Acid Reign : Genesis
Chapter 9: Payback

The air in the East Market reeked of sweat, sewage, and the unholy aroma of rotting meats. It was nothing like the dignified Central Market, where every item was new, and strict laws about selling weapons, food, and tech governed every transaction.

Here you could buy or sell pretty much anything. This was Nun’s territory. Over the last thirty years, his runners have risked their lives, scavenging materials, machinery and technology that had kept Nucrea alive and functioning. Because of this, the Council had ignored the way he had handled his business, which was unethical to say the least. Soldiers patrolled and handled civil disputes, but knew not to interfere with anything else.

Near the end of the market, there was a group of boys gathered around Puck. There was no mistaking that Puck was Tooth’s son. He was taller than the other boys, and had the same lean, but strong posture, sunken eyes, and sinewy frame as his infamous father.

“Bet you spent every credit on that,” Wince said as he admired Puck’s new Pigeon.

Puck smiled to himself. “Almost all of it. It was worth it though. If you gonna’ be a Runner, you need good tech. Already got a ranking boost from Nun for the contract.”

“It’s so beautiful,” Tom whispered as he stared at the screen.

The three boys all looked at Tom with sideways glances.

“You’re a weirdo, Tom,” Wince said, hitting him in the shoulder.

Tom was the smallest of the group. His soft face and even softer frame made him an easy target for their bullying, but he was used to it, and didn’t seem to mind. He just wanted to fit in.

Wince’s younger brother Jens drooled over the Pigeon while Puck scrolled through the Runner’s feed. Then, as if Jens was too young to experience what it was like to have a Pigeon, Puck shut the signal down, and reverently covered the Pigeon with his sleeve. All four boys paused and shared in the satisfaction of Puck’s adventure.

In Nucrea, everyone had responsibilities designated to their families. If your father was a builder or fixer, you apprenticed with him and that is what you did. If your mother was a baker, a weaver, or a grower, then that is what you learned to do.

If you didn’t want to be stuck with your parent’s occupation, you only had three options. Some kids wanted to be soldiers in the Nucrean Guard, and if they were skilled enough, they could become a part of the small privileged group of Elites. There were only a few openings each year, which seemed to go to the same social classes, but every once in a while someone from the other classes was given a chance.

Second, if you made the right friends and played the social game well enough, you could get into the Consulate, but unless you were born into a family already in a more privileged position, the odds were always heavily against you. This was the system, and the majority just accepted their fate and stuck with what the Council deemed was their heritage.

Lastly, and the most glorious way out of the system, was to become a Runner. Runners were the heroes in Nucrea. They were the ones who broke the mold the hard way. They were the warriors that chose to go outside of the safety of Nucrea, and stare death in the face. You could make a small fortune, and if you survived long enough, you might be able to spend it and make a name for yourself. That was the catch though; you had to learn how to survive the elements of the Fringe, and avoid being killed by Fringers, ungodly beasts, and even some of the other Runners.

“So, you really killed those Fringers?” Wince asked.

Jens felt uncomfortable, thinking about the answer.

“Yep,” Puck boasted. He looked around to make sure no soldiers were nearby, and then lifted his shirt to show off the old revolver Lilly had found in the factory. “Two shots, two kills. Nun said he was proud of me. Said I’m gonna be the best.”

“Cept your dad of course,” Jens added.

“I’m talkin’ about the younger ones, dumbass.”

Jens tried to hide his embarrassment, realizing how stupid his comment seemed now, but Tom was happy someone else was the target for once.

“What’d it feel like? You know...when you kilt em,” Wince asked, trying to take Puck’s attention away from Jens.

Puck closed his eyes and savored the false memory. “Like you have all the power in the world.”

“You gonna join the insurgents?” Tom asked, loudly.

Puck quickly pulled his shirt back over the revolver. The boys got tense and looked around to see if anyone had heard what Tom had said. Wince stepped up to Tom as if he was going to stuff him in a hole somewhere.

“Shut it, Tom! You wanna get shot next?” Puck said as he pushed his way in front of Wince. He pointed over his shoulder at two guards who were making their way through the market.

“One of those guards hear you talk like that and they’ll send you to the Fringe.” Puck poked him in the chest and got in his face. “And there’s no way you would make it. Your dad didn’t survive and neither would you, so shut your mouth.”

Tom’s dad was a runner. He had taken an open contract a year ago, but never came back. Tom put up with the bullying and the normal boy stuff, but talking about his dad was something else.

“Don’t...talk...about my dad,” Tom said with a dark tone the other boys didn’t recognize.

“What are you gonna do?” Puck sneered.

Puck had a crazy switch, and that switch had turned on now. He was the spitting image of his dad, but this was when he resembled him most. A violence driven sociopath, with nothing but cruel intent behind his eyes.

Jens and Wince stepped closer to intervene, partly so Puck wouldn’t do something he would get put away for, and partly so Tom wouldn‘t die. Tom was weak, but they liked him.

“Don’t be like that, Puck. He didn’t mean anything by it,” Wince said, being the only one that could hold his ground with Puck.

Lilly followed the tracks to the northeastern edge of the city, and recognized where they led. She didn’t need to keep going. Everyone, Runners that is, knew who lived in Freetown and whose tire tracks those were.

She dropped the transport off at the dock and left without talking to Nun. That would most likely upset him, but she only had one thing on her mind. She could work out the payment for the transport later.

Lilly shoved her way through the sea of people. She gracefully dodged the wild hand of a man disagreeing over the quality of an item, but knocked a woman’s basket of clothes to the ground.

“Hey!” The woman screamed.

Lilly didn’t stop to help, or even acknowledge the woman existed, as her target finally came into view.

Tom went from looking like the next victim of one of Puck’s sociopathic fits, to a potential witness of some glorious act of vengeance. His uncharacteristically menacing grin was visible over Puck’s shoulder.

“What?” Puck snapped.

“Hey, Puck!”

Puck turned his head to look behind him as Lilly broke through the crowd. Everything disappeared behind her fist. A bright light flashed, followed by darkness. His ears rang and he felt something ram into his side, knocking the wind out of him. He realized it was the ground, as the side of his head hit next. The iron taste of blood and embarrassment filled his mouth. He panicked. He could hear the sounds of the market, but couldn’t see anything. He thought he could hear Wince yelling something, but couldn’t hear anything clearly.

Finally, air. He coughed as dust and blood filled his airway. The pain in his face began to set in as his vision cleared the rest of the way.

Damn she hits hard.

Lilly just stood above him, as if she was waiting for him to do something. He fumbled for the revolver, and managed to pull it free, Lilly’s face focused dead center in the gun’s sights. She stepped back and laughed as she raised her hands.

“Don’t shoot! Please, Puck!” Lilly mocked.

He looked at his friends. He would never live down being knocked on his ass by a girl, sucker punch or not, but the fact that she knew his gun wasn’t functional infuriated him the most.

Defeated, Puck’s arm went limp and dropped the revolver. He looked at her pistol and the electrical A9 strapped to her chest and knew they were both definitely functional.

“I should kill you for stealing my score,” Lilly said as she pulled her pistol free of its holster and pointed it at Puck. “It’s sad that you didn’t have the balls to try and take it the proper way, ’cause that I could’ve respected. But, tazing me from behind? I thought your pa would’ve taught you better.”

“Whatever,” Puck hissed through a bloody mouth.

He spit out blood and started to get up, as Lilly stepped forward and reemphasized that she had a gun. “No need to get up. I’ll just take what’s mine and be on my way.”

Puck sat back down and considered rushing her, but decided against it as Lilly’s face went cold.

“Please, give me a reason,” Lilly warned. She glanced at Wince who had started to move toward her.

“You stay right there, blondie.”

Lilly looked back at Puck. “The Pigeon.”

Puck was furious, but this was Lilly, and he knew it was a good possibility that she would shoot. He pulled back his sleeve and released the Pigeon strap, letting it fall to the ground.

Lilly moved forward and picked it up, while still aiming her pistol at his face. She held her face close for a moment just to add some emphasis, then slid it into her bag and motioned for him to hand over the revolver too.

“Gun,” she said calmly as if he didn’t understand her initial gesture.

Puck picked it up and handed it to her. He had always been jealous of Lilly, but never truly hated her until now.

Lilly holstered her gun and added the revolver to her bag.

“That wasn’t so hard now, was it?”

“You’re making a big mistake, Lil,’” Puck hissed as he wiped his mouth.

Wince pulled a knife and moved toward her. In one quick motion, she unlatched and swung the A9, knocking the knife from his hand. The sound of the A9 charging was now the only sound in the market. Everyone froze. The crowd backed up, creating as much distance from the boys as possible. They wanted nothing to do with a deadly dose of electricity.

“Stupid girl,” Wince whispered to himself as he stared at the rolling blue sparks on the A9’s barrel.

“What the hell, Lilly!” Gus bellowed as he broke through the crowd.

Gus was a large, round man, but somehow carried himself as if he were a fit, young soldier. His stray white hair and beard added just the right touch to the friendly insanity he embodied. In essence, he was the crazy, cuddly, teddy bear, favorite uncle type, that didn’t mind killing Fringers with his bare hands.

Gus looked at Puck’s face, then made a quick survey of the other boys and chuckled. “Pissed off the wrong girl, didn’t we, rats?” Gus looked back at the two soldiers making their way through the crowd and looked at Puck again. “As much as I want to watch this all play out...we gotta go Lil’, and I mean right now.”

Lilly turned and caught a glimpse of the soldiers coming right at them. She magnetically reattached the A9 to her vest, and followed Gus through the crowd to a side alley.

Tom and Jens disappeared into the crowd just as the soldiers got there, but Wince stayed with Puck.

Wince tried to help him get up, but Puck pushed his hand away.

“Don’t touch me,” Puck said as he dusted himself off. “You should’ve done something.”

Wince didn’t know how to respond to Puck sometimes so he just kept silent.

One soldier saw Lilly and Gus as they headed through the alley. “I’ve got them,” he said to his partner, annoyed at actually having to do his job.

“Copy.”

“Is there a problem?” the soldier asked Puck with an arrogant smirk on his face.

“No,” Puck said with disgust. He hated Nucrean soldiers.

“You sure? Because to me it looks like there might be a problem.”

“I told you there isn’t a problem,” Puck hissed.

Puck was almost as tall as the soldier was. After a moment, the soldier seemed to recognize who Puck was, or more importantly, who his father was, and felt the unease of making a life-threatening mistake.

“Get lost.”

Puck didn’t mind the dismissal. Any longer and he might have tried to kill the soldier, and would most likely succeeded. He would have gotten a good price for the gear, too, but would have become the subject of a manhunt.

As the soldier watched Puck and Wince disappear into the crowd, he noticed a young woman walking with tightly fitted clothing. He stared lustfully for a moment then walked over to introduce himself.

The soldier followed Lilly and Gus through the junk-filled back streets of the market. He covered his mouth with his sleeve in a futile attempt to hide the smell. He debated turning back, but he couldn’t. This was the most exciting thing that had happened in weeks.

Gus and Lilly turned a corner and came to a dead end. Gus scanned the buildings and saw a door that looked like it might open with some force.

It wasn’t Gus’s style to run from people, but they were in Nucrea, and Lilly’s altercation with Puck would warrant a seizure of their weapons and get her time in a holding cell. He wasn’t interested in having to explain any of that to Ripp.

“Lilly,” Gus whispered as loud as possible.

He pointed at a door in between two buildings, near the back of a small inlet. They ran over, hoping they had time to hide before the soldier caught up to them. The door gave way as Gus slammed a shoulder into it. Lilly ran in while Gus spread a couple of handfuls of dirt to help cover their footprints.

Luckily, the locking bolt above the door was still intact. Gus slid the metal bar into place and looked around for anything to block the door, but the room was empty.

“Why don’t you look in the back for anything we could block this door with, so you don’t get thrown in a holding cell?”

“Okay. Geesh.”

Lilly ran to the back room. Gus set his feet to brace against the door, gripping the handle with both hands.

“Empty,” Lilly said as she came out of the back room. Gus nodded for her to get ready in case he couldn’t hold the door. She drew her boot knife and crouched, ready to cut.

The soldier came around the corner and looked at the dead end. He looked for any sign of movement.

Gus and Lilly focused on the footsteps that were getting closer to the door. There was silence for a moment then they heard the faint brush of metal on metal. Gus checked his grip on the handle, hoping the soldier didn’t decide to just shoot through the door.

“Legs,” Gus mouthed to Lilly. She nodded that she understood.

Gus tightened his grip and braced as the guard slowly tried to turn the handle. Gus was able to hold the handle firmly in place but knew what was coming next. The handle jerked lightly, then was followed by the impact of the guard’s shoulder armor.

Bang!

After a few seconds of silence, the guard tried once more, but the door and Gus held. Lilly made a concerned face and shook her head in disagreement, as she slid the knife across her neck and mouthed “neck”. She mimicked opening the door to let the guard in and showed Gus that she would slit his throat.

Gus, hiding laughter as best he could, furled his brow and acted disgusted with the thought of Lilly having too much fun with the idea. Lilly was playfully saddened as Gus made it clear he wasn’t going to do that.

There was a thudding boom in the distance followed by muffled gunshots.

“Insurgents are at the armory,” a voice said over the soldier’s earpiece.

“Copy. Heading your way.” The soldier smashed the butt of his rifle on the door. “I know you’re in there!”

The guard took off running back to the market.

Lilly smirked as she watched him wipe his forehead with a sleeve. “You’re so dramatic,” Lilly said as she sheathed her knife.

“I’m dramatic?”

“Yeah, kinda.”

“Let’s talk about dramatic. You just knocked a kid on his ass, and pulled a gun on him in the middle of the day, and in front of the whole market, I might ad. Nice hit, by the way,” He said as he quickly patted her on the shoulder in approval.

He pulled back, folded his arms, and put on the most disappointed look he could. “And then, if that wasn’t enough you pulled an extremely illegal A9 on another boy, not fifty feet from two Nucrean soldiers.”

“They didn’t see anything.”

“I saw the whole market back up when you charged that A9, but whether they did or not, we almost had to kill one of them. And...I am positive that was Tooth’s boy, you hit. Ripp isn’t gonna be happy about that.”

“Yeah, well, he deserved it. He stole...”

She stopped there and went for the door, knowing she had said too much.

“Let’s go,” she said hoping he didn’t hear her.

Gus put his hand on the door, blocking her escape route.

“Whoa there, he stole your what?”

“Nothing, let’s just go.”

She tried to push past him again, but Gus swatted her hand away.

“Nope, you don’t get a pass on this one. Stole my, money? Pretty sure Ripp has all that under control. Stole my gun? No, that’s not it. Half the market saw you waving it around. What’s left?” Gus asked, with a thoughtful finger on his chin and staring intensely at her bag.

“Let’s try this. You just assaulted Tooth’s ugly spawn, rekindling a fire Ripp just put out, because he somehow was able to take your score from a contract you weren’t supposed to take. That’s what I’m guessing.”

Lilly looked at him, trying to act as if she had no idea what he was talking about, then realized he was looking at her bruises. She moved her hair to cover the one over her eye.

“You’ve been beggin’ Ripp to get your own contract for months, and then all of a sudden, when Ripp is gone for a couple of days, I can’t replace you anywhere. Nun avoids me like I’m a leprous whore, which he usually does anyway, that’s not the point. But it makes sense, cause he knows I’ll kill him, if he sent you on a run without us. Please, tell me if I’m wrong, ’cause I wanna be.”

Lilly was happy that he didn’t know about Ripp’s Pigeon.

“Wow, I’m actually amazed at how extremely accurate that was. Please, don’t say anything to Ripp.”

Lilly, seeing that Gus wasn’t in a playful mood, looked down at the floor, and tried to replace a hole she could crawl in.

“Not sure if I can keep this one to myself. Ripp will replace out soon enough anyway. Tooth will see to that.”

“Puck’s fine, I’m sure he doesn’t want to tell his pa he got knocked out by a girl anyways. And, the run wasn’t anything dangerous.”

Gus looked at her with compassion and then, in an instant, seemed to transform back into the angry uncle. “Obviously, but I want to know how Puck got a hold of your stuff.”

Lilly thought about different versions she could come up with, but decided it was pointless to lie. Gus might have looked like he was missing a few gears, but he was smarter than most.

“It wasn’t dangerous. It was an open contract, just outside the wall. Puck followed me. After I found a way in and loaded up, he stunned me and took everything.”

Gus looked at her wanting her to explain more.

“There weren’t any Fringers,” she replied guessing his next question.

“Just like his daddy,” Gus said, more to himself than to her.

Gus looked at her as if he knew there was more to the story, but was more concerned about the gunfire in the distance. He opened the door and checked the alley just as two more explosions thudded.

“Something’s going down. We need to get outta’ here. Ripp is gonna meet us at Johnny’s, and all this is making me thirsty.”

Gus walked out of the doorway and checked the alleyway.

“So...you aren’t gonna tell Ripp?”

Gus stopped and closed his eyes, and after what seemed like forever to Lilly, he opened them and grinned.

“No.”

Lilly jumped up and gave him a big hug.

“Thanks, Gus! You’re the best.”

Gus pulled away slightly and looked at her sporting a devious grin. “You’re gonna tell him.”