Hollow Point Happiness

Case 15: And The World Went Dark

Chris finally made it home from the hospital, it had started to snow and the fog was thick. Chris sat down on his couch and pulled out his phone, he clicked the message he had gotten earlier it read:

"Stephen Brandi. He took over after his father Lee Brandi was killed involving a dispute between 2 different underworld clans. He holds a great deal of power in the company and from what I can tell he was using his power to actually attack the underworld, planning attacks on the clans, and sabotaging clan supply lines. After a few months of that, the clans place anonymous tips to police of Stephen's corporate death squad attacks. To ensure the police would take grab they started to disguise their shipments as refugee ships from the Corpo Wars. Police got involved and started to interfere with his plans.

Our network has been compromised, I've encrypted the rest of this message and will provide the codes to it. Good luck."

"Well, that's annoying. AVA how long will this take?"

The hologram flickered into life, "Approximately 46 hours."

Chris looked at his watch, 22 hours till the date Chuck had shown him. Chris sat there as the bar started to load.

"I wonder what is going to happen... If it's that weird laser thing I should probably not be here. Then again what reason does the robot have to attack me, if it was going to kill me it would have in the alley. Still..."

Chris sat there in almost a trance as the bar filled and time ticked away.

18 hours...

14 hours...

7 hours...

2 hours...

20 mins...

Chris started to get restless, "Maybe I should leave the house just in case."

He started to stand and made his way towards the door, pausing he ran back to his room. He pulled open the bedside table and pulled out his service pistol,

"I'm glad Chuck never made me turn this in."

He made it a block before his phone buzzed. He pulled out his phone and put it to his ear.

"Hello, this is-"
Defrag cut in, "Mr. Cartwin, I have something of interest to both of us. Come to Biodome G25 on Mars. You have 8 hours before I force you to come."

The call cut.

"Fuck, that's not good."

He flagged down a rental car.

"Mars, G25. Withing 8 hours!"
"That will cost extra."
"Don't care! Go!"

...

Chris collapsed out of the car and started to vomit. The gate jump had done a number on him. His phone buzzed, managing to fumble around and get it out he saw some cords and a note, "30 minutes". He climbed to his feet and sprinted to the cords.

The sun sank low and the world started to grow dark. Chris rounded a corner, he stood about 30 feet back from a massive staircase that leads down onto a large street, he could see the entire city skyline from here. A large clocked figure stood at the top of the stairs, it turned to face him.

"It's quite the sight, is it not Mr. Cartwin?"
"What do you care if it is?"
Defrag turned to face him, "Its time. Come now join me over here for the best view."
"Time for what? Best view? What do you want Defrag? I don't know what you want with me. I didn't kill Mana."
"I'm aware of that Mr. Cartwin. Mana explained it all to me, she had herself killed, something about giving you revenge."
"Ya, something like that. I don't know why. Her death meant nothing to me, I just want justice for my wife."