Cyberknight: One Path

⁕ Gaze of An Empty Reflection

[Martin] - "Who cares? If she wants to kill people, let her fucking go wild. If she wants to, may she fucking remove the word "opposition" from my dictionary. "

Said Martin before downing the rest of the whisky bottle.

*Kingsway cooperation, major drug and medicine distributor organisation

A single truck arrived before the Kingsway skyscraper with Kadyn in the passenger seat and Jackson driving the vehicle. As soon as the truck came to a stop, Kadyn headed into the rear compartment where it was filled with weapons. At the corner of the cargo hold, a young woman with tattoos all over her body operated a computer terminal.

[Poppy] - "Do you need a layout of their building? "

[Kadyn] - "Do Martin want a demolition or simple cleansing? "

Said Kadyn as she began to inspect the weapon selection.

[Poppy] - "Eh... something between the two I suppose? "

Said Poppy, disturbed by Kadyn's aura.

As Poppy turned around, she was shocked by the sight of a blue screen on her terminal. Confused, she tapped the screen and pressed a few keys in an attempt to repair the computer to no avail.

[Kadyn] - "Don't bother with it. If I'm not back within two hours, consider me dead. "

Said Kadyn as her eyes switched back to red from purple.

Without hesitation, Kadyn kicked open the truck's cargo door before jumping out armed to the teeth with a single assault rifle and a backpack full of explosives. As guards began to approach her with their pistols drawn, Kadyn's battle director system began to feed her combat instructions.

-Instruction: Eight enemies, move set: attack mod 3 - weapon - AR-25, 5.66mm rifle.

Without flinching, Kadyn abruptly shot 8 bullets in different directions while in acceleration mode. To a normal perspective, it appeared as if the 8 guards at the main gate were simultaneously gunned down by a squad of sharpshooters. Before long, a loud explosion blasted through the windows of the first floor.

[Jackson] - "Is she going to clean up every floor like this? This damn building got over 240 floors not even counting the basement. "

Said Jackson as he peeked at the scene through his window.

[Poppy] - "I don't get it either... Even if we packed our truck full of explosives and ammo, she couldn't have had enough to destroy the whole thing or kill everyone. "

[Jackson] - "And two hours is clearly not enough to get the job done. "

Despite Kadyn's violent rampage at the Kingsway's headquarters, she wasn't the only one committing crime that night. Bank robbery, homicide, human trafficking and other criminal activities were on full swing as well at the same time in the city. The architect of the city signed her name onto every facet of the society and every building in the goal of maximizing suffering and perpetuating human perversion. However, this is only one of the many bastions of Hell legally created and protected by the law in North America.

On her balcony, KD-554 savoured the taste of her wine. After rincing the flavour out of each gulp she took, she would spit it out down toward her city. The crimson liquid periodically doused the street below and the few unfortunate souls walking on it, but none of them even dared to look up or appear frustrated. Instead, they were more worried about how to pay off their debts and survive until the next day. Anger was not a luxury they could not afford in their miserable state.

Meanwhile, Jackson and Poppy waited patiently for the next explosion to occur at the second floor, but not even the flash of a gunshot was visible for a solid 15 minutes.

[Jackson] - "What is she doing? "

[Poppy] - "Do you think maybe they got her? "

Meanwhile, under the building, Kadyn placed explosive charges everywhere around the foundation while using her wrist blade to easily cut apart many of the pillars holding the place. Occasionally, she would encounter armed resistance from the building's guards, but they ended up being nothing but target practice for her.

By the one hour mark, both Jackson and Poppy were beginning to get worried. Just as they contemplated leaving Kadyn behind and fleeing, she suddenly appeared out of the main gate without any of her weapons. As she climbed onboard, Poppy immediately backed away in fear before collapsing into her seat.

[Kadyn] - "Let's discuss price. How much is for this job? "

Said Kadyn in a cold voice.

[Poppy] - "What did you do? You can't be done with everyone in there. "

[Kadyn] - "Payment, now! "

Yelled Kadyn at Jackson.

Hesitantly, Jackson pulled a suitcase out of a secret compartment of the truck. Upon showing its content of 300 pure gold coins to Kadyn, Jackson immediately closed the suitcase.

[Jackson] - "There are three hundred .99999 pure gold coins in this suitcase. This would be only one suitcase of the ten intended to be your total payment for removing Kingsway out of the competition. "

Kadyn suddenly took the suitcase out of Jackson's hand.

[Kadyn] - "Drive! "

[Jackson] - "Huh? But the job is not done! "

[Kadyn] - "Do not question my methods. The deed is already done. "

Said Kadyn as she sat on the passenger seat with her suitcase.

Left with no choice but to comply, Jackson reluctantly drove the truck away from the building. As they rolled a few streets over, Kadyn's eyes turned purple briefly before a muffled explosion was heard from the Kingsway headquarters. However, as Jackson looked through his side mirror, he realized to his horror the massive dust storm which swallowed the streets behind his truck.

With her strategic planning, Kadyn had rigged the building to collapse. With the support pillars either blown up or cut down, the skyscraper collapsed under its weight with a catastrophic loss of life to all personnel within the structure. Within a single hour, Kadyn had killed the CEO and boss of Kingsway alongside their command structure.

Though the gold coins shined brightly before Kadyn, her eyes were empty of emotion. There was no thought in her mind. She was but a broken corpse fueled by the savage beast within her. She was not Kadyn at that moment, she was once again KD-555.

During this time, on the balcony, KD-554 grew bored of her wine. As she ordered for her servants to bring her a different bottle, she carelessly threw the previous bottle over the edge.

In the truck, as fatigue struck KD-555, her eyes briefly turned back to their natural green. As Kadyn saw the rows of gold coins before her in the suitcase, she closed her eyes and allowed a tear to roll down her cheek. She was tired and defeated but this world will not let her sleep. Alone and with no place to run or hide, this is a type of torture only the one experiencing it could understand.

At the balcony, KD-554 watched as a different stream of crimson flowed into her cup. Unknown to her, the bottle she had dropped earlier killed an unfortunate man in the street below. Regrettably, despite the massive crowd of people moving through the area, not a single one stopped for him or called for help. If he received treatment right away, he might have survived, but he was ultimately finished off by the fruit of his killer's machination.

As the fire and smoke from the Kingsway building's collapse was finally visible from KD-554's balcony, a smile appeared on her face. KD-554 was laughing and raising her cup at the sight of destruction. Unlike Kadyn, she would never get tired. She will never shed a tear just as the crimson in her eyes will never cease to shine.

To be continued...