Chapter 1: Fighting for scraps

A long corridor lit by the neon pixel lights of advertising boards stretches for miles. The screens that constantly play Ads do little to light the concrete hallway. Along this narrow road in a specific and rare time you may find but a single beam of light coming from a crack in the rotting concrete on the ceiling. I have known of this beam my entire life, without this beam I would not have known about sunlight. 
I have heard stories that once this planet had lush vegetation and clean blue oceans. That everyone in the world had access to see and bask in the sun. To me though, those were just stories. To me, the world has always been a hospitable place. Where the deeper down you go you run the risk and getting killed by some sort of random person in the streets. Where the higher you go, you just end up suffocating from all the smog and toxic fumes that cover the sky. This place where on extremely rare occasions seeing but one beam of sunlight. This place where you use people's emaciated bodies as stepping stools. 
This city, a maze of corporate greed and human suffering, is all I have ever known. As far as I'm aware the only thing left on this planet. After thousands of years of human expansion, eventually, we outgrew this cradle of a planet. The city covers almost every piece of the landmass, all connecting in unison. Parts covered in the ocean got so polluted it became acidic, Burning anything that touched it. Soon very few places became unable to grow food leading to many starving. My parents tried all they can to scrounge up enough money for food. Even my name, Kagetsu Clay-doh, was used as an advertisement for the Kagetsu company to sell theirs to Clay-doh. It worked, the money helped feed me until I was 4, but after that, they stopped paying. So to start getting money I had to work at one of their toy factory for pennies. My parents tried everything they could so I wouldn't have to do that, they were good people. When I was only 13 they were killed in a workplace accident, leaving me alone. Instead of giving any compensation, I had to pay for any damages my parent's death caused. It was then I realized the only way to make an honest living is to take things from people that have more than me. It was then I started stealing, threatening, and killing anyone who had an extra coin on them. You can name every terrible act you can do for scraps, I have done it all. it's the only way to live on this dead planet. 

I continue down the long decrepit hallway, guided by screens about the new kind of water, now with 60% more H2o. I wouldn't put that stuff anywhere near my mouth seeing as all bodies of water on this planet have become polluted. 
Walking down this hallway is always a headache, the constant loud noise, flashing neon lights, and the fear that I might be jumped out of nowhere gives me a migraine. I cover my ears to block it out but the way it blares almost feels like it's coming from your head. 
I make it to a cramped area filled with heavy sliding doors. The door is partially rusted and touching it can cause it to creak.
I knock on one of them, it echos like I am tapping the haul of a ship, and yell out "it's me". After a few seconds, a loud buzz followed by the sound of metal moving and the rusty sliding door opening revealing a cramped room. The room is less than a room and more of a closet, it's difficult to even think about moving. Covered in Anime merchandise, especially one of those devices that shows a holographic anime girl that you can interact with. Those kinds of merchandise are designed to effectively replace humane interaction. It's quite popular with many people around the world. I personally never got into them, mostly because I never like interacting with people, to begin with. 
The room is so cluttered that I had to lift my legs as if I was stepping in deep snow. I finally found a sturdy box of clutter that I don't even care to know what is inside of it, that I could sit on.
At the end of this room is a computer with 4 monitors showing what appears to be a Video game, a download of a video game, a store page for video games, and a live stream of an anime girl playing a video game. At the other end of these monitors is a Girl with baggy clothes and smart glasses. She is completely engrossed in the game she is playing, even when I approach she doesn't even glance at me.
"so why am I here Sili"
"It's silicon" she replies annoyingly, "and would it kill you to start with a hello or some sort of small talk?"
Silicon, of course, is not her real name, she is an internet addict. Spends more time looking at pictures of food than actual food. she is so engrossed in the internet that she forgot her name and prefers using her online handles. 
I met her a long time ago, her parents sold their bodies to science when she was 5 to get her enough to survive at least until 16. At age 12 she lost it all spending everything on her computer. At the time we were both in the same situation, so she helped me find some unsavory work. 
that's not her main source of income though. No, her money comes from finding people's personal information and extorting them for money. She might not look it but she is an excellent hacker. Good enough to survive this long without anyone killing her at least. 

"No, but I don't want to," I say to her. In a way, you could describe our relationship as sibling-like but to me, Silicon is a valuable partner to have around. "Anyways what do you want."
"can't say it yet, we still have to wait for another person"
"you bringing someone else on, can we trust them?"
"When was the last person you trusted that wasn't me, and even if I said yes you'd probably still not trust them. Anyways If I had a choice I'd bring an army. this job is big, I mean big, bigger than us. we need the extra hands" Normally I would like to do jobs solo, mostly because I just don't trust anyone. But I also don't like working with others, it makes the job more complicated and your take is usually lower than you want. Even though I'm okay with working with Silicon I still try to find jobs and do them on my own. But if this job is so important that Silicon won't even tell me what it is. Then best to hear her out. 
"Fine, who is it?" Silicon would consider who I would work marginally well with so I trust her she wouldn't take in someone we can't trust. 
"you'll see, anyways wanna watch some video while we wait." finally she breaks her deep stare at the screen to look at me, I shrug at her not caring how I wait just that I wish not to wait long. Silicon closes the game she was playing and opens a bunch of meme videos. She takes out an inhaler and takes a puff. Silicon had asthma since she was young, it was caused by the toxic smog that leaked from high above. This was also one of the reasons why she ran out of money faster than her parents predicted. Thankfully she just makes enough to get a steady supply of inhalers.
I then thought about my parents. As I get older it gets harder to recall memories of them but I never recalled them being bad people. Yes, they did sell my name to a toy company for a few bucks but that was so we could have food on the table. I believe they were the most honorable people in the world. When Silicone's parents sold themselves for her and asked us to help take care of her, they didn't just take the money and abandoned her. They treated her like family. It was a good thing I didn't share their last names because I wouldn't have honored it in the slightest. Seeing what I have done it's hard believing such people birthed and somewhat raised me. if I were in their shoes I would have tossed Silicon into a river a take the money for myself. In all honesty, I wonder if they were bigger people than most because they stuck to something that resembles ethical and moral choices. Then again, you don't gain anything from honor. 
She showed me videos of people relaxing in a resort. Beaches, parks, and many other amenities for the public were destroyed long ago. The only place this video would be played would be Mirage Oasis. A resort located in a space station orbiting earth. It is where the most riches people live to get away from the filthy smog-infested world below. The only way anyone could get this money is by exploiting the world and its people. by draining its oceans, contaminating the air, and hoarding the food. This is the place everyone dreams about, and it shows as these videos are the biggest forms of entertainment. The earlier videos felt robotic and corporate but as more videos are made it really started to take off. Watching people who flaunt their blood money is what people watch to escape the suffering of daily life. In Mirage Oasis there is no suffering, only a reward for evil deeds. Watching these videos I imagine myself going to the resort and burning it to the ground while watching its guests burn with it. A fantasy born from pure spite towards them, all of them. Born from suffering in the gutters of the planet they destroyed and abandoned. 

After a few hours, we hear a knock on the door, Silicon checks the cameras. A muscular man wearing a tight-fitting shirt and sporting a buzz cut stands in front of the door. 
"Lieutenant, are you serious?" I say to silicon "the man has no subtlety and will demand a massive cut." 
I met him during a job stealing from a store, luckily he was there to steal from the same store. he then proceeded to shoot up the place with a machine gun. At the time I didn't want to deal with him so I let him take a large cut. Every so often he would show up and put a wrench in the plan and take a majority of the loot. Even though his methods seem brash, I would admit that there is precision in his works. a simple run a gun would turn out to be not only a robbery but an assassination at the same time. Dealing with two jobs at the same time. 

The door slides open "hello Kagetsu, Silicon"
I nod my head "Lieutenant, looks like we are working together on this one" 
I'm not excited about working together with him, knowing our history. But it's not the worst thing I could think of. Even with his brashness deep down I do respect him in some capacity, but I also wonder if that respect is mutual. Well seeing as he hasn't killed me yet and is also willing to work together then I say it's a fifty-fifty chance. 
"It seems so" he comes over to me a reaches his hand out to me. I shake his hand
"So what is this about Sili" I turn my head towards her

"gentlemen, fate just granted us a boon that could not only grant us more wealth than what we need but a legacy that could never die."
She turns toward us
"I found a way into The Mirage Oasis Resort"