The Skull Lord

The Last Bounty

There’s a reticle steadied on a girl's head. She was illuminated in infrared with green lines both horizontal and vertical centering her in the middle. Water droplets sprinted down the lens of the scope. It’s measurements for distance and height sporadically climbed up and down. It was swaying left and right, picking up others in the building going through their nightly routines. Families, Lovers, Shoppers, Sellers, Criminals, Cops, the haves, and the have nots all mixing under one of Los Aria’s Housing Malls.

However, no matter what seemed to peek interest, the scope kept centering back on the girl in her bathroom on the 212th block. The room seemed isolated in the corner of the building, but as the clocks crept past the nineteenth hour more and more activity grew in the building.

“What do you mean get closer? The whole point is to do this from a distance”, NiX said over the radio programmed into his the side of his head. His voice sounded shattered due to the rain smacking down upon him.

“I mean get closer. We’re lucky she’s even standing still, this is usually much more of a pain in the ass” LarZ, says over a small display placed at the top of NiX’s HUD.

LarZ sat in a comical big black leather rolling chair, which sat in front of a ridiculous amount of screens. He wore a scanner on one of his eyes and a tinted monocle on the other. (Sometimes a full set of shades.) He had a hoodie that you could see through and never wore a shirt under it. One could always see the glowing network lines running across his chest and stomach.

NiX scoffed as LarZ took a deep inhale of his obscure glass pipe that had something swimming in the bowl of water at the bottom of it. He blew a white cloud of smoke through one of the screens.

“You’re lucky I can’t feel this rain.” NiX said.

“You’re lucky to even remember what it feels like. Hell, you’re lucky I’m too high to find my explosives. Because this finger print thing is a waste of f*****g time. You said 35 White Gold Plated sons of bitches. Tell me why we're not blowing the entire f*****g building up?”

“Because again, he said alive with emphasis on the Alive.”

“And he told that to a dead man." LarZ chuckled.

NiX said nothing in return.

“If you're asking me, I think he likes you more this way.” LarZ continued.

"Do Tell."

"What is there to tell? He send you and Alura on an already failed mission then gives you the easiest and not to mentioned if you said correctly, Your LAST Bounty! He's gotta f*****g like you."

“No. I think he just wants me alive because I would enjoy killing you as much as him.”

"Oh we know that's not true..."

NiX sighs and he swipes across his HUD and a screen with video files pops up in front of him. He swipes through them, quickly scanning the news.

"Speaking of, still no signs of Alura?"

"I was hoping you'd tell me by now." NiX said.

"Oh I haven't looked. I've been busy." LarZ says with puffs of smoking blowing out with every word. He swipes through a handful of files that have pictures of seductive women in a multitude of cybernetic body enhancements. Quite captivating.

"And what the f**k do you think I've been doing?" NiX asks as he leaps onto a wall running alongside of it. He leaps towards the edge of a cylinder building wrapped in scaffolding. He avoids the bars and seemingly rolls back onto his feet. He takes a few steps forward and gazes out into the rainy night life of Los Aria. The city looked like a well-cographed light show. The same way it always looks from above. Billboards and building-sized holograms illuminated most the city with advertisements. Most were tailored towards joining the USSF. 'THE FIGHT OF OUR LIVES DEPENDS ON YOU' one said in bold letters that changed colors. Other that weren't necessarily the main attractions went more along the lines of; BUY TICKETS, WIN BIG, LIVE OUT YOUR DREAMS, UPGRADE YOUR LIFE, BE ANYBODY. These slogans and their variations glided in, out, around, and through every corner of the city. Wherever someone could look there was something to be seen.

"Looks like traffic is picking up." NiX says.

"Don't tell me that's the reason you want to do this quietly?" LarZ says as he packs more herbs into his glass pipe.

"I don't like to be in traffic. Especially when I'm in a rush."

"We have a little over six hours. I think we're pretty good. I think I got a guy over here that sells explosives actually you changed your mind yet?"

"I think they've had enough bombs already."

"And that's why it's a good plan. I think they'd be more concerned about the burning building than a missing red head with a metal arm."

"And on the slight chance they're not?"

"Who the f**k is she!? The daughter of Oliver Trask? The reason there are aliens with an S on the Outer Rim? Oh that's good one. She's their f*****g Queen they've come to claim. How original...

"LarZ I don't think-" NiX attempts to interject.

"-Either way, I say you just rush in there, grab her, knock her the f**k out, and bag her little ass up. Let's drop her off to the sisters. Badda Boom Badda Bang, easiest bounty we’ve ever collected. And do I have to say it again, The LAST GOD DAMN BOUNTY we have to do."

"You sound very excited." NiX said.

"You should too. The Skull Lord gave you a retirement check and you want to take it slow." LarZ says and fills his lungs up with the smoke from his pipe. He belches out a series of disturbing coughs and his eyes start to water. "My god, how long is it going to take you to get to two hundred meters?"

While not as busy as the inner sections of the city, the cars were occasionally zooming left and right in between buildings. NiX waited for two cars to pass each other and he leaped onto one, then onto another, and slammed into the side of a vertical building. The cars honked and swerved as they continued on. NiX slid down the building scraping his hands on the wet glass and metal. Sparks shot from his palms, he kicked his feet trying to push himself up the wall but, he slipped. A magnetic sound pulses through his hands and he suddenly stops sliding. He's attached to the wall.

"Forgot about those multi-grips for a second huh? Well I hope you know I'm definitely not going to be able to scan fingerprints from this angle." LarZ said.

NiX looks up into the rain wishing he could snatch LarZ through his HUD. He quickly gives up on the fantasy and slowly pulls on his hands testing the strength of the magnetic grips. He looks around taking in one last gaze of the city and climbs his way around the building. He pushes off the building releasing his multi-grips and lands on a lower rooftop a few stories below his point of interest.

The roof was wide and had four ledges around it with a few electrical steam vents in the middle. NiX scanned the area but there’s nothing that calls for alarm. The news feed displayed in the top left of his HUD flashed images and headlines of a bombing that had taken place in HOTEL FAUEX. The video feed shows a variety of angles of a young red-headed girl and two thugs, one abnormally large with bird-like features, and the other with a Metal Spiked Jaw igniting into flames.

LOS ARIA GANG VIOLENCE CLIMBING TOWARDS ALL TIME HIGHS AMIDST INTERGALACTIC WAR.

HAVE THEY ALREADY ARRIVED?

WHAT WILL MAYOR MAYOR DO ABOUT THE CRINAL GANGS OF LOS ARIA?

IS IPITUR SAFE?

The headlines grew more and more gratuitous. NiX made his way towards a ledge looking at the building next to him. As he looked up, a blinding flash of light and the sound of pulsating thrusters swarmed up above the rooftop. NiX wasted no time and leaped behind one of the steamy vents. It was no use. The hover craft shined its light on the vent and lurked closer. It had two twin engines that looked like magnets pulsating themselves in the air. The head of the craft slanted downwards and had three carbon windows placed horizontally across it. The engines sounded like microwaves through a hollow wall. Distinct, yet hard to hear until it was right over you. (More than likely the point of their design.)

The hover craft crept over the vent of steam shining down upon it. Nothing. The pilot released the tints on the windows to get a better look. He was sure he’d seen something move across the rooftops, but the scanners and the pilots' eyes didn't pick up anything. Just the white steam dancing through the rain drops. The hover craft spins around and heads away. The side of it read, ‘APD.’

After a few moments, the sound of clicking followed by a series of electronic waves revealed a collar device wrapped around NiX’s neck. He wrapped his fingers around the front of the collar and pulled it off, de-cloaking himself. The device detracted into a small bracelet that wrapped around NiX’s hand and he placed it in one of his breast pockets.

“Once again, that would’ve been nice to have years ago.” NiX said as he rose to his feet.

“I could've sworn I gave you and Alura those before the Jzakar Job?”

“No. Nimi gave me this one before we headed to Molter.” NiX says and squints his eyes.

“Hmm ok then.” LarZ said with a dismissive tone.

NiX walked back over to the ledge. He kept his focus on the alleyways between the buildings. He could see hover crafts and cars wisping by one another in the distance through the gap. “Don’t think I've ever seen that kind of craft from Aria PD before?”

“Hmmpf, Looked like an Owl-Bird from Nktan, probably some of their old military s**t they’ve been giving out to all the surrounding moons. Hmph, looks Mr. The Mayor finally got someone to sign his police reform.” LarZ said. A few holograms of military hovercraft and classified files with pictures of The Los Aria Mayor appeared on the screens in front of him.

“Looks like the police are looking for somebody.” NiX said while watching the police bots and investigators through the feed.

“Well, it is a bit odd a suicide bomber has no body at the scene. And I hope they're smart enough to know that she didn’t vaporize herself.” LarZ said. He replayed the explosion over and over on a separate screen.

NiX springs up the wall onto a ledge. He pulls himself up and scampers along the narrow edge until he reaches the corner of the building, finally reaching the distance LarZ required of him.

“There is that better.” NiX asks while taking out his spotter scope and zooming back in on the girl on the 212th block.

“I mean we could be done with this already but yeah, yeah that’s better.” LarZ said blowing smoke out his nose and typing vexatiously on his keyboard.

"That's a lotttta of people." NiX said aloud.

LarZ snorts in return. "Don't tell me that's your excuse for not blowing this s**t up?"

NiX rolled his eyes and subtly shook his head.

“Got it. Uploading her right hand to you now. Have you found a way in? Or do I need to do that for you too?” LarZ asked.

“No. There’s a way in through-“ before NiX could finish his sentence, he found himself out of the pouring rain and in front of a door that read ‘216th MAINTENANCE SHAFT C.’

He felt queasy. An odd feeling for someone lacking a traditional digestive system. He looked left and right to be sure of where he was. A hallway. It had doors on each side stretching down towards an elevator on each side. There wasn't a soul in sight. His mind felt paralyzed, as if it were stuck between the last moments of a dream and waking up. The fuzziness started to clear and NiX turned around thinking to himself... “What is this?”

“You know I didn’t see that on my screen, I’ll give ya that one. Still, I think you could’ve just walked up to her door the normal way and let yourself in.” LarZ said. He seemed completely oblivious to the time blip NiX had just experienced.

The 216th floor was uncomfortably quiet. NiX looked around. He saw a long line of doors with symbols and numbers on them. There were a few posters and holograms plastered around encouraging citizens to "BAND TOGETHR AGAINST CRIME." The posters would slowly fade into a bathroom product or commercial but, it always transitioned back to its earlier message.

NiX shook off his uneasiness and recapped his plan in his head. "I still gotta go down four." He thought to himself. He opened the door to the maintenance shaft and looked down the long drop. Before entering the shaft, he looked back down both hallways again. Still, not a sound of ruckus. Just the buzzing sounds reverberating off the posters LED's. "Hmmm." NiX hummed and he finally entered the maintenance shaft.

He looked down at the long gut-tingling drop that laid before him. There were three large cables in the middle. He leaned over the edge and his UD calculated that it was 515 meters to the ground. He put his hand up to his ear. "What'd you say?" He asked LarZ

"I said you can just walk up to her door and let yourself in at anytime now. I'm looking at spots for my honeymoon. It's crazy you still gotta book in advance and there's a f*****g invasion going on! Greedy Bastards." LarZ snarled.

"LarZ what in the f**k?"

"I'm saying Hurry Up! So we can cash in and I can book this s**t before they sell out or we all die."

NiX swipes down on LarZ's display before he can say anything else. He looked up the shaft, then back down. After a moment's hesitation, he leaped across the shaft hitting the opposite wall but making sure not to bounce off it. He quickly turned, puts his back onto the wall, and slid down it. Sparks screamed and spit up in both directions as he made his way down the wall. He finally reached the floor, which had a giant 212 painted in rust yellow across the wall. He presses his springs into the wall and gets ready to jump. His heart skips a beat and a blink of light blinds him before he makes his move. Suddenly, he finds himself on top of a smashed door which is on top of a random citizen who yells out with pain.

"OH MY GOD OHHH f**k! AGHHHH! GET OFF ME GET HIM OFF MEEE!"

"Holy s**t get off of him MAN!" Another citizen yells a few feet away from both of them.

NiX looks behind himself, he notices the Maintance Shaft through the doorless gap in the wall. He looked to his right and noticed there were hundreds of people walking back and forth through the plaza. A few stopped to observe the noise, while most continued on. There were bins full of burning tech and trash. Some sat and leaned up next to them, others merely stood and leaned up against the graffiti-littered walls. Loud music blasted off the walls and through the plaza. Everyone seemed to have some sort of drink or smoking apparatus in their possession. And not a single one of them lacked a tattoo or a robotic enhancement. This was the complete opposite of four floors up. Midnight rush hour.

NiX springed himself up and onto his feet. The man continued to yell in pain as the door was clearly too heavy for him to lift on his own. NiX reaches under the door and attempts to lift it off of him. He gets it a few inches off of the man's body but, the man didn't join in on the effort. Instead, he reached behind himself and pulled out a pistol. He quickly fired four shots at NiX, but he missed every one.

NiX grabbed his arm and and jabbed at the man's wrist. He inadvertently slammed the man's entire arm into the ground when he was hoping to only dislodge the gun. But, the man's grip holds firmly. NiX released his grip on the door, having the weight drop back onto the man's chest and ribs.

The man grunted loudly. As the weight sunk slowly into his flesh and bones. His muscles tightened, causing his finger to hug the trigger. The rounds sprayed into the direction of the crowd, shooting wildly faster than before until the clip was empty. NiX yanked the pistol out of the man's hand and stood to his feet. The man immediately put both hands on the door now giving all of his attention to the crushing weight.

NiX turned in the direction of the shots and noticed the other citizen who had been yelling earlier had been hit in the neck. Blood spurtted from his jaw and flowed down to his collar bone. Now more people have stopped to see what's going on. A few stare at NiX and now reach for their weapons. NiX lets out a big sigh and shakes his head. "What the hell?" Static rises into his ear with a chopped voice.

"W... H... How... How bout... How bout that entrance huh?" LarZ says over the frequency. "- And I thought you wanted to do this quietly?" He continued.

NiX kept shaking his head. He looked back down at the man still being crushed by the door. The man's face looked like it was starting to cave in as he mumbled and grunted in agony. NiX looked back at the other man still bleeding out on the floor. A crowd was starting to form around them. Others slowly made their way towards NiX, But before anyone could ignite anything, medical and security bots sprang out the surrounding walls, blocking the citizens off and setting up a crime scene.

The security bots point their weapons at the impending crowd. They scan everyone that comes into their sights, possibly attempting to identify a threat. An alarm sounds and NiX uses this opportunity to shuffle into the crowd and towards the apartment rooms. He puts his hood up and slowly cloaks himself as he disappears amongst the citizens of HOTEL FAUEX.

The apartment rooms weren't far. NiX (Now Uncloaked) had made his way down a series of hallways and turns until he finally reached a hallway with a dead end. NiX looked at the symbols on the door, searching for one that matched the other on his HUD. They all were half circles that had either one or three slashes all ending in the center of the piece. Not all the circles were the same, but each of them was incomplete. Some even had dots going up and down the slashes. The symbol on NiX HUD looked almost like the letter 'G' with all the slashes placed horizontally. "Corner Room 212th11" was translated across the bottom of NiX's HUD.

"It's at the end of the hallway." LarZ said over the radio.

"I see it." NiX replied. He paused for a moment. Maybe, expecting another awkward time blip or jump or whatever it was. He wasn't certain either way. Before he could take a step down the hallway, something big or better yet, someone big rushed past him. The bump threw him out of the way and nearly into the wall. NiX turns angrily towards the culprit. His eyes widened as he looked up and saw a monstrous woman with puffy red curls and freckles that did not complement her eyes. She stood an astonishing four feet taller than NiX and easily had a couple hundred pounds on him. However, what shocked him the most, and was still concerning him, was how he couldn't hear her coming down the hallway.

"Who the HELLareYOU!? I know I told you little nasty ass little whorebots no hanging about. Do what you're programmed to do and stop bothering my god damn tenets!"

NiX put a hand up signaling her not to calm down and not be so... argious. "I'm just here to see my girlfriend ma'am. Sorry if I got in your way." He said in a friendly, robotic way.

"Well hurry up! And you better hope it's not the same little b***h that owes me rent! Cause your payment will be coming to me! Noe move the f**k on!" the woman said, and continued hovering down the hallway. NiX looked at her feet and noticed she was being levitated by some sort of fan or magnet. The woman stopped at the last door. THUOP THUO THUOP THUOP! She banged on the door with her metallic mallet of a fist. It was clearly a different and stronger type of metal than the door was. A personal breaching tool perhaps?

"MS. LAZVONA!" The lady shouted and her voice bellowed through the hallway. "I know you're in there! I saw you scan in. Now I've came by the last three days five times now and your chip has been declined! Twice!" She banged on the door again. "ANNIE I got too much s**t on my plate to be doing this with you! I got too much s**t on my plate. It's god damn kids blowing themselves up in the middle of the Plexi out here and it'sgoing to drive up my rates!" She bangs on the door a third time. "Annie!"

NiX cloaks himself again and quietly makes his way down the hallway towards the lady.

"Wow. She's a better bounty hunter than you." LarZ said in NiX's ear.

Nix squinted and continued inching down the hallway.

Suddenly, the voice module on Annie's door made a pulsing sound followed by some static.

"Gretta. Gretta. Gretta. I just got out the shower.... Hold on.. Can... Can you repeat everything you just said? I didn't hear all that. Somebody blew theyselves up?" Annie said through the voice module on the door.

Gretta banged on the door again. "Annie!"

"Hold on Hold on, I just got paid chill the f**k out, I told you I was gonna be late." Annie said.

"You told me that over a week ago Annie!"

"What day is it?"

Gretta banged on the door, this time just once. "Annie I'll add this door to your eviction fee if I have to."

"OK ok. Just.. Just try my chip again. You know we're a little behind the other moons."

Gretta pulls a small screen out of her breast pocket and begins tapping on it. She then reaches down to her hip and a compartment on her upper thigh unlocks, releases a small puff of steam, and raises a holster holding a gun. She wraps her thick fingers around the handle of it.

NiX notices and immediately scans the weapon. It's a taser. 'MXS-7series' pops up in a window on NiX's HUD. The image rotates and gives a quick description of the weapon.

"You know what I was wrong.-" LarZ chirps over the radio. "-We should've just hired her and neither you or me would be working today." He finishes and lets out a large exhale over the microphone... Or a cloud of smoke either way intended to annoy NiX.

NiX balls up a fist and a small dart releases from his forearm. He continued to creep closer to Gretta.

"Hold hold on. Wait till she tases the girl. I've actually haven't seen these new modles in action yet." LarZ said.

"I got this LarZ shut up." NiX whispered back. He was now within arms' reach of Gretta.

Gretta stared viciously at the screen in her hand. There's a picture of Annie, a digital square, and a moving circle on it. And Gretta seemed not to be worried, but anixos, to use her taser. The circle stops moving and red symbols scroll across the screen followed by the word 'DECLINED.' "All right Annie! Times up! Overide HF77 Room 212th11 Master Key-"

Before Gretta could finish, Annie's door slid open and she stood there wearing a tank top, baggy pants that had belts hanging off the back and a series of cargo pockets running down the sides. She also had no shoes on but stepped out into the door way and presented a stack of red plates she held in her hands.

"Welcome Ms. Gretta Atworth." Annie's room AI spoke from inside.

"I told that dumbass robot to stop using my full name!" Gretta shouted and pointed inside of Annie's room. She looked down at Annie, eyeing the red plates in her hand. She grabbed them from Annie and bumped past her, entering her room.

Gretta looked around and scoffed at how messy yet organized it was. She noticed a bag on the bed with the top zipped open and a few clothes hanging out of it.

"Going somewhere?" She asked, but didn't look at Annie directly.

Annie hesitated to answer and looked over at her bag on the bed. She looked back at Gretta and finally spoke. "It is the rainy season." She said, and a lighting bolt flashed light through her windows.

"MMmmm right, and you can barely pay rent." Gretta said as she shuffled through the plates in her hand. She separated six plates from the nine she held. Gretta turned around and handed Annie the other three. "When will you be back?" She asked as she turned and slowly levitated over to Annie.

Annie looked at the ceiling, then back to Gretta. "I'll be in and out." she said.

Gretta waved Annie out the way as she headed towards the door which was still open. She took another plate out of Annie's hand as she brushed by her and chuckled. "Mhm" She grunted.

Annied walked over to the foot of her bed and threw the two red plates into her bag. She then began shoving what clothes she had on her bed on top of it. "You want to help me pack?" She said and tilted her head at Gretta.

Getta turned and hovered out of the room. The door slid close behind her.

Annie let out a big sigh. She rubbed her hands through her hair and placed her finger on her ear. "I should've just shot her." She said to Terry.

"Why?" Terry's voice asked through the earpiece.

"Because I'm not going to see her again. And boy! Was that a good opportunity."

"Jeez Annie?"

"Whatever she's gone now. Glad I saved those plates."

"Annie, you should've just told me you didn't pay your rent. I could've given you a burner chip.

"So why didn't you?"

"Because you didn't-"

"-Yeah whatever, did you send the address?"

"Check your pad." Terry sighed.

Annie could hear him rub the bridge of his nose. She grabbed a touch pad out of her right thigh pocket and swipes through a few screens. A 2D map appears across the screen and it zooms into a red dot spotted on it. The screen zooms in and the map angle changes to a 3D layout of a street with several small buildings. There's one with a ripped LED sign that says 'MOKN's.' "f**k! There's traffic." Annie mumbles to herself. Suddenly, she hears a small thud above her. She looked up at the ceiling and put her hand back up to her ear. "Terry?... What the f**k is in my room?"

"What? I don't see anything on my screen," Terry said, and began typing on his keyboard. But it didn't matter.

NiX decloaks and reveals himself attached to the ceiling using his magnetic multi-grips. He deactivates them and falls off the ceiling, landing onto his feet. Now fully uncloaked, he looked Annie in the eyes and said, "Good, you're already packed."