Cyber Queen

The woman sat on the chair in front of lifeless corpses. The bodies seemed scattered around the bar she arrived, and their blood dripped down the tiles with a piece of punk music playing from the radio.

She held a pistol, leaning her left cheek on her palm. One of the men crawled in front of her, reaching with his arms forward and trying to survive despite having major wounds and a missing leg.

"What a shame and I thought I'd have some fun to toy around with you boys. I see you're pretty hopeless," She laughed with a flat voice, adding chuckles between her speech. "Aw, you look so peaceful when you can't stand up." She claimed, keeping a confident smile on her face. "You wouldn't mind if I took an ear or two from you? You'd be helping me out a lot."

The man continued crawling away from her, groaning in pain, "Y-You bitch... W-Who do you think you are?" He sounded brave but deep inside, scared for his life with a gun pointed at the back of his skull.

"I'm sure you know me. Does a murder at Oba Street remind you of someone? You know, those poor men and women. If I recall, you were there when your wife got killed." The man's eyes broadened, and sweats from anxiety dropped down his jaw.

He looked at her, stuttering in his words, "Torque Torrente?! The Cyberlander who slaughtered hundreds of people, including my wife, to get the best body parts for herself?! You... It can't be you!" The man started crawling on his behind, further away from her.

Torque grinned with a creepy smile, repeatedly playing with a pistol in her hand. She raised her left leg onto her thigh, crossing it over her knee, and placed her armed hand past her hip. "Cyberlander? Doesn't a "queen" work better? I've already cleared several drunkards' streets in Cyber City. You're the 51st since last month. And none of the people had any worthwhile body parts. You're all empty, and none of the hormone chips seems to suit me."

The man remained horrified, "Torque! You don't need to kill me! I'll do anything! Just get me a new limb to walk, and I'll help you! I promise!"

She stood on the floor and walked toward the half-dead man, "You wish to live? A useless man like you? The Cyberlanders, who don't have a good body? I'm afraid they aren't worth keeping alive. I think I'll allow myself to take your memory chip and see if it has what I'm looking for. Maybe it could lead me to the person who brutalized my cult." She flicked her head to the side, along with her gun, and hinted at the man to tear out one of the chips from a different man. "Tear out the chip from his head. I might let you live if he has it."

The man horrifyingly crawled toward the corpse and grabbed its head. He reached, clutching the side of the body's forehead, and pulled it out. "H-Here. Take it." He hurled his body to the side and showed her the black chip, "Just let me go."

However, the next second, Torque pulled the pistol's trigger, shot a bullet that flew into the chip, and destroyed it. "Oops, sorry. I didn't see the chip. I guess I'll take yours instead."

The man's eyes started shaking in dread, and his body trembled. He begged, "Don't kill me! It's fine! I'm sure it was a mistake, Torque!" He tried to express as innocent and forgiving as possible, "I'm sure you didn't want to destroy it." He tried sharing a kind chuckle to show his politeness and hopefully change Torque's perspective, but it didn't help.

Torque pouted with her mouth and shook her head in disappointment, "What a bummer. And I thought I would actually let you live. Do keep this in mind. I don't care what happens to you. But I'll take your chip either way. Ciao."

The man's voice resounded through the bar, and a sudden bullet penetrated the middle of his skull, blood spurting on the walls and tinting them with purple.

His body fell backward, murdering him in the process.

Torque approached his corpse and squatted next to him, rounding her arms between her bent legs. "Sleep tight." She clutched his head and forcefully pulled out his memory chip. "Time to see what your memory's got in store for me." She inserted her chip into her head, making her eyes activate like a technological device with a beeping noise, and a sudden shower of memories flooded her brain.

She smirked at the knowledge he received from the memory chip, "So you do know something. It's not much, but I'm sure the next place will be happy to see me." She became serious, standing up, attaching her pistol to her belt, and turned around.

She left the pool of blood behind and entered Cyber City's outdoor streets.

-

Timothy and the others approached the clock tower in the distance with a round park with a fountain in the middle, pouring out water.

"This is our last chance to find the pedestal. If this isn't it, I don't know where it could be." Timothy answered, growing exhausted and annoyed the longer they hunted down the pedestal.

Aurora looked pale in the face, faint and exhausted more than the others, "I... I need a second." Aurora claimed, trying to move her hips to walk more efficiently, but her body started giving out.

"Aurora, if you need to sit down, help yourself. Please, we've been running for hours, and it's clear your body can't stand much more pressure." Timothy spoke politely as kindly as he could to ensure she'd have enough rest for the road as the pedestal could still be far for them to reach.

"No... it's fine. Let's keep moving. I got this." She made a step but suddenly received a blurry vision. She lost all physical touch to her body and collapsed forward, Ayuka hurriedly catching her before she could fall on the sturdy and rough terrain.

"That's enough, Aurora. You need to rest," Ayuka slowly escorted Aurora toward the bench and supported her in sitting down, "You won't get far if you keep going about it like this." Aurora's fainted eyes observed the floor, "No... it's not what you think." She answered as others threw looks at her, "It's not because I'm tired. I just can't feel my legs."

Aurora tried moving her legs but couldn't move a muscle.

Ayuka crouched next to her and pulled up her pants' sleeves. She revealed her bright skin. It was rough to the touch, and there were marks of infection spreading through them. "Tim, it's her infection. It immobilized her muscles, and she won't be able to walk."

Timothy stepped closer and crouched next to Ayuka to see the infected skin for herself, "It reminds me of the withering. Aurora, you said a warm bath could cleanse the infection, right? Does it work for every part of your body?" He pondered, curious and worried.

She nodded without any doubt, "Y-Yeah... But there's no water but the cold fountain. I'd need an entire pool of water to recover the nerves in my legs."

Tarot looked at Timothy and the others as they exchanged views, "She won't make it if she continues moving. She needs her rest badly." Timothy understood Ayuka's suggestion, "I know... but where are we supposed to find a bath of hot water? Even a public pool doesn't have warm water, and I don't see any around."

Out of nowhere, they heard a gruffing voice of an older woman, "Should sauna suffice?"

Their heads looked behind them and exchanged eyes with a female elder who wore blue glasses.

She looked kind and caring, and she would be their main reason for them being capable of proceeding.

To be continued...