THE RAID
1259 Words
The door dissolved like matter disintegrated under the pressure of a localized singularity.
The heavy steel warped, simply ceased to exist, turning into grey dust that scattered across the floor.
Kael stepped through the breach.
He arrived.
Behind him, the Enforcers flowed in like oil. Six of them, all faceless, wearing Coffin-Suits, heavy, lead-lined armor designed to contain emotional fallout.
They carried Null-Rods. Black batons that crackled with negative energy.
But it was the weather that stopped the hearts in the room.
The air inside the Pulse Den had been a humid jungle of sweat and s*x. Now, that moisture flash-froze.
White flakes began to fall from the ceiling, a manifestation of absolute indifference.
A flake landed on the cheek of the woman who had been screaming for pain. She stopped screaming, looking at the scalpel in her arm, feeling bored, the thrill was gone.
The man who had been f*****g the girl on the barstool froze. He pulled out slowly with no climax at all.
The girl didn't adjust her skirt. She just stared at the wall, her eyes turning the color of slate.
Dozens of people went silent.
The music cut out. The DJ had slumped over his deck, suddenly too tired to exist.
Kael stood at the top of the stairs, raising a hand, one finger pointed down.
"Purge," his voice amplified, booming through the dead air.
The Enforcers moved.
Adia crouched behind the velvet booth.
Her skin was screaming.
The proximity to Kael was painful. Her Well was reacting violently, a nuclear core trying to meltdown to fight the ice.
"Reva," she hissed. "The back exit."
Reva was sitting on the floor, staring at her steak. Her optical suit was grey, lost the will to profit.
"Reva!"
"It doesn't matter," Reva mumbled. "Nothing matters. Money is just paper. Blood is just water."
She was gone.
Adia was alone.
A scream cut through the silence.
Adia peeked over the booth.
An Enforcer had grabbed a raver, a boy with neon hair. The Enforcer slammed the Null-Rod into the boy's chest.
The boy’s eyes went white, instant Hollow. His soul had been grounded out. He fell to the floor like a sack of meat, breathing but empty.
They were clearing the brush to find the fire.
Adia looked at her hands.
They were blazing.
The Winter in the room was pressing against her. Her veins pulsed with a blinding, golden rhythm.
Kael’s head snapped toward her.
Across the crowded room, through the falling snow, the black visor locked onto the gold glow.
He saw her.
Adia felt the gaze.
"Target acquired," the amplified voice boomed.
Adia vaulted over the booth.
"Move!" she screamed at the crowd.
They didn't move.
She shoved a man aside. He toppled over like a mannequin.
Then, Adia sprinted toward the kitchen doors.
DRUPH. CRACK.
An Enforcer landed in front of her, dropping from the balcony, cracking the floor under his lead boots.
He was huge.
He raised the Null-Rod.
"Stop running," the Enforcer droned.
Adia stopped, skidding on the frozen sweat.
She looked at the rod, then at her hand.
"I said…" Adia roared, "move!" thrusting her palm forward.
SWOOSHH.
A shockwave of pure Fear hit the Enforcer. Even through the shielding, the emotion spiked his amygdala.
The Enforcer convulsed, dropping the rod, clawed at his helmet, screaming.
Adia jumped over him, kicking the kitchen doors open. She ran past the stoves and saw the loading bay door.
Locked.
She slammed her hand against the keypad.
"Open!"
[ACCESS DENIED]
[LOCKDOWN INITIATED]
"Damn it!"
She grabbed a cleaver from the counter.
The steam rising from the soup pots froze in mid-air, turning into jagged sculptures of ice.
The double doors behind her blew inward.
Kael walked in.
He was alone, leaving the Enforcers to mop up the dregs.
He walked past the sobbing soldier without looking down, then stopped ten feet from her.
Adia backed up, hitting the loading bay door behind her back.
She raised the cleaver with a shaking hand. Her coat was smoking, the leather was burning off her shoulders.
Kael tilted his head.
"Put down the metal," he said.
His voice was deep dead.
"Stay back!" Adia warned. "or I'll burn you!"
Kael took a step.
"Nothing burns me."
"Everyone burns!"
Adia threw the cleaver.
It spun through the air.
Kael caught it and crushed it.
The steel crumpled like tin foil in his grip. He dropped the twisted metal.
CKLANGG.
"You are leaking," Kael said, pointing to her chest.
Adia looked down.
The First Kiss orb in her satchel cracked during the run, seeping out the pink gas, mixing with her own golden glow.
The air between them shimmered, smelled like pheromones.
Kael paused.
His sensors flared.
[WARNING. NEURO-TOXIN DETECTED]
[TYPE: APHRODISIAC (CLASS A)]
[LEVEL: CRITICAL]
He should have atomized the air, but somehow, he didn't do it. So, the pink gas hit his filters and bypassed them.
It was too pure.
For a microsecond, Kael felt... heat.
He took another step faster.
"You are devaluing the currency," Kael rasped.
"I am the currency!" Adia shouted.
She charged.
It was a suicide.
She aimed for his helmet.
Kael caught her wrists, armor intact.
SHRIECKK. HIISSS.
Smoke erupted from where they touched.
Adia screamed. She felt like he was sucking the marrow out of her bones.
Kael slammed her against the stainless steel prep table, making the pots and pans crashed to the floor.
He pinned her wrists above her head, body pressed against hers. Hard armor against soft flesh. The impact knocked the breath out of her.
She looked up.
His helmet was inches from her face. She could see her own reflection in the black visor.
"Let go!" she gasped.
She tried to kick him, but he drove his knee between her legs, pinning her thighs.
"Ughn-nnn" A soft moan escaped her lips. Adia’s heart hammered against his chest plate.
DA-DHUP. DA-DHUP.
Kael felt it through the armor.
He froze, holding her there, pinned.
DA-DHUP, DA-DHUP
He hadn't felt a heartbeat in twenty years, so it was loud and chaotic.
"What are you?" Kael whispered. The vox-caster picked up the tremor in his breath.
"I'm the thing you forgot," Adia spat.
She poured everything she had into her hands, pushing Desire into his grip.
Kael gasped.
His head snapped back.
The emotion flooded his suit, short-circuited the dampeners.
Red warning lights flashed in his mind.
[SYSTEM OVERLOAD]
[CONTAINMENT BREACH]
[SUPPRESSION FAILING]
He felt the violent urge to rip the helmet off.
He groaned, gripping her wrists tighter. The leather of his gloves began to crack.
"Stop!" He commanded.
"Make me!" Adia challenged.
She arched her back, pressing her chest against his armor. The friction sent a spark through the room.
A lightbulb overhead exploded.
Glass rained down on them.
Kael looked down at her. The black visor was impenetrable, but Adia felt the eyes behind it. They were stripping her naked, like dissecting her soul.
He leaned in.
The faceplate of his helmet brushed her nose.
He was going to kill her.
The line between the two had vanished.
Adia closed her eyes.
She waited for the end just to found out Kael was moving his hand slowly.
He released her right wrist and slid down her arm, over the burning oilskin of her coat, to her neck.
His fingers wrapped around her throat.
He squeezed.
DA-DHUPP… DA-DHUPP…
The Apathy Snow in the kitchen stopped falling, hovering the flakes mid-air.
"You are..." Kael struggled with the word.
The vox-caster clicked off. His voice muffled.
"...too loud."
...
- Writer
