Empyrean Iris Story Collection Vol. 3

In the Name of Pain

That was true enough, the Celzex had suddenly become avid critics of the intergalactic war on drugs, though their reasons remained their own as of now.

Lord Celex had not been seen in months and Adam was beginning to worry.

There were rumors going around that some of the manufacturing plants were being built in the understreets of the Tesraki home world and were being staffed by the destitute homeless that lived there, paid pittance for their work, though they were desperate enough to take it. A culture of drug use had sprouted up, mostly to give the workers the kind of energy they needed to work ll night without resting, though the extra money they made was soon burned away with the purchase of drugs rather than going to the families.

It was a disgusting practice, which Thomas had uncovered in his investigation.

He was looking into getting out of the marines after his five year contract and spearhead the war against drugs. It was a fight he wasn't likely to win but both Sunny and Adam saw honor in that fight.

The took anther turn.

The implant on Sunny's wrist blinked.

She glanced down through the rain and shook some water off her wrist.

She had just received the implant recently, and was still finding the connection of technology to her body to be very strange.

Sunny reached out a hand and stopped Adam in his tracks as he went to take a step forward. He paused and looked over at her. She saw his mechanical eye darting this way and that searching for a threat that did not exist.

"What is it."

She held up her wrist.

It was blinking, as if she had received some sort of message, though there was nothing listed.

Adam frowned and took her arm, "That's strange."

"Could it be malfunctioning?"

"Perhaps."

He tapped at her arm and opened up a few of the applications, but all of them worked just fine. The blinking continued..

"Keep that hidden, we best head back up to the ship just in case it turns out to be something.... Else."

She nodded in agreement and followed after him as he pulled his jacket closer around his shoulders and made his way to one of the many rickety sets of steel stairs that ran up and through the city snaking like a spiderweb up and through the dark.

Their feet clattered against metal the higher they went.

Sunny glanced down into her cloak where the blinking was still happening and frowned.

What could it be.

They made it up a few stories whose streets grew cleaner and brighter the higher they went. Patches of sky became visible at odd intervals and the rain grew heavier. Neon lights still continued to glow from the darkness.

They were just cutting under a vacant underpass listening to the vehicles rumble overhead when Sunny sensed something. She paused in place reaching for her spear, and as she did Adam did the same. He tilted his head this way and that his movements slow and uneasy as he scanned the darkness.

"We have company." He whispered.

Sunny couldn't see anything but she trusted him, and so turned her back to his drawing out her spear as she looked into the darkness.

There was a soft shuffling somewhere I the distance, and she watched in surprise as a group of six Drev or more descended from where they had been hidden on the ceiling above. They wore black cloaks and black painted armor, and when they moved, they moved in near silence. She took a step back in surprise bumping into Adam who held his ground.