RIFT Anthology: Book 2: Judgement

Judgement

Prologue

One late night, in an alleyway, Rift is waiting with a sniper rifle. He is perched up on a fire escape on the side of a building. Steam from pipes fill the alley and Rift is sweating from the heat. He pulls out his phone to look at what his target looks like again. "C'mon focus," he says to himself. He wipes the sweat off of his face. "Where is this guy?" A few seconds later, a door opens from the back of a building. Two men walk out into the alley and look around. "Finally." He aims down his scope.

"Clear," one of them says.

"Alright. Show me the merchandise." The man then opens a heavily locked briefcase.

"There it is," Rift murmurs still peering down his scope. He catches a glimpse of the purple looking crystal inside. "This better be worth the money." Rift then quickly assassinates the two men. They fall to the cold ground and the crystal falls out of the case. The blood pools from their bodies, spreading against the crystal. Rift portals down to the briefcase. He picks up the crystal and wipes it off. "Dammit." He puts it back into the briefcase and closes it. "Now, to give it to 'Boss man John'."

Rift is being looked at through heat vision sensors from down the alley. The spy who is shrouded in darkness, snarls. Rift turns to see what it was. He squints down the alley to see two beady orange luminous eyes. "The fuck is that?" He slowly reaches for his energy pistol. "Who's there?" Rift starts to walk closer to the eyes. The stalker lets out a high-pitched laugh. "No way." Rift attempts to sling his gun at him.

Hyena pouches out of the shadows, tackling Rift to the ground. He misfires his gun and drops the briefcase. Hyena tumble off of him and turns around onto all fours. Rift rolls onto his front, looking up at him. He stares at Hyena's new cybernetic eyes. He can still see the deep scarring across his eyes from the knife slash he inflicted on him. Hyena breaks into a sprint, running incredibly fast. Rift gasps at the speed, trying to get up out of the way. He's not quick enough, being grabbed by Hyena and shoved onto the ground again. Hyena laughs hysterically. "Get off of me you freak!"

"I want that arm!" Hyena shouts in pure desire.

"You ain't getting it!" Rift yells back, attaching a device to Hyena's side. He activates it, sending Hyena rocket propelled into a wall. He then falls onto a dumpster, bouncing back to the ground. "I see you've upgraded yourself."

"I had to... to survive," Hyena gurgles as he stands up, dusting himself off. "You made me out to be weak. I've had to struggle to get my respect back."

"Where'd you get the legs?"

"That's confidential. Reapers only."

"Sounds like a black market."

"You seem to have upgraded the arm as well."

"Yeah, it's a custom. Exclusive club."

"How much you'd you say it costs?"

"It's priceless."

"A lot then." Hyena starts to salivate.

"What is wrong with you?"

"What can I say? I'm a connoisseur for augments."

"You don't say."

Hyena then lunges at him again. Rift shoots a portal and Hyena dives through it ending up on the other side of Rift. Hyena tries to attack him again, but Rift does the same once more. "You can't escape me forever."

"I like my chances." Rift then shoots a portal under Hyena's feet, sending him through to fly out from a wall on a third floor. Hyena slams into a fire escape and cascades to the concrete floor. He struggles to get up as he is losing his stamina. Rift picks up the briefcase and asks, "Getting tired?"