Neo Washington

Chapter 1- A Job Well Done

A warm sweat broke across John's skin as he stood, arms folded, in a dark alley. Even at night, the city was muggy with heat from the sun and all the people that lived there. Every ten paces there was a food stall, trying to sell you new and exotic foods that were somehow different from their neighbor's, and the smell produced by all of these was overwhelming. To newcomers, it was enough for their lunch to resurface. People scurried from building to building, performing tasks of all kinds for masters of even greater variety. A flash of red a slight distance away drew John's attention from his thoughts, focusing on the emblem he saw. A man, at least six-feet tall, and wide enough to block a runway, wore a sleeveless denim jacket in black. On its back was the emblem of the Steel Chariots logo: a white cog on the backdrop of a red flame. John put a finger to his ear, opening a communication channel with S0UL.

"I've got the mark." He informed her.

S0UL, however, had been sat lazily on her couch, her head dipped far back as she herself tried to survive the heat. A half-empty pizza box sat beside her on her coffee table, accompanied by a bottle of lightly flavored water. Upon hearing John speak, her head shot up and she cursed loudly, scrambling to her feet and rushing over to her computer, tripping occasionally.

"Yeah, okay, perfect."

Packer let out a long sigh. "Focus. It's not just your pay that's at stake here." He scolded her.

She did a little mimicking motion, knowing he couldn't see it. She spoke as she tried to reach as far as she can to get her water without leaving her desk, and her voice sounded strained as she did, "Yeah, whatever."

As the man began to move out of sight, John pushed himself away from the wall he'd been leaning on and followed at a moderate pace. He pulled a tattered brown cloak around his right, obscuring the hashed black of his carbon fiber arm.

"I'm tailing him. Get me a map."

"Will do," she leaned forward in her seat slightly, as her fingers rapidly tapped the keyboard lightly, before sending one to him, "Enjoy."

In the corner of his vision, a translucent blue square stuttered into existence, displaying a top-down view of the local area. A white arrow in the center represented John and the direction he faced in, and it quickly took a sharp left as John followed his target. The large man was almost impossible to miss, standing above the crowd and taking up twice the space of a normal person- at the very least; not to mention his glistening bald head, heavy with sweat in the humid night.

"Are you seeing this guy?" He asked S0UL quietly, a smirk breaking over his hooded face. "He looks like he could crush you with his weight alone."

"What? Can I see the man who's pretty much twice as tall as the average person and double the size? No, I can't, not at all."

He chuckled at the comment and continued to tail the man across a road that was practically devoid of vehicles at the late hour. However, it was positively swarming with people, all of whom made tailing this mountain of meat that little bit harder. John looked up at a relatively small building, five stories at most, and flexed his synthetic fingers.

"I'm going up." He said quietly, extending his right arm.

The hand of the black meshed arm let out a slight puff of smoke as it was launched from the wrist. A thin, black cord trailed after it as it was propelled to the edge of the building's roof. The hand latched onto the edge, and a motor in the forearm whirred to life as it winched him rapidly up the wall. From the rooftops, John's view on the target was clear as day, and the path to him was free of civilians. Perfect.

"So," he started as he walked along the rooftops, keeping an eye on the giant, "what kind of pizza was it tonight?"

"Just plain cheese. With the heat and no source of a breeze, haven't really been all that hungry."