REQUIEM - Low Life

3. There is a Pain that Never Ends

"I have no memories." Rex Taylor had a session everyday. Before, and after, patrols. His vision blurred as he looked into the distance.

"I'd like to talk about that," said the psychologist. "It's something you say at the beginning of every session, I'd like you to tell me what you mean."

"I don't know," said Rex. "I don't have the words for it. I don't remember a life before NFORCER and I feel like there has to be a life before NFORCER." He looked up as the psychologist wrote something in his notepad and time passed and he was in the back of a transporter. He checked his rifle's safety before slinging it over his shoulder as they hovered over a building in Sector C.

Jeffrey punched him on the shoulder. "You're pale," he said. "You good?" Rex nodded without saying anything, but Jeff was still weary. He was the first to step out of the transporter, with his sniper rifle holstered across his back and the drone controls attached to his belt. "It's a lovely night out in the slums," he remarked.

"Yeah, it doesn't get better than this," said Maxine behind him. "Alright, don't get too relaxed. This is Red Club territory, the captain stationed us here so we could sniff out the Reaper."

"Look at that," said Rex, to Jeff, "we aren't the janitors."

Jeff scoffed. He pulled the controls up and flew the drone up into the sky. "Chances of rain anywhere between zero and one hundred percent," he stated. "Oh, look at that, there's a fire down south in Sector F. This is me pretending I'm shocked." It was his nature to look down on Atlas. He'd known better for as long as he remembered and, in his eyes, the people of Atlas chose to live the way they did. They chose to be criminals, murderers, and scavengers. That was their nature.

Rex stopped next to him and looked at the bird's eye view. He found something familiar in the colours of the city. The red flames against the harsh lights of neon salesmen and their products, the disjointed high rise buildings, the ruins of the old city; everything spoke to him. "It doesn't get better than this," he said.

"Yo, is she looking at me?" Jeff whispered.

"What?" Rex frowned.

"Maxine," said Jeff. "I think she wants me."

Rex chuckled and looked at Maxine. "Yeah, I think she does too."

"Don't play with me, man."

It didn't get any better than that. They frowned at the violence and they scoffed at the disorder, but Atlas was just as much their playground as it was the gangs'. "We're no better than the slum dogs," Maxine had said once. "Out and about in the night, looking for a thrill."

That night was like any other. They'd gone deeper in the city, searching for more than just a thrill, but they didn't expect much. That was the first mistake.

A few buildings south from their location, a tense gangster paced inside a quiet room. "I don't like this," he said.

"Stevie, you volunteered," said Hiro, who was leaning against an open window. "You don't have to do anything you don't want to. You can go."

"No." Stevie shook his head. "No, I'm doing this. For Yves." He took a deep breath before he continued pacing. "Still, I don't have to like this."

There were five of them in the room. Three of the club members Hiro trusted most, and Baron, to bait the Reaper and kill her. He'd left breadcrumbs across the city that would lead her to that building, unmarked and unmapped territory.

"You really think she's gonna fall for it?" James asked, again.

"If she was willing to walk into the club, I don't think she'll care even if she knows that this is a trap," said Hiro. "All I need to know is if you're up for this. All of you."