Soldiers of the Dark Future Chapter 2

The Binondo Conflict Zone. Based from the corrupted Holotexts recovered from the bowels of the collapsed Museum of Old Manila, Binondo came a long way farther back dating to the time of the Spanish Colonization Era, established by Chinese settlers and became a haven to those of pure blood, half blood or with Chinese descendency.

How accurate was the Holotext? He doesn't know. The gold dilapidated archway that welcomed the visitors to this Little Chinatown loomed overhead, decorated with a long green-scaled marble dragon whose left eye had gone missing over a decade ago. Red lanterns hung on one end to the other, illuminating the signage.

He walked, eyeing the group of syndicate goons who have annexed the Binondo Conflict Zone as their territory. Black leather jacket, silver rimmed black-lensed shades, thick cargo pants and heavy Samurai-Class battle rifles. They could be mistaken as corporate security but their demeanour, as well as the exposed tattoos on their necks made it clear that these enforcer bastards belonged to the Black Dragon Syndicate.

But they were not his targets. The Enclave Authority will get them soon. The enemy of their enemy is a desert for later.

His eyes scanned from left to right, irises illuminated in blue--tell tale signs of cyberoptic implants installed by Enclave cybernetician doctors. He followed the large number of crowd ahead of him, it was so packed and crowded like a Christmas season in Divisoria--whatever the hell that idiom means. Divisoria was a mass graveyard, based on the Holotexts and there was no available information about the place prior to the Fall of the Republic.

His target was the dogs of the Takano Industries--a robotics firm that supplied both the United States and the Russian military, a story for another day. Takano wanted BCZ so bad that they deployed the Tachibana Samurai Clan to wage war against the Black Dragon Syndicates--

--inside a fucking Enclave territory.

The Japanese and the Chinese really wanted a piece of New Manila. The area was officially a commerce zone, he cannot blame them. They definitely wanted money. Lots of it.

The crowd had thinned. He found himself standing in a crossroad with other pedestrians. He glanced around again, the business establishments were bathed in bright neon lights--white, blue, cyan, pink and orange. Patrons came to and fro, some were entering doors while others exited to join the walking crowd. He could see implants within them. Some walked with a shiny arm, others had illuminating eyes in various colors, others had hair highlights that changes in shade every ten seconds, some even had SocMed Linkware implanted on their forearms, typing and chatting with by tapping their skin.

The tall skyscrapers were also not safe from the blight of the dark future as the façade of some either illuminated in orange or blue. Some displayed advertisements of corporate products and others displayed the vlog-fluencer stars of SocMed, promoting some shit that he doesn't know about.

He walked again, following the crowd. He caught sight of another man, who was simply watching him. He approached.

"Tear in reality?" He asked.

"Technoshock." The man replied. An Enclave agent, one of them.

"Where's Black Blade?" He asked as he glanced around suspiciously, wary of any syndicate or corporate goons that might approach them.

"Over there, at Red Queen Nightclub." The man pointed at the bar across them. He turned and saw a red-lit bar with a naked prostitute standing in front of the bar, under guard by a silver-skinned bouncer. She is slender, her nipples illuminated in red and her eyes glowed yellow in the dark. Her red lips were pouted in a seducing manner.

"This is your first assassination against a corporate-whore, Perdiz. They aren't the usual Gangpunkers that you faced before."

"This is the big league now." Perdiz replied. "I am so good at what I do that the Enclave has decided to sic me against corporate titans. I'd say, let's see what we can do."

"Fuck it, man. You could have just turned it down. You're pushing your luck too far!" The man said.

"Listen, brother." Perdiz tapped the man in the shoulder. "You're a Holoshifter like I am, we're expected to see death, be it our own or theirs. Now quit with that shit sentiment you got."

"I can't lose you like how we lose our mother." The young Perdiz replied.

The older Perdiz turned to him. "Now I know why they transferred you to Street Division, Pedro." He glanced at his bandaged left hand. "May that scar serve as a reminder that your humanity is your weakness." He turned towards the bar and crossed the road to reach it.

He walked past the naked prostitute, who eyed him intently. The bouncer stepped aside with a grin plastered on his face and let him enter. Beyond the narrow door, was an orgy-rave party currently taking place. He walked beyond--the lights on the ceiling were red. The turntable jockey above the dancefloor had set his blasters into maximum, blaring the most loudest of tracks he ever created. On the floor, numerous women and drugboys danced all night--an iniquitous sight of steel and flesh. They were like computerized lanterns as their hairs glowed differently depending on the time setting they programmed in their underskin implants.

Beyond, numerous kiosks divided by walls could be seen. They were occupied by VIPs and the wealthy. He traced his eyes along those space and saw his target among a group of five in the middle kiosk.

He approached. Each men were dressed in green cyber o-yoroi, riveted to their chests and backs like a second skin, indicating their statuses as Samurais, but their o-yoroi had stopped in the chest and backplates. They wore flak pants and plated boots and their hairs were tied in a bun--the typical modern Samurai warrior look.

As they detected his presence, they looked at him. Red glowing eyes that held malice the longer their artificial irises remained fixated on him. Their black mechanical hands slowly reached for weapons, be it katanas or rapid-fire assault pistols. Perdiz wondered how these bastards got past the syndicate enforcers outside without firing a shot?

"Got a problem, Chumboy?" One of them asked.

Perdiz glanced from left to right. They were sitting in a circular couch facing him. The Samurais were definitely under the influence of speed-mulants--reflex booster drugs that heightened their response time like those used by the Flatliners.

But if there was one advantage that they, Holoshifters, have over the Flatliners was that their speed was natural.

He is basically a "ninja" after all.

Without word, Perdiz revealed his true form. The hologramic projection of a youthpunk in black and orange jacket was replaced by a muscular soldier wearing a Synth-Skin Infiltrator suit. He drew his katana from the scabbard, its blade glowed green.

He swung to the right, immediately decapitating the Samurai he targeted. His head rolled towards the table, mouth and eyes were wide agape. Barely they had realized what just transpired before them, Perdiz has already struck his second target in the neck and slew the bastard with a ripped throat. Blood flew in the air in a spray.

He aimed the tip of his blade at the Samurai on Black Blade's left and thrust forward. The poor bastard was pinned to his couch as the sword penetrated deeply.

Perdiz snatched the steak knife from the table and swung both at Black Blade and the last Samurai in a single stroke. Their throats were ripped opened and they hit the table face-first. Their bodies twitched as red liquid flowed out of their opened wounds.

Perdiz impaled Black Blade at his nape and left the steak knife embedded before he pulled his sword from the third corpse. He deactivated it before sheathing it back.

From the staircase to the right, three nightclub security Gangpunkers came down with small-arms fire. However, Perdiz has already assumed the form of a young attractive female in corporate attire as he walked out of the nightclub. He grinned, the loud music kept playing and the dancing crowd did not even spare a glance at the massacre.

He approached his waiting brother in the distance and nodded.

"Black Blade is an alleykill. I'm heading back to outpost." Then left, still under the form of a woman.

(Soldiers of the Dark Future)