Chapter 11

Artemvian walked quickly through the metropolitan streets, eyes alert and hands ready in his pockets.  Broad daylight accentuated the dirt and grime, both the physical and metaphorical stains of this city.  Ignoring an one-eyed homeless man whose cardboard cutout read ‘Help me buy new eyes!’, the Mage looked at the address on his phone again, double checking it with the GPS and making sure he was on the right track.

His steps led him downtown, though not the south side which was the haven for the vagrants of Nero City; I.E the place where he met John Doe.  Helen’s apartment was just short of it and Artemvian saw sights that he hadn’t noticed on his first day before.  Women walked around the streets, revealing more skin than were covered by clothing.  They strutted in a way that drew Artemvian’s eye, hands held out on either side and a definitive sway to their hips.  The walk accentuated the soft curves; drawing his eyes away from their sunken cheeks and hollow pupils.

This place reminded him of his birthplace.  Even in the Glorious Empire, there had been places like this.

Just as the Vagrants made their home in the South Side, pleasure services that catered to their needs sprouted up around them.

Oh he knew those places well.  After all, Artemvian had been a child of such a community.

Why if he had never manifested magic, he might have-

“Are you lost, doll?”

Artemvian flashed a smile.  “Not in a way that you can help me.”  The woman had bright-blue hair, cut in a straight line to frame her head and fall around her shoulders in a straight line, like a jar.  She smiled back and revealed metallic teeth, decorated with gold.  Looking closer, Artemvian realized that most of the woman’s body was made of grinding steel, with the gears and blinking chips visible.

“It costs money to cover up your Cyberware with ‘skin’.”  Artemvian realized.

Either that or she was one of those prostitutes who catered to people with a particular fetish.  The standards of beauty in this world were still unclear to the Mage.

Walking past her, Artemvian found Helen’s apartment.  A rundown building with multiple floors; Artemvian estimated about eight floors.  There were people loitering around the front, smoking and laughing.  Past them, he saw the open doors.  No guard to speak of and none of those ‘cameras’ either.  Artem half-expected a confrontation from the young men but apart from the off glance, they didn’t bother him.

After a rather uneventful trip through the elevator –which he was plenty used to by now– Artemvian found the door to Helen’s apartment.  Unlike the doors in the ritzier parts of town which only opened through a specific card, Helen’s door was a good old fashioned lock-and-key.  Channeling malleable mana into his index finger, shoved the mana into the keyhole; the mana changing shape to create a perfect copy.  Smiling, Artemvian opened the door and strolled in.

“As Goldilocks said, I’ll just take a quick peek.”  

Helen Papier’s apartment was homely, in a sense of the word.  There was a beige couch with plenty of throw blankets on it, the red-white-yellow patterns making the place seem more lively than it really was.  A simple coffee table and one of those ‘teevees’ sat mounted on the wall.  Artemvian counted more than two dozens shoes all over the apartment.  The kitchen looked similar to the one in his hotel room, and when Artemvian opened the fridge found nothing but plastic containers used for food deliveries.

He opened one and sniffed it.

“This whole world just reeks of garbage….”  Making a face, Artemvian checked the rest and all of them were spoiled.  Then he checked the trash can.

A plastic bag with empty containers just like the one in the fridge greeted him.

“Not the one to leave spoiled food in the fridge, which means she hasn’t been home in a few days…”  He checked the containers once more.

“This chicken with majestic wings… I’ve seen it before.  Those guys on motorcycles who are always running about…”  Artemvian’s eyes widened as he put the two and two together.

“You can order food in this world?!”  He exclaimed.

“You can put your hands in the air is what you can do.”

Slowly, Artem turned and of course, did not raise his hands in the air.

The woman came out from the only bedroom in the apartment.  The first thing that artem noticed was that her hair was deep black; to the point where it seemed to give off lustrous a blue and purple sheen as she moved.  She looked like a sprinter, the curve of her hips and strong legs accentuated by her black pants.  The intruder wore a white button-up shirt with a strange leather contraption attached over her shoulder and chest.

But all that was a minor detail compared to the gun she had trained on him.

The short-haired woman held her gun with one hand and her light brown eyes did not waver from the center of Artemvian’s chest as she spoke.  In the other she held a strange looking badge.  “You’re under arrest for disturbing a crime scene.  You have the right to remain silent and-”

Artemvian ignored her and said,  “Separate.”

The moment the words left his mouth the gun in the woman’s hands fell apart.

But unlike the Hammerhead gangsters whom he used the spell on, she did not hesitate.

Her blue eyes emitted a soft blue-glow, not one born of magic but of technology and lightning-fast computer signals, all angles and perfect curvatures.  Before the gun could completely fall apart she threw the pieces towards Artemvian’s face and leaned down with one smooth movement, withdrawing another small gun from her ankle.  In as half as many seconds, she aimed at Artemvian’s body and fired.

Artemvian simply flicked a finger.

The gun flung itself out of her hands before it went off and went sliding across the floor, under the couch.  Artemvian saw the cyberware in her eyes switch from light blue to yellow as she rushed him.

Again, without thinking much of it, Artemvian reacted with a simple use of magic; slamming her chin to the floor with strengthened gravity.

And for the first time since coming into this world, Artemvian’s magic failed him.

Perhaps it would be correct to say that it was his first time meeting someone with countermeasures against magic.  The back of her hand opened up, revealing cold steel gears whirring around a central orb covered by glass, spinning in conjunction with the gears and glowing bright green.  The Cyberware flashed and the mana that Artemvian sent towards her was disrupted, transforming into numerous sparks like a machine that just short circuited.

Before Artemvian could measure his surprise she was in front of him, spinning and throwing a kick at his head.

His Mana Shield scattered into pieces.

The hexagonal plates flew apart, then abruptly switched direction, reorienting themselves towards the woman and zipping towards her like magnets.  She flipped backwards smoothly, drawing a knife from her thigh and threw it with the same fluidity.  But instead of Artemvian’s head, it stabbed itself into a hexagonal plate.  As the plates came around her, the orb on her hand flashed once more and they all disappeared into a dazzling array of sparks.

“See you later, Mama Bear.”

The apartment door closed shut.

“Fuck.”  She muttered, pressing a switch on her head.  “I need back up.  Young male, early to mid twenties.  Dark hair, dark eyes and fair skin.  Race… either caucasian or asian.  Height was a little under six feet.  Black leather jacket and a white shirt, dark jeans.”  She felt silly as she said it, after all; she’d just described over half the male population in Nero City.  “Advanced application of Mana Shield as well as object manipulation, possibly telekinesis.  I want you to cross reference that description with our list of active Empaths and any Outlier that might have manifested telekinesis.  Check the Specials too.”

Frowning, she patted her pockets and looked at the floors.

Her badge was gone.

***

Artemvian strode out of the building and quickly entered the alleyways, not caring where he was heading.

His heart was pounding.

No doubt, she had been an agent of Nero City; similar to his role back in the Empire.  But more than that, he was shocked by the Cyberware implemented in her body.  Her eyes had obviously been used to enhance her aim with the gun as well as her vision in close-quarters combat somehow.  Then the arm…

He had felt it when the Blue Orb canceled out his magic.

It was… interesting.

Artemvian looked down at the badge in his hand.

“Celene Kim.”  He smirked, flipping the badge and slipping it into his pocket.

This was getting fun.