Maniac’s Mayhem: A guide to being a corporate slave

 

 

I bolt out the door at full speed, which, admittedly, is not all that fast. I am no bomb expert either, so I don’t know the blast radius of this thing, but going on how expensive all the rest of the stuff here was, I am going to say it's big. I spot a window at the end of the corridor as well as a sky bridge underneath it.

I grab the only metal object I have available at the moment, a pen I stole out of Le Monds's office. What a shame. It was a nice one as well. I activate the launcher and throw the pen forward at full force. The window shatters into a thousand pieces, which is nice. It would have been slightly embarrassing if that only cracked it.

Suddenly I get grabbed by the back and lifted up. I look back to see that Anika has picked me up and is ready to throw me. Uhm, I did not consent to this, is the only thing I can think, before I get catapulted into the air.

I clear the window and land on top of the bridge when I hear a loud, ear-shattering boom, and the shockwave blows me away to the side, sending me straight off the bridge and putting me into a free fall. On pure instinct or, more likely, programmed knowledge, I spread out my arms and legs and stabilize myself.

I look around me, trying to figure out what I should do, and then I spot my arm. Or, more accurately, the launcher. Magnets. I hope it’s strong enough.

“Lyssa, activate the magnets as strong as you can; make it suck me to the building.” I shout out.

Setting limits to maximum and reversing the polarity.

Sparks start flying off my arms, and as soon as I get close to the opposite building, my arm latches on. I stop immediately and smack into the window. That hurts, but at least I am no longer falling. I have a new problem, though. Instead of raptly descending, I am now rapidly ascending. Apparently, the magnets in this thing are so strong that as long as it's on a metal surface, I can just use me as ammo. The more you know, I guess. Good to know. I am sure this will come in handy in the future. Now, it just created another problem since I have just reached the top of the building and have been launched several meters into the air.

“Lyssa, please tell me you have a plan.”

Lyssa does, In fact, have a solution. To start, put on your mask. The shielding will reduce any damage you take

I do as she says and put on the mask. I am going to have to wipe so much camera data now. “Now what?”

Angle yourself at the top of the building and go into the fetal position, making sure to protect your head.

I do as she says and make myself as small as possible. I can feel the world spinning around me until I suddenly hit the ground. My back is the first thing that hits, pushing all the air out of my lungs. Leaving me breathless as I bounce a few more times over the roof.

“Fuck, I think I broke my back.” I say, when I finally slide to a stop.

That would be rather impressive, but untrue. You are physically fine, some small bruising, that is all.

“I see, agh.” I say, while trying to stand up. “Anything else I should know?”

The batteries in your mask are almost empty. You should charge them soon

“Well, that is great.” I say, taking off my mask and standing up

I am still in a decent amount of pain, but I can walk; luckily, nothing is broken except for some skin. I take a look over the edge to check on the destruction, and, well, fuck, most of the building we were in has collapsed. I think the bomb did a number on the structural integrity. The entire thing has collapsed under its own weight. Fuck me, where is Anika?

‘Lyssa, where is Anika? Please tell me she is alive,’ I subvocalise.

She is alive.

‘are you saying that because she is alive or just because I asked you to?’

You asked, but for now, she is alive as well, but pinging her location indicates that she is under a lot of rubble. According to her medical readings, she will not last long.

‘fuck tell me where she is. I am getting her out.’ I subvocalise, while I start running towards the elevators.

I make it to the elevator and quickly take control of it. Sorry, people, need to rescue someone. I quickly go down and make it out of the building. I need to jump down half a floor on top of the rubble, but it's better than having to climb. I start making my way towards Anika very carefully. Of course, I don’t want to fall in and get squished.

It takes me a while to get to the area. Which is not a good sign, we started so close to each other. With the help of Lyssa pointing out what piece of rubble to move, as well as some doses of painkillers and strength enhancers, I start making progress. But it is slow, too slow, and with every second, I get more worried.

‘Lyssa, what is her status?’

She is slowly declining; Lyssa believes she has some serious injuries that need tending to immediately. A hospital vehicle has been dispatched and will be with you in 31 minutes.

With that piece of information to keep me motivated, I keep on digging until I lift a particularly heavy desk to reveal Anika’s helmeted head. Nice, it's still attached to the rest of her body, so that is a good start. I run some programs to gain access to her cybernetics and make the helm open up. She is unconscious, which is probably a good thing. She can’t move, which makes the problem worse.

‘Can I give her some medication or something to help with her injuries before I start digging her out some more?’

That would be optimal, but you don’t have the points. What you do have is half a reserve of nanites that are still stored in your spine.

‘Lyssa, what does that mean?’ I subvocalize, while getting a lot more worried.

You can transfer them to her with your body fluids. It won’t be enough for her to fully recover, but enough to stabilize and put her out of life-threatening risk.

'fuck, so I have to kiss her?'

Lyssa thinks that would be the most optimal method of delivery, but considering your preferences, you can also make a little cut on your body and feed her with your blood.

‘that is better.’

I start looking for sharp objects and find a particularly sharp piece of metal. I quickly run my arm along it, creating a small scratch that starts bleeding crimson instantly. At least, that is what I would like to say. Don’t get me wrong, I am still bleeding, but...

‘Lyssa, why is my blood purple?’

The nanites in your body are coloured a light blue. The concentration makes it look like your blood is coloured purple. Lyssa can assure you that your blood is still red.

I shrug and put my wound against her mouth. Then, I start squeezing around the wound to force the blood out. Luckily, I can’t feel pain at the moment. After a bit, she started to groan and move. Suddenly, her eyes shoot open. She looks at me confused and tries to get my arm out of her mouth, but with her arms still stuck, it is not easy.

“Stay still and just suck. There are meds in my blood,” I bark at her.

She looks at me with a different mix of thankfulness, anger, fear, and confusion. After a while, Lyssa gives me the okay, and I take my arm back.

“Well, that was something.” I say, while looking at Anika’s head.

“Thank you. I think I am not sure what you did.” Anika says.

“I gave you my supply of healing nanites. It's not enough for a full recovery, but enough to stabilize you until the ambulance arrives.” I say, standing up and starting work on removing more of the rubble that is around her.

“I see. Can I ask how you survived? The last thing I saw was you being blasted off the bridge?”

“I kind of just shot myself up the side. That reminds me, Lyssa. Have you finished wiping all the evidence from the cameras?”

Lyssa finished that assignment 59 nanoseconds after you asked,

“So, you are you not injured?” Anika asks, a bit of concern in her voice.

“I am fine. Some scrapes and bruises, but I will survive.”

I spent the next 10 minutes completely removing the debris and carefully moving her to a safer location. I know I am not supposed to move injured people, but keeping her at the bottom of a pit of debris seems like asking for trouble. At this time, the dose of painkillers that was in my blood when I gave Anika a transfusion has lost their effect on her, but she only grunted a bit at the increase in pain. Tough girl, that one.

After a while of waiting, the hover ambulance… hoverlance? Whatever the healing vroom vroom is, is here. An armed squad of medics jumps out and scans the area. Then they point the gun at me.

“Identify yourself,” he says.

“I am Evelin Nowak; my mom is injured. Please help her,” I say in my best little girl's voice. What can I say? Being shorter than average can come in useful as well.

He looks at Anika on the ground, then again at something on his augs. Then he waves some people over, and Anika is put on a stretcher and put in the back. I try to get on as well, but the guy at the back stops me.

“Only family can ride with the patient.”

“I am family. That is my mother,” I say, trying to act somewhat hysterical.

The guy's eyes glaze over, indicating he is using his augs. I ran a quick program to get in and change Anika’s files a bit to allow me to ride with her. After finding what he has been looking for, he just nods, and I sit down on a small bench in the corner. Meanwhile, the medics are putting all kinds of monitoring devices on her. Then, I suddenly get a call from Cierra, and get confused. I checked all the connections and noticed that I am no longer sending them an image.

‘Lyssa, how long have I stopped sending them videos?’

Around the time you found the bomb. Lyssa also made sure that all calls and messages were ignored. You have 23 calls from Ciera and 25 from Sam.

‘I see. Could you not have sent them a message saying I was alright?’

Lyssa could, but Lyssa does not want to invade your privacy.

‘right, sure, anyway, can you somehow send what I subvocalise into the call as my real voice? I don’t want to distract the medics.

Certainly, but you can’t talk to Lyssa in secret anymore. Making the conversion now.

The call from Cierra has stopped and I select her contact and call her back.

“Evelin, are you okay? We lost connection, and I didn't know what to do and, and, “ she says. I can hear the strain in her voice. She has probably been crying this entire time.

‘I am fine. Sorry for not saying anything; I was making sure Anika would survive.’

“Wait, what? Is she safe?”

‘Yeah, we are in an ambulance heading to the hospital now, but I checked her medical implant. She will be fine, a bit sore probably, but she will survive.’

“I see, that is good then. Wait, how did you get into the ambulance?”

‘Well, if anyone asks, my name is Evelin Nowak, and Anika is my mother.’

“Ahh, so you lied. Well, anyway, guess this means our investigation is back at square one.”

‘Not really. Honestly, this felt personal. They should be someone a lot closer to us. They know both me and Anika, and that we have some kind of connection to, where if she is in trouble, that I would come and help. Then you have that stupid name, Global Entertainment Risk Advisory.’

“Wait, why does that name sound so familiar?” Sam asks.

‘I don’t know, but it has been bothering me all day already.’

“Yeah, I can understand. Have we worked with them before or something?”

‘I don’t know. It's just a payment account, so tracking where the money comes from is all but impossible.’

“What is a payment account?” Cierra asks.

‘It’s an account that is only used to pay for stuff, not to bring money back to someone, making it a lot harder to track. Theoretically, even samurai can’t track it.’

“Aah, so what is our next plan?”

‘For now, I am going to make sure Anika gets home. In the meantime, Sam, can you look into the shell company? If we both feel familiarity, it probably means something.'

“Will do. You take care of yourself as well.” Sam says.

And with that, I disconnect the call.