Stephanie Steele

Steele tore out of her apartment into the slate grey morning, her coat flapping in her slipstream like one of Freddy’s super hero’s capes. The street was dark and gloomy, the air thick with low level smog which had been pushed down to the street by surging upper level winds. This would make vision difficult for people going about their business today. Perhaps the threatening rain would clear the majority of it. It was still early so most people weren’t up and about and out to work yet. The street lighting was poor at the best of times and right now they didn’t make much of an impact on light levels.

Nixon was not far behind. She was wearing her red dress from the night before and was running in bare feet clutching her purse and high heels. “Where’re we going?” She called out to Steele who was further ahead. She had a job keeping up with her.

“They don’t know you know anything so they won’t come after you. Go home and I’ll go get Mia.” Steele shouted back at her.

Nixon pulled a compact pistol blaster from her red purse. “You think I’m going to let you have all the fun?”

Steele looked over her shoulder and stopped. She was impressed with Nixon’s dedication, even though she did look a little stupid in her small dress toting a blaster the size of a child’s toy with no shoes on. She was just about to tell her so when a cruiser loomed out of the smog. She didn’t see it until the last second. The cruiser swerved towards Nixon.

“Look out!” Steele moved fast. It was a tough call between who would get to Nixon first, her or the cruiser. She beat it by a fraction, but it wasn’t enough. The impact sent Steele tumbling across the front of a parked cruiser. She landed with a heavy thud and smashed her head against the sidewalk. She was quickly to her feet. The cruiser sped on, its tail lights disappearing into the smog sending litter into the air in its wake.

Steele turned to look for Nixon and was horrified to discover that the cruiser had tore Nixon clean in half just below the translucent material of her red dress. Sparks flew from her upper body below the shredded dress where the wiring and circuitry had been ripped apart. One of her arms, which only a few hours ago were embracing her, was lying several yards away. Her right leg bend horribly backwards and nearly severed at the knee.

“Rachel!” Steele dashed to her and dropped to her knees. She snatched her torso from the ground and cradled her in her arms. “Oh baby!” was all she could manage. A stabbing feeling wrenched at her insides. That dreadful feeling of loss she’d suffered after Uma, returned. That feeling quickly changed to anger as she looked into those pale olive eyes. The colour seemed to have faded from them, all the sparkle deleted.

She heard the cruiser returning and looked up to see it emerging from the smog down the street where it wasn’t so thick. As it neared she could clearly see the driver. Edwards!

Edwards snarled as he increased the cruiser’s speed. “You should’ve kept your nose out Steele. Should’ve listened to orders.”

Her suspicions had been right. Edwards was involved and it had been him who’d called Leon to take Mia, had probably given the order to kill Mia’s father as well. Loose ends! She couldn’t help wondering if he’d pulled the trigger himself.

Steele snarled, scooped up Nixon’s blaster and stepped into the path of the oncoming cruiser, whipping out her own blaster as she did so. With both blasters aimed at the cruiser she let him have it, with both barrels. Bullets ricocheted off the speeding cruiser, pinging away harmlessly. She knew Edwards’ cruiser was bullet proof but she had to try. A bullet punched a hole through the light attached to the roof, bits of red and blue plastic scattering the road. Steele changed her tack. She positioned both blasters close together to form a concentrated impact on the windshield. It worked. The windshield cracked.

Inside the cruiser Edwards held up a defensive hand, thinking the glass was going to break. The brief lapse in concentration made the cruiser veer across the road.

Steele’s fingers kept pulling the blaster triggers, pumping bullets into the cruiser. The police vehicle swept passed her, hit a fire hydrant, water spouted into the air and fell onto the cruiser as it smashed into a building, destroying a wall and coming to a dead stop. Fine wisps of smoke mixed with steam rose from the wreckage as the falling water cooled the hot engine.

Steele threw Nixon’s blaster to the ground, ejected her clip, slammed in a new one and loaded a round into the chamber as she marched over to the cruiser, blaster ready to pump a chest full of bullets into Edwards. She ripped open the door and aimed the blaster into the shattered cruiser, fingers tightening on the trigger. But she never fired a single shot. She lowered the blaster, disappointed in not being able to wreak vengeance on Edwards’s ass.

His dead eyes stared back at her. Blood streamed from his head over his face and onto the cruiser floor. Steele grabbed a handful of his blood matted hair and hauled his cadaver from the seat, depositing it on the road. With a final look at Nixon’s twisted remains lying about the road and sidewalk she jumped into the driver’s seat and slammed the door.

The cruiser reversed from the demolished wall still intact, turned one-eighty and shot off over the buildings into the choked sky. The sun was just barely visible through the thick gas clouds, the day barely begun, and two were dead. Those wouldn’t be the last casualties of the day if Steele had her way. No fucking way!

Mayor Leonard’s house was surrounded by high walls and a team of security guards. A tall metal gate had to be passed through to get to the huge mansion and its garden of plastic flowers and fake grass. Armed security guards patrolled the grounds.

Mayor Leonard’s bedroom was comfort personified. The room was furnished in the most expensive silks, drapes and cushions. A huge fridge was stocked with food in case he got hungry at night, which was often the case. A second fridge held only bottles of the finest wines, chilled for every occasion. Leather couches surrounded small tables filled with fresh fruit, pastries and snacks of all kinds. These were replenished every day by his staff of twenty. A maid was on permanent standby for his every whim.

Today all house staff had been given the day off. A special occasion. The centre piece of the room was the king sized four poster bed. The duvet was of the softest eiderdown, the pillows twice as large as normal pillows.

On this fine bed lay Mia huddled in a ball. She looked smaller than she was, lost in the bed’s enormous size. A metal shackle was fashioned around her neck, a heavy duty chain tethered her to a wall mounted bracket. She was wearing a pretty white nylon dress which accentuated her adolescent curves. Her feet were bare.

Mia cowered as the mayor entered. He was wearing gold slippers and dressing gown. His huge belly was evident under the gown. He considered Mia a moment as he sipped a glass of one hundred year old port and sat on the bed near her. The mattress sunk a foot under his weight.

“News flash honey. Your guardian angel is dead.” He smirked. “No one is coming to save you.” He took satisfaction in her reaction. Studied her intently as she realised she was at his mercy.

“You’re lying!” Mia said, trying not to cry. “No one can kill Steele.”

He leant and stroked her hair. Her denial amused him. He would relish her reaction when the truth dawned on her, when she was his again. He hadn’t finished last time, but this time no one was going to stop him enjoying what was rightfully his. He’d paid for this after all, and he was going to get value for money right down to the last cent. He may even let this one live for a while. Keep her as a pet. String out her suffering for as long as she entertained him.

“You’re such a sweet girl Mia.” He said, his jowls wobbling as he spoke. “Your daddy was right, I did enjoy you. Pity we never got to finish the last time. This time I’m going to take my time and there’ll be no one to interrupt us” He licked his lips. “I’m going to savour every moment.” He took a large mouthful of the dark liquid in his glass, and watched her squirm.

“But you’re the mayor. You’re supposed to help people.” She sobbed.

“I know sweetie, and I’m going to take great care of you.”

Tears welled in Mia’s eyes as she remembered the last time. “Please, don’t hurt me. I’ll do whatever you want. Just don’t hurt me”

There was a swelling in his pants once more. He preferred it when they got upset. “Oh I’m going to hurt you sweetie. Real good.” He told her with relish. He placed his glass on a large coffee table and grabbing Mia’s hair, yanked back her head to look into her pooling brown eyes, then threw her head away like she had offended him.

Mia’s lower lip quivered. The water in her eyes poured out, soaking her cheeks. She pulled herself into a tighter ball trying to shrink away from him. She wanted to run, run far away, as fast as she could, but she was his prisoner, his to do with as he pleased. She cursed her daddy for treating her like he did, for not loving her like a daddy should love his little girl. She cursed her mom for not helping her, for leaving her to the mercy of her daddy. She must have known what would happen. She must have known. Her daddy had sold her to this animal, this monster. She hoped he would suffer as she did.

Little did she know that her father hadn’t suffered but had gone out with a loud bang. It would have been little consolation. She clamped her eyes shut tightly as his hand crept up her leg, his rough fingers scratching her fine skin. Up they came, under her dress, his touch was unbearable. She wanted to scream but nothing came out. She pushed him out of her mind and tried to think of something nice in her life. There weren’t many moments but she remembered the day her mom had taken her to the beach.

She was six years old and they’d gone to visit her Gran who had a small house overlooking the bay. She remembered building sandcastles and the tide washing them away. Remembered trying to dodge the waves as they raced up the beach, squealing when the icy water stung her toes and her mom laughing at her when she refused to walk over the seaweed which was all slimy and horrid.

They’d found shells and made a necklace and her Gran told her that that was what Mermaids wore for jewellery. She had memories of eating icecream and sand in her toes, of a warm summer breeze and actual sunshine. The sky was less populated on the coast. It had been her one and only holiday. Days when she’d been happy, days before she had become aware of the problems at home. Wonderful days when it had all been just perfect. Before it had all been spoiled. Days when she felt safe. She wasn’t safe anymore.

In a smog choked sky a saviour was on her way.

Steele pushed harder on the accelerator. The cruiser was badly damaged and wasn’t responding efficiently. It tried to respond but couldn’t. She redirected power from the lights to the thrusters. She would be flying dark with no clear view but it gave the damaged cruiser an added boost. Most traffic had been grounded because of the poor visibility but there was still some traffic on the skyway. There was a danger that another cruiser wouldn’t see her and she would see it right at the last second before impact. She was prepared to risk it. Mia’s life depended on it, and she wasn’t going to let that girl down. Not again.

The Face nav told her she was seconds away from mayor Leonard’s house. She just had to hold the cruiser steady on this course for another ninety seconds. That’s all she needed.

The security guards had been placed on alert but the first they knew there was something wrong was the high pitched whining of an incoming cruiser. Visibility was down to a few yards so they couldn’t be sure what to expect. They shouldered their auto blasters anticipating trouble, scouring the darkened sky.

The cruiser hit the top of the security wall, dislodging the top stones which crashed to the ground with a massive clatter. The guards opened fire on the unseen target. Their shots flying harmlessly into the cloud of factory vapour. They had no idea what they were dealing with. That they were about to face Paradise City PD’s finest and most lethal. If they had they would’ve turned tail and run right there.

Steele pulled hard on the handle. The nose of the cruiser hit the ground and pierced the fake grass throwing up a plume of under soil in its wake, tearing a trench in the garden two yards wide and dragging a snake of green fur behind it.

It came to a stop in the middle of a churned up lawn. The door came off in Steele’s hand as she climbed from the smoking wreck. She’d no sooner set a boot on the ground when bullets started raining around her.

Using the bullet proof door as a shield she marched like an advancing army towards the guards who were beginning to back off. When she was close enough she threw the door at one guard, knocking him off his feet. Before he’d hit the ground Steele had taken out a second guard by stamping on his knee, buckling the leg. It snapped like a twig. She snatched up his auto blaster as a hail of bullets struck her back. She whipped around to face another guard, his finger clamped on the trigger of his auto blaster, his teeth showing in a twisted snarl. One burst from her blaster cut him in two, spattering the eternal flowers with a crimson glow.

She started towards the front door of the mansion with no more resistance. The rest of the guards had run off, preferring to live. One brave guard who hadn’t witnessed Steele’s slaughter came running from the house, auto blaster primed and ready. In his haste to get some action he hadn’t banked on Steele’s element of surprise. All she had to do was stick out one of her long legs from her hiding place and he face-planted into the gravel path, the small sharp stones pock marking his youthful face.

“Didn’t your mother tell you it was dangerous to run?” Steele spat at him. He rounded his auto blaster on her. Big mistake. A flurry of lethal metal pierced his frail human body and into the gravel below, kicking up a crazy fountain of blood, guts and stones. Steele didn’t waste time thinking about it. She was already through the door.

The warm summer memories had gone from Mia’s mind to be replaced with the cold harsh reality of her situation. Her body was twisted into an unnatural position causing a stabbing pain to her spine.

Mayor Leonard’s chubby hand pressed down hard on the back of her neck, burying her face in one of the giant pillows making it impossible to breathe properly. His other hand snatched at her clothing in an effort to strip her, the material ripping at one of the seams. Mia clawed at his hand in an effort to break free of his iron grip. She managed to get a lung full of air.

“Get off me you freako!” She managed before her head was buried once again in the soft material.

“I’m going to make you scream louder than that honey.” He promised, pleasure streaked across his blubbery face. He was primed and ready to cause her harm. The sound proofed room blocked out the war that had taken place on his front lawn so he was surprised when the door burst open. He was even more surprised to see six feet of android killing machine filling the broken door frame, looking like she’d just come out of hell.

“Take your God damned greasy palms off the girl.” Steele snarled, the auto blaster held at her waist.

The mayor held his hands in the air in surrender and Mia gulped the air and saw Steele.

“I told you she’d come.”

“But you’re dead!” The Mayor stuttered, not quite believing what he was seeing, his huge frame quivering like a giant blancmange.

“You’re confusing me with you.”

“Kill him Steele!” Mia shouted.

Steele aimed the blaster towards her fat target. The mayor raised his hands higher in case she hadn’t seen them.

“You have to take me in.” The mayor said with an arrogant sneer. “You can’t kill me. Arrest me. Go on.”

“And have you get off?” Steele shook her head. Her finger tightened on the trigger. “This is for Uma and all the little girls’ lives you’ve destroyed.”

“It wasn’t me who killed your girlfriend.” He was desperate now, realising that Steele meant every word. “She was too old for my taste. Someone else had her.”

Steele knew he was stalling for time, waiting for the PD to arrive to save his sorry ass. PD he had in his pocket. Edwards for example. How many others were there? She couldn’t think about that right now. “She had your brand on her.”

He laughed a sickly laugh. “You don’t have a clue do you? Anyway, you can’t kill me. I’m the mayor for God’s sake.”

Steele plugged him in the shoulder to argue differently. Mia was keen to get in on the action. She rammed an elbow into his face. He fell away to the floor clutching a bruised cheekbone and a bleeding shoulder, bouncing on the deep pile carpet and wobbling like a dropped Jell-O slab. Steele didn’t want to kill him yet. Her claw-like hand gripped his balls like a vice and she lifted him off the floor to watch him squealing like one of the little girls he’d tortured. The pain was excruciating, his hands snatched erratically at her grasp trying to prise himself free.

“Who’s screaming now, motherfucker?” Mia shouted, her little heart pounding with excitement now instead of fear. She watched as he flew across the room, a heavy punch from Steele’s fist sending him sprawling. He crashed against the far wall and landed on top of a set of antique wooden drawers, reducing the furniture to splinters.

Steele turned to the frightened girl who was pleased to see her.

“You alright?” Steele said, taking a small key from a nearby table. She released Mia’s shackles.

Mia nodded. “I knew you’d save me.” She flung her arms about her guardian angel, tears of joy now.

Steele cradled the little girl, bringing her into the safety of her embrace. You’re safe now Mia and I’m so sorry this happened. I’ll look after you from now on, and you can come stay with me for as long as you like. Was what she wanted to say but the words never left her mouth.

Mayor Leonard was only stunned. In the drawers he kept a blaster and he found it now amongst their ruins. Steele, sitting with her back to him didn’t see, but Mia saw. The blaster coming up out of the broken wood towards them. Mia’s eyes widened.

“Look out!”

Steele heard the first bullet leave the chamber. It was one of those older models that didn’t shoot as fast. She pulled Mia tighter into her, held her head down, turning her back further towards him. Metal pumped into her, one bullet at a time. The damage was minimal. It could be repaired. She could see Freddy in her minds eyes rubbing his gleeful hands at the cash she was going to give him.

One of the bullets tore along Steele’s cheek bone tearing her skin and grazing the metal beneath. Then what she’d been waiting for. The empty ‘Click’ of a blaster devoid of bullets.

Steele threw Mia onto the bed, the pile of deep pillows cushioning her fall. She sprang to her feet and marched to the mayor who was still trying desperately to get the impotent blaster to fire. Two of his teeth popped out of his mouth in a stream of blood as Steele’s fist connected with his jaw. The impact caused his legs to buckle. Steele held him up as she rained more cruel punches to his bulbous stomach. Several ribs cracked as she pummelled his side, the layers of blubber not thick enough to stop the killer machine. An eye instantly swelled and closed in a purple lump.

She battered him around the room. Each time he fell she picked him up and knocked him down again. A final jaw breaker sent him across the bed and off the other side, landing with a crash on the floor. One of his flailing hands grabbed out to try and stop his fall. It clutched at the eiderdown and it came with him, dragging Mia off the bed and along for the ride.

Steele piled forward to continue his battering but stopped in her tracks. The blubber-tub had a blaster held to Mia’s head. She instinctively reached for her side arm. It wasn’t there because it was in his hand, held against Mia’s forehead.

“I’ll blow her brains all over the wall.” He said, turning his head to see out of his one good eye. “On your feet sweetie.” He urged Mia, but didn’t wait for her to do it herself. He yanked her to her feet by her clothing and gripped her tightly into his overhanging belly.

“You think shooting her will save you? The second you pull that trigger you’re dead.” Steele told him coldly. “The only way you can save your miserable life is to put down the blaster and let her go. I promise I’ll turn you in alive.”

“An offer I can’t refuse, huh?” He lowered the blaster and looked at Steele with his one good eye and winked. “Refused.” He fired the blaster and dashed for the door.

Mia was just glad he’d let her go. It didn’t register with her at first that she’d been shot. She felt a warm sensation in her belly and looked down. Her top was turning a deep red colour. Her legs gave way.

Steele rushed forward and caught Mia, her only thought to save her. She dropped to her knees, cradling Mia in her arms. She wiped black strands of hair from her ashen face. Her breathing was growing shallow but she still managed to speak. “It hurts Steele.”

“You’re gonna be alright. I won’t let you die.”

Steele lifted Mia’s top to look at the damage. The wound was in her stomach, just under her ribs, and she was losing blood fast. She pressed her hand over the wound to stop the flow. Mia moaned and clutched Steele tighter. Steele ran some calculations. The nearest hospital was twenty minutes away. Given the flight conditions you could double that time. At the rate Mia was losing blood she’d be dead in ten, fifteen at the outside. Steele tried to think. What was the alternative? There was a veterinary surgeon two blocks away. This time of day it would be just about open. She could make it if Edward’s cruiser was willing.

Instead of fleeing for his life the mayor was scrambling about the ruined drawers for something. His last play. Steele ignored him. She’d deal with him later. Right now Mia was all that mattered. Her little hand reached up and touched Steele’s face.

“Get him Steele. For Uma.” She whispered, the life rapidly fading from her.

“Bye bye sweetie. Sorry we didn’t get to say goodbye properly.” The mayor pulled the pin on a blast grenade and bowled it under arm towards the hugging pair, turned and swept out of the room.

The whole thing happened in slow motion. She saw the grenade rotating in the air towards them, her visual display recognising what it was in 0.04 seconds. A deadly ball of metal fell inches away, landing silently on the thick duvet. Steele’s reaction was quick and selfless. She only had time to place Mia on the floor before she dived onto the grenade to smother the imminent blast.

Steele’s body was built to withstand bullets but not a close proximity blast grenade. It exploded beneath her, her chassis taking the heat from the massive boom which shook the entire room. A leg flew in one direction, an arm in another, her torso was ripped in two at the waist. The ceiling dropped and the walls cracked. A huge plume of dust engulfed them.

As the dust settled on the destroyed room Mia looked across at Steele. Her own body was in one piece but her head was bleeding, caught by falling masonry. She saw Steele’s eyes didn’t move. Little sparks flickered and cracked sporadically from the android’s broken body. A hand twitched reflexively like it was waving at her, saying a final goodbye. It was the last thing Mia saw.

In Steele’s visual display there was a last desperate indication that she was still there.

HARD DRIVE FAILING

ATTEMPTING TO REBOOT

REBOOT UNSUCCESSFUL

BACK UP ACCESSED

BACK UP FAILED

And darkness came.