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- Story Listed as: Fiction For Adults
- Theme: Action & Adventure
- Subject: Time: PAST/Present/FUTURE
- Published: 08/16/2021
Spark looks around the cyberpunk capital of the world where the best and worst come to play. He pushes his blue sunglasses up and follows the directions displayed on them.
He notices a robocop tailing him and stops to see what it wants.
"Hey you, come here," the robocop states while flicking its baton on his other hand.
"What do you want?" Spark asks.
Spark notices more robocops coming from store fronts and alleyways. "Come quietly or there will be hell to pay." the robocop demands.
Spark sighs heavily and turns around.
Spark says "What for?"
"Your crimes in Yum City are catching up with you. We can take you into custody without a fuss or you can put up a fight and I will be forced to treat you like the criminal scum you are," the robocop says.
There's no way out of this, Spark thinks.
Spark turns around and shoots the automated non-sentient police drones dropping several as he takes off down a narrow alley.
Spark thinks back to the crime in question. A police droid was about to execute a child along with the kidnapper to end the situation and Spark intervened.
Despite beating the forecasted probabilities of success and saving the child Spark was sentenced to death but later life in Prison amid large protests on his behalf. In transit an unknown party in the government broke him out and now claims that he can be cleared of all wrong doing.
He just has to help expose the corrupt police force and handle malfunctioning robots.
He runs past a properly functioning police unit and it ignores him as the defective units give chase.
The defective droids severely injure several people and the functional police unit takes notice as it begins pursing the defective machines.
After a few minutes of running Spark evades the defective droids and the non-defective droids continue to pursue them eventually ripping them to pieces.
Spark makes it to the designated location at the time specified. He catches his breath and waits for an unknown contact.
"Hello," a voice says from nowhere.
"Who are you? Why did you help me escape?" Spark asks feeling very vulnerable.
"I'm someone who needs your help in taking down the corruption in this country."
Spark laughs asking. "What exactly do you want me to do?"
The man looks at Spark. "Find the corrupt and handle them how you see fit. Tho I will say some are better imprisoned than dead. We will provide you with safe houses and anything else you need to complete the objective."
Spark ponders the offer and accepts. He has nothing to lose and he wants to clear his name.
"I'll be in touch," the mysterious contact says immediately ending the call as his 3D rendering disappears and the tiny drone that was projecting it disintegrates in mid air.
Spark searches the city for information regarding the police corruption. He knows it's there, he just has to find it and decides he will covertly follow different human and human controlled bots and watch closely.
Days past and he finds no signs of any sort of corruption.
While the police are generally hated, they are all genuinely trying to maintain order and justice. All officers he sees are nice to the public and equally as nice to their fellow officers. That is until the first day of the second week...
...
He is staking out the local dance club "EleKtric" when he sees what appears to be two cops talking in a deserted alley. One cop points and as the other turns around to look he is shot in the back of the head by his fellow officer. Spark is startled by this and honks his horn in his shock. The cop looks over towards his car and starts shooting at him. Spark continues to honk his horn and drives away from the area as fast as he can.
He is completely in shock after witnessing that. He can't even process it. What he saw though replayed itself over and over again in his head for the remainder of the night. It was real, he didn't imagine it.
He listens to the police radio. This is Officer Benton, Officer Spark is down I repeat Andrew Spark is down. Suspect is in a Black Lincoln LS model year 2079. Considered armed and extremely dangerous. " Spark hears the corrupt officer says as he frames him for the Murder of his father.
Spark slams on the breaks as tears fill his eyes. "No..no..nonono. Dad was...was all I had left. What am I gonna do? How could they just..." He thinks but is interrupted by bullets hitting the trunk. He looks and sees the corrupt officer shooting at him. He drives away as fast as he can as the police start chasing him.
Spark doesn't know what to do but he feels like if he stops the corrupt officer will kill him to even if other officers are around.
He looks around the brightly lit neon city as he gets onto the cyber highway with the cops close behind. Hitting the straight away Spark floors it and the 10,000 horsepower equivalent electric motors spin the tires for a mile as the A.I maintains control and the police cruisers start to fall behind as a copter joins the chase.
The highway ends and he is forced to turn right as the police are still shooting at him. Spark lays on the gas and the tires smoke as they start to melt. He turns right again and then left as he looks for a way out of this mess. Thinking quickly he turns sharply and burst through the guard rail into the water below as he relaxes his body.
The impact hurts but he is able to climb out and swim under the water and out of sight as the police jet copters light up the area around where the car entered the water as Spark makes it to the shore and runs through the darkened city streets.
The police will be busy searching the river for a body before moving on to searching around the city. Spark doesn't have much time. Looking at his glasses he finds that the police have labeled him as the murderer of a cop but also the terrorist who blew up the power station. "That was fast!" He thinks as he looks at the sky and hides from several police drones running pre-programmed sweeps as they rush towards the river to scan. He watches as they fly overhead and hides under a bridge till they are gone.
As Spark moves away from the river he can see that the billboards of the city have already change showing his picture as they did in the last city.
"Dammit!" He says.
"Hey you! Your the one that saved that little girl right? Get in here and hide for awhile while the heat dies down." A man says from a doorway to Spark's left.
Spark asks the man. "Who are you?"
"I own this hotel...Come on inside and lets talk about this. I am how you say. On wrong side if law as well." The man says and walks away. Spark follows and the man leads him deeper into the hotel.
He looks around the Hotel having never been inside it before as he takes in the expensive decor and rich atmosphere as they walk.
The man takes Spark to a backroom that contains a secret door. "Watch your head." He says and opens the door leading into a large tunnel.
"Welcome to the Undercity."
"Undercity?"
The hotel owner speaks in a thick Russian accent. "The Undercity is the city before it became all lights and flashy things. Before technology took over. Its all still here. And the cyber cities around the world are built over the ruins. Its all very unstable as well. As you can see the supports are reinforced each year. And the World Elites wage a secret war on those surviving down here... Everything is at rusk of crashing down but no one listens. Party over here and A ball game here. What about this?" He says gesturing to a bent and twisted support from 30 years ago as they walk by the sky scraper sized structure partially crushing a nuclear plant..
He leads Spark down the tunnel for a few minutes until they reach a metal staircase that spirals down. "This is your room for now."
Spark looks around, the room is about 10 feet by 10 feet. The walls are plain and dirty with a single light bulb for lighting. "Hey this is great!" Spark says sarcastically.
The owner agrees. "Trust me when I say it is much better than the other options comrade." He says.
"There is a metal door on the far side over there. There is a sign that says 'Restrooms' if you need anything just tap on it and I will be here in a flash." The man says and then walks back up the stairs.
Spark is still in disbelief at how dirty the room is but soon realizes how tired he feels from everything that has happened and finds that at least the bed and sheets are clean...
...
...
Waking the next morning he sees a disguise next to his bed. A high grade suit for humans to blend in with cyborgs and blue hair dye for the purple hair Spark currently has. He quickly dresses and changes his hair hardly recognizing himself in the mirror and goes up the stairs to find the owner of the hotel sitting and drinking coffee.
"Your friend is coming in about an hour to pick you up. I figured you would want to wait inside." He says.
Spark looks at him oddly. "Friend?" He asks.
The Russian looks at him. "A friend of mine is a friend of yours as well." He answers cryptically. "So what are you going to do now?"
Spark shrugs. "I'm not sure yet."
"Well I know a guy that is looking for a few good mercs on the Island continent. Others are going there as well so you have company and support there. I would go with you but I think I am needed here. They will expose conditions and cut corners down here soon. Hopefully before a Cybercity falls into an Undercity."
Spark nods. "Thanks for you help."
Spark waits outside and a half hour later a hover car pulls into the parking lot. A young woman gets out and walks over to him. Spark feels a wave of energy hit him as she walks over.
She smiles. "You must be Spark." She says holding out her hand which Spark shakes.
He asks "And you are?"
She smirks. "Someone who knows a guy who is friends with the owner of this hotel."
Spark nods.
"So are you ready to go?" She asks.Spark answers. "Sure I guess, it's not like I have too much attachment to this city." The woman nods at his response.
Getting into the hover car with the woman spark is uncomfortable as they shoot past the Cybercity and into the sky. Almost immediately a police Hover copter's lights flash behind them. A voice comes over the police Speaker. " Ember, you know if you run again we are allowed to use lethal force force this time. Come in quietly and we can work something out."
" Go get some donuts pig!" She yells back.
Spark turns to her. "Are you sure this is going to work? I'm not sure if I like this plan."
She laughs as she slams the throttle forward and the hovercar rockets away as Spark's brain fails to register he still has a body under the intense acceleration, feeling as if it is stretched along their path and hasn't caught up yet.
The police in pursuit open fire and Ember Barrel rolls around a sky scraper avoiding the plasma bolts as they both pull 5 Gs.
Spark looks over at her as she pilots the vehicle. "So your name..is..... Ember?" He says. She shakes her head. "It's actually Victoria but I prefer Ember, it suits me better."
Spark feels a large object hit the bottom of the hover car and they bounce upward. Victoria yells "WE ARE TAKING FIRE!" Then gasps as they go into a tailspin toward a skyscraper. Hitting hard the craft comes to rest stuck 4000 feet in the air as the police copter circles the slanted glass roof of the building.Getting out of the hovercar Ember and Spark focus to keep their balance and not look down as the police open fire. The shots miss but startle Ember as she falls back and begins sliding toward the 4,000 foot drop unable to stop herself.
Spark dives after her as he pulls the knife his father gave him just the other day. Hitting the glass harder than he thought he gets winded and gasps for breath as he reaches out grabbing her hand just as she clears the edge. Seeing the glass give way to 4000 feet of freefall as his vision seems to zoom out as he is hit by a blast of wind from the updraft and he freezes in panic till the last possible second. He swings his knife as hard as he can and the blade penetrates 3 inches into the 1 inch thick glass. With nothing but a smooth handle and one hand Spark looks down 1000 feet to a flat outcropping made of glass as his grip gets sweaty and they both scream unable to do anything as the police copter hovers circling the building.
Spark hears her yell. "Let me go, you'll die!"
He answers in a panic. "I'd rather die than kill you!"
"If we fall grab onto me as tight as you can!" He tells Ember.
Spark thinks to himself. " Its just 15 feet. Its just 15 feet IT'S JUST FITFTEEN... FEET!" With his grip about to fail he pulls the knife out of the glass and they begin to fall as he has only one idea that he has only done at much smaller distances.
With both arms around him she hugs him with her legs as tight as she can and buries her head in the back of his shoulder.
Spark draws back the knife and slams it into the window hoping it will slow their fall as he uses he other enhanced arm to hold onto the knife. A shower of powdered glass comes from the knifes path of travel and they slow significantly. Turning in mid air shifting their weight Spark lashes out with a punch shattering the 1 inch thick window as they fall through and into a swimming pool.
Tho the landing hurt they both break the surface laughing and climb out of the pool as Spark holds his bleeding hand as Ember looks at him. "You. Risked your life for me. That was stupid.... But thank you."
Spark looks her in the eyes, "Will you come with me now?"Ember nods.
"After what you just did. Yes, I will go anywhere with you Spark but this isn't a Love story so don't get any ideas."
Spark and Victoria run hand in hand out of the hotel, slipping by the police as they head to a nearby train that takes them out of the city.
Ember looks at Spark trying to figure out if what she feels is real or just from the situation as the train nears the first stop.
CyberCity : 2080(Justin)
Spark looks around the cyberpunk capital of the world where the best and worst come to play. He pushes his blue sunglasses up and follows the directions displayed on them.
He notices a robocop tailing him and stops to see what it wants.
"Hey you, come here," the robocop states while flicking its baton on his other hand.
"What do you want?" Spark asks.
Spark notices more robocops coming from store fronts and alleyways. "Come quietly or there will be hell to pay." the robocop demands.
Spark sighs heavily and turns around.
Spark says "What for?"
"Your crimes in Yum City are catching up with you. We can take you into custody without a fuss or you can put up a fight and I will be forced to treat you like the criminal scum you are," the robocop says.
There's no way out of this, Spark thinks.
Spark turns around and shoots the automated non-sentient police drones dropping several as he takes off down a narrow alley.
Spark thinks back to the crime in question. A police droid was about to execute a child along with the kidnapper to end the situation and Spark intervened.
Despite beating the forecasted probabilities of success and saving the child Spark was sentenced to death but later life in Prison amid large protests on his behalf. In transit an unknown party in the government broke him out and now claims that he can be cleared of all wrong doing.
He just has to help expose the corrupt police force and handle malfunctioning robots.
He runs past a properly functioning police unit and it ignores him as the defective units give chase.
The defective droids severely injure several people and the functional police unit takes notice as it begins pursing the defective machines.
After a few minutes of running Spark evades the defective droids and the non-defective droids continue to pursue them eventually ripping them to pieces.
Spark makes it to the designated location at the time specified. He catches his breath and waits for an unknown contact.
"Hello," a voice says from nowhere.
"Who are you? Why did you help me escape?" Spark asks feeling very vulnerable.
"I'm someone who needs your help in taking down the corruption in this country."
Spark laughs asking. "What exactly do you want me to do?"
The man looks at Spark. "Find the corrupt and handle them how you see fit. Tho I will say some are better imprisoned than dead. We will provide you with safe houses and anything else you need to complete the objective."
Spark ponders the offer and accepts. He has nothing to lose and he wants to clear his name.
"I'll be in touch," the mysterious contact says immediately ending the call as his 3D rendering disappears and the tiny drone that was projecting it disintegrates in mid air.
Spark searches the city for information regarding the police corruption. He knows it's there, he just has to find it and decides he will covertly follow different human and human controlled bots and watch closely.
Days past and he finds no signs of any sort of corruption.
While the police are generally hated, they are all genuinely trying to maintain order and justice. All officers he sees are nice to the public and equally as nice to their fellow officers. That is until the first day of the second week...
...
He is staking out the local dance club "EleKtric" when he sees what appears to be two cops talking in a deserted alley. One cop points and as the other turns around to look he is shot in the back of the head by his fellow officer. Spark is startled by this and honks his horn in his shock. The cop looks over towards his car and starts shooting at him. Spark continues to honk his horn and drives away from the area as fast as he can.
He is completely in shock after witnessing that. He can't even process it. What he saw though replayed itself over and over again in his head for the remainder of the night. It was real, he didn't imagine it.
He listens to the police radio. This is Officer Benton, Officer Spark is down I repeat Andrew Spark is down. Suspect is in a Black Lincoln LS model year 2079. Considered armed and extremely dangerous. " Spark hears the corrupt officer says as he frames him for the Murder of his father.
Spark slams on the breaks as tears fill his eyes. "No..no..nonono. Dad was...was all I had left. What am I gonna do? How could they just..." He thinks but is interrupted by bullets hitting the trunk. He looks and sees the corrupt officer shooting at him. He drives away as fast as he can as the police start chasing him.
Spark doesn't know what to do but he feels like if he stops the corrupt officer will kill him to even if other officers are around.
He looks around the brightly lit neon city as he gets onto the cyber highway with the cops close behind. Hitting the straight away Spark floors it and the 10,000 horsepower equivalent electric motors spin the tires for a mile as the A.I maintains control and the police cruisers start to fall behind as a copter joins the chase.
The highway ends and he is forced to turn right as the police are still shooting at him. Spark lays on the gas and the tires smoke as they start to melt. He turns right again and then left as he looks for a way out of this mess. Thinking quickly he turns sharply and burst through the guard rail into the water below as he relaxes his body.
The impact hurts but he is able to climb out and swim under the water and out of sight as the police jet copters light up the area around where the car entered the water as Spark makes it to the shore and runs through the darkened city streets.
The police will be busy searching the river for a body before moving on to searching around the city. Spark doesn't have much time. Looking at his glasses he finds that the police have labeled him as the murderer of a cop but also the terrorist who blew up the power station. "That was fast!" He thinks as he looks at the sky and hides from several police drones running pre-programmed sweeps as they rush towards the river to scan. He watches as they fly overhead and hides under a bridge till they are gone.
As Spark moves away from the river he can see that the billboards of the city have already change showing his picture as they did in the last city.
"Dammit!" He says.
"Hey you! Your the one that saved that little girl right? Get in here and hide for awhile while the heat dies down." A man says from a doorway to Spark's left.
Spark asks the man. "Who are you?"
"I own this hotel...Come on inside and lets talk about this. I am how you say. On wrong side if law as well." The man says and walks away. Spark follows and the man leads him deeper into the hotel.
He looks around the Hotel having never been inside it before as he takes in the expensive decor and rich atmosphere as they walk.
The man takes Spark to a backroom that contains a secret door. "Watch your head." He says and opens the door leading into a large tunnel.
"Welcome to the Undercity."
"Undercity?"
The hotel owner speaks in a thick Russian accent. "The Undercity is the city before it became all lights and flashy things. Before technology took over. Its all still here. And the cyber cities around the world are built over the ruins. Its all very unstable as well. As you can see the supports are reinforced each year. And the World Elites wage a secret war on those surviving down here... Everything is at rusk of crashing down but no one listens. Party over here and A ball game here. What about this?" He says gesturing to a bent and twisted support from 30 years ago as they walk by the sky scraper sized structure partially crushing a nuclear plant..
He leads Spark down the tunnel for a few minutes until they reach a metal staircase that spirals down. "This is your room for now."
Spark looks around, the room is about 10 feet by 10 feet. The walls are plain and dirty with a single light bulb for lighting. "Hey this is great!" Spark says sarcastically.
The owner agrees. "Trust me when I say it is much better than the other options comrade." He says.
"There is a metal door on the far side over there. There is a sign that says 'Restrooms' if you need anything just tap on it and I will be here in a flash." The man says and then walks back up the stairs.
Spark is still in disbelief at how dirty the room is but soon realizes how tired he feels from everything that has happened and finds that at least the bed and sheets are clean...
...
...
Waking the next morning he sees a disguise next to his bed. A high grade suit for humans to blend in with cyborgs and blue hair dye for the purple hair Spark currently has. He quickly dresses and changes his hair hardly recognizing himself in the mirror and goes up the stairs to find the owner of the hotel sitting and drinking coffee.
"Your friend is coming in about an hour to pick you up. I figured you would want to wait inside." He says.
Spark looks at him oddly. "Friend?" He asks.
The Russian looks at him. "A friend of mine is a friend of yours as well." He answers cryptically. "So what are you going to do now?"
Spark shrugs. "I'm not sure yet."
"Well I know a guy that is looking for a few good mercs on the Island continent. Others are going there as well so you have company and support there. I would go with you but I think I am needed here. They will expose conditions and cut corners down here soon. Hopefully before a Cybercity falls into an Undercity."
Spark nods. "Thanks for you help."
Spark waits outside and a half hour later a hover car pulls into the parking lot. A young woman gets out and walks over to him. Spark feels a wave of energy hit him as she walks over.
She smiles. "You must be Spark." She says holding out her hand which Spark shakes.
He asks "And you are?"
She smirks. "Someone who knows a guy who is friends with the owner of this hotel."
Spark nods.
"So are you ready to go?" She asks.Spark answers. "Sure I guess, it's not like I have too much attachment to this city." The woman nods at his response.
Getting into the hover car with the woman spark is uncomfortable as they shoot past the Cybercity and into the sky. Almost immediately a police Hover copter's lights flash behind them. A voice comes over the police Speaker. " Ember, you know if you run again we are allowed to use lethal force force this time. Come in quietly and we can work something out."
" Go get some donuts pig!" She yells back.
Spark turns to her. "Are you sure this is going to work? I'm not sure if I like this plan."
She laughs as she slams the throttle forward and the hovercar rockets away as Spark's brain fails to register he still has a body under the intense acceleration, feeling as if it is stretched along their path and hasn't caught up yet.
The police in pursuit open fire and Ember Barrel rolls around a sky scraper avoiding the plasma bolts as they both pull 5 Gs.
Spark looks over at her as she pilots the vehicle. "So your name..is..... Ember?" He says. She shakes her head. "It's actually Victoria but I prefer Ember, it suits me better."
Spark feels a large object hit the bottom of the hover car and they bounce upward. Victoria yells "WE ARE TAKING FIRE!" Then gasps as they go into a tailspin toward a skyscraper. Hitting hard the craft comes to rest stuck 4000 feet in the air as the police copter circles the slanted glass roof of the building.Getting out of the hovercar Ember and Spark focus to keep their balance and not look down as the police open fire. The shots miss but startle Ember as she falls back and begins sliding toward the 4,000 foot drop unable to stop herself.
Spark dives after her as he pulls the knife his father gave him just the other day. Hitting the glass harder than he thought he gets winded and gasps for breath as he reaches out grabbing her hand just as she clears the edge. Seeing the glass give way to 4000 feet of freefall as his vision seems to zoom out as he is hit by a blast of wind from the updraft and he freezes in panic till the last possible second. He swings his knife as hard as he can and the blade penetrates 3 inches into the 1 inch thick glass. With nothing but a smooth handle and one hand Spark looks down 1000 feet to a flat outcropping made of glass as his grip gets sweaty and they both scream unable to do anything as the police copter hovers circling the building.
Spark hears her yell. "Let me go, you'll die!"
He answers in a panic. "I'd rather die than kill you!"
"If we fall grab onto me as tight as you can!" He tells Ember.
Spark thinks to himself. " Its just 15 feet. Its just 15 feet IT'S JUST FITFTEEN... FEET!" With his grip about to fail he pulls the knife out of the glass and they begin to fall as he has only one idea that he has only done at much smaller distances.
With both arms around him she hugs him with her legs as tight as she can and buries her head in the back of his shoulder.
Spark draws back the knife and slams it into the window hoping it will slow their fall as he uses he other enhanced arm to hold onto the knife. A shower of powdered glass comes from the knifes path of travel and they slow significantly. Turning in mid air shifting their weight Spark lashes out with a punch shattering the 1 inch thick window as they fall through and into a swimming pool.
Tho the landing hurt they both break the surface laughing and climb out of the pool as Spark holds his bleeding hand as Ember looks at him. "You. Risked your life for me. That was stupid.... But thank you."
Spark looks her in the eyes, "Will you come with me now?"Ember nods.
"After what you just did. Yes, I will go anywhere with you Spark but this isn't a Love story so don't get any ideas."
Spark and Victoria run hand in hand out of the hotel, slipping by the police as they head to a nearby train that takes them out of the city.
Ember looks at Spark trying to figure out if what she feels is real or just from the situation as the train nears the first stop.
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