December 26th, 2478

Diana

Nineteen years ago… I had been a child in the Cradle, but Juliet was a grown woman with a two-year-old Anthony in a stroller. She pushed him steadily across the hallway of the Intelligence building, the flooring exactly how I remembered it… But the outside view was different. The buildings were smaller because this was the top floor.

Juliet whistled her way to the main office of the Corporal of Squad 1 of the Intelligence Department and barged in the door by kicking it open as Anthony cried from the sudden noise.

"Oh shush-shush, sorry for startling you. My adorable Ant." She picked him up, the toddler pouting and pounding his fists into her shoulder.

"It wasn't just him who was startled!" Anabelle said, clutching her heart as she came into view through the open door. "Goddamit Julie! How many times do I need to replace my door? You have a Shardware leg now, and this isn't my damn bedroom!"

"Sorry sis!" Juliet apologized half-heartedly as she patted Anthony and put him into a crib inside Anabelle's office. "Just uh… keep an eye on him for me will you? It'll be good training for when you tie the knot. As soon as you start dating him, I mean."

"I'm not dating that idiot, not now… not ever." Anabelle reluctantly pulled the crib closer to her. "You know how our dad feels about him, especially with that stunt he pulled."

"Oh, come on. Drunk Ryder… it was an emergency and he pulled it off! Besides, he told me he's putting down the bottle. He's trying to make a difference." Juliet grabbed a coat from the hangar, her and Anabelle were the same size after all. "I bet he'll hit Special by the time you're Sergeant."

"Yeah, tell Derrick he needs to be a damned Silver before I even think about it!" Anaballe hissed, before quieting her voice as she hummed a song to Anthony. "Hush little Ant, now don't you cry… your momma's gonna kick a door real wide."

"Keep coming up with rhymes like that, and he'll be a rockstar before he follows either of us down this demented family tree." Juliet snarked, putting her police cap on before walking out of the office.

A lonesome man was waiting there, young and gruff. Barely any stubble compared to how I remember him now. A cigar burned between his lips. Juliet's metallic fingers pinched from the embers and effortlessly tossed it into a trash can several meters away. "You're not on the streets anymore, Derrick. Show some class. You know I can toss you right back into that jail cell."

"She said Silver, right?" Derrick focused on the good news. "I'll get there."

"You know how many merits that'll cost? Don't forget how much you lose on poor conduct during investigations."

"Well, my expertise is on the rougher side." He strolled next to Juliet. "Classic bad cop, good cop routine."

"Pfft, everyone knows I'm the bad cop. You've got a soft heart, Derrick." She cleaned up his hair with a licked hand. "You're just a mess. Nothing a little spit can't clean up."

Derrick shook his hair back into the unkempt mess it was. "Do I need to get it cut. Again?"

"Regularly." She warned.

Ripley was standing beside me, as equally confused as he blew out a whistle. "Okay… I think we need to rewind this… fortunately, we're working with Dyrder's memories, too."

3 Years Prior

"They call him the Street-sniper." A faceless voice spoke to the imprisoned man. His tongue itched for some hard booze. They'd kept him locked up for too long.

"Estimated kills, 28. Good shot, bad weapons. Could've been higher. His Implant is Overclock and Psyche. Been active with that upstart gang, Crimson Souls, for a while." A light shone onto him, flies buzzing from the dirt on his face at the sudden brilliance. He smacked his head down, the headache was already bad enough. He needed a drink.

A woman's voice spoke, silky and understanding. Juliet Grazhe's. "All that… and he's only nineteen? No name?"

"None, never got registered in our hospitals, says his mother was a prostitute. Also that he doesn't want to be that bastard's son anymore. Wants a new name."

"What is it?"

"Derrick Ryder."

Ripley whistled. "Okay, a little further back."

2 years prior

Blood drenched the man who would become Derrick Ryder, the cracked bottle slipping out of his father's flesh. Son of a mercenary, he knew how to fight. He had been preparing for this all his life, since the moment his mother first cried in the kitchen with her blackened eye.

He waited until the bastard was drunk and gouged his human throat right out.

'I like to feel the burn'. That's what his father would say when he drank and beat the both of them.

"It's true… so I gave him that wish," Dryder said, the real Dryder, his eyes hollow and empty as he stared at the corpse of his father.

I reached for him, but he didn't react. He wasn't even seeing me, like how Ripley hadn't noticed me first in his memories. "Dryder?"

A Bronze BUG dug into the bottle, the young boy raised the broken glass and put it against his lips. From within his own mouth, the Implant dug into his skull.

He liked the feel of the burn.

"Best drink I ever had; been chasing it ever since." Dryder mouthed, before vanishing in our view to a new memory.

Ripley stared at the corpse of Dryder's father, the memories flashing forward to incoherent yelling from a woman, cops pulling at the scene of the crime, and a kid fleeing for his life.

2 years later…

"Derrick Ryder." Juliet sat on the man's table, crossing her legs as her gray eyes dissected the young ruffian. "Got a dream?"

"A dream?" The man's forcefully sobered eyes met hers.

"Yeah, a dream."

"Had one, got it done. Killed my pig of a dad."

"Pig? He a cop like us?"

"No… a merc, like me. Took his BUG."

"Oh, how resourceful of you."

"You're not looking down because I killed my dad?"

"I know the feeling, Derrick."

"Hate your dad too?"

"I do… but killing him wouldn't change anything. He needs to learn his lesson the hard way."

"How?"

"Public humiliation." Juliet pointed to the air with a dramatic flair. "Want him to live with some shame, you know?"

Derrick laughed. "You're weird."

"Only reason I'm giving you an opportunity, mister Ryder. Funny name, by the way, how'd you choose it?"

"Learned to ride by myself. Cars. Bikes. Want to ride an Aerodyne one day." He had a spark of something in his eyes.

Juliet latched onto that spark, letting it shine bright. "That a dream of yours, Dryder?"

He shrugged. "Suppose it is."

Juliet nodded to the one-way-window behind her. "Let's make it true."

The scene changed, Derrick staring down the sights of an Aerodyne window as Juliet handed him a cup of champagne. He scarfed it down like he'd been surviving on his own piss for weeks, before turning his sights on the city beneath him…

For the first time, he felt like this world was beneath him. The towers he'd always as seen as so large and intimidating were now resting under his feet… something he could stomp on.

Juliet rested her knuckles on her chin, her gray gaze calm and deep like metal, an iron shield that refused to rust. "What'll you dream of next, Derrick?"

He took a contemplative look outside, his thoughts running around to find the proper answer. "Depends, will I get it?"

She had a sly smile. "I'll make you work for the next one."

Derrick thought to himself and felt very smart when he blurted out: "a girlfriend."

Juliet was stunned silent, before showing the ring on her finger. "Oh unfortunately, I'm a married woman, Dryder. Even gave birth to my son just a few weeks ago… oh… don't worry. Actually, I have an older sister."

"A sister?"

"Yeah, her type in men is the real stoic type. Hardworking. Mettled. Mature. You're a bit young for her, about three years… but give it some time, let yourself mature… and let's see if you can make her fall head over heels for you."

"Why?"

"Cus deep down, you're a good guy."

"No. Why help me?"

Juliet shrugged. "My dad doesn't believe in so-called 'lost causes', thinks people like you should either be locked up or used as fodder for the Swarm. I want to prove him wrong. If you can change, a lot of other people can change, Derrick. If you don't, I promised my dad that I would resign! It's my gambit, you could say."

"I think you mean… gamble." Dryder took another sip of the drink, savoring its exquisite profile. "You would put that risk in… me?"

Juliet smirked. "Nope. I put it in my belief, I'll find the light in you. I'll make sure of it."

And so… time passed. Hijinx pursued with Dryder's less than eloquent understanding of the law. He was a capable fighter, but utterly lost when it came to holding integrity of justice. Bullets were fired first, words exchanged second, but somehow Juliet would find ways to piece everything together in the end.

On Dryder' twentieth birthday, he would meet Anabelle for the first time as Juliet insisted she come for a little party they were having at a bar. Anabelle's cold and calculating demeanor, only slightly struck apart by Juliet's prodding and antics, led the very first words she said to him being: 'I don't trust you, you're reckless and unprofessional'.

He took it as a challenge, and put himself through hell and back to change who he was. He was changing, for the first time, he had the opportunity to be something more than what people expected him to be. One light pulled him from the shadows, illuminating a path, but it was his steps that carried him. Juliet let him know that. And it wasn't just him who changed, slowly… others around him began to look at him more favorably.

One day, he was so drunk at a bar and a shootout occured, he single handedly beat all of them to a pulp. And then drove them to the hospital with perfect skill.

From then on, he earned the name 'The Drunk Ryder'. It was also the day he gave up drinking, after Anabelle's personal harsh words left him both awestruck and… wanting. Wanting to be better. Wanting to be a man fit for what others were looking to him as.

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Perhaps that was why, when he and Juliet sat in a bar, and he sipped diet cola, did he reveal a ghost story. "Back when I was with the Souls, rumors went around about those with bloodshot eyes and white pupils. They said it was those who had their souls stolen."

"You ever seen one?" One police patron of the bar slid closer.

"Once." Derrick confirmed. "Killed one. 'Cept… something strange happened, the Implant was red with some vein-looking things. Souls took it right off me soon as I confirmed the kill. Freaky, won't ever forget that day."

Juliet leaned in, her eyes finding a shadow that needed to be better illuminated. "Someone who takes Souls away? Sounds like a job for us."

Dryder… agreed. And he would regret that ever since. A regret so heavy, it brought me onto my knees. Like I'd strapped the guilt of the world onto my shoulders. Ripley helped me up, but even he was pale.

"Let's continue." He said, but a worry grew within both of us of a past already written.

April 2481

Two years later, Derrick was now firmly positioned in the Police as a somewhat respectable Investigator, but had yet to receive the Silver promotion guaranteeing him a date with Anabelle Grazhe.

But more important matters were happening at the Grazhe household.

Anthony was a young boy at this time, playing with his father when a knocking pushed on their door, to which Juliet opened. Standing in the rain, a woman with tired eyes held a Datacube up, her words simple and easy. "Is Jacob home?"

"Not yet." Juliet shook her head.

The woman pushed the cube into Juliet's hands, her voice grave like it had just been buried. "Give this to him, tell him it's from Missy. And that Mikail's dead. We're all dead except Di."

The door closed between them, and when the Warpcube and message got along to Jacob Grazhe, Juliet had never seen him so… shaken.

Ripley was also shaken. Hesitantly, I cradled his hand as he muttered. "What was Missy doing here?"

October

Juliet had been no idiot. She'd felt the tidings of criminal activity change after Missy arrived at their house. Her father was barely home anymore, and Anabelle was tired and lonesome. It was during this time that Derrick became the light in their lives. His sobering and honest opinion was foul-mouthed and bitter—but it was honest.

"Get your asses back into gear! And solve some fucking crimes!"

It had spurred Juliet into looking through the copy she made of Missy's Datacube. Within it, she found damning proof of her father's criminal connections, damning evidence showing he was no worse than the scum she was putting in jail…

And that his control had been earned through red-and-white eyed soulless husks — the exact same Derrick had been talking about. Her mouth held tight. She was careful with the information, there was only one person she trusted.

Derrick. He digested it about as well as anyone could, shocked and mildly fearful, but his desire to prove himself led him down a path of disillusionment. "Let's put these bastards in jail."

It led them into the criminal underworld for months. Derrick's appointment as a false name and identity let him blend seamlessly, while Juliet was the voice to guide his moves. Sometimes, he didn't even need her—she taught him well.

She was glad to know she'd be a good mother, even when Anthony was older.

The deeper they went, the more they found out about this Revenant, the more they feared what it would do. But who else other than them would do something, she was the daughter of the Lieutenant. People would believe her. She just needed to play smart.

It was-

February 2482

–when her path led her to the Iron Devil during a solo stakeout. She wasn't looking to be an ally with him, neither was he with her. But when soulless bodies raised up and attacked the two of them, they agreed for a moment to put their differences aside. The Devil recognized her, and that she was alone targeting the same thing. Their agreement was easy, he fed her information about her father and in return she would check on what the police knew about him and Missy.

Dryder, at this point, was being sworn in as a Special Investigator and being gifted an upgrade to Silver. He was not there when the Devil and Juliet had met, a good thing too… or he would have made the Devil into a pile of scrap.

"Yeah, no." Ripley shook his head. "Sorry, but him and Juliet would have died."

I agreed.

The important thing was, Dryder got his date with Anabelle. He made it a picnic and…

The memory grew hazy, muddled in splotches of black and gray.

"There goes my Annie.

My Annie… I can only ever see her.

I'm sorry, for everything.

I'm so sorry.

It wasn't my fault. I didn't… hurt her."

The memory passed, to-

July 2482

"Juliet. Stop looking into Soul Killer." Jacob's voice rattled the air into submission, sinking into Juliet's mind.

"So now you admit to working with them?!" She shouted, her mind was sterner than most.

His voice didn't take that mutated tone with his daughter, but it was just as harsh and indifferent. "I do what I have to, in order to keep you safe. You, your sister… everyone. Soul Killer doesn't just make people go away, they corrupt them."

Juliet knew that, of course, she hadn't known the exact mechanism of it… but she knew that those flowers were the key. Their shouting only grew worse, until Juliet barged out of his office red-faced and ready to tear a hole through the building. All of her life was a lie, built atop corruption from her father that tore innocents from what they knew.

And when she told Dryder… he didn't hold her opinion to continue. She was ready to continue shouting and arguing when he said it straight.

"Annie's pregnant."

I kept quiet. I'd heard recently of Anabelle's miscarriage from Diamante, and an impending sense of doom stirred in me. But the last person I'd expected to be the father was… Dryder. Did anyone know that?

No, even Juliet hadn't known of their relationship. She wasn't even sure it was one. But Derrick did… in their moments of anger and arguing… were fleeting moments of passion.

And love. Love muddled by black and gray memories washed away — drowned under bottles long emptied.

Days flashed by, and Juliet was alone; even Diamante's help was distant and unsure lately — he was so angry and bitter at the time. Then, she was struck by an eager pile of bones that unearthed themselves. Ripley tensed beside me as Juliet received a message from none other than Mr. Skeleton to meet up.

The metal-boned man was far different from how he was now. This body of his was nothing but a torn robot on the side of a street, most of it ripped apart by Scrappers. Yet, it shared wisdom with her.

Even the dead had secrets.

Within two months, she made more progress alone with Skeleton's help than with Derrick or Diamate helping her. In two months, she found a Nexus, and assassinated it in cold blood. It had been everything she needed — proof of Soul Killer's defeat was in her hands.

Then the scene switched to several days later.

Derrick was driving Anabelle, and the tinted windows of the car hidden their affair from everyone. It was joyous and quiet — that was all they needed… Slowly, Anabelle pulled a bottle out from the car's refrigerator.

"Oh, Annie, you know I don't drink anymore. And you really shouldn't. You got a kid in ya'. Don't want them to be dependent from birth like I was, remember?" Derrick laughed, but concern slowly infiltrated his voice.

It only grew when the voice that responded wasn't Anabelle's. "Oh, Derrick. But you were drinking, in fact… you were violent."

Anabelle smashed the glass against her head. Blood trickled down the side of her face as the bottle fell from her fingers, spilling plenty onto Derrick. "What the shi- Annie?!"

"Not Annie." Soulless eyes welcomed Derrick's horror with a smile. Her hand snatched the steering wheel and sent it right into a passing semi-truck.

Anabelle had been fine, but the impact made her lose her child. And Derrick was little more than Drunk Ryder. Little more than-

"You fucking bastard!" Jacob held Derrick by the throat, his rage unchecked as Derrick's apartment was torn apart by the Lieutenant's rampage. "This is your fucking fault! You filth! You should have never been taken off those streets, nothing but a stray dog!"

"I… I didn't do it." Derrick's voice was hollow, like the bottles he'd swam in since Annie refused to talk to him — since that thing in her took over her mind. "It wa'n't me. It was… not… me."

Jacob grabbed one of the empty bottles and smashed it into Derrick's head, before grinding his face into the broken shards. "You son of a bitch, I don't care if it was you… or Soul Killer. You brought them into this mess, into my family! You fucking lowlife!"

Every word struck Derrick's soul.

"We gave you a life! A career! And you drag them down into this mess! Into Soul Killer's fucking clutches! You know how hard I kept this from them! You ruined it all! But I'm keeping it hidden! From now on… there is no Derrick Ryder. Anabelle never had a boyfriend. She wasn't pregnant. You hear me! You're not Derrick Ryder anymore! You're nothing but the Drunk Ryder forgotten by everyone you know. You won't come near my family anymore, not an inch! You'll find nothing in your life besides another bottle! You will be nothing but Drunk Ryder! Say it, say who you are!"

"De-derrick-!" A hammer-like thunder snapped into his cheek.

Jacob wiped Derrick's blood on his shirt. "Say what I want to hear."

Blood in his mouth, a broken jaw, and tears running down his face — Derrick tried to cling on, but the curse in his soul twisted his words. "I'm Dru-runkyder… I'm… Drun-ryder. Druh-ryder… Dryder."

Jacob snarled, stepping on Dryder's back as though about to kill him, but let go. "From now on, hunt Soul Killer all you want. But don't bring the police or my family into it. Or just die from an overdose, I'll have your records scrubbed clean. You never existed, not to me. Not to Annie. Not to Julie. Not to anyone. You were always nothing."

Left in that broken mess, Dryder could do nothing else but twitch his fingers towards a bottle.

———

May 2484

Juliet had failed her father's bet. Derrick had given in and disappeared. Hurt her own sister — she could never forgive him for that. Anabelle was a husk of who she used to be… and she knew why. Those soulless eyes had taunted her.

And her father had disowned her in all but name.

They were a broken family. Despite that, she found some light and clung to it.

Skeleton had promised her justice. But he'd also pushed her far too deep into this mess unlike Diamante's more careful approach. She didn't know what his aim was… but for weeks, she'd had a BUG delivered and sitting in her cupboard with his name attached to it.

She didn't have a use for it, not as a nurse. She was fine helping others this way, the police were just a memory now. She had Anthony to raise, he was growing so quickly and… she couldn't lose him too. Not like how Annie was lost.

Then a woman walked in, a woman with steel in her eyes and a promise in her voice. Missy forced a vial into Juliet's hands. "Use the BUG Skeleton left you but take these nanites, I'll deliver bodies for you to study. We'll cure your sister."

———

July 2485

The scenes grew hazy, all I knew was… Juliet, after taking that Implant, was no longer Juliet. She was a mind connected to a MALtitan. A being who puppeteered actions out of seemingly no information, for a simple nurse… she knew how to precisely operate detailed surgeries and could identify diseases from mere seconds with a patient.

She was called a miracle nurse, others around her congratulated her. The woman who could be anything, from law to medicine.

Even her husband and child never suspected a thing, not until it was too late.

During this time, I saw her gather from the Net, her mind scanning and reading disjointed pieces of information and putting together everything I'd read on her Datacube. But as she grew more attuned to the power of Foresight, she only got worse. She stopped living in the present.

———

February 2486

Anabelle had been asleep when Juliet sank the needle into her heart, in moments the vaccine spurned to action. Titanium cleared out even with mere Silver, that was how specific the cure had become. Anabelle shrieked, countless treatments came undone as Soul Killer's psionic powers thrashed in her head.

A furious scream tore them apart, Anabelle was frightened but free. Then enslaved but still free. Soul Killer had lost their hivemind, but not her.

Juliet should have been happy, but she only despaired. Her mind was broken, she spent weeks in the hospital without returning home… as a fucking excuse she… she made a viral bomb threat. It wasn't Muramasa. All in the madness of having time, of staying alone to her work. She was so close, but if she left then…

Her compatibility was dropping, anyone could tell she was sick and dying — her coworkers were already concerned. The gift Skeleton had given was killing her. She'd lost her trust in the man since Missy came by and revealed more about their shared past. Each word divulged paragraphs of information to her…

Something in her led to shutting off the life support for one patient, her legs stumbling when she collapsed to the floor and a man caught her. A man she hadn't seen for years and left her utterly bewildered. Dryder.

"You're dying." His sad voice came.

Hers almost didn't. "Derrick… you need to take my Implant, one day… it'll…"

"I'll do it." For this brief moment, he was sober. He stayed silent as he let her body fall to the ground, and the staff turned her from employee to patient. Almost immediately, someone sent flowers for her.

Black roses. Not red-spider-lilies… and the man who lifted one up to her hospitalized body wore a fine tailored suit atop a skeletal frame. "You did perfectly, Juliet. I can now free myself from Soul Killer, thank you… it's just a shame Missy prolonged your death by this much."

With a flick of the flower, a black dust spilled into the air. Nanomachines, as they sunk into her body, they stole away all the information inside of her and sent it to Skeleton. "Goodbye, old friend. Leave a good will for that Implant of yours."

The next day, Anthony would arrive and witness his mother at the brink of two horrible fates. She'd either Fracture, or die. Thankfully, it was the latter.

———

After the autopsy, Dryder had snuck in during the moment the Implant was being transferred. It would return to police keeping, no one knew of it's true power, not even him at the time. As hands exchanged the box of Implants, no one would know when Dryder swapped it out for another Silver.

Noone except me and Ripley. For the dying wish of an old friend, he could be adroit and nimble. As he finally found his way back into the crappy hotel he had a permanent stay at, his hand found a bottle first, and tossed the Implant to the mattress beneath.

Derrick Ryder passed out drunk, his dream of a family had once been so close, but was now further than ever. All he heard was Jacob Grazhe's screaming every night, and the soulless eyes of his love who accompanied it.

———

November 7th, 2497

Diana

Being pulled to the waking world, Moira was looking at us in confusion as I blinked and immediately took a seat to ground myself. Ripley held the Implant, it was dissolving into dust but his stare was unfocused until he decided the ground was better for him. Dryder was already collapsed next to him, and he gently put his hands to close the man's eyes as we sat in silence for a few moments.

After what felt like an eternity, he spoke. "That was so fucked."

"It was." I agreed.

"What happened?" Moira took a seat opposite us, taking out a flashlight to test out pupil reflexes. "You're both in… shock."

"Tell us about it." Ripley said with a shaky breath. "Diana, I don't think we have the worst pasts anymore."

"I thought my dad was bad — but Jacob Grazhe? I'm glad that MAL killed him." I grabbed my face, taking deep breaths. "Holy fuck, Dryder… what the hell?"

"I'm getting Diamante to apologize to him." Ripley's voice took an empathic tone. "Soon as he's back."

"Speaking of Diamante… I'm not fucking crazy right, Missy wanted her to use Skeleton's Implant but wasn't she…"

"Unaware Skeleton was alive at the time, yeah? That's what I thought… but it seemed like for a brief moment, she knew before Diamante did when Skeleton took over Little Requiem and she… used Juliet to find a cure for Soul Killer? But also kept her alive with nanites? Or disconnected from the MALtitan?" Ripley spilled his thoughts into the open. "I feel like I'm beginning to understand why they don't tell me shit."

"I definitely know why Dryder didn't tell me shit." I stammered, before getting off my seat and helping Dryder into it instead. "Goddammit man, why didn't you ask for help?"

"Okay… okay…" Ripley took a deep breath. "Starlight uh… absorbed that Fragment of The Future, she's sleeping right now. I'm going to hope I don't end up like Anthony's mother."

"Maybe your girlfriend was right." I gulped.

"She typically is." Ripley said, but his eyes shifted.

I thought I might be imagining it, but I swore he felt fear when I mentioned his girlfriend.

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