Mardock Scramble

Thunk—Medium collapsed in a heap. Sparks continued to leap from the side of his head. The various electronic devices implanted in his head had short-circuited, and now pitch-black blood was pouring from his eyes and ears.

He wasn’t quite dead yet—but he’d seen better days.

Balot looked at the geyser of water that was jetting out from where the toilet had been. She intercepted the building’s water supply system—and snarced it. The flow of water slowed, then stopped.

She approached Medium and, with the lightest of touches, put her hand on Medium’s forehead.

She sensed a weak current and recognized it as a voice being transmitted directly into his head.

–What’s the matter, Medi? Are our transmissions not getting through? Was the target there? We’re not getting any response from Medi, Well. Medi, If you can hear…

–I’m fine.

Balot answered, in Medium’s voice.

–There’s nothing here. No sign of our target. I’ll continue searching.

Then she stopped snarcing the transmission, left the men’s toilets, and closed the door behind her.

02

–No, it’s definitely weird. It doesn’t add up.

Mincemeat heard Flesh’s voice at the back of his mind.

“Wassup, Fleshie? Explain to me what’s so weird.” Mincemeat held his Boston bag under one arm, waiting leisurely just outside the entrance hall.

–According to Medi’s audio records, he’s just heard a number of gunshots. One of them doesn’t show up anywhere on my database—my database. So we must be talking about some pretty unusual equipment.

“So there’s someone with different equipment from us. One of the PIs?”

–Yes, but Medi seems to be saying he’s all right…

“Hmm…”

–You’re the closest one there to Medi, Mincemeat.

“Fine, I’ll check it out.” Mincemeat gripped his Boston bag and headed straight for the entrance. “If the target runs from the building you’ll have to get Rare or Well to catch her, ’cause I’m heading in to see if there are any enemies closing in on Medi. Open the door for me, will ya?”

–Sure.

Mincemeat gave the lobby door a gentle shove and it swung open without resistance.

He walked straight on into the hall.

Checking that there was no one behind the window at the reception area, he shoved his hand into the Boston bag. He pulled out the reserve firearms—in the shape of an attaché case—and walked down the corridor in large strides.

He shed his Boston bag and pushed on farther down the corridor, where he heard an elevator door chime and open.

He slipped deftly behind a pillar and silently opened the lock on the case in his hands.

The box folded out in both directions, and a double-handed grip appeared in the middle, which he held firmly. There were muzzles where the box folded out, pointing outward—this was a fearsome automatic weapon.

After taking note of his surroundings, he opened transmission channels.

–Is this elevator your work, Fleshie?

–That’s right.

–You want me to get in it?

–That’s right.

–I thought Medi was on the first floor, though? Do you think he’s found the enemy?

–That’s right.

–Send me the floor plans, will ya? Right, so that’s where Medi is. I’m moving on out.

–That’s right.

–Huh?

The transmission ended abruptly. But the floor plan showed clearly the route he needed to take.

Mincemeat shrugged his shoulders. “Jeez, talk about impatient.”

Paying close attention to his surroundings, Mincemeat slipped into the elevator.

He looked at the operating panel inside. There were five buttons, one for each floor from the basement to the roof. The button for the second floor was already flashing yellow.

The elevators closed, and Mincemeat braced his large body as best he could.

The pressure pulled him down. The lift was rising now with ferocious speed. Mincemeat just about managed to stop himself from buckling over.

The violent screeching of the wires could be heard overhead.

Then the elevator shuddered to a sudden halt, throwing Mincemeat’s huge frame into the air for a second before he crashed back down onto the elevator floor, slamming his knee against the steel.

Mincemeat’s face was twisted in fury.

–Flesh, you little shit! This isn’t a fucking carnival ride!