
spray Hillworth held in his hand. The high pressure canister exploded
filling the the elevator and hallway with gas.
"Buddy, that was really stupid." Hillworth
said as he stepped
into the foggy hallway to drag the perp out of the gas before his
heart stopped, if it hadn't already. Instead the perp gave him a
rifle butt to the face. Hillworth picked himself up again, in the
clearing fog he could see the discarded bolt chucker.
"Oh well,"Hillworth said with a mock sigh
as he drew his 12mm.
"I guess I'll just have to SHOOT him." the
jammer display wasn't
necessary, the explosion was prompting enough. With gritted teeth and
a ready gun Hillworth headed around the corner to a bomb scared
office. He looked out the blown open window to see the perp on top
of
an enclosed walkway one story down. Hillworth jumped out the window
after him, as the perp ran toward the restaurant level of the
Winfeild Arms hotel.
"Great." Hillworth thought. Nestled between
the 63rd and 70th
floors of the Mitchel building it was the Mayor's brainchild during
her early years, her son owned the business now. This was just too
bad off a situation for a cop to be in for this to be coincidence.
Hillworth was really starting to hate this guy.
Halfway across the walkway the perp
answered two of Hillworth's
questions almost before he thought them. He did indeed have another
grenade and that's how he was planning to enter the restaurant. the
explosion blew a hole in the side of the Winfeild Arms which the perp
dived through and blew that end of the walkway free of it's supports.
Hillworth grabbed the grappling hook and fitted to the launch tube,
arming the hook. As the walkway swayed under him he fired the line
at
a point just above the breach in the wall. The hook hit the building
and sprung to life sending razor sharp arms in all directions, then
twisting them inside the steel and concrete of the building.
Hillworth locked the line at his belt and swung
towards the
Mitchel building just as the walkway, in a protestant scream of
twisting metal, gave way. Hillworth turned his body away from the
building to protect the spool at his waist and slammed into the
Winfeild Arms. He hit the motor to reel him in and the jammer display
went blank.
"He must think I'm dead." Hillworth thought
as he reached the
entry of the restaurant.
"Hillworth in pursuit of an armed and dangerous
enhanced
suspect. Pursuit at Winfeild Arms restaurant. Requesting support."
he
said over the screams of panicked patrons of the hotel. Rounding the
corner he saw the perp standing atop a table near the stage holding
a
waiter by the throat.
"I think you misunderstood me Sir, I said.."
the perp trailed
off as he saw Hillworth, with a smile he dropped the waiter and with
a flourish revealed the jammer on his belt. He switched it on and
looked challengingly at Hillworth.
"FREEZE." Hillworth shouted and leveled his
pistol at the perp.
The perp wasted no time in running off, jumping table to table
towards the grand staircase to the dinning area that overlooked this
one. Hillworth fired three shots into his back. The perp was knocked
forward but recovered and rolled back to his feet. He cleared
the
staircase in one leap. Hillworth ran after him, the perp must have
a
plate under the coat. That was the only explanation Hillworth could
think of. Back at the elevator he must have had anti-chemical
measures in his dermal layer and filters in his respiratory system.
You couldn't get anti-chemical AND be bullet proof. The systems
report in the upper right hand corner of Hillworth's vision said
anti-fatigue measures and other bio-comp functions must cease
immediately and began a countdown. Pursuits like this weren't
supposed to last this long.
Laughing the perp did a cartwheel in the hallway
and then ran
into one of the glass elevators that ran along the outside of the
Mitchel building. Hillworth followed into an adjacent elevator. The
perp waved from his elevator and pointed up. Hillworth felt the
nausea that accompanied slow-down, one of the detriments to bio-comp
boosts. How the perp could stand there and look so happy was a
mystery to Hillworth.
"Nut." Hillworth mumbled to himself.37 floors
later at 101st
Hillworth ran out into the hallway. As the perp slammed through the
door to the roof Hillworth yelled.
"FREEZE DAMMIT!" and fired twice more
at the perp.
He couldn't tell if they hit or not, the perp just ran for the roof.
Hillworth rushed through the door to the stairs. In an buzz of
feedback and the thunder of another grenade Hillworth was thrown back
into the hallway. The bio-comp display alerted Hillworth of emergency
measures and began another countdown. Hillworth got to his feet and
ran up the broken, bomb scared stairs to the roof.
The perp stood waiting. Hillworth leveled his
gun and walked
slowly toward him.
"Get your hands in the air, you are under
arrest for attempted
assault, destruction of..." Hillworth looked him in the eyes.
A wave of confusion hit Hillworth. Such beautiful
eyes, she had.
She lowered her arms putting them on Hillworth's shoulders. He knew
this wasn't right, a moment ago he had been chasing, another shadowy
fog crept into his brain. Chasing after love his whole life always
screwing it up. She smiled and touched the hard hood of the sit-suit,
He looked down at her, a little shorter than him just like; he
couldn't remember her name. In high school he had a crush on her. The
woman took the sunglasses off, Hillworth saw pieces of; she was his
girlfriend in college . They fought, he had been to proud to
apologize. Her mouth ,it's shape and the fullness of her lips, just
like his ex-wife. He couldn't remember any of their names, the scent
of the woman's perfume lingered in the air. Hillworth knew this was
wrong, the suit's filters. The suit, the thought changed, kept him
from kissing her. Hillworth turned his badge clockwise then counter
and back again. The badge slid up and Hillworth typed the suit-disarm
number in on the key pad. It kept the suit on, if you were pinned
down,but it got in the way at moments like this. She smiled as the
suit's hum ceased. Hillworth pulled the face mesh up and the hood
down, she drew closer. They kissed gently, tentatively at first then
deeper, she pressed her body against him as he pulled her closer. She
drew back and looked him in the eyes. A smile on his face Hillworth
realized had never felt so happy in his life. She gently kissed him
on his neck. He felt her breath hot on his skin.
The throbbing hum of sub-sonics made
Hillworth's teeth rattle
and knees give. Both collapsed on the ground, the bio-comp went crazy
and Hillworth vomited as his bowls loosened. Spasming Hillworth used
his arms and legs as best he could to crawl away and put the suit's
hood back up. As the suit-hummed to life synchronizing efforts with
the Bio-comp to counteract the sonics. Hillworth took a breath and
looked up. An Air Patrol unit hung in the sky. Its' turbines barely
audible over the roit gun. Hillworth got to his feet and tried to
remember the last few minutes, The perp was spitting up what looked
like blood and bits of flesh. With a shudder the perp stopped moving.
Air Patrol shut off the riot gun. Hillworth walked over to check on
the perp. Who suddenly sprang to life and knocked Hillworth to the
ground. The perp had changed, ears pointed more prominent, it almost
had a muzzle, eyes wild and inhuman. As they wrestled Hillworth's
only advantage was the unyielding sit-suit. The perp was stronger,
much stronger and then the perp reached for his badge.
"Shit." the code, Hillworth remembered. It
knew the code.
Hillworth prayed that the Air jockey up there remembered the hand
signals. Hillworth made the signal for FIRE, then Again as the perp
over powered him and started to key in the sequence.
"GOD DAMMIT!" Hillworth yelled, FIRE. FIRE.
FIRE. The roit gun
hit the perp even harder this time. It spit up thick black slime onto
Hillworth's face shield and collapsed with a shudder.
THe Air Patrol unit landed, along side Hillworth.
The turbines
ran down only the hum of it's floaters broke the silence. Hillworth
was shaking as the bio-comp shut down. The air car's door opened.
"Hillworth, what the Hell is going on, uh
Sir?" it was Laterio.
"Your guess is as good as mine." Hillworth
said as he looked
back toward the perp.
"When I got here you had your suit de-act,
he was going to bite
into your neck, I don't get it." Laterio shook his head.
"Grab the restraints, this has been a hell
of a pursuit."
Hillworth wiped the slime off the sit-suit.
"It must have been, you lost your sidearm."
Hillworth looked
down, it was gone, along with the rocket round. He didn't need to
look he just tackled Laterio to the ground. The perp fired the rocket
round at them. It shot over them and into the open door of the air
car. The explosion threw Hillworth and Laterio into the air, they
bounced twice. Hillworth tried to protect Laterio from the explosion
and impacts. He failed, Laterio was broken and burned there in
Hillworth's arms. Hillworth choked back a sob, quickly sorrow became
rage.
"Come back here Motherfucker!" Hillworth yelled
as the perp ran
to the edge of the roof.
"You KILLED Laterio, he was only a kid, you
Son of a Bitch!"
Hillworth watched as the perp shrugged of its coat. Arms shifting
with thick visceral sounds as they stretched and twisted into wings.
Hillworth fitted the hook into the launch tube. Then fired it into
the perps back. The hook tore into it, the perp dropped and let out
a
scream.
"They're going to take you apart bit by bit
in a lab you fucking
FREAK!" Hillworth yelled as he hit the motor on the spool. The perp
tore the hook from it's back, the hook tangled in shriveled dead
entrails. The perp yanked on the line pulling Hillworth throug the
air and over the edge. Hillworth slammed face first into the Mitchel
building. The spool was bent , it's motor casing torn open and
twisted. The slick sides gave him nothing to hold onto as he slid
further down, Hillworth looked up. The perp was holding the hook by
it's stem in one hand. The only thing human about it now was the
clothes it wore. It had a muzzle filled with wicked teeth, hands
halfway up it's wings, bat-like and clawed. Large ears stood out from
it's head, a glow to it's eyes. He couldn't help by think it was
still smiling. If it let go of him he could still use the hook to
stick to the building until help arrived. The Perp took a switch
blade from a pocket, opened it with a flourish and began to saw
through the line, chuckling.
Hillworth took a deep breath and tried
to think. The floater
pods wouldn't hold out for more than a 30 meter drop. The sit-suit
would hold his body together for sure , but he would only be a pretty
corpse. He could still see the blinking lights on the jammer.
Hillworth came to grips with the fact he was going to die. The perp
was having a difficult time sawing through the polycable with a
switchblade, but would soon.
"Time to die." Hillworth said calmly and jammed
a pin from the
spool motor into a flaw in the floater pod casing. The whine of the
pods as they reversed was only drowned out by the perp's inhuman
scream of pain and surprise. The hook slid down in the perp's hand
and tore into it anchoring in it's bones. Pulled with the force of
thousands of kilograms both were draged down.
"Ha, HA, Who's laughing now motherfucker!"
Hillworth yelled up
at the perp, he turned towards the ground just in time to see a
walkway rushing up at him.
Hillworth blacked out on impact and then was
dragged out of
unconsciousness by the suit overloading. It burned out, superheating
it's coils.
Hillworth's body was spider-webed with third degree burns. The
bio-comp flashed wildly, giving a warning then starting a another
countdown. He looked around. His leg was under him at an unnatural
angle. Both arms seemed okay, he pulled his hood off and blood came
off on his fingers. The radio was working, but all static.
"Great, I've cracked my skull," he looked
toward the perp laying
near him in the twisted walkway. Illuminated by the light comming
from the hole they punched in it's roof. The perp looked as busted
up
as he was.
"Dead yet?" he chuckled to himself,
feeling a little pain even
through the bio-comp, add internal injuries to the list. Hillworth
could barely believe it, the perp started moving, and so did the
walkway.
The perp stood up slowly bones popping. It's jaws open wide, it
roared with rage, reaching toward Hillworth with it's clawed hands.
As the walkway tipped violently and with a shriek broke lose
Hillworth wondered how far from the ground they were.
The walkway slammed into the roof of a building
below almost
immediately, tearing into the roof and wall. Hillworth spilled out
the end of the walkway and hit the floor. He lay there vision blurred
his right arm wasn't working. The light coming in from the hole in
the roof wasn't enough for him to see much of his surroundings. All
he could see clearly was the bio-comp countdown, 3..2..1. Hillworth
started screaming. He stopped, coughing violently, choking on bile
and blood. He rolled over on his side and blacked out.
Hillworth woke up.
"I'll bet I'm in shock." he said slowly. He
couldn't see the
perp so he followed the line at his waist up to the ceiling. The perp
hung up there imply. A strut of the walkway jammed trough a ragged
tear in one of it's wings.
"You have the right to remain silent." Hillworth
began
"If you choose to waive this right your statements
will be
recorded.." the perp's wing tore through and it feel with a wet thud
to the floor.
"..and submitted as evidence. You have the
right to legal
council if ." the perp started screaming and staggered to it's feet.
"Shut up, you stupid bastard. I'm trying to read you your
rights. If you cannot provide your own council the state will.." The
perp interrupted again by bursting into flames. Hillworth blinked ,
what was he supposed to do now? As he tried to collect his thoughts
he looked around. The perp illuminated the room quite well. The
flickering firelight played over the elaborate murals and stained
glass. Hillworth remembered, the medic clause.
"If you are in need of medical attention it
will be provided for
you, during this time you will not be questioned.." the perp
exploded. Hillworth lay in the dark, hearing the sirens headed this
way. Considering the damage done by this pursuit maybe death would
have been better. Hillworth decided against that, and made a note to
sign promotion forms for Ying. Hillworth looked to the heap of
rotting scorched flesh.
"Serves you right, motherfucker."
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