Black Ace

         “So you’re a level A monster, huh? What the hell are you doing around here? Shouldn’t someone have caught you yet?”
         A young man with cat ears and a tail faced down an enormous monster that filled most of the alley they were in. The monster roared hideously, spraying saliva, phlegm, and unidentifiable chunks of flesh everywhere. It blinked three of its seven eyes, discharge flaking onto its jowls, and shook its head to detach some large insects growing in its fur. It then growled low in its throat, vibrating the ground and rattling the fire escapes around them.
         “You sure are a nasty one, huh? My my, what am I to do with you?” He put his hands on his hips and cocked his head. The two had been fighting for about fifteen minutes already; it was only with the help of Deflectors he placed around the area that prevented people from showing up to see what was happening. “Ah, man. Can’t see any weak spots from where I’m at... Mind if I get another perspective?”
         He grabbed a knife from one of the holsters strapped around his thigh and threw it into the monster’s eye, causing it to roar and lunge at him. He jumped up and managed to grab onto a nearby fire escape, then let go as soon as the monster was underneath. Wrapping a lock of the monster’s fur around his hand, he grabbed the rifle from its holster across his back, cocked it, and aimed it at the back of the monster’s head.
         “Let’s give this a try,” he said softly, as he squeezed the trigger. The crack of the gun was soon drowned out by the monster’s roar of pain, and thick, viscous blood slowly oozed out of the wound. It stood up on two of its six legs, and twisted its body frantically to try and dislodge the cat boy, who only held on tighter.
         “What’s this? Is that all you can do?” The hybrid smirked and clicked the heels of his armored boots together, triggering a blade to flick out of the toes. Shouldering the rifle, he jammed the blade into the monster’s flesh and started climbing. The beast was still trying to shake him off, only this time it was ruffling its fur at the same time, making getting a solid grip on its fur difficult.
         “Can ya chill out a bit,” the cat boy muttered through clenched teeth. He reached for another tuft of hair, grabbed it, and hoisted himself up enough to grab onto one of the monster’s horns. Pulling his body up, he straddled the horn and grabbed his rifle, some bullets out of a pouch around his waist, and another knife.
         “Sayonara, you bastard,” he growled, then loaded the rifle and shot the beast in the top of its head. Ignoring its howl of agony, he reloaded and shot again, threw the rifle away, then grabbed his knife and stuck it into the gaping hole, right in its brain. The monster’s roars grew deafening, and it fell to the ground, throwing the cat boy off.
         Standing up, he saw the monster’s paw swinging straight at his face. Thinking quickly, fell backwards onto his rear and kicked his boot up, managing to cut the monster’s paw in half with the blade. There was another roar, but he could see the beast’s eyes dimming. Standing up, he avoided a halfhearted attack, then stood panting as the last bits of life drained from its eyes.
      Grinning widely, he took out a slim camera, took a picture, and sent it to one of the few people he trusted. He then climbed atop the head of the now dead monster and retrieved his knives from its brain and its eye, wiping off some of the bigger chunks on the leg of his jumpsuit. Sticking one knife into its holster, he murmured a verse from a poem he loved and used the other knife to carve his symbol onto its head: A spiked N with two upside down Vs over top of it. Satisfied, he jumped down right as a figure dressed in a black hoodie, green jeans, and ratty gray sneakers appeared in the opening of the alley.
         “Tough day at work, Ace?” the figure asked. The cat boy named Ace frowned and replied, “Oy, Klikk, I’ve told you to call me ‘Noir’ in public, okay?”
         “Right, right,” Klikk replied. “Tough day at work, Noir?”
         Smiling now, Ace said, “Yeah, you could say that. This one was infinitely more disgusting than the ones I usually deal with, but it’s worth it.”
         “Could you tell me how it’s worth it, exactly?” Klikk gestured at Ace’s body. “I mean, look at you. You’re a mess!”
         Ace looked down at himself and gave an involuntary wince. Klikk was right: his black jumpsuit was torn, and in some places, burned away from the beast’s acidic mucus that it started regurgitating near the beginning of the fight. His boots, his weapons, and his gloves were all smeared with guts and blood, plus he was covered in various cuts and bruises, most of which were still bleeding.
         Flicking some grime off his tail, Ace shrugged. “It’s worth it because I get to show up MH Co. and Orka Services, duh.”
         Klikk shook his head and tusked irritably. “Whatever. I’ll handle things over here, just go home and clean yourself up.”
         “Yeah, yeah, okay ma,” Ace said jokingly, causing a small smile to spread over Klikk’s usually serious face. As he was leaving, Klikk whistled, causing him to look back.
         Klikk jerked a thumb to the left. “Leave that way, then hop on a fire escape and climb to the top. After that, parkour your way to Seventh and Graydell, drop back down, and take the tunnels back to your place.”
         “Why do I have to do all that?”
         “Cuz I saw some Orka agents stalking around on my way here. Your Deflectors helped, but I could tell they were getting suspicious. Must have been tipped off by an Immune.”
        Immunes were people who were born being able to see infrared. Most of the time, they go to doctors to get it corrected, but some are able to harness their ability and turn it off and on at will. Their name comes from the fact that they are immune to many barrier technologies, including some Deflector models. Because of this, they're coveted by spy networks and secret agencies.
         Ace swore. “Damn, the number of Immunes have been increasing like crazy, and now they have forums to help them become more accurate and see more. It's hardly worth using Deflectors now since they barely even work.”
         Klikk nodded gravely. “Keep using them; they work on the normals. But I see what you're saying. Give me some of yours and I’ll get Gadge to mod them again so that they work on Immunes.” He sighed. “I also have reports of Orka and MH hiring Immunes to work on their security force. They’re serious about catching you, Noir.”
         Ace huffed. “Why me? I’m not the only renegade freaking killing monsters. And besides, just because they’re huge monster killing companies doesn’t mean that they can monopolize the business. You don’t pay for a damned exterminator every time you see a spider in your house!”
         “Yeah, I understand, but these are a bit bigger than spiders, for the most part. I suppose their wanting to control everything monster-related stems from a concern over the populace, but their methods are wrong. If you're out killing monsters, then I guess they'll think that others would want to follow your example.” Klikk sighed again. “Anyways, get a move on. The Deflector’s wearing off.”
         Ace nodded and ran in the direction Klikk pointed in. Jumping onto a fire escape, he made his way to the roof and stood there for a second, looking over the city.
         According to pictures he'd seen, it was a grand city, but it was demolished during the Third Revolution and rebuilt from scratch. He remembered seeing the old photos of the original city; huge skyscrapers, grand parks, the streets looking like a grid except for a few spots. Cars clogged up the roads almost constantly, horns honking and drivers yelling and flicking each other off. But his favorite picture had to be the picture of the river. It looked large and majestic, and was spanned by several bridges that varied in design but were also equally impressive. It looked so peaceful and so delicate that Ace couldn’t help but smile every time he looked at it.
         He sighed. The city looked nothing like that now. The buildings, instead of being made from brick and steel, were made from glass and had a rounded shape. The roads were carved out and paved over, turning them into tunnels. There were no roads now, only hovering glass tubes called Expressas that cars drove in, and sidewalks for those that didn't have a car or didn't want one. The old subway system was abandoned, the old stations redone into workspaces and studios, while the tunnels were turned into halls, almost like a massive office. And worst of all, Ace’s beloved river was dammed to prevent the ocean from flowing in, drained, leveled out, and paved. It was now used for large transport vessels carrying valuable chemicals shipped from plants further north.
         Ace remembered something that his guardian once said before he died: “This city can't remember its past because we destroyed it all. And we take advantage of it by trying to push it into the future, with no regard to its feelings nor its desires.” Looking through the buildings, he saw a vessel lumbering through the riverbed, towing a large rack of chemicals behind. He hated the new city, and he hated the outbreak of monsters and hybrids after the Third Revolution.
         If it never happened, and no one decided to create organic weapons that turned into monsters, maybe the old city wouldn’t have been destroyed. Maybe the river wouldn’t have been drained. Maybe, everything would be still be perfect.
         Klikk always wondered why he longed for a past that he knew very little of. All the new history books started after the Second Revolution, and anyone caught with an old one was subject to jail time. He kept reminding Ace to be glad someone decided to splice DNA and create the first O-weapon, as they were called. If that hadn’t happened, he wouldn’t exist, and wouldn’t be able to kick these monsters’ asses in order to show up MH Co. and Orka Services. Plus, because we decided to leave the past behind and not make the same mistakes, technology advanced exponentially, leading most diseases to be eradicated and safer fuels to be developed. Countries around the world are more united because of the worldwide democracy, and there are very little ghettos and poor people, thanks to the new welfare system. Even the monsters were a blessing, Klikk would say. If it weren’t for them, then nothing would have been developed to allow people to be safer, and we would just relapse into the past's old, flawed ways of high crime rates and homicides every other day.
        In a way, Ace was grateful, but even Klikk couldn't prevent him from being jealous of the people that lived back then.
         Ace was shaken from his reverie by the sight of two Orka guards walking around next to the building he was on. He watched them carefully, recoiling slightly when one glanced upwards. Standing up quickly, he jumped to the next building and ran across the roof. Taking one last look over the city he both despised and loved, he sighed and ran the rest of the way home.