A Kusari Story

[Cat]

I keep going through the corridors of the Trailblazer, looking through every room, hoping to find any tangible evidence that the crew of the ship were involved in the events that took place in Kusari. The flashlight works ok, but I still wish I could use the Enhanced Reality Sunglasses here. Unfortunately, they broke when I had to jump out of my apartment on Los Angeles moments before it exploded. But then again, I was getting too attached to virtual reality, not to mention the dizziness headaches I had when I turned that thing off.

Unable to find anything, I made my way to the cargo hold. That's the last place I haven't searched. Maybe those cargo containers have something I'm looking for? I decide to give it a shot and open my bag, fumbling for the right tool. But then the lights turn on, and I hear a familiar voice: "You shouldn't have come here... Norman." Blinded by the lights, I turn around, shielding my eyes for a few moments. As my eyesight adjusts to the new lighting, I get to see the man whose voice I just heard; the man, whose voice I also heard at my apartment back in Liberty... before it exploded. Only now I realized where I heard that voice before.

Ryan Cooper, a former LSF operative, looked at me while leaning his back against a large container 6 meters away from me. He hasn't changed: the same sharp facial features, brown eyes, short haircut, and athletic build. Even his arrogant smirk is still there. I last saw him aboard the LSF carrier "Freedom" several years ago. The LSF sent two teams to retrieve a couple of Internal Affairs agents who were stranded on Leeds. Only one person from the two teams returned. The remaining operatives were considered missing in action, Cooper among them.

Yet there he is, walking slowly towards me, as I stand up, preparing for the fight. Cooper knows I have a pistol in the bag, and I know that I won't be able to draw it before it's too late. Ryan doesn't draw his weapon either—it looks like he enjoys the moment. As I start walking that circle too, I realize that Ryan could've been one of the masked men I've seen on New Tokyo, probably even the one who saved me from Arata Kano... before shooting him.

My thoughts are cut short when Ryan suddenty closes the distance, his fist aiming for my solar plexus. In the last moment I manage to dodge the strike, letting him hit the air next to me, as I try to hit his face. He diverts my hit, but I get him with my other fist at the same time. While he is staggered, I kick him back with my foot. Tonight I'm not that beaten-up guy from New Tokyo, Ryan.

Cooper takes a few steps back, trying to regain his posture and draw his weapon. I grab a wrench lying on one of the smaller containers, rusing towards him, kicking the gun out of his hand at the last moment. By now he's realized that he should stop playing around—once he takes full advantage of his melee training, I'm done for. He proves it by kicking the wrench out of my hand with ease, then kicking me back to my bag. "Show me what you've got, penpusher!" he shouts, jumping after me after me.

I grab the closest thing my hands can reach. It turns out to be my flashlight. I aim it at Cooper's eyes, dodging his strike and hitting the back of his head with the flashlight, as he jumps past me, blinded. I stand over him, catching my breath while I can. Ryan won't be standing up for a while. I turn around, intent to pick up his gun, only to see another man's fist flying towards my face. I put my hand between the fist and the face, but I can't really block it.

Forced to step back as the back of my own hand has just hit my face, I recognize a former LSF commander William Jacobs, another operative who was supposedly lost on Leeds. You can't mistake that swarthy heap of muscle and the bald head for anyone else. I'd be able to dodge another hit, if it weren't for the wrench in his other hand. A cry forces its way out of my lungs, as he hits me with the wrench again. Then everything goes black.