WALL FLOWER1009Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡO7v63CtsfQ
August 16th, 21591009Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBeiQVKqEBb
“Lieutenant Hart, tune in, tune in, assistance needed on Ivy Street.” The car radio in my police car blared as I drive furiously through the streets of the Wallflower District desperately maneuvering through winding alleys to Ivy Street. The radio was emitting static constantly being broken up by gunshots and angry shouts; the HUD displayed on the windshield indicated that I was nearing my destination. I was well over the speed limit, as I drifted through the rain-flooded streets into an alleyway that sat beside a towering brick and stone apartment building, Bell Towers. Bell Towers was a towering monstrosity of an apartment building consisting of a main tower that was fifty stories tall and two other towers on either side that stood at thirty stories each.
The walls of the building were made of bright red brick contrasted the chalky grey stone grout that filled large gaps and holes in between bricks. Stone pillars ran all the way up the buildings on either corner. Windows still glowed with light with the occasional shadow appearing in front of it.
I peeked over across Ivy Street that ran through the entire distance of the wildflower district, I saw the police cars with their bright and flaring blue and red magnified through the heavy rainfall and the blaring siren cutting through the air. I flipped the switch that diminished my siren lights and cut out the sirens.
I opened my door and walked over to the trunk and drew a sniper rifle with an equipped silencer and shoulder strap, I opened the built in ammo box. Six sniper rounds. I needed to be precise and deadly, I took a deep breath and sighed breathing in the dank air of the slums that stank of alcohol and human waste, and slung the sniper rifle strap on my shoulder and burst into the back entrance of the apartment building. Six bullets.
As soon as I entered the building I was stared down by multiple people doing their laundry, for a moment long stare. I didn’t have time for this I quickly flashed my badge at them and ran up the stirs until I reached the rooftop fire escape ladder. I climbed up the ladder in adrenaline with my calves aching from the subsequent run up about fifty fights of stairs. I stood on the rooftop staring out onto the bright city skyline in the distance then quickly transferring my gaze to the Vespean refinery that refined vespean a key ingredient of Wallflower’s exclusive whiskey that was refined from deep-sea oil.
I connected the binocular ear connectors to my ear lobes and looked through the binoculars and scoped in to a man standing on top of semi truck with barrels of vespean on the bed of the truck. He was dressed in a dark green leather jacket with the hood draped over his head, covering his face in shadow except for his mouth which was in a serious straight line, only slightly opening when he spoke.
On either side of him, women with long blonde hair had the same type of leather jacket as him only colored an extremely vibrant pink that almost glowed in the dim light of the moonlight. Their almost identical figures were silhouetted in the moonlight with a compound bow in each of their hands.
After a long stint of silence, The green hooded figure slightly opened his mouth and folded his arms. “Riddle me this, boys. Why all the Vespean?” He said in a loud whisper only made louder as he clapped his hands around his mouth, amplifying his whisper.
The police officers stood still, frozen behind the door of their police cars holding pistols trained at the hooded archers that stood above them on the concrete walls of the Vespean Refinery. They didn’t say a thing and the air was filled with silence only interrupted by constant radio chatter.
I have heard enough; those archers were just your run of the mill vigilantes, they were members of the Lotus group a group of ecological ‘activists’ known for utilizing arson, political assassinations and kidnappings, and conspiracy to ‘save’ Kadrid.
I set up my Wing sniper rifle on the edge of the buildings rooftop and set out the tripod as I reached in the pocket of the bullet proof jacket I had on and loaded the six bullets into the chamber and cocked back the receiver and looked through the scope aiming at the one in the green’s head.
The scope was shaky I was tense; I took a deep breath in. come on Jim control your body, calm down. I could control myself I am a Wing; I am trained to take the shot and get out. My hand stopped shaking enough to curve my finger around the trigger and looked down the scope. I had to think, fifteen cops and nine archers.
All right, shooting the leader in the head would cause a full out attack, cops die. Shoot the explosive non-refined vespean oil causing it to explode taking out the leader and a couple of the women, plus shrapnel kill a few more could be cops or archers.
I sorted through different scenarios, distraction? No they still outnumber us. A retreat? No, then they win. How about I just kill myself? Possibly. I realized that it was risk and reward situation.
I looked down the scope aiming down from the leader’s head and down to the bottom barrel of the pile of barrels full of vespean gas. My finger curved around the trigger and took the shot. The bang of the gunshot rang through the alleyways and the air stank of gun smoke. Smoke lingered, obscuring my view of the ground below I only saw a bright flash of orange through the smoke.
I did it, but now I’ve got to go. Now. I slung the Wing rifle over my shoulder and ran to the edge of the roof. I heard the faint tapping of gentle yet fast running on the rooftop next to my rooftop and then me, I looked behind me and snuck a quick peek over my shoulder. Ninja’s? Are you freakin’ kidding me? Ninja’s?
I stopped at the edge of the rooftop and turned around with a quick start, not knowing where to go as I raised my fists in front of my face as it seemed like the cold night was taking human shape as five dark blue clad ninjas charged toward me with hilt-less swords that were longer than their bodies.
I stepped back almost tumbling over the roof, the ninjas were within 10 feet of me and still coming closer, I looked down at the roof below me which was twenty stories down. I couldn’t do it I’d be dead if I jumped and there wasn’t enough time to climb down the iron ladder that blew with the wind and then crashing back onto the concrete wall.
I just stood there as one of the ninja’s took a foolish and over zealous over handed slice down on me, I caught the descending blade in between my bare hands. Heh. Ninjas, cute. Nothing but mediocre henchmen, it was easy to reverse the blade handle into my hands and held the seven foot blade against the henchman’s throat, holding him hostage for a greater good.
The henchmen simply didn’t give a single crap about their comrade in harms way. They held their blades in front of them as they closed in cautiously and then in a rush began to swing their blades in an extremely sloppy and over zealous manner missing me at every swing.
I’m sorry god. May thee have mercy on this pour soul?
I dodged blade after blade until I took the blade that I held against the hostages’ throat and stabbed it through my hostages’ chest with the sword quickly and cleanly. With swords still thrashing at me ferociously left and right one snagged me in the shoulder, creating a long cut that barely bleed. I turned around with the now dead hostage in front of me and jumped off the roof, the downward wind of twenty stories stung in my eyes.
I should’ve closed my eyes, I really should’ve.
I felt a thump as I was covered in blood from the squashed corpse of the dead henchman. I said a silent prayer for him and pushed myself up pulling my hands out of his back and retrieving his sword also from his back. I looked up and saw as the remaining henchmen just looked surprised as they stood on the edge of the roof above.
I secured the shoulder strap of the sniper rifle tighter across my chest as I kicked down a door that lead me to a staircase that I presumably guessed would eventually lead me to an exit. I ran thirty down thirty flights of stairs and reached the main lobby, which was completely empty. I opened the front door and calmly walked out expecting anything with the silvery tungsten thread marking my palm with imprints from holding it do tightly in front of me.
The neon lights of soda machines illuminated the brick wall with pinks and purples. I looked across the street towards the vespean refinery plant; to see the smoke was clear and it’s silos were producing a thick green smoke. I trained my eyes back on the ground to see a green spot and several pink spots splattered across the pavement like paint, the truck was in ruins.
I stepped off the curb and crossed the street that was empty and only dimly lit by the street lamps’ torpedo light bulbs yellow light. I looked over my shoulder as I walked across to see the brick building fade away almost completely.
Wallflower District is so old fashioned.
I frowned as I reached the gate with the red and blue siren lights flashed in my face as I walked passed a police car and leaned on a chain link fence as I watched a group of police men step over a fallen cop who was bleeding from an arrow wound in his chest.
My eyelids began to grow heavy, I was tired, and a night that doesn’t sleep definitely takes a toll. I drowsily walked and stumbled towards one of the squad cars and rested my head back on the headrest and closed and locked the door.
All I could see was the darkness as I tried to fall asleep, but I couldn’t too much was going through my mind, sure the perp was dealt with but Lotus were known to be unpredictable.
I groaned and leaned forward off the headrest and reached my hands to open the glove box and pulled out a black Glock, I hit the release switch, I examined the magazine after it slid out. Twelve rounds. I grabbed an extra magazine, twelve rounds.
I opened the door and stepped out with the gun and the extra magazine and slid them both underneath the backside of my belt. I looked up to see a couple of news copters hovering above training their bright spotlights on the man in the green hood. The man was on his knees with his hands behind his back bound by fetters of solid and cold carbon, a group of three cops kept their pistols on him waiting for me, they were rookies to scared out of their mind to attempt an arrest.
“Hey, why aren’t these guys in the back of a car or transformed into retards already?” This is how you break in rookies, be total jerks to them and they’ll be tougher. I said it with a tone of intensity.
“We were waiting for you sir.” Said one of the rookies with a stutter.
“Whatever.” I said sounding disappointed, but in truth I understood. I walked into the middle of the circle, I squinted my eyes because of the bright spotlight, I couldn’t see his face only the top of the hood. The outside of the circle was littered with the dead bodies of the pink bearing women.
I pulled the Glock out my belt and tipped his head up with the tip of my pistol, the shadow left his face as the spotlight lit his face and he squinted his light because of the intense white light. He was young, I would say about nineteen, clean shaven and had a buzz cut, he had very narrow eyes and a flat nose and strong chin, his face was littered with scars the length of his fingers all across his face.
“Heh. You think you’ve stopped Lotus? F*** you gramps.” He said with a smirk, he clenched his teeth intensely and then spitting a bloody clump of spit at my feet.
I punched him across his face causing blood to run rapidly out of his nose, he grinned and chuckled, he sounded choked. His open mouth was red, no not from the blood, it smelled as if it was singed and his throat began to glow orange and red underneath the skin of his throat. His scars began to grotesquely split apart tearing his face apart.
There was no skin left on his face, it was only a bloody mess with eyeballs and sharp and randomly blunt teeth. The horrible and deformed man looked at me with his unblinking eyes as I backed away with my Glock up and my eyes down the iron sights.
He tore his wrists away from the carbon cuffs, snapping them in half, “Damn those cuffs freakin’ hurt.” He said with a grin as face turned scaly and his eyes grew taller and narrower. His voice was high pitched and crawly. His nostrils were only slits and two giant spines that look like giant shark’s teeth grew out the top of his head and continued down his back tearing through his hoodie.
“You really screwed up this time officer, I tried to be nice but now I have to get rather ugly.” He smiled showing his thin razor sharp teeth which no doubt dispersed venom. He dashed with his narrow scaly arms reached out in front of him, his long fingers were spread wide open bearing long, sharp fingernails.
“Stay back!” I shot a couple rounds of hitting him to no effect, as he pounced on one of the rookies to my left, completely wrapping his legs around his waist and then slashing his face with his long, curved claws and then opening his wicked mouth and firing a steady stream of yellow and orange flame charring his face.
It’s eyes immediately then trained on me and the red pupils narrowed, he dashed towards me, I do a side roll to dodge. “How many innocents are you willing to let go, how many?” he hissed when he said that as he mad an incredible leap upwards to one of the news copters standing on the landing skids, slid the door closed and swung to the other side of the helicopter, on the opposite landing skids.
I could only see the closed side of the helicopter, a window ran the length of the top half and it was filled with yellow and orange flare, I winced in horror as the windshield lit up too and then the helicopter began to waver and crashed with the other news copter, causing both to crash, blocking the gate of the vespean refinery.
The wreckage buried the other two rookies; it was just me and a monster of a man, my knees buckled under the weight of the fear.
The monster slithered out of the wreckage and smiled, ”It’s just you and me Lieutenant, If it’s not rude to ask, do you regret much? Maybe selfishness, you see that fire over their?” He pointed one long and bony finger, he dashed towards the downed helicopters and climbed to the top. “What I am about to do, is a favor. No need to thank me, for the citizens and human trash have only you to thank.” He let out a laugh and howled at the moon before he doubled over spitting a thick black liquid from his gaping jaws.
The smell was immediately recognizable, Oil. The thing spewed the oil a extremely long distance splattering the liquid against the brick walls of numerous buildings and flooding the streets mixing with water. Oil is thicker than water.
“To my good friend the lieutenant. Because of you I will be human again.” He shouted still on top of the helicopters, he howled at the moon once more, with his arms out and then doubling over spewing an incredible cone of fire turning his head patrolling the entire street.
My god, the heat was unbearable, about thirty feet away and I could feel the horrible and burning feeling of the flame’s aura. Beads of sweat ran down my face like an avalanche on the slopes, as I collapsed on my back and looked around to see walls of flames replacing streets and brick strangely shriveling up and burning like paper. The sounds of screams and the constant roaring and howling of the beast filled the air.
“Ahhh… Yesss…I am done Gaia!” he screamed up at the moon again and standing there for a second while keeping his reptilian eyes trained on me. He stood there as if listening to something. “Ah yes, there is but one more task, I will do it.”
He jumped down and approached me slowly with his arms out showing off the foot long talons that were tipped with blood. He began to click his long talons as he leisurely stalked towards me; I got up and drew my pistol.
“Yeah, one more task, shoot this Slytherin prick.” I shot a round into his chest; he barely winced as he continued towards me in the same manner. Blam! Blam! Blam! Three more shots in his scaly underbelly, he winced and doubled over holding his scaly underbelly stopping the bleeding.
“Not my typical taste, but tonight’s main dish will be to fight for!” he laughed and charged towards me leaping and rolling along the way, I shot missing him, he tackled me and snapped his jaws in front of my face. I hit him with the hilt of my Glock as hard as I can, rocking him back and off me. I felt strange; I felt the animalistic need to make this thing suffer.
I danced toward him, bouncing on my toes with my fists in front of my face like a pro boxer, my blood was hot and I was excited as I beckoned him with one of fists. “Come on, bite me.” I said sarcastically and laughed as he charged me with claws out and intentions to impale me in mad rage. Again charging me in the stupidly same manner I punched him across the face knocking him back again.
“Look into the fires, I may look defeated but look at the fire, how do you feel, do you feel regret and defeat?” said the scaly man before slashing at my face leaving a gash across my mouth.
I smirked wiping away the blood on the back of my hand, “As a cultured man I have taken a quote from another cultured man as my motto, ‘I live my life a quarter mile at a time, for those ten seconds or less, I am free.’”
“Then enjoy your freedom, I impeach you.” He snarled as he lunged at me spitting oil, I backed away quickly and ducked and rolled to the side of the continuous stream of oil, and within a moments notice fired a round into the dense oil close to his mouth, catching the stream on fire and causing a small explosion, lesser than that of a hand grenade, knocking the Slytherine prick on his back groaning in pain. But still alive. The animalistic instinct urged inside of me.
I walked towards the downed monster with the light of fire flickering on my face and the smoky and strong scent of black smoke fill my nose, I stood over him and snickered “Yes you have won, I have lost.” I said putting the cold tip of my pistol against his forehead, “You impeach me? Well give me the next ten seconds to free you.”
Blam! One bullet, he’s still alive blood ran down from the gunshot wound to the left of his mouth. He lets out a painful roar from deep in his throat, but he can’t do a damn thing. “Still alive? Well there is more where that came from,”
Blam! Second bullet slightly above the first bullet wound. I feel like a surgeon, he lets out another terrified screech, “Please don’t, just stop.” He pleaded, I felt pity for the monster of a man he was, it was time to apply a sedative. I pushed the point of my gun into the wide space of flesh in between his eyes. This was the sedative.
“You must understand, I do this because I feel pity for you,” I curve my finger around the trigger and he began to whimper and sniffle. He really is human, I feel even more humane. “I do not hate you, I do this because I recognize your humanity.”
Blam! I shot him, he is dead and there was blood all over my face.
I looked around I was trapped in a factory surrounded by a wall of fire, it was odd, trees and other vegetation were sprouted from the flames. I could feel myself going over, going over the deep end. I realized how much different it was to kill someone from afar and to kill someone up close and actually have their blood stain your skin and clothes. I took one last close look at my surroundings, fire, abundant vegetation, alchohol, and bricks.
This was all my fault, I made the wrong decision to distract I should’ve killed him, now instead of maybe a couple of cops dying a whole district will be nearly crippled. Goes to show how decisions just do not only affect you but also the ones around you, I could hardly believe that I killed and destroyed the home of countless people. I put the gun up to my head, feeling the cold tip against my right temple.
I can’t take it, it’s all my fault.
I pulled the trigger, then just darkness, silence and nothing else.1009Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQVBVPyitAe
* * * * *
Epilogue
Wallflower District was lost in a fiery storm, as vegetation and increased wildlife overran the brick mostly residential area. In the inferno about thirty percent of the district was completely destroyed by fire or overgrowth, while sixty percent were turned to abstract pieces of brick and stone, having the fire burn into weird shapes like abstract art. What was weird was that these percentiles were not grouped together, but randomly scattered as if the flames decided which buildings and people were to be destroyed, disheveled, or spared.
About forty percent of the citizens were left homeless, finding refuge in alleyways and begging for money and food, not screw ups but actual misfortunate people. They began to adapt by using the abstract ruins to call them home. Sickness quickly spread through the streets, and being homeless was a constant struggle, paranoia, disease, being at the bottom of the food chain, and fighting over resources.
Lieutenant Jim Hart was found dead, with a bullet wound in the right temple. His face was covered with scratches that were about an inch deep and three inches long each. He was found an estimated thirteen hours after his death, presumably a suicide. An unrecognizable reptilian life form was found with several gunshots in the facial area and the stomach.
The cause of the suicide is theorized to be PTSD, as Lieutenant Hart was a Wing operative that specialized in long-range recon and information and only when absolutely required, go in for a long-range kill or aid the ground force. Because of this, Wing operatives rarely saw action and even more rarely a need to kill a target. So when he felt the moral need to kill the unidentifiable life form, up close, and with a pistol he probably has never used in the field.
So when he fired each shot, realizing what he was doing and seeing more blood than usual, he started breaking a little inside. His psyche was falling apart. He may have won the fight against the life form; he recognized that he took the life of another living thing. He couldn’t bare the fact, so he did what he thought would lift the thought from his mind, putting a bullet in his brain.
After that and for the next six months, Lotus would cause several smaller cases of arson and even assassinating the representative of Wallflower district. The general force of the police department began to dwindle, tolls were raising, not only of dying on the battlefield but also several accounts of PTSD, not just Wing operatives but also the general force.
Chancellor city’s security officials were beginning to crack under the pressure of the media and several protest groups to pull back the forces and decommission them. So they did. And for a whopping six months Chancellor city was without a police force, this stretch of time was known as the “Lockdown” because of the increased amount of home invasion and other crimes increased, making it absolutely necessary to provide your security for you and your family, whether that means locking your doors every night or sleeping with a shotgun.
During the Lockdown, Chancellor city gathered the best engineers to start enacting the “Springheel Initiative” a new design for a robotic police force that would soon patrol the streets in place of the old police force.
The blueprints for the Springhill androids were fairly simple, they resembled a bunny’s. They had two detachable backup antennas, that are so sharp and curved they could be as close combat weapons and boomerangs in desperate situations. They had a black front visor that covered the upper half of the face, behind the visor were scanners and a self destruction activator that not only caused a thermite explosion but also an EMP blast.
It is almost impossible to cut off the android’s communication systems. There are seven communication terminals scattered across the body that communicate to the Terminal guards, and in the rare case that all seven communication terminals are destroyed, a terminal guard has several choices, link the android to another android this will cause both androids to act exactly the same, the terminal guard could also take control and manually enter commands that replaced the predetermined set of instructions, activate the self destruction activator, or the most dangerous and riskiest option and activate the “sentient protocol” giving the android a consciousness saved from a dead former officer.
But perhaps the most useful quality to be used in the heat of battle, was the ability to jump a whopping vertical distance of thirty feet in the air, allowing for ambushes from far away and using the cogs in it’s heel can adjust the distance the android can jump, one of the several things it can do without a command. This is why the android has the Springheel namesake.
The cogs also allow the android to move at speeds of up to thirty five miles per hour for a short burst like a cheetah, the visor can also ire an invisible beam at a flat surface that attracts the feet of the Springheel to that surface, allowing the android to run on that surface for a short time.
Unfortunately, the Springheel has a relatively fragile frame and wasn’t very strong in it’s arms with most of the strength focused into the lower body.
After six months of chaos in Chancellor city, the engineers became the first Terminal Guards and they released the first squads of Springheel androids to purge the various cartels, gangs, and Fledgling Lotus groups. The Springheel’s were armed with modified Wing sniper rifles, simply by shortening the barrel and messing with the insides a bit and removing the scope and replacing it with graphic HUD sights that displayed hostile forms in red, suspicious ones in yellow, and innocents in blue. The long body of the rifle accommodated the tall and lanky design of the Springheel.
These modified sniper rifles were redeemed as Wing assaults. With that they were released to purge criminals, they were successful. In one night they incarcerated a total of sixty-eight criminals throughout Chancellor city, stopped twelve fires, stopped thirty-nine crimes in progress, and stopped eight riots.
So ever since then Springhill androids were there to protect Chancellor city and haven’t failed to do so.
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