Beta Earth: Between Worlds 2.0 Edition (3 page)
Read Beta Earth: Between Worlds 2.0 Edition Online
Authors: J.R. Napier
Time: One month later—afternoon.
Location: Faux Forsaken hideout in Sprawl 15.
Zuri and Vin are eating at a table away from everyone else. Tooth watches them from a corner. He is sitting with the other gang members. The Faux Forsaken Clan is filled with a majority of the bad seeds from Sprawl 15.
They are an unofficial offset of the original, legendary Forsaken Clan (a.k.a., the Forsaken) located on Beta Earth. Most of the members of the Faux think they are a part of the baddest gang around. A lot of the members, including their regional leader Shane, tries to emulate the Forsaken wardrobe. Which includes
a smooth, white metal mask, usually etched with some design, and very long, claw-like hand attachments
.
Since most of the Faux Forsaken members are poor. They can only afford rusted masks and short, often broken, makeshift claws. These derelicts mostly sit around all day or wander around the sprawl causing mischief. Only a few members are allowed to carry guns.
The gang is mostly made up of youth in the sprawl who realize they can never attain the type of lifestyle that the city kids have. They join to earn quick money and quick respect. Although, once they join, they usually lose their ambition and soon succumb to the lifestyle of laziness and thievery. There is no real ranking system among them. Only a gauge of respect that stems from their exploits or their length of membership.
On occasion, they receive missions from their only set leader, Shane. Shane doesn’t really care for the advancement of his gang. So most of the missions he gives usually involve petty theft to keep the clan vault filled and mild territory intimidation to ward off other gangs. A member named Jest-Ker arrives. He gloats to the Faux members as per usual, boasting lies about his toughness and cunning exploits.
No one knows why he feels the need to lie all the time, but they allow him to … mostly out of boredom.
“So I hit that old dude in the head cuz I’m hardcore, ya know? We gotta rep, ya know?” Jest-Ker boasts to the gang. “Hey, hey, Tooth.” Jest-Ker pesters Tooth and he is disturbed from intensely watching Zuri and Vin.
“Huh? What? Shut up, Jester. Can’t you see I’m thinking?” Tooth responds. Jest-Ker casts a frown.
“It’s Jest KER, man! Damn
,
how hard is it?” Tooth grabs Jest-Ker and slams him violently against the wall.
“Then you should have picked a better name than Jester.” Tooth says irritably. With a short breath, Tooth releases Jest-Ker and walks toward Zuri and Vin. Jest-Ker recovers from his trauma and rubs his neck. Then, as if nothing happened, continues talking to the rest of the guys.
Tooth approaches Zuri and Vin. They are still eating and pay no attention to Tooth. He slams his fist on the table. The act startles both of them. “What the hell makes you think you can come in late and eat with us?”
“Late? What the hell, man? There is no time to meet here.” Zuri says.
“When the sun is in high in the sky we meet.” Tooth points up.
“Well, what are you waiting for, look up! How else you gonna know?” Zuri rolls his eyes at Tooth.
“We are inside.” Zuri responds. Tooth is irritated with Zuri’s growing arrogance.
“What the hell? Just because you two got families means you can do whatever you want whenever you want? None of us have family, so we gotta meet when the sun is high! So look up! Both of you, dammit!” Zuri sighs and looks over to Vin. Vin nods, puts down his sandwich and they both cast their eyes upward. Tooth grins as he sucker punches Zuri hard in the side of his face. The force knocks him out of his chair and onto the ground.
He then winds up to hit Vin. Almost instinctively, Vin grabs the top of Tooth’s head and slams him on the table, pinning him down. Zuri rubs his face and stands back up. Tooth as struggles against Vin’s strength. “Let go of me or you’re a dead man, Vin!”
Vin continues to hold his head down. Shane bursts out of the back room and silence enters the room. “You two!” Shane yells. He points at Zuri and Vin. “In here now!” Zuri walks toward the bone room. Vin lets go of Tooth’s head and follows Zuri. Tooth rubs his head as he recovers.
“I’m gonna kill you! —” Shane pops his head out again.
“I gotta speak with you next, Tooth. Don’t leave.” Tooth stops his charge, spits on the ground and folds his arms as the two enter the bone room. Zuri and Vin sit down in the guest chairs next to the desk. Shane sits down on his couch next to two lethargic women dressed in punk attire. As the women lean in close and rest against him.
“So, boys.” Shane says. He is eerily calm and relaxed, as if under the influence of a drug. “I like you,” Shane says as he stretches back on the couch. Making the women shift to accommodate him. He smacks his lips and continues. “You do your work and don’t question. However, many people around here don’t like you.”
Shane stares at Zuri and Vin. Who wait patiently for him to continue. “Just … lay low and watch your backs. It doesn’t take much to tick these guys off ... and they don’t forgive easily. That being said, I have a mission for you.”
Shane points his finger at a folder on the desk. “Easy mission, fast money. You’ll start tomorrow. Oh, and tell Jest-Ker he’s going with you. I would have told him myself but I can’t stand all his talking.”
Zuri grabs the folder and both of them stand up to leave. “Hey, send Tooth in, will ya?” Zuri nods in reply as they exit the room. Moments later, Tooth enters the room. He sits down in the guest chair and immediately puts his feet up on Shane’s desk.
“I can’t stand those two, ya know! You should really let me do a special mission on them.” Tooth flashes a shiny, wicked grin. Shane sits up slightly moving the girls off of him. “Forget about that. We got important stuff to discuss.” Tooth puts his feet on the ground and sits up proper.
“Oh? Is that so?”
“I got a call from Riken.” Shane says.
“What!” Tooth says excitedly. “Riken personally? What did the big boss himself want?” Shane stands up very slowly.
“Seems one of his lieutenants died recently. He wants me to come to Beta Earth and take over his territory. Do you know what this means?” Tooth tries desperately to control his amazingly big grin. Shane slightly smiles.
“So, starting tomorrow, you are the new leader around here.” Tooth’s face fills with supreme joy.
“Lotta changes will be made, you know.”
“Your choice. Got nothing to do with me now.” Shane says with a casual stretch.
Time: Afternoon.
Location: Earth—an abandoned factory in an undisclosed location between Sprawl 15 and City District 8.
Akari stands in the middle of the training ground holding two guns. She is silent, waiting with her eyes closed. She listens intently and hears the sound of light footsteps. Suddenly she turns and fires.
Her bullets are deflected. Akari continues to fire on the near blur of an object running around the room, but none of the shots land. Clave has developed an interesting evasion style. He keeps low to the ground, using his left hand to balance and his right for the sword.
This allows him to scramble freely around the room dodging Akari’s shots. Akari eventually runs out of bullets, “Good, but I can tell from here your balance is still off. You need to work on your coordination.”
Clave stands behind Akari poised to attack. Akari drops her gun. Just as she does, she surreptitiously takes out another and fires it at Clave. He deflects the two shots and moves in striking range of Akari.
He delivers a swift swing at her and she effortlessly swipes his sword away with her gun. This causes him to lose balance and stumble. Akari points the gun directly at Clave’s face and after a moment’s pause. She whacks him lightly on side of his head, “Much better, boy. Your improvised evasion technique has greatly increased your speed.”
Akari tosses her empty gun onto the table, “But you won’t be able to stop anyone with those half-assed swings. Each movement should be decisive and strong. You should have broken through my gun and taken my hand off.”
“Whatever, crazy lady.” Clave softly mutters. Akari catches the remark.
“Maybe it’s time for—” Her communication band interrupts her. “Never mind. Break time boy.” Clave collapses to the ground with relief.
“She is unstoppable, I swear,” he says softly while composing himself. Akari answers her com band. It’s Agent Damon.
“We are ready to proceed with the mission,” he says.
“Details?” Akari asks as she walks over to a bucket of water. “Matthew Vellian, an influential businessman and powerful lobbyist in City District 11, is suspected of doing business with the Syndicate. He is well connected and very knowledgeable in our law system. Arresting him with all our evidence gathered so far would be ineffective. So, he must be dealt with in another fashion … before he can make contract with the Syndicate.” Akari removes a cloth from the bucket, rings it out and wipes her face.
“Why is Clave needed for this mission?”
“It’s very important that his activities end in this next encounter. We have suspicion that the agreement will supply the Syndicate with designs for U.F. battle suits. Vellian knows his life is in danger. So he has chosen the location for the meeting with the Syndicate rep carefully. It’s a civilian-populated building. We will need a separate cell to infiltrate the building and dispose of him.”
“Understood.” Akari replies.
“Akari, is the boy prepared to complete a mission of this caliber?” Akari clinches her cloth tight.
“Yes, without a doubt. However, surviving this mission is another matter—”
“You will have permission to scout a new pupil should that be the case. I will send you the mission logistics within the hour.” Agent Damon disconnects. Akari tosses her cloth without looking. It lands gracefully into a nearby bucket of water.
“Clave, break time is over! Now we fix your subpar coordination.” Akari says. Clave moves to the middle of the room and starts to stretch.
“What’s going on?” he asks.
“They just gave you your first mission.” Akari replies. Clave looks down at his hands. He slowly closes them and then opens them back up.
“Already?” he asks.
“Clave, they don’t expect you to survive this.” Akari says as she approaches Clave. “Prove them wrong.”
Time: Early evening.
Location: Sprawl 15—Caroline’s House.
Zuri and Vin return home and find the door open. There is a man inside talking to Caroline. Anul is standing next to him with her bags.
“What’s going on here?” Zuri asks. The man and Caroline turn around to face the youths. Vin steps forward.
“Father?” Standing next to Caroline is General Quell Taurus. “Hello, Vin.”
“What are you doing here? Anul, why are you packed?” Vin asks. General Taurus steps closer to Anul.
“She is coming with me and I wanted to extend the offer to you, as well.”
“She’s not going anywhere!” Vin says firmly. General Taurus and Vin both turn to Anul.
“Anul, do you want to go?” Vin asks. Anul looks down slightly. “Anul …” Vin says disappointedly.
“I don’t want to leave you, brother. But here I am just an extra burden to Caroline. It’s better if I stay with Dad for a while.” Caroline approaches Anul.
“You are no burden, I assure you.” Caroline hugs Anul.
“Even still ... we promised we would return after he got back from Beta Earth.” Anul replies. General Taurus takes a good look at Vin. He is proud to see his son has grown into a good young man.
“I’m not going. Anul, you do realize he is just going to use you once you join him.” Vin says.
“I do. I want to train, Vin,” Anul says as she rubs her arm.
“He will probably make you enlist.” Vin says.
“I know.” she replies. A frown crosses Vin’s face.
“Fine, leave, but don’t expect me to follow,” he says.
“Vin, please think about it. I’m in the sprawls for one more day. I’ll stop by tomorrow. You can give me your final answer then.” General Taurus says as he leaves. Anul follows him bags in hand. Caroline and Zuri watch Vin as he hangs his head in thought. Zuri places his hand lightly on Vin’s shoulder.
“Listen, man, he is your father. I understand if—” Vin interrupts. “He’s only my father in blood. To me he’s a General first ... and if he really cared. He would convince the U.F. to help us in the sprawls. As far as I’m concerned, I am staying here to help and protect my family.” Caroline tears up and hugs Vin. “Thank you, Vin. You know, no matter what you decide, you are always welcome here.”
“Damn, and just when I thought I would be rid of my pest of a bro.” Zuri says with a grin. Caroline wipes her tears.
“Don’t even joke like that, Zuri. You know as well as I do you would be lost without him.”
“Yeah, I guess I’d rather be lost ... with him.” Zuri says.
“What the heck does that mean?” Vin replies. They all let out a joyous laugh that settles the tension in the air.
“Come on, let’s eat and rest. We have a big day tomorrow, Vin.” Zuri says. Vin replies with a nod as they enter the kitchen together.