Boss King and the Blade
Chapter 15 - How could this day get any worse?

Boss King

“Am I dead?” Boss King asked to the dark shape that loomed over him, a solid black outline against the sky.

“Not yet, but we’re working on it” muttered Mighty Princess, grabbing his left arm and hauling him onto his feet. She brushed the dust from his back and regarded him critically.

“Thief Girl ran off after the Aeromancer that way” she told him, sticking a thumb over her shoulder. “Took your machete too. I reckon we go this way and let her sort her own problems out” She pointed in the opposite direction and gave him a hopeful look.

“We can’t, Rebecca” he chided her gently. “Anyway, she’s got my blade. I want that back coz its worth a fortune”

“Fine” humphed Mighty Princess. “Let’s go and finish getting you killed. I think she’s over this way”

His partner took the lead, her machete held two handed as she rounded a corner of the hedge. Boss King followed closely, noting the limp the younger girl was trying to hide. She had been hit pretty hard by the Suppression round, much like his right arm. Between the two of them they made up one undamaged kid, so he hoped that was enough.

As they rounded the edge of the maze wall, the scene that greeted them wasn’t good. Melody stood a short distance away, her hands in the air as she faced a trio of Freelancers. Boss King recognised their leader, an old pro going by the handle of Chalky Hammer. His gang were one of many low rent teams that operated from the Hole, doing jobs too cheap or dirty for the Spitfield or Haven crews.

Boss King clenched his fists, knowing that charging into a fight against professionals was going to get them badly hurt or worse. Yet he had promised to help Melody and his word of honour meant everything to him.

Luckily, the Freelancers hadn’t spotted them yet. He pulled Mighty Princess back into the cover of the hedges and looked her in the eye.

“Rebecca, I need your blade” he said flatly. “No arguments, no compromises. I’m going to get Melody back”

Mighty Princess met his determined gaze and looked like she was going to argue with him. Yet something in his expression must have made her relent and she handed him her machete, settling it into his left hand.

“Don’t lose this one too, Taiga” she said quietly. “It cost me a lot”

“I know” he replied and gave her his toothiest grin. “Anyway, if I lose it we’ll just add the cost onto Melody’s bill”

“Yeah, I like the sound of that” she agreed. “Good luck, Boss King”

“Thanks, Mighty Princess” he answered. He stood, flexing his left arm, testing the weight of the unfamiliar blade, then nodded to himself.

With a final smile for his partner, he lifted the blade and then ran around the corner, yelling at the top of his lungs.

“Banzai Butterfly!” he shouted and charged at the Freelancers, dust kicking up from his feet as he ran. But they weren’t paying attention to him or Melody he realised.

A red and silver carrier drone had roared overhead, launching a small swarm of remotes that angled down at the figures in front of him.

“Abort!” yelled Hammer and the three Freelancers turned and bolted to the nearby copse of trees. The drones zoomed after them, diving and looping as the men fired wildly into the sky.

“Boss King?” Melody called out as he skidded to a stop in front of her. “You are crazy to come after me. Those people would have shot you down!”

“Nah” he responded a little breathlessly. “I know that crew. They call themselves Violent Surrender but they would never hurt a kid”

He reached down and picked up his Ceramite Machete where she had dropped it, slipping it back into the scabbard at his waist.

“Come on, we need to make tracks” he told her. “Those idiots are going to work out soon enough that Zeke only deployed scout drones from his carrier. They can’t be hurt by them so they may come after us again”

“Oh, sure” Melody replied. She followed him as he ran back to where Mighty Princess was watching from around the corner of the maze. Boss King gave the younger girl her machete and slapped her back triumphantly.

“See, Princess” he chortled. “My plan worked perfectly”

“Rubbish” snorted Mighty Princess disdainfully. “You got saved by Zeke and his drones again. The guy is going to give us such a big bill the next time we see him”

“Maybe” he agreed. “We just need to make sure we never speak to him again. Come on, the Arcade is this way”

Boss King set off in the direction he had indicated, Melody and Mighty Princess following in his wake.

“There’s just one thing I don’t understand” Melody called to him from over his shoulder. “How did your friend Zeke know we needed help?”

“I don’t really know” Boss King admitted. “But he keeps tabs on most of the Hole with his remotes, so maybe we just got lucky”

“Us? Lucky?” scoffed Mighty Princess, limping along at the rear of their small group. “That’ll be the day!”

=====

The Arcade, the Hole

Melody-Six

“What is this place?” Melody asked when they reached the edge of the People’s Park. Ahead of them was a tall, brightly painted building made to resemble an old fashioned castle. It had round towers at the corners, a dusty moat crossed by a drawbridge and rusted metal statues of knights with swords and shields standing sentry beside the open portcullis.

A motley collection of electric cars, scooters and bicycles dotted an otherwise empty and weed strewn parking lot out front. The sounds of electronic music, interspersed with pings and beeps, echoed from the shadowy depths of the entranceway.

“It’s the Amusement Arcade” Boss King explained to her. “It used to keep the kids and adults entertained until about ten years ago. Then the whole area was abandoned when the factories and warehouses closed, so the owners sealed the doors and walked away. It stayed empty for a while, pretty much forgotten, until some gamers from Spitfield heard about the place”

“Old games had suddenly become popular again and this place was rumoured to still contain the original arcade versions of some of the best ones. Long story short, the Gamer gangs took this place over as their joint headquarters and installed their own power and water supplies”

“Gamer gangs?” Melody wondered with concern. “Are they dangerous?”

“The Dead Boys from East Park are hard core” Mighty Princess chimed in. “The Slamgirls are kind of fun and the Tronics from Washima can get rowdy. The only real danger is to your cool. Hanging out with these nerds can lower your street cred something fierce”

“I see” Melody answered. “But we are still going in there?”

“Yeah” Boss King told her. “They’ll be able to order us a cab with their net access”

“You’ll be fine, Thief Girl” Mighty Princess assured her. “You haven’t got any street cred to lose”

With Boss King in the lead they crossed the drawbridge, their shoes ringing on the mesh grating that covered it. Through the mesh, Melody could see countless broken game disks and play consoles littering the base of the moat.

“What are they?” she asked her companions, pointing beneath their feet.

“Old games that they didn’t consider worth re-selling” Boss King answered. “They are pretty harsh on products that don’t meet their standards”

The portcullis led into a wide passage, the walls curving up to meet at the centre. Everything was painted to look like ancient stone walls and ahead of them was a set of massive double doors, framed in heavy iron and studded with bronze rivets. One door was open, lights and sounds emanating from within.

Melody followed the boy inside, seeing a huge open space filled with flashing lights, beeping and chirping arcade games in rows and kids, men and women moving around between them.

“Intruders! Halt!” boomed a deep metallic voice from one side of the entrance, startling Melody as she spun to face the source of the challenge.

A tall robot war machine, easily close to three meters tall, loomed over a low counter. Its glowing red eyes locked onto the three of them and one massive clawed arm pointed directly at Boss King.

“Hi Buzz, it’s me, Boss King” he declared easily, swaggering closer to the giant machine. “My friends and I are just here to call a cab”

“No weapons are allowed in the Arcade” the machine voice boomed out. “Please put your blades in the slot provided”

“Sure, sure” Boss King conceded with a less swaggering expression. He unbuckled his machete and scabbard and told Mighty Princess to do the same. She grumbled but in the end she took off her blade and handed it to her partner. Both were laid into a slot at the front of the counter, which closed with a snap.

“Please take your receipt” Buzz bellowed and a slip of paper slid out of a printer port in his stomach. The big metal claws tore it off and handed it delicately to Boss King.

“Thanks” muttered the boy and tucked the receipt into his belt pouch. He moved into the hall, his eyes roaming around as if he was looking for someone. Melody and Mighty Princess joined him, seeing a number of the people here were looking at the new arrivals with interest.

Ages ranged from youths not much older than themselves to bearded and wrinkled gaming veterans who had to be beyond retirement age. A few had their faces painted with white and black skull motifs, their clothing all dark and adorned with pieces of bone. Mighty Princess identified them as Dead Boys, although a couple were definitely female.

A pair of well endowed women in tight skirts scooted past on roller skates, greeting Boss King with cheery smiles and coy winks. Mighty Princess scowled at them and informed Melody they were Slamgirls. No danger to underage girls like themselves but for some reason they all adored her partner.

A final group she identified all wore neon-weave jackets and pants, lights flashing and strobing from the smart-chipped clothing as if they were a living arcade game. These she figured had to be Tronics and it was a tall, lanky member of that gang who approached them.

He had slicked back hair, styled into a crest like the fin of a shark, with small holo-projectors on his shoulders that surrounded his head with a halo of crashing surf and bright blue sky. His face split into a wide grin as he surveyed the three of them, his eyes resting briefly on Mighty Princess and spending some time checking out Melody until Boss King stepped in front of her protectively.

“Hi Sharkie” he greeted the taller boy. “You are looking well since our last game”

“Hey, Boss King” the older boy responded. “You look like somebody took a dump on you. Was it your little gang that was causing the ruckus out in the Park?”

“Nah. Must have been somebody else” Boss King lied smoothly. “We were just visiting Foreign Jay and stopped in here to call a cab”

“That so?” smirked Sharkie. “Well, you know the Arcade rules. Only players are allowed to enter the Arcade. Do you fancy playing a game against me?”

Melody could see how Sharkie had been observing the boy. Boss King had been trying to hide it, but there was no denying he was barely able to use his right arm.

“I’ll play against you, Sharkie” piped up a girl’s voice. Melody turned her head, seeing Mighty Princess standing there with her hands braced on her hips, grinning at Sharkie defiantly. “Or are you too scared to play against a little girl like me?”

She was barely shorter than Sharkie, yet Melody guessed the boy was in his late teens. His clothing and attitude made him look formidable in this environment, however Melody had seen the young girl in action. He wondered if Sharkie knew how scary this little girl could actually be.

“Sure, why not?” Sharkie agreed. “Since I am the challenger, I get to decide the stakes. How about those nice little knives you deposited with Buzz over there?”

“Our blades?” snapped Boss King. “Those are worth more than anything you’ve got, Sharkie. It’s not a fair bet”

“You think so?” Sharkie called out, enjoying being the centre of everyone’s attention. Melody realised the boy was a braggart, liking to show off his talent and wealth to those around him. The boy dove into a pocket of his illuminated jacket, drawing out a slim yet broad faced phone.

“How about this?” he crowed. “Latest model gaming phone with a full catalogue of online games and one year’s prepaid service. Cost my dad over a thousand Pandas just last week”

“Deal!” Mighty Princess jumped in before Boss King could refuse. “If we win, you hand the phone over to us, with the access code of course”

“Sure” Sharkie agreed slyly. “So, little girl, what game are we going to play? You get to choose which one out of all of these that we’ll compete against each other”

Sharkie swept his arms to encompass the entire arcade. Melody let her eyes roam over the vast number of gaming machines, seeing all sorts of arcade games. Some were racing games, others first person shooters or fighting simulations. Against one long wall were basketball games, pitching and batting emulators. All of them looked like they needed a lot of skill and talent to be good at, but she wondered how much experience Mighty Princess had in any of them.

“Arm Wrestling” Mighty Princess declared and the watching crowd gasped in unison.

=====

Chalky Hammer

The drones had stopped chasing Hammer and his gang after they put a couple of blocks between them and the park. The flock of tiny remotes had let them ride away, turning back towards the park and presumably waiting to be recovered by the carrier drone.

Hammer watched them leave in his rear view mirror, then signalled to Irongrim to pull over to the side of the road. The pair of bikes hummed to a stop in the shade of a crumbling warehouse, the afternoon sun sending rays of heat through gaps in the old corrugated sheeting.

“Were those drones from Zeke Tao?” Sunset asked him as she climbed off the rear seat of his bike. She stretched and rubbed at her throat self-consciously, as if blaming herself for the failed mission.

“Yeah, I reckon so” Hammer agreed. “Nobody else would dare to paint their drones in his red and silver heraldry. Somebody must have called him in because the People’s Park is outside his usual territory”

“Any idea who?” Irongrim added to the conversation, still sitting astride his scooter after he had turned off the liquid-hydro engine. He leaned against his backrest, his metal legs straddling the old machine, the left one tapping out a slow rythym until he smacked it with the butt of his rifle.

“Nope” Hammer admitted. “This deal was suspect from the beginning and it’s looking worse every minute”

“Maybe we should’a shot the girl at the start, rather than trying to capture her” Irongrim suggested. “That’s what the Mister asked for, wasn’t it?”

Hammer locked his Enhanced right eye on his partner, letting the red glow match the anger he felt roiling around inside of him.

“We don’t kill kids, Grim” he reminded his oldest partner. “I reckoned once we had the girl, we’d be in a better position to replace out why the Mister wanted her dead”

“You mean break the deal with our employer?” gasped Sunset. “Isn’t that against the Code of the Freelancers Guild?”

“Well, the Code is mostly a rough set of guidelines that Freelancers are expected to follow” Hammer explained. “We are meant to keep our deals confidential, but there is nothing about blind loyalty to an anonymous Mister. That’s for Corporates and Underworld gangs, not Freelancers like us”

“Uh-huh” Irongrim chipped in. “And the Guild isn’t any kind of official organisation. It’s more of a loose association of small teams like ours who share a common occupation. Even the local Guild representative is just someone with a lot of contacts around the city”

“Oh, I get it” Sunset replied, nodding her head. “So who is the local Guild representative?”

Hammer and Irongrim exchanged guilty looks and Sunset fixed her boss with a suddenly alarmed look.

“Who is it?” she repeated and Hammer cleared his throat unhappily.

“That would be Zeke Tao” he answered her at last.

“The same Zeke Tao who just chased us off with his drones!” she shouted at Hammer. “How could this day get any worse?”

At that moment, Hammer’s phone rang. He hesitated, then pulled it from under his armour weave jacket and answered the call.

“Mr Hammer?” came a voice so cold it sounded like it belonged to a corpse. “You have failed to complete your mission. A simple elimination using three experienced Freelancers against children, something any other crew could have finished in less than a minute. I am very disappointed in you, Mr Hammer”

“There were complications, Sir” he said apologetically. “The companions with the target have proven to be remarkably tenacious”

“Tenacious?” said the Mister. “You are more educated than I gave you credit for, Mr Hammer. None the less, why did you attempt to recover the girl rather than eliminate her? I thought my instructions were very clear”

“Yes sir, they were” Hammer conceded. “However we have to live in the Hole after this mission is done. My plan was to capture the girl and dispose of her quietly and out of sight, so no-one could prove our involvement”

“Is that so, Mr Hammer?” the voice oozed menacingly into his ear. “Perhaps you were hoping to force a bonus payment from me before completing the mission?”

“Ah, you got me, Sir” Hammer answered with false relief. “That was exactly what I was aiming to do!”

“Very well, I will authorise an additional Two Thousand Pandas to be transferred to your account on verification the mission is completed as I require. Will that be sufficient to get your team back into action?”

“Oh yes, that is very generous Sir!” he said with a fake smile on his lips, even if the Mister couldn’t see his face. “We’ll make another strike after dusk”

“Excellent, Mr Hammer” the voice slithered into his ear. “I’ll await your next report”

“Of course, Sir” he said but the call had already disconnected. He lowered his phone and met the gazes of his gang members.

“We’ve got a really big problem now” he told them flatly. His eyes, flesh and machine, roamed over the empty seeming street around them, searching for something he doubted he would see. “The Mister has someone shadowing us, reporting back on what we are doing”

“His own people?” Irongrim wondered aloud, casting his own eyes over the collapsing buildings that lined the street.

“Possibly, but more likely another team of Freelancers” Hammer replied. “And that is the big problem”

“Why?” Sunset demanded, seeing the worried faces of her older partners.

“Because it’s bad news when a Mister hires a second team without telling the first one anything about it” Hammer tried to explain to her.

“What bad news?”

“The second team are there to clean up after the first team complete the mission” Irongrim added. “And by clean up, I mean eliminate team one”

“Oh” was all Sunset could say in response to that.

“What’s the plan now, boss?” Irongrim asked him. “We still going after the kid?”

“No” Hammer answered his old friend. “It was a crappy job in the first place and I wished I had never taken it. So now we have to replace a way out of this mess”

“How are we gonna do that, Chalky?” the old Freelancer queried.

Hammer settled himself on his bike, gesturing for Sunset to climb aboard once more. He activated the electric engines, feeling the machine tremble as if eager to be on its way.

“We go and visit Boss King” Hammer announced. “We offer him and the target our services”

“Are you kidding!” Sunset yelled from over his shoulder. Even without using her Aeromancy he was nearly deafened by her outburst. “We just shot the kids and tried to kidnap the girl! Boss King will cut your other arm off if you go anywhere near him!”

“I know, but the kid loves his mother” Hammer explained. “He’ll listen to her and do whatever she recommends. Especially when we bring proof of our willingness to help”

“What kind of proof?” Sunset said, intrigued he knew despite her anger.

“We take out Team Two and get some details on where our mysterious Mister is holed up” Hammer told her. “They had to be in direct communication, probably in person, to avoid any data leaks online”

Hammer pulled his bike onto the cracked road, gunning the engines and accelerating rapidly away. He grinned madly, glad at last that he didn’t have to go through with the awful mission. They might have to fight another team of Freelancers, possibly even getting injured or killed. Yet it would all be worthwhile if he could meet his old buddies in the next life without such a stain on his soul.

“This is a rubbish plan!” Sunset called to him, using her Ability to let her whispered words sink into his ear. She hugged him tightly, gripping her arms around his waist. “Thanks Boss” she added and Hammer felt a warmth blossom in his hardened chest.

“You’re welcome, Sunset”

=====

The Arcade, the Hole

Mighty Princess

“You want to arm wrestle me?” Sharkie spluttered in disbelief. “What are you, eight years old? There is no way you can beat me”

“I’m nine, thank you very much” Mighty Princess snapped in reply. She drew herself up to her full height and glared at him with a wicked grin on her face. “So, are you going to compete or are you conceding the fight?”

Sharkie squirmed a little, his face turning cherry red in the glow of his halo of surf scenes. Some of the gamers were starting to make side bets, a few betting on Sharkie yet even more favouring the Princess.

“You’re on, Princess!” Sharkie suddenly declared. “I’m not afraid of beating down an upstart noob at any game ever invented. Let’s do this!”

There were shouts of approval from his fellow Tronics and happy laughter from the Slamgirls. As far as Princess could tell, the Dead Boys might have been smiling but that could just be the skull face make-up. Princess, Boss King and Melody were escorted by the mixed crowd into the furthest end of the big arcade hall, an excited hubbub drowning out the whistling and beeping machines.

Between the Hoop shooting cage and a miniature bowling alley, the Arm Wrestling machine stood alone. A single spotlight shone down from above, highlighting the two arm rests and grips. The gamers formed a circle around the machine, opinions being shared about how quickly Sharkie would beat the slim girl. Others pointed out the fierce reputation that Mighty Princess had at the Central Markets, whereas Sharkie was an ace gamer but pretty weak in real life.

“Are you sure about this?” Melody asked her quietly as they approached the arcade game. “He’s older and bigger than you. You’re staking a lot on this, Mighty Princess”

“Shush, Thief Girl” Princess chided her. “It will be a breeze”

She glanced at Boss King, who nodded at her calmly. He took a spot in the circle of watchers, dragging Melody with him. Princess nodded in reply and stood at one side of the small circular table. Sharkie swaggered to the other side, obviously buoyed by the shouts of encouragement from the other Tronics.

He faced her easily and adjusted something at his cuff. The holo-display that surrounded the back of his head turned blood red, images of snapping and ripping shark teeth filling the display.

“It’s showtime, Princess” he told her gleefully. “Surrender now and I’ll only take one of the blades!”

“Push off!” she replied angrily. “I’ve decided I’d like a new phone. My mom says I can’t get one til next year, so this will be like early Christmas!”

One of the Slamgirls stepped forward, a tall woman with an impressive mane of yellow hair teased up around her head and an even more impressive bust, barely restrained by her leopard print top. Princess knew her as Tabitha Stardust, one of the local leaders of the Slamgirls based in the Hole.

“Okay, Gamers, listen up” Tabitha announced. The noise around them faded as the Gamers paid attention to the rules of the match, although a lot of the crowd seemed more engaged in looking at her chest bounce up and down as she spoke.

“This is a Sudden Death match. One round only, with the winner being the one who forces their opponent’s hand to touch the sensor panel first” Tabitha pointed to the two illuminated panels set on either side of the centre. They were currently green, but when a player’s hand was pushed onto one it would light up red.

“Standard rules apply” Tabitha continued. “The players have to keep their left hand on the side grip at all times. If they let go of the side grip or release their opponent’s right hand for any reason, they forfeit immediately. Is that clear?”

“Yep” agreed Princess and Sharkie added his own affirmation.

“Oh, and one more rule” the Slamgirl continued. “You can’t physically attack the other player with your feet or any other body part, got that?” She gave an extra long look directly at Princess, as if she expected the young girl to do exactly that.

“Fine by me” Princess replied. “I plan to touch this Gamer boy as little as possible”

She stepped up to the table, putting her right elbow on the central padded circle. Her left hand gripped the side bar and she grinned a challenge to her opponent.

“Come and get some, Sharkie!” she drawled. This drew a ripple of laughter and the older boy narrowed his eyes in anger. He stepped up to his side of the table and matched her stance, gripping her waiting right hand with his own.

Tabitha reached forward and activated the automatic game system. An electronic voice from within the machine warbled out, advising the players to get ready. Princess and Sharkie tensed, their palms locked together as the timer counted down.

“Three....” said the game. The crowd fell completely silent, every eye on the mismatched opponents.

“Two....” announced the game. Melody and Boss King were standing right next to each other, Princess could see. Their hands were touching, gripping each other in moral support. A wash of anger flew through her, giving her strength but she laughed on the inside.

She wasn’t going to win this game by using strength. Sharkie was looking right into her eyes, trying to judge how she would play.

“I love you, Sharkie” she whispered to the boy, her eyes locked with his.

“WHAT?” shouted Sharkie as the game counted “One”

Princess slammed his hand down onto the sensor panel, lighting it up in brilliant red.

The whole arcade erupted in jubilant shouting and Mighty Princess was engulfed by a horde of well-wishers, patting her on the back and telling her she was bloody brilliant.

“Holy crap, that was insane!” gabbled Melody when she and Boss King were finally able to separate her from the Gamers. “I can’t believe you pulled that off”

“I always knew she could do it” Boss King said approvingly. “That’s why she is the Mighty Princess”

“Thanks Boss” Princess beamed in reply. Of all the congratulations she received, his was the only one that mattered to her.

“Now, let’s get that phone from Sharkie before he runs off to cry someplace” Boss King added. “We can use it to order a cab”

“Sure thing” she agreed. “But can you get it from him, please? I am not sure I can talk to him right now”