When Serene started running one of her internal processes, she didn't stop until the task was finished -or she crashed -just like a computer, because after all, that's what she was. A walking, talking, breathing computer. Although her face was beautiful and her body attractive, she was nothing more than a machine, designed to help man. Cliff found a strong attraction to that. She would never leave him, she would always do what she was told to the best of her ability and , for all intents and purposes, would never lie cheat or steal -unless commanded. A thought Briefly crossed Cliffs mind: Would Serene only, and exclusively, take orders from him?, But before he could explore this further, Serene slumped over. She was about to go face first into the hard, sex covered floor of the brothel, but Cliff caught her with one arm.
"Dammit, not now…" Cliff said as he sat her on the bed, leaning against the wall so she wouldn't fall over again. She was out cold, like a fucking light. Cliff would have to find somewhere else to go, things just got worse. And a hurried series of knocks at the door told him things had gotten much worse. The mask was back, and the shiny steel blade of an AX through the door told him that they weren't going away this time.
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As pieces of wood flew in through quickly disintegrating door, Cliff had only seconds to act. Just as a hole big enough for an arm to slip through was made in the door, Cliff saw a gloved hand reach in, unarmed, he sprang forward and brutally bent three of the fingers back until he heard the tell tale * CRACK * of snapping bone. A hellish scream was heard on the other side of the door. This fueled Cliff, if they could feel pain they could die, and were far from the invincible guards of the Sub-district that they were hyped up to be. With a few exit seconds on his side, he quickly grabbed his coat and through it on, at the same time picking up and cocking his twin .45s. He stood, fearless in front of the door and in front of Serene, guarding her from whatever came through. The door was quickly kicked open and three Mask guards stood. One with its hand hanging loosely at his die had a large ax int he other, apparently less phased from the broken fingers than Cliff had originally thought. The other two were armed with a metal bat and a crowbar, respectively. CLiff opened fire, obtaining one head shot. A pink spray of brains and blood seemed to fly, in slow motion out the back of the guadrs head. The other two approached. One landed a heavy strike into cliffs mid section, sending him sprawling to the ground. On his back now, Cliff rolled, narrowly dodging the metal bat as it came crashing down where his head had just been. He fired a shot, hitting the guard right between the eyes. THe Mask guards body slumped over onto Cliff. The third guard came towards him, Cliff was at an angle that would not grant him another head shot, so he leveled his gun towards the guards knee cap, squeezing of a round and watching as the MAsk fell to the ground. He pushed the others guards body off himself and stood, smiling weakly, having just had the wind knocked out of him, as he approached the Mask's crawling, soon to be dead body.
"You're dead now, Mother fucker" Seethed Cliff between gritted teeth.
"You'll never get out of the Sub-district alive now, we know your here….." A loaned BANG ended the guards sentence and left his thoughts splattered on the floor.
The room looked like a total massacre. Cliff knew there was no way out the front door. He quickly looked around the room and found something. A sliding door labeled "Laundry". It was just big enough for him to slide down. He picked up Serene, taking care not to rattle her too much and shoved her through the hole. Just before he went through himself, he heard multiple foot steps running up the stairs. Whatever was down that laundry shoot, he hoped to god it wasn't more Mask guards.
It was about a twenty foot drop, at a near 45 degree angel, luckily the landing was soft. He landed right on top of Serene, right between her legs. It would have been almost comical in any other situation. Cliff sat up. He was surrounded by the dirty laundry of no less than 50 brothel girls. Old bras and panties were everywhere. The unconscious Serene had a red thong hanging off of her right foot, Cliff threw it off quickly and took a deep breath, but it wasn't over. The shoot they had jumped through opened and Cliff had a feeling that he knew what was coming next. Gas. The mask often used gas to kill people and enforce themselves as the dominance on the Sub-District, and as it was, they were especially pissed at Cliff now. Several canisters were hurled down. He herds them banging off the walls as they fell down the twenty feet to where he and Serene now were. Cliff suspected they contained either Mustard gas or nerve gas, either way they ere fucked. Unless…….
Cliff saw that there was a trap door of sorts, just to the left of where they were laying. It was a dryer duct that would no doubt lead to the dryer filter, if his HV/AC skills served him right. Eitherway, it was their only way out. Cliff again shoved Serene through first and then went through himself. A sting current of warm air shot out, telling him that he was correct about it being a Dryer duct, it would also be the saving factor in the situation. Just as the canisters hit it the laundry room and exploded, Cliff and Serene were in a protecting current of air, blowing towards the laundry room, preventing any of the deadly gas from entering. It was a lucky escape, and as Cliff crawled through the duct, pushing Serene along, he got yet another lucky break. A break in the duct led to a lint trap room, its like the lint trap in your dryer, but HUGE, industrial size. Cliff knew they would be safe there at least for a moment.
Cliff collapsed onto the massive pile of lint and dust, resting his head on the still passed out Serene. A light golden glow of a mine light lit the room. His heart felt as if it were about to break right through his chest. His eyes searched the Lint room, but found nothing. He knew that they couldn't stay here long, there HAD to be a way out. Then he saw a vent, he had no idea where it led, but knew that was the only way they could go. If Cliff wanted to save them both, he would have to make his move quick. IF they didn't get on the move soon, the mask would no doubt have the entire Sub-District sealed off, after all, Cliff had killed three Mask Guards. A crime punishable by a no trial death. He crawled over the piles of soft lint and found that the vent was being held by two screws, and that it led to the Sub-District subway. The mass transit that spanned the entire sub district. It was massive. It dwarfed Chicago's "L' of the 21 century and even gave Tokyo's massive subway a run for its money. Cliff took his coat off and put in on Serene, because as of now she had been bare chested, her perfectly manufactured breasts hanging out for the world to see. After that, he Quickly undid the screws and once again, pushed Serene through, this time she hit the concrete with a smack, luckily it was only about a 5 foot drop. Cliff followed, seeing that they had landed right behind a dumpster. H got up and made his way to the Gate that would grant them access to the Sub train.
Cliff got to the Terminal, with Serene slung over his shoulder. The man behind the counter barely took notice, after all this was the Sub-district, nothing was unusual here.
"I'd like two tickets" Said Cliff trying to hide his face the best he could.
"Ok, and where you going."
"As far as it goes, the end of the line." Said Cliff sliding a couple bills to the man
"Alright, end of the line….the last stop is, the Metal grave yard, skyline transfer station and Medical station, is that alright?"
"Yea, thats fine." Said Cliff, again pushing the money towards the man.
"Ok, have a nice ride." Said The man then opened the gate and let them through.
Cliff hurried onto the Sub-train and found two seas near the back, right next to the window. As the other passengers began boarding, Cliff let out a deep breath, it seemed he had been holding it ever since his battle with the Mask. It had been a hellish day so far, but at least he had gotten a few hours of sleep. Now they were faced with an even greater challenge of getting out of the Sub-District alive, but to where? They were wanted by Sintronica AND the Mask now. Serene was oblivious to everything, slumped over in the seat next to him. He zipped the coat up to her neck and propped her head against his own shoulder. Hopefully she would be able to reboot...or do whatever the hell it was she needed to do. As for a safe location to get online, this is the best Cliff could do.
As the train slowly started moving, Cliff noticed a small boy looking at him.
"Mister." He said " You have something on your face"
Cliff looked at his reflection in the window and saw a light blood splatter from the Mask guards he had slaughtered.
"Thanks kid." Said Cliff as he wiped the blood off and laid his head back. Just as the Train reached full speed, Cliff had nodded off. He left this world and went to dreamland, but in reality it was memory lane.
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Standing in the rain, next to him a crying women. Was it his mother? No…Couldn't be. Cliff looked through rain soaked vision at a car. It
was almost completely torn in a half. Next to it another car, totally wrecked. Why weren't there any sirens? Firetrucks? Police? What the
hell? For an instant, Cliff flashed on a face. A familiar face. A long lost friend, someone he had confided in, someone he loved, someone he
kissed underneath the maple tree after school, someone he stood up for and would even……die for. At 12 Cliff was in love, but something
was missing. Who was in that mangled car? HE took a step away from the crying lady, who was obviously too devastated to notice. He
walked towards the wreck….a trail of crimson ran from the car, and a hand lay motionless on the pavement. It was the only part that was
visible from within the wreck. Cliff knelled down and took the hand in his own, when it grasped his back, interlocking the fingers, Cliff
Squeezed and yelled to the Crying women. "SHES ALIVE" He kept holding onto her her hand…..Who was she??? Even when the
ambulance came - as well as the Sintronica inc truck - he never let go….But who was she?
A bump in the rail woke Cliff, he froze for a moment, his brain clicking slightly, trying to make sense of the memory. It was so long ago, why the hell was he dreaming about it now?
