New Elysium: Breakout

(3) Helion 7*

  A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace. -Ecclesiastes 3:8 

"With nothing useful to say and no one to listen to it

Filling the deep with the pain, I slowly sink into itconsider questionable things to try to get me through itI've tried to push it away but I always give in to itLong for the taste of the rain that finally helps subdue it And washes this all away"   "So Long Sentiment" -Celldweller

"Red!" 

Red stopped at the sound of T calling for him. He could tell by the tone of his voice that he was excited. He didn't turn around as the thud of T's feet against the concrete ground came closer, followed closely by the sound of Alt's quieter step. The blonde boy was all smiles as he grabbed Red's arm jerking him slightly off balance. He recovered and smiled at the boy, ruffling his hair with his other hand.

"What's up T-man?"

"There's a new girl here!"

"I know, I saw her." It was bound to be exciting for the ten-year-old. No one else had shown up since he'd arrived previously. Red shuddered, remembering vividly the commotion the boy's arrival had caused. It was the last time he'd had to kill someone. Some humans were simply evil.

"But, Red," T's voice lowered conspiratorily. "She shocked Karik with her bare hands. It was amazing!"

Red froze in place as the boy's voice faded out, his thoughts racing. No visible signs but capable of shocking someone as big as Karik? Military-grade? It had to be... Maybe that's what was bothering him. She was too clean. Escaping notice by simply looking harmless. 

But the Scanners on a Scandroid didn't lie. Once the mindless bots picked up on your augments, it was capture or kill. 

"Red don't! That's suicide!"  For a brief moment in time, Red remembered his own encounter with the dreaded hunters of Neo-Tokyo.  The fear of discovery pinged through his body when he'd realized they were found. He'd been hard-headed and prepared to sacrifice himself so his cohorts could escape... Only he hadn't planned on having friends who weren't prepared to let him go. For a simple moment, he felt the gravel digging into his skin as they grappled, Dag wrapped his titanium arm around his chest forcing him to the ground. Ten scandroids were a deathwish and they'd both known it. "You aren't ready yet!" Dag had screamed over and over as he held him in pace.

With a start, Red looked up blinking a movement pulling him from the brief memory.

T was staring up at him with his mouth hanging open, clearly not anticipating this reaction at all. "What is it?"

"I'm not sure yet," Red muttered, shaking his head. He felt curious, he wanted to know the new girl's story. It's not like he had anything else to do. There were factions inside the prison, he might as well make a play for her, on the off chance that she hadn't joined one just yet. Karik had obviously made the worst choice and paid dearly for it. The man was nothing more than a walking dick. "I'll check it out. Scram for a bit will you? And be careful." 

He watched the boy run off and wondered what his next move should be. If anything. Something was stirring in his mind. There was something just at the cusp of his mind that wanted to be known and it was tucked into whoever the new prisoner was. Something was off. 

There. She was walked across the prison yard by herself towards the bleachers just off the ball courts. A tiny thing, yet if T was to be believed, she was packing some serious hardware. He watched as she jumped up each seat to get to the top before finally settling down. Other people moved out of her way as she marched. He grinned at that. She might be the smallest person in the damn prison, next to T and his friend Alt. 

He studied her intensely from a distance wondering what would be the best approach here. He could offer her protection but did she need that? No one had touched her or even catcalled after her. Why is that? It was a puzzle, and it would most likely turn out to be nothing. But it would be more interesting than his usual rounds of nothing. And maybe they'd have an ally in here. 

Red made a decision and crossed the courtyard. He would figure out what was bothering him, his instincts told him there was something he was missing. He'd spent seven years here, it wasn't like he had important plans to miss.  He climbed the steps loudly not wanting to give her the wrong impression. He was just here to talk. Or at least that's what he told himself.

She didn't turn her head until he flopped down in front of her, his boots thocking the metal bench as he sat down. Not too close, again not wanting to force anything on her. But close enough to know that he was wanting to talk to her. 

There was a brief silence as they took each other's measure. He had to hand it to her, the glare she shoved his way was enough to make most people mind their own business. Red felt uneasy. He was missing a piece to an important puzzle. He studied her, even as he knew she was doing the same with him.

Others were wired just beneath the surface so that only the neural connections showed through the skin. Red was such a case. His augments were military issue, high grade. A few like this girl had no visible signs whatsoever. No lines, no metallics, nothing...

Someone that clean usually indicated upper-class wealthy people. People who considering the times they were living in, did not necessarily want it to be known that for whatever reason or other they had implants.  

People Red normally despised. His eyes narrowed as he studied her putting a few pieces together. 

There had been some Neo-Tokyans in here with the rest of them when he'd arrived. They'd showed up in a group, huddled together, crying, no idea what it was like to live in the bottom rungs of society. They hadn't lasted long here, cut down by those who lived on the bottom for so long, they had no sympathy for them. Red had simply watched, his own humiliation still too raw to move him to empathy. These were just kids; rich kids, stupid kids, but kids... That hadn't made him stop the madness.

"I'm not exactly friendly if you haven't figured it out yet." 

His hands gripped the seat of the bleacher as he stared at her. It wasn't that her voice was awful, quite the opposite in fact. But he would have recognized that accent anywhere, it was the one accent in the Empire that would have caused anyone loyal to its bearers to take a knee. She was fucking royalty or the closest thing they had to it. 

She was from Neo-Tokyo, not only that but the upper crust of Neo-Tokyan society. 

She was the enemy.