Don't Be Scared

“Don’t be scared now. You know how to fight. At least you won’t be a waste of my time.” The Queen of Birds’ tone was reassuring. Indigo did not feel reassured at all. “The cleanup crew will take their time disposing of her. Let us talk in the meantime.”

Indigo didn’t understand what the older woman meant. She turned to look at the body. Several workers all dressed in gray coats with yellow hazard gloves and cylindrical safety helmets with a visor on were moving around the area. Some of them carried the body. The rest were surveying the area up till the very last speck of dust.

Left with no other option, Indigo followed the older lady. Despite her age, The Queen of Birds walked briskly. Indigo struggled to match her pace. As they walked and walked, she grew accustomed to the motion. They weren’t heading into the main streets. The smell of heavily oxidized metal, moss, and smog showed that the two of them as well as the squad following them were deeper inside the Wild Streets. They stopped in an all-too-familiar place.

While the surrounding buildings were the bog standard grimy brown color with ill-maintained neon lights only barely lighting up in front. The Blundex building was far from that. It was 5 stories of whiteness, pure plastic whiteness. The sheer hygiene of the place clashed with the environment surrounding it. They somehow tinged even the super reinforced glass doors in that same abhorrent white. Its cleanliness made those who had to move to the Wild Streets after falling on hard times think of it as a haven at first. They were proven wrong soon after.

The front of the building was crawling with a few insectoid robots no bigger than the palm of a hand. A couple of dark red stains were dirtying up the pristine exterior. The insectoid robots were cleaning said stains by standing over them and sweeping, vacuuming, or doing anything that needed to be done to remove said stains. They performed their job optimally.

The stains were caused by a man laying face-down. His notable characteristics were the bottle of alcohol that he clutched in his hand, and the fact that he hadn’t been dead for longer than a minute. 4 of the same 6-legged insectoid robots surrounded the man. These were pristine white as well, but they were the size of a large dog, and carried large cannons in their underbelly.

Since they had dispatched the troublemaker, they fulfilled their second task. Their front limbs extended forwards in the shape of sharpened blades. They cut through the body with a repeated pattern of swishes and clacks. The puddle of blood didn’t extend further because the tinier insectoids cleaning it up in time with the cutting. After the bigger machines finished cubing him up into smaller portions, the smaller ones finished the job by vacuuming him up. As soon as the floor was impeccable, they retreated inside the Blundex store, tiles opened up, and they crawled inside of them.

“Tch” Indigo limited herself to voicing her annoyance. One of the ironclad rules of the Wild Streets was to avoid causing trouble at Blundex. Indigo’s stomach still churned each time she saw what happened to people who broke said rule. Undisturbed by the sight, the Queen asked Indigo a question. “Do you know this place?” “Yeah, it’s where people buy FEED.” Said Indigo.

The delegation leader frowned in surprise for a moment. “I didn’t know they still sold FEED.” It was a surprise to the older woman, but Indigo knew FEED all too well. Her mother started taking FEED injections when their family could only afford food for one, and Indigo was a priority. Indigo would never forget the look of someone dying of starvation while feeling completely full.

“What I meant is, that there’s a space inside for us to talk.” Noticing Indigo’s discomfort, the Queen made their purpose clear. As far as the girl was concerned, she didn’t have room to say no. Nobody would come to her aid if she angered people in power. Her chances were at their best if she followed instructions.

The inside of the building was the same as outside. Pure white except for 5 automated panels where people could buy any drug that their money could afford. For those in the Wild Streets, that meant FEED. If they were better off, drugs to alleviate minor fevers at most. The place was empty at the time, Void of even the dignity of music for clients to listen to.

The two headed to the back of the store. Once they reached the furthermost wall, Indigo noticed a small, unassuming indent. The Queen of Birds placed her hand on top of it. As soon as she did, what seemed to be a wall spread open. Electric doors revealed an elevator. The woman went inside and motioned for Indigo to do the same. Their armed guards remained outside.

If she was being honest, Indigo had always been curious about how anyone reached the higher floors of the building. And of course, what they contained. Both things would get answered that very day.

With no prompt from the Queen, the elevator started heading to the top floor. Once they arrived there, the doors opened, revealing a room contrary to everything in the storefront.

While well illuminated, the room itself was an uneven gray color throughout, with the most notable feature being dozens of small vats filled with colorful liquids that lined the walls. There was a large table and a couple of chairs in the center of the room. It was a suitable place to talk.

Each of them pulled a chair and sat down. Now the Queen was facing Indigo. After staring the girl down and nodding to herself, the woman started talking.

“You don’t know this, but you made our life easier by killing the escapee.” Indigo was expecting many things, but words of gratitude were not among them. Especially not from an authority figure. The older lady continued after ensuring that Indigo understood her words.

“What is your name?” she delivered her question, without the usual intonation one would expect from an interrogative. “Will my siblings be safe?” Indigo asked before giving a proper reply. Blood did not tie them together, yet her two adopted brothers were all she had. Getting them in trouble because of her actions was inadmissible.

“I assure you, you are not in trouble. Now please, tell me your name.” The command was direct. Indigo’s options were believing high authority, or risking angering it. Neither prospect was pleasant, but the former was less risky. “My name is Indigo ma’am,” “Well then. Indigo, just so you know. The person you killed was someone in whom we’d spent a significant amount of money in strengthening beyond the standard human limits. She was not an opponent that someone ordinary could deal with.”

The Queen’s statement was somewhat surprising, but it made sense regarding what she had seen. That still left a question to answer. “Why were you strengthening her?”

A sigh escaped the older woman’s lips. She looked to the side, then back at Indigo. “Indigo dear, do you know how many delegations there are in our city, Grand Spiral?” “It’s seven delegations Queen,” “Call me Sarta. But you are indeed right.” Sarta nodded at Indigo before posing another question.

“These delegations play nice. But sometimes two of these delegations make choices that only help one of them and only hurt one of them. Have you wondered why that is?” Indigo could only shake her head. She spent too much of her time trying to see how she’d survive the following week. Politics were not something she could ponder idly.

“Even though we are one of the few megacities remaining. There’s not that many of us. The closest megacity is so far that we can count the number of people who have been here and there on one hand.” Said Sarta, considering her following statement carefully.

“Each delegation wants something different, and none care if the other delegations fall. But there’s not enough people for war to make any logistical sense.”

Indigo nodded and Sarta continued.

“When there’s a conflict of interest with another delegation, each of us sends out an individual to fight on our behalf. We train them, arm them, and increase their capabilities as much as we can. Then we send them to fight in a special arena. Whichever duelist survives allows their delegation to get their way. All the while, they have to maintain their identity hidden so that others don’t assassinate them during their daily life.”

What Sarta said upended Indigo’s understanding of the world she lived in. It led to many questions, chief among which was whether she’d even be in the Wild Streets if one or a couple of duels had panned out differently. The Queen did not wait for the girl to comprehend what she’d heard before following up her statement.

“The person you killed had carelessly revealed their identity. She was stripped of her weapons, but she still had just enough added power inside herself to try to escape her due punishment. This solves one problem. But we are still one duelist short.”

Sarta put her left hand on the table with force. Her hawklike gaze trained itself on Indigo.

“I want you to be the replacement duelist for her.”