Machete Girl Issue 8.4 Cyberpunk Short Stories

Just who the hell is he, anyway?
DATASTREAM 039
Not that it mattered. This was
her grave. If only I believed in heaven,
“That’s a bit… much.”
Jack. Ezra slipped the mask over her
A guard dressed in black stood at the
head and activated her camouflage.
doorway, a tactical vest covering his
“After everything he’s done to human-
torso and a rifle in his hands. He wore
ity? To children? No. This is just des-
Ezra carefully strode across
a military-style helmet with a binocular-
serts.”
the street and made her way to the
like visor covering his eyes. The lenses
side of Armistead’s house. She used a
were colored red, but they switched to
“You know, I’m still not sure why you
thought-command to pull up a menu
blue with a click. The man gripped his
decided to help me.”
in her AR display and selected ‘bonding
rifle and bared it at Ezra.
touch.’ She put a hand to the wall. It
“I believe in your cause. And I believe
stuck. Carefully, she began to scale the
Shit! How can he see me?!
in you. Sometimes, in order to win, it
wall, using her suit to stick to the poly-
takes someone who is willing to lose
brick. The second-story window came
“Freeze --” the man began
everything. Of course I could just pick
into her view. Without hesitating for a
to say. He was interrupted as Ezra
up any lifeless slummer with nothing to
second, she activated her magnetic
dashed up to him, clearing the space
lose, but you -- you have conviction.”
reverser and touched the frame. A soft
in the small room in a split second.
“You just spent thousands of credits
click resounded. She slowly slid the
Her powerful, modified arms lashed
outfitting me with illegal tech because
window open and climbed in.
out, hands gripping the man’s jaw and
of my conviction?”
back of the head respectively. With
Ezra landed gracefully on a
one, swift movement, Ezra snapped
“I did it because you will succeed.”
floor made of hexagonal polymesh
the man’s neck. His body went limp in
and looked around. She was in a child’s
her arms. As she went to lay the body
Ezra half-smiled. She took the weap-
room. The small area was decorated
on the ground, a rustling of blankets
ons and holstered them, then put on
with posters, crayon drawings, and
caused her to whip around. The young
her mask.
toys. Sorrowful pain stabbed through
boy brought himself to a sitting posi-
her as memories flooded her mind. A
tion, rubbing his eyes and beholding
“We’ll see, Wolf.”
bed sat in the corner, a sleeping form
the scene playing out- which, to him,
underneath cartoon-character pat-
must have looked like his bodyguard
The rain came down in sheets, drench-
terned covers. Tears welled in her eyes.
awkwardly dangling in mid-air, being
ing the grimy city in a humid shower.
Try as she might, she wasn’t able to
held up by some invisible force. The
Ezra stood on the sidewalk of an
conceal a yelp. A soft beep resounded
child’s mouth opened to scream. Ezra’s
almost laughably pedestrian street. In
in her head, with a prompt showing up
vision slowed down.
a sprawl the size of Centra, most of the
in the corner of her vision:
cityscape was dominated with slums
Adrenal Amplifier: ON.
and densely packed industry. This
Regulate mood? Y/N
looked like a cul-de-sac from a century
Before she realized what was
ago, though admittedly, the houses
At first the message confused her, but
happening, she was across the room,
were more modern in design. Lot’s of
Ezra realized that it must have been
one hand tightly clasped around the
hyperglass and geometric shapes high-
a new piece of tech installed in her.
child’s mouth. In her haste, she had
lighted these buildings as heralds of
She snorted. So touchy that he had to
dropped her camouflage- the turmoil
Centra architecture. The elite could af-
install a mood regulator, huh? Not that I
in her mind must have tripped the AR
ford this kind of luxury. Armistead was
smart to pick a residential plot rather
than something gaudy like a mansion.
This was safer. Combined with the
stringent adherence to never letting his
address be known, the man was nearly
untouchable. Ezra was still baffled that
Wolf was able to figure it out.
can argue, I suppose. The thought “yes”
caused the prompt to disappear and,
in a matter of seconds, the waves of
sorrow that threatened to drown Ezra
subsided. She was calm.
Then, the door opened.
command.
As she held him, her hands shaking,
she looked down into his blue eyes.
He was crying. Ezra’s mind was a
whirlwind. How much of this was her,
and how much of this was her new…
programming?
MACHETE GIRL ISSUE 8.4