Cognitive Deviance

23. House of Pleasure

Mason and her officers raised their weapons and bolted through their new entrance, a curtain of smoke and dust blocking their views. Their Fatemakers' green laser sights activated, slicing through the opaqueness like knives.

"By authority of Psychwatch, you are all under arrest!" thundered Mason's voice through the fading smoke. "Drop your weapons immediately! If you are Level 4 or below, you still have a chance to—"

The smoke cleared, and the officers were greeted by gunfire. The bullets vanished into dust as they made impact with Mason's armor, and the officers quickly opened fire on three armed criminals.

Margo bolted around the room, repeatedly taking crooks out with her Assault Fatemaker. The impact of the bright green energy against her enemies sent them flying toward the wall. She was sent stumbling backwards with every shot against her armor, not a single one reaching her skin, but she didn't slow down.

The entire room devolved into a horrible rave of chaos. Gunfire flashed across the room like a light show, splattering the walls red as soon as they reached their target, with only the luckiest ones sent crashing to the floor in balls of electricity. Royce and a few other officers were tackling the young Sentients to the ground, peacefully stunning them to be taken back to headquarters. All the while electronic music blasted out in all directions like a hellish orchestra.

Margo lost her train of thought when she heard Carl screaming.

She ran in his direction, managing to take out a few more Level 4's. She heard a few more shots ring out around the corner but froze in her tracks as blood splashed across the walls following the most powerful shot. She saw a deceased Level 5 lying on the floor in a pool of his own entrails. Next to the crook was the body of a half-naked teenage boy, sparks crackling out of a hole in his skull. Red lights were flashing out of his eyes like an oncoming ambulance.

"We're too late!" Carl shrieked, recharging his shotgun-style Fatemaker. He stumbled backward in a daze before slamming against the wall back-first. "We can't save the real one!"

"Carl, it's alright!" Margo shouted over the rest of the noise. "As long as we get the others, we'll be doing some good!"

Carl's screams immediately cut off as if he were being choked. He stood back up and flashed a glance at Margo that was completely devoid of his trademark sympathy. His eyes looked like that of a wild animal behind the glass of his visor, and Margo didn't realize Vince had taken over until she noticed the green light emanating from his hand.

"Let's get this over with," he growled, and he marched back into the room to kill more Level 5's.

Minutes later, the floor started going quiet, most of its patrons either dead or stunned. Stripper poles trailed from the ceiling to the floor, abandoned as the Sentients were deactivated and hauled out of the building like cargo. Margo spotted Mason on the opposite side of the room at the edge of a stairwell, her superior motioning to her to meet her above.

Margo traversed up the stairs, managing to harmlessly take out other threats along the way. But she stopped again at the middle of the stairs when she heard Dottie's screams.

She turned back toward the bottom floor. A teenage girl stood at the first step, clad in see-through clothing. She had a sly smile on her face and playfully motioned Margo to approach her. Her movement was very mechanical, like a theme park animatronic. There was an uncanny gap between the amount of time it took for both of her eyes to blink, one slowly after the other, never at once.

Fighting back nausea, Margo aimed her Fatemaker at the bot and fired. The Sentient girl crashed to the floor peacefully. The same probably couldn't be said for the girl whose likeness she modeled.