Boss King and the Blade

Melody-Six

“Melody-Six, please pay attention!” snapped Nursemother Amber-Three. “This is an important training session today”

Melody jerked in surprise, then focussed her eyes on the young woman who was facing their class. To be truthful, she had been daydreaming about their last excursion to the world above. Such trips were carefully planned and executed, with only a few of the trainee Blades allowed to go each time.

On her last adventure in Pan City, Nursemother Narelle had taken Melody and three of her siblings to a playground. They had cautiously mingled with the human children, testing out their conversation and social skills on the unsuspecting youngsters. She had been nervous at first, wearing the unfamiliar shirt and shorts like the regular children instead of her usual grey jumpsuit.

Nursemother Narelle and Guardfather Gregory had been very pleased with her results. As a reward, all of the expedition were treated to an icecream. She had eaten the frozen dessert before, but it was her first time eating one under the open sky, watching the human families run and yell around her. It was a treasured memory for her, a moment she would never forget.

She had been wondering if their guest, Eleanor-Two, ever got to enjoy an icecream in a park. Eleanor was a Shadow Blade, fifteen years old and already a veteran in service to the Hive.

“Good morning, brothers and sisters” Eleanor had greeted them, her face identical to Melody’s but a few years older. “Some of you may remember me as this was my home Nest, up until the day I Manifested my Shadows”

A ripple of excitement ran through the six boys and six girls that faced her, Melody eager too to hear what her Nest sibling had to tell them. They all had the potential to Manifest, drawing forth the Shadow that lay within their bodies. In fact, Melody was close to her twelfth birthday. Of all the Nest siblings, she was the most likely to show her power next.

“I Manifested when I was twelve, which is about the right age for the Shadow to come forward” Eleanor continued. “With faith and courage, you can all master the art and become Shadow Blades for the Hive”

“But what if we don’t Manifest?” queried Trixie-Seven. She was only ten years old, with two more years of training to come. The other youngsters leaned forward eagerly, desperate to hear the reply.

“I am sure all of you will Manifest” Eleanor said smoothly. “This Nest is one of the finest facilities in all of the Hive, with the best Nursemothers and Guardfathers to guide you. But don’t worry, the Nest needs Blades too to serve in the Hive. All of you will be valued and loved members of our family!”

The children had all cheered at that, yet Melody knew that at best only one or two of them would ever become a Shadow Blade. Most would serve the Nest as Agents once they were old enough, doing the essential work that Alex-Four asked of them.

“Show the children your power” urged Nursemother Amber. “Let them see the Shadow in your blood”

“Of course, Nursemother” Eleanor had answered. Melody had watched with wide eyes as the woman focussed her will on her right arm, commanding the Shadows with her mind. Only a single black drop of the sacred oil appeared at first, trembling like a raindrop on her extended index finger.

Then with a rush, darkness streamed from her arm, coiling and extending into a blade shape nearly a full meter long. The young woman flinched as if in pain, then forced a smile onto her trembling lips. A Guardfather stepped forward, holding aloft one of the Ceramite bonded shields that the hated Guard clones used in combat.

Eleanor screamed her battle-cry, “Iron Darkness!” and slashed her Shadow Blade in a controlled arc, severing the upper half of the shield in a single blow. The section fell to the floor of the Training Room with a clatter, followed by cheers and applause from the assembled watchers.

The dark blade twisted and writhed into Eleanor’s flesh once more. Everyone else watched the incredible weapon return itself into the arm, but Melody only looked at the woman’s eyes. They were filled with pain and sorrow, a hint of glistening salty tears at the very corners.

“Does it hurt?” Melody had asked, stunning the adulation into silence.

“The whole world is in pain, Melody-Six” the Shadow Blade had answered her, gripping her right arm with her left. “I can endure whatever it takes to complete the mission that we have been given”

“Well spoken, Eleanor-Two” the Nursemother had interjected. “Let’s allow our beloved sister to go and rest while we study our unarmed combat. Guardfather Gregory, please pair up the Blades and begin the session”

Melody had been partnered with Kwan-Six, the pair of them evenly matched in height and strength. She had fought her brother as instructed, the room filled with their battle-crys and hefty thumps as one or the other landed on the padded mats.

Yet her eyes darted always to the silent figure of Eleanor-Two, watching Melody from the sidelines as the woman massaged her right arm. The Shadow Blade seemed to want to tell her something, a secret so important that no-one else must hear it.

Melody had never seen Eleanor-Two again after that day. She wondered always what it had been that her sister wanted to say to her.

“It’s over” said a woman’s voice. “Time to wake up now, Melody”

“Huh?” Melody burbled, feeling a strange lassitude filling her. She was lying on her side on a white couch, medical instruments and diagnostic machines beeping gently around her.

“I said it’s time to get up, Melody” came the harsh voice of Foreign Jay. “The operation was a success. You should be able to stand up in a few minutes”

“Okay” she mumbled in reply. ”What about my blood?”

“Already drawn and in my chiller” Jay had responded. “It looks very tasty I must say, but I shall have to control my urges. I don’t think your blood would be very safe for a human like me”

“We’re not human either” came the woman’s voice. Melody wondered where it was coming from, since she only sensed Foreign Jay in the medical bay with her.

’That’s just being rude” Foreign Jay said in an aggrieved tone. “I used to be human. I just got better”

A soft tinkling laugh was the only reply to that. It sounded so sweet and pleasant that Melody guessed she was still dreaming that part. She settled her head against the plastic covered pillow, breathing in the chilled antiseptic laden air.

“Just five more minutes please” Melody muttered and let herself drift for a while longer.

=====

Violent Surrender Gang – Bloody Sunset

Sunset was seated behind Chalky Hammer, the pair of them riding her leader’s electric motorbike. To their rear was Irongrim, puttering in their dusty wake astride a Liquid Hydrogen powered scooter that was older than Sunset.

About fifty meters ahead of them was the grinding and clanking mobile workshop of Foreign Jay, with their target still aboard. Sunset reached out with her Aeromancy, sifting and sorting the wall of noise that the vehicle made, filtering out the cacophony until she found what she sought.

“Foreign Jay just told Boss King and his little girl partner that the surgery was a success” Sunset relayed to her boss, leaning against his back to project her voice into his ear. “Reckons she’ll be Okay to move in about ten minutes”

“Good” Chalky Hammer replied, his eyes focussed on the giant vehicle in front of them. “I reckon I know where he’ll drop them off, so pass the word to Irongrim. We’ll set up the ambush at the People’s Park”

“Copy that” Sunset replied, then used her Aeromancy to carry her words directly into the ears of their third member. She saw Irongrim dip his helmeted head in confirmation, then both bikes veered off down a side alley. They could use narrower roads and alleys than the workshop, meaning they could arrive at the destination far ahead of Foreign Jay and his clients.

As they rode, Bloody Sunset was still young enough to wonder if this was a job they really wanted to complete. It was not the first time she had killed someone, yet they had been trying to kill her as well. Ambushing a young girl and her equally young protectors wasn’t sitting comfortably with Sunset.

More than that, the deal itself with their mysterious employer, an anonymous “Mister”, made her wonder if they weren’t being set up themselves. She triggered her Ability, letting her faint words carry easily to the ears of her boss and mentor.

“This job feels like all kinds of suspect, Hammer” she spoke softly. “I don’t really want to take down a young girl without knowing why. We could be inviting a whole lot of trouble for ourselves if we finish this job”

She could feel him tense up on his seat ahead of her, her chest pressed into his jacketed back.

“I know, Sunset” he admitted, her Aeromancy channelling his gruff voice to her own ears. “But we really need the Pandas. We’re stone cold broke and this job will let us cover some repairs and feed us for a month”

“Won’t matter if the job kills us” she reminded him. “Dead people don’t eat”

“Trust me, Sunset” he assured her. She could imagine the grin he had forced onto his face, hidden behind the filter mask, trying to convince her. “I promised your old man I’d take care of you, and I am not a guy who breaks his word”

Sunset cracked a smile of her own and laid her head against his warm back, her arms tight around his waist.

“You lie to me all the time, Chalky” she said. Sunset didn’t bother to use her power to make sure he heard her. It didn’t matter anyway because he knew what she would have said. Hammer always told her whatever she wanted to hear, whether it was true or not.

He wasn’t a bad man, Sunset knew that. He was a desperate one and that forced people to make bad decisions every day. When her father had died on a job with Hammer, she had begged the man to take her on as his replacement.

Chalky hadn’t wanted to, but he really had made that promise to her dad. So she had made her own bad decision out of desperation and become a Freelancer in the Violent Surrender Gang.

Sunset wondered, as they rode down the dusty and cracked alleys and sideroads, if today was the day her bad decision was going to demand it’s price.