Chapter 5: The Ripperdoc
684 Words
Sub-level two. Isabella's ripperdoc clinic.
The air reeked of ozone, synth-blood, and the stink of cheap antiseptic. Overhead surgical lamps buzzing with a weak, dying hum.
Adrian lay face-down on a scratched metal operating table. A filthy leather strap clamped between his teeth.
"Bite down." Isabella chewed on a half-smoked, unlit cigarette. The laser scalpel in her hand hummed, casting a ghost-blue glare.
The hiss of parting charred meat. Adrian's muscles locked rigid. Cold sweat soaked the sheet in seconds. Secondary bundles fried. Pain inhibitors dead. Every pass of the blade carved straight into his soul.
"You almost boiled your brainstem into sludge, Adrian." Isabella spat the butt, wiping sweat with a grease-stained sleeve. "Black ICE feedback. Plus a forced cyber-overload. You're breathing on borrowed time."
She dropped the scalpel. Shoved a holo-scanner into his line of sight.
"Look."
3D brain scan. The ghostly blue code-cluster of the "Ghost" wasn't a dormant sphere anymore. It had sprouted thousands of glowing, mycelium-thin tendrils. Creeping down his spinal column. Wrapping tight around his brainstem and motor cortex.
"You call this a parasite?" Isabella's voice was tight. "No. It's gestating. Rewriting your neurons. Every time it takes the wheel, those tendrils dig deeper. Once it fully encapsulates your brainstem..."
"I become its meat rig." Adrian spat out the strap. Voice raspy. He reached for his jacket pocket.
*Click.*
Brass Zippo. Rough texture. Cold metal. He needed this. Needed to know he still owned his own hand.
"So stop poking Omega." Isabella pinned his shoulder. Rare exhaustion and pleading in her eyes. "Dig the chip out. I know a black-market brain surgeon. Might paralyze half your body, but at least you keep your mind."
"No." Adrian sat up. Yanked a clean tee over his head. "The core's in the Sector 4 plant. It's Lena's... her relic. I'm getting it back."
"Sector 4? That's Omega's industrial heart!" Isabella's voice spiked. "Security there scans the DNA of a f*****g gnat! You go in, you die!"
"I've been dead for three years, Isabella." Adrian looked at her. Left eye webbed with red veins from cyber-rejection, but his gaze was dead calm. "Died the day Lena did."
Isabella froze. Lips parted, then pressed into a heavy sigh.
She turned to a locked metal cabinet. Punching the code. Door popped. She pulled out a silver metal injector and two black mag-grenades. Slapped them on the table.
"Mil-spec neural blocker. Temporarily cuts the 'Ghost' off your motor nerves. Ten-minute window. Side effect is you'll want to blow your brains out from the pain." Isabella's voice was ice. "Mag-grenades. Fries heavy rigs. Don't die outside my clinic. I hate scraping up meat."
Adrian swept the gear into his pack. "Thanks, doc."
Right then, a soft chuckle echoed deep in his skull.
*"Her technique is still sloppy. And she's lying."* Lena's voice, dripping with lazy malice. *"That blocker is laced with trace neurotoxin. She wants to paralyze you. Keep you here."*
Adrian's hand stopped. He looked at Isabella.
She was facing away, cleaning surgical tools. Back rigid.
*"Don't blame her, darling. She's just terrified of losing you,"* Lena purred.
Before Adrian could speak, the clinic's harsh red alarm lights started spinning.
*"Warning. External blast door compromised. Mil-spec encrypted signal detected."* The clinic's AI droned.
Isabella whipped around, face draining of color. Snatched a shotgun off the table. "You were followed?"
"No." Adrian drew his EMP pistol.
*"But I was,"* Lena chuckled in his head. *"I just used your backup frequency to send Victoria a 'greeting'. Surprise."*
---
Chapter 6 Hook
*BOOM.*
The clinic's heavy blast door was ripped apart by massive force. Twisted metal slammed into the operating table.
Through the dust, a towering silhouette emerged. Not a standard sweeper. Sebastian Clark. Head of Omega Security. Eighty percent chrome. Silver armor gleaming with cold murder in the red light.
"Found you, variable." Sebastian's voice sounded like raw iron grinding.
He raised his right arm. It shifted, reconfiguring into a high-energy particle cannon. Barrel aimed dead at Isabella's forehead.
*"Now,"* Lena's voice turned ice-cold and fanatical in Adrian's skull. *"Give me the meat. Or watch her die."*
- Writer
