Boss King and the Blade

Thursday, October 2046

Boss King residence, the Hole

Boss King

Boss King finished drying the dishes from lunch, stacking them neatly into the cupboards beside the kitchen sink. His mother was resting upstairs, the exciting events of the morning having worn her out.

She had spent over an hour talking with Melody and Trixie, recounting what she knew of the Hive and its goals. Trixie had been remarkably astute, gleaning information from his mother’s recollections that even she was surprised at.

The ex-Guard and the girl were still talking in the living room, their hushed voices making Boss King strain to hear what was being said. He knew ultimately it was none of his business, that remaining ignorant of the Hive’s activities would be safest for his mother and Rebecca.

One thing had amazed him most of all, that Melody and the Guard clone were created from the same genetic code. Seeing the girl and the tall woman side by side, their faces were truly the same. Trixie was far bigger of course, the result of being grown as a full adult. She had also explained that the Guards were infused with potent growth agents while in their cloning tanks, making them bigger and stronger than the base materials that were used for Melody and her fellow Blades.

There was another difference too, one which his mother had confirmed. Each embryo for the Blades was merged with a mysterious black liquid, supposedly the source of the Shadows that the older Blades could try and Manifest. Neither Melody nor his mother knew the origin of the substance, only that it was the gift of the Hive Father to his children.

Boss King set to making coffee for his guests, using the last of his precious coffee beans in the percolator. While it was bubbling on the stove, he set out four cups and a small plate of cookies he had baked a few days ago. They were still fresh enough to share he decided, especially since both Melody and Trixie seemed willing to eat anything put within reach of their arms.

“They must be sisters!” he declared to himself. “They have the same appetite”

=====

Melody-Six

“If Archimedes was trying to rescue the Blades from the Hive, why did he make you kill that girl and her mother?’” Melody asked Trixie. “You said they could have been captured by a foot patrol before they got across the border”

“It’s one of many questions I still can’t answer” Trixie replied to her. “There is one thing that is certain however. He is willing to go to extreme lengths to keep all knowledge of the Hive and the Shadow Blades from being discovered”

Melody regarded the woman with confusion.

“The Hive Father always told us Archimedes and the other AIs are our greatest enemy. Why would Archimedes keep the existence of such enemies from his own servants? Surely he would want every resource set to hunting out the Nests?”

“Like I said, another question I can’t answer yet” Trixie replied honestly. “The most likely reason is he didn’t want the world to know the genetic codes for the Guards had been stolen. Every nation that uses variants of the Hargreaves cloning techniques has to come to the Zone for the base gene sequences. It is supposed to be an absolute monopoly and one of the big income sources for our economy”

“Ahh, I think I understand” Melody nodded her head in comprehension. “If they found out someone else could provide the gene sequences, then Pan City would have a rival for the technology. Could the mother and girl have died simply to save the secret?”

“I hope not” Trixie confided, her face a mask of regret. “Because if I killed one of my sisters for the sake of money, I won’t forgive him!”

Melody reached forwards, touching her hand to the side of Trixie’s face. More tears had shed, leaving her natural eye red and swollen. She caressed the older woman’s face, wiping away the moisture.

“I never thought I would see a Guard shed tears of sadness” she said. “I was taught you were all unfeeling monsters, yet now I see the truth. You can become human if you are given the chance”

“You can too, Melody” Trixie assured her, sniffing away her regret. “The Zone is never going to be safe for you, you know that right? You need to get far away from here, someplace where the Hive and Archimedes have no influence”

“Is there such a place, Trixie?”

Trixie’s expression brightened, her face lighting up with the power of her smile.

“Let me make a few calls”

=====

Trixie

She stood outside the brightly painted house, seeking the scant shade offered under the eaves. It was hot in the sun-drenched street, the narrow gap between one row of houses and the opposite ones leaving the air heavy and still.

The electronic shielding on Boss King’s house stopped her phone signal getting through so she had to come out into the afternoon heat. She could have routed her call through the kid’s portal, but she was still wary of giving him too much information. It was just one of her old habits.

As her Guard trainers always said, Old Habits Die Hard, But You’ll Die Hard if you Forget Old Habits.

Her first call had ended and she was about to make another when those old habits saved her new friends. She had kept scanning the surrounding street, buildings and rooftops the entire time she was talking, always alert to her environment.

Trixie had been designed and trained first and foremost as a Sniper, so she knew how to spot the best positions to fire from. She was also a skilled Counter-Sniper, well versed in the art of identifying enemy snipers and taking them down.

With the cold calm of her Guard past life, she casually put her phone into her pocket and opened the door into Boss King’s house. This was the most dangerous moment, when her back was turned to the enemy. No shot came and she quickly entered, closing and locking the door behind her.

“Melody! Boss King!” she called as loudly as she dared, moving quickly to the living room. They met her with shocked expressions, hearing the urgency in her voice. “We’ve been found. Get your gear together and we’ll have to try and find another way out”

“There is an escape hatch from behind the kitchen cupboard to a service tunnel” Samantha announced from the top of the stairs. “I dug it out years ago by myself, so no-one else knows about it”

“Okay, that’s good” Trixie declared. “I counted six opponents out there, two on the roof and four in cover at the end of the street. They will move in at any moment, so we need to go now”

“Who are they?” Boss King demanded. “Freelancers or those Agents from the Hive?”

“Doesn’t matter either way kid” she snapped. “They’re not here to say hello”

Boss King’s mother reappeared at the upper landing, tossing a backpack down her son. He caught it easily, slipping it onto his shoulders.

“Where’s your bug-out pack mom?” he called up to her. “Do you need me to grab it?”

“I’m staying here, Taiga” she answered with a rueful grin. “I’ll just slow you down”

“I won’t leave without you!” the boy shouted and went to rush up the stairs. Trixie caught him in her powerful arms, holding him back. He twisted and turned, trying to break free. He began to sob, his face turned towards his mother.

“I’ll carry her, Taiga” Melody spoke suddenly, coming to stand beside the frantic boy. “I’m strong enough, I swear”

It was becoming chaos, Trixie knew that, but she understood the emotions involved. She looked up at the boy’s mother and came to a decision. She released him and he surged up the stairs to wrap Samantha in his arms.

“We aren’t leaving anybody behind” she said calmly. “This building has a solid frame and thick walls. We can hold out until help arrives” She met the eyes of each of the others, moving from the grateful eyes of Boss King, to the understanding eyes of Samantha. It ended with the fierce eyes of Melody, who nodded to her with grim acceptance.

“What do you need, Trixie?” Samantha asked her.

Trixie tilted her head, contemplating.

“Have you got any guns?”

=====

Mighty Princess

She kicked the dusty street in frustration, wondering where Boss King had gotten to. He was supposed to relieve her after lunch at the Markets but he hadn’t arrived. There was no point in calling him either, since he didn’t have a phone.

Princess took out her new phone, the one she had won from Sharkie. It remained obstinately free of any voicemails, texts or calls from her missing partner. Which was to be expected she knew, but it still irked her immensely.

Without a doubt, he was off someplace with that Thief Girl. Not only had she robbed them of money, time and effort, she was planning on stealing Taiga away from her. Mighty Princess gripped the hilt of her sheathed machete, freshly sharpened that morning with extra care and attention.

“Taiga belongs to me, Thief Girl!” she told the empty, dry street and stomped with determination to the bright green door that fronted his house. She rapped sharply on the heavy panel, yelling out his name. There was no doubt he would be angry at her intrusion, yet she was ready for whatever happened.

“Open up, Taiga!” she bellowed. “It’s Rebecca!” Out of the corner of her eye, she saw movement at the end of Taiga’s street. She turned her head and saw masked and armoured men surging around the corner, guns held to their shoulders in firing positions.

“Huh?” she managed to say before the door was flung open, a massive woman in a bright blue wig stepping past Princess, an assault rifle in her hands. The gun chattered in a rip-saw explosion of sound and flame, deafening her momentarily.

“What are you doing?” shouted Boss King. “Get in here right now!” His arm shot out and grabbed the stunned Rebecca, dragging her into the safety of the house. Bullets were pinging and bouncing around the woman as she fired in four short bursts, then dove back in through the door.

Rebecca was still standing in shock, clasping Taiga to her, when Melody slammed the door shut.

“Hi, you must be Mighty Princess” the big, blue haired woman said to her. “My name is Trixie”

“Hi Trixie” she replied then sagged in Taiga’s arms. She was feeling rather overwhelmed at the moment, not the least because Taiga was holding her tightly around the waist. As pleasant as the sensation was, she knew this was not the time to be a princess. It was time to be a Mighty Princess.

She pushed Boss King away and stood upright, looking at the people around her.

“I guess we are being attacked again because of Thief Girl, right?” she asked sharply. Boss King and Melody nodded unhappy agreement, forcing Princess to suck air through her teeth in an angry whistle.

“Fine!” she conceded. “But if they damage my blade I’m adding it to your bill, Thief Girl!” She drew her machete and glared at Melody, who grinned back.

“Agreed” Melody answered.

=====

Trixie

“Okay, everyone back into the kitchen!” she shouted, herding the three youngsters ahead of her. “They’ll try breaching the front door first”

She checked on Samantha, crouched at the top of the stairs, a second assault rifle held in her hands. Both rifles had been a model that Trixie had never encountered before, a special design built in secret for the Hive. They fired standard ammunition, small caseless five millimetre bullets with armour piercing tips. The difference was they gave minimal recoil, making them easy for women and children to operate.

It was a grim realisation when Melody had said she knew how to fire the rifles, having spent years at the firing range of her Nest. Trixie had nearly asked her to take the second weapon, but Samantha had insisted she could use it instead.

The breaching charge blew out the front door, sending a shock wave into the narrow foyer and through the living room. Trixie was moving out from cover as soon as the door landed flat on the floor, her rifle blazing as two mechanical hounds surged through the opening.

One lost its entire head as the bullets ripped the machine open, the armour no match for the fury of the gunfire. Its companion leapt the falling body, jaws opening wide to grapple her arm. Trixie caught it one handed and whipped the machine across the foyer wall, her enhanced muscles straining as she broke its metal neck.

She flung the dead machine back out the door, adding a short burst of gunfire when one of the attackers dared to poke his head around the doorframe. Her bullets tore a chunk of armoured visor away, forcing the assailant to retreat.

Trixie moved swiftly back to the kitchen, facing backwards all the way as she covered the foyer.

“Holy crap, you are one scary woman!” declared Mighty Princess. “When I grow up I want to be just like you!”

“Believe me, you really don’t” she said calmly. “Everyone Okay back here?”

A chorus of assents came from the three with her in the kitchen. She called out to Boss King’s mother and got an affirmative from her as well.

“Odds are they just lost all their mechanicals” Trixie told them. “I expected them to deploy drones first, but I guess they don’t have any” Boss King had already told her before about the drone battle at the Central Markets and how Zeke was keeping the skies clear. It was just a shame he had less control over what came in on the ground.

“They’ll rush us next, leading with stun grenades” Trixie continued. “Listen for my signal and block your eyes and ears. Keep your mouths open to minimise the shock wave, copy that?”

“Copy that!” they chorused.

“What happens when they get inside?” Mighty Princess asked her, a hint of nervousness in her tone. Trixie pointed to the razor sharp machete the girl was holding and tried to look reassuring.

“Then we show them what us youngsters can really do” she replied.

“What do you mean, ‘Us youngsters?’ “ Boss King wondered aloud.

Trixie smiled at him and the others.

“I’m the youngest here, Boss King. I was decanted only six years ago”

He absorbed that revelation with a small nod of his head.

“You are definitely the meanest six year old I have ever encountered”