EDEN: Dark Universe

CHAPTER | TWO

She didn't pull the trigger, and that had been the toughest part of the job so far. Instead, she closely observed her target – The Black Rabbit. Arissa was situated on the rooftop of the "Zara Hotel," slightly above and down the street from the Den. She watched as her target exited the service elevator of the Den. He wasn't alone. A young man followed close behind.

"What have we here?" Arissa zoomed in on her newly acquired targets with her model 7R sniper rifle. They were approximately one thousand meters away from her position. The Black Rabbit and his client made their way to the center of the rooftop. Their final positions revealed the Black Rabbit's ugly mug to Arissa. He was a Surian, which made him clean-bald, with pale green skin, and features that bulged outward and skewed upward just a little too high.

Construction equipment littered majority of the floor space. A deep shaft was situated in the middle of the unfinished floor of the Den club. The Black Rabbit and his client stopped on the edge by the railing that made up the shaft's perimeter, and began to converse. The young client looked uncomfortable.

Arissa activated the Integrated Microphone Enhancement System (I.M.E.S.) on her rifle and began to eavesdrop on the private meeting.

"So do you have what I asked for?" The Rabbit's client said, nervously. He wiped a bead of sweat from his brow.

"Payment first. That's my policy."

"Right...of course." The client pulled out a blue, rectangular credit chip and handed it to the Rabbit, who snatched it rudely from his hand and inserted it into a transfer device.

"There. Payment has been made. Thank you for your business." He handed back his client's credit chip. From where she was, Arissa couldn't see how much had been charged, but the look on the client's face told the story pretty well.

"What? That's not what we— that was everything I had!"

"A wealthy donation and tip is always welcomed." The rabbit grinned. "Now for your, special item." The Rabbit stepped aside, and out of the shadows, another Surian emerged. His complexion was dirty and worn with scars seared into his skin, his right eye bleach white – blind.

The Rabbit never went anywhere without his muscle, which was often hidden nearby. Arissa was actually relieved now that the brute was out in plain sight. He had a heavy shotgun holstered over one of his two massive shoulders. The real prize, though, he was clutching in a death grip. It was a silver case that no doubt contained whatever merchandise the kid was after. The client approached hesitantly and the bodyguard opened the case, revealing a black prototype pistol, incased in black velvet.

"Exactly what you asked for." The Rabbit grinned. "It was the first one out of the factory, all the way from Nova."

Arissa, just a little bored by now, started adding her own commentary track.

"So we're selling prototype weaponry to young kids now... just when I thought you couldn't sink any lower." As the criminal drama unfolded before her, another player entered the scene. Arissa raised an eyebrow. "And... right on time. I knew you would show up, Mr. Fox."

Jack stepped out of the lift and moved silently to one of the pillars that supported the unfinished roof. He drew his gun and waited just meters away, ready to finally take down his target.

"You're one determined bounty hunter." Arissa withdrew from her position on the rooftop. She collapsed her sniper rifle, compacting it into something that more resembled a pistol. She sheathed it over her back, where it securely stuck to the magnetic pad on her custom made suit.

She walked over to the hotel's edge and looked down the way, to the Den's rooftop, searching for a quick way across. The Den's roof was a few floors lower than the hotel's, so that helped. It was also down the street just a little, less than ideal. Shuttle cars zoomed past down below. Unfortunately, the quickest way off the rooftop was down.

Arissa activated her grapple on her wrist and aimed down at the constant stream of shuttle cars. She took a deep breath, closed her eyes, and fired her grapple. It managed to pierce the rooftop of a passing taxi shuttle, and Arissa was violently swept from the rooftop. She hung on to the grapple cable with both hands as she swung wildly, trailing behind the cab. An opposing garbage shuttle screamed past, almost hitting her.

Shifting her weight away from oncoming traffic, she was sent into a dizzying spin. She was almost at the building, and if she didn't hurry she would not only miss her target, but the roof he was standing on. She stabilized herself and climbed up the cable. It cut into her hands. The pain was unbearable.

She managed to grab hold of the cab's bonnet and hoisted herself onto it. Arissa's sudden shift in her weight made her plunk on the back windscreen. She could see that the cab driver was somehow oblivious to her presence. His passenger, however, was not. The confused lady in the back of the car screamed, startling the cab driver and causing him to swerve. Arissa held on tight to her cable.

"I don't have time for this!" She heaved herself on the roof of the car and stood, leaning back on her cable. Up ahead, she saw the Den. A construction lift hung from the side of the building.

Perfect.

A bus shuttle rushed forth in the oncoming lane, right between where Arissa was and where she needed to be.

Not perfect.

Arissa timed out her jump in her head. Making the gap while not getting creamed by the bus was going to be a close call. She stopped worrying and made the leap, passing right in front of the bus and probably scaring the hell out of its driver.

She hit the ladder on the side of the Den with a hard thud, grabbed onto one of the rungs, and winced in pain. Her arms and legs burned, but she ignored her body's cries of pain as she climbed her way onto the roof.

Finally, the Black Rabbit was in her grasp.