Age of Space

Work had been called off, academy work had been postponed and exercise had been kept to a minimum.

These last few days, Ronin had gotten so engrossed in training his stealth techniques, his life had pretty much been put on hold.

Currently in the middle of a rundown pub, Ronin used Presenceless to direct a crowd's attention. The entire pub began repeatedly glancing over at an image of some long dead idol on the wall. Apparently, the girl in the image had once visited this place and had a drink.

Ronin somewhat doubted that. Would an idol really visit this kind of neighborhood?

The attention of the crowd moved over to an old jackhammer.

After getting accustomed to the feeling of horror he’d bring up every time he donned the mental mask, he’d found he could move the image.

Ronin narrowed his eyes again, moving the image of the broken fractal gate towards a wolfram enriched rock sample, displayed at the back of the pub. The pub dwellers subconsciously followed along.

Feeling his focus begin to falter, he walked outside and released the technique.

Phew, he let out a deep breath, checking his timer.

2 minutes… It will have to do, he thought.

It was the same as last time. Maybe, if he really tried, he could hold the mental mask a few seconds longer, but he'd pretty much reached a bottleneck at this point. Progress had been fast in the beginning. From holding the mask for 30 seconds, he had rapidly improved to a minute, then 1.5 minutes. Those last 30 seconds though, had taken a lot of work.

Perhaps my mind would have to be stronger first?

He might have to complete more stances in the Kalvrakian Embrace to move further along with Presenceless. Regardless, it was time to pay Argus a visit. Any further work on the technique would take too long.

He headed back towards his ship, the Hemsway, but he wouldn’t be driving towards the factory this time. Not today.

Argus slouched back on the couch as subordinates ran back and forth within the room.

“The CLM has been getting more aggressive, boss,” one man said, gesturing towards a hologram in the middle of the room.

“They’ve begun claiming territory around the northern front and we’ve lost 6 blocks already.”

“How are our defenses?” Argus asked.

“We reduced them after the CLM went silent, but those revolutionary bastards are back in full force! From rocket launchers to military grade spaceships, they’ve got everything!”

His subordinates always liked to exaggerate. Military grade spaceships? No. Those ships were modified commercial shuttles. They had weapons, sure, but were nothing compared to the real deal.

“How’s the takeover of the south going?” Argus asked.

“Sir, 20% of district 104 belongs to us, and though there's been some minor resistance from the local gangs, its being handled,” another man reported.

“Alright, move the newly pledged gangs from the south, north. They can prove their loyalty on the front lines while we gather stronger weapons.” Argus said, his face breaking into a slight smirk at the thought of the coming bloodbath.

As his men got to work implementing the new plan, he couldn't help but think of the annoying brat he’d been ordered to, again, deal with.

“By the way, what's the status on the bounty?” He asked.

He’d been heavily chewed out by Specter, and it had not so subtly been implied that his head might leave his body should this continue.

Though they had plenty of ongoing bounties up at the moment, everyone in the room knew who Argus asked for. The "Bounty" only referred to one person and one person alone.

“The only ones taking the bounty are low grade assassins and adventurers who don’t know any better.” A third man said.

“Only some greedy upstarts? Why none of the bigger players?”

“Sir, they’ve all said the factory is too heavily fortified and Ronin almost never leaves the building. There is only one window of opportunity. He regularly travels towards the spaceship academy, but even then, he makes it very difficult to set something up.”

The man paused, a bit nervous, before continuing: “The mercenary group Executive Actions have reached out, but they want more credits...”

“Greedy bastards!” Argus exclaimed, shocked at the audacity.

3 million credits were stretching it, even for him, and now they wanted more?!

“Hold off on that, let’s revisit it after we’ve secured the north,” he said. If he lost the north due to having insufficient funds, it would be even worse than failing at taking down the brat.

Not too far away, the brat was quickly making his way towards district 101. A couple of hundred meters away from the 10-meter-wide chute leading into the district, he landed the ship.

Hopefully it's still here by the time I get back, he thought, exiting the ship and heading into the chute.

After climbing down into the fog-filled streets, he began sneaking along the walls, heading towards one of Argus's compounds.

It was the one place Argus had been seen repeatedly entering every week, so it was his best bet by far.

The weakly acidic fog helped hide him as he moved along, using Snapshot every now and again, avoiding anyone getting too close for comfort.

This place… It must have been hit harder by the ruddle outbreak than anywhere else… There’s so much destruction here, half the people in the district might be gone.

The streets were filled with trash, long dead residents, animal remains and the occasionally scattered groupings of drug dealers, pimps and harlots. As he continued sneaking towards the compound, over time, the landscape changed. Organized armed patrols began appearing, becoming more and more frequent the closer he got.

As a group of partially bionic men, armed with laser rifles, breathing masks and shock grenades passed by, he spotted the compound.

Finally, one of the bastards who’d ordered him dead was within reach... ARGUS!

Ronin had to forcibly reign in his hands from shaking. He couldn’t kill him… not today. He took out the injector he’d prepared for this. Utterly illegal and unreasonably expensive, the injector was filled with nanobots. Designed to be virtually undetectable, these bots not only tracked the location of the target. They picked up and recorded the audio registered along the target's eardrums, then sent it all out to an anonymous server every time the host connected to the net.

Nagata had said something about the bots piggybacking off implant signals when he handed it over, but Ronin was simply happy with the fact that the thing worked. He didn’t need the specifics, just the knowledge on how to use it.

Shadowing a group of guards, he approached. Any closer now and they’d see him. The place was packed. Be it guards or people simply working there, they filled the place to the point that it looked crowded. As dozens of figures, both men and women could be seen walking in and out of the building, several small shuttles arrived. After a few minutes they left again, only for new shuttles to take their place.

Ahead was a 100-meter stretch filled with fences, turrets and possibly mines. He had to run that distance, get into the compound and inject Argus. Time to get to work, he thought, donning his grey hood. He took a deep breath and activated Presenceless.

Apocalypse…

He had 2 minutes.

Running with all he had, he jumped the first fence, flying over it, arms and head first, before landing in a dive roll. He quickly got up, bolting forward while keeping a watchful eye for land mines. The next fence was even taller... He chose the gate this time.

As the gate began opening for a couple of men, both riding monowheels, he squeezed through the gap, having only centimeters to spare between himself and the gate as he passed. He was finally through and could see the large building ahead. He would enter through the front door; he lacked the time for anything else.

1 minute 40 seconds remaining.

An all-out sprint rapidly brought him through the large door, and he immediately took in his new surroundings. The report sent by Nagata was sparse from this point on. There were people moving in all kinds of directions, but from the facial expressions of the various gang members, the ones heading upstairs looked more serious, they also wore more expensive clothing.

With no choice but to gamble, he followed them up.

1 minute 10 seconds remaining.

Floor after floor passed. Was it this floor? Or the next? He made a snap decision and continued upwards. There! Scanning his surroundings, he spotted a door with more people than any of the previous floors.

40 seconds remaining.

He ran along the corridor, swinging into the new room feet first, his right hand firmly gripping the door frame as he slowed and shifted his momentum.

“How are the newly pledged gangs doing?” He heard a man say.

The man, sitting in the middle of the room, had blond hair and a muscular body. It had to be him, Argus!

“Well, sort of as you’d expect. They’re getting hammered and probably won't hold on for long,” another man said as Ronin approached.

Strange… Why did it feel like Argus was looking at him? He still had a firm grasp on his mental mask. The image of approaching foul apocalyptic energy bursting out of the fractal gate, was placed firmly behind the man… But why did it seem like he was not affected?

20 seconds remaining.

He ignored the uncanny feeling of maybe being looked at, running towards the blond haired man.

As he got closer, however, it became clear. He’d definitely been seen. Argus’s eyes were following his movements! Halfway there-

Argus blinked. Ronin moved. The toll of using both Presenceless and Snapshot simultaneously was brutal, his focus wavered and his mental mask shook.

But the man's lapse of focus had been enough. Ronin was out of eyesight. Hiding behind subordinate after subordinate, Ronin moved each time the man blinked.

This was really pushing it. His mind wasn’t strong enough for this yet.

10 seconds remaining.

Moving quickly, he finally arrived behind Argus. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a piece of gravel he’d brought before coming here, then, threw it out the door. As the rock flew out of the room and into the corridor beyond, he lifted the injector in preparation for the coming sound.

PING!

The sound of the rock hitting the wall, was perfectly timed to the stab of the injector into Argus’s neck.

But, with inhuman speed, almost as fast as Ronin’s own, the man turned his head, ignoring the sound. Blink. Ronin moved.

“Huh!? What's going on here!?” Argus roared, looking confused.

5 seconds remaining.

He scanned the room, no windows… It was too late to get out. There were too many people in the compound. Without Presenceless, Ronin would be spotted. That was the last thing he needed. He needed to hide!

Where, where, come on!

Then he spotted it. The sofa! There wasn’t much space, but he was still fairly skinny. He could fit.

He had 3 seconds left, but Argus still hadn’t blinked. Should he take the chance? Argus was still looking around, confused, he might be able too-

1 second remaining… and Argus blinked!

He ran for the sofa, then lay himself flat on his stomach as he slid under.

“…”

“Did any of you see that?” A bewildered Argus shouted into the room.

“Sir?” A man asked, confused.

“Someone was here! I’m sure of it!” Argus continued.

From beneath the couch, Ronin felt it move as the muscular crime boss above him rose and began stalking around the room.

“Come out! Come out now!” Argus shouted.

Trying his best to keep his own heavy breathing quiet, Ronin could literally hear the tension in the room.

“Boss, I think you’re the only person who saw… whatever you saw,” someone commented.

“No, it can’t be, can it? Did I imagine it?”

The unsettling shuffling of feet around the room was all Ronin could hear as an awkward silence descended.

“Hah, look at that, I’m acting like a maniac. Hehehe,” Argus finally chuckled.

Ronin could hear footsteps approaching. He held his breath, waiting. The sofa sank down as the big man finally sat back down again.

Thank the void. I’m still hidden, Ronin wordlessly breathed out as he waited. He needed to recuperate and couldn’t stay here long. Hiding under a sofa might be an unorthodox choice, but it was by no means safe. Sooner or later, he’d be discovered if this went on.

“Check with the guards if there’s been any sign of intrusion,” Argus said.

“Yes,” a little confused, someone answered.

“-And check if there’s been any reports on something being strange, out of order, anything like that the last hour as well,” Argus finished, not specifying further.

“Now where were we… ahh, yes, the newcomers were getting hammered you said? Hmm… Let’s be generous today. Give the gangs that have been fighting the hardest some SK-89 series laser rifles. It should make their battles a little easier from now on.”

“…”

Ronin hid under that couch for what must have been over 20 minutes, listening to the conversations above as he rested.

He heard talk about what he speculated to be politicians and businessmen, what they'd be willing to do and how much they’d cost to bribe. He also heard about war plans, the status of the gang's drug trade, their brothels. But… never even once did they mention The Ghost Butcher. Any conversation that might naturally mention the man, stopped as soon as they reached that point. The way in which every conversation somehow avoided mentioning him sounded... unnatural, discordant.

Regardless, it was time. Ronin would have loved it if he could have some more rest, but he felt ready enough. Time to leave.

Apocalypse, he wordlessly whispered, donning the mental mask again.

With both hands, he grabbed two of the legs supporting the sofa and pulled hard, rapidly sliding out. As he pushed himself up from the floor, rising to his feet, he did a quick scan of the room. Yup, Argus was still here.

Better move fast, that bastard isn't normal. Who knows if he’ll see me, Ronin thought as he moved behind a man nearby, shielding himself from Argus’s eyesight.

After using Snapshot a couple of times, he was out.

Phew, that room nearly gave me a heart attack

Ronin knew the way back now, making his way back out of the compound shouldn't pose much difficulty. He ran.

“…”

The toxic fog once again greeted him as he made his way out of the building and past the two fences. It was also at this point that he noticed the soles on his shoes almost falling off.

How fast must I have run for my shoes to fall apart!? He mentally added a to-do list for the next time he went shopping.

High quality footwear. Got it. I'm not making that mistake again.

As he snuck back out of district 101, he finally arrived at the 40-meter-long chute leading out.

He began climbing. One of his soles eventually gave in, falling off his left shoe and dropping down, landing 30 meters further down the chute. He continued.

Finally, out of the chute, he looked around. Where was his shuttle?

He walked over to where he’d parked it... Nothing, there was nothing here!

My Hemsway! They took you didn’t they!

And just like that, the first ship he’d ever made, was heartlessly stolen away.