The Floridian Gulf 2423

Ripley

Missy, in her NeoCore armor, was everything I expected an Inquisitor to be when they assaulted the husk of the Infinite. Dauntless, overwhelming, beyond all measure of fear as her own strength gravitated the battlefield towards steady Oblivion.

The nature of her existence as a Dual Adapter never quite made sense to me, you'd need to be recognized from a young age to be decided as a recipient of both Implants of a MALignant. And after that, performing consistently to be taken all the way to Tier IV. But it all came together when she said her full name.

Emizren Silva. Somewhere in the family tree, she carried the blood of the Founder of NeoCore. Michelle Silva. As Aerodynes sprinkled black ash across the husk, they ignited into devastating scatterings of golden flame that writhed around the fungal matter like blades diving into soft flesh. She fought one battle with her Esper abilities, and the other as a walking vessel of destruction as a Shard Adapter.

Wings ejected from the back of her suit, carrying her across the towering forms of the MALswarm as she dragged a battleaxe through them with deft precision and overwhelming might. They collapsed and every wound she dealt blossomed with the Necrotium edge of her weapon, and somehow, she was able to rend those wounds further than possible. Whichever MAL touched her recoiled, parts of it dissolving into ash that flared into golden devouring wisps, their forms shrivelling away as even their budding Implants disappeared.

Emizren Silvha was powerful, but she was too costly to be sent in early. What point was there to killing MALs if they wouldn't receive their Implants?

Civilians weren't ever in that equation.

And suddenly, I knew why Missy abandoned NeoCore. What I didn't get was why she abandoned her status as a Foundling, one of the Founder's direct descendants. Alongside her wrathful carnage was the pinpoint accuracy of Zero, who wielded his new crimson blade: Muramasa.

It changed him, invoked within him something he'd never quite grasped in it's entirety. Zero was born a tool, a weapon, a soldier. His entire life was designed on algorithms designed to leave him simple and effective at one thing, killing whoever Yuzhou wanted. It was bitter irony that the weapon Amaterasu had forged with his powers — forged from the corpses of his own family — that it burdened him with humanity.

A psionic blade, one that granted him Evolution at the cost of hearing it's tormented souls lash with each stroke from its edge. It expelled a fine red wave of force, one that cleaved through entire buildings and sent them toppling down towards the husk — but it left him reeling with cacophonic screams.

It was only through his fragment of Stability that he didn't let the voices overtake his mind, but they creeped in like howling wolves upon his detached psyche. And with each tear of their maws, opened a gaping hole through which agony, rage, and fear slipped in.

The Bladefather had been born a clone, but even then, fleeting embers of humanity existed. Humans were social creatures after all, and Amaterasu's handling of him was in part an experiment of hers…

Every stroke of his blade toppled monstrosities, but it bared him to the vulnerability of the nature of a monster. I could feel it too…

The Bladefather looked upon the scene with me as NeoCore, Yuzhou, and SynTec shot from Aerodynes and stations all across the city — down upon the ruined city. They exhausted their Bladefather-forged ammo as each gattling and thunderous bullet expanded through the MALs as poisons and pierced towards their soon-to-be shattered cores. The time for evacuation was over, any remaining humans in the area were designated as unviable for saving.

They'd already reached maximum capacity for evacuation, millions stowed away off-city in encampents ready to ship them to the Western Free City — and if they were deemed truly valuable, to a Corporate Nation. Tens of millions hadn't been fortunate enough to receive the grace of the Corporations, forced to flee on foot or vehicle as they left their homes and scattered into the wilderness of central North America.

And more than a hundred million had perished; this husk of a city now acting as a graveyard for their corpses to blossom even more MALs. But deep within, in crevices and nooks and crannies, life still remained.

That was where Emizren Silvha had disappeared to, her ash and flames slowly dwindling away amidst the charred masses of thousands of MALs — only a fraction of the millions who feasted on the city. Zero saw one other NeoCore Inquisitor broke formation, her armor a glistening red like gemstones spreading out from her.

"Emi?!" Inquisitor Ruby's armor shone brighter, as the air froze around her and the gemstones only grew in size. "Where'd you go?!"

Zero pondered to himself… how had Emizren broken out of NeoCore's network so easily? He thought back to the casual mention of her defection earlier, the very notion of it seemed foreign to him… but the Blade in his grip for once sang melodiously.

Red light poured from Ruby's body, like a sun condensed into human form as she descended into the pack of MALswarm. Blood sizzled from a mere glance of her gemstone body, and steel softened into flowing molten orange. "Emi?!"

The MALs moved like a tide, hungering and bolstered under the wrath of this Titanium Husk to converge upon Ruby, and Zero took that distraction to escape. While Ruby may have lost track of Emizren, he could very much feel that singular bullet of his that she took upon her belongings. Perhaps she knew that he'd be able to feel it, a last offer.

Confusion gripped Zero, a hesitation he'd never much felt in his life, an alien sensation that he'd rather not feel. Emizren was the cause of it, either her or this blade, he'd find the reason and cut it down.

She was deep in the sewer network, MALs just as abundant here as everywhere else in the Free City, but they were only charred remnants as Zero stalked. When he found her, spotless and free of the dark ash he'd witnessed all around, her helmet was off and she had a somber expression. Turning to him, however, she only had a teasing smile as she flicked the bullet she'd taken from him into the air. "Knew you'd follow."

The Muramasa blade peeled out of Zero's arm, it's act of unsheathing whispered doubt into his mind. "What spurns you to betray your station, as a granddaughter of a Founder?"

"Lots." Emizren swept her hair back. "Come with me, but first… can I touch you?"

Zero flinched as she approached, but there was no hostility in her action as her hand clasped around his Neuroframe. With a gentle expression of Warpcode, bonds dissolved away as shieldings and network protocols were cleaved in an instant by her. It was no mere DataCleaver, the very action carried an essence of authority.

"My Unique Feature, it's called Datacrash." She smirked. "Don't worry, it's just temporary, but no one will find you. I've made sure where I'm taking you is secure."

Zero, unknowing why he did this, complied. He followed her in the tunnels, to a wider basin at the depths underneath the city — there was countless survivors here — all haunted.

"I had them sent here, so that they wouldn't be affected by the fighting." Emizren explained, but her expression turned somber. "Couldn't get everyone… I- I couldn't let NeoCore suspect."

Through the rain of fire she'd cast down upon the city, she didn't want to know how many wounded civilains in hiding were incinerated by it. Even Zero, with each unsheathing of his blade, sent rubble downwards and eviscerated shelters.

A boy, lanky and hunger-panging, hurried out to Emizren when she arrived, his confident smirk battling Emizren's doubt. "Don't worry about it Missy, I was loud enough for ten of you! Patched up some of the broadcasters to get people down here."

Missy ruffled the boy's head, his hair a dark black. "Thank you, Al."

At that moment, my thoughts paused as I saw the kid — and how similar he looked like a younger, but slightly different, appearance of my own. "Is that…"

"Your grandfather." The Bladefather said, his mask lowering as he took the scene in.

"Missy acted like they were just acquaintances." I protested. "This doesn't make sense?"

"Emizren lies as easily as she kills." The Bladefather turned around, as did Zero. Emizren's axe formed from plating on her wrist her gentle eyes sharpened. Two Yuzhou soldiers, heavily-armored in black and red, appeared from the darkness with blades drawing at the sight of Zero.

"Zero, you were not authorized to leave your station." One of them ordered. "Return to us."

Zero stood still, the inner blade inside him screaming to cut them down.

His inaction caused one of the soldiers to twitch, a fiery Warpcode overtaking his mind as Amaterasu spoke. "Zero, I'll have you know that I'm very busy with The Allseeing at this moment, return. I don't know what you did to your systems, but I'll have it restored."

He was Yuzhou's blade, and they decided when he was drawn, and when he was sheathed. Zero stayed still.

Amaterasu chuckled. "Is it the people behind you, ah… Inquisitor Emizren? So she's defecting and has sowed a seed of doubt within you?"

One of the guards aimed a gun at the child behind Emizren, my grandfather. Amaterasu continued. "I never thought I'd have to prune your mind, but it's clear my methods weren't as effective as I'd thought they were. I'll have to be more in-depth, now that you're Evolved."

The bullet fired, but it never reached Alberich Gravas.

Zero had unsheathed his blade, the crimson edge intercepting the bullet. It's voices carried the next swing, as both guards were severed by a shade of swelling red that bisected them. Emizren covered Al's eyes, frowning at the bloodshed.

Zero, stowing his blade back into his arm, turned back around. His voice was as detached as it always had been, but now carried a hint of something dense inside it. "What do we do next?"

The memory blurred, but I turned to the Bladefather, unsure of all of this. "So… you, Missy, my grandfather, you all knew each other?"

I looked at the flashes of broken memories, Zero was still a weapon as he led the survivors through the ruins of the broken city, a blade where Emizren was their comforting shield. The men, women, and children they picked up were all broken and grieving, but Emizren always had that gift of bringing others out of their misery.

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Even if that made her callsign ironic.

I didn't quite see the following memories, as everything faded in and out likes waves on a beach. Emizren and Zero spent months clearing out what they could under the corporations' noses, the mission to kill the husk had failed. It was simply too large, and too formidable to wound — with no clear identification for where it's Core was located.

The Floridian Gulf was truly abandoned.

"Neither of us would have made a difference." Emizren sighed. "It was always a last ditch effort neither group wanted to invest completely in, otherwise a Founder would have come down to get the job done. You'd think one of them would have wanted to fight The Infinite and…"

"Your grandmother let this happen, she saw it coming, Emizren." Zero stood by her side in the encampment, the ruined buildings were being scavenged for resources.

"It's Missy now." She sighed. "I suggest you take a new name as well."

"I had a different name." Zero mused. "Kensuke Hino."

"So you weren't just a weapon for them? Had a life?" She probed, her gaze empathic.

"Had a life." Zero confirmed.

"One that was under watch by that AI godmother of yours…" Emizren nestled closer to the fire. "We can both start fresh. Ken."

Zero didn't feel anyway about the name, it was just a title.

Months became years, the clarity of it fading away. But I wanted to see the specifics, of what happened in their travels between The Floridian Gulf and New California — the Bladefather, now unmasked, was hiding it from me. "Why won't you let me see this?"

"Because those events are Missy's to share, and I…" He raised his hand, it had cracks on it. "I have already died, this is only a moment of longevity I've managed, once you stop mimicking my power — it, like me, will disappear. Time is limited."

Glimpses flashed by, of various nomad tribes aiding the survivors amidst the cold and barren wastelands of middle America. I saw my grandfather growing, becoming an adult but still younger than I was. He had been resilient, prideful in his work, and inquisitive throughout it all. With no formal education, he learned from the nomads.

The tribes wielded strange, almost arcane forms as Adapters. Some didn't look human, but like amalgamations of man-and-beast whether it was through Shardware or Mutations. In their lack of resources, they hunted MALs down to serve as fuel for their ingenuity, and my grandfather seemed almost endeared with them… and…

"Why am I seeing my grandfather flirt with a girl from every tribe who helped you?" Every couple of months, the flickering flames of a campfire always had him warming up with a new partner on his side.

"He had his charms, and he knew where he wanted to use them." The Bladefather held an amused look on his face. There were countless times where I saw my grandfather pull out a new invention or two for Missy and Kensuke, they always saw the potential in him, but I doubt either of them ever saw him becoming the Hammersmith.

"How'd he get a Unique Feature?" I asked.

"I wouldn't know." The Bladefather responded, as the blurring memories sharpened. "He didn't stay for long."

Their group had swelled and shrunk several times, sometimes merging with other survivors, and frequently losing numbers in conflict against MALs, the environment, and unfriendly tribes. In the end, their group stabilized at around five-hundred making it through three years of harsh travelling.

At some point, Maiden had joined in, she was younger then, but still older than my grandfather. I saw her… wrapping her arm around Missy's waist as relief overwhelmed them with the distant sights of towering skyscrapers on the horizon. It had taken them so long, and through so much loss, to get here.

To Westbrook, New California.

Unfortunately, their arrival at the border wasn't so peaceful. There was tension, the MALswarm was still lingering and the arrival of The Infinite on the North American continent had widespread effects, it's very presence sent a surge of MALs attacking both Free Cities. New California may not have been as badly damaged, but it was suffering the burden of losing another city.

"Another group?" One of the border patrol soldiers spoke with something between amazement and annoyance. "Never seen one as large as yours."

My grandfather, dressed in tatters that he'd stitched into something resembling fashion, stood tall against the soldier and spoke with a thicker accent. "Hey, no warm welcome? We trudged through frost and muck for three years to get here, I'd like a nice meal at the least!"

"Al, calm down." Missy put a hand on his shoulder, Maiden casting off a sharp glare as she pinched his ear. Missy had long abandoned her NeoCore adjustments with no one to routinely fix it up, her Shardware was lacking, her clothes ruined and her Grade… Bronze.

She had been Gold during the Swarm. Was the reason behind that what The Bladefather didn't want me seeing?

"I'm sorry, you must be an Investigator here… I'm Missy, we've had a long journey and… been through a lot to make it here. We're more than willing to make compromises to adjust to the city, just… let us know how."

The man sighed, his helmet coming off. I was surprised by the face I saw there. "I'm Investigator Hardold Anderson… let me call my Lieutenant."

My grandfather snorted. "Not even gonna handle it yerself, Harold?"

Anderson glared down at my grandfather, and I was suddenly learning why Missy had such intensive contacts, and where this weird connection between my boss, Mr. Anderson, and my grandfather started from.

Kensuke stayed quiet amidst it all, as they were lead on a convoy to one of many encampents to the outer precincts. Ruin struck the city from all angles, the outer most regions still had signs of the Swarm's attacks and the air was tense from loss and burdening of responsibility. They were led to a refugee base, and it was… in poor condition.

There were millions crammed into the bare minimum, some refugees transferred by the corporations and a smaller number arriving on their own efforts. It was only a fraction of what had been lost.

The Lieutenant who'd been tasked with the effort was none other than Ishram Krishav, the burly man I knew as a Captain of Westcrook's police appeared overworked, tired, but still determined. He led them to register themselves, talking to Missy as she took the main responsibility over the group.

Part of the process was Jacob Grazhe, he was seated on a desk at the end of a long line — appearing disgruntled and annoyed. To each person who appeared, he asked the same thing.

"Do you have any prior affiliation to a group, criminal or corporate, in nature?"

Some were taken away by nearby Investigators, and when my grandfather was asked… his eyes glazed as words were forced out of his mouth. "I'd been a part of gang called the Hammer Boyz."

Jacob raised an eyebrow, as my grandfather covered his mouth before continuing. "I was an orphan! Look, things can different here-"

"Not hearing any of it." Jacob sighed, looking annoyed as he signed with his hands towards bystanding officers. My grandfather was quickly dragged away, resisting the entire time as Missy held Kensuke's shoulder.

"They'll be a bit strict on him." She whispered. "But he'll be fine, he's just a boy."

Maiden glared. "He's old enough to vote."

Maiden went next, announcing her name as 'Eloise Talis'. When asked about her affiliations, she shrugged. "Was a former soldier in the Swarm for Florida, turned nomad but then The Infinite attacked… thought I'd try my hand at civilization again."

When it was Missy's turn, she confidently spoke. "A former soldier of the Gulf."

And for Kensuke… "I worked for Yuzhou."

Missy took a deep breath when he said that, even as she was being ushered off into the next step. Jacob took a deep breath, as an officer directed Kensuke to follow him. Kensuke asked for a moment to speak, and was given such.

Missy shook his head. "You're an idiot Ken… this is your chance."

"My presence will only endanger you." He sighed. "I will return not as Zero, but as Kensuke… I'm grateful for the time I spent with you, Missy. Truly… but what had been forged within me cannot be erased."

Missy put a hand on his chest, affection born from the struggles they'd endured together. She gave a confident smirk. "Want to test that?"

"Once, you would have been able to." He gave her a sad smile, before turning around. As he followed the officer, he was led back to Lieutenant Krishav, who was holding his head in his hands.

"Position in Yuzhou?" He asked.

"Anti-Swarm Infantry."

The Lieutenant's eyes perked at that, pulling him out of his slump. "Rank?"

"Ryu." Kensuke said honestly. "Class 1."

Krishav's hands tightened, as he looked at the Investigator in the room and nodded. They diligently left the room, leaving Krishav to speak in earnest. "You defected, didn't you? They wouldn't let an asset like you wander the wilds for so long. That explains things… Gold, right?"

"Correct on all acounts." Kensuke nodded.

"Tier?" Krishav gripped his desk, the wood cracking.

"Tier IV." Those words left Kensuke's mouth like a dagger jabbing into the Lieutenant's heart.

Krishav was now in a difficult position. "You know what Yuzhou would do to you if you went back? A soldier of your position, defecting, and returning… they won't forgive you so easily."

Kensuke perfectly understood it. "I'm well aware, but I intend to bargain for-"

"They'll wipe your memories." Krishav's words carried weight. "Cradleborn, high-testing subject, that's probably what you are… I was the same. 'Cept, SynTec sold me and my training to the City. I don't know what Yuzhou does to it's children, but if it's anything like SynTec…"

Kensuke folded his arms, feeling irritated from the man. "What are you proposing?"

Krishav leaned back in his chair, speech coming as quickly as he thought it. "High-valued soldiers like you are rare, Swarm's on it's last legs… and so is this City. Twenty-six years… children became adults and this is the only world they've known — but it's not the world I want them to live in. Selling you back to Yuzhou isn't what I want… but you're a man who knows them, I don't want their secrets, but I want to know how to deal with them."

"Why would I work for SynTec? You likely have an allegiance to them." Kensuke wasn't eager to be reduced to a mere part of this man's plans.

"No. Kensuke." Krishav shook his head. "Believe it or not, I'm not just a puppet of SynTec — they try, but I'm a man on my own two feet. When the Swarm's done, people won't have any idea of what to do in their new world — and the companies know that. They'll thieve on our most lost, pilfer the Implants they strove to grow in the words of 'adjusting them' from Implants of combat to Implants of productivity. And productivity is just the fancy word they use for control. I can see what's going to happen, that the people you brought with you won't be welcomed in… at best, they'll be workers rebuilding a city as the home they once had is labelled a tragedy and a lesson. A reason for the citizens here to prepare for the next Swarm, the next apocalypse, to let them diminutize themselves in the name of the 'greater good'. The only ones who get to live in that 'great goodness' are those who don't do any of the building."

Kensuke had never truly known what he was in this world, other than a weapon, but for the first time… a path unravelled before him — one where he could point his blades in a different direction. "You intend to make me a soldier for your city, it's the same as if I went to Yuzhou."

"Maybe." Krishav didn't hide his inner-beaureucrat. "People fight in the names of their families, their friends, their corporations, their ideals. That's where I want to differ, the belief inside of me says that there's good in this world for everyone to have. Naivety, you can call it. I want to create a world of optimism, and for that… we need optimism. Even through the fighting, the misery, and the pain. I'll do it, for me — and the ones who come after."

The words came out honest, true. Kensuke didn't need his BUG to decipher the man's intentions. It was rare for a man to bare their vulnerable dreams so easily, but to their shared upbringing, Krishav was willing to put his belief in the former Yuzhou operative.

Kensuke, wordless, nodded.

Krishav smirked. "I'll let you build your unit from whoever you choose, you Floridians are tough, but don't go discountin' pure Californian blood and steel."

Kensuke, in a rare moment, smiled. He took a step towards the door, before looking back and asking. "Can I take the boy you took elsewhere with me, he's only Bronze… but he's a capable Operator."

Krishav threw a badge towards Kensuke. "He's on floor B2, tell them I sent you."

Kenuske followed, reaching the floor and relaying information as told. Those with former criminal affiliations were put in cells, their value to the city being determined. Alberich was hunched over, helping out a woman who was groaning.

"What's happened here?" Kensuke flashed the badge to the door of the cell, it swung open.

Al shook his head. "I don't know, but apparently they're also quarantining some people here. They suspect a sickness from the MAL… only infects SIM Adapters though, so I'm fine."

Kensuke took a look at the woman, she was twitching and in tatters, evidence that she'd braved the wilderness to make it all the way here. But if she was in such a state now, how had that been possible?

"Leave them." Kensuke knocked on the door.

Al grimaced, but stood up and left the cell. Kensuke took one last look at the woman, before something deep inside him quiverred, the woman's gaze looked up at him. Lost and searching in their scarlet irises, before they turned into a void of white surrounded by crimson. "You… you were there."

Kensuke didn't quite understand her, but his body felt her weakness, her broken mind. In her presence, something adjusted and solidified. A memory, one neither of them liked, yet had its effects. Turning to Al, Kensuke's words had little to debate. "Go."

Alberich, confused, still knew better than to talk back to Kensuke. Once they were alone, the man who had once been Zero spoke to the very reason he had left Yuzhou.

"Subject K." He muttered. "I thought you were dead."

The woman shook her head, her voice unclear if she was pleading or shouting in anger. "You… you touched me. I broke apart but you left me alive… and then you let me escape."

"You made it all the way here?" Kensuke was sure there were no survivors from when Amaterasu took control of his body.

"No." She shook violently, a dread digging through her. "I'm still trapped… you… merged me."

"Merged you?" Kensuke stepped closer.

"With them." The girl wept, her sadness barely kept inside her own body.

Because soon, others began to cry. It was a wave of despair bringing confusion to the other prisoners. Some were more broken than others, among all with crimson eyes, only this woman retained any sanity. "Please, help."

Kensuke's hand gripped the bar of the cell, thought ebbing and flowing in the mind which had always been a calm sea. The last few years had him changing. To me, it was a bitter irony that it came only from witnessing The Infinite. When his green eyes decided, he tapped the cage door, his words coming out from the influence of the many figures he'd met.

"Very well, tell me everything."

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