FIGHT_001: Recovery

RUSTY ANGEL

Night was fast approaching. The horizon was tinged with a yellowish orange that gradually ushered to the day's end.

In the distance, huge, dark factories spewed smoke in torrents, blotting out the sky and preventing the stars from casting their faint evening glow.

Dust was rising as huge cranes and bulldozers completed the hard work of crushing and removing the robotic debris and metallic garbage that fell from the sky non-stop, scattering and piling it all up into huge jagged mountains that formed an amorphous, metallic dump of small connected roads and paths that blended in with the bleak surroundings, making the place appear like a desolate labyrinth filled with the stench of oil and death.

Iron City's central landfill, or " Scrapyard" as it was more commonly called, was home to the trash and debris ejected from the gigantic white structural section situated high in the sky. The name of this incalculably large, round, saucer-like object was Zalem, a utopian and mysterious floating city seemingly connected to the stratosphere by a great tube rising skyward. Beneath grew a titanic mountain of waste ironically named "Mount Zalem," which was constantly being deformed and reshaped by new garbage expelled from the great hollow at the bottom center of Zalem, creating in turn the landfill around which the Iron City settled.

Amidst the beeping of machinery and the clatter of iron hitting the ground, a lone figure made his way through dense clouds of dust and mist, humming merrily as he passed through mountains of debris and stacked rickety cars. With his shadow slowly materializing, from amidst the dust emerged a tall and lean man; broad build but not quite reaching the physique of an athlete. He appeared to be middle-aged, bordering on 30 or 40 years old, with a dirty blond hair combed in a high brush and a pair of spectacles without sideburns that rested on his small blue eyes. A small silver colored mole branded the middle of his forehead. His attire consisted of a neatly pressed brown trench coat with a green tie and white dress shirt underneath.

In his hands he carried a small robot head from whose inner skull he continuously extracted the few parts that were still useful, namely the eyes and other minor things which he kept in a small brown bag attached to his waist. Daisuke Ido was his name: A cyber-physician whose main hobby was to search for interesting remains among the city's trash, a hobby that might not seem very appealing to the average person, but which, and with enough patience, luck and daring spirit, could yield substantial rewards. Ido knew this all too well, being a veteran scavenger who had had his lucky streaks in the past, reason he kept going to such despicable place every Monday or Tuesday to rummage for anything that might prove useful or interesting enough for him to sell or use.

Grumbling under his breath, Ido tossed away the empty metal skull he held, frustrated that in all his searching, he hadn't been able to find anything of relative value or minimally interesting at the least. Bad luck. It seemed that his good humor had not paid off this time.

Stopping for a rest next to a pile of stacked antique railcars, Ido stared at the crimson sun above, peering over a mass of scrap metal and slowly descending until it was lost among the trash. He smiled at the beautiful sight, secretly thanking the Universe, he didn't believe in God, for one more day of life.

Ido was amid prayers when something else stole his attention; something vaguely appearing just at the angle of his vision. Shielding his eyes from the sun, he tried to focus on what was in the distance, straining his eyes above the bright glare, before realizing something that made him leapt without thinking to the adjacent mountain of garbage, clambering over it without caring what or where he stepped on. In his haste, Ido stumbled many times but always managed to get back up to keep going. Finally, and after dozens of other trips and slips, the doctor reached his goal at the top, stopping to try to catch his breath before bending down to start rummaging. Despite appearances, Ido was not used to so much physical exertion, even at his part-time night job, which was exhausting enough.

"Huff, huff, really...?" Reaching out, Ido rummaged around, looking to unearth the porcelain face that vaguely stood out among the other piles of junk. "It can't be... I can't believe it!" with a final tug and using all his remaining strength, Ido lifted into the air a small, limbless torso, dancing back and forth with the body between his arms as he laughed maniacally. His hunch hadn't failed him after all, as what he held was the female-looking body of a cyborg with features reassembling to those of a young girl around 16 or 18 in age. Her synthetic skin, despite looking like porcelain, was actually made of such a durable material that her facial forms had been perfectly preserved even to the inclement weather, retaining both her eyebrows, eyes, and her particularly pronounced octopus lips. At first, the doctor thought of all the money he could make by selling the pieces, but quickly dismissed the idea, as he didn't need money right now and it would be a waste to sell such a work of art to any beggar on the street.

Pulling out of his bag something resembling a stethoscope, connected to a green-screened electronic device, Ido ran a quick scan of the cyborg's head, seeking to check the extent of the internal components damage, because if they turn out to be unusable, then he would probably have to just keep the skin and—... Ido's eyes suddenly widened like two saucers, his heart almost stopping for a second as he watched the rising and falling readings on his device. Those were neural signals, no doubt, meaning that the 'casing' still contained a functional brain inside! Although calling it 'fully functional' would not be adequate, as it was more similar to a dormant state, probably a prolonged stasis of some kind. And it wasn't just that, for not only was the upper part of the body in near perfect condition, obviating the visible damages, but when Ido made an incision into the cranium head, he was able to observe a mysterious greenish gel completely covering and protecting the brain.

Ido wasn't sure what all of this meant, but whatever it was, it didn't change the fact that this girl was truly and undeniably alive. He could tell, just by looking at his trembling hands, that this was the find of a lifetime.

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By the time he arrived home, nightfall reigned.

Ido Daisuke's cyber clinic was located on the high-rise building of a relatively quiet residential area called Tempest Street, at the eastern part of the city. Above the rickety metal door, with bullet holes visible on the front part, a sign read in thick black letters: 'Daisuke Ido. Repairs: Cyborgs, Androids, Robots, Repairs, Tuning, and Maintenance for all models! Max Headroom 2.0M'

"Now why'd you go and bring back a hunk of junk like that, Ido?" Spat a plump, white-haired old man, with grooves of age covering his eyes and a round metal plate horizontally dividing the top of his head skull. He paced back and forth across the small space that was the room, while Ido smiled with his back to him.

"Junk? Not at all! She's perfectly human, I'll have you know" Ido typed numbers on the small keyboard plugged to the head of the cyborg girl asleep on the table, and whose body, in turn, was connected to an artificial heart that pumped the necessary nutrients and oxygen to her brain. He had personally installed all the necessary components for her correct operation, such as voice stabilizers and audio inputs in both ears, rolling stability, etc. "Based solely on the parts, I'd estimate her model to be at least two or three centuries old! She needs a lot of tuning. I've left you a list of materials to buy at the kitchen table."

Gonzu, which was the fat assistant's name, wiped the sweat from his forehead, "Yer a real kook, y'know that?" he said, nervously gulping down a cold beer.

"You flatter me. You see, by a series of coincidences, from both external and internal factors, the brain has been preserved in a sort of 'perfect hibernation state', as I would call it. And not only that, for it seems that her synthetic skin, which is made of some ultra-resistant synthetically modified polymer, still retains traces of before it was left in such a decadent state, preserving what appear to be old burns of some kind, or—"

Ido suddenly stopped, observing enthusiastically as the cyborg's eyelids began to twitch, threatening to open any moment.

"Look, she's awake!" Gonzu pointed out, checking the readings on a nearby computer and noting that everything was in working order.

Ido's face lit up with excitement, approaching the recently awakened, "Hi there, I'm Ido! What's your name?"

Having opened her honey-colored eyes, the bald cyborg blinked once and twice; looking around and struggling to articulate as she processed the former question. "n-na... ym?"

Gonzu tried scratching his metal bald but suddenly felt stupid for doing so. "I dunno Ido, looks like she's lost her memory"

Ido didn't seem impressed at the statement, even smiling more than before. "Oh, I'm sure she'll remember over time!" he answered with a small laugh, gently holding the amnesiac's head.

"What? Are you keeping it?"

"Well, I'll need to restore her body parts and functions. But first..." Ido remained thoughtful for a few seconds, scratching his cheek. "Ah! I've got it! As of today, your name is Alita!"

Gonzu arched an eyebrow, "Wasn't that the name of your pet cat that died last month? Yer gonna name her after a pet?"

"No worries! It's just a placeholder until she remembers her real name, "

Alita smiled tenderly as Ido placed his warm hand on her cheek, smiling back at her.

With a sigh, Gonzu threw his hands in the air, getting up and leaving. Whenever an idea popped into the doctor's head, there was no stopping him. He needed another beer.

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In daylight, Zalem was quite a spectacle when viewed from up high, and its slender, downward-curved dome shape would blow the imagination of anyone who saw it. It was connected to the ground by a series of huge cables stretched across the Scrapyard, each belonging to so-called Factories; whose main function was to collect resources from the surface so they could be processed, refined, and then transported to Zalem through the huge pipes that connected each factory to the aerial city.

"See that? Our home is right there! People call it 'The Scrapyard', nice name, huh?" Ido said as he pointed off into the distance, trudging up a steep metal mountain with Alita tucked into a rucksack on his back, poking out her bald head covered by a beanie, a rather convenient and practical form of transportation due to the cyborg's temporary lack of limbs. "Huff, and that huge thing over there, up in the air? That's Zalem, a floating utopia!"

"..." For most of the tour, Alita had remained silent, having nothing much to say and thus limiting herself to admiring the view.

"Are you awake?" Ido asked, a bit worried for the lack of communication on his partner's part.

"Yea," Alita answered him in a low tone, which reassured Ido.

"Good... I want to know more about you, Alita. You must've had your own name, family, and home!"

Alita squirmed to get comfortable in her small space, watching a butterfly go by. "My... real... name...?... I dunno" Alita sounded somewhat crestfallen, clearly affected by her mind being a blank sheet of paper.

Ido gulped, "Well, no rush! You are just stuck as Alita for the time being, haha!

"Yea..."

"We also have to fix that speaker of yours... I ventured out this way, hoping to find something usable for your frame, but... It's been slim pickings... FUCK!" Ido kicked a pile of scrap metal, getting angry at its uselessness. "DAMN, DAMN, DAMN! I hate to make you feel so vulnerable like this... But don't worry, I'll make sure you get a proper body again"

Alita widened her eyes in surprise, touched by Ido's kindness.

Both doctor and cyborg continued on their search for a while, occasionally finding useful things such as a Larynx Programatron, a rare find that Ido happily took for Alita, as her damaged voice still sounded somewhat robotic and he wished to fix that.

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Night had settled once again, making the Iron City alight in neon colors as its inhabitants emerged from the darkness to conduct their shady nocturnal activities, gathering in the streets and around bonfires either to commerce, eat and chat, get high or directly kill each other.

Of terribly low social class, they lived in destitution and surrounded by a climate of crime and unhealthiness where prostitution, illegal trades, drug dealing, and street transplants were rampant in every corner. Cybernetic enhancements were commonplace, including the replacement of arms, legs, hands, complete bodies, and even manly limbs. Anything went if it suited the collective need and the hopeless desire.

Inside a dark alley, surrounded by huge pipes and factory fumes, a beautiful woman smoked carefree while leaning against a metal wall. Elegantly dressed, she wore high heels and had her hair tied back, her generous breasts peeked through her see-through dress, this clearly intentional, and a small flame come out of her index finger, which she used to light a cigarette and was produced by her artificial silver arms; decorated with beautiful flower drawings on both palm and knuckles, exhibiting vibrant rose patterns on the sides.

The damsel was about to take another puff when she became aware of a presence near her, lurking in the shadows.

A client, maybe? Men were so predictable, often using surprise tactics intended to scare her, so they wouldn't have to break the ice and could get right to the sex.

Idiots.

Even though wary, she was not necessarily scared, since she had the means to defend herself if someone were to try and attack her, and not by the use of her arms, as there were other tactics she knew for self-defense, such as her 'leg-martial arts' taught by one of her lovers a few years ago.

"Who's there?" The prostitute asked at the dark, feeling confident, but a few seconds passed and no answer came back.

Could it have been her imagination? Probably, she thought, no longer feeling the presence and thus resuming her smoke, until a sudden breeze hit her by the left side, prompting the woman to look sideways again.

In a matter of seconds, the woman's head was completely obliterated from her shoulders by an unknown powerful force, leaving her just standing there, like a beautiful headless doll. The still lit cigarette she held fell off her artificial hands, hitting the ground next to a street strainer, mixed with blood and water, and soon turning off...

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Light streamed in through the clinic window, filling the room with warmth.

Leaned on a specialized chair, Ido was finishing some minor adjustments to the new pair of shining silver arms now belonging to Alita, sitting calmly in front of him. "That's it. Go on, give them a wiggle," he said, wiping his hands.

The young cyborg did as she was told, slowly closing and opening her slender fingers and getting used to her new limbs. "Such beautiful hands! Thank you, Ido!" Alita exclaimed with joy, admiring the beautiful rose patterns present on the arm sides.

A week had just passed, and Alita now had a clump of black hair growing on her head, being a sort of semi-synthetic wig created by Ido based on the tiny follicles left in Alita's skull, from which he was able to recreate her previous hair almost exactly, and with the use of implants, even managed to make it grow 'naturally', making it so that even if she shaved it off completely, it would grow back in a couple of months. She moved around on a four-wheeled scooter attached to her waist, very handy for getting around but slightly uncomfortable when she wanted to sleep, as she had to be disconnected from it by Ido every time, and reconnected the next day.

"But weren't they expensive?" Alita asked curiously, feeling her cold hands on her cheeks.

"Not that bad! I got them from a dismantler. But next you need proper legs"

Alita happily spent the rest of the day trying out her new gift.

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The moon was shining again, and the house was dark.

Alita slept on a small couch placed next to the kitchen, snuggled between blankets and stuffed animals, and dreaming of dancing octopuses.

Suddenly awoken by a creaking sound, Alita discreetly turned from her spot to look at Ido, his back to her, grabbing his coat and hat from a rack. This was odd, she thought, for it was the middle of the night and no one remotely sane dared to go around town at that hour, let alone to a place like the Scrapyard, where one could be robbed, raped, murdered and sold five times in a row and in broad daylight.

Could it be that he was going to look for parts at the dump?

But why at such an hour?

Did he not want Alita to go with him?

This and other questions ran through Alita's head as she watched Ido reach for the door.

"I'll have you more and more beautiful with each extra part..." The doctor mumbled under his breath, closing the door behind him.

Alita couldn't deny that she was curious about it all, but it was also true that there wasn't much she could do in her current state, legs were still missing after all, so she'd have to wait a bit longer until she had a more proper way to move. She knew Ido would soon come back with an extra piece for her, so it was only a matter of time.

With this in mind, the girl rolled over again and went back to sleep.

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The nights in Iron City were filled with the stench of death, sex, drugs, and vice, all of which reached into Ido's nose and made him jealously cover himself with his coat. Tightly clutching his wheeled suitcase on the side, he walked among the jumble of deformed and metallic passersby; disfigured by all the transplants and modifications they had decided to undergo either out of necessity, personal taste or, many times, against their own will. Anything purely organic was highly prized among these putrid places, causing those who passed by Ido to regard him with equal parts contempt and desire. Being well aware of this fact, Ido was ready to strike at anyone remotely suspicious who dared to approach him, all the while trying to avoid alleys and dark places to the extent possible.

Right now everyone was an enemy. No exceptions.

Alert for any possible danger, Ido continued on his way, soon losing himself amongst the virulent crowd of cyber-whores and tank-mans.

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"Hey, Gonzu!" shouted Alita, hopping with her new legs around Gonzu's mobile instant ramen stand, where he served his famous Triple Ramen, Zalem Skewers, among other things.

When he wasn't serving as his assistant, the old coot used to sell ramen outside Ido's clinic as it was where he had the most customers, most of them being patients and acquaintances of Ido himself, trustworthy people who just wished to live in peace. Due to the physiognomic change suffered when becoming cyberized, the biology of a cyborg used to be different from that of a flesh and blood human, having then two options: 1. Eat special food designed for cyborgs, being this the most common option. Or, 2. Install an Artificial Food Processor, i.e., an artificial stomach.

"Oh, but if it isn't Alita, I hardly recognize you anymore!" said the chubby old man, preparing a Triple Ramen for a cyber lady.

"It's great to be able to move on my own now!" Alita swung her legs around the stand, showing them off to Gonzu, who clapped his hands in amusement.

Admiring her from afar, some of the elders and cyborgs began to congratulate and whistle for Alita, who waved and danced to the cheers. She had become known among the crowd as the "cyborg girl" and as the lovable robot daughter of dr. Ido, making fast friends with everyone she met due to her cheerful and curious personality.

After a while, the chorus ceased and everyone resumed their activities, with Alita thanking them for their support.

"Just make sure you don't go out at night, girl," Gonzu suddenly warned, pointing a finger at her. "There's a serial killer on the loose, and all his victims are women. Be careful"

The girl stood thoughtfully as Gonzu offered her a bowl of free ramen.

A serial killer.

A nocturnal serial killer.

Now that she had legs, it was time to investigate.

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Alita kicked off her shoes as she flung open the clinic's courtains, "Ido! I'm back!"

Ido was in a far corner of the room, performing a spine maintenance on a cyborg patient. "Ah, Alita! How are your legs?" he asked, smiling at the sight of her.

"They're great, thanks!"

"Good. This is a simple metal fatigue, sir..."

As Ido turned to grab his tools from the nearby tray, Alita noticed something that made her eyes widen, though she managed to remain calm. "Hey, Ido, what happened to your arm?" she asked with feigned innocence.

The doctor had his sleeve up, with a bloody bandage wrapped tightly around a wound on his right arm. "Oh, this?"

He hurt himself going out last night, Alita thought.

Ido quickly covered it up. "I just scraped myself on something, how clumsy of me, hahaha"

Liar, "Are you okay?"

"Pfff, sure, don't you see? Run along now and let me work, I'll see you at dinner"

What was Ido hiding?

What was the kind doctor who saved her life hiding?

Alita needed to know.

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Ido's shadow was sometimes lost in the darkness of the alleys, making it difficult for Alita to keep up with him unnoticed, and forcing her to walk quickly but quietly, while also keeping her distance.

Once again that night, Ido had gone out in his dark coat, hat and briefcase, and Alita had been quick to tail him. It was fortunate that he had not locked the door to the house, which was logical, for even if he had, that would not prevent any madman with implants from bursting in uninvited.

Words echoed in Alita's head at every moment as she followed the doctor's back.

You must've had your own name, family, and home!

Ido is all I have now. I don't want my memories back. Alita kept thinking, sticking to the shadows, I'd rather be with him. I'm fine with just being plain old Alita! But...

Your body is still incomplete as it is, I'm hoping to give you proper organic parts!

All of the sicko's victims are women. Be careful, Alita!

But... I just want to know the truth!

After a while longer, Ido finally reached a remote residential neighborhood on the East Side, where he slowed to a stop. He stood behind a wall leading to a flight of wide stairs, as if waiting for someone. Alita quickly but quietly climbed the outside stairs of a nearby house, positioning herself just above the doctor.

After a few minutes, a figure with wild thick hair, up to her eyes, appeared coming down the stairs behind Ido, who left his briefcase on the ground.

After a few minutes, a figure with thick, wild, eye-length hair appeared coming down the stairs behind Ido, who set his briefcase on the floor.

He's going to ambush that woman! Alita thought in horror, watching as Ido opened his briefcase and revealed a weapon resembling a huge hammer, divided into two flanged-mounted parts, a handle and head, which he swiftly connected, next moving into an attack position.

NO!

When the woman drew near, the doctor stepped out of the shadows in front of her, raising the giant hammer with the intention of letting it fall on her head.

"NO, DON'T!" Alita jumped from high above, landing behind Ido and grabbing the hammer before it was brought down.

"AAGH-A-ALITA? WHAT ARE YOU-"

"I... I FIGURED IT OUT, IDO! I KNOW YOU'VE BEEN KILLING PEOPLE TO GET THE BIOLOGICAL PARTS FOR MY BODY!"

"WHAT!?"

A struggle soon broke out, with both of them trying to gain control of the weapon.

"PLEASE! STOP KILLING PEOPLE FOR MY SAKE!!"

Finally, Ido managed to snatch the hammer from Alita's hands, turning around to look for his target but finding no one. The woman had disappeared. "Damn it! She's gone!" suddenly, the doctor turned to Alita, raising his weapon towards her, "ALITA!!"

IDO WAS GOING TO KILL HER!!

"WH-WHAT?!" Alita braced for impact, covering her face with both hands, but instead of feeling the hammer against her head, she opened her eyes to see a pair of huge nasty fingernails hovering dangerously over her face, but held at bay by the hammer handle.

"ARE YOU OK, ALITA!?" Ido shouted, struggling with the woman's raw strength.

The huge-maned woman deflected the hammer, jumping from her position and revealing her repulsive face: she had the eyes of a psychotic beast, with sickly, pale features and black nails on her bare feet and hands. She was moving at incredible speed around the walls, trying to find an opening to attack while screeching horribly like a wounded animal.

"IT'S HER, SHE'S THE SERIAL KILLER!" Ido skillfully deflected an incoming barrage of attacks, but soon lost his balance when one of them ripped through his hat, slicing it in two and making him drop the weapon, "UGH! OH NO!"

Before the beastly woman could finish Ido, she was suddenly tackled back by...

"ALITA!!" Ido shouted, watching as his beloved girl pushed back the murderess as if she were a soccer player.

"I WON'T LET YOU HURT IDO-AAAH!" Before Alita could finish, the woman once again escaped from the grip, striking the cyborg in the back and sending her headlong into an upcoming wall, making her unable to stop herself from slamming into the vertical concrete due to the sheer force of the blow...

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The room was warm.

She wore a blanket over her small body and held a cup of tea in her hands, sitting on what appeared to be a couch. 

She was a child, or rather, Alita knew she was in the body of her child self. 

Was it a memory from her past? All the scenery around was a blur.

There was another person sitting next to her, and from the timbre of her voice Alita recognized that it was another girl like her, although the voice and face of this same girl, except for her chin-length blonde hair, were barely audible and visible. It was at that moment that Alita realized she was in a dream, for she could not actually move and was only viewing what her child self saw.

Luckily for her, the child turned her eyes to look straight ahead and caught a glimpse of a slender cyborg woman with short, light, almost white hair, dressed casually and wrapped in the same blanket as the mini-Alita and her companion. She was pouring herself a cup of coffee and appeared to be having a friendly conversation with both girls. After a few seconds, the sound seemed to adapt to Alita's ear, or mini-Alita's? Either way, it allowed her to hear more clearly.

"Hey, have you ever been scared, ☰▙▄ ◗▞▚?". the blonde girl asked, but the name came out as pure static out of her mouth.

The woman flashed a sad smile and tired gray eyes, turning to look at both children. "Yes, that's right," she replied, going to sit on a couch near them, and lowering her head as if mulling over her next words. She looked tired, and the real Alita, watching her through the eyes of her little self, felt bad for her. "When a situation is more than I can comprehend... well, that strikes fear into any warrior... But keep this in mind you two: the real danger is not facing the fiercest enemy, no... The gravest danger is being overcome by your OWN fear"

Rising to her feet, the blonde girl clasped her hands behind her back in mocking innocence. "And if we get scared, what do we do~?" she asked pretentiously, clearly unsatisfied with what her teacher was telling her.

The woman smiled once more, looking up as her eyes regained a gleam that made the blonde recoil in fear and, instead, filled both Alitas, the one in the dream and the real one, with excitement. "Even if you're faced with something you can't comprehend, ACCEPT IT! Observe calmly, and don't be overcome by fear, anger, sadness, or despair. Instead, secure your position, and once you have done so, move forward! Like water through a lake!"

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Now she remembered.

Like water through a lake...

Feeling her body move on her own, Alita used a finger on the floor to reduce and control her speed, nimbly spinning and climbing along the wall with the use of her legs, thus reducing the strength of the impact and escaping certain death, culminating with a backflip on the ground.

The crazy woman and Ido stared at Alita with equally astonished eyes, impressed by her sudden display of agility and skill.

"A-Alita" Ido murmured, still lying on the ground. His mind was now racing at a mile per hour.

As if wrenched from her amazement, the killer resumed her attack, charging head front against Alita, who, unconsciously, adopted a strange fighting stance; right hand on the front and left on the back, both legs separated from each other.

When in reach, Alita dodged, going in between the mad woman's extended arms and hitting her just strong enough for her to slam face first on the wall; a small revenge for earlier. For some reason, Alita thought it was a shame she didn't have a blade on her forearm.

She felt so free, feeling the air on every part of her skin as she swung and flew across the air. Through her mind quickly crossed all the ways she could finish the enemy in front of her, each one funnier and more exciting than the last. She was no longer herself, feeling like someone else entirely. Someone adapted for combat and capable of destroying anyone and anything, big or small, metal or flesh, which opposed her way.

Recovering from the blow, the now disfigured killer tried attacking again, but this time climbing to the ceiling and jumping all over the place; the same tactic she had used against Ido before, but this time it was worthless, for Alita could see everything; every movement, jump and change of course she did, and she didn't even have to follow her with the eyes.

It was all so easy.

So boring...

The monster tried to attack Alita from behind, but the latter dodged effortlessly, starting a forbidden dance between the two combatants where the killer clawed faster and faster while Alita dodged with fine and calculated movements, hands mockingly placed behind her back as she backflipped and ducked quicker than the eye could see.

Ido watched from the sidelines, stupefied and in trance. He knew those movements, having read about them in the past. It was a type of martial arts designed for zero gravity, but that could be used by cyborgs on normal terrains. What was its name again...?

Yawning, 'Alita' gave one final dodge at an incoming claw, down-kicking and making the killer lose her balance, then rising up and delivering a powerful spinning back-kick to her back cranium, sending the woman against the wall from close range and splattering her brains all over it, ending the fight.

Alita, or whoever was impersonating her, gave a smug grin until a sudden dizziness set in.

"Hm, what?" Alita asked the air, a hand on her head. She was startled by the horrible bloody mass plastered on the wall behind her, "Yuck, what is this? Eww!"

"Alita..." Ido called almost unconsciously.

Hearing the faint voice, Alita turned to run towards the doc, still lying on the ground, and check on him for any injuries. "IDO! ARE YOU OK? ARE YOU HURT?"

Ido was lost in thought, taking a closer look at the worried cyborg. Those movements... That was Panzer Kunst. Martian Martial Arts!

Panzer Kunst: Of the many types of martial arts developed by humanoid cyborgs, this was held to be the strongest and most efficient, only learned by a few, nowadays known by none.

"... Come with me, Alita, " Ido finally said, getting up after a few moments.

"Eh?"

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Alita awaited sat on the stairs outside Factory 33, place where Ido presumably worked. Her right leg was shattered and broken down, the product of the past fight, having busted shortly after they started walking, and causing Ido to have to carry Alita on his back the whole way, good thing she wasn't the heavy type.

Currently, Ido was inside the complex, receiving the reward for the crazy woman whom Alita had killed.

How unfair.

According to Ido, Alita could not enter the factory unless she went to ask for work there, so waiting outside was the only option. She noticed that the place was very ostentatious, with round stone statues placed on both sides of the long and wide downstairs, one of which also rose in the center section.

She was bored...

Being brutally honest, Alita didn't remember a single thing about the past fight, as if her mind had gone blank during those few minutes and had just let her body move freely, like in some kind of ultimate instinct mode. She only remembered tackling the madwoman and how she escaped from between her arms, letting Alita see the dirty wall where she would surely crash, but nothing else. Could it have been some kind of vestige of her past? Was she formerly some kind of super cool Warrior Girl who punched bad guys and gave hope to the innocent and weak? 

No clue.

Right now, the only thing she could do was imagine...

Or maybe...

Alita turned to look up at the huge letters above her head, reading 'FACTORY 33'.

Bingo.

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"Beep, so the killer was a mutant who went out of her mind, eh? Given her looks, I guess I can see why she had such a vendetta against pretty women, beep"

The Deckman, designated as twelve, imputed the corresponding codes on the computer, verifying the necessary info before throwing the small bloody bag inside the cremation chamber.

"You've been on the warpath hunting down all these wanted targets lately, Ido. Can't say that I'm impressed because I don't have emotions, but it's still very impressive, beep"

Ido didn't say a word. His vision was lost in space.

"Well, here's your bounty payout: 100,000 chips"

Without a word, Ido took the bag of money, turning to leave.

"What, not gonna buy any female parts this time?" the Deckman asked, but Ido was long gone.

.

.

.

"Many ages ago, there was an agency called the 'Police' that managed crime in cities. Ok, you can move them now. How do they feel?"

Alita moved her newly restored legs up and down, testing them, "Great!"

"But in the Scrapyard, the Factory puts out the bounties on criminals and sends Hunter-Warriors, like me, after them. So we go, kill who we must kill, take their heads as proof, and then we get rewarded"

"I'm sorry about getting the wrong idea, Ido," Alita answered cheerfully, playing with her legs.

"Heh... Here I thought I was saving you, and then you go and save me... Thank you, Alita" through his round glasses Ido smiled warmly, to which she reciprocated.

"Anytime" Well, he was the one who gave me this life. How could I have been so dumb as to not trust him?

"Just don't try to make moves like that with this body ever again! It's too much strength, and these parts weren't designed for it!" Ido shouted, throwing the mangled parts into a trash can.

"Yes, sir!"