The year is 3013.

  Humanity has climbed out of its terrestrial prison, exploding into the Solar System. The population of the human species is between 30-40 Billion, almost entirely living in a swarm of orbital habitats surrounding the planets and the Sun. These habitats span from Mercury’s orbit to the near reaches of the Oort Cloud. The Planet Earth is largely empty, now serving as a nature preserve and historical museum.

  This is Solar Humanity.

  Man’s tendencies haven’t changed. Poverty and conflict pervade even through the bounty of the Solar System’s resources. In the 700 years since the proliferation of orbital civilization, many leagues of habitats formed to fight one another for supremacy. The wealthiest live high above those most poor. Some humans own entire cities whilst others fight for their next meal.

  Science enabled Man’s ascension to beyond Earth, but Sorcery still has its place. The many orbital habitats are beset by supernatural threats new and old. The universe beyond Earth is host to uncountable mysteries, and the old horrors haven’t all been cast away in this future.

  Grady’s Posse persists. The guild of gunslinger-sorcerers left Earth alongside the people they pledged to protect. They operate across the entire system, adapting to the times. Though very uncommon, it is not unheard of for a Solar Human to come across a man in the ancient garb of the American West, with a shining Gellerite pistol on his hip.

  ^^^

  “Ugh! I can’t stand spaceports.” A figure in a Western getup waited at the baggage claim of the New Atlanta Spaceport.

  The woman, appearing to be in her 20’s, stood in the clothes of a Six-Gun, which had slightly evolved in the 1100 years since the Posse’s inception. Her wide-brimmed hat, pants and vest were made of a neo-fiber material which provided enhanced protection while still acting like textiles. Six-Guns in the 31st Century tended to wear Gellerite-laced stitches, illuminating the seams of their clothes with the activation of their Resolve.

  Next to her stood another, taller Six-Gun in dark clothes. He drew from the thin cylindrical hull of an e-cigar, its alchemical contents relieving him of the gastric unrest that came after spaceplane food. As he puffed a cloud of smoke out, a small spherical drone floated from its case on his belt and vacuumed it all up.

  Both of the Guns stood in a line of travelers at the New Atlanta Spaceport customs checkpoint. Before getting their bags, they had to go through to identify themselves and declare the nature of their visit to the New Atlanta orbital habitat. The line was, as always, incredibly slow moving.

  New Atlanta, like most of the cities in the 31st Century, was a 2nd Generation O’Neill cylinder. This orbital habitat, comprised of two counter-rotating cylindrical structures, measured about 10 kilometers in diameter. It spanned a length of 24 kilometers, and was largely closed in, with two small sections of the inner cylinder dedicated to windows which allowed sunlight through. The entirety of its habitable inner surface was comprised of urban living environment. Orbiting close to Jupiter, New Atlanta had become one of the larger economic powerhouses of the Outer System.

  “What, you don’t like standing in line?” The taller Gun chuckled, “You’d think you would want to stretch your legs a bit after the flight.”

  “Well, I just wanna get out of here and get something to eat.”

  Both of them made their way to the Customs window, where a CoreCo SA-9 “Ned” service droid stood. It’s slate grey surfaces, contoured to mimic the human form, shone in the low light of its booth.

  The soothing synthesized voice of the droid blared, “Please present identification.”

  “Sure, Ned.” The taller Gun slid over his passport chit, a thin coin which projected his picture and his name holographically.

  “Higgs, Jin.” The Ned droid read the projection clearly, “Securiy Check… Valid. Purpose of visit?”

  “I’m a Six-Gun. I’m here on a contract.” Jin placed his Six-Gun card on the window shelf. It presented the 10 of Hearts.

  The card had embedded within it a chip which most droids and scanners could read, including those form CoreCo. Looking at it for a moment, the Ned droid nodded.

  “This is acceptable. Welcome to New Atlanta.”

  The shorter Gun presented her ID, reading the name Caldera, Remi. Her card was the 8 of Diamonds. She took her opportunity to flirt with the Ned droid, leaning against the counter and asking if she looked good in the passport photo. After being shrugged off politely, she stepped over to where Jin stood.

  “You can’t resist, you degenerate.” Jin shook his head

  She playfully smacked his back, “I can’t help it, I love the new model Neds.”

  Robosexuality really peaked in Solar society around the 2500s. The wave of sentience in androids had contributed to this significantly. After around 150 years, the infatuation died down, and droids existed alongside humans in a somewhat normal sexual dynamic. Remi, however, had caught a bad case of Robosexuality. She took every opportunity to hook up with the more handsome droid models.

  Walking along, the pair of gunslinger-sorcerers caught the eye of many travelers in the terminal. To see a Six-Gun in the 31st Century presented a bad omen. There must be something wrong which even the police couldn’t handle. Understanding this, Jin maintained a thin smile and a confident demeanor. This typically comforted people; though if he absolutely needed to, he would employ Suggestion.

  His family’s technique dating back to ancient times, Suggestion used Resolve to manipulate the emotional state of people around the sorcerer. Jin had become known as a reliable user of Resolve, especially Suggestion.

  “I bet you ANYTHING the bag claim is gonna be out.” Remi shook her head.

  Both Six-Guns passed the Baggage Claim area of the spaceport, where red lights flashed. Travelers waited around, each accompanied by the a little flying drone. The frustrated faces of the impatient passersby amused Remi.

  “Told you, Maze Field is always butts at NAL.” She shook her head.

  Baggage in the 31st Century did not traverse the space between orbital habitats on spaceplanes, as the passengers did. Instead it made the trip via a crude teleportation method called Maze Tunneling. Each individual atom throughout and within the bag was dismantled and tunneled through microscoping wormholes, to be reconstructed at the destination. This came with some level of uncertainty, and the Solar Travel Commission deemed that a 99.7% Certainty threshold must be present in order to operate the Maze Field within a spaceport. The New Atlanta Spaceport (NAL) had become notorious for cutting maintenance costs; the Maze Field at their baggage claim experienced frequent downtime.

  “You hungry?” Jin crossed his arms behind his head as he walked, “Let’s get sum to eat.”

  “I could go for a taco-dog, but I’m also lookin’ for a fizzy after the flight over.”

  Remi’s drone floated in front of her, her own colored bright pink. These drones had become extremely popular in the 30th and 31st Centuries. Each one of them handled all the communication needs of a Solar citizen; making phone calls, sending instant messages, containing social media, and playing music and videos for any aural and ocular implants. The most popular model, ubiquitous in the Outer System, was CoreCo’s “Bip” model personal drone. They came in a range of colors, and of course Remi chose her favorite.

  Six-Guns largely avoided commercial cybernetic implants, as most of the technology was incompatible with the Resolve pathways. However, most Guns possessed a few small pieces of equipment specially made by the Plaidshirts with Gellerite, to conduct Resolve as well or better than the flesh and bone of the sorcerer. Neural and ocular implants only hindered the Six-Gun, as their minds and eyes contained the most complicated Resolve networks, but a Gellerite aural implant in each ear was almost standard for them, as well as some joint and ligament reinforcements.

  Remi’s Bip opened up a holographic projection in front of the pair, but played audio into their ears.

  “Hey you two! Don’t stall for time here, or there could be another murder!” A rather ornery-looking man glared at them from the projection.

  Looking away flatly, Remi sighed, “There’s five murders a night in New Atlanta, Shrub. Me stopping for ONE fizzy ain’t gonna break the city in two.”

  “If you only had one, I could believe that.” Answered Shrub, “But you always knock them back till you knock YOURSELF down. Take care of this shit, then you can have a drink.”

  “What’s even the job again?” Jin asked, scratching his neck, “The bloodless killings right?”

  “Keep your voice down!” the face in the projection twitched, “There’s been three bodies found in the East Heights hab block, all of them desiccated. They have the standard symptoms of a vampiric attack. No blood, got an egress point in the jugular.”

  “Vampires? Don’t make no sense out here. New Atlanta gets a lot of sun.” Jin raised an eyebrow.

  Nodding, Remi looked back, “They’d be on the Esmarch hab, other side of Jupe.”

  “Aw yeah smart! Its dark as fuck there.” Jin fist-bumped her in concurrence, “Yeah this has to be blood bandits, right? Not our bag.”

  “Quiet down! We thought it might have been the local gang, looking to sell good blood. They’re called the Guapos. Problem is, Guapos called it in, not the police. They’re real scared, saying some of them have been seeing things in their sleep.”

  The pair looked to one another as if to confirm if they were on the same wavelength. That bit about the dreams had concerned them.

  “Yeah, so that’s why we sent you.” Shrub could read them from their faces, “That part of N.A. is set for sundown in a few hours. Get on this one, bring me a vamp kill huh?”

  “Fine…” The lady Gun hung her head limply, mourning the death of her drinking plans.

  “K, Shrub.” Her partner nodded, “Gonna poke around East Heights, ask the Guapos.”

  “Get it done. “ The holographic projection closed.

  ^^^

  A shiny black brink sped along the brinkway for New Atlanta’s port district to the East Heights hab cluster, carrying along the two gunslinger-sorcerers. The ‘brink’ had come into public use around the mid-2500s. Originally referred to as the hover-speeder, these vehicles looked much like the automobiles of Old Earth. They didn’t have any wheels, however, instead employing a stabilized hover via four turbines where the wheels would be which each generated a magnetic repulsion/propulsion force. By alternating magnetic polarity between the front and back sets of magnet turbines, the vehicle could push and pull itself along metallic roads. The first sets of hover-speeders were far too expensive to mass produce, and their use had been relegated to sports and the luxury of the very wealthy. Mass adoption wasn’t feasible until a manufacturer called the Brink Auto Group introduced the Brink One, the Solar System’s first affordable hover speeder. People had taken to referring to any hover speeder as a “brink”, and in the five hundred years since the name had stuck.

  Remi watched the skyline rolling in on itself in the distance with the New Atlanta’s curvature. She took in the kaleidoscope of lights, never unimpressed by urban habitats like this one. Jin had rented a convertible brink and the wind whipped her brown hair about behind her. Her hat stayed on her head via that ancient hex all Six-Guns put on it, but there wasn’t any hex on her long hair. Batting it away, Jin spit some out of his mouth.

  “Oughta cut that sketti bowl you got going on!” He pushed her shoulder.

  “Don’t act like you don’t enjoy it! You ain’t getting any other hottie’s hair in your face, buddy!”

  Jin held his tongue, he knew she was right. The Gun only kept his eyes on the brinkway in front of him.

  Laughing, Remi climbed up on the seat to enjoy the full force of the wind as their brink sped along to their destination. Reds, blues, and oranges streaked by them with the passing of the advertisements along the brinkway.

  ^^^

  Electronic sounds rumbled from outside the flashy dance club in the lower section of East Heights. Standing in front of the club, tracing its bright pink lights with his eyes, Jin pursed his lips. The words “Fernanda Lila” projected from the siding in an eye-grabbing holograph, alongside two floating glasses full of some bright liquid. Jin slowly tilted his head towards his comrade, his eyes shooting her a knowing look.

  “Oh don’t act like you don’t want ONE drink?” Remi beamed, happy the pin for their job took them to this location.

  “We go in, talk to the contact, then get out and go to work.”

  Shrugging, the femme Six-Gun threw up her palms. “All part of the job, Jinny boy.”

  The pair talked up to the bouncer, a thick looking man in a dazzling silver suit and tie. His hair was up in the style of the New Atlanta streetman, jagged edges perfectly lined up and shining. Eying them over, LED lights glowed in his pupils.

  “No ident, no entry.” He barked.

  The bouncer hadn’t considered that Six-Guns don’t install identification chips, at least none which could be read by a common streetman in a Jupiter-orbiting habitat.

  “Right.” Jin rolled his eyes, flashing his card “This mean anything?”

  “Gradistos, I see.” The bouncer kept his stoney demeanor, “Boss told us some Pistols might be coming. Didn’t think you’d actually show.”

  “Glad I can still surprise the good folk of New Atlanta.” returning the bouncer’s flat tone, Jin crossed his arms. “We’ll be quick.”

  “I’m sure you ARE quick in places like these, Gradisto.” snickered the bouncer, gesturing to the sign which read ‘GIRLS GIRLS GIRLS’.

  This earned a giggle from Remi. “Snagged the target dead on, you did.”

  Brinks passed by the club at all levels. The street stood still, packed with them in bumper to bumper traffic. Above, another metallic brinkway buzzed as the magnetic turbines whizzed by. The executive brinkways weaved across the skyline even further up, the luxury transports unseen from the sorcerers at ground level. If one looked up, it appeared as a dense cover of jungle vines crisscrossing overhead. Far further beyond, unseen to those on the ground, even more brinkways spanned the opposite side of the cylindrical habitat.

  Jin shook his head, “Fantastic. We done here?”

  Stepping aside, the bouncer nodded, “Go on in and ask for Mai Lo. You’d love her, wouldn’t you Gradisto?”

  “Why, cause I’m Pacifiker?” Jin leered as he passed.

  The question went unanswered as he walked through the doorway. Pacifikers like Jin Higgs were made up of people the Old Earth Pacific Ocean rim. A mix of East Asian, Islander, and North Americans, the Pacifikers comprised one of the largest racial groups in Solar Humanity. They had lost almost all of what had made the individual cultures distinct in Old Earth times, but gained a unique identity within Solar society over the centuries. Jin’s monolid eyes, generally considered beautiful in the Inner System habitats, was an unmistakable indicator of his heritage.

  “What they have against Pacs here?” He looked to Remi, letting the upbeat music and strobing lights overtake his senses.

  Inside the club, all manner of patrons danced and stood around everywhere. At the bars, on the floor, in the booths, and around tubes where scantily clad ladies swayed suggestively submerged in sparking liquid; the establishment was absolutely packed with customers. Though dimply lit from overhead, the swirling holographic lights of pink, purple, and blue kept the visibility up. It constituted an assault on the senses, engaging on all fronts. A thick smell of strawberries hit Jin’s nose as he stood in the entrance.

  “Ah!” Remi’s eyes lit up as she watched a few Fine Toy model androids pass. “They have those in lowlife joints like this one??”

  “Here I thought we were supposed to be paragons of emotional control.” Jin kept his hands in his pockets.

  “Don’t act like you don’t wanna go and see some of the girls…”

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  “I do, but that’s why it’s called emotional CONTROL.”

  His eyes wandered to a couple of booths to his right, where men in low cut V-neck jumpers sat around puffing electronic cigars and drinking from bottles with holographic labels.

  “Wealthy clientele…” He remarked.

  “Guapos.” A young lady in a pink dress swung by, stopping in front of him, “Our muscle.”

  Her hair was cut in a bob, colored in a gradient from green to aqua. Her makeup had been done perfect, green lipstick on her lips. She eyed Jin up and down for just a moment, not in the hungry way which the men eyed her down. Her eyes flicked up to his.

  “Gradistos.” She blinked, her thick eyelashes lit up with fiber optics, “You wanna come sit down?”

  “Looking for Mai Lo.” Jin gripped Remi’s shoulder as she started off after a tray of drinks which floated along by a miniature thruster.

  The gunslinger appeared not to bite on her proposition, which interested the woman. She smirked, “You found her.”

  “She found us.” Jin tilted his head.

  With a smirk, the woman nodded. “Hard to miss a Gun. You guys are on TV sometimes. Don’t you ever take off your cowboy getup?”

  “I’m sure he could be convinced.” snickered the pistol-toting peanut gallery.

  “It’s tradition.” Jin ignored his partner, “Been doing it for over a thousand years, since before we even made it to Luna.”

  “Well,” Mai sighed, having apparent missed her shot dramatically, “Please come to the corner booth. I’ll get you a drink and we can talk the task at hand.”

  Remi found the booth to be very comfortable, sipping a fizzy alcoholic beverage as she took in the vibes of the club.

  “No windows anywhere.” Jin abstained, but munched on some cricket nuts. “What’s up with that?”

  A very common snack in the Outer System was the salty ‘cricket nuts’. Made from neither crickets nor any form of nuts, the crunchy peanut-sized snack food was actually blended soy protein, baked in mass ovens and tossed in a seasoning of choice. They earned the name when they first launched, with people at the time believing that the various governments of the Outer System habitats were gaslighting citizens into eating recycled pest bugs. There were several instances of bug legs found in bags of cricket nuts, however.

  “Have you never been in a club before?” Remi raised an eyebrow, “You stupid?”

  “It’s not stupid.” giggled Mai, sitting next to them with one leg crossed over the other, “Casinos and girlhouses don’t have windows either. Keeps people from seeing just how much time they’ve spent inside, or how much money.”

  That made sense to Jin, who hadn’t spent any time in any of those types of establishments.

  “So, normally we wouldn’t ask for Gradistos.” She continued, “But we are actually quite concerned. We believe that the recent killings here in East Heights are vampiric.”

  “What’s the evidence?” Remi leaned back, “We get all kinds of calls like this. It’s almost always a fake call, usually some turf dispute or revenge for some wrongs done to people.”

  “I dunno. Evidence is strong here, classic signs. Punctures, no blood left in the bodies. No struggle marks either. Several of the Guapos have been killed off already. It’s starting to scare us normal peeps.”

  “Wait.” Jin’s eyes wandered from her thighs back up to her eyes, “You said its Guapos who were found dead?”

  She nodded, “Yes. The Guaps are almost all the victims. That’s why we know it isn’t them.”

  “You have any bodies to show us?”

  “No… Guaps took them.” Mai quickly threw back her drink. The glass, as with all the glasses, floated above the table with stabilized magnets, always remaining upright. A few stray drops of bright liquid ran down the side of the glass and dripped onto the table.

  Another woman, this one sporting long scarlet hair and a black dress, came over with a tray to clear the empty glasses. She met Jin’s gaze with fearful eyes, too mousy to speak.

  “See…” Mai pat her back warmly and let her go, “The people here are all afraid for their lives. It seems like even the Guapos can’t beat whatever this is.”

  “So where’s our lead?” Remi raised an eyebrow.

  “Well.” Mai placed a hand on Jin’s knee, “You can go to the latest places where the bodies were found. I’ll send them to your Bips, if you give me your number.”

  “Ye… yeah could do that…” The Six-Gun found himself flustered.

  “Good.” Mai’s Bip teetered upwards, touching Jin’s. The number transfer could be done wireless, but used a touch system for security reasons.

  “Just let me know what you find.”

  ^^^

  “That woman’s all over you, Jinny.” Remi stepped into the alley which had been pinned by Mai as a crime scene.

  “Oh shut up.” Following his Bip, Jin kept his hands in his pockets.

  Steam poured from a maintenance hatch nearby, where underground machinery bled heat. Trash bags lined either side of the alley. The street sweeper droids had gone on strike again, citing poor access to lubricant and increased charging times from proper ports as evidence of a lack of concern for robotkind in New Atlanta.

  “Is it SO unheard of that a woman might be attracted to you?” The lady gun looked around, trying to find signs of struggle.

  “I’m one of those guys, Rem. One of the guys who chicks overlook. Six-Gun or not.”

  “That’s all in your head dude. I mean I wouldn’t fuck you, but that’s just cause you ain’t nuts and bolts. You really oughta cop some more confidence, and cop a titty.”

  Trying to ignore her, Jin took a look around himself. There was nothing at the exact pin; no blood, no debris, not even a fingernail clipping. Crouching down, Jin looked over the bare concrete. His eyes traveled to the trash along the walls, and settled on the hatch.

  “Heya, Remi…”

  “No you can’t get a training grope on me.” She shook her head.

  Remi didn’t want anyone to know that she wore Super-Bra breast extender braziers. She had been insecure of her bust size since puberty.

  “What? No Remi!” He stood, “Look at that?”

  Coming over, she followed his gaze to the maintenance hatch.

  “This is the third scene we’ve been to.” He turned to her, “And all of them have been right near hatches. That can’t be a coincidence.”

  “Huh… You know, you’re right.”

  Magnetic boots clinked against the pavement as Jin stepped over to the hatch, “No brainer. We got a vamp living in the maintenance tunnels. That’s howcome he escapes the sunlight.”

  Remi shrugged, “Let’s go frag him.”

  The darkness of the maintenance tunnel offered no obstruction to two uses of Resolve. Both pairs of eyes gleamed like beacons as the gunslingers made their way down narrow corridors flanked by pipes.

  Jin imagined any number of horror scurrying away from him, just out of reach, waiting for his back to be turned. Truthfully, he could see no disturbance in the currents of magic in the universe. The tunnels were not distinct from the surface in this way. Breathing in, Jin searched for any evidence of vampiric corruption.

  “This is weird… nothing.” Remi spoke what was on his mind.

  “I’m starting to wonder if they made the whole thing up.” He looked to her, “Think about it,”

  “No evidence of any bodies at all.” She nodded in concurrence.

  “They could SAY anything. Why lure a couple of Guns into the maintenance tunnels, though? What’s the point?”

  Both Guns went completely silent as they heard a noise up ahead. The low hum of the tunnel gave way to a horrid scraping, forcing both of them to rethink their discussion. Those horrors, a moment ago dismissed in Jin’s mind, resurfaced instantly as he listened to a sickly wheezing. The labored breathing, accompanied by the scraping of something rigid along the pipes, send Remi and Jin into alert.

  Still, no magic on the currents. This baffled Jin, who remained at the ready. What came around the corner surprised him more than any vampire could.

  A figure limped into view, illuminated by a failing crew light bar which had been left behind during the previous maintenance cycle. A man, or the remnants of one, carried himself on twisted legs. His skin had been flayed in places, hanging loosely as it dripped dark blood onto the ground. Black rods had been inserted into him at all his joints. His chest cavity had been opened in the front, sternum and ribs removed, his heart replaced by a metallic box which churned and pumped hard, though there did not appear to be any blood, instead a clear liquid slid through two artificial circulatory systems. Those lungs of his, red with inflammation, lay bare for both gunslingers to see.

  “Argh…” He gargled as he noticed them, “Ah… please… Don’t let… Him… Find you…”

  Every word appeared to be the painful labor of a man on the edge of life and death. As if propelled by some unseen force, the man raised his right arm. His hand had been removed and a black metallic apparatus attached. In the low light it was hard to tell what it was, but both gunslingers understood it could have easily been a weapon.

  “Oh… Gods…” The man coughed, “Please… end me…”

  As if to grant his wish, Remi shot him quickly. His head split open and he fell to the floor of the tunnel. At once, the two Guns understood they were not dealing with a vampire.

  “This is heinous…” Jin studied the various implants which had been shoddily crammed into the man’s body.

  “Not our killer.” Shaking her head, Remi looked on down the tunnel. “We should keep going.”

  “Lead the way.”

  More and more of the arrhythmic scraping sounds bounced off the tunnel walls, alerting the ears of the two advancing sorcerers as they descended deeper into the tunnel system. Listening closely, Remi made out several distinct patterns.

  “Nine more of them.” She kept her hand above her holster, “Three to the right, the rest up front.”

  There did not need to be an acknowledgement, both of them knew what to do. Two more of the altered figures shambled towards them, their bodies jerking them forward. Their moans and howls betrayed the agony and suffering they must have been under. It didn’t disturb Remi to shoot them, only that they were there in the first place. As she passed the corpses, she noted more heavily augmented human bodies. What little flesh they had displayed similar tattoos, which she could only assume belonged to the Guapos gang.

  It did not take long for the two gunslingers to reach a fairly lit area where a few of the tunnels converged. Bundles of wires had been strung up from the ceiling, leading the Guns to a large room with a series of tables. Blood covered the floor and walls, pooling along low spots and filling up buckets alongside mystery viscera. Opposite the door, the cables led to a large terminal bearing a bunch of screens and projections. Dead and dying men lay strapped to the tables. Many of them had lost limbs already, laying there bleeding onto the floor.

  “You…” croaked a figure from in between the tables, “You… put down my creations.”

  Jin and Remi’s eyes flicked between each other before fixing on the man. His own skin had been stapled together in long lines along his arms and shoulders. Several mechanical arms protruded from his back, each one carrying a blooded surgical instrument. He had drills, saws, and clamps all ready on the many arms. They splayed out like hellish wings behind him as he addressed his visitors.

  “I don’t blame you, Gradistos. You were just defending yourselves. Truth be told, I would have had them take you down if I could. I couldn’t tell you were Six-Guns until you had taken more of my creations down.”

  “This guy enough robot for you?” Mused Jin.

  Remi shivered a bit, “He’s er… not my type…”

  “I’m afraid I don’t understand the humor.” The man pressed his hand to one of his dying patients, who looked to be in a feverish coma. “It’s no matter. You’ve made your way where I need you to be.”

  With a blink, the man remotely controlled the door behind them It shut and locked, the pneumatic mechanism hissing. At the same time, a large shutter door slammed down in front of them, boxing the Guns into a sealed chamber at the front of the dreadful man’s workshop.

  “I will tell you something…” The man walked up to a narrow window in the shutter door, “I’m not a monster for you to hunt. I’m a scientist… That’s all I am. Humanity moves forward on the backs of men like me.”

  His instrument arms twitched and whirred around in circles as he spoke.

  “I’ve had many subjects for my tests, many many. But I’ve never had any of Grady’s Posse. I’d like to see what makes you tick…”

  Jin heard a low shushing sound start. He looked around, seeing several nozzles at the floor of the chamber. A white smoke poured from them.

  “Just a little sedative.” The scientist nodded, “When we are finished, you’ll be perfect. I promise.”

  “Jin! Back up!” Remi leveled her pistol and fired off two shots at the window. The glass proved too thick for the .458 Starboy rounds of the 31st Century Posse. They embedded themselves within, to minimal effect.

  Breathing in what he figured to be his last clean breath, Jin held his mouth closed. He waited, eyes fixed on the window, knowing he could do nothing meaningful until their chamber had been reopened.

  “Jinny…” Remi dropped to her knees. Resolve couldn’t help her here.

  Both Guns fell to the floor, Jin closing his eyes. He hoped for the best, trying to preoccupy his mind against the feeling of breathlessness. His lungs felt like they were jumping into his throat. When he couldn’t hold it anymore, he breathed out, quickly drawing in a deep breath of the sedative smoke before expelling most of it. His lungs craved more, ached for more, but he knew he would be worse than dead if he caved. The sedative blurred his vision.

  The doors opened and the nozzles switched to reverse, sucking the sedative smoke back into some waste tank. Jin breathed out, wheezing on the floor wildly. He looked to Remi, who he could see had gone limp. As the scientist approached, Jin weakly marshalled his left hand to form the Rite of Release. His eyes shone starkly as he stared up into the wild eyes of the scientist looming over him and activated his inherited Resolute technique.

  Suggestion, a technique dating back to early Six-Guns, allowed for the user to alter the emotional state of the target. Using Resolve, the sorcerer would inflict great psychological damage on the given target, or even help them feel better. To Jin, there were a number of options which would work. In his drug-addled mind, he went with the easiest and most vivid emotion, disgust.

  Standing over him, the scientist suddenly became immensely disgusted with himself. He looked at his hands, shaking as his eyes traveled over every inch of his own horrible flesh. He looked forward to catch his reflection in the metal door. He felt he was looking at a nightmare, a monster made manifest. Never had he seen such a rotting, stinking corpse as the figure in the mirror. In his mind he had a solution to this.

  Jin watched as his metallic appendages descended upon himself. Cutting, shopping, rending, the instruments tore open the scientist in a frenzy. He expected the man to scream in horror and pain, but he saw a look of sheer determination on his face.

  “I’ll… be… perfect…” He started to leak blood from his lips as he tore out his own ribs and lungs.

  “PERFECTION!” He fell back when he found he couldn’t stabilize himself.

  Jin shakily found his footing and scooped up Remi, listening to the squelching of the gore behind him. The door, now unlocked, simply pushed open with ease. He didn’t look back at the mess of cutting and sawing as he hefted Remi over his back. He did hear the robotic arms cease after a while.

  ^^^

  The sight of two blood-covered Six-Guns halted the festivities on the dance floor at Fernanda Lila. Partyers parted left and right, allowing Jin to walk on weak legs across the floor to the now empty corner booth. A large Guapo stood up, sporting similar tattoos to those on the mangled corpses I the maintenance tunnels.

  “What are you doing tracking all this blood into the club, Gradisto?” He furled his brow.

  “Ey!” Another figure pat his shoulder, a skinny man in a black suit with his sleeves rolled, “Those are the Six-Guns we hired for the attacks.”

  Turning to Jin, the man nodded. “Sorry, Six-Gun, the blood is bad for business. What happened? Did you find the killer?”

  “We did…” Jin looked around, “Where’s… Mai Lo?”

  “She left for the spaceport a bit ago. Said she couldn’t stay with so much killing going on; left me in charge. My name’s Lonnie.”

  “Sucks for you Jinny…” Remi’s voice was still groggy, “She wanted you…”

  The barman shook his head, “Doubt it, she’s a lesbian.”

  “Didn’t stop the boys.” Another of the Guapos nearby muttered

  “So what happened anyway?” Lonnie asked, “Was there really a vampire.”

  Jin felt he needed a seat. He moved past Lonnie and plopped onto the luxury booth. Though he hadn’t ingested much of the gas, he had carried Remi through the tunnels for a long way until she woke back up.

  “Wasn’t a vampire, no. Kind of feels scarier. Guy was kidnapping people, you Guapos. Some guy who called himself a scientist. He was… He was chopping them up…”

  Lonnie looked to the other Guapos, sharing a grimace.

  “Um, Six-Gun… This was in the tunnels below?”

  “Yes. It was a gods-damned horror show…” Jin found a stray drink and gulped it down.

  “That’s not the killer, fucking pendejo.” The big Guapo stepped forward, “That’s Doc. He didn’t kill our boys, not the ones who matter anyhow. He don’t leave the tunnels.”

  That hit Jin hard. He nearly spit his drink out.

  “What? He had victims.”

  “We send the brothers who disobey la Familia down to the tunnels for Doc to have. He don’t mess with us!”

  Another of the Guapos stepped up, “We said the bodies had no blood, no signs of struggle. That sound anything like what you saw down there, Gradisto?”

  Myriad thoughts spun around in Jin’s head, considering this information. His eyes zipped back and forth, finally settling on a pink napkin which had been left on the table in front of the plush booth. Leaning in, he picked it up. It smelled like strawberries. A green lipstick stain lay on the center of the napkin, as if a pair of lips had been pressed to it. Also on the napkin, at the corner of the lip print, a dark red circle had set in. Blood.

  Standing up, Jin gripped the napkin and shoved it into the breast pocket of his shirt.

  ^^^

  Waiting at the terminal, Mai Lo sat in a more practical travel dress which covered her arms and legs modestly while still maintaining that New Atlanta style. She and the red-haired woman each had sunglasses on as they waited. They had just made it to right terminal a half hour until boarding started.

  “It’s alright now Chel…” She cooed, patting the redhead on her arm, “We’re done with them. New horizons, right lady?”

  “New horizons…” sighed Chel.

  “Hey.”

  Chel looked up to see her smiling back.

  “Nobody’s gonna do what they did to us again. Alright?”

  The words brought a warmth to Chel’s undead heart. She smiled for a moment, giving hope a foothold. The abuse they had suffered at the hands of the Guapos had been beyond what she believed possible. She HAD to do what she did to them, they didn’t leave her any choice. She HAD to. There couldn’t be anywhere as horrible as here, in her mind.

  “Do you the think the Gradistos are wise to us?” Chel leaned onto her.

  Waving a hand, Mai shook her head, “Them? No. We laid the bread crumbs right. They would have ran into Doc, and that would be that. You heard them before, most calls like this are fake.”

  ^^^

  Jin’s brink sped down the brinkway at lightning speed, weaving in and out of traffic. He had never pushed one of these vehicles to this level before; it caused bouts of magnetic interference in the brinks he passed. Their drivers did not appear amused.

  He half focused on the road, half focused on the chain of events. Mai Lo had been the one to tell them about the killings, even though Shrub said the Guapos had tipped them off. Furthermore, Mai had pointed out the bodies, or where she wanted them to believe they had been found. Each pin led him to a hatch, conveniently near the horrible workshop of this Doc figure. The feeling of being played stung his throat.

  Only one thing didn’t make sense to him. Why did this vampire attack the very people who appeared to be harboring her. There’s no way the Guapos didn’t know she was a vampire. It made sense that they would keep her in the club, where there were no windows. Even if only a few of them knew, she could have lived there for a long time taking clients and feeding from them. No law enforcement would ever find her if the Guapos didn’t give her away.

  Looking behind for a moment, he observed Remi sleeping in the back seat. She had taken in a lot of that sedative agent. He would’ve liked to have her for backup, but figured it may be more dangerous for her to go into a fight like this. He had to think of himself, anyhow. The spaceport came into view quickly as he ramped up his speed.

  ^^^

  A screen above the gate flashed from grey to green as the boarding call began for Mai’s spaceflight. She stood, pulling Chel up with her. Her Bip displayed a holographic boarding pass for Group 4, the standard cabin on this flight. Watching the first class group shuffle into the gate, she smiled and rubbed Chel’s shoulder.

  ^^^

  “Hey!” a security agent called as Jin pushed past the line to check bags.

  “Posse biz!” Answered Jin, holding the playing card above his head.

  The Six-Gun ran as fast as his legs would take him, pistol in his hand. His eyes shone brightly as he hit all the security personnel around him with a healthy dose of Suggestion, improving their mood. They let him go, figuring too much of a hassle to ruin the great day they were suddenly having.

  ^^^

  Both Bips tapped the kiosk to confirm Mai and Chel’s boarding passes. The screen above them showed Boarding Group 4. Heels clicked on the metallic floor of the boarding channel. Spanning a hundred feet, the spaceplane waited for them on the other side.

  “Hey!” A voice called Mai to a halt. “Stop!”

  Turning, Mai found the good-looking Pacifiker Six-Gun standing at the entrance to the boarding channel. His pistol was leveled at her, a very frightened looking passenger standing just behind him.

  “I see.” Mai stepped in front of Chel, who began to sob into her back. “This is it, huh Gradisto?”

  Studying them in a Resolute state, Jin could see a lot in their magical signature. The pain, the violation, the shame. He caught colors of it all. This drew a conflict in his heart. As a Hearts-aligned sorcerer, he felt he couldn’t gun them down here. Not like this.

  “Why?” came the only word he could muster.

  “We had rules.” She didn’t waver. “They didn’t.”

  The distance between them may only have been twenty or so feet, but it felt to Jin like they stood on either end of the Solar System.

  “Did they know what you are?”

  “Only a few. The ones who are gone.”

  Mai removed her sunglasses, looking him in the eye. “I did what I had to. You have to do what you have to do. I understand.”

  After a long moment, letting the divide between them close into nothingness, Jin lowered his pistol.

  “I took care of the problem already. Down in those tunnels.”

  Mai noticed the pink napkin sticking out of his shirt pocket. She gave him a sunny smile.

  “Keep that, in your pocket. Keep it, Gradisto.”

  Jin had no words to answer with. He nodded to her, holstering his pistol.

  The two vampires continued on into the plane, leaving their heartbreak behind in New Atlanta.

  ^^^

  Sitting on the bench at the gate, Jin watched the spaceplane decouple from New Atlanta spaceport and begin its departure sequence. Other flights cruised back and forth across the observation window; the recent events did nothing to delay the hustle and bustle of Solar society. Boots clapped the floor behind him.

  “You let them go, didn’t you?” Remi took the seat next to him.

  Still watching the spaceplane shrink into the distance, Jin nodded.

  “Well, I’m sure you had your reasons.” Remi yawned, “Probably just couldn’t handle yourself in front of some proper tits.”

  “Something like that…” He muttered.

  The melancholy appeared clearly on his Resolve. Remi elected to drop the jokes. She picked herself back up off the seat.

  “Wanna grab a taco-dog?”

  Looking to her, Jin allowed a small smile through his lips.

  “Sure thing. And a fizzy to go with.”

  Both Six-Guns walked off towards concessions, letting the departing spaceplane disappear into the mosaic of stars beyond.