Angel Shot

In old Japanese tradition, that is still a thing around this new era. They cut off their hair once they are moving on from their traumatic pasts. That is what I did.

I went to the mirror of my terrible apartment that smells like a puddle of piss, no different from the over-polluted dirt around the city of Euphorium. No matter how much I clean my apartment on the daily, it still reeks of death and decay, just like soon I will be.

But why does it matter anyway? I need to find a way to pay for my rent, and food. Then, I turned on the mirror device that was transparent on the wall, giving a clear vision of myself.

"At least… This device doesn't get scratched or damaged in any way, so I can use this mirror any time… with all these devices in the world, lowering the attention span of the human race, we are all unable to evolve, rather to devolve back to our primal senses. A genre that was meant to be a warning, lest they refuse to listen, they will all be doomed."

I grabbed the scissors out from the electric drawer that I had to push a button for. Then, I cut off my own long hair into a slightly shorter version, but with long bangs, as I shaved off the sides and the back of my head. I gave myself a stylish hairline tattoo on the left side, as I pulled my bangs onto the right side.

Then, I put the scissors down onto the sink, then I saw my Lezafro antidepressants next to it. I grabbed the pill container and looked at it for a short, yet long-felt moment.

I threw away the pills into the trash bin. And alas, one last thing. I pulled out my neon green, blue, and purple hair dyes and randomly smeared them around my hair, and washed my entire head with the synthetic water onto the sink. Making my brand new, stylish hair. That had neon green as a primary colour and highlights between blue and purple.

I looked at the invitation card from the side of the sink in the bathroom. I turned on my iDex and scanned the QR code of the card itself. Then it gave me a notification giving me access into the club.

"Psych Club" It says onto my iDex, as it gives me the coordinates and destination onto my GPS, giving me a pathway from my apartment to the road. But it did show red lines, which are secret shortcuts to enter the club safely, without drawing attention. As of course, I said, "Oh, I assume the red line secret pathways, just in case I might get followed."

***

I left my apartment, as my landlord, who's a drunkard, came up to me and said, "Aye! Ya better get the hell outta here, lady! You haven't paid yer rent for the past few months. I'm locking this door, and keeping everything you have in your room to me'self, to pay up for the months you haven't paid. Now leave!"

I thought to myself in my inner monologue, "Trust me, I've done jobs with clients and middlemen before. You think I can't take on you? I quit the life of being a mercenary since I lost my best friend to a gunfight and decided to write books about him. I was so young at the time. But this is what I was born to do. Maybe writing isn't my fate, if there was a belief to begin with in this age and era."

I walked up to the man and tried to intimidate him, "You think you can just do that?! It should be illegal right? I have this recorded in my iDex eye. Since you're threatening me with extortion, why don't I blackmail you instead? If you don't give me another month, I will send this proof to the ops. Got it?"

He just scoffed, and then laughed hysterically, "Didn't you read the contract you signed up for before you got that beautiful, sweetass apartment?"

"Where does that say? Show me!"

"I left it in my room, probably lost it."

"Well, since you lost it, that means that contract is invalid now. So, I'm just going to beat the shit out of you until you give me another month." My neon green eyes glow red, which has a cybernetic enhancement that the light itself causes a hypnotic effect that induces fear.

He laughs again, as I receive a voicemail from a bot in my iDex, "Sorry, but you ran out of subscriptions to our cybernetics. But before you re-subscribe, please pay your bills and other debts first."

He heard that as well. God damn it!

So, I was hopeless, as everything that I had if I already haven't lost them, even the things that keep me going and help me defend myself from creeps all because I look like a woman.

"Hey listen, kid. I'm an old man, I like to get drunk, but I'll give you another month. I appreciate your efforts, but this isn't the way."

"Wait, really?"

"Nope! Ha Ha Ha Ha! Now scram! Don't make me call the ops!"

Then, I just left, because I knew I was powerless. And as for my social credit scores had been decreased to the minimum standards.

***

I finally arrived at the club, and my VIP access instantly got me through the transparent door that is meant to block any sort of intruder or non-members of the club without a reservation, or had to wait in line. But for those who have access, any access that can go through, they can see through the transparent door. Otherwise, it is just pitch black for them.

The club was wild, as the music had gotten my heart beating and throbbing loudly that could explode out of my chest at any minute. I haven't been inside a club before. Although, the only one time I was inside a club was when I was just a young mercenary at the age of ten years old. It was a job my middleman told me to do once with my best friend, and the other kid Lezly.

I stopped by the bar and started ordering, "I'd like ugh… an 'Angel Shot'?"

The female bartender, who had long straight blue hair, turned around and looked at me, "Yes, what can I get-" but she was cut off quickly, and saw my face, "Skitzy? Is that you?!"

"Ugh… who are you?" I asked.

"It's me, Lezly!"

"Holy shit, really? Lezly! How've you been? You look… different."

"You as well, but… what happened to you? When we were kids, I remember you had a stick down there."

"I still have that attached. Don't worry. Though, I don't really call myself trans… it's just that my Lezafro's side effects give me too much oestrogen. Been taking them since my best friend died."

"Shit, yeah… I remember him. His name was Alex, right?"

"Yeah, Alex."

"So, what can I get you today?"

"An… 'Angel Shot', please?"

She looked at me concerned, "What happened?"

"Look, I just want to meet Xter."

"Alright… I'm worried about you." She turned her frown upside down, "So! An 'Angel Shot', with a twist?"

"No, just an 'Angel Shot', Lezly."

"Alright. Come at the back, I'll get you that 'Angel Shot'."

I followed her to the backroom. And that's when I finally met Xter for the second time.

***

Then, Xter offered me a drink, "Here, have a drink."

"Oh, no." I refused, "I don't drink."

"C'mon, Skittles. Just take one, trust me. It'll wash away that stress from all this entire decade."

"I suppose 'just one wouldn't hurt'."

Then, I had way too many drinks that I could not remember a single thing from last night.

***

I woke up at 8:32 AM, it's Monday.

"Where the hell am I?" I asked myself that very question, because in fact, where in the actual hell am I?

I seem to be inside some kind of apartment. It's terrible, sort of modern looking, but it's still better than that shitty apartment from before. I woke up naked on the ground, with vomit all around. It reeks like my own fluids too.

I stood up, and wore any clothes nearby. My old crimson formal suit and black tie, skirt, stockings and black leather shoes were all gone. Not even my red vest and matching purple underwear were nowhere to be found.

All I had was this a grey oversized male hoodie, that has a glow in the dark design that says, "F*** THE OPS*, with a pair of loose green pants, and some flip flops, to which are not even a matching pair. Unless they are designed to be like that, 2099 is different.

Then, I opened the curtains as the modern television in static started to play itself in the background, with a bright shining light that streamed through the blinds of the windows. Then, I opened the blinds just to see the bright blazing blue skies that were no longer dark. The sun had finally revealed itself to all of us, which felt like a miracle, a blessing, or a sign of destiny.

"Rise and shine, everyone!" The fluent spoken android, full of emotion, which was the newscaster started to speak in the background of the televised media, "Today the sun is finally rising for the first time since 2023! Well, not 'rising' per se. More like, the entire globe of the planet Earth had finally been uncovered to finally have some sunshine onto our faces. Back to you Mike."

I kept listening, as I watched through the window to see the cityscape, and the view was much more ecstatic, bringing me absolute joy for the first time in a decade.

Mike started to speak to all of us worldwide in the media, "It was said that the entire globe had been covered, full of solar panels in order to absorb energy, directly from the sun itself. And then, convert solar energy into a form of matter which we call 'electricity', ain't that great Phil?"

Phil from the background started to talk, "Yes, most absolutely! Although, you should never believe the conspiracy theories regarding using too many solar panels to 'absorb too much energy from the sun, which might cause the sun to die and eventually we all die'. Science had already backed this up."

"And what do you think about plants? We haven't seen a plant from our species as the human race for a few decades now. And scientists said that plants are vital to keep us breathing and alive. Is this just another hoax as a means of anti-capitalism? For years I've never studied about plants giving us life. How is that even possible?"

"Well, another funny conspiracy theory that had been going around the internet for a while is that our iDex's and CodeX's are being tracked by greedy corporations, so wherever they go, the electric billboards and holograms around them changes into another different advertisement that suits to their liking."

"That's a bunch of lies! Hah hah!"

"Indeed so."

And they went on talking more and more as I ignored it eventually, because I was too distracted looking at the amazing view. I've never seen anything like it before.

"Wow…" I expressed, in astonishment, for I was flabbergasted. Until someone eventually came into the bedroom door.

"Hey, Skits!"

I turned around, and it was Lezly. She leaned back at the door frame as she crossed her arms, "Ready for a job?"

"I'm not sure… I don't even remember what happened last night and why or how, or both, that I even got here in the first place…"

"You're too weak to drink alcohol. You've always been a good boy to your nanay."

"Yeah, I know… I miss my nanay. She could have been here for me, because-"

"You were rejected by those mega-corporate fuckers, I know. That's why you came here, to look for a job. But you do know what you signed up for, right? There's no going back, unless… you can back away and chicken out now, you still have time. However, you won't get any money to fend for yourself. I'll be waiting at the bar downstairs, come meet me there any time, and give you some space to think about it. But remember, we can't keep you here forever."

"Th-thanks, Lezly. I'll think about it, but I want to explore this world first."

"Ciao."

She then pulled away from the door frame, and left the room, without even closing the door. The disrespect!