Chapter 1: Dilations Edge

Time Stretches for too long, for one Jack John Saturn. J.J. is a detective, well… technically a private eye because the police just became well corrupt, and they didn’t want him to stay… But that doesn’t matter, the sign outside his door says detective, so he’s a detective! He just so happens to take private jobs. The room he sat in was mostly made of gray concrete. There was only a small amount of furniture, the brown desk that Saturn sat at, black filing cabinets in the two corners behind the desk, and a portable fridge sitting beside the right-most filing cabinet. A window sat behind the desk revealing the ashy smoke-filled outside. On the left-hand side lay a couch that could pull out into a bed and a coat rack containing his famous brown trench coat. The coat was simple, brown, and lightweight. It had a black patch with a simple golden sickle design stitched in. The whole place was dripping with moisture, dirt, and dust. Jack would clean it if he had the funds, equipment, or time. However, Jack is a middle-aged 5ft 10in brunette man. He is a weary and very unkempt dude. His hair is an uncontrollable bush, he has stubble all over his face. He looked extremely malnourished to the point you would question how he could stand, but somehow his muscles were as fit as ever, and he could beat someone to a pulp with no sweat without a second's notice. “Another missing person, eh” he thought with contempt as he looked at the case file on his desk. He always loathed these cases as he didn’t have the best track record with missing persons cases, they always got messy. He’d not only have to find this person, but he’d always have to rescue them as well, for it was rarely ever not a kidnapping. However, He’d have to take this one, of course, because he didn’t have any other jobs, and his fridge was noticeably empty and so were his pockets. Who knows? Maybe this one will be different, he thought as he looked at the file on his desk. Name: Emma Kraw Age: 17 Sex: Female Last confirmed sighting: Dilations Edge. “Because of course it is” he groaned out loud. Dilations Edge is where most Dilators go. It’s basically the worst of the worst of the broken districts, not even the stupidest runaway teenager would go there. Unless she’s a Dilator, which she’s not; according to her medical records. “So… she’s either suicidal or she’s been kidnapped. If she’s been kidnapped and taken there, then the most likely outcome would be a sex trafficking ring, considering her age, sex, and profile pic.” He felt sick to his stomach, “For the love of Temporal, I hope it’s not the Vixies” he muttered under his breath. If it was the Vixies, then there was almost nothing he could do. The Vixies were not only directly funded by Adipem corp but their crime escapades make a significant amount of revenue. Of course, there are other possibilities for this case, but he had his first lead. He stood up from his chair and sheathed the revolver that was sitting on his desk. Grabbed his hanging trench coat and jerked the coat onto his back. He patted his pockets to confirm if everything was there and he left for Dilations edge. …

Dilations Edge was one of the Broken districts, a nickname given to all neighborhoods, sections, or actual districts a part of Uranus City that were less fortunate. Whether due to natural disasters, low funding, crippling socio-economic troubles, or in this case completely overrun by crime and damage. According to some credible sources this used to be a vibrant scientist district, where all scientists well-funded or not came and studied, invented, and publicized. That was until the Dilators came and overran the place. The first dilators just happened to be insane people, J.J. did not think this was a coincidence. Dilations Edge was a decrepit armpit of dilapidated buildings, homes, labs, and bunkers all of which were all spread thin and apart without any rhyme or reason. It was all held by an unstable foundation and roads that were covered in trash, wires, cybernetic parts, and other broken technology new and old. It looked like an earthquake and a hurricane had hit simultaneously in a landfill pretending to be a place to live. His first order of business was to contact his informant. He walked to a specific alleyway. The locals called it Silent Alley, simply because a specific Dilator lives here. The alleyway was small, damp, and cramped, as it was sandwiched between two heavily modified three-story apartment buildings. Pipes stuck out of each building pointing down the alley in nonspecific patterns. The whole atmosphere was rather imposing on the detective. This Dilator has never been seen or heard from so the locals call him the Silent Shadow but to J.J. he is just an informant who owes him 3 favors. The detective rang a graffitied bell attached to the side of a concrete wall, then he waited. Suddenly, a rock wrapped in paper fell from a tube above where J.J was standing. At the sounds of rock hitting the ground J.J quickly picked up the rock and unwrapped it, reading the words on the paper. “What do you want to know J.J.?” Saturn read. The detective spoke out “A girl by the name of Emma Kraw has most likely been kidnapped. Hear anything?” This informant was a Dilator. A Dilator was a kind superhuman, with the power to lengthen or enlarge something, for some it was body parts and objects, others cognitive functions. In the case of J.J.’s informant, he was probably a sensory dilator, most likely that of hearing. Another wrapped rock fell, J.J read “I have heard that the Tidium’s have been collecting blondes as of late” Tidium? Now that's interesting. Tidiums are a relatively medium-sized ring that typically goes after new dilators and sells them for fighting rings or to be brainwashed bodyguards. Going after a singular hair color is not their style. “How’d you know she was Blond?” the detective asked with expectation. Another rock fell. “I didn’t, she’s a girl named Emma” The detective laughed as he read that. “Alright, are there any other trafficking rings making unusual movements?” Another rock fell “The Vixies have been recently going after men, I think it’s some kind of order from up top,” J.J. growled at that. Typically, they went for women only. Them branching out would never be a good sign. “Do any of them have something in common with each other, like were they dilators?” Another message fell. “No, just conventionally attractive men and specific dilators, you know the typical ones for their kind of ring,” J.J. grunted at that. “What makes you think it's some kind of order and not them branching out?” A rock fell once more “The pace they're moving at makes it seem like they're rushing something.” “Huh,” The detective noticed that too, every Vixie warehouse he’s passed seemed to be in overdrive and horribly busy. “Is there anything else strange I should know about?” The final message fell. “Nothing that anyone that isn’t living under a rock should know.” True, even the willfully ignorant souls could tell the bills being passed in the government oddly favor Uranus corp. “All right buddy, I’ll see you later.” Detective Saturn said as he left the alleyway. … Later that Day, J.J. went to the bar that was her last confirmed location. The Atrocious Tavern is not the best name for a place that sells food and drinks, but it is the best in the district, which isn’t saying much. He walked into the tavern and sat in the corner and just observed. One of the many reasons that people didn’t go to Dilations Edge, was the fact that the people were crazy, everyone in this bar looked like they wanted to kill someone for fun. Most Dilators were crazy, they seemed to be all psychopaths, and the few that weren’t he knew personally. The detective's theory is that the Dilator’s power messed with their heads, but that didn’t explain himself or the other exceptions he knows. “Although those exceptions are questionable at best” The Tavern was small, worn, and crowded, stained steel tables were strewn every which way, the walls were lined with neon lights, and the walls were smudged with age-old oil. Throughout the tavern, all sorts of people, mostly cyborgs, sat, stood, or fought with each other. “Can’t say I enjoy any of this.” J.J thought. He wasn’t one for rowdy places, but he got used to them over time. As much as he felt like he was 80 he was only 34 years old. As he sat in the back, as he waited and watched for someone. He dilated his mind speed, slowing the room down for him, it was as if he perceived time faster than anyone because he could. He started analyzing every person in the room like each one would be an illusion. Then he saw her. She didn’t look like… well… she, She looked like a man as buff as they come. She passed as a man who dilated his muscles all the time, but that was just an illusion, she was a Refractor. She bends the light around her to make her look a certain way. As always, she didn’t speak, for one that would blow her cover, but two it looked much more intimidating that way. Even though it was all so subtle, J.J. could tell who she was, he knew what to look for odd refractions and light somewhere it shouldn’t be. After spotting her, J.J dropped his dilation letting his mind speed slowly drift back into normalcy He took a lightly glowing glass coin out of his pocket and walked over to her table. Her illusion was good, she looked like some war vet, with pale skin, short black hair, an inky flame tattoo along the neck, a green tank top, and old-style dog tags made from black vitality steel. He sat the coin down on the table, the illusionist took the coin sharply, and got up from the table, motioning Detective Saturn to follow. As they went into an Isolated backroom, J.J. shut the door. The Girl dropped the illusion revealing her slim, pink-skinned figure, with thick white hair reaching her waist. She wore skin-tight black clothing and a black carbon alloy mask over her mouth. She took the glowing coin and inserted it into her mask, and a look of awe spread on J.J.’s face as a soft glow passed through her body. “So,” she said. “What do you want to know?” J.J. handed her a picture of a blonde, blue-eyed, fully organic girl, Emma Kraw. “She was last seen here three weeks ago” This refractor knew everything that went inside the bar, she was hired to watch everything and report it to the bar owner, though she could easily be bought with charged glass coins. She was always blunt and straight to the point “She was offered a job a few weeks ago, by assailants I didn’t recognize, I believed she accepted immediately.” “Was she wearing a mask?” J.J asked. She nodded in confirmation “Not a Dilator.” he thought

“A week ago, she came running into the Tavern crying about being chased. Within a few moments, Vixie Grunts broke in and took her.” “So that's why she recognized her quicker than usual. This is getting more tedious” J.J. thought. “Do you have any Idea where?” she nodded and waited. The detective sighed and rummaged through his pocket for another coin and flicked it to her. “I believe they said their warehouse is on the south side of the district” she stated blankly. … Detective Saturn stood 500 meters away from the warehouse watching it from an electronic scope. “It’s active alright, supplies go in and never go out. Meaning Emma might be on the next transporter going out so that's when I will strike. It’s too risky for anything else and I don’t want another corporation hating me. Therefore, I am going to play the waiting game." Most warehouses out here like this one were made of steel and surrounded by fields of unkempt grass. J.J. didn’t know the reason for the grass, but he kind of liked it so he didn’t complain. Then he saw it, an empty truck arrived, and Vixies Grunts loaded human-sized crates onto the truck. Vixies Grunts all wore the same uniform: all black leather emblemed with a fox symbol. “They must’ve gotten more funding; these uniforms are brand new.” J.J. contemplated, as he snuck up behind a solitary guard around his size, and struck him upside the head with an old brick. He put on the Vixies uniform and put on a mask. “I don’t want them to know about my dilation.” J.J. activated his time powers and he saw the future of every moving object in his eyesight, many things floated in and out of his visions. As things began to slowly leave his vision and return to normal, he again dilated his mind speed, and now he could truly analyze the situation. He saw the guards leave before they left, deduced the crates were made for live human transportation, and knew where the cameras were going to point and when. He planned his route, and he would execute it when the timing was right. “Timing, it's all about Timing.” When the guards left, he snuck past the cameras and stood vigilant on the truck as he analyzed the crates, and confirmed they held incapacitated women, and like the Silent One had said there were men as well. Each crate had been labeled with a name. He quickly searched each crate and then found the one he was looking for; the crate labeled Emma Kraw. The detective grabbed a cylindrical tool from his belt and pressed a button, sparking to life a beautifully bright blue sickle shape blade. He slashed each of the four corners of the crate with the energy sickle, releasing the pressure, and making it easy to open the crate. He noticed immediately that the girl inside the crate wasn’t a human, but rather an android. Before he could realize anything, he heard the truck doors close. “Shoot, it’s a trap!” he grumbled. The android sparked to life and as soon as it started moving, he saw its future, it had Taser claws and was going to shock him to death. He leaped to the left as the android pounced, forcing its claw into the crate, the electricity charring the wooden crate. Saturn drew his gun pointing at where the android’s leg joint was going to be. Just as the future said the android turned into Saturn’s line of fire. The detective fired, causing the leg joint to explode, immobilizing it. Saturn didn’t waste any time and cleaved its head clean off with his sickle. He let out a breath as he let go of his dilation and future sight, a small headache incurred on release. “This was a trap. That meant the Vixies wanted him dead. They clearly bought out the refractor to give me false information. Why? I haven’t messed with their operation at all, even the police force.” Then it clicked “The trap, The speedier operations, the better funding, the BRANCHING OUT” it only meant one thing “Uranus Corp bought the Vixies.” This made sense, they bought the police force so they could buy out and get a piece of the criminal enterprises, “and when I was on the cusp of finding proof of the corruption, they wanted to silence me.” by using a possible fabricated case as bait. “Wait, if this is Uranus we're talking about, then they should know that one android isn’t en-” At that moment, every crate in the truck moved with the banging of more androids. “So, that's why none of the crates were stacked”

Within seconds, the truck was filled with the sounds of aneroids attacking Detective Saturn.

There were a total of 18 androids, each of them independent figures, considering their lack of guns. Recently androids had their weaponry restrictions removed, but their hardware restrictions removed can’t be cheap, so rather than overhauling their systems completely so they can fire guns. Their hands crackled with deadly electrical energy. They attach deadly palm weapons and use their previously programmed restraining function. Two of them launched at me, as I dodged. To the outside observer, the fight lasted minutes, but to Saturn it took hours. Whether it was his dilation or a fatigue-filled perception, he did not know. He didn’t come out unscathed, along with several bruises, cuts, and minor burns, the searing pain of the claw print third-degree burn covering his abdomen was going to scar. He stumbled toward the door, “Agrh my head…” he groaned, the drawback to using too much of his powers was massive headaches. With a barely well-placed slash, he unlocked the truck doors. He pushed open the door revealing a 15 oz circular bomb with a 1:32 timer. “Ah, if the robots couldn’t kill me, the bomb would.” He rushed over to the bomb; it was simple in design and thankfully streamlined. “Straight from corporate, ha!” He took out a very small screwdriver and unscrewed the top revealing four different colored wires, he then reached for his pocketknife. His heart ran cold, as he realized he left it in his trench coat hidden by his getaway motorcycle. “Not Good!” J.J. yelled as he jerked his head to the river next to the warehouse. He did some quick calculations, scooped up the bomb, and threw it into the water. The water would contain the blast but not completely, so he rushed over to the motorcycle he hid with his trench coat and beelined it out of there, as the sun started to set above him. … He stopped to rest on a ledge overlooking the center of Uranus City, he was 2 miles away from the warehouse. He took the Vixie uniform off and burned it to a pile of ash, letting it glow in the early night. He drew a cigarette from his pocket and lit it on the embers of the now toasty uniform. Nicotine helped with his headaches, he didn’t know why, nor did he care to find out, just like he never cared to find out the condition of his lungs. His eyes wandered to the bright lights of the city coming alive, his stare melancholic. He felt like a piece of him died in that truck, he honestly had hope, that even through all the government manipulation and power grabs they wouldn’t go as low as… He sighed, he looked at the tall “magnificent” billboard that you could see from almost anywhere in the district.

“Uranus City, the city that touches the sky.” he read aloud. “Yeah, right!” I promise you he doesn't hate the city, only its pride and growing moral decay. Detective Saturn finds the lights a symbol of pride and ignorance, willing or otherwise. The neon shattered the dark and eclipsed the sky in blinding light, he once heard rumors that in the sky there were naturally glowing lights called stars that we covered with our own. He hoped this was true, he wanted to believe nature gave them something to look at other than themselves. Then he looked back at the dark, bleak, forgotten, broken district. “Perhaps, we should look back on ourselves.” He hopped on the motorcycle and rode to the edge of the district. … Tired and beaten, he walked back to his office which doubled as his home. He left the motorcycle in some pile of cybernetic parts, near the entrance of Dilations Edge. His office was in another broken district, but one that wasn’t nearly as bad as Dilations Edge. A few years ago a tornado ripped across the neighborhood and there just wasn’t enough money to fix the damage leaving the district undesirable. He walked into his apartment, unprepared for the woman sitting on his desk. “Lily.” he greeted after an awkward pause. She nodded in acknowledgment. She was the one that gave Saturn this case, “Meaning, she might have betrayed me.” he thought stiffly “Considering she’s here right now, after the trap… I’ll have to approach this carefully” “What are you doing here?” he asked calmly. She said nothing at first, “Emma is still alive.” “I’m supposed to believe this?” “You were going to question the refractor girl, right? Thought I should save you the trouble.” he stared at her “You know where she is?” “Tidium,” she said the word like it was going to solve all my problems. He nodded “Plausible, but still why?” he thought. “Forgive me for not trusting you, but I need proof of claim and loyalty.” he stared down, meeting her unreadable eyes, she nodded solemnly. She handed me a file labeled with an official Uranus Corp classified seal. He took a breath, he could tell it was real, he snatched the file out of her hand and read it. “So they bought Tidium as well” he breathed. She nodded “I gained their trust, by leading you to the Tavern, so they could give me the real answer.” Saturn thought long and hard “When did you receive this?” “2 hours ago, in the West Bank.” “Hmmmm, that makes things easier,” J.J. said looking out the window to his left “Does the file say which Tidium location Emma’s being kept?” Lily shook her head. “Can’t be that easy, can it?” J.J. laughed, “Welp, this place is no longer secure,” he said as began packing all of his valuables and necessities in his office into a large backpack. “Where are you going?” she questioned “Somewhere secure, of course.” “And that is?” He glared at her “That would defeat the purpose, would it not?” Detective Saturn left without saying another word. … His safe house was Ironically in Dilations Edge, in a cellar he had found 2 years ago. Since then, it’s been a surveillance station to watch the significant parts of Dilations Edge such as the main center, Taverns, and the markets. He should have come here to confirm her kidnapping at the Tavern, but time was of the essence. He’ll go over the footage later, but for now, he needs sleep. He plopped down on the makeshift bed, his wounds ached, and the monitors to his left glowed softly, as he drifted off to sleep. … He woke at the crack of dawn, drowsy but determined. His mind was racing from the events of yesterday, “this city falls even more as the days go by.” He sighed and laid the classified file on the small, short-legged, table next to his bed and examined it closely. The file contained the following information: Uranus bought all the major trafficking rings: including the Vixies and the Tridiums. Each has been directly tied to a branch, such as the Vixies being grunts to their armed forces, or Tidium being grunts for their research department. “They are effectively merging the traffickers into the company as grunts, along with keeping up with their illegal activities,” he thought. J.J. scooted over to his surveillance system, which was made up of six monitors, with four camera feeds each. He accessed his Hard Drive on the main monitor and sifted through the files until he came across one with the supposed date and time of Emma’s kidnapping. Footage of a blonde girl getting dragged out of the bar blared to life in front of him. He confirmed the loyalties of the instigators through the style of uniform. Oftentimes, crime organizations with real funds had uniforms but without logos. Often you just need to know the style which isn’t as easy as it sounds because they all look the same but with slight variations. The Tidiums were different this time, with new uniforms, again confirming the new ownership. Saturn racked his brain with all the pieces, He felt like he wasn’t considering an option that was right in front of him. The Tidiums were after blondes “Why?” He wandered back to the file on his table. “They were under the science division.” This implied they were used for scientific purposes. That thought made him sick, what sick twisted experiments were performed, drug testing? Torture? But why blondes? He then had a thought. He thought back to a rumor, a post on a forum and a small news article that was suppressed. He opened a drawer revealing files of suppressed news articles, books, and posts that he was able to print out on paper. Paper is an uncommon material nowadays thanks to the Digital Net and the fact that synthesis was expensive, but he still uses it to archive files for privacy reasons. Digital censorship is a highly common practice, even the most noble companies will do anything for their reputation. He took two files out; one was a post on a forum about a new type of superhuman and the other one was an article. He saved the forum post because he had a feeling that someone was going to take it down and low and behold someone did. He didn’t give it much thought because Uranus took down things that weren’t true all the time, but one detail of this post stood out to him now.

“The hair color and age mattered” According to the poster new powers were developing in late teenage blondes and brunettes, blondes had healing properties while brunettes had more durable bone structures. J.J wasn’t sure about that last one, but the blondes with healing properties made some sense. He looked at the News article, it was from a news station that often had their articles taken down. Honestly, the only reason they were still up and running was because the one who ran it all was an official's daughter, and no one wanted to incur his wrath. Still, J.J. made a habit of downloading and printing their articles. The article was about some celebrity getting shot. The article was used as a propaganda publicity stunt against some religious group, but the difference here was, that it wasn’t propaganda and there were details on the miraculous healing the celebrity attained. Many people witnessed a 16-year-old blonde kid, who somehow miraculously healed this celebrity in an instance. “Huh” This isn’t overwhelming evidence, but it certainly has merit, enough merit to act on, but first he wanted to confirm something. … After reading all of the information, Detective Saturn carefully went back to Silent Alley. He was still a target of a major company's wrath, he had to be careful not to be seen. He rang the bell and said, “How about we trade information.” After the familiar sound of a rock hitting the ground through the tube, J.J. walked over to a rock that read “What kind?” “The reason for the unusual movements of the trafficker rings, but you know the deal. I want my information up front first” he stated. “Have all the blonde kids that have been recently taken by Tidium between 16 and 18?” After a moment of silence, another rock dropped. “Yes, with no notable exceptions, all the blondes that have been taken that are not between 16 and 18 have been dilators sold to fighting rings. Now what is the info you have for me?” Silent Shadow may know a lot of things, but his knowledge only extends within Dilations Edge. Company politics and buyouts are generally out of his range. “Alright then, Uranus Corp has bought up all of the 8 major trafficking rings and the police, leading them to have their own private force to get away with corporatizing crime. It’s the reason they've moved more quickly and efficiently, the last 3 weeks.” Another moment of silence then for the first time in a long time Detective Saturn heard S.S. speak. “That’s not good” his voice was raspy, and it echoed through the pipe, “That's not good at all.” … Now that Detective Saturn’s suspicions were confirmed, the next thing to do was to find which facility Emma was being held at. Detective Saturn began looking through the list of Tedium warehouses and eventually narrowed it down to 3 warehouses that he needed to check. If Emma wasn’t in any of them, then J.J. would need to go to the Uranus’s main Lab, which he knew where it was and how well secure it was. He sighed his most tired sigh of the week, “This is why I hate missing person cases, they always get so messy.” After finishing organizing his info at his safehouse, J.J. rode another motorcycle to the nearest of the three warehouses and snuck up to the left side of the warehouse. After waiting a few moments, he noticed that there was no noise from machinery, and no one was going in or out of the warehouse. He carefully snuck up a side window and peeked in. To his surprise, his suspicion was right, there was nothing, it was completely empty. “One down 2 to go!” For the second Warehouse, Detective Saturn didn’t have much hope simply because it was not typically used to store their “merchandise.” The thought of calling humans that sickened him. This building was typically used to store weapons and capture tools. Once in a blue moon, Tedium would store captives here. Unlike most facilities, there were skylights all around the roof of the building, why that's the case is unknown. Since this building had an easy vantage point, J.J climbed up onto the roof by swiping a construction worker's uniform and using a ladder. He was lucky they were doing foundation repairs to the building today. Actually no, he wasn’t lucky, a common problem for buildings in the area are foundation issues, and fixing takes funds that only Uranus corp could give. Once J.J got to the top he peered into the glass revealing what he expected. Weapons, food, and other necessities to keep an organization of this magnitude up and running.

After one last look for any signs of captives, J.J. silently walked to the back edge of the roof. After looking to make sure it was safe, J.J. hopped down onto the ground. “Hey!” a shout came from behind “What are you doing over there?!” Saturn turned to the patrolling guard, normally he would have memorized the patrol schedule, planned the snooping, and looked more carefully but he didn’t have time for that. As the guard pointed his gun at J.J. he dilated his mind activating his temporal powers, and quickly dropped a smoke bomb from his pocket to quickly obscuring himself as he precisely hopped the fence that bordered the place. After jumping the fence, J.J. quickly snuck into an exposed sewer pipe out of the guard’s vision. While Detective Saturn hadn’t fully memorized the layout of the sewer system. He knew roughly where he was and where to go. After navigating and creeping through the pipes for about an hour he climbed out about half a mile west to the last warehouse. This one was infamous for storing Tidium’s victims. when he realized that all of the guards were young, brunettes, and wore masks. “Perhaps that post had more merit than I thought.” He couldn’t be sure but for now, he needed a diversion. … He walked into the weapons shop that was a quarter-mile south of the warehouse and simply asked the brawny woman handling the register for some mining dynamite. He knew this shop well since it had a stockpile of old weapons, this is where he got his revolver after all. “You want what?” she asked in surprised “Yes, dynamite, the stuff that we used to use for mining.” “What are you old fashioned?” She doesn’t know me, because the owner changes every few months. Weather due to dying, or moving on to better prospects. Honestly J.J can’t remember the last time he saw the same shopkeeper/owner more than once, which was kind of disconcerting. “Yes,” Saturn answered. He honestly was, he’ll take the old simple stuff over that new sophisticated technology any day. The store clerk sighed “I’ll see if we have any in the back.” The detective nodded and waited for her return. He already knew they had it, he once took inventory for the store for some pocket change. She came back and stood in the doorway and motioned him to come into the back, he followed. “For your information, we have one box of the stuff that we are just looking to get rid of. '' She pointed at a crate that was labeled ‘get rid of’ written in his own handwriting. He opened the lid revealing sticks of dynamite. He cracked a smile; he had his diversion. Dynamite sweats nitroglycerine when it gets old, which makes it highly volatile. They can explode with just a single disturbance. They are effectively explosive toss-able sticks, no lighting necessary. They could also be used for improvised landmines, since sudden pressure equals boom, and Since dynamite hasn’t been regularly produced for 20 years, these are bound to be incredibly unstable. … J.J. crawled through the open field outside the warehouse letting the tall thirsty grass obscure him carefully as he meticulously placed sticks of dynamite in a half circle. After placing the dynamite, he carefully crawled to the other end of the field and threw a rock at the unstable explosives. When the rock landed on one of their canisters of dynamite there was an immediate chain reaction of explosions. It was deafening and the fire was very tall. Being that all of the guards were young, inexperienced and not very well trained, all of the guards piled outside to investigate what was happening. This left J.J. an opening for him to slip inside the warehouse and shut the main entrance door locking it. It would take them at least two minutes before they realized what happened and at least another two to come into the warehouse through the side entrance. J.J. didn’t need that long. He quickly dilated his mind and mentally searched the place until he found it. He rushed over to a crate with a tablet on top of it and picked up the tablet sparking it to life. “Bingo, the manifesto!” J.J. searched the current list of names of who was currently being contained, “Shoot she’s not here, that means she’s at the research facility!” That would take a team, some planning, and a whole lot of funds, funds he didn’t have. He noticed all the captives had a lack of sedation and rushed over to the wall opening up an emergency switch freeing all of them and causing even more pandemonium for the beginner guards as they broke through the side entrance. Using chaos for his cover he slipped back past the guards and escaped into the field, this time staying towards the outer edges. Detective J.J. Saturn needed to slow down. He was very sure, if not fully having faith, that Emma was being held in the main research facility in the heart of the city. It was the short building next to the central building of Uranus Corp. This was the worst-case scenario; He did not have the skills to break in there. The only other option was to beg a favor from a friend. This was not ideal because while it is not the most secure place, it was still a Uranus Corp building and was not to be underestimated. It would be extremely hard to convince this friend to even consider breaking into this building, even with boatloads of cash. It would be even harder to do so for just one singular favor down the line and Impossible to get him to do it for free. Detective Saturn obviously didn’t have boatloads of cash, so he hoped that his friend would agree to as many favors as he could. J.J. sighed; he had some traveling to do. His friend was actually a group of them, who were mercenaries of a sort. They were all dilators except for one who was a refractor. They had experience doing high-stakes missions, advanced espionage, assassinations, strike operations, and of course burglary in corporate buildings. They mostly hung around a high-end bar known as the Liquor Bright. This bar was on the other side of the city which meant a two-hour drive. … He walked up to the open-faced bar and saw the man he was looking for. He walked up to him and simply plead “I have nowhere else to go, what I’m about to ask of you; you have more than a right to say no to. I’m out of options, I have no cash to give you, only as many favors as you want afterward, but please I need your help.” The man Saturn spoke to had dark-toned skin and a long beard with a cybernetic arm that could crush Saturn’s face. He didn’t respond for a long moment until the detective spoke his name “Carl?” Finally, he said “You must be desperate, what's the job?” J.J answered “A girl has been kidnapped, her name’s Emma Kraw” he handed Carl the picture He didn’t even look at the picture, “where's she being held?” The detective breathed “Uranus’s 3rd research facility.” Carl finally turned to look at him, the man before him looked tired and disheveled. This man was crazy, but Carl and him had a history. Anytime he would get into legal trouble in his district he would always find a way to get them out with only a slap on the wrist, this was probably because they did things right, unlike other teams they had a code of honor, one that this friend seemed to agree with. Carl looked down at the picture of the girl, it was a kid. She was 17 at the most, he took a heavy sigh and looked back at the detective. He could be useful; he was a dilator and had combat experience. “Look, if we do this, you will owe 50,000 in credits for each member used in the mission, and you will have to join my crew,” Carl explained. J.J. thought for a moment but gave in. “Fine, I have a plan anyway.” Carl smiled at that. The crew was made up of 7 people but for J.J.’s plan, he only needed 4 of them. The Facility only had 3 entrances. Number one was the main entrance, which has the protection you would expect. Two was the backdoor; it seemed inconspicuous but was definitely the most heavily guarded and surveilled of the 3. The third one was the one they were going to enter. Only the higher-ups know about it; it’s an outside entrance and exit to a bunker that leads directly onto the floor of the dungeon. This information was simply from stolen plans that fell into the detective’s lap one day when the building was being built 15 years ago. The 3 crew members needed were; Carl the leader and a combat expert dilater which was his muscle, Eight a dark-skinned refractor, and then there's Jason who dilates solid objects. The dungeon was located directly down the hall away from the exit of the bunker. The plan was simple; Grab and go. … Saturn stood at the heart of the city, it was filled with bright lights and fast-moving vehicles; magnet trains, turbo cars, and trucks, all causing loud noise and blinding lights. “I would not be surprised if eye damage was common here.” the detective thought watching the city from a rooftop. Even though the facility was doing shady stuff, no one would expect them to do anything illegal out in the open, “Hiding in plain sight.” The plan started out great, Eight Impersonated the guards and snuck into the surveillance room on the ground floor. He did this during a shift change and wiped all camera footage and fed a loop through the camera. He activates his holographic communicator sending out a message using an ancient code called morse code. This signaled Carl and Saturn to enter through the bunker. They opened a hatch at the back of the building, all while the guards were still changing shifts. The outside guard posts typically had a delay of changing, simply because most guards hated being outside. Considering the air quality was always awful, even in the high ends, acid rain was very common. The two entered the bunker, finding it dark and damp. This was clearly a “cut the maintenance budget” kind of thing. The bunker was long and compact, pipes flowing in and out of the walls, supplies that would keep a group alive for months were strewn about. The funny thing about this place was the fact that the supplies were still fresh, meaning it was someone's job to replace these. Meaning they still thought there was a chance they would need this place. “Even the rich don’t feel completely secure.” Saturn thought idly as they crept through the long steel bunker. The end was marked by a ladder that led onto the 2nd floor. The dungeo- sorry research containment facility (RCF) took the entire left side of this floor this is where Emma is being held. J.J wasn’t shocked to find the RCF was sleek in design. Steel walls, bright white lights, glass containment doors, and advanced electronic pads on the front of each cell. Each captive was, as he suspected; blonde. The J.J and Carl gave a nod to each other, as they both swept the place for the girl they were looking for. Saturn found her cell, she looked ragged and starved. She barely perked up when she saw him. “I found her,” he called to Carl. "I need you to bust her out of here!” When Carl came up to the door he raised his fist, dilated his arm muscles, and was ready to break the glass when… the alarm went off. “Shit!” Carl said aloud. Guards rushed into the room, pointing their highly “advanced” rifles at them. The duo tensed but relaxed as they put their arms up in surrender. They were both quickly incapacitated with drug darts and taken to separate interrogation rooms. … Saturn woke up tightly cuffed to a table, his cuff’s chain was made up of a bright purple energy. The interrogation room was another “low maintenance budget room.” dust, dirt, and grime smudged the walls. He didn’t know how long he was out, but he suspected it was not that long. He stared at the cracked double-sided mirror, hoping to at least elicit some reaction to the other side. He would never find out the effects of that decision, as the door to the room opened revealing a tall imposing figure. The dark haired man with an expensively fitted suit sat down across from him with a file and placed it down on the table. He opened the file and read “Jack John Saturn, 32-year-old male, a former detective of the UCPD, who was fired for insubordination” J.J.’s eye twitched at that, that was just the excuse they gave him, he knew the real reason, also he was still a detective! “Current residence in the Mercury district is a known mental dilator and has made it clear he is an enemy to Uranus Corp. Is this you?” J.J. glared at his interrogator before cracking a smirk “I think you have the wrong guy, honestly speaking you guys never did have the best organization system.” The man across from him chuckled at that. “Oh, but on the contrary, I think we do, considering it was that same organization that led you into our trap.” He smiled at the former detective. “Your right of course, oh woe is me who got caught in a trap I totally didn’t see.” Saturn's voice dripped with sarcasm. The agent kept his smile. “I believe you are bluffing Mr. Saturn, you seem to not grasp the situation you are in. The police are coming, and they will not shed any mercy on you” he paused “unless…” “Unless what?” J.J. raised an eyebrow. “Unless you tell us the Identity of the Silent Shadow.” Saturn instantly burst out laughing, “That’s the funniest joke I’ve ever heard” he leaned down to the cuffs and wiped away a tear from his eye and looked to see his interrogator frowning “Oh you’re serious, well what makes you think I even have it?” “May 6th 3002” The detective paled a little at that. “We are aware that you took the job of protecting his identity about eight years ago. We know that you have obtained his true identity in the process.” The Interrogator stated in a matter of fact. “So, what? You think I’m going to just hand it over?” Saturn attempted to stare him down. “With some persuasion, but yes,” he said cheerfully, then a banging noise sounded down the hallway. “What? Like persuading you I was bluffing?” Just then the door to the room burst open. Carl with his dilated busted down the doors, Jason right behind him. Carl instantly went for the agent in front of the detective, delivering a blow to his surprised face instantly incapacitating him. “Well, you certainly took your time.” J.J monotoned. … The thing about having plans for lucrative buildings is that the plans are never entirely accurate. All they had were early plans, there were bound to be other entrances, and after some drone scouting and some persuasion of a snoopy intern, they were able to find another entrance. A passageway from the outside all the way directly to the dungeons. Jason crawled through the passageway and watched as J.J. and Carl found the correct cell, as everyone knew it was a trap. After J.J. and Carl were caught and dragged away, he snuck into the room when the coast was clear, and quickly came up to the glass, and spoke instructions to the girl. “Emma, I’m going to break the glass. Once that happens the alarm will go off again, you must move quickly, you must rush through that passageway over there. I left a trail of salt, It will lead you to the outside. there should be a dark-skinned refractor that goes by the name Eight. He will keep you safe, don’t worry about us, just go.” After he got that monologue out, he placed his bare hand on the glass and dilated it. The walls had better integrity than the glass so, the glass shattered under the pressure. The alarm went off. Jason rushed the girl to her feet, dragged her to the passage, and shouted over the alarm “Don’t stop until you see the outside.” After safely closing the passageway, he ran off towards to free Carl. … They sent androids instead of guards to catch the trio. “I’m starting to hate these things” was all J.J thought as he shot one in its battery pack located on its back, causing it to rapidly shut down. The trio ran down the hall chased by the large wave of robots hellbent on killing them. Jason threw a pellets of rock behind them dilating them making them into boulders that blocked the Bot’s way All three of them needed to find a solution quickly. He saw something in his peripheral. He looked to his left seeing an oddly attached wall. “Worth a shot” kicked on the misshapen wall and it opened. “Carl, Jason, get over here!” the detective shouted to the two, they both rushed over. “We have our way out,” Carl gruffed out. “We need to buy some time,” Saturn pointed at the crumbling barrier. Carl nodded and raised his mechanical arm and a small missile popped out of it exploding the barricade causing the shrapnel to pierce the androids slowing them. All three rushed into the passage and sealed it. They crawled through the small passageway. ”We have to hurry,” Saturn thought. “As soon as they find out we are alive, the lobby will be shut down. Then I will have to find a more complicated measure of escape.” The passage led to a janitor’s closet on the ground floor. Each of them rushed on some uniforms and they sneaked out of the closet. Then they realized “we’re in the lobby” and everyone was staring at them. It turns out opening and closing a passageway is louder than you would think it is.

The trio breaks for the door before anyone can ask, and hope Uranus Corp doesn’t risk a scene. They don’t stop running before they get to their getaway vehicle, and they rush a drive away. They would be on a wanted list by tomorrow but that is a small price to pay. … Detective J.J. Saturn has a drink. Emma was escorted safely into hiding in one of the broken districts. He is now officially 200,000 credits in debt and has joined a bunch of thrill seekers. He didn’t get paid for this job, so what was the point? He didn’t save all of them, and he still didn’t know exactly why the Uranus Corp was experimenting on blonde children with magical healing powers. you would think this was a major waste of time, money and risk. He chugged down the drink, he kept thinking about all the missing pieces. Until he saw an ad on the screen in the middle of the bar. He didn’t know what to say when he saw it. The ad was about full-body cybernetic implants, Uranus corps has been pushing for this technology since development, but the major issue has always been the huge risk attached to the surgery. The ad was now saying they developed a drug that made the surgery have no risks at all. “This can’t be a coincidence,” he thought, they kidnapped the healing blondes in order to develop this drug right? Why not just hire the blondes for their work, “a drug is more marketable, and you don’t have to rely on human error.” But still “Why? They don’t need more money; they already have the government in their back pocke-” then it hit him “Power. They want this technology to be implanted into everyone, to know where everyone is at all times. They want to know where, how, and why you sleep, eat, or do anything, they want control, they want power.” Still, why though, a company does not go after power without some incentive or direction? “Someone power-hungry is guiding this company so that this one person can get all the power. They want a dictatorship.” Welp, he can’t do anything. He’ll just have to get on with his life and pay off his debt. He doesn't know whether this case was worth it or not, but to him, it doesn't matter. Everyone deserves to be free, and if he can just free one soul then that would be enough.