Cyntech Tower

Miyuki cowered behind the desk as Tisephone emerged from Bennatyne’s office, covered in blood.

She could hear Tisephone dragging her blade across the floor.

‘Little pig, little pig, where are you little PIG?!’ Tisephone screamed out in rage as she continued to walk past the receptionist desk. The air was thick with tension as one began to seek out the other, a deadly game of cat and mouse – and both knew only one of them would emerge victorious. Tisephone suddenly craned her head and walked over to the receptionist desk, her blade making a screeching noise as it ripped apart the tiles on the floor with each step. Her heavy footsteps suddenly ceased as there was a few brief moments of silence. Miyuki was still hidden behind the desk, now readying her sub machine gun, preparing to empty the entire magazine into Tisephone’s face. Suddenly, the desk began to creak as it was ripped in two. The blade prised it apart. Miyuki rolled out from behind the desk and threw a grenade at Tisephone’s feet, then darted towards the maintenance elevator. An explosion shattered the skylight above, glass pouring like torrential rain. However the elevator hadn’t come back up yet. Miyuki frantically pressed the call elevator button as she desperately tried to escape Tisephone, who had now turned the corner. Eyes filled with rage, she swung her blade over her head in an attempt to gore Miyuki, but hit the call elevator button instead, reducing it to pieces. Her face twisted into a sadistic smile as she knew Miyuki would be be fish in a barrel without a means of escape. Once more, she attempted to splatter Miyuki’s innards all over the floor, but was met with two bullets in her right arm and her chest. Tisephone staggered back in pain as she still tried to kill Miyuki by blindly swinging her sword. There was a ding as the elevator had arrived. Miyuki sprinted into the elevator and mashed the ground floor button, as Tisephone regained control and dashed to the elevator doors, yet was too slow as they closed. Miyuki let out a sigh of relief as the elevator began its descent downwards. A few seconds had passed of quiet, until the elevator began to struggle and slowed down. Suddenly the top of the elevator was torn apart as a blade plunged through it, ripping the elevator lights up. A large circle had been cut into the elevator ceiling , as Tisephone reached underneath the circle she had just cut and tossed it to one side, before dropping a grenade into the hole. Miyuki’s eyes widened as the grenade rolled around on the floor next to her, before grappling up through the circle in the ceiling and up onto the top of the elevator, jumping off onto a set of double doors. The elevator exploded as it hurtled downward, crashing into one of the lower floors. As Miyuki prised the set of double doors open, there was a noise coming from above her. The doors gave a lot of resistance before they slid open, revealing the 78th floor. As Miyuki slipped past the doors, they immediately slammed shut behind her. Out of breath and with hardly any ammo left, she raised her finger to the earpiece.

‘H-Hanan?’

‘Lady Miyuki. I trust the mission went smoothly?’

‘No Hanan. Bennatyne’s dead. One of Mikael’s Furies killed him and now she’s hunting me. I need a way out. ‘

‘Understood. According to the tracker, you’re on the 78th floor. ‘

‘78th? I’ve still got a long way to go right?’

‘Yes Lady Miyuki. Have you tried the maintenance elevator?’

‘Yes. It’s been destroyed. Can you tell me a way out or not? I’m a sitting duck here. ‘

‘Checking… Hmm.’

‘Hanan? What is it. I need it NOW.’

‘According to this Lady Miyuki, the fastest way out is via the fire escape staircase.’

‘You’re kidding me right? Is there not another elevator I could use?’

‘I’m afraid not. The employee elevator requires an employee ID.’

‘OK. I’ll make my way to the fire escape staircase then get the hell out of here.’

‘Affirmative Lady Miyuki. I’ll be waiting outside for you.’

The fire escape staircase was located outside the 78th floor, it began at floor 210 and ended at ground level. The door to the fire escape staircase was just past the corridor connecting floor 78 with the 79th and 80th floors. The noise above was getting louder and louder with every passing second of time Miyuki continued to waste. Slowly, Miyuki continued down the staircase, checking every possible angle for signs of Tisephone. Within half an hour, she had made it to the 45th floor. Every fibre of her body groaned in pain as she continued her descent downward to escape the demon that was after her blood. An hour had passed, and Miyuki had arrived on the 10th floor, when all of a sudden the noise became more and more audible and then ceased.

Miyuki raised a finger to her earpiece.

‘Hanan. I’m closing in on the ground floor. Are you nearby?’

‘I’m close, my lady. Traffic. Will update when I’m ready to pick you up.’

‘Copy that. Just get here fast. I don’t know how much more I can take of this.’

As Miyuki reached the 5th floor, suddenly the stairs above her shattered, raining down concrete. There was a sharp shrill scream as Tisephone came down like a meteor from above, her blade aimed directly at Miyuki’s heart.

Tisephone bellowed in angry triumph

FOUND YOU LITTLE PIG!’

Miyuki had no time to unholster her weapons and so pulled her last two grenades from her belt and threw them up at Tisephone as she flew downwards. The blast shattered even more of the staircase above, causing large chunks of concrete to rain down on Tisephone, crippling her legs. As she fell to the floor with a groan, two of her fingers on her right arm were severed by the concrete. Miyuki quickly ran to avoid the falling pieces of concrete as the staircase began to give way and collapse, and made it to the ground floor as the concrete began to fall. Miyuki looked behind her to see Tisephone attempting to cut her legs off as she intensely stared at her with rage in her eyes. As Miyuki ran out of the revolving door, a piece of concrete hit her in the head, knocking her off balance for a few seconds, her vision becoming disoriented. As she began to crawl through the revolving door, the metal gate to the underground car park opened as the two Executors trained their guns on Miyuki. She closed her eyes as if to accept her fate and fell unconscious, when suddenly the roar of a car engine could be heard as Hanan drove through the Executors destroying them in the process, getting out and placing Miyuki in the backseat, and driving away. When Miyuki came to, Molenda was standing over her.

‘Welcome back Ms Miyuki. We were worried you were a goner for a minute there. ‘

‘Is Hanan here?’

‘Yes Ms Miyuki. She’s in the laboratory. I’ll call her over for you. ‘

‘Are we in the post office?’

‘Yes Ms Miyuki. We’re in my office, specifically. For the time being, it’s yours. Use it to recharge your batteries, in a manner of speaking.’

‘Thanks Molenda. ‘

The office was a small 4x4 room with a singe couch acting as a makeshift bed, as well as a computer desk setup. In the corner were some prototype weapons Molenda had been working on.

‘Ah. Lady Miyuki. You’re awake. So, what did you learn? How did the operation go?’

Hanan and Molenda both stared at Miyuki waiting for her answer.

Miyuki looked at them both in silence before speaking.

‘Well, let’s start with a location. Club Aurora. Do you two know anything about it?’

‘Yes, Lady Miyuki I have heard of it. It’s a famous nightclub in the Lower Quarter. What significance does this nightclub have?’

It’s run by one of the Furies. Tisephone. It seems that something is there.’

‘Hmm. I see Lady Miyuki. And you think, what? That visiting the enemy will yield answers?’

‘Yes Hanan, I do. Bennatyne and Mikael were working together on some kind of project. The Cybernetics For All program. I have a feeling that a clue as to why Mikael is so invested in that project is hidden in there. ‘

‘ Understandable. Molenda!’

‘Yes Hanan?’

‘I want you to find out all you can on this Club Aurora. As for you Miyuki, you need to refuel and re arm. Most importantly you need additional training.’

‘Hanan. That’s not necessary. I’m perfectly able to-‘

‘This isn’t up for negotiation Lady Miyuki. You almost died inside Cyntech Tower. You will get ripped to shreds going inside the enemy stronghold unprepared. Now get some rest. In the morning we shall begin sparring. Now get some sleep. The sun is coming up soon. And it’s going to be a very busy day.’