Shattered Reality - Shifting City - Chapter 2

The agent stared at me for a moment. “Anton Stayer?” he finally asked, hesitantly.

“I have the details right here,” I replied, flashing my bracelet again. I slipped into the chair next to his desk and held out my arm so he could scan it. The man grabbed his scanner, ran it over my ID, and quickly checked the readout. 

He frowned. “It’s legit,” he mumbled.

I nodded. “I was suspicious when I saw the location, so I had someone double check,” I explained. “But why do YOU find it so suspicious?” I asked.

“Anton Stayer has been the subject of multiple investigations. Sale of blackmarket cybernetics, illegal augmentations, and even ripping cybernetics from the dead. Never been able to make anything stick though,” he explained.

“Charming,” I mumbled. “So you know where I can find this so-called Doctor?”

“You’re still going? Knowing what he’s capable of?” the man asked.

“It’s a council contract,” I explained. “I’d risk losing my courier license if I walked away. It’s not the first sketchy contract I’ve taken, and probably won’t be the last. That’s why I came prepared,” I explained, flashing my gun.

The man sighed. “He’s on floor five, north side of the atrium. His clinic has a massive neon sign, it’s hard to miss.”

“Wonderful. Thanks for the information,” I said as I bounced to my feet. I took a couple steps before pausing, and looking back towards the agent. “I don’t have to worry about anyone fucking with my bike while I’m gone, right?” I asked.

“Sorry about that,” he grumbled. “I was in the middle of investigating Thomas and his cousins for corruption, so I had to put them somewhere out of the way. We hadn’t had a courier stop by for close to two years, so I thought it would be safe to shove them in the courier area. I’ve locked those idiots up in a holding cell, and most of my other guys are reliable, no one’ll touch it.”

“Well, no harm done,” I replied. “See you in a few minutes.”

I attracted a couple looks as I walked through the combination customs office and precinct, but I ignored them. I intentionally wore relatively non-descript clothing when I was on a job, just a leather biker jacket and jeans, but even that apparently attracted attention around here. 

When I stepped out the front of the building, and into the main atrium, I was immediately hit with a blast of rank, stale air, with a faint aftertaste of garbage. It was bad, but surprisingly not the worst I’d experienced. 

Since this was an old gen one structure everything was built around the central atrium. Massive neon signs hung off almost every balcony advertising everything from laundry services, to brothels. Most areas were completely packed with people just going about their day. I’d guess less than ten percent of them had stepped outside the building since they were locked in here.

I crossed the sad park in the middle of the atrium, which probably had flowers and other greenery at one point, but now just had a couple sad trees, and headed to the nearest set of stairs. I noticed that most of the locals kept their distance, which made my trip up the tower much easier.

Even before I made it to the fifth floor I’d identified my target. There was a massive, gaudy sign which had a scantily clad nurse reclining on the with the words ‘Doctor Stayer - Reliable, Safe, Fast.’ Despite the assurances on the sign, I noticed that not a single person entered the shop before I got there. 

As soon as I pushed open the door I couldn’t help but wrinkle my nose. The front room was set up like a high end shop, with different cybernetics placed in display cases, but everything was covered in a layer of dust in grime. Half the lights had burned out, and never been replaced, and there were piles of trash shoved into the corner. 

The idea that people came here for medical care made me feel slightly ill.

“Who are you?” someone called from the backroom.

“Olivia Chase, registered courier,” I announced. “I’m here for a pickup.”

I heard the sound of a chair scraping across a concrete floor then a long, pale hand slowly pulled apart the beads. When I saw the man that emerged from the back, my blood turned cold. At first glance he just appeared to be a slightly balding, elderly gentleman of eastern europe descent, but when he stood up straight he felt wrong. His arms and legs were just a tad too long, and his face was twisted. It could have been badly installed cybernetics, but something told me that wasn’t it.

“You came for the package? It’s about time!” the man grumbled as he reached behind the counter. A second later he pulled out a sealed, class one, courier bag. I couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow. Class 1 was expensive, GPS tracked and gene locked. Something that a failing doctor’s clinic in the back of the slum shouldn’t have been able to avoid. “I need this gone now!” the man practically yelled, slamming the package into my hands. 

“I need your authorization,” I said calmly, presenting my bracelet and turning it to an LED panel on the side. “Just place your thumb on the panel.” My skin crawled as he reached out, and it took everything I had to not flinch as he touched me, but thankfully he let go as soon as he placed his thumbprint. “Is it still going to the previously agreed location?” I asked.

“Yes yes, go!” the man snarled. I swear that his face twisted unnaturally but he quickly slapped a hand over it before I got a good look. I heard something in the backroom shift, I swear I could hear scraping chains, and whimpering, but the old man didn’t say anything, and I didn’t want to bring it up.

“Right… Have a nice day,” I said politely as I slowly backed out of the store. I didn’t dare take my eyes off the doctor until I was once again outside the store. As soon as I was, my hand shot up and flicked the communicator implanted behind my ear. “Call Julie!” I snapped.

The communicator only buzzed once before my partner picked up. “Done already?” she asked sleepily.

“No, I just picked up the package. Things are NOT ok,” I reported, struggling to keep my voice quiet, and even. “Call your contact at the council enforcement bureau and report the contract.”  

“It’s that bad?” Julie asked, a hint of panic in her voice.

“Am I one hundred percent sure? No, but I SWEAR the contact had been touched,” I hissed as quietly as I could.

“Fuck me… What are you going to do now?” Julie whispered back.

“Shove this package through the nearest security scanner and hope it’s not what I think it is,” I said. 

“WHERE IS IT?” something roared behind me, I turned just in time to see the doctor get smashed through the front window of his store; A massive, pale, twisted arm clamped around his torso. The thing which emerged from the shop might have been human, at one time, but it had been heavily twisted. It was elongated, much like the doctor, but this ‘person’ had to be close to twelve feet tall, every single facial feature shifted until they were completely unrecognizable.

“What’s going on?” Julie asked.

“A breach,” I gasped. “I have to go.” 

“Wait…” Julie started, but I reached up and disconnected the call before she could say more. It was bedlam, people screamed and scattered. The security alarms blared.

I kept one eye on the creature as I retreated towards the stairs. It… looked? Sniffed? I couldn’t really tell since it was so twisted, around looking for something, and I had a sinking feeling that I knew what. 

“The key! He must be released!” The creature yelled, right before it’s head snapped in my direction. “YOU!”

“Fuck,” I muttered as I whipped out my pistol. The thing was not only unnaturally fast, but its flesh and features seemed to shift with each movement, making it hard to look at. I managed to put three rounds into the creature, doing absolutely nothing to it, before the creature snatched me up. I swear I could feel worms writhing under the skin of its boney hands, the touch both burned and froze my skin, I gasped for air.

“Give it to me!” the creature howled, reaching for the bag on my back. 

Somehow I found the strength to look it in the face. “Fuck you,” I muttered before emptying the rest of my clip into the twisted one’s chest. 

As first as the first round connected the creature shuddered, it’s face twisted in what I interpreted as confusion.  Each additional round caused it to twitch, and thrash further, each additional taser round causing more damage. 

Finally, the creature stumbled and fell heavily against the balcony railing. The metal strained, and I heard bolts snap. I dropped my gun, desperately grasping at the thing’s hand, trying my best to pry it loose, but it was too late.

The railing snapped, causing the monstrosity to tumble into a five story freefall and taking me with it.

I just had enough time to close my eyes, and pray everything would be okay before I felt the bone shattering thump. Everything went black.