Chapter 2
Mission: Return to base
Nyx surveyed the surroundings, the ground, referred to as the filth level of the city was as crowded as ever. Clothing had the colors of a funeral, and the style of a homeless drug addict. Though not everyone was so unfortunate, it still counted for at least 50% of the residences. While 40% were in the transitioning stage from either becoming homeless or wore clothing that didn't have holes, or had holes but were sown up yet still dirty. Lastly was the 10% that had the good fortune of wearing clothing without tares, holes or even being dirty. Nyx landed within the 40%, his clothing sewn that was no longer hidden by his armor that had retracted into the gauntlet of his hidden blade. On the variety of ancient tv's was news told of a terrorist attack on a building, yet nothing about him. GM made a groaning sound, flexing his body while looking at the screens, showing that he's noticed as well. Shaking off a yawn, he flicks a rock with his foot before saying "Okay, I'm giving you twenty seconds of silence before I start complaining again. Tick-tock man"
Nyx's pace didn't break as he continued walking with the flow of the crowd, breath slow as he contemplates the future and its challenges. "You saw how fast it took off"
"Yeah. It's got a story to tell, and I'm pretty sure you're the plot twist buddy, nice knowing you." He said sarcastically while digging into his ear, flicking the wax and dirt, off to the side before glancing toward the skyline and continuing to speak "You think they'll send whispers first or come swinging?"
"Swinging. Not only do I have there nanites, but I demonstrated just how effectively I can use them. All this assuming they can even find us" Nyx answered, blending in with the ignorant masses.
GM groans, looking at Nyx almost suspiciously "You know you're the only person I know who treats near-death experiences like resume highlights." Nyx didn't reply, finding no reason to while GM gestures loosely toward the alley. "Chaos gate's two blocks out. Cracked optics. Smells like burnt neon and regret. You'll love it."
Nyx gave a nod without comment, his body felt a slight shiver however as he did, wondering if his instincts were trying to tell him to be wary of something. GM moved a bit closer, speaking in low quiet tone "Next time, maybe let me have a little fun before the slicing starts, yeah?"
"I let you talk. That's generous enough, besides your abilities should be hidden as much as Flairs." Nyx counted tactically as the two disappear down the alley, following the magicians' instructions before stopping in his tracks, seeing that they have arrived at a brothel house. Nyx growls GM'S real name, Tito. If Tito could see under Nyx's hood and mask, he's sure he'd meet the eyes of an angry Medusa, which only amused him.
"I did say it'd smell like neon and regret" says GM, walking inside as Nyx just stood in frustration, watching the man who was slightly shorter than him go inside.
Having no choice Nyx followed him, his eyes looking for the least amount of sin in the room. Although Tito's exchange with who Nyx's presumed to be the hostess didn't go unnoticed. He couldn't hear at first, yet it seemed like she had confirmed something for him, then pulled him in for perhaps a violent kiss with hands that seemed rather familiar with Tito before the two parted with little waves. "Couldn't you have made that Chaos gate literally anywhere else? Why did you choose here" complained Nyx, only pausing for a moment in disbelief when he heard Tito say that he likes being distracted.
Tito didn't break stride, slipping past velvet curtains and flashing LED signs like he belonged there—which, judging by the smirks tossed his way, he absolutely did.
"Distracted?" Nyx echoed, voice clipped, following close, shoes sticking slightly to a floor he wished he hadn't touched. "Distracted is not tactical."
Tito shrugged, turning a corner where holographic dancers glitched halfway into martyrs. "Tactical gets boring. Besides, nobody looks for thieves or fugitives behind heart-shaped doors and purple champagne fog."
As Nyx scanned the crowd, unable to find a spot with less sin, he couldn't help but hate how logical that sounded. So many faces, too much light, it would be easier to identify someone by their ass, or feet.
When they got to Tito's private room, the music outside the room grew louder, and the space itself seemed to echo Tito's personality—a mix of irreverence and calculated chaos. The walls were lined with holographic projections that flickered between abstract art and distorted faces, while the ceiling pulsed with dim, shifting lights that mimicked a heartbeat. A low, curved couch wrapped around the room's center, upholstered in a material that shimmered like oil slicks under neon. The air smelled faintly of burnt sugar and ozone, and a small table held an assortment of mismatched glasses, some still half-filled with purple champagne. At the far end, the Chaos gate masquerading as a shattered mirror slowly began to transform. The shatter glass folded, rippling like liquid metal while the edges retracted and extended until it formed half a circle, pulsing before a faint light blue shimmer filled in the center of the Chaos gate at the end of the room—between two private lounge chairs. It pulsed, subtle but deliberate.
"I hate everything about this," Nyx muttered, jaw tense.
Tito grinned back. "That's why it works, now come on, we got thirty seconds"
The two moved towards the gate, no one noticing when two ghosts disappeared.
Nyx always felt that tingling feeling whenever he passed through one of Tito's Chaos gate's, a name he'd gotten from a MMORPG game on his computer. His atoms, molecules, particles, such as a photon and electrons, are completely stripped down before being reformed based on what was collected during the separation process. When they came to the 'other side' they entered a house that although showed its ever-growing age, is also called home.
Pale bumpy walls, carpet floors except for in the kitchen and bathroom were tiles shifted with age. A single white refrigerator with no noticeable design like a water filtration system or ice dispenser, and a matching stove beside it that looks like it hasn't been cleaned for a few weeks. The Chaos Gate returned to its original disguise, a broken television by the time they entered Flair's room. "Has Rock arrived yet?" Nyx asked Flair, flopping onto a plush rocking chair as Tito went over to his Xbox to continue a game.
Flair didn't look up from her interface, fingers tracing holographic menus stacked like translucent dominoes across the wall. Screens blinked in delayed rhythm—surveillance feeds, code diagnostics, files, encrypted channels that only half-recognized her voice signature.
"He was supposed to be here an hour ago," she said. "But he's Rock, so…he's probably out eating."
Nyx exhaled behind his mask, the rocking chair creaking faintly as his shoes settled on worn carpet. The room smelled faintly of solder and chamomile tea—Flair's signature blend of calm and chaos.
Tito didn't glance up, absorbed in whatever bullet-ridden fantasy his Xbox served. "I texted him. Told him we survived. Didn't tell him how dramatic you were about it." he laughed coyly.
Nyx leaned back, eyes on the flickering edge of the broken TV that was the Chaos Gate its cracked reflection catching dusty light in the dark house.
"Let him know we're staying down for a bit," he muttered. "And tell him not to bring anything loud." Nyx continued, referring to Rocks unique tastes for the flame that was in spice.
Tito snorted. "Like Rock has volume settings."
Flair smiled slightly, pulling up a waveform on her screen that blinked with Rock's last known signal.
"We've got time. Gates closed. House is off-grid. For now... breathe." she breathed out the last word, infantizing the word 'breath'
Nyx didn't answer, looking at the broken class of the TV screen, as if it might hold some clue or cause him to vanish into another world. Instead, it only showed the harsh reality of life, and what it was turning him into.
A slight and tired murmur passed through his lips, closing his eyes, he took Flair's advice and breathed, reviewing his life thus far.
Tito was the first friend he had in centuries, typical in every fashion, short black hair kind of big, facial hair that connected to his side burns, and regarded sex as exercise when he wasn't gaming or working at a factory that was run by the people of the slumps.
Providing essentials like clothing or farming, building electronics that were modern in his time but ancient in the now. He had been abandoned by those on the seventh level of life, just above middle class. Once a soldier, he had been chosen for an experiment meant to sharpen his mind and steel his body against fatigue and stress. But the procedure failed, leaving him unfit for duty and adrift in despair, combining that with his wife taking away his daughter and filing for divorce, he sunk deeper into depression, sending him to ground level 1 or sector 1 as others call it.
Nyx had found Tito working at a brothel, that some higher up wanted to crush because one of the women rejected him, the reason because he was not complying with the rules set forth. Nyx, who had personal hate for women abusers had gotten involved and one assassination later, became friends with Tito as well as the women there.
A few months later, Nyx was able to help him regenerate his body that also ended up reactivating the enhancement, allowing telepathic thought transmission, intuitive sensing, and clairvoyant vision. In other words, he could made magic with machine, to a certain point. Depending on his understanding of different scientific facts.
Nyx then turned to flair, the little sister of Rock by four years. To pay for their mother's treatments, Flair volunteered for an experiment that rewired her mind to access the cybernetic world. The experiment was successful but at the cost of her legs, making her handicap for the rest of her life.
The terrifying part was that not only was the experiment canceled during it beginning stages but that they canceled the money she was promised. Afterwards a mysterious series of accidental deaths from 'mechanical issues' bringing new meaning to the phrase 'hell has no fury like a woman's scorn.'
Lastly was rock; who had that big brother kind of personality, laid back, yet sarcastic and witty. His loyal was commendable in any age, and his ruthlessness in power was equally so. "Do you know what restaurant he's at?" Asked Nyx, leaning back against his chair.
Flair answered without lifting her eyes from the screens. "Place called Coal Ember. Cheap proteins, synthetic ribs, neon signage that pretends it's vintage. He likes their 'smokey meat tubes,' which is apparently a food group now."
Nyx tilted his head, sighing like his spine had been waiting for the chair longer than he had.
Tito chuckled from the corner, flicking through menu screens on the Xbox. "Man eats like it's a dare."
Flair snorted. "He said he'd be back before the starch congeals. So, either he's eating slow, or someone picked a fight with him mid-bite."
Nyx didn't respond immediately. His thoughts drifted—not about Rock, but about how this patchwork family had been sewn together from fallout and fury. A discarded soldier turned telepath, a cyber-cracked genius with iron in her smile, and a sarcastic powerhouse who could obliterate a drone with half a fist.
And him—a ghost in motion, made of blades and breath and things no one should've survived.
"Tell him we'll run recon when he gets back," Nyx murmured, eyes half-lidded.
Tito didn't look up. "Already did. Also told him not to bring leftovers. Flair hates the smell."
"Correction," Flair said. "I hate his leftovers."
"And have no problems with my leftovers, my burrito wasn't the first victim of your thief" Nyx comments, his upper lips curled in frustration at the memory. Burritos, Ribs, Pizza, Fries,
"Your food is actual real food, not synthetic." Flair smirked, not missing a beat between them or her computer skills. "It tastes a lot better and has better health benefits. Besides, I haven't taken that much from you"
"Burritos, Ribs, Pizza, Fries, Chicken, Beef, Steak, Rice of every culture, spinach, berries, apples" Nyx started to name off.
"Alright already" she almost shouted, her voice raising like it did during the thief mission."
Laughter being heard from the back where Tito was.