The city streets were slick with water from the night's rain. The reflection of neon billboards painted a perfect mosaic of consumerism.
Vroom!
Splash.
A heavily armoured truck with a reverse trapezoid roof raced down the street, splashing water along the sidewalks. The lusterless chrome-plated vehicle sported tinted windows where two Peacemakers were seated within. Donning sleek black combat uniforms, the arms and legs were made of titanium alloy, whilst the torso was a transparent, stiff gel with minute bubbles of air within. Their helmets matched the formula with a sleek, curved mirror pane for a visor. Dimmed neon inverting upon its frame. "So, how's the wife and kids?"
The driver tilted his head, rapping his index finger on the steering wheel. "Well, y'know... can't complain. How about you and that ugly mug you picked up at the rat rally?"
The passenger held the vehicle's grab handle, adjusting his weight with a light pull. Looking out the window to his right, he sighed. "Same chrome, different story."
The driver chuckled, shaking his head in a disapproving manner. "You gotta stop crossing your wires, Maxtin. Those outskirt rats are unregulated, sinful, wretched bottom feeders. She probably hasn't had her software updated in years."
"She doesn't even have chips, Murphy."
"Holy Host."
"Murphy!" Maxtin snapped, swerving his head on a swivel, agitation clashing with trepidation.
"Sorry, sorry. Sweet nanites. Does that tickle your fancy?" He spoke in a wry tone. Hearing his partner sigh, he turned the wheel, moving down the left street, cutting off traffic without a care, civilian curses fading into the background. "What's your damage anyway, Maxtin? You are accelerantly pious with The Host, yet you dumpster dive for companionship with the Forsaken? Those systemless heathens could taste the iron for all I care. It would do the rest of us a service, honestly."
Maxtin deliberated with a forlorn sigh. "You wouldn't understand, Murphey. The Host can link anyone to the system as long as they are willing."
"And absolved of their Sin? Like hell they got the credits for that, and they certainly don't have the Virtue."
"She was pretty virtuous last night," Maxtin mumbled lowly, resulting in their synchronized laughter.
Bang!
The magnetic rails hidden under the roads gave way, and two oncoming vehicles at the approaching intersection collided, resulting in an explosion that derailed other cars, producing a cacophony of chain reactions. "Holy Host!"
"Murphey!" Maxtin yelled over the commotion, more concerned with his partner's use of profane language rather than the innocent lives lost before their very eyes.
"Mother of Eden!"
"That's no better!"
Murphey groaned in frustration, turning to look at his partner in the reflective visor. "What's denting your chrome, Maxtin? Wanna get nulled? I'll say it was part of the accident here."
Maxtin gritted his teeth, ready to unbuckle, when a thud came overhead. Both looking up in sync, they jumped when a boot with neon rings under the heel landed on the tinted windshield and jumped off, shaking the armoured truck, revealing a sleek, ebony-adorned figure flying through the air into the raging flames. "Sweet Mother of Eden!" Murphey leaned in, clutching the steering wheel tightly.
Shocked and astonished, not even system pious Maxtin reprimanded his partner. "Speak of the devil! It's one of the Nullborn! After him!"
"Call me The Host cause I'm 'bout to answer your prayers, Maxtin!" Stepping on the gas, the electric vehicle instantly picked up speed, smashing through the couple of cars in front of it.
"Someone help! My husband is stuck!" A woman with a bleeding forehead and burnt arm screamed at the top of her lungs. "Oh, thank The Host! Peacemakers!" Raising her left arm to alert the local law enforcement, her smile was frozen, framed in terror as blinding LED lights welcomed her into the cold embrace of a rushing steel. Blood splattering over the windshield, Maxtin nearly choked on his spit. Meanwhile, Murphey cursed, and a blue projected light scanned the tinted windshield, dissolving the blood and guts.
"Mother of Eden, they've lost it!" A bystander watched as a child was sprawled out across the wet road, unable to feel his legs. "Mama..."
"No! My baby!" Her leg was wedged under a flipped car, and she tried to drag herself to no avail. Reaching out as far as her slender arm would allow, the haggard lady's eyes welled with tears. "Hold on, baby! Mama's right here."
Vroom! Splat.
Staring with her hand outstretched as if frozen in time, blood had painted her face and hand.
A maternal visceral scream ripped through the chaotic air as it faded into the background. The armoured vehicle, reaching top speed, smashed every vehicle out of its way. "Activate propulsion barrier!"
Hearing Murhpey's words, Maxtin pressed a button on the dashboard. "Propulsion barrier activated." A translucent blue energy shield hugged the sleek silhouette of the truck, only making itself known when they collided with an object.
Bump, bump, bang, bang.
Every person or vehicle they hit bounced off and launched through the sky, smashing into random buildings. The Nullborn up ahead, jumping from car to car, looked back. His face hidden by a black metal spider mask, its dark silver chelicerae acting as the mouthpiece, eight yellowish-white glowing eyes; four smaller ones lined horizontally from temple to temple, separating the two sets of larger eyes, one above and one below.
"Oh, nanites... That's the Ghost of Eden!" Maxtin paled whilst Murphey laughed excitedly.
"This is the big one! This is hands down one of the greatest catches in Peacemaker history!"
"I know what he is, we work the same job!" Maxtin retorted in loud shock. "But shouldn't we call for reinforcements?"
"Host no! He must have already been chased by another cruiser. Did they report it? No!"
"And they died!" Maxtin yelled. "I ain't dying for this!"
"Nut up or shut up, Maxtin! That sinning rat is rubbing off on you."
Maxtin huffed, reaching into the compartment between the passenger seat and the door, a microtech box unfolding, revealing an all-in-one gun. A shotgun, assault rifle, SMG, and sniper. Switching to assault the barrel stretched and thinned, the scope rearranged itself to fit the precision required for the task. Murphey pressed a button on the left side of the dashboard, letting the windshield retract. Damp wind greeted them. Maxtin leaned forward and placed the stock to his shoulder, letting energy rounds fly.
"Kill the bastard!" Murphey commanded with a rush of adrenaline. Meanwhile, the Ghost of Eden acted with haste. Jumping off the roof of a passing by vehicle, he darted through the air diagonally to the right and slid over the top of a parked car and pushed off with a compressed jump, launching him forward. Swinging his arms, a neon string thin as paper was attached to a corner of the building on the left, allowing him to swing around the corner.
"Hang on!" Murphey yelled, cutting the wheel, throwing his partner into the door, resulting in the gun being tilted left and melting a hole through a civilian's head. Neither paid any heed as the side of the armoured truck slammed into the side of a building.
"Collateral is gonna be high this quarter."
"Grow a pair, Maxtin. We are gaining on him!" The pressure of the rain increased. Ghost of Eden looked back one more time before flipping in midair and positioning himself like a pencil, arms and legs pressed together, sliding through the windshield before Maxtin could regain control of the gun.
"Holy Host! Blow his brains out!" Murphey yelled, struggling to keep the wheel straight and avoid oncoming traffic.
His partner remained silent, too shaken to speak. Shifting the gun down to a shotgun, he pressed it to the spider mask's face and pulled the trigger.
Click.
Silence filled the cabin as both Peacemakers realized what had happened. The Ghost of Eden had hacked the firearm. Before Maxtin could react, an energy wrist blade extended from and sliced the barrel in half, as well as the lock to the door. Swinging his leg around, he kicked Maxtin into the door, causing it to open and send the Peacemaker rolling down the street.
"Son of a-" Slamming on the brakes, Ghost of Eden flipped backwards out of the windshield from the force. His back glowing with a cerulean double ring, a pressure exerted slowed him down as the rings under his boots stabilized him, allowing him to skid across the road.
Murphey grit his teeth, grabbed his gun from the compartment, and kicked open his door. Walking out in front of cars, causing them to swerve, he swung his arm. shifting it to a shotgun. "Let's see which of us is going to die tonight!"
However, before the viewers could see what happened next, the screen turned black, revealing a young man sitting in a wheelchair with bandages wrapped all around his face, leaving only his dull gray, despondent eyes exposed in its reflection.
"Come on, Eddy, did you not pay the credits you owe?" A man standing behind him against the wall, drinking out of a dirty bottle, sighed in sarcastic contempt.
"I never got around to it, okay! Aghh." Eddy crouched in front of the old-looking TV, where the group was posted up in an alleyway under the rain. Banging on the side of the back, he diluted himself, thinking it would turn back on.
Standing behind the wheelchair was a young girl no older than fourteen. "Come on, Judah. Watching the news will only stress you out, and I don't want you getting sick from being out in all this rain." Using her foot to press down on the back of the wheelchair's bar allowed it to tilt back and turn with ease.
"Heading home, are ya?" The man with the bottle tossed it towards the trash, but it was too low and shattered against the side.
"Yeah, we have been out here long enough. You know Judah can't be exposed to the outdoors for more than an hour a day... if at all."
"Right, my bad." He scratched the back of his head. "That damned Sin has been accumulating for years now."
"Well, it's not easy to pay for an absolution. Cyberpreists are stingy these days."
"You're buggin' tellin' me. Well, you kids take care, okay?"
"Will do, Mr. Sato." The girl wheeled her brother down the alleyway and around the corner.
Waiting a moment, he sighed, "No mercy for an outskirts rat. Especially a Sinner."
"What's wrong with the kid anyway? Dude looked horrid."
"Show some class, Ed. That kid has been suffering from accumulating Sin for five years."
"What caused such a large amount to be distributed from The Host?" He gave up on his delusion of trying to fix the old television and turned around, resting his back against the wall, remaining crouched.
"Five years ago, when he was thirteen. The crazy kid killed two Peacemakers who were beating his mother around after executing the father for some missed payments."
"No kidding? Sweet nanites, that's a tale. If he killed a dozen other outskirts rats, then nothing would have come from it."
"What can you do?" Mr. Sato sighed, closing his eyes. "The top brass don't give a glitch about us 'outskirts rats.'
That's what it means to be a Sinner.