Chains Of Responsibility

The Solomons would only contact me when there is a need for me to do my part. I rode towards the hotel and casino. Jon Locke was walking outside with Miss Ingrid. When the Miss saw me she put her hands on her hips and demanded.

"So you decided to come back?"

"Well, I can be your driver, but I think it will offend Jon here."

She looked at Jon. "Will it?"

"Not at all."

"Then you have no excuse! Boohoo, our little brother doesn't like us anymore."

After that exchange I went inside the hotel. Told the elevator attendant to take me to the meeting point. When the door opened I saw David squatting next to the elevator. "Sup," he called out to me.

I was about to continue forward when he pointed to the person not far from him.

"Hey," Jisoo waved her gloved hand.

David smirked at me. "So is she your type of woman? She's dangerous, bro."

"Could be or could be not."

Jisoo motioned to the office of Boss Alfie. Inside the office Boss Alfie and Michael were in. Boss Alfie was behind the desk. Michael observed Jisoo while holding to deagle.

"So, you know her, right?"

"I do. Made runs with her. Well, I could say that I drove for her."

"Of course you do, well, Ms. Kim here is going to join us in this job. We are usually neutral, please sit down, Nik."

I sat down and took the shared drive.

"We are going to escort a high profile client. We usually don't involve ourselves with this nonsense, but this time they asked us nicely."

So they probably paid the Solomons quite a lot of money.

"And this is our way of paying respects. It doesn't hurt to be part of them. But I'm not risking our men to die for them either. So I will be sending a few of you to accompany Ms. Kim to escort the convoy. David and Michael you ride together. Ms. Kim, please accompany Nik here. Is that feasible?"

"I have no problem. Nik, ride with me, you're going to ride bitch."

Michael thumped me on the shoulder. I took the shared drive and the pistol from Boss Alfie and followed Jisoo out of the office. She parked her motorcycle in the parking lot below the building. It was a sleek and slender motorcycle that had a streamlined design. She pressed something on her motorcycle and then activated it. Metal connected to her arms and then slowly crawled around her limbs.

"Looks sick."

"Sorry, I don't have a spare."

"Don't need it."

"Well, it's not like you'll do anything other than tag along. Oh, and don't try to touch inappropriate places."

"I would if I was daring enough. And I'm not daring."

"Yes, kinda like a coward who can't flirt with women."

"Wow, who hurt you today?"

Jisoo snorted. I sat behind her. We followed David and Michael out of the parking lot. There were five that followed us as we waited for the convoy to arrive. When we met up with the convoy we were told to stay in the rear. Jisoo handed me a drone camera and had me survey the roads. The caravan attracted attention. Which made me question for a moment why they were bothering to go on land instead of just flying the client to her destination. Jisoo said that it was tradition, so I just quietly sat while trying my hardest not to touch Jisoo too much.

"Perv."

"Shut up. Blame your body, not me."

She laughed mockingly. I held on to the seat instead of her. It was strange seeing her laugh or make other emotions. When I said to her that it didn't sound like her. She threatened to throw me off her bike.

I was about to ask why we needed a convoy when a high-powered shot broke through and hit the client's armored car. Jisoo didn't wait for any orders. She speeded past the convoy and motioned me to leap up. On both flanks armed escorts fired at the convoy, forcing the armored car to be separated. I took hold of the steering wheel and steered it until it stopped moving.

"N!" I heard David on the channel. "We'll be supporting you. Michael will tore through these sons of bitches while your lady friend will take care of the Augmented. We need to keep her alive so drive fucking well!"

***

Everything going to shit was not a surprise. They had seen us coming. And whoever the fuck was in charge of whatever bullshit they had going on here. They clearly want the Madame inside to be dead. I should have expected this when Jisoo was around. Perhaps, I naively thought that maybe us joking around meant that there was going to be no problem. But why would Boss Alfie send his best men and his best driver to this job that this supposed high profile client has if there was no danger? I feel like a fucking idiot thinking that things were going to be easy.

"Go and get her the fuck away from her! Move N! There are a lot of fucking of them coming our way!"

David commanded me as they ran past the armored car. More folks trying to kill the Madame inside the armored car were coming. Michael was tearing everyone who even got close. I ran around the armored car. Took out the guy who had his head shot clean and dropped him outside of the vehicle. Was about to enter when another fucker who clearly thought me as easy approached me. He wore a simple protective gear and he had this gear around his legs that allowed him to make giant leaps. He probably made use of the building to approach the armored car. Could see that he was ready to blow up the armored car and take out the Madame inside. He had the look of a Merc. And seeing that there were Augmented fighting Jisoo. I guess there really was a big price on the Madame's head at the moment.

Thing is I don't really have time. I gave him a one-inch punch on his chin. He lay flat on his back. I gave a short prayer to the driver before stomping on the pedal. Could see that David and Michael were giving them hell. David drives while Michael cuts them down. Not far from them was Jisoo mutilating and cutting up the vehicles with her blade. She was holding back the Augmented. Started driving faster. On the side of the street. Don't know what street, cause I was following the GPs, had two riders on the side. They tried to mount the armored vehicle, but Jisoo cut them down.

I accelerated faster. My vision was slow. My head aches as I try to keep the bullet-time in-check. Avoided roadblocks. Rammed through cars. Don't know if they are alive or not. Right now it was me or them.

I drove further. Pushed the fuckers down. Saw David and Michael raining fire on the helicopter. Jisoo, on her bike, threw herself up, and used her high-frequency vibrating blade to cut down the tail of the chopper.

She landed on her bike that was self-piloting. Damn woman really is an Augmented Human with high-specs herself. That exo-skeleton she was wearing around her limbs was making her faster and stronger than ever.

Situation is terrible. Many drones and personnel were making their way to us. Then I saw that motherfucker, that two-legged mech with a tank body shooting down the escorts. Because of the missiles there were folks who were shot down. Managed to dodge the shots, but the left side of the armored car was burnt. The paint made an awful smell. Dodging left, dodging right, wouldn't matter, so I drove in the middle of the mech's legs. Then with a quickdraw, shot the bottom of the mech with N9's anti-vehicle shot.

It was EMP. The mech was stunned. Holstered my N9 then continued driving. The main road was swarming with them, Had to use narrow alleys and living streets to evade. The arcade street that I came across with, full of students, were barely able to evade as we passed through.

"N! Are you still following the GPS!?"

"I am, D!" I said to David. "It's hard to follow!"

"No shit, N!"

Davin was following. Could hear Jisoo's motorcycle since it had a distinct sound. Broke the arcade after a few minutes. Then we came across this industrial district. Clearly not a district named after anything.

Pacifica is large. That's what I already think it is. Nonetheless the outskirts were larger than the city itself. Hell, half of it was not named or abandoned by the local authorities because of the sand coming from the bald mountains near it.

"Entering the outskirts!"

David clicked his radio twice. The open lands with leftover buildings. The ill-maintained roads. The sandy smell. The dilapidated structures. Yeah, I kida guess where we are now.

Pacifica is separated. East and West. The middle is this place. This abandoned shithole where not even beggars would stay. West of Pacifica is Kalman's Wing. The right side of Pacifica where most of the fucking Corporations have their own homebase. Goro ruled East before, but now that he's dead. Well, you could say that they have qualms now on who should rule.

The Madame I'm guarding is probably a heiress. Could guess why she took the road instead of air. It tells that she's not afraid of what they are planning to send against her.

Come and dare.

No matter what happens. I'd faced it. In a way it was a tradition to these folks. One hell of a tradition, but if she wants to play the field. Then she got to be equal. After that she doesn't have to do this kind of escort again.

Solomons was being paid. And from the looks of it. The folks here despite not wearing colors were clearly paid thugs sent by the Madame's enemies. They were clear about what they could do. And they are willing to kill her. The law wasn't around. So I guessed that the Madame's rivals paid them to stand down during this moment.

Went past the ruined buildings. Jumped the armored car and broke through a plywood barricade before moving to a large two-lane toll road that was clearly abandoned after the bald mountains spilled over.

There were still chasers. I was about to make a contact when my radar ability told me that there was a fucking dangerous trap in the front. Because it was well-hidden that I was barely above to avoid it.

Thing is that it was a feint. I saw on my vision a fucker who was holding on a rocket propelled grenade. My mind went black. My bullet-time tick-tock and I drew my N9 as fast as I could, but it was too late.

The RPG blew the side of the armored car and flipped it over. I was able to hold on tightly by pressing my legs on the front and pushed my back on the seat. My digital mask however was slammed on the roof of the armored car. I could hear the electric static spark.

The armored car was standing on its side. I pulled myself out of the armored car and took cover. I knocked on the roof and called out to the Madame inside. "Are you fine, Madame!?"

"I am… fine. I am unharmed. Are we trapped?"

"Not for long if I can help it."

Her voice sounded digitally constructed. My mask was busted. The digitally produced voice made a low-pitched sound. David and Michael who saw us get sided took cover behind a boulder and open fired at the guys approaching our flank.. Jisoo arrived with her bike. She looked at the armored car and pushed her shoulders on it.

"A little help!?"

I rammed my shoulder on the roof of the armored car and pushed. Jisoo did the heavy lifting for the most part. When the car was back on its wheel. I rode again while avoiding the gunfire from the left and right flank.

Rammed the car on the front of their blockade. Jisoo stayed next to the driver's seat while riding her motorcycle.

"Well, you didn't tell me it was easy."

"I didn't say it was hard either. Consider how things are? You're doing fine, hell, this is worse than expected."

More enemies came. She swung her high-frequency blade at them. The sheer amount of force from her blade cooped with the gunfire from David and Michael tore them. She was half-covered in blood while I was shielded from it.

"Thing is, N. You don't like killing. You can't stand it. But you are so used to seeing it. I cannot even see any fear in you."

"I'm shaking inside, J," I said on the channel connected to hers. "Guess I'm only composed internally. But all of this bloodshed is keeping the peaceful part of me… shaky."

"Not shaky enough to drive well. Keep up. We'll talk later."

She rode forward. It was quite an image. A lone woman in a black-tight suit reinforced with an exoskeleton, dodging gunfire with Augmented reflexes, allowed her sharp blade to cut them down. Behind her was the dust and the afternoon sun breaking.

"Fuck," I could not help but curse out as more came to break that image. The armored car was heavy, weighing more than a thousand pounds. They were throwing everything at us. There were five convoys left and they were just wasting everyone away to kill the Madame.

Must be something I could do, I thought to myself. I took out the pistol that Boss Alfie gave me. I used my deadeye ability and bullet-time to shoot their wheels off. It was easy to shoot them when you have all the time in the world.

More came from the left side. They tried to ram the front wheels when I stopped and barely avoided it. The headlight was gone because of that. I continued driving, broke through bare houses that had rotten while keeping my head down. The windshield was on my way so I pushed them out. Then made the armored car slide sidewards and shoot the wheels of the chasers left of the armored car.

My shot didn't take care of them. David and Michael tore through them like they were nothing. I continued on driving after the armored car regained its balance. I thought we'd be able to reach the exit of this sandy piece of shit when I saw a fifteen foot fucker looking down on the convoy.

The armored car was pierced by a lethal concentrated laser. The armored car made a front flip and this time it wasn't going to go back up. David and Michael took cover. Jisoo hid behind a dug up canal while I narrowly avoided the laser.

The armored car was a sitting duck. So the rest of the convoy rammed their vehicles on the legs of this fifteen foot mech armed to the teeth. Two of the cars blew up while the three managed to tackle the hind legs of the giant.

Jisoo ran without her bike. Hell, she was fast enough to dodge the lasers and gunfire while David and Michael distracted it. I was about to take the Madame out when I saw men who wore body armor come rushing down on our blind spot.

Left with no choice. I ducked down. Waited for them to go past me before I rushed them. They wore body armor so no need to hold back my punches. Approached one and smacked him through his helmet. I threw him to the guy. Drew his knife and lodged it to the barrel of the rifle of the next chaser. Before he could come I punched below the armpit. Ducked down once more, took the magazine on his rifle, and threw it at the guy next to him. Stunned because of my throw, I rammed him with my shoulders, rode his top, and slammed my like hammer blows to his temple. The helmet of his caving in. My bullet-time activated. I narrowly dodged an attack. Threw myself into cover, drew my pistol, and aimed at the rifle's barrel. The bullet entered. I rushed and tackled the guy. This time the fucker ate my knee. The last guy who looked like he was armed to the teeth and wore an exoskeleton like Jisoo tried to tackle me, I elbowed his rifle, curved it, and then followed it by wrapping my legs on his waist and my arms on his neck. His neck was not so protected so I was able to tighten my hold of his neck and he passed out.

Saw that there was more to them so I drew my N9 and shot them with non-lethal rounds. It felt stupid holding back, but unless it was the only way. I wouldn't do it. I was about to run back when I saw that another group had already pried the interior of the armored car.

Rushing in, making use of my 'peak human' legs. I arrived. Slammed the butt of my pistol and disabled them. I don't easily kill. But I made sure to bend their legs and arms before knocking one out. The one in the exoskeleton took ten blows before he went down. My face was roughed up and my digital mask was not working well. I was about to pull an extra piece of clothing and wrap it around my head when I saw the madame who seemed to have been roughed up by the ride.

Silver hair. Amber eyes. White skin and a fair face that would not lose just to anyone. She had a calm bearing and yet beneath that calm bearing and dignified white and black suit was something that this body of mine feared. No, this body knew her too well.

I could feel my stomach tighten. My ears rang. My eyes dilated. And most of all I could not control the shaking of my damn jaw as I stared at the damn familiar eyes of hers. I exhaled and inhaled.

"Long time no see, Kat."

I said while trying as best and hardest as I can to keep my face straight.

***

"Nikolai… what are you doing here?"

Her Nikolai was in front of her.

Her Nikolai who always seems peaceful. Her Nikolai who even now wouldn't dare to truly spill the blood of his enemies.

"Guess, we had our secrets, eh, Madame?"

Her Nikolai spoke so indifferently. She couldn't understand why she was being hurt. Why was Nikolai acting like this.

"But how are you here?"

"Got a job from the Solomons, as you knew. You look well, Kat," he smiled rather sadly. "So pretty as ever."

Her heart wavered at that. Nikolai wiped the expression on his face. "Let's get a move on," he hailed one of the escort cars. "Guys, Madame needs a lift!"

He wrapped a cloth around his face. The escort car arrived as the black-haired swordswoman tore through the mech with a vicious slash. She then rode to where they were and noticed the cloth around her Nikolai. Some may be fooled by her indifference. But she wasn't so easily fooled.

"N, here's another spare," she threw a digital mask at her Nikolai. He removed the cloth and wore a digital mask. She and her Nikolai entered the backseat of the car. Side to side, she lowered her head, unable to comprehend when did her Nikolai become like this. Or was he always like this?

Even her Nikolai had his own secret to keep.

Her chest ached. She took a glance at Nikolai who remained silent. She wanted to ask yet did not have the heart to do it.

"No wonder you left me," he said. "Guess that explains why."

"That's not it! It's a--"

"I understand. You have a responsibility to your clan. Thousands of employees are relying on you to take care of them. I don't blame you."

Her Nikolai's comforting words hurt more than any accusation and curses she could receive right now. She lowered her head, unable to answer. Shame filled her as she thought of that day once more. How Nikolai looked at her with a heartbroken face. How she almost wanted to turn back and let it all go. She even dreamt of that after all of this. She'd find him. And then fulfill her promise.

But from the looks of it the two continued on. No one stopped. Each hiding their own secrets as well. Her heart told her to scream and just let go of control of her emotions. Oh, how her heart hurts and aches. She truly wanted to just throw her arms around her Nikolai and yet that responsibility was like chains to her forearms. She wanted to be Katherine, the foolish girl who loved a simple boy. But right now she was Katherine De Bethany, the heiress of the Bethany Clan.

It won. The responsibility won against her.

She put her emotions on the back of her head. The frostiness on her face resembled that of the people who know her. The scheming and cunning she-devil that she was. And yet despite it all. There was no reaction from her Nikolai. He remained inattentive. Checking out the surroundings.

Once they reached the safe outskirts of the West Side of Pacifica. Her Nikolai dismounted the vehicle and was picked up by the swordswoman. Not a single glance. And not even a hint of concern any longer.

Her heart wavered and yet at the same time. She knew that this was the path she chose. Perhaps one day she would be able to take what she wants. But right now, as the heiress of the Bethany Clan, she must not know weakness.

Her convoy didn't enter the West Side immediately. Waiting for them was a new group of arm escorts and a group of maids waiting for her. She was escorted to the dressing room. Her servants washed her clothes and changed her black and white and black suit to a pure white Midi dress with the red sash of her clan around her waist.

She then raised her head and walked out of the dressing room. She spotted the men of the Solomons and the two 'associates' who came with her. The miss who wore a charcoal business suit had revealed her face. Then she placed her gaze on her Nikolai who after all these years truly had grown far stranger than the last time she saw him. His suit fitted him well. Tall, broad-shouldered with a slim-waist and long muscular legs. A sculpted jawline that made him stand out even in her escorts of armed well-trained men.

You were not so fit before, she unconsciously thought. When did you become like this? Before? After? Not that it matters now, doesn't it?

She exhaled. She raised her head at the members of her clan approaching her. She raised her nose and looked at them with disdain. She made a slashing motion with her right arm and proudly declared.

"As the new heiress of the clan! I order the purging of those who have been found guilty of mismanaging the assets of our clan. We'll be judged, not tried. My father and mother were soft… but I am not. They will be judged and judged without fail. Now begone!"

Her voice rang loudly. Even with her beautiful appearance. There was a coldness and strength in her voice that did not waver. As she stepped forward, she took a secret glance at her Nikolai, then she buried her nails in her palms and tore her gaze away.

You can win this, she thought. A huge part of hers wanted to just turn around. And yet the chains of responsibility did not allow her.