Farisia Rising

The Field

Before surgery, Reggie had been offered a choice—external augmentation or no external augmentation. He picked the second. External augmentation would have given his strength away at first glance. If there was one thing he valued most, it was the underestimation of those he would deign to fight. He'd been curving that to his benefit for most of his life.

The strength would hide under his skin, under his lanky, rail-thin frame. He would give a misleading impression, like Heidre. Nobody would see him coming.

Dr. Igarashi no longer had the resources to allow for retractable claws. But he had enough for pretty much everything else—fortified muscles, harder bones, faster reflexes.

Two weeks after surgery, Reggie was dispatched for his first mission on the field. He was paired with a veteran, who would serve as a sort of mentor. In stark irony, that 'veteran' was a little girl.

"You'd better not embarrass me," Heidre grunted, as they snaked through Alvany, through the midday rush. "I lied for you. Don't make me regret it."

Reggie walked passively behind her, fingers woven at the back of his head, elbows aimed skyward. "Don't worry," he asserted, when enough passersby were out of earshot, "I'll take 'em all if you want me to."

"You really hate rebels, huh?"

"Let's just say the mainlines and I have a beef going back, oh, at least a few months."

As long as it's not my guys, it's no skin off my back. This is for my two million dollars, you absolute morons.

The cobbled businesses, cobbled streets and narrow sidewalks at last relented to a gray wood, just beginning to green from the late frosts that had ravaged it prior. There were oaks and pines, sequoias, cypresses, maples, beeches, and a tangled carpet of brush, to make the trek as harrowing as humanly possible.

Heidre made quick work of the foliated barricades, chopping them back with her claws. Reggie let her have it. He planned on taking over when the rebel encampments came into view. Supposedly there were hundreds of them, parsed out among the jungled woodlands.

"Hey, Dr. Igarashi and I got to talking, after the surgery," he added, as they forged deeper. "Did you know he has a newborn son? He doesn't strike me as the type."

"What are you, a gossip rag?" Heidre bobbed and whacked. "Yeah. I knew that."

"All those seedy human experiments, and he goes home to a wife and kid," Reggie mused. "It's pretty wild. When I asked about it, he said the palace had threatened him into working there. He was a top-tier academic and they basically drafted him. Refusal wasn't an option. Guess he has to hide behind that quiet exterior so he won't crack. Get too attached to a labrat and it might complicate things."

"You talk a lot," Heidre grumped. "You know that?"

Reggie was undeterred. "When he married, he said the threats moved to his wife. Now that he's got a kid, that's the last twist of the vise. They've got him for life. Cut up strangers or watch us pop your baby's head off like a bottlecap. For most, the decision would probably be easier than they care to admit."

"Are you a psychologist?" Heidre finally snapped.

"No."

"Then shut up," her voice was dry, monotone. "You do what you need to, to survive. It's not that complicated."

I'll keep that in mind. He paused. "What was your vise? I suppose they have crosshairs on your parents, your siblings."

"Na. I don't have that problem."

"So, this is all to save your own hide?"

"Yep."

"So, you're stranded in the world? No family or friends?"