Chapter 23:

ENDGAME.

AKM: AUTOMATED KILLING MACHINES


July 3rd. 2097

3:48 AM

The queen stood in her throne room, a high-end building at the edge of the pleasure district. As she owns the entire building,

For now, at least.

Kaos looked out at the skyline, not bothering to even turn on the lights in her office. She let the neon lights illuminate the room, as she slumped in her chair and sipped the whiskey she’d been saving for a future victory. As she knew, a win was not in her future, and she attempted to grasp it. Another L. It hurt. She didn’t even have a lot of men in the building, due to them rebuilding in other parts of the town, or they died.

M00N walked over and kissed her new girlfriend’s cheek. “I’ll be downstairs if you need me, my love.”

Kaos hummed. Not bothering to answer. She grabbed M00N’s collar and pulled her in for a passionate kiss. The android moaned as she pulled away, blushing deeply. She gave a small bow and walked off, leaving Kaos to sulk in her room.

***

Ding!

The makeshift elevator made its way to the penthouse floor. In stepped seven hoodlums from the street gang Tokyo's Lost Ones.

Danze, the undead. Jockey, the junky. Saturn, the fiend. Grim, the dengenerate, EX, the kind. Manius, the smartass. And Rikmaru, the ruiner.

With the six-pointed sun proudly on their backs, armor underneath their coveralls, and how well-armed they are, they were ready to take out the woman. Jockey had one shot left on the AWL and Danze held on to the UM-TG. There was a bit of nervous silence in the small elevator. They all thought different things. If they would make it. If they could even touch Kaos. This was a death wish, and they knew it. But at this point, Throughout the month, the gang was going through the motions. Dealing with trauma. Hardship. They’re all hurt in some way.

“Hey,” Manius said as they reached the floor. “I…I do love you guys. You know that?”

EX laughed awkwardly. “Calm down, man. We’ll be ok.”

“I-I know. It’s just. I really appreciate you guys.” A tear fell down his face. “You guys are…Just important to me.”

The group went to hug the short man, humming. Saturn spoke up. “We love you too, Manius. We’ll make it out. I just need to see you kill. For once.”

Manius nodded, allowing them to let go and walk over to their bikes. Riki led the pack, letting them ride into the night as a family. The Lost.

The group wasted no time driving near the entrance of the tower. Riki had the gang park a few yards away from the place, allowing Manius to use his cyber eye to scope the place out. “Hm. Looks like we got a lot of resistance up front. 8 dudes. We can’t EMP it. We can barely hit the front. How the fuck can we crack it?”

Grim grew frustrated at the proceedings. He snatched the AWL and sat on his bike. “I had enough of this,” he complained. “This shit isn’t fun. These last few weeks ain’t been fun.”

The gang looked at Grim, confused. With their stomachs slowly churning at what he’s planning to do. He continued. “I realized after I got shot…I’m a shit person. I use people, rob people. I'm no saint. And if I wanna see mum with a smile on my face…” He revs up his engine. “I wanna tell her I had a good fuckin’ time doing a good fuckin’ thing.” With the AWL in his right hand, he speeds off, yelling like a maniac. The gang watched in horror as Grim shot the AWL right at the entrance, making the gray toxic spray everywhere and killing the four who guarded the sentence. The rest shot at grim, hitting his arms and chest. The armor wasn’t enough for the constant automatic fire. He fell out and tumbled, letting his bike skid in between the four who stood. With the last of his strength, he pulled his pistol out fired at the gas can, and made his bike blow up, killing the other four. He collapsed as a few more men came out. Danze ran up and fired the UM-TG, letting lightning spit out and hit everyone who walked by. The lightning trailed, hitting person to person like a virus. Once the way was clear Riki ran up to the blonde first, grabbing his body,

“Did…Did I look badass?” Grim asked, coughing blood,

Rikimaru looked down at his body, He was riddled with bullets, the wounds leaking with blood. He grits his teeth to keep his composure. “Yeah.”

The gang huddled around him quickly, looking on with despair. Saturn and Manius cried. EX wiped his eyes, and Jockey and Danze looked angry they lost their friend.

Grim chuckled. “I can finally see mum.” He smiled as he let the tears flow down his eyes. “I can see mum again, Riki.”

“I know.”

“Thanks…For the good time…gu…” His head slumped back, dead from blood loss.

EX turned away. “FUCK! My... Fucking… Fuck…”

They all stood in shock, not believing Grim to be dead. But reality set in, and it hurt.

Their mourning was interrupted by a certain android, “Hey boys!” M00N yelled from the entrance. “I hate to break it to you, but you killed my boss’ men. And this time…” She looked and smiled. “I can kill you.”

Riki set Grim down and looked up at her. “This must be the AKM-7.” He turned at Danze. “How’s the thunder gun?”

Danze looked at the UM-TG. “Out of juice. It needs time to charge.”

She giggled. “That’s right! The name’s M00N. And you must be the Lost Ones. Minus one, of course.”

“Good one, bitch!” Riki had two grenades tucked in the inside of his coveralls. He chucked the first one, letting it fly. It was a good throw, but M00N easily dodged it by flipping out of the way. The blast was massive. She looked slightly worried. She was tough, but one good shot with a grenade that powerful…

The gang approached the android. She smiled and put her arm forward, gesturing for her opponents to charge at her. They all did at once. M00N dodged punches from Jockey and Saturn. Weaving punch after punch. She counters by sending a right elbow to Jockey’s cheek and using the same arm to launch a hook into Saturn’s jaw. Danze came from behind and grabbed her neck, going to choke her out. EX and Riki approached the choked M00N to take advantage, but It was no use. She hopped up and kicked both men in the chest at once, and use her weight to overpower Danze and make the ground crack with the impact of the android smashing into the other. Manius attempted to hit her with his taser, but she moved and punched him square in the nose, knocking him out. M00N walked over and picked Danze up over her head and launched him into Saturn, making her ribs crack under the weight of the AKM-4.5. Jockey and Riki staggered up to charge her. She giggled as reversed Jockey’s fist and sent him into the waiting arms of Rikimaru, making them both fall. EX had grabbed a piece of tail pipe from the remains of the bike to angrily awing at her. M00N blocked using her arms and caught it using her bare hands, She tossed it aside, kicking him in the stomach to send him on his knees.

Danze was crawling to the thunder gun he dropped earlier. He saw it, full charge. He just needed the perfect time to fire. Danze looked at M00N, who had her hands around EX’s throat. “You FUCKING LOST ONES…THINK THAT YOU CAN KILL THE BOSS?! MY LOVE?! HAHAHA!” EX was losing strength fast, as one of his arms slumped, losing oxygen.

Saturn used the wall to get up, using all of her willpower. “Get away from him, you BITCH!” She shoulder charged the android, and due to her manic episode she didn’t notice the woman, so she lost grip of EX, leaving her free for the shot. Danze fired, sending the mighty lighting right to M00N. With thousands of volts surging through her body, she still stood, but barely. She yelled in pain and frustration, as the lighting shot out her body and hit different parts of the buildings. Danze fired again, which sent M00N down on one knee, her eyes blue from the punishment. But she wouldn’t back down. She slowly walked toward Danze. Jockey attempted to fire his gun, but she shooed the bullets away with her arms.

Riki saw what was happening. Once again, Danze was in danger. No, his entire crew. He saw the grenade, He couldn’t throw it. She’d toss it away. With no options, he let the grenade cook in his hands.

I failed my gang before. I failed Danze. I failed as a leader countless times. This time…I can set things right. I’m coming home, Grim.

Rikimaru ran into M00N throwing himself at her. The blast was a mix of the electrocution and the grenade itself, causing the lightning to fly all over the place. Once the smoke cleared, Rikimaru was nowhere to be found, and M00N was critically damaged. Her arms and legs lost the synthetic skin to show her real body. She shook with the remaining electricity in her body and the trauma of the grenade. She was face up, looking up at the sky, crying.

“Boss…Boss…Boss…Boss…” She repeated until she shut down.

Now it was Kaos’ turn.