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stalkedbytrains · 17 days

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Beneath the Electric Sky

Chain One: Preload

Sequence One: Specialization

The city's atmospheric regulators were working overtime, venting steam from deep underground. The entire city was bathed in steam and fog as the city tried to deal with the never-ending climate crisis and the still active half-life fallout.

It made the building the sniper was surveilling hard to pick out, but it also hid her from view. Not that she needed a lot of help to remain undetected.

Synthia was having a hard time with the building and that was even before the winds started blowing across the Pacific strongly enough to bring in some of the radiation from overseas.

The targets she had been sent after were based in a building that was harder to get into than The Collection she was a part of. They had a small army of personnel that all had advanced combat training, what appeared to be some kind of complicated employee tracking system that hunted and killed anyone that was in the building without permission.

Then there was the suspicion of extremely illegal technology and gene splicing.

The assassin that Synthia was after was employed by these people so getting at the organization itself and whatever bullshit they did to make their assassin borderline uncatchable was in there, and it was Synthia's job to get it. She also had a score to settle with the assassin.

Synthia had tracked him down, got ahead of him, and instead of having a halfway civilized conversation he shot Synthia three times with Teflon coated rounds which would have killed her pretty quickly (but painfully) if she had been totally human.

The real problem with this stupid building and this stupid company and their stupid assassin was that they were protected by an EM field. The powerful electromagnets would fry anything with a circuit that got in without proper protection or authorization. Which meant that Synthia would die. Her systems would shutdown and she'd basically suffocate as her heart slowly gave up. She'd die trapped within her body, no matter how state-of-the-art it was.

She could attempt to drop in from above but there were no nearby buildings in which to do it quietly. Unless she dropped in from the air, and while it had been a very long time since her last HALO jump, she could probably manage it. But she couldn't rule out the chance that there was an EM field on top of the building, which could be a problem. However, such a field would only be a problem if she could hit the target of a single building from 30,000 feet up. Synthia was good, she was even extremely good, but she wasn't that good.

Of course she could just storm the building. Blow up the EM generators with a couple of smart rockets or even just break out the magnetic accelerator rifle that she is only allowed under special circumstances, but that would give her away instantly and take away any chance of recovering information or the assassin intact or mostly intact.

This was going to require an inside man, and this goddamn cult was extremely picky about who they let into their premises. That was a skill set that Synthia did not have.

Stealth, insertion, infiltration, sniping? All of those she was one of the best in the world at. But those skills wouldn't get her in there without getting noticed immediately.

She was going to have to call in a ringer.

Hopefully the bosses would let her choose the ringer, because she knew the perfect guy for the job. And he was local.

[000]

At the tiny two room headquarters that Synthia had in the city, she had spent the better part of ten minutes laying out the assault on the building and why it was such a difficult pain.

"What about a HALO jump? Get in over their defenses?" Seth asked.

Seth was nominally her partner but he acted more like a boss.

"I can't tell if there is any defenses on the roof, the weather has been absolute shit the last few days and there's no sign of it getting any better in the next few days, and I don't want to give them anymore lead time since they know we're coming. Besides HALO jumps are fine, but we're talking about hitting the courtyard of a building, which is not necessarily the easiest thing to hit when falling at terminal velocity."

Seth rubbed his beard. "Yeah, and there's no good way in?"

"Not unless you can see something. And I can't lie my way in, since they know what we look like since the fucking debacle with the cops."

He gave Synthia a hard look.

"You can't even remotely blame that fucking bullshit on me," Synthia snapped. "We have strict orders to bring in the assassin if we can and the cops came in guns blazing absolutely burning that bridge as evidenced by him shooting me three times!"

"So what do you suggest? A tactical nuke?"

Synthia didn't even feign a laugh at the jab. "We need an inside man, but, again this cult is paranoid so their members are scrutinized within an inch of their lives. We need someone else to get inside and turn off the EM field long enough for me to get inside."

"What do you suggest? There's no other Collection agents on this coast. You want to get some outside help? You?"

"I have friends."

"That you haven't gotten killed or killed yourself?"

"Io has known me for a very long time. He's a great con man, he's in this city right now, and he has the added benefit of being almost completely human. If he does get caught in the EM field, he's not gonna just die like I will. Like you would."

Seth frowned. "Fine. We don't have many other options and we need this wrapped up quickly. But if this goes sideways even a little bit, I'm torching this friend of yours."

Synthia sneered at Seth in response.

"You know where to find him?"

"I have a pretty good idea."

[010]

There was a black tie party happening at the penthouse of the extremely wealthy socialite and minor celebrity Mason Filmont. The man had a penchant for buying rare and expensive per-singularity technology, and he was both stupid and an asshole, which was Io's favorite target.

Sneaking into the party was extremely easy. It was a party, there was a certain expectation of people coming and going.

Io could have made his way into the party as just a guest, but that wouldn't have got him nearly as close to some of the tech he wanted to steal as he would have liked. So he spent the last few weeks charming his way into the inner circle of Mason.

It was tiring to be sure, and the sex wasn't good either which was a criminal crime, but it was all about to pay off.

"You know I'm worried about all of these gang killings."

A snippet of party conversation caught Io totally off guard. He couldn't quite place it, but there was a familiarity with the voice that spoke. He whipped around and saw a tall but almost tragically slim redheaded woman in an ill fitting black dress.

She saw him turned and raised her glass of champagne at him.

There was something so familiar about the stance, about the hungry and tired look that told him that this woman hadn't slept properly in a long time but the sharp blue eyes told him that he was being hunted by an apex predator.

Io stopped in his tracks and turned to face the woman and the person she was talking to.

"Hey there River," Io said, slipping his hand across the waist of the person he was actively scamming. "Who are you talking to?"

The woman smiled a smile, that put Io very ill at ease. That smile said that she had pulled on over on him.

"Name's Synthia," she said as she held out a hand to shake Io's.

The grip was almost crushing, but it didn't seem to be a deliberate power move, and was instead something that came from her unnatural strength.

"Synthia, pleasure. I'm-"

"Io. I know. We've met before."

"Oh, you two know each other?" River said with a bemused look.

"Oh yes," Synthia said. "But I'd be surprised if Io remembers me. We haven't seen each other in years."

Io's stomach dropped out as she said that. It was the voice, the hair, and the eyes that did it. Nothing else was the same.

"Synthia. Yeah. I haven't seen you in a real long time. Last time I saw you was when you were looking for a particular gun."

Synthia rolled her eyes. "I mean, yes, but we've communicated since then. You helped me find some people. Shame what happened to them."

"You-" Io started but Synthia shook her head just a little bit, a fraction of a movement. "Yes. You're right, how silly of me to forget. How have you been?"

"Lots of changes," she said, indicating to herself. "Lots. But I'm doing well. Some aspects could be better. The job is something of a pain."

"You still in the military?" Io asked.

River had gotten bored by this point and kissed Io. "I'm going to go back to the party, you two have fun."

Once he was gone, Io dropped the smile.

"What the fuck?" he whispered.

"New job," she explained. "Like top secret shit, so careful what you say and what you ask. They're listening."

"And so you thought you'd just drop in on your old friend Io for shits and giggles?"

"I mean, I've been keeping tabs. You seem to be doing good."

"I'm alive," he said. "I thought you were dead, or gone, spirited away to some black site prison."

"You're not half wrong there."

"Fucking hell," Io said, cutting himself off from saying the name he remembered Synthia using. "What's up? Why are you coming back to me now? Am I fucked? Am I being black-bagged?"

"No," Synthia said. "I'm just in a severe problem right now and need a favor."

"Of course, why didn't that occur to me sooner. I'm on a job, a very delicate one, and I'm really close to closing it."

"You're going to what? Steal Mason's cybertruck? That ugly fucking thing?"

"Yes, but that's not the goal. I was going to use it as a getaway vehicle for a bit. I mean it's a legendarily bad truck, and Mason has a fully restored 2025 model. I want to drive it so bad. But I was going to steal some stuff, a couple of art pieces to sell, and some old videogame stuff for myself. Then drive out in the truck."

Synthia nodded. "I'm impressed. A step up from the shit you pulled back in the day."

"You're being weirdly coy."

"They don't know a lot about me before I joined the military, and I aim to keep it that way."

"Then you contacting me is..."

"Very serious."

"What's up?"

"You know those murders everyone is concerned with?" Synthia asked.

"Yeah, some dude is killing gang leaders."

"And about a hundred other people. Ranging from war criminals to CEO's and randomly some random dude in an apartment complex."

Io took a deep breath. "That's a lot of dead people. You know I'm not a fan of that."

"Well the problem is that it is one dude."

"Hasn't this only been going on for like a week? He's killed more than a hundred people in less than a week?"

"Yeah."

"Fuck. How do you think I can possibly help you?"

"This guy has some illegal tech I'm going to rip out of him. And he shot me three times and tried to kill me."

Io hung his head, resting it on the metal railing of the nearby stairs. He knew what that meant. Synthia, whatever she was calling herself now, would never let that stand.

"The thing is I know where his headquarters is, and the cult that is supporting him."

"There's a cult too?" Io whined.

"Yeah."

"Motherfucker."

"It's more religious fanaticism and shit and not like the people sacrificing kind."

"I'm really dreading when you get to the point where you ask me to do something."

"I just need you to open the door."

Io looked at Synthia incredulously. She really was almost entirely different. The person that Io knew from twenty odd years back was still in there, and this conversation, brief as it had been, they really were the same person.

"The entire area is surrounded by EM fields and guards and turrets and extreme paranoia of the religious fanatics. They know me because their assassin failed to kill me, so I can't get in. I can't even get close or I'm gonna die."

Io shuddered. "You really went down that route?"

Synthia shrugged. "Yeah, it gave me the body I always wanted. Cost me a lot in other ways. But still worth it."

"I love tech, just having it be inside me grosses me out."

"The other reason I'm here. You won't instantly die if you screw up like I will."

"How badly does this need to be done tonight?" Io asked as he looked longingly at the rich person's very easily stolen things.

"Badly. We've got a very small window to strike before they realize we're on to them and move and if they move we're never getting to the assassin."

"Why not?" Io complained, even know Synthia knew he was coming with her.

"I'm fairly certain the assassin can teleport. So this is our one and only opportunity."

"Fuck me," Io said. "Let's go, but I hope you can at least pay me for this."

"The company has deep pockets."

"Goddamnit," Io moaned as they went to leave the party. "Don't tell me I'm actually doing work for The Company Company."

"The CIA? Those fucks? Oh hell no."

Io heaved a sigh of relief. "Thank fuck. They are really the worst."

"Yeah and they've put out hits on me like three times," Synthia said as she led Io to the car she had waiting out front.

As they climbed into the car Io turned to Synthia and said, "So I have two questions for you."

"Shoot."

"Pronouns?"

"She and her," Synthia replied instantly.

"Good, good," Io said. "Honestly I've never cared much for the whole pronoun game so whatever works for you works for me. But it might just save time to use he and him for me."

Synthia pulled away from the party with dangerous speed. "Sounds just like you. What's the other question?"

"Lorelei know you're alive?"

Synthia swore. "No."

buy me a kofi

#writeblr #original fiction #my fiction #beneath the electric sky #finally trying to get synthia's story down and done #i cut sixty pages of this story and i'm currently gutting it and salvaging it for parts #no parts are going to survive for very long

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inthehytes · 2 years

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Note that when it comes to prompts I'm not the most creative but if I do think of a good one (or just a one that I actually have an idea for lol) I will tell you!! My only idea is. What if icethia got involved in the story too? 👀 Totally ok if not but I've been having icethia brainrot and that combined with this would be *chefs kiss* perfect. (Also I realize I should probably give myself a name for you to identify me by so hi!! I'm Petal :3)

Hi Petal! Oddly enough I had planned to work them into the story already! How they come to be you'll have to stay tuned for but for now enjoy some cute candy store fluff :)

“There’s no way you can actually stretch the picture into these, I refuse to believe it.” Icesis frowns as she inspects the array of brightly colored candies, different animals and cute pictures having been made into them.

“Sure you can, it’s not that hard once you get the hang of it,” Pythia assures her as they stretch out what feels like the fiftieth batch. They had to admit to being just as skeptical the first few times they watched Synthia do it.

“I don’t think I believe you, are you sure you’re not just secretly a magician here to prank me?” Her eyes narrow up at Pythia who has to fight to not laugh at the disgruntled expression on her face.

“It’s easy Icesis, c’mere I can show you.” They beckon her over to where they’re standing, bowls of every color they need already organized in front of them.

Icesis watches intently as Pythia explains the method of arranging the logs of sugar before they get rolled together and stretched one last time to reveal the picture inside. She’s pressed close enough to Pythia for them to feel the warmth rolling off of her, their shoulders brushing with every movement.

“Do you think I could try it? I’m sure Gia and Kendall will still eat it if I mess it up too much,” she asks after the third demonstration from Pythia. The brunette nods, their face lighting up as they push the log in front of Icesis.

They watch eagerly as Icesis starts to stretch it out, clearly trying to follow how Pythia had done it prior. She manages to get it almost halfway to the size it was supposed to be before it starts to go lumpy. Icesis lets out a huff of frustration as she tries to fix it but the sugar is stubborn, nearly too cool to work with and really only making a mess.

“Here, let me help,” Pythia leans in, their arms on either side of the shorter girl, their hands covering her own as they stretch the candy out together.

It isn’t until they’re finished that Pythia realizes how close they actually are to Icesis, her back pressed to their front, their arms still around her. Their faces are close enough to each other for Pythia to see the little flecks of color in her brown eyes when Icesis turns to grin up at them in triumph.

“Look at it! I’ll be a pro in no time,” her eyes are bright with satisfaction at finally having figured out the confusing art she’d been admiring since she filled in for Synthia all those months ago.

“Vying for my job already? Are Kendall and Gia not keeping you busy enough over there?” They tease, poking Icesis in the side chuckling at the girl when she flinches away from their hand.

“I could think of someone that could keep me busier.” She traps her bottom lip between her teeth, hesitation shining through the confident bravado she always put on.

“Yeah?” Pythia asked, tilting their head to the side as they took a step closer, effectively pinning Icesis between their body and the table. Icesis nods, her hands settling on Pythia’s hips as they duck down closer to the shorter woman. Their lips are barely a breath away from Icesis’ own “Then I better get busy huh?”

#sastan #sastan drabble #icethia #icesis coture #pythia #petal

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