CHAPTER 2.2 – “Not A Normal Mute”

CHAPTER 2.2 – “Not A Normal Mute”

Location: Planet Orchid – Incompatibles Sector 1.3 – The Big Market – K7-Q-Okzid-28

Date: NTC 1446.07.18

Chatter burst out of the store first.

It hit the street like it had been ejected, landing with a heavy breath, pistol still gripped. Its eyes looked down one end of the alley, then the other.

Chatter did a rapid scan, calculated their options. The result was almost zero.

Merry followed it a moment later, her footsteps were sharp on the metal ground as she stepped up beside it.

She squinted against the noise and chaos.

Chatter turned to her without a word and nodded toward both ends of the street.

“They’ve already barricaded the exits. Enforcers.”

Merry opened her mouth to respond,

Then light hit them like a blow.

Above them, beams flared to life, six columns of pure white slicing down from the sky.

The light was blinding, cold and artificial.

“Ughhh. What the hell?” Merry shielded her face. “I can’t see anything!”

A metallic voice boomed through the alley.

“This zone is sealed. Raise your hands and prepare for the arrest. Do not resist.”

Chatter’s eyes adjusted instantly. Unlike Merry, it wasn’t blinded. Its eyes cut through the light like it wasn’t there at all.

“Six drones overhead,” it muttered.

Then its gaze shifted, past the crowd, past the neon. To the far end of the alley.

One squad was approaching.

A mute strike team.

The strike team moved in perfect formation, five mutes side by side, shields up, boots hitting the ground in unison.

They were approaching them like an advancing wall.

Chatter’s eyes narrowed.

They had full riot loadouts, electro-magnetic pistols, composite shields and reinforced armor.

Behind them, there was an enforcer sergeant. He was walking confidently.

He had a HUD helmet with a visor and an EM rifle clutched in his hands. He was controlling the mutes in real-time.

Chatter’s jaw tightened.

Merry stumbled back beside him, still blinking against the floodlight.

“These lights... I can’t... I can’t see a damn thing!”

Chatter looked up again to the enforcer drones.

Merry shouted again, her voice was rising with urgency.

“Chatter! Where do we go? Which way?!”

No answer came from Chatter.

Chatter’s hand dropped slowly to the grip of its pistol.

It didn’t speak.

Just inhaled once, sharp, clean and focused.

Its eyes locked onto the sky.

One exhale.

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Then it moved.

"Pft - Pft - Pft - Pft - Pft - Pft"

Six precise shots, six perfect hits.

The drones shattered mid-air like burning birds, raining sparks as their twisted hulls plummeted into the market street.

Merry gasped and stumbled back a step.

Darkness rushed in again, the neon chaos returning to full force.

She looked over, eyes wide.

After that, Merry exhaled in relief, rubbing the sting from her eyes.

“Ughh… thanks,” she muttered while blinking her eyes. “I thought my retinas were gonna melt.”

No response came.

Chatter was already turning, eyes locked onto the incoming shield wall at the far end of the alley.

It pointed.

“There,” it said simply. “Make an opening.”

Merry followed its gaze, five armored mutes in a tight phalanx formation, moving like a single mechanical organism.

Heavy riot shields locked together, matte-black tactical plating glinting in the residual neon.

Behind them, a tall figure barked orders, a human sergeant, had a high-grade EM rifle gripped in his gloved hands.

Chatter glanced back at her. Its voice, when it came, was calm. Almost amused.

“You wanted action.”

Then it smiled, just barely, and stepped back into the shadows.

Merry rolled her neck. Cracked her knuckles. Let her grin rise slow and savage.

“Guess I did.”

She launched forward like a thunderbolt, boots hammering pavement, wind shearing past her face.

The sergeant raised his rifle.

“Open fire!”

The mutes didn’t hesitate.

"BANG—BANG—BANG—BANG—BANG."

Their sidearms flared in sync, short-barreled electromagnetic pistols, spitting sharp, metal projectiles.

They slammed into Merry’s torso, limbs, ribs. Her body jerked once, twice and then surged forward harder.

The wounds began to close as fast as they opened. Sizzling skin stitched back together mid-run.

The sergeant cursed under his breath.

“Shields! Brace! Do not let her through!”

The mute squad roared forward in counter charge, boots slamming concrete in perfect sync, shields raised like a rolling barricade.

For a moment it looked like a real wall.

Then Merry hit them.

She crashed into the wall of shields with bone-rattling force, sending a jolt through the entire unit. Shields wavered. Feet skidded. One mute nearly toppled backward.

She gritted her teeth, grabbed the top edge of a shield, and pulled. Metal strained. Joints screeched.

The sergeant barked again.

“Jolt her! NOW!”

"CIZZZT"

A blinding burst of electricity exploded from the shield wall. Blue arcs danced across every surface and into Merry’s arms, chest and spine.

Her scream was short, guttural.

For two seconds, she froze in place, every muscle seizing violently. Sparks danced off her skin.

Her hair lifted as if underwater. Then the current surged one last time and hurled her off her feet.

Her body slammed into the pavement two meters back with a heavy crack. She rolled twice. Ended flat on her back, smoke curling from her body.

“MERRY!”

Chatter’s voice sliced the air like a gunshot. Its vision zeroed in on the sergeant, who stood calmly behind the strike team.

He was still issuing orders and his rifle now aimed at Merry’s unmoving body.

When Chatter saw Merry lying still on the ground, it thought, "Don't worry, she'll get up. She always gets up."

Chatter’s grip on its pistol tightened.

It drew it with a surgical speed, sighted down the iron, and fired. Just one shot.

"Pft"

The bullet hit the sergeant square between his eyes.

"CLANG!"

And unfortunately it bounced off his reinforced visor.

A split-second later, the sergeant turned his rifle toward Chatter.

“Target two! Light it up!”

"BANG—BANG—BANG—BANG—BANG—BANG—BANG—BANG—BANG—BANG—BANG—BANG—BANG."

The air exploded in blue lights.

EM rounds tore through the alley as the sergeant opened up in full auto, tracer lines screaming toward to Chatter’s last position.

But Chatter had already moved.

It pivoted, fired two rounds into the display window of a store to its left. Store's glass shattered in a thousand directions.

And it dove through the opening in a single fluid motion, disappearing inside the store as EM projectiles chewed through the storefront behind it.

The sergeant tracked it with his visor, only unloading in short bursts, but nothing hit.

For a heartbeat, everything paused.

Somewhere, a voice ad was still playing on loop. But no one was listening.

Merry’s fingers twitched. Her eyes fluttered open. Smoke still curled from her body.

Then her pupils narrowed. Her jaw clenched.

She pushed herself upright, knuckles white against the pavement.

Still alive.

Still angry.

And, burning for round two.