|
 |
"Firefly" by Sara Moesel Avairi was cleaning off the tables with a rag expressly for that purpose when the last patron of the night stood up. She didn't pay him much attention other than to register that she wouldn't have to stay too late tonight, at least until he stood right behind her, as if politely waiting for her attention. She made him wait, then finally turned around with a sigh. "Can I help you, sir?" she asked, a little impatient. "Perhaps," the man said. He wasn't much older than her, maybe in his late twenties compared to Avairi's twenty-two. "You're Avairi Hotsen, right?" "I'm her," Avairi replied shortly. "What can I do for you?" "Condor," he replied, which Avairi supposed was his attempt at an introduction. "I understand you have...another job." Avairi's eyebrow quirked in interest, but she wouldn't say anything until he revealed his knowledge. She hadn't realized word was spreading, but if it worked...tuition had to be paid, and working two jobs was the most preferable solution to that particular problem. "GEN has a new product coming out," Condor continued, taking her silence for an affirmation. "A small robot designed to infiltrate and destroy enemy targets." "The military?" "No, a private commissioner. One I think you've encountered before." Condor stood with his arms crossed, waiting for her reply. Avairi looked at him closely, decided he was trustworthy, and shrugged. "Get me the details, and I'll get rid of your pest," she replied.
She didn't realize how close she was when she had called the robot a "pest." It was an insect model, designed to be indistinguishable from a normal bug to security scanners and enough of a visual match to not be suspicious. Condor was offering a tidy sum for the eradication, and it couldn't be that hard to get rid of it. It wasn't the first time she had done this sort of thing. Avairi was back in her black suit. She'd missed many of its special features, especially the invisibility force field she was utilizing currently. It was child's play to slip past the guards at the GEN building and head up to the tenth floor labs. The tenth floor itself was more heavily guarded, and Avairi didn't blame them. They'd made several enemies taking on this project. A bug that could destroy buildings without being detected? Countries all over the world would want them for their international spies--and terrorists, she mused, even though they wouldn't call them that. She didn't really care who had hired her, or what their personal reason for wanting the bugs gone was. Avairi herself didn't want those things out, and she did have a score to settle with the men who'd commissioned the project. She hit a button on her mechanized right glove, carefully aiming her index finger to spray gas out in a strong jet to alert her to the security lasers. She could've just disabled them, but she wanted exercise and began the painstaking work of moving around the beams carefully. Her exercise was interrupted when the lasers suddenly blinked, then completely powered down. She looked around, annoyed, when she caught sight of black out of the corner of her eye. Avairi whirled around and lunged forward to grab the interloper by the throat. He let himself be caught, and Avairi found herself staring into the eyes of her twin brother. "I'm going to give you about two seconds," she growled. Bradley's eyes met hers squarely, and she knew he'd let himself be caught. Prig. He didn't know the extent of her skills, though she was sure Bradley thought otherwise. "What, sis? Can't we have a little bonding time?" Avairi's eyebrow quirked upwards. "I meant it when I said I never wanted to see you again. What, are you the guard dog for Father now?" Bradley smirked. "Remember when I told you I'd kill you if we met again? Guess I forgot to mention I'd be looking for you in the meantime." Avairi was already far away when his knife flickered out to where she'd been just moments before. Men and their need for pointless verbal jabs. He didn't make an effort to follow after her, just produced a round silver cylinder in his hand. Avairi's mood darkened considerably when she saw it had a button on the end of it. "Goodbye, my sister," Bradley said with a last smirk, pressed the button, and then completely disappeared. Avairi heard a creaking sound and the drone of insects--tiny mechanized insects. Hundreds of them flew from a slit in the ceiling, their little ends glowing like stars. They're fireflies, she realized, frozen to the spot. How ironic and absolutely Bradley, sending Japanese symbols of death. They hovered around her, a giant glowing mass, and she closed her eyes, ready to die as she surely must. She wondered if it had been a setup, if Condor had known she was going to a graveyard surrounded by fireflies. "Sorry about that." Avairi's eyes flew open, and she saw Condor in front of her. She blinked, confirmed he wasn't a hallucination, then just stared. A drop of sweat beaded on his forehead, and he explained, "Psionic force field, but I'll drop it when you're ready." Avairi shrugged, positioned herself at his back, and readied her laser dagger. The fireflies suddenly rushed in, and Avairi was lost to the world as she fought furiously, taking out her on the robots. Finally, she came back to herself, panting heavily. She'd certainly gotten her exercise for the day. Condor watched from the epicenter at the middle of a covering of metal bits from the fireflies. "Your cheek got cut when I blasted them," he said in apology. Avairi put a hand to her face, and drew it away to see a thin line of blood. "Could've been worse," she said. "Why'd you help me?" "You needed it," he replied. "Besides, this isn't their only project. I want them gone, too." Avairi looked at him, decided he meant it, and gave him a smile. This was going to be interesting.
|
