Chapter 2: The Kidnapping

There was a tinge of familiarity, he knew some of these men. They were private security, deputized to protect the property owners within this sector.

“Arbiter H-6!” One of them waved his hand at him, he wore a plain leather jacket and brandished his badge at Arbiter whose scowl was apparent even through the dim evening. H-6 had scanned all available identities, the one greeting him was a certain Security Agent Hyram Veers of the Ejercito Megacorp, an individual he did regularly screen during his patrols.

“I have this under control Arbiter, no need to worry” he said smiling amidst the unlawful arrest occurring behind him. H-6 wasn’t fooled, no Arbiter had sanctioned the arrest and every one of the assailants were registered Private Security who were out of uniform and operating outside of their shifts. The system never failed him.

“You think you can lie to me citizen?” The Arbiter growled as he stepped off his bike.

“Sentry mode” he ordered it as it sprouted vehicular guns that hounded the surroundings. He quickly tagged possible threats for the vehicle’s immediate elimination, striding towards the suspects in question.

The victim was a young man in his 20s, he was wearing a cook’s jacket and was handcuffed in the back.

“Warrant now, Agent Veers” the Arbiter demanded. Pockets of sweat could be seen forming from the Security Agent’s brow and some fumbling was noticeable as he pulled up his Warrant card.

The scanners did the rest, confirming the Arbiter’s suspicion

“The Warrant is not valid, it is not signed by a duly appointed Arbiter of the Herald’s Court. You are enacting an unauthorized arrest out of uniform using Arbiter Sanctioned weapons. You will all be under arrest, Initial Detention before I begin sentencing. HANDS ON THE GROUND” H-6 didn’t waste time, immediately removing the lock from his gun.

His smoke bomb launcher popped from his left shoulder and aimed at his targets.

“Do not resist arrest” he said drawing his weapon and setting it to stun. “Shit” Veers cursed under his breath, raising his hands and setting them on the surface. His men followed as well, save for three who stood their ground, their gaze fixed on the Arbiter.

“Citizens, you have been identified as accessories to a crime. Submit” H-6 didn’t aim his weapon, but arched his arm for a quick shot.

“Go to hell!” the one in the middle screamed, aiming his pistol at the Arbiter. A stun bolt tears lands on the side of his face. H-6 doesn’t waste time firing at the other two only to feel a force grabbing at the leg. Veers tries his best to bite onto the Arbiter’s reinforced pantsuit only to be dealt a stun bolt to the back of his head. The rest of the perpetrators regain their courage grabbing their weapons only to be shot down by both H-6 and the sentry guns from his hoverbike.

“Violation of Code 4-44 Unauthorized arrests, conducted without a warrant. Sentence is 15 years in the Deep Cells. Assaulting an Arbiter of the City. 20 years in the Deep Cells!” H-6’s sentence was delivered using an audio enhancer that made his voice sound as deep as the maelstrom battering the city’s domes.

Needless to say, the perpetrators complied immediately and without question.

“We have lawyers Arbiter! We demand a case!” One of them groaned through the stun round seared on his neck. H-6 approached the perpetrator, latching cuffs on his arm.

“You assaulted an Arbiter of the Court. Your sentence has been served. Reform in the Deep Cells for 15 Years.” H-6 lined his catch in a straight line, commanding a drone from the bike to attend to the victims who up to now had simply stood there in shock at what had just happened.

“Service Bot, attend” a ball shaped drone emerged from his bike and hovered towards the victims. A crowd had gathered from the Cooking school, students and teachers dressed in the pale garb of their profession.

“Bike, crowd control” his ride drove itself towards the entrance, emitting a holographic barrier surrounding the crime scene.

“Citizens, please remain calm and stay behind the Red Line” the bike’s speakers were on full, giving the onlookers no excuse to be curious or disobedient.

“Private Security Officers: Nara, Jonas, Patrick, Grimes, Holden, Dizon and Reeves. Deputization Badges inactive, Corp Security Clearances Active.” the AI sent in the analysis to H-6 as soon as the main system verified his request.

He checked if any specific Megacorps handled the street he was in, only two came out, Dizone Pharmaceuticals and Hailey’s Trading. They were allied and split employment rights over the entire Subsector’s 15 kilometer residential radius. “Computer, from what Corpos are the all the perpetrator’s besides Agent Veers from?”

“All six perpetrators are Registered Private Security Agents of Thelma-Dionis” “Headquartered where?” “South West District. The Cebu Dome”

H-6 pressed his weapon to the back of the head of Agent Veers, making sure it dug against his skin.

“Your friends Veers, they’re not Ejercito. What were you planning here” Veers said nothing, his grunted discomfort was replaced by a sudden anxious streak characterized by a blank wide eyed stare.

“Let me go Arbiter, you can’t fuck with the Corp” he replied, his voice brimming with confidence. H-6 didn’t react, at least not immediately. He drew up a list of violations and court cases he could reference before sentencing the man in front of him.

“Your companions get 15 years in the Deep Cells, but you probably deserve worse for threatening an Arbiter of the Herald. And lying to one. After your 15 years in the Deep Cells you get a life of Hard Labor in the Mariana Trench.”

“FUCK YOU ARBITER! YOU DON’T FUCK WITH THE CORP”

H-6 digs his gun deeper onto the back of Veers’ neck. He observes the other six, they were silent but clearly in discomfort but perhaps not from the storm but by the apparent failure they were experiencing.

“Only the Corp gets what it wants am I right?” H-6 replied, annoyed at the constant jeering of his catch.

“Your friends don’t seem to impressed by your panicked threats Veers, maybe earlier I would have assumed this was a kidnap and ransom from a group of rogue Priv Sec agents but now it’s apparent the Corp has got something to with it after all. So which is it, Ejercito, Thelma-Dionis? Both perhaps?” this time all seven stayed silent, not a word was spoken.

Perhaps the Corp was ready to reward their loyalty once they were released.

“For now only Veers gets a clear slap of Hard Labor, but I’ll find a way to get the rest of you to talk” It didn’t take long for the Prisoner pick up to arrive, Auxiliaries carted off the perpetrators to the nearby Arbiter Tower where they would be held until further deliberation. H-6 returned to his bike and resumed his patrol, moving on to the next crime in progress.

A quick scan said there were over fifty in progress, he picked the nearest one some ten minutes away where cyborg street gangs were at each other’s throats. Normally he’d leave that to Private Security, but the crime was occurring at an Independent Zone, meaning it wasn’t Corp property. Making their response slow or practically non-existent.

…

Dawn cracked through the city’s fog ridden skyline. The storm had passed, at least for the meantime, weather reports said that another one was due in three days. H-6 was parked at one of the spire platforms, imposing mile high megastructures that usually held low cost residential blocks for a Megacorp’s temp labor force, contracted employees or “assets” as they were termed legally could find residence in one of the Domes, if they had space. Manila Pacific-Capital held a population of some 50 million cramped into a city scape meant to hold 15 million.

“You want any shrimp on that burrito Arbiter?” The stall owner asked, his clothes stained with sauces and grill grease.

“No thank you” he replied as he took his order and paid for it. Cardos was one of the few successful independent businesses in this side of the city, owing its survival to the small middle class population that resided in the spire.

That and what H-6 assumed was a Corpo Executive who enjoyed independently owned food stalls. The place was relatively full, white collar and blue collar jockeys sat together for dinner during what was apparently the end of the night shift. H-6 didn’t join the rest, he leaned against his bike while reading a myriad of reports from the augmented reality privacy of his helmet. His day was ending and he’d have to file all the desk work at some point, but it was the first case that kept coming back up. Throughout the entirety of his 13 hour patrol, the encounter at the cooking school kept coming back to him.

The after cases were incidents of theft, homicide, murder and a few scuffles all solved the moment he arrived, nothing a gun or a nightstick couldn’t fix. But the first case had a lot more going for it.