Bent

I should have known better.

Funny how that thought, not memories of my life, flickered through my battered brain as the barrel of the orc’s blaster swung around to consume my entire field of vision. I squeezed my natural eye shut, willing the aperture of my ocular implant shut as well. Kneeling in the darkness, I couldn't help but imagine my final second of life⁠—the white-hot blast of plasma burrowing through my sizzling skull. Then, I heard the click of the trigger.

Strangely, however, there was no pain.

As that final nanosecond stretched into a few billion more, I popped my natty eye open. The barrel was still directly in front of my human eye, so I willed my ocular implant open as well. I let the cybernetic device zero in on the weapon’s triggering mechanism with a soft whir. The plasmatic propulsion unit was leaking neon.

I let out a sigh of relief, sucking in another lungful of delicious oxygen. Typical orc. Too busy picking fights to take care of his tech.

My lips curled upward, baring my teeth with a dark, toothy grin. My mech hand swatted the baffled orc’s gun away. In the same motion, I sent my natty fist straight into Orc Boy’s clunky, ill-fitting ocular. It hurt like hell, but it was worth it. The snaps and crackles of his crunched electronics were music to my ears. My sense of satisfaction doubled when I saw him shudder with the telltale sign of an ocular overload. Ocular tech sent a ton of information directly to the brain. When that information was the crunch of bone on metal, though, it wasn’t a pleasant experience.

With any luck, the jolt would buy me enough time to get out of here. A sucker punch was one thing. Actually getting the better of an orc in a full-on fight was lunacy. Orcs started combat training pretty much straight out of the womb, and this one was more muscular than most. He probably had 50 kilos on me.

When I heard his weapon clatter to the steel floor, I knew I was in the clear. I sprinted for the exit. I flew out of his apartment, zig-zagging through several corridors to make pursuit nigh impossible.

When I reached a safer area, I bent over, puffing in relief with my hands on my knees. I really needed to spring for a good adrenaline regulator. Either that or work on my cardio a hell of a lot more. Life in the PI business sometimes called for intense physical exertions⁠. Usually running.

Once I’d mostly caught my breath, I staggered forward, still massaging the cramp in my side. Reaching into my pocket, I extracted the strange cube I’d managed to collect from Orc Boy’s quantum safe. Rubbing my stubbled chin thoughtfully, I examined its smooth, black surface, wondering what it did. Tapping into my ocular, I willed a molecular analysis. It came back with a strange result.

“Undocumented molecular configuration” flashed red in my vision.

What the hell? Undocumented? I’d never seen that before. “Elemental percentages?” I vocalized. I knew it wasn’t necessary to speak commands, but verbalizing sometimes helped me to focus my thoughts, especially for less common tasks.

A list of different elements scrolled down my vision. Carbon was at the top of the list, but only made up 11.42% of the total. I didn’t recognize half the elements in this thing. Were they even in the periodic table?

These tech builders were getting way too creative. The government seemed to think so too, cracking down on unapproved tech lately. Fortunately, that was very good for business. Everyone was hiring people like me to snap up any illegal tech they could before it became scarce.

This little gizmo was probably something along those lines, though the extreme kind of money my client was throwing around had me curious. Why would a tiny black cube in a random undercity apartment be worth triple my usual rate?

Maybe it was hazard pay. Maybe my client had known I’d be taking an awful risk breaking into that orc’s apartment. If his weapon hadn’t sprung a leak, my brains would be his new wall decor right about now.

Still, it wasn’t the first time I’d stared death in the face. Wouldn’t be the last either. And truth be told, the way my client looked, she probably could have gotten me to do it for free.

When I finally reached her door, I cleared my throat. The door opened before I even had the chance to adjust my fedora.

Damn. The slim elf looked even more stunning in person than over the holo. Her pointed ears were serrated in the latest style, a hoop earring in each triangle along their edges. The strangest⁠ thing was that she didn’t have any visible tech. Pure natty. She cocked her head to the side, pale eyes sliding down my entire body. It looked like she was performing a full oc-scan, but her eyes were as natty as the rest of her. Maybe she had one of those new nano oculars? Judging by the upscale neighborhood she lived in, she could probably afford that kind of cutting-edge tech.

Evidently satisfied, she spun on her heel, marching purposefully back inside her abode. Two slender fingers curled forward, beckoning me to follow.

As I stepped inside, my gaze drifted down her back, left bare by the tight, leotard-like top she wore. From the lithe muscles at play under her perfect skin, it was pretty obvious that unlike me, she didn’t skimp on her cardio.

Before I could admire her physique any further, however, she reached the living room, turning toward me again. Grudgingly, I forced my gaze to meet hers. The corners of her full lips twitched upward in a sly smile as our eyes met.

“Did you find it?”

“I think so.” I drew the strange black cube from my pocket, turning it in my fingers. “What is it?”

Her eyes gleamed with excitement before seeming to catch herself, stiffening. “That is none of your concern.” She held out her hand expectantly.

Grudgingly, I dropped it into the center of her outstretched palm. “And the rest of my payment?”

After a couple of blinks and side-to-side glances, she said simply, “Sent.”

I made a few ocular gestures of my own to check my account balance, then tipped my hat in her direction. “Good doing business with you.”

As I turned to leave, a sudden clang rang out from the entryway. I glanced back at my client, only to see her place the black cube on her tongue and swallow. Her long lashes fluttered closed, and a visible shudder rolled through her slender body.

Vaguely disturbed⁠—and a little turned on⁠—by the display, I shifted my attention back toward the entryway door. Another clang rang out, this one causing the center of the door to bulge inward.

“I think you’ve got a visitor. Somebody really wants to see you,” I deadpanned.

She didn’t respond.

I scanned the door, hoping to get a reading on whatever was on the other side, but my wealthy client had a mag-shield. Ocular scans couldn’t penetrate at all.

Another clang. This one bowed in the door to the point where the seals on each side shattered.

“Get ready for company,” I called back.

Again, there was no response. The lady had probably run into her safe room or something. I smiled wryly. If she were leaving me to defend her place, the lady had better come through with a bonus to my usual rate. I wasn’t about to risk my life for anything less than time and a quarter.

I balled my mech hand into a fist, sending it into my fleshier palm with a smack. It stung just enough to get my blood flowing as I tensed my muscles for action.

The next clang sent the alloy door flying inward⁠—straight toward me. I slapped it down with my mech hand before it slammed into me. As the mangled door clattered to the ground, I got my first look at our insistent visitor and rolled my eyes. I should have known.

It was Orc Boy.

“Long time no see,” I quipped, ignoring the trepidation that flooded my body as I watched the muscular bruiser roll his shoulders and step over the threshold. Had he punched that door in with his bare hands? I glanced down at them. They didn’t look mech. How on earth had he done that?

“You used one,” came a soft female voice from behind me. It was a statement, not a question.

The door demolition hadn’t really startled me, but that voice did. I had been so certain that she’d run to safety. That she hadn’t was an unpleasant surprise. Now I had to worry about her safety. She had to be alive to pay me, after all.

“I did,” the orc’s deep voice rumbled as he continued to stalk toward me. “After your pawn escaped,” he nodded in my direction, “I decided it was worth the risk.”

Pawn? I wasn’t sure I liked the sound of that... but I didn’t have time to dwell on it. Orc Boy’s advance came to a halt, his eyes meeting mine. Their irises were an iridescent violet.

Suddenly, my feet flew out from under me, back slamming into the cold metal floor. Air whooshed from my lungs, my vision erupting in fireworks. What the hell had just happened? How had I slipped without even moving?

As Orc Boy stepped over me, I felt a lead weight slam into my chest. Several ribs snapped like twigs. I grunted in shock just before a shriek of agony rippled into my brain. Strangely, nothing was atop my torso but my own mech fist. No large metal object. What on earth had just hit me?

Another crippling tsunami of pain struck me. My natty fingers curled into claws at my side, vision dimming as my ears began to ring. I felt as if I’d been hit by a mag-lev train.

As my senses returned, I heard a masculine grunt from behind me. A moment later, a heavy thump sounded, rattling the artwork above me. I rolled onto my side, grimacing with the fresh ripple of pain and nausea.

I struggled to my feet,just in time to see Orc Boy slide down the far wall, landing at its base in a crumpled heap. I turned surprised eyes toward the slender elf on the other side of the room.

“How…?” I verbalized instinctively, eyes flicking back and forth between the unconscious orc and the petite young woman.

She flashed me a dazzling smile. “Magnetic field projector nanos,” she said, flipping shimmering hair over her shoulder as she gave me a long-lashed wink. “Sometimes it pays not to have clunky metal tech built into oneself.”

I blinked before looking down at my robotic foot and mech hand. So Orc Boy had used my own metal against me? I’d always viewed my implanted tech as an advantage. Now, it was apparently a weakness. Damn technology. Always passing into obsolescence so quickly.

I scratched at the back of my head, wondering if I should still ask for that bonus after having done absolutely nothing to help against the intruder.

She smirked. “I have another job for you.”

I laughed, the accompanying twinge of pain reminding me of the consequences of her last job. “I think I might have to pass. At least until I’m healed up.”

She glided across the room, gazing up at me with luminous violet eyes. Her lips were tantalizingly close as she mouthed her soft-spoken request. “Please?”

I knew I was being manipulated. I knew I should walk right out of here. This lady was bad news. Another job would probably get me killed.

I felt my lips curl into a captivated grin and ask, “What did you have in mind?”

Damn it.

1,996 words