UNKNOWN LOCATION - DISTRICT I - DREAM CITY
They called him Sweet Elvis, and no one ever said it with love. Hacker, snitch, addict, Drug peddler, coward—if it was shady, Elvis was knee-deep in it.
He moved through District I like grease through a pipeline, always in his signature grimy glow-lab coat, pierced in too many places, with his full chromium prosthetic from the waist down glinting like it had survived a hundred near-deaths. Maybe it had.
Inside his filthy lab—a madhouse of exposed circuits, sparking limbs, and blaring death metal—he was soldering something new, a job: a prototype android, custom circuitry, borderline illegal. As always.
Then the alarms screamed.
LEVEL ZERO BREACH.
He yelped and spun around, eyes wide.
"Oh no!!"
Panic hit his bloodstream like ice.
Outside, a car door opened with a smooth hiss.
Plukett stepped into the neon gloom.
Her black coat flared behind her as she took a step forward. Her heels clicked.
A rocket burst from the shadows, hissing toward her. She didn't even blink. Her exo suit defense-shield flared to life with a sharp hum, throwing the rocket sideways, her car, not so lucky.
"That was worth 475,000 units, I will be collecting in PARTS!"
She giggled, brushing off the sparks.
"Oh, Sweet Elvis… I missed you too."
Inside, Elvis went berserk, smashing buttons, flipping switches, initiating full lockdown.
"She's gonna ruin everything again!" he howled, slamming out a distress signal to his off-grid contacts, this one business he had his hands deep in, was the reason.
MESSAGE SENT: HELP. I GOT A RETRO ON ME.
A single reply came back.
F**K YOU.
Elvis froze. "What the…?"
Betrayed. Screwed over. Again.
He gritted his teeth, yanked the memory chip from the back of his head, and shattered it underfoot. Pulled out a clean one. Slotted it in with shaking hands.
Then he activated Protocol: Cavalry.
Outside, Plukett was already halfway through dismantling his security. The manuals—bulky modded guards with reinforced frames—dropped one by one, sliced, dismembered, smashed, shot open like cans of soup.
"Elvis," she called, her voice lazy, amused. "You really did some remodeling in here. Security's a bit tighter, don't tell me you did it all for me, I am impressed, you little devil!"
A manual lunged at her—dead before its feet left the ground.
"Come on, Elves," she added, stepping over the wreckage. "I just want to talk. Maybe poke around. Take a disc. Or a chip. Or a limb or two limbs since you have to pay for my car, what do you say!?."
From the intercom came his rasping reply:
"F*** you!"
She clicked her tongue, eyes flashing.
"Language, Elvis. Don't tell me you are still pissed about my last visit, we had our fun!"
" You tried to decapitate me with a a manual's limb, you psycho swiny!! "was the reply.
Another step.
"Why don't we skip the foreplay and get to business?"
Then the Cavalry arrived.
Twelve feet of death—an old-generation construction manual, repurposed into a walking tank. Its twin miniguns spun to life. It growled.
Plukett smiled, pulling off her glasses for the first time.
"Finally, something worth starring at!"
Her eyes—chromium Bineth. Red. Smoking, Glowing. Unnatural as she grinned wickedly.
"Hey big guy! I see you."
Twin beams of molten light erupted from her eyes, cutting across the lab. Steel, circuitry, concrete—nothing held.
The Cavalry's top half slid off perfectly from the bottom part, in molten red before it even fired a shot - Dead.
Smoke hissed. Heat shimmered. She walked through the ruin like a demon in heels.
Meanwhile, Elvis slammed into his escape car, jerking the wheel with sweaty palms. The vehicle jolted forward—
THUD.
Something landed on it. His heart went to his mouth.
A second later, a clean, perfect laser beam sliced the entire car in two. It seared through the chromium waist of Elvis himself. Sparks. Screams. Pain.
He writhed, shrieking, as the roof peeled away like foil.
And there she was. Standing over him. Eyes burning. Calm, cruel smile.
"There you are!"
He screamed again.
Smoke curled from her irises. Somewhere above, something sizzled.
His fate dimmed to black.