Inside Genesys HQ

Ignacio’s heart hammered against his chest as he held onto Thiago, the gravbike drifting to a halt and swaying his head to the side. The bike helmet made it feel twice as heavy, its visor casting a dull orange tint to everything.

He panted, the helmet’s visor highlighting objects ahead in neon yellow. He reached for his helmet and pressed the button beside the visor, letting go of Thiago and leaning his head back. The helmet retracted around his head into the neck brace, his sweaty face hit by a rush of cold air.

“Woo-hoo,” Thiago said, hopping off the bike, turning to Ignacio and patting him on the shoulder. “How’d you like that?”

Ignacio glanced down at him, sliding off the bike with a huff. “Let’s not do that again.”

Thiago laughed. “Let’s go get your sister back.”

He turned to the building they were parked outside of. It was relatively small compared to the other Psyonic Crew headquarters. About two storeys, more cube in shape with panels of glass and light running around its edges.

Ignacio glanced over his shoulder, watching the afternoon sunlight reflect across the lake’s surface. A large bridge arched over it, gravmobiles zipping across it at high speeds, drones above them flying back and forth. A couple of seagulls flew beside it, letting out sharp calls. They looked real, but for all he knew they were synthetic.

“Ace,” Thiago called. “Let’s go.”

Ignacio walked over the smooth tar parking area, up the short flight of stairs beside where Thiago stood. The sliding doors to the building were huge, with giant graffiti letters spray painted in neon blue and green across them.

“Stay out?” Thiago read.

Ignacio sighed, rubbing his eyes. “Did you tell them we’re coming?”

“Yes,” a low voice said from behind.

They turned to find a tall, slender woman with long black hair behind them, a black mask with orange Oni teeth on it covering her face from her nose down. Her arms were covered in black sleeves that rippled with pixels of orange and white light as she folded them. Her shoulders were bare, tattoos of spirals on each that seemed to move. Another tattoo streaked from the corner of her right eye into her hair like three orange claw marks, her pants and top a plain black with zips down the sides.

“Ferradax?” she asked.

Thiago gave a nod. “That’s me.”

Her boots rippled with that same orange light as she strode up the flight of stairs.

“Urashima Tarō,” she said, and the doors swished downwards.

Ignacio stepped aside as she strode past them inside, gesturing backwards for them to follow.

Thiago stepped in first, Ignacio following. He glanced back as the door hissed closed again, the white lights glaring down from the ceiling in spirals lighting up a grey room with couches and a pot plant in the middle. Some kind of a waiting room, he assumed.

Thiago grinned at him, thumbing towards the woman as the strode ahead of them. “I’m in love.”

“Where’s she taking us?” Ignacio asked.

“Probably to Ezequiel,” Thiago said, shrugging. “But to be honest with you I got no damn clue.”

They followed her down a corridor that led from the waiting area, the walls marked with graffiti. They entered another foyer of sorts, this once much darker with red and blue lights glaring down on them, the graffiti so dense now Ignacio couldn’t tell what colour the walls originally were.

“Wait,” Ignacio said, as the woman walked up to another door. “Where are we going?”

She turned to him, her eyes glowing a deep orange, the Oni teeth on her mask opening wider as they began to glow too.

“To see Ezequiel. That’s what you’re here for, no?” she said, her voice low and soothing.

“Yes, please continue,” Thiago said.

She pressed her hand to the biometric scanner beside the door.

“Ace,” Thiago said. “Just shut up.”

Ignacio blushed. “Sorry.”

The door hissed open, and the woman stepped aside, gesturing them in. Thiago went first, trying to flash a smile at her as he passed but she just stared at the ground. Ignacio followed, pausing in the doorway.

A scaffolding of metal stairs led down to the floor of the massive room. He walked in, peering over the edge of the guard rail. There was a glass room right below him, holding a circle of what looked like Cyphers.

He followed after Thiago, footsteps clanging against the metal steps and echoing through the massive room.

They went down three flights that zig-zagged to the floor, Ignacio’s breath shortening as he reached the end.

“Hey, guys,” Thiago said.

Ignacio froze. He stood with his hands up, a man the size of the both of them combined towering over him with folded arms.

His dark skin glistened in the light coming from the glass room, his tall hair and sharp beard white as the powder the Doc used to cauterize wounds.

We might need some of that in a few minutes, Ignacio thought, keeping a hand on the guard rail of the stairs.

The large man’s eyes lifted to Ignacio. “Is that the kid you’re talking about?” he asked, his voice booming.

Thiago glanced over his shoulder. “Yes, of course. Ace, get your ass over here.”

Ignacio walked forward, his skin crawling. “Hi, I’m… Ace, what’s your name?”

The large man raised an eyebrow at him. “You’re the one who thinks his sister is the First Nexus?”

Ignacio stuffed his hands into his pockets. “Yes sir, and I was hoping-”

“Hah!” Ezequiel said, pointing at him. “Koharu?”

A cold metal circle pressed against his temple, making his body freeze. He slowly raised his hands.

“I’m not armed, I swear,” Ignacio said.

Thiago spun around, his eyes widening. “Oh come on, Ezequiel, what is this for?”

“Another word out of you, and you’ll go with him,” Ezequiel barked.

A hand pushed Ignacio forward, his body too shocked to resist. He glanced sideways, his stomach churning with nausea. It was a pistol.

He slowly walked forward, along the glass-walled room, until the hand grabbed the back of his jacket and he came to a halt.

“Kai,” a woman’s voice said from behind him.

A section of the glass wall slid open, and the woman pushed him inside. She walked him over to the circle of Cyphers in the middle of the room, finally releasing the pistol from against his head.

He slowly lowered his hands, and turned around. His eyes widened, heart climbing into his throat.

The girl still held the charge-pistol level with his chest, her bright green eyes narrowed in a deadpan glare.

Her skin glistened along her jawline in the room’s light. Her black skirt ended halfway up her thigh, boots up to her knees, constant strings of small, shifting green glyphs running down them. The arm she held the pistol with was covered in a sleeve that rippled with green and white pixels as she pointed at one of the Cyphers.

“Sit down. Now,” she said, tucking her short black hair behind her ear. Her black and silver hood hung off the one shoulder, the skirt she wore rippling with those same lights as she stepped forward. “Congratulations if you’ve never seen a pretty girl before. Sit the hell down.”

Ignacio raised his hands, backing away and sitting on the nearest Cypher.

“I wasn’t… I’m sorry,” he said. “I’ve never had a gun pointed at me before.”

The large man walked in behind her, lumbering over to him with a grin as he pat the girl on her shoulder.

“She’d eat you alive, little boy,” he said. “Now, you think your sister is the First Nexus, hm?”

“I brought evidence,” Ignacio said, reaching into his jacket.

The girl raised her pistol to his head, a sharp priming sound screeching from it.

Ignacio froze, then slowly reached in and pulled out his visor. The large man stepped over to him, snatching it from his hand.

“Ah, good. What’s the passcode?”

Ignacio hesitated, glancing at the girl as she cocked her head to the side.

“Moonlight,” Ignacio said. “You’ll find video files under a contact named Doctor Ivo.”

“Good. While I’m busy with that, the girls can show you around,” the large man said.

Ignacio frowned. “Show me around?”

The man grinned at him. He slammed a hand into Ignacio’s chest, knocking him down against the Cypher and crushing the air from his lungs. He gasped, pain swelling in his body as the arms of the Cypher closed around him. He tried wriggling free, gasping in short bursts, but they held tight.

“Help… me,” he said, staring upside-down at the girl as she loomed over him.

“Don’t worry,” she said, running her nails down his hair. “I’ll be on the other side."

Small pads pressed around his forehead and temples like human fingertips. His heart raced, chest and stomach aching as if he’d been hit with a sledgehammer. The neck-lock closed around his throat, pricks of pain breaking out along it.

He gasped again, heart racing as panic took over. This can’t be… happening.

And the room turned dark.