October 13th

12:08 AM

Diana (Lilian Rose)

The moonlight's embrace was the sole comforting purity upon these neon-infested streets of drugs and crime. Even without the fancy high-rises, this place managed to capture the essence of Westbrook. The city where everything glows, but only the wealthy shine. There was a telltale sign of gang activity when half-torn buildings had fancy high-rider cars and kitted out motorbikes parked outside them. Neon-lit streets and all sorts of clubs and bars dug into the hollow earth, sending quaking vibrations of their gaudy music rumbling through the pavement. And of course, the open carriers, guns and blades stowed within the jackets of every man and woman wandering.

Even kids… teenagers.

Everyone wanted to prove they were something in the land where you meant nothing. Living corpses, living products, living tools.

That's what you had to be.

Me? If I had to choose, it would be a living weapon. A weapon needed to be wielded with an affirmed mind and a trained body; there had to be purpose to it. Or else, slaughter was on the horizon. That was the exact reason a weapon needed to be sheathed as well. Scabbards were signs of threats, and a message of peace.

As Lilian Rose, Diana was sheathed away. No electricity, no telekinesis.

But I would always be on fire. My hands were hot and ready within the pockets of my jeans, but I cooled their heat instantly as thermal energy returned into the original electric form it had been born from. I couldn't help it, this… club I was entering…

It reminded me of the Toxin Club. All those bodies. All those torn bodies, the death and mayhem and terror running through those drunken patrons.

It was the worst and best day of my life.

No, not the worst. Soul Killer had stolen that title the day they turned Anthony into a breathing corpse. The day Yvette died by my hands.

Sighing, I turned my head over to the long queue to the… Kitty Kat Klub.

All intel pointed to it being owned by Steel Tygers. Waiting in line, I couldn't help but pull out a small holopad. It was connected to my Frame by way of a Net-link, but right now I was inexhaustibly checking out my face to ensure I wasn't melting back down into Diana. I'd had a few close calls, especially when my focus got sidetracked.

After nearly half an hour of waiting, I was let in without an ID check. They never ID-check pretty girls… not that I was putting myself upon a pedestal. That fact was predatory in itself, and it very well could have been an avenue through which these adolescents had gone missing. Several of them were young women, and… they could be sent to clubs like these.

I just… I needed to make sure. The Kitty Kat Klub was everything you'd expect from the name, shit music, blaring lights, men and women in revealing outfits. I would have gotten deja vu if not for the fact that all the dancers had various feline… features grafted onto them. Either mutated whiskers and ears, or cybernetic tails that wrapped around bottles and poured them down into cups.

Sex sells and… weirder sex sells even more, I guess.

Instantly, my ID-scanner began working its magic. Having access to the Spec-Ops database was a leap above my previous facilities. Amidst the flashing neon, rows of names, professions, and — most importantly — ages flowed through my vision in a continuous tide of information projected into my pupils. More than half were flagged for potential links to criminal activity. The other half were known affiliates. Even the Toxin Club hadn't been this bad.

I quickly understood why. First it was one, then the second, then a third, and before I knew it, I'd identified over sixteen members of the Fourth Precinct lounging about here like they were VIPs. Men, women, and everything in between, it didn't matter — they were enablers. They had their hands clinging to the waists of pretty dancers, and it was clear they were enjoying themselves as drinks flowed down their throats.

"Never seen you here before." A man with a silver tooth leaned near me.

Oh fucking great. I pulled out a cigarette, one of Dryder's favorite brands. It could put a Tier I into a stroke from a single inhale. With a flick of my fingers, a burst of heat lit up from the weapon strapped onto my wrist and ignited the cigarette's end. I cradled it between two fingers into my mouth. The smoke left my mouth with a side-long glance that very much indicated I wasn't interested. "Just here for a drink, reviews were good. Nothing more."

"A drink? Well then, it's on the house by me! I'm Silver-toothed Jimmy by the way. Big man here, some would say that I'm the man." He leaned even closer.

I sighed, walking away to lose him in the crowd of people. Some people just couldn't take hints. Finding myself seated by the bar, a server with… feline mutant traits wandered towards me, her scantily clad outfit a bit too on-the-nose even for a strip club. "Well, there precious, what would make your night purr-fect?"

"Vodka," I responded calmly. "190 proof — anything made from Warp-infused ingredients."

She raised her eyebrow. "A shot?"

"A glass."

She shrugged, pulling a bottle from down the counter and filling it up. I gulped half of it down, the settling warmth doing little to replace the eerie chill of this place. My ears tingled, and my entire body had grown much more sensitive upon gaining Electrosomatic Organism as a Mutation. Even my hearing could be amplified if I spun some electrical threads into whatever spiral organ the cochlea was — which is exactly what I did.

"Hey, you think she's a narc?"

"That would make it even better. Who does she think she is, turning down a gentleman like me?"

"You kiddin', she looks like she could beat your ass down in one swoop! Knock that silver tooth o'yours right out."

"Hey!"

"Just saying, it's suspicious how a fuckin' stranger pops up the same day Raiden warned us that Spec-Ops was in town."

"Yeah! Two o' them! No sign of a third one, besides, both were mutants. Saw her bracelet? That's Shardware."

"Tch, well… it's still suspicious."

"Relax, Raiden said to play it calm for a few days. Ain't no way they're finding out about-

"YOU BATTLING SOME DEMONS, PRECIOUS!?" The sound erupted in my ears like a scream, as the server leaned forward. Her voice had been quiet, but I'd been so focused on trying to tune out the music that her gentle question had felt like a screech.

The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

Rubbing my forehead, I leaned forward. Dismayed as sound trailed off and voices melted into one another. Spitting air out of my mouth, my tongue spilled out as inebriated comfort swept over me in a rising tide of heat. "Just… had a shitty last few months."

"Let me guess, Lieutenant's death caused some major changes from where you're from?" She cleaned some glasses, and I smirked at how accurate her guess was.

My voice rolled out, the dam had been broken as alcohol fueled my tongue. "You have no fuckin' clue what Jacob's… unfortunate passing has done. I've been sent from one group to another, had my boss change so many times I'm beginning to confuse them for one another, hell… not to mention anytime I figure out somethin' wrong with my place… we just sweep it under the rug to forget about it. Until it molts, and festers like a damn infected wound."

"Sheesh, heavy stuff." She set the glasses in order. "You workin' for one of the big four?"

"Nope."

"Corporate?"

"You… could say that."

"Explains how you're affording this drink. Sure, that's all you want?"

"Pfft, last time I went to a club like this and went backstage. All sorts of stuff went wrong."

"Ooh like what?"

"There were tentacles involved."

"Freaky!"

"And blood."

"Oh."

I waved her disgust off, taking another gulp of my drink and tapping the counter for a refill. She was on the job immediately, she didn't even need a peep for me to prattle on further. "You know what's the worst?"

"What?"

"Love."

"Tell me about it."

"Like… you want to know the ugly fucking truth about me? I know I'm the prettiest girl when I walk into a place."

"Uh… good for you? I admire your confidence."

What was that supposed to mean?

"It just sucks, can't tell who likes me for me and who just wants to fuck." I took a deep sip. "What's even uglier is that sometimes… deep down, I just fuckin' love fuckin' with people. Making them think they have a chance, then walking away… can't tell you how many times I've… reciprocated only to be revolted when they return the favor. It's the damn… attention. It's the one thing I've always had. The one thing that stays. Even if I hate it, it's… It's been there for a long time. It's a comfort in a sense. Last time I did it… I… did it to someone who deserved better."

"Did you realize you love them?"

"…No. I never felt that way for them. I was just… grieving at the time. It felt nice, knowing he would always be there, knowing he would always… have my back. I hurt him, and now he's…" I took another gulp, my heart and brain felt like they'd collapsed into one organ as they both stirred up nonsense.

"Is it too late to apologize?"

"Yeah." That answer came quickly. "And now… I'm so scared of myself."

"Scared?"

"Scared that others will be hurt like him, from me and my… demons. I can't even bring myself to be nice to the one damn girl who's been trying to help me ever since I switched… to a new group. I'm probably hurting her too, hell… she deserves to hate me. A lot of people do."

"No one deserves to be hated."

"Well, I know a guy who experimented on children."

"Okay, maybe him."

"I know another guy who bought another man's daughter."

"Yeah, he sucks too."

"One guy threatened my friend if I didn't give him a blowjob."

Her face softened. "What kind of people are you hanging around with?"

"I don't hang around them." I placed my weight on the counter. "It's that damned attention."

"The kind you don't like?"

"Maybe… but… when people like them exist… it gives me the right."

"The right?"

"To hurt those who deserve to hurt."

…

"What's your name?"

"…I want to be Lilian Rose."

"Lilian, get home safely. I think… I think it's better that you go home and rest."

My arm lazily waved her concerns away. "I'm fine."

"You're not. Just… follow me." She gripped my arm, gently leading me deeper into the club. Great, now this is the part where I get kidnapped again, where I end up thrown to some big dog of the gang and they expect me to be no better than…

The server's grip was tight and urgent but also gentle and… she was afraid. I could feel the synapses of her heart beating away at a faster tempo than the nauseating music around us. I saw the sign of the door she was leading me to; it read…

'Backdoor exit'.

"They can't see you like this. Please, call an auto-taxi. Anything that'll-"

I slumped against the wall, my breath shallow and my stomach turning. What was happening? I felt her hands grip my shoulders as vision turned inside out and light melted with the darkness.

"Lilian?" The server shook me, and I opened my eyes.

She was frozen still, and only her mouth shook. "Uh… Lilian… your… eye. It's… shining silver?"

Then the realization set inside of her. The server looked at me, first with shock, then with that same awe I'd seen in so many people. By the time fear settled into her eyes, my hands were sparking.

"You're Silvereye… they said you came to town." She muttered, a flash of disbelief in her feline eyes.

I moved my hands, but within this drunken haze, memory and action bled together.

I saw Yvette. Her beautiful form lying in my hands. Dead. Like rock.

Left for the goons of Little Requiem. Dead because of me, because of my electricity.

My hands ended up clawing at my own face, blood trickling down, then stopping just as quickly from the wound mending. "Fuck…"

"You're Silvereye, right? What's her name… Diana?" A new emotion flooded the server's voice. One I hadn't been expecting. I could feel it resonate in her faint little Iron Soul.

Hope.

It almost tore my breath away, but if that air had left me, then I would have puked all over the floor. Instead, I gritted my teeth and just nodded. Slow breaths in, slow breaths out.

"Uh… fuck, fuck, fuck!" The server paced around, taking anxious looks around her as her cat-ears prickled up. "Okay, good news. Cameras aren't angled to your face, they wouldn't see your eye change, and well… they don't always keep the audio on because people keep on having sex here."

"You're helping me?" I gasped out.

"You're… you can help us. I… here-! Take my civ-sigil! Tell me when you're back safe!" She flashed a holographic plaque out, and my eyes absorbed that info, relaying it back to my Neuroframe.

Contact Added: Katherine of the Kats

"Katherine…" I whispered. "Thank you."

"Can you get home safely?" She propped me up by her shoulder.

Weakly, I grinned back at Katherine. "Who do you think you're talking to?"

"Uh… by the way, your eye?"

"My eye-ah right… or r-eye-ght." I giggled to myself, slapping my eye a few times until I saw in the polished handle of the door that it was back to Lilian Rose's more fiery color.

Stumbling out, I straightened myself and slowly my liver empowered under electricity to clear out the alcohol in my system. It took a few yanks for Katherine to let go, but I assured her once I was able to walk straight through and into the open air. Circling around, I was groaning from how…

How distracted I became the second someone cared…

I'd planned to walk home when all of a sudden another hand gripped my arm, and who was it other than silver-toothed Johnny… or was it Jimmy? I still had some alcohol in my stomach that was digesting.

"Woah there, I just held you because I thought you were going to slip. You sure can handle your drink." He stepped closer, enough that I actually did stumble. "So… funny running into you again. What's your name?"

I had a hundred different thoughts running through my mind, but they all ended up forming into one sentence. "How about we cut the charade and head to the back alley?"

His eyes practically burst into excitement with that, a cackle echoing as we trailed deeper. "Oh fuck yeah! I knew you were the one!"

I gave a dry laugh of my own, my eyes scanning for any cameras. But who needed eyes? An invisible electromagnetic field spread around me, my senses traveling with it, and I twisted my Warp Energy in the direction of a camera. Its electrical mechanisms folded into themselves. As soon as I heard Jimmy fumbling with his clothes behind me, my elbow spun into his face.

I felt a bone crack.

He ate muck off the wall, and I would give him exactly what he wanted right now. I was on top of him, my fingernails hardening into sharp claws at the edge of his throat. I heard him talk, or try to, but… I didn't care. Everything was a mess in my head. It had been for a long time. I was just so angry, and my words slurred out as a maddened sludge of speech. "A shame you don't use a SIM, or else you would have really known what it was like to be sucked dry."

The Scorpion's Handshake around my wrist ejected its blade right through the softness above his clavicle. Seconds later, a warm hiss burned steam through the wound, blood gurgling in his mouth. I yanked it out through the metallic fibers of his muscles and crunched through his ribs, watching as slowly life faded from his eyes…

I puked, a whole lot of my stomach contents flowing down and mixing with the blood. What was I doing? What had I done?

Shame, regret, rage. They all boiled in the drunken vortex of my mind, but there was a simple fact permeating it all — the product of the whistling madness in that cauldron of thought.

I had killed a man in cold blood.

My thoughts still incoherent, I acted in haste. He could have valuable information, I didn't know if he really was some big figure in Steel Tygers but his Frame might have had some valuable information. Any information to make this trip worth it. A zap of electricity struck his nape, and with a tug I yanked out the small slab of metal…

The Neuroframe was bloody.

I puked again, and by now I forced my metabolism to render me sober. I… fuck, this wasn't who I was. Digging the Frame into my coat-pocket, I hurried back to Belle's house. I'd need to contact…

I had to contact Ripley; the police would question where I got this frame from.

Even after a shower, I could still feel the blood on my hands. The shame from what I'd done…

And the satisfaction I couldn't help but feel, no matter how much I hated it.

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