Traitors, Turmoil, and Thursdays: Chapter 1 – Another Day, Another Struggle

Cover remade by @An_dres_art (on Twitter)

Chapter 1 – Another Day, Another Struggle

Today’s the day the traitors pay for what they’ve done not just to me, but also to the country. My true allies and I head out to the lower class section of the city and are immediately ambushed by people with small arms firing at us from all sides. Thankfully, we have armored vehicles with remote controlled turrets that we use to protect us. When we get to our destination, we come out guns blazing. Two groups take care of the surrounding enemies and another two groups head into the building, one of which I’m a part of and leading.

After we blow up the door, I head in first and take as much of the fire as I can since my cybernetic body can take it. With my dual pistols, I clear a way forward.

“Spread out and clean out this trash,” I command my followers.

“Yes ma’am!” they say.

I continue forward with some of my followers behind me clearing out one room after the other. My cybernetic body is still going strong despite being shot many times. The damage done to my head is negligible as well and my ammo reserves are fine. According to what I hear on the comms, my followers are winning with few injured. It’s good to know that all the money that I spent on armor and weapons is paying off. My group ends up meeting with another as we come to a room with two doors for an entrance. This must be where the last of them are. Entering the door, we don’t find anyone until we go further into the room where many of the traitors and their hired help spring out of cover.

“Give up, Roxy, or your friends die,” one of the traitors says before being shot by one of my friends that she was threatening.

“We don’t care if we die for-” a friend of mine says before he dies.

A gunfight ensues that ends with the deaths of the traitors and some of my friends, which I was hoping to avoid. In fact, I wanted to do this by myself, but another of my friends, Elliot, convinced me that it was too much for me to do alone even with my cybernetics running at maximum power and the use of my four cybernetic arms and enhanced interface since I would hurt myself if I used it for too long. Still, I wouldn’t mind getting hurt if it saved the lives of my friends and followers that got hurt or died today. We take our dead and injured with us and head back home. As we do, I look back on this forgotten part of the city.

The lower class areas of most American cities aren’t paid attention to except by charities and those looking for hired help. They might as well be one of the rogue states or the middle of the country that’s now known as the new wild west. Many people are moving out of America because of high taxes, increased violence, and more caused by this civil war that’s going on within the country. Few want to stay in what is owned by America with me being one of them. My family is one of the few rich and influential families that haven’t sold out to corrupt governors, mayors, and corporate leaders and we’re going to change it for the better. While thinking about our next move, my friend, Annie, enters my room and almost leaves at the sight of me reentering my cybernetic body that’s been repaired.

“Sorry I caught you at a bad time. I’ll come back later,” she says.

“No, it’s fine. You’ve seen me like this before anyways, so it shouldn’t bother you,” I say.

“It still does. The day that those traitors set fire to a building their own friends were in thinking you were there, you heading there, and going into the burning building only to be burned from head to toe still makes me sick.”

“It was worth it to save as many as I could. Besides, those traitors finally faced justice today.”

“That doesn’t make me seeing you scarred and burned any better. It’s an uncomfortable way to live, to say the least, isn’t it? You basically live in that cybernetic body and when you’re not, you’re resting in a healing pod.”

“I’ve gotten used to it.”

“If you say so. Anyways, do you know why those people betrayed us?”

“No. I didn’t bother to ask them when I saw them. They didn’t have any databases in their hideouts and all their cellular devices were destroyed. It’s possible that they just disagreed with the way my family and allies were running things or our motivations. It’s not uncommon for infighting to happen in these days of civil war.”

“It’s also not uncommon for people to be bought out or forced to betray their own. We have many enemies that disagree with our focus on God, family, and the country, especially those who are enemies of the Catholic church. They think we’re sellouts to Rome, a false god, slaves to religion, and so on.”

“What do you suggest that we do better to keep people on our side? We’re doing our best as is and plugging up holes where we can as we did today.”

“Tch. I guess you’re right. I’ll try to keep raising the morale of our friends. Maybe a vacation or some kind of team assignment like helping the poor and needy.”

“A vacation sounds nice. It’s a shame that I can’t enjoy the beach the same way because of this body.”

“The pros outweigh the cons as far as I can see. You’re basically bulletproof, you have access to an additional four arms, and you can change your eye and hair color whenever you want.”

“That last point ain’t that big of a positive.”

“But I’m sure you like it. You didn’t have red hair before you got that body. You only had red streaks in your blonde hair. I wish I could change my hair color whenever I wanted. I was thinking of changing mine from its current dark purple and black to dark blue and black. What do you think?”

“It sounds good but I think dark blue would clash with your mostly purple and red wardrobe.”

“Ah, you’re right.”

Elliot enters the room with a datapad in his hand. He looks as professional as ever with his white and black suit and slick brown hair.

“Are you ladies discussing anything productive?” he asks, “We have a talk with the public media happening in a few hours.”

“We were discussing doing something for the poor and needy. It could help our public image,” Annie says.

“What helps our public image is action like what we did today. It’s why the media wants to talk to us because we cleared the ghetto of its trash.”

“Are you sure they didn’t organize this talk to villainize me again? One time they said that we were killing the poor who were defending themselves,” I say.

“Our contacts in the media have confirmed it.”

“I hope they’re right. We don’t need any more traitors among us,” Annie says.

“These people are loyal and you won’t need to worry about traitors. Most of our friends are loyal,” Elliot says.

“We need everyone to be loyal.”

“Obviously, but today, that’s a luxury to expect. A luxury we have for the most part, especially since we value old fashioned God-fearing virtues above all else.”

“Yes, and those virtues are why we shouldn’t always go out taking justice for ourselves because we don’t have enough friends in the police force to do it for us nor neutral cops who won’t be influenced by an opposing side,” I say.

“Why not? It’s what people want to see with all the unpunished crime and violence that’s going on in the city.”

“Because constantly repaying violence with violence doesn’t always stop it. Stop sounding like those sellout police chiefs and new age conservatives and liberals who have no other solution to the problems besides shoot everyone who disagrees with them,” Annie says.

“Hey, I’m only saying that we should do it more often and we do have access to non-lethal weapons.”

“Well, next time it does happen, I should go by myself. I could’ve taken care of everyone by myself.”

“No, you couldn’t,” both Annie and Elliot say.

At least they can agree on that.

“Your cybernetic body can only take so much damage and has to be repaired after every fight. Plus, I don’t want to drag you out of it like how I did in the burning building,” Elliot says.

Annie agrees and then adds, “We’re here for you, Roxy. Don’t forget that.”

“Okay, guys. I won’t,” I say with a smile.

“Good. Now, get dressed and take a look at these questions that the media will probably ask you and prepare your answers,” Elliot says while handing me his datapad.

“Sure.”

I keep forgetting that this cybernetic body isn’t already a full suit of clothes. It sure feels like one. Putting clothes on top of it feels like I’m dressing up a doll and I forget that I’m wearing clothes because of the body. Elliot and Annie help me choose what to wear and they pick a white and gray outfit with pants that make me look like an office boss. When meeting the media, Elliot and Annie join me and help me settle down and help me choose who I should answer first. The reporters ask about why we did what we did and the specific results of it.

Another reporter asks, “Since you took care of the traitors within your group, does this mean you’ll begin to repair the relations with the other families that you, your family, and allies have broken?”

“We are doing our best to work with all groups for the betterment of America, so yes, we are,” I say.

A different reporter is given the chance to talk.

“What about the ones that your extremely traditionalist group disagrees with?”

“We’ll work together on things we agree with but work separately on things we don’t.”

“Shouldn’t you all work together since everyone’s goal is to improve America? What about the Catholic bishops, priests, and groups that are doing what you should and disagree with what you’ve done today?” another reporter asks.

“We’ll settle our disagreements and meet in the middle, where we can.”

“What compromises will you make?” the next chosen reporter asks.

“The ones that are appropriate to make as long as they don’t conflict with the core values of the Catholic Church and founding virtues of America.”

“Don’t those conflict?” the same reporter asks.

“Not at all. In fact, they perfectly match compared to our competition.”

“What about your competitors’ views and religions, especially the largely secular majority in America? Don’t what they consider true matter?” a different reporter asks.

“What is true is the only that matters. We believe and know that our beliefs are correct. The other groups think similarly but they are wrong for the most part.”

“So, if you get your way, then their voices will be suppressed or made fools of? Don’t you think that your views and the changes you’ll make will turn America into a monarchy or a theocracy instead of leaving it as a democracy because of your traditional religion?”

“First, it’s not wrong to correct those who are wrong. In fact, it is charitable to do so. If we didn't care for our opposition, we’d let them be ignorant and let them destroy themselves. Second, America is a democratic republic. It is whatever we make it. Do you really think it’s a democracy now or even an effective democratic republic? The people with the most power and influence run the country and even if they didn’t, the people are so divided that only one group will get what they want while the rest will have to deal with it no matter how bad it may be. Is that what you want? Because it’s what we have now.”

The crowds are silent and no one gets up to immediately ask a question. When the questions resume, they ask simple ones about our future plans. Once the meeting ends, Elliot, Annie, and I go to the back.

“They were trying to make us look bad again,” Annie says.

“Did you expect the media to ask questions that wouldn’t cause a stir? It’s what they do. Besides, we were better prepared this time,” Elliot says.

“It wasn’t as bad as the other times,” I admit, “At least they didn’t outright call us murderers or extremists.”

Annie grunts and then says, “Well, I guess it’s back to business then.”

“Yup. I already have this week’s events and duties planned.”

“Let me take a look at them before we do any of what you planned.”

“What? You don’t trust me?”

Annie and Elliot talk about our future plans and argue about the details of it like they always do. While they do that, I begin to walk away. They notice this and ask where I’m going.

“Just going to rest for a bit. Today’s been a lot,” I admit.

They agree to go back home with me to rest for a bit as well before going back to work. This cycle of work and rest is really starting to wear on me since there’s no big break in sight. When it does seem like things are going to quiet down or major progress is going to be made, something comes along to ruin it such as traitors, criminals, corrupt officials, lies of the media, and the like. Today, we may have given justice to traitors and staved off the media, but who knows how the future may be ruined or made better. Right now I can only hope, pray, and keep the grind of work going for the good of everyone.