The Ghost Shepherd: Survival Games

Fintech Corporation

The room immediately started to gossip. The young man was a member of the Nazekiel Race who despite having the bottom half of a snake had a very handsome face.  He had a classic jaw line, very intelligent eyes and a short and simple hair style.

The majority of the Nazekiels were businessmen, they were highly intelligent beings but not in the academic way.  They were street smart, husslers, and their sense of morality was very vague, almost non existent.  They usually were dealers that only worship profit in every shape or form and for that reason they were sought and feared in every part of the cosmos.

The young Nazekiel was the relatively new CEO of Fintech Corporation, a company that specialized in the manufacturing and commercialization of urban “self-defense” tools that were very well received by mercenaries and hunters alike. The equipment was advertised as Self-Defense tools but they had everything from a 25 caliber microwave gun to the latest hover tanks with anti-aircraft cannons.

It was one of the reasons why Lulu was interested in taking the assignment, despite being a E.F.S hunter, she was a gearhead that loved advanced weapons and gadgets. She had mechanized her two legs and stood tall at 6.5 ft. 

The legs came with plasma cutters, grappling hooks and thrusters.  Her eyes were fully remodelled with the latest technologies allowing her to scan in infrared, heat, and ultra-vision.  The material used for the screen was resistant to stabbing and provided a faster refresh rate of the information incoming from the chip.  

The moment she walked, it was with elegance as the shape of her feet simulated a shoe with a 7 inch heel.

Her ride wherever she went was the latest motorcycle fully equipped with kinetic shields and blaster cannons. 

She was always informed of the latest technology and she had to get it before anybody else, it was for this reason that she felt inclined to help Eternal Darkness with the case.  Lulu’s obsession with technology was not hers alone. Her bigger competitor as a collector was her own mentor and one of the 5 people incharge of Eternal Darkness, Colonel Jack.  

The two were the founders and members of the tech raiders website where people could sell, buy and post anything related to sick weaponry and other devices. It was anonymous and the popularity had extended to a vast sector of society. There were members of all levels and strata posting their pieces and the prestige was real.

Lulu which had been ranked number one on the site for a while had been outdone by her mentor’s new acquisition of a mini teleportation belt with only 100,000 devices ever made. The post showed a video of Colonel Jack appearing and disappearing a fair distance.  The second person that beat her and sent her tumbling down the forum ladder was an up and comer that had recently purchased a miniaturizer and was making a plethora of animals the size of ants.

Third place in the website rankings did not sit well with her and all the comments telling her to “hang in there” and “Your collection is still good” sent her over the edge.  Her last paycheck received by completing the mission to rescue Mr. Jingles caught by the anti-zero faction thanks to blackie's f**k up was spend on cool but retail stuff. 

Lulu was mortified that just after she had spent her money, her mentor and biggest competitor came up with an item that sent her to oblivion.  She was about to pull her hair out thinking of how to reclaim her title when Mother magically appeared beside her and said, “There is a support mission that needs your expertise”

“I decline”

“Don’t you want to hear the reward?” said mother.

“I am Busy” Lulu was typing emphatically on her virtual keyboard trying to downgrade her mentor's post.

Steelshadow: “It is fake.  He is just moving really fast”

Colonel: “Looooser”

Anonymous: “How do you explain teleporting inside the building”

Steelshadow: “Is a hoax. the video has been altered”

Anonymous 2: “Get Wreck Steel.  How is the view from the bottom”

Anonymous 3: “Steel’s gadgets are all retail stuff.  Nothing really special”

The comments kept scrolling down and each was meaner than the next.  It was like a heavy waterfall that was drowning her.

Mother waved her hand and the forum disappeared from Lulu’s screen and just a cube coming in and out of existence was displayed. The runes on the surface were a neon green and just when It had all your attention, the first cube faded and the second appeared in constant motion.

"Tesseract"

"Yes. Even the shadow of it can take physical form.  What you see on the screen is the only working replica. Forget that cheap teleportation belt, the replica can teleport 10 times the distance and even save some locations into it.  The runes in it are very similar to the ones used by the argonians, needless to say that is one of a kind.

While Lulu was in a trance, Mother started to fade from Lulu’s room.

"Wa...wait.. Mother!!"

“Since you declined, I need to get somebody else. Perhaps Jack would be interested”.

Lulu stood up immediately, " don't.  We girls should stick together.  There is no one better, I'll go and you don't have to pay me... I… I just want that"

"I can only promise to tell you where it is and details on security. It is up to you to get it.  Also, I need you to help me get an asset into the survival games"

"Yes!"

"Good…it just so happens that there is somebody close to it in dire need of a personal assistant / bodyguard with expertise in combat and advanced weaponry.  Our asset will get there about a year from now, make sure to pay special attention to the Slave VIP room, he is green around the ears but Master Zero has great expectations. His Code name: The Ghost Shepherd”.

Sly's picture popped up, it was an old one taken in planet Alpha before all the changes brought about the titan blood came about. 

“Done,” said Lulu while the smile did not disappear from her face.

“Are you sure about this Lulu?” said the Nazekiel.

Lulu, who had been remembering how she got to be in the present time and place didn’t have a smile on her face.  She stood there with a very stoic looked before replying, “Have I ever been wrong?”

“No, you haven't.  That is the reason why I am here.  You think I'll pass up a shot at getting a mythical order member for a Slave.  I need to win the next games, the company sales are declining in this area and my competitors are putting together an even stronger team than the previous champions”. 

“My source is reliable.  If you want to win then you need to be quick and get him by any means necessary”

Lulu looked around and scanned every single capsule before going towards the number one slave and taking a look. While she was standing there, she felt a creepiness on the back of her neck.  She turned around but there was nothing there.

The whole thing was making her uncomfortable, she felt that somebody with clear hostility towards her was standing 1 ft away ready to pounce.

“What is the matter?”

“Nothing”

Lulu regained her composure but got ready to activate the plasma blade that was built into her right talon the moment she discovered who it was.  In the meantime she couldn’t concentrate on the mission.

“Sister”

Giggle …

Giggle....

“Did you hear that?”

“No”.

In the corner of her eyes, information from her chip was being displayed. The data suggested sound waves had been received but the problem was their source. They were initiated right beside her.  

Lulu was starting to freak out and even though she was trying very hard to maintain her composure she was very tense and her boss was starting to notice.

“Is it him?”

“No! this guy is trash”

The people around Lulu started to gossip and sneered at her comments.  Torch had three starting skills and stats that were extremely good, he was going to be sold for millions and the woman had called him trash.

“You better not let her ruined you Zik” 

“You should worry about your own company not going under, those second rate weapons can’t kill anything and once we win this year’s competition, I won’t have to see your ugly face”

“At the very least my team didn't end up second to last, and unfortunately for you, this year won’t be any different”

Lulu was just looking around and then saw the silhouette of somebody that she used to hang up with standing by a slave tank before it disappeared.  She was confused at first but then after looking at the small version of the Slave swing a scythe she was convinced.

“There you are!”