Corporate Warfare Part One - Return To Cyntech Tower

The hum of the van’s engine mixed with the sound of the many supercars and hover taxis of the Upper Quarter expressway, creating a stark contrast to the dingy underbelly of the city. Night had fallen, as the street lamps’ yellow glow lit up Miyuki’s face like neon lights on a billboard. As she sat in the back, the small grille on the door of the van provided a narrow view of the big city. She heard a voice coming from the drivers seat as the slit in the cabin was pulled back and a pair of blue eyes gazed at her.

‘So err where yer from miss? I ain’t seen you around our group before.’

The man spoke with a thick red neck accent, his rotting yellow teeth emitting a foul stench.

‘Eyes on the road please. Wouldn’t want to be done before I even started.’

Miyuki responded coldly.

‘Damn you a cold one ain’t ya miss? Friendly conversation won’t kill ya. Well anyway not that I’m gonna be cryin’ over it. Long as you do what Boss says I don’t give a crap what happens to ya!’

Miyuki leaned over and into the grille and caught minuscule glimpses of the city.

The driver leaned behind him and began to speak through the slit in the cabin again.

‘Best get yerself ready miss. We’re gonna be at Cyntech in approximately five minutes.’

Miyuki leaned into the pockets on her suit and got her equipment ready, her trusty sub machine gun, her blade and finally a selection of grenades for good measure. The van made a sharp jerk as it rounded a corner. Suddenly the doors to the van split open and Miyuki was forcefully ejected from the back of the van as it slid into the street corner. The driver screamed as he was flung headfirst into a concrete pillar. In front of the destroyed van were the all too familiar neon sign of Cyntech Tower. Miyuki had arrived. A swarm of flashlights began to comb over the wreckage of the van as a squad of Cyntech troopers emerged from the security office.

‘Area clear. Contact down. Thermal imaging scans showed another passenger inside target vehicle. Move to intercept. Shoot to kill.’

The squad leader, clad in white armor began to order his unit around as they split off into different directions in search of Miyuki, who had managed to evade the patrol by cowering behind one of the adjacent pillars.

‘Sir! Found the first target. Looks like his head was smashed open.’

‘Damnit. Get to searching for the other one. She can’t have gone far.’

Squatting atop a pillar, Miyuki observed the squad as they ran in different directions to search for her. One of the soldiers stopped just below her. Miyuki attached her grappling hook to the pillar and rappelled down slowly, holding her blade to the soldiers neck before slicing it clean off, then attaching a grenade to the body. A flash of light blinded her for a millisecond before she climbed back up to her makeshift perch, as another of the troopers found his dead squadmate and rapidly called his fellow soldiers over to him.

‘Guys! Get over here! Oh God I found one of us!’

‘Status?’

‘He’s dead! Head cut clean off!’

‘Everyone spread out!’

‘Sir! There’s something snagged on his body, lemme see if I can-‘

The explosion detonated the van as well as the two soldiers.

‘The body was booby trapped! Everyone be careful of your environment! Jane, you head to the underground parking garage! Issac, head towards that explosion! Discover the source!’

Miyuki leapt from her perch onto the approaching soldier and stabbed him in the neck, then moved towards the underground parking garage, wiping the blood on her blade on her suit. While her back was turned, Miyuki thrust her blade through the soldiers chest then wrenched it out. Only the commander remained.

‘Is anyone out there? What’s your status! I need a SITREP now! WHAT’S YOUR STATUS!’

Miyuki leapt up from the parking garage into the front entrance. The commander had stopped by the wreckage of the van and seconds later had felt the cold steel of Miyuki’s blade held against his flesh as his body tumbled down. Grabbing his radio, Miyuki began to strip the commander and don his armor before heading into Cyntech Tower via the front entrance. The helmet ensured she wouldn’t be recognised. As she entered the lobby of the building, a voice began to speak on the it loudspeaker.

‘Announcement: all employees are not to leave their desks. I say again, all employees are not to leave their desks. You are allowed one hour of sleep a day before heading back to work. Anyone caught sleeping or resting more than the allotted time will be fired and then executed on the spot. That is all. ‘

Dozens of employees were all sat in fear at their desks, the bags around their eyes slowly staring to cover their faces. The sounds of thousands of keys being clicked all at once felt like machine gun fire as each employee slaved away, the glow from the monitors lighting up their faces. It was like looking at drones. There was a clatter noise as one of the employees dropped his cup, suddenly everyone in the room turned to stare at him with rage and fear in their eyes. As Miyuki walked over to the second floor, she could hear the employee screaming behind her.

‘I-I was doing the work! I swear! All I did was drop my cup! You have to believe me!’

The loudspeaker chimed again.

‘Mr Fullam on Floor 1. You have been fired for misconduct and furthermore, wasting company time. An executor will be with you shortly. Please remain seated.’

Within seconds, an executor robot had arrived and stomped over towards the terrified employee’s desk.

‘MR FULLAM, A. 147 HIGHMERE AVENUE. AGE: 27. MARITAL STATUS: N/A. YOU HAVE BEEN FIRED UNDER THE CYNTECH EMPLOYEE AGREEMENT V2.0. YOUR STATUS WILL BE REVOKED NOW.’

The man began to scream as the executor gripped his head and squished it like a grape, then left his body at his desk and began to walk away.

‘HAVE A GOOD PRODUCTIVE DAY AT WORK. TIME UNTIL NEXT REST BREAK: 34 HOURS.’

Miyuki quickly made her way up the staircase towards the upper floors. The maintenance elevator was still out of commission from the last time she visited. Each floor began to blend into another with drones mindlessly hammering away at their keyboards. Two more executors passed her on the way upstairs, their arms decorated with viscera. A sharp ring came from the loudspeaker as it came back to life.

‘Announcement: there is still time to join the Cybernetics For All program and claim your FREE cybernetic! Better hurry, offer ends in 3 days. ‘

Miyuki continued to climb the staircase, still dressed in the white commander armor. A patrol of Cyntech troopers headed towards her on the stairs.

‘Good Evening Sir!’

One of the troopers remarked before saluting and continuing downstairs back towards the first floor. A large number 8 sign above her indicated that she was on the eighth floor. As she made her way inside the office, two employees began to chat in hushed voices by the water cooler.

‘This new CEO is making my life hell! It was way better when Bennatyne was running the show.’

‘Shhh keep it down. Are you crazy? We could get done for misconduct.’

‘Forget the misconduct. I don’t even get paid enough to deal with this crap. ‘

‘Listen. You need to get back to work and stop talking to me. You’re gonna get us both killed. Alecto doesn’t like it when we waste time. It’s not good for productivity. She just killed 3 people on floor 7 yesterday. ‘

‘She get the executors to do it?’

‘Nope. She straight up came down and killed them on the spot.’

The executor began to take notice of the two employees while Miyuki sat in the doorway watching.

‘YOU TWO HAVE EXCEEDED MAXIMUM WATER LEVELS. PLEASE RETURN TO YOUR SEATS AND CARRY ON WORKING.’

She backed out of the doorway and continued her ascension upstairs until she was stopped by an officer wearing a dark blue uniform.

‘Commander? I thought your squad was deployed at the front entrance. Our tracking system located the two targets. Commander? Everything ok with you?’

The officer asked puzzlingly as Miyuki was unable to think of an answer on the spot. She tried to put on her best male accent.

‘Err yes, we got em. Both of them.’

‘I see Commander. I don’t see your squad with you, where are they?’

‘They’re err in the lobby. Yes, the lobby. ‘

‘Great. Well then Commander, I’ll leave you to it. Oh and Alecto has called for all high ranking personnel. Something about an assault on the peasants in The Outeryard. She wants us up there in an hour. The other commanders are already here.’

‘I see err officer. I appreciate you letting me know. ‘

The officer walked off and into the corridor as Miyuki continued upstairs. As she reached the ninth floor, more troopers began to rush past her in the corridor. As she reached the 10th floor, the employee elevator opened up in front of her next to the entrance to the cubicles. Two commanders and a squad of troopers stormed out of the elevator and into the office cubicles. Miyuki located the button to the 200th floor and the doors slammed shut reminiscent of a metal coffin. The earpiece in her ear began to crackle.

‘Runt. It’s Chaudary. Have you completed the mission yet?’

‘No. It’s going to take some time. I may have uncovered plans for a huge assault.

‘Damn. I knew Cyntech wasn’t going to face defeat lying down. See what you can uncover. Kill their new CEO.’

‘I’m working on it.’

‘Well hurry it up. My man outside can’t wait forever.’

The earpiece clicked as the line closed. The elevator door opened to reveal the 200th floor once again. This time, there were two armed guards standing in front of the door to the CEO’s office, as well as an executor. The receptionist desk had been restored, with a very tired and worn out young woman in her twenties staring glumly at a monitor. As Miyuki approached the desk the woman looked up from her screen and began to speak with the enthusiasm of a dead body.

‘Hello. Welcome to the 200th floor. Are you here for the meeting?’

The woman looked like she was going to fall asleep at any second. Miyuki didn’t hesitate to answer her.

‘Yes. I’m here for the strategy meeting. My name is-‘

‘Sure. Whatever. I don’t care what your name is. Meeting won’t be starting for another forty minutes. Please have a seat over there and I’ll call you when it’s time to go in.’

‘Thanks.’

Miyuki walked over towards one of the black leather chairs the receptionist pointed at. The clock on the wall began to tick like a bomb as the hands moved at a snails pace. Her eyes began to snap shut as she began to sleep. Suddenly, she could feel something trying to burrow into her shoulder. Her eyes slowly unravelled as she looked up to see the receptionist trying to get her attention.

‘Hey. You. It’s time. Get up.’

The area outside the CEO’s office was filled with people wearing blue and white uniforms talking amongst themselves. As Miyuki got up, the guards standing in front of the CEOs door stood opposite each other and ushered everyone in. The office had been left virtually untouched since the last time Miyuki was here, except for the numerous blood stains on the walls. The CEO’s desk lay straight ahead, and a woman with fiery red hair and emerald green eyes sat with her feet placed on top of an officer’s back. In her left hand she held a scimitar, dripping with blood as the corpse of another officer lay dead, her body dangling over the desk. The woman looked everyone in the room up and down. Miyuki could feel her eyes pierce through the helmet as Alecto stared intensely at her, before she rose out of the chair and placed the sword inside the torso of the officer she had been using as a footrest.

‘Everyone. Welcome to our first and hopefully last strategy meeting. The purpose of this meeting is to outline how we plan to deal with the gangs of Paralya who are stopping us from achieving our objectives. First off, let me say that the assault on The Outeryard I consider to be a massive failure. These two failed massively and have paid the price for it. The enemy managed to survive our assault and as such will come back stronger. Second, let’s go over the plan now for our next moves. Starting in two days we will launch simultaneous assaults on each of the 3 gangs in Paralya: The Outeryard, The Sons of Las Pereras, and The Alpha Pack. By now all officers have been briefed of these plans. Commanders, you will get your briefs at 20:00 hours this evening. To assist in the assault, we will be activating all the cybernetics that we implanted. All citizens regardless of whether they want to or not will be participating in the assault and will be used to soften our enemies’ defences before the main assault begins at 07:00 hours. ‘

One of the officers began to speak up.

‘So essentially we’re using the locals as bait?’

‘Yes that’s correct. We will be using the locals as cannon fodder. Anyone else got any questions or can I continue? No? Good. Now, finally, we will unleash wave upon wave of our infantry upon the enemy and overwhelm them. The use of executors will be permitted. It’s going to get very bloody but should things go smoothly we will have tidied up our backyard so to speak by 13:00 hours. The key to ensuring out success will be the use of a new Hydra Missile system the nerds have cooled up. This missile can split its explosive payload into 3, and will be used to launch simultaneous attacks at the enemy. Only I am allowed to launch and fire these and will do so if I believe it will ensure our victory.

A hand was raised at the back of the room as another officer raised his hand.

‘ What about the civilians?’

Alecto stared the man dead in the face before erupting in laughter.

‘Civilians? You think anyone gives a shit about the scum festering in the ghettos down there? No. All civilians are complicit in this, they must be eradicated! Now meetings adjourned. Get the hell out of my office. Send the cleaning crew to get these two out of here. Their stench is beginning to infuriate me. ‘

As everyone started to depart from Alecto’s office, she pointed in Miyuki’s direction.

‘You. Stay back, I want a word with you. The rest of you, hurry up and leave.’

The door to the office slammed shut as the last person left the room leaving Miyuki and Alecto all alone. A harsh silence descended into the room as the two gazed at each other before Alecto reached into her desk and retrieved something metallic, tossing it onto the ground at Miyuki’s feet.

Alecto gestured at the metallic object.

‘Can you tell me what this is?’

Miyuki was puzzled by the question.

‘Sure. It’s a cybernetic leg.’

‘Correct. And do you know who’s cybernetic leg this is?’

‘No.’

Miyuki answered sharply but was beginning to feel nervous as the hairs on the back of her neck stood up.

‘See, I think you do know who’s leg this is. Am I wrong in saying that, Miyuki?’

Miyuki’s eyes began to widen but still continued to show no fear.

‘Take that helmet off you swine. I wish to see Tisephone’s killer in the flesh.’

Miyuki removed the helmet and tossed it to the ground, causing a large smile to rip into Alecto’s face.

‘Ohhhhh. Mikael’s gonna be so proud of me when I deliver your head to him.’

Alecto screamed in delight as she grabbed her scimitar and immediately lunged towards Miyuki with nothing but murder on her mind. As Miyuki reached into her pocket and retrieved her knife the fight began. The office became a battleground as Alecto ripped into walls and her desk in an attempt to skewer Miyuki, who was doing her best to avoid Alecto’s flurry of attacks.

Miyuki began to run towards Alecto and at the last moment slid between her legs, stabbing the left one. Alecto screamed in pain as the blade cut through her flesh, then grabbed Miyuki and began to repeatedly pummel her in the face with her fist. As Miyuki tried to crawl away, Alecto grabbed her by the legs and held her in position with her face facing the window.

‘After this mess is finished, I’ll retrieve your body and hand deliver it to Mikael personally.’

Alecto used her scimitar to shatter the window and tossed Miyuki out of it. As she began to free fall towards the ground, Miyuki quickly removed the chest armor she had been wearing and activated her wing suit, flying towards the ground, and landed on top of the underground parking garage. She lost all control as her body tumbled before finally coming to a stop, her eyes facing towards the office she had just been thrown out from. Inside the building there was a lot of commotion as the forces of Cyntech began preparations for the slaughter to come. Barely able to get up, Miyuki raised a finger to her earpiece and attempted to contact Chaudary again as she hobbled to the road but was met with static. As the sun began to rise, Miyuki called for her Nighthawk as her new objective now was to unite the 3 gangs in order to stop the war that was to come.