It Will Always Get Worse

“Stupid goddamn Drapp!”
I thudded to the ground as I took a Mod-enhanced punch to the face, immediately spitting blood. I looked up at the deliverer of the punch, an ugly, racist cretin by the name of Gelt, who hated my kind- even though everyone in this damned city had at least a little Drapp in them- and gave him my best coldly furious stare.
“I… Told you I’d fucking get you the money…” I dragged myself back to my feet, wanting to lash out at the debt collector, but thankfully having the restraint to plaster a placid look onto my face and look him in his hazy eyes.  “I know you don’t care, but my grandfather’s hospital bills…”
"Tired of your fuckin' excuses!" The big man tried to shut me up with another punch, this time to the chest. I was ready this time, and the Bischalton skin-armour Mod I got from wrinkly old Castina on the cheap meant I didn’t go to the ground. Its effects did seem to be weakening though. I’d taken a lot of beatings recently, more often than not from the hulking man in front of me, who probably volunteered to do it just because he hated me so much. The feeling was mutual, and Gelt knew it.
What he said next caught me off guard. “The sooner that old bastard kicks the bucket, the better,” Gelt smirked, “When it happens, you won’t be able to deny that, kid. Keeping him on life support is a cruelty both to him, and to your wallet! I don't know why Sanno agreed to fund the old man's care. Should've just let him burn out on his own. Fuck, maybe he'd have gotten so bad that he'd crash out and kill you too! Two dead Drapps with one stone, eh? Core City would be a cleaner place without your kind, asshole. Sooner Sanno gets wise to that, the better.”
That was it. Insulting me was fine, I was used to that, but my grandfather and my people? The smug, smirking prick deserved what he was about to get. I activated a speed Mod, lightening my whole body to the point where I could cover short distances in the blink of an eye. I felt the familiar rush that always came with Mod use. Before the brain-dead scumbag could react, I was behind him, and launching a Mod-enhanced kick at his back. Gelt groaned as it was his turn to go down to the ground, wheezing.
“You have no right to speak about my grandfather,” I spat in the ugly man’s face, “You spineless idiot. He’s a thousand times the man you’ll ever be, and you know it.”
Gelt spoke between laboured breaths, spittle flying from his mouth in his rage. “He's... An old has-been now... And a fuckin' waste of space... Only… Good Drapp… Is a dead… Drapp…”
Gelt got back up, and despite myself I felt a rush of fear. He was only a grunt despite his many years of service, but I’d still assaulted a soldier of the Greydusk Clan- Basically the only Clan left in the city now. And the rules went that assaulting any member of Greydusk was like assaulting Regal, their shadowy leader who was rarely ever seen or heard, but had ruthlessly clawed his way to being the most powerful man in all of Core City.
The anxiety was warranted when he pulled out the knife, a nasty looking blade of Cen make. The Cen Company had gotten into bed with the Greydusk Clan to avoid going under, so all of their boys probably carried them now.
Damn, maybe I should’ve signed up with them back in the day. Not that I’d have lasted long. Shit…
I tried to move, but something was holding me in place.
“What the…”
“Finding it hard to move, Deen?” A new voice, smooth like butter but more fear inspiring than Gelt’s when the owner of the voice wanted it to be, rasped behind me, which meant I was now completely cornered. “It’s one of Kelchik’s new Mods. Pretty handy- Short term paralysis. Hard to line it up, but you were just standing there, so I had a clear shot.”
Sanno was Gelt’s direct superior, a younger but vastly more intelligent man, cruel and ruthless when he had to be, but capable of compassion. The Greydusk loved him for the cruelty and ruthlessness he was capable of though, and he had been rising steadily through the ranks of the Clan for a few years now. We’d been in the same Academy class once upon a time, and we’d lived next to each other in run-down Bieno, where I still lived today. Sanno had made it out of there long ago- He was what some would call enterprising, but what I’d call a boot-licking worm. Never to his face, though- He had killed for a lot less.
“Gelt, can’t you do a single thing right?” Sanno’s attention briefly turned to Gelt, who he regarded with withering disappointment, “Getting put on your ass by an impoverished weasel with third-rate Mods? You should be ashamed.”
“You think you can talk to me like…” Gelt caught himself before he could say anything that was liable to get him killed (unfortunately), and went silent. Sanno raised an eyebrow at him, and he shuffled nervously. In any other situation it would have been hilarious seeing Gelt shaking in his boots like he was now, but when Sanno turned back to me any hint of amusement quickly went dead in the water.
“You,” Sanno’s voice was like ice, “Have just made a very stupid mistake, but you never did have the brains to know when to pick your battles. How many assholes did I have to keep you safe from at the Academy?”
I was silent at this. I knew Sanno had once been good to me, and even now that he was getting higher up in the Clan, where moral corruption was the norm, he still probably did do more than was wise for him to keep me alive- but now the man didn’t have a choice. I’d assaulted Gelt, and was yet again late on my repayments. His blue-grey eyes regarded me with… Was that pity?
“Gelt, get out of here. I’ll deal with this. And try not to fuck anything else up today, yeah?”
Gelt nodded, and gave me a final dig in the back as he passed me, giving me a look that said he’d be reaping revenge for this embarrassment personally if he had a chance. That seemed like just a drop in the bucket now. When he had turned the corner of the alley and was gone, Sanno spoke again.
“Deen, Deen, Deen…” Sanno clucked his tongue, “Really forcing my hand here, man. I mean, what were you thinking?”
“Piece of shit had it coming,” I said, “Today was the day- He had my grandfather's name in his dirty mouth, and I snapped. He had it coming, and you know that, Sanno. That, and… I just feel like I’m already in the shit, what with my debts and my dying grandfather, and, well, everything else. How could it get worse?”
“Yes,” Sanno admitted, “He has been especially vicious to you, the racist pig. I try to beat that out of my men, but Gelt was born in a generation where that shit was thought to be excusable, and he’s too stupid to change. Men like him have lived their whole lives burying their heads in the sand.”
Lucky for me, Sanno wasn’t racist towards Drapps- His own father was one, supposedly. He didn’t have the caramel skin or dark hair like me, but in the way he fought, and how he spoke and even acted as well, anyone could tell he had the blood in him. No one had really given him the abuse I had become used to my whole life, though, simply because of his outward appearance.
“Has growing up in Bieno taught you nothing, man? It can, no, it will, always get worse. Anyway,” Sanno continued, “I’m sorry, but it’s over for you now, Deen Harsell.”
My dark eyes met his stormy ones. Then he did something I wasn’t expecting- I thought I’d see him pull a weapon on me there and then, or feel some kind of pain from whatever other Mods my old friend and classmate was decked out with these days, but instead he just smiled.
“That’s what I would say,” Sanno was still smiling, “But… I can’t do it. Because we go back a long way, but also just because of how goddamn pathetic you are.”
I said nothing. I knew he was right- I had always been pathetic. A terrible fighter, abysmal with money, downright awful with people to the point where the only people who really showed me any kindness were my grandfather and Sanno. And now it looked like Sanno’s patience with me had run thin.
“But look, man. Twenty-four hours.”
“Twenty-four hours?”
“You heard me. When I leave this alley, I’m making the call and cutting Aiyer’s life support- By my estimate, that’ll leave him about three hours of consciousness, then he’s gone. Say your goodbyes, and once he’s gone if you don’t have all my money within twenty four hours, I’m cutting your life support too.”
Cutting my grandfather’s life support was something that had been discussed, threatened, before. I’d always known the day was going to come when Sanno, who’d been giving me the money to keep my grandfather alive and cared for, would have no choice but to stop doing so, but a stab of agony ran through me at the thought. My grandfather didn’t deserve to die because of my mistakes. He’d lived a hero, and deserved to die one. But of course, I couldn’t provide that for him, he who’d taken me in when my drug-addled mother died and left me with her debts on top of my own, forcing me to drop out of the Academy and erasing any hope of the comfortable life he’d wanted for me. I didn't even care that I myself was almost certainly going to die tomorrow in this case. I was over 200 million credits in debt, and no one ever made that much in twenty-four hours. Least of all me, a subpar mercenary with no great reputation of success. I basically just did odd jobs, to be honest. All I cared about in that moment was my grandfather- My own life wasn't of as much value to me. Why would it be?
I could do nothing but nod at first, words forming in my throat, wanting to beg and plead with Sanno and even curse him, but knowing he had as much respect for my grandfather as I did, had cherished memories of growing up around Aiyer, the famed hero of the Goldlight Clan, I just nodded. “I understand. It’s more than I deserve. Thank you.”
“Thank you what?” Sanno asked.
“Thank you, sir,” the gut-wrenching feeling of knowing my grandfather was about to die had me looking at the ground now, despondent.
Sanno patted me on the shoulder, and I finally met his eyes again. He had genuine regret in his eyes now.
“I’m sorry, Deen. I never wanted it to be this way.”
“I’m sorry too,” I said, “For… Putting you in this situation.”
“I never wanted to kill you, Deen, but… If I have to I will. You’ve always known that.”
“Y-Yeah…”
Sanno left without another word. When he was gone, I fell to my knees and tears streamed from my face. Tears from the pain of what was to come, and tears from everything that had happened until now. Some part of me almost felt relieved that one way or another, it would all be over soon. A pitiful end to a pitiful life.
Sanno was right- It could and would always get worse.

My grandfather’s eyes shut for the final time, about three hours later as Sanno had said. After my encounter with Gelt and Sanno earlier, I rushed to the hospital as soon as I had gathered myself.
My final moments with him were painful but gave me something resembling comfort.
Aiyer Harsell had been a fierce warrior in life- A protector of all. He’d been the leader of a group called the Goldlight Clan, which was nowhere near on the level of Greydusk or any of the other bigger Clans that had now amalgamated into the Greydusk. Unlike most, the Goldlight actually stood for something though- Anyone, no matter their race or heritage, would be helped and protected by the Goldlight, and likewise people of any race could enlist with them. They fought battles not just with other Clans who engaged in racial culling, human trafficking and basically anything that lined the pockets of the wealthy, but politically they advocated for race rights and more transparency and openness from the elite of Core City and the corporations they had built their wealth on. As an individual, my grandfather was the kindest man I’d ever known, had refused to give up on me and had always taught me to live with as much honour as I could, not that I had ever succeeded in that.
“I’d been alive for too long when I got this wretched disease anyway, son,” his kind dark eyes considered me with warmth, “So please, never blame yourself.”
I couldn’t speak for a moment. How could he say that? This was entirely my fault.
“Grandfather, no. That’s not true! You fought so hard for this city, you deserve to live!”
“What’s left for me?” there was no anger in his voice, “Almost all of my old comrades are dead now- Killed by the city they were trying to save. Not that any of them would have regretted it though, they were all like-minded people to myself. I regret nothing about the things I did for this city either- I just hope to see them again, when I cross over to, well, whatever comes next. Paradise, if we’re to believe the old ways of our people.”
Draphinians, or “Drapps”, believed in a world beyond the living, where those who lived honourably were led into eternal life, where they would never face strife or want for anything ever again. It all sounded a bit too convenient for me, but part of me liked to think it was true. No one was more deserving of that than the man who’d tried his whole life to give me everything I needed and had wanted me to live honourably so that I may join him there when it was my time.
“No, son, the only thing I regret is outliving your mother and uncle. No parent should ever do that… I was always lucky to have you, though. It’s hard being what we are in this city, Deen… So please don’t hold onto any hate for your mother.”
I nodded. “Y-Yes, grandfather.” My voice was shaking with emotion already, but the thought of my mother had me choking back tears, as it always did. Despite everything I went through and was now going through, in no small part because of her, I loved her, and she hadn’t deserved to die the way she did, foaming at the mouth, eyes rolled back to her skull, vomit on her clothes, syringe still in her arm.
And then there was my uncle, also named Aiyer. I only had vague memories of him from childhood, but he’d Overclocked, the fate my grandfather now met. He’d been very young to Overclock, but apparently it was hereditary and much more liable to happen to Draphinians than most other races.
Overclocking was what happened when someone was either too heavily Modded, or used their Mods to a dangerous degree. It was a degenerative disease of the mind and body, and Overclockers if unmedicated or if they refused to stop using their Mods could become unstable and dangerous, losing control of their actions and potentially causing harm to themselves or those around them.
I felt my grandfather’s grip on my own hand beginning to lose its strength, which broke my heart more than anything ever had. His time was almost up.
And after this… So is mine.
“Don’t stop helping people, Deen. Never stop helping them, even the ones that don’t want help. That’s the most important thing I’ve learned in life. That, and mind your Mods. Power always comes at a cost, and excessive power… Well, you needn’t look very far to see where that gets you.”
“Y-Yes…” I could barely speak now, and was openly sobbing, still holding onto him as his voice became more breathless-sounding.
“Live with honour, son, and keep looking after Sanno… That boy needs you as much as you need him. Always did.”
“I love you, grandfather,” I forced my voice not to tremble, to make sure he knew my unwavering feelings towards him, and how grateful I was for him.
“And I you, son…”
He breathed his last, then, and I sat there with my head in my hands for a while.
It’s over. He’s gone- The last person I had on my side is gone. I’m alone, now more than ever… And I’m dying tomorrow.
I hadn't had time yet to think about that issue. I could have just sat there and waited out my time before Sanno or one of his men arrived to put an end to me, but my grandfather would have hated to see me do that. I sighed and got up- I had work to do.

Sanno was outside the hospital, smoking a cigarette from which blue smoke plumed. He had swapped his dark blue Techsuit that he always wore when working, for a black blazer and shirt combo, along with a chain pendant with a silver cross shape on it. A Draphinian icon. A mark of respect for my grandfather, I knew. Regret was in his eyes, the same regret that had been there earlier. When he saw me though, the look in his eyes went from pensive to cold, however reluctantly.
“Twenty-four hours, Deen.”
That was all he said to me, and I merely nodded. Soon I was past him, and on my way to attempt the impossible- Earn over 200 million credits in a single day.
Grandfather, if you’re in Paradise right now, something tells me you’ll be seeing me sooner than expected.