Elysium was everything they hated and everything they needed to be. It hung in the sky, a diamond of obscene luxury, its mirrored surfaces reflecting the city's poverty far below in a taunting, beautiful panorama. The air around it thrummed with the bass of expensive music and the low whine of luxury hover-transports.
On the Pulse Communications Tower, Rin became a part of the structure. The wind whipped at her hair, but her body was utterly still. She lay prone, her eye pressed to the scope of her rifle. The EMP device was attached. The crosshairs were fixed on a nearly invisible maintenance port on Elysium's underbelly. She breathed in. Half out. And became a statue. The world narrowed to the scope, the windage, the gentle, inevitable pressure of her finger on the trigger. She was the calm. She was the inevitable.
Below, a sleek, anonymous hired transport pulled up to the club's entrance. Kara stepped out, every inch the elite professional. She wore a severe, high-collared jacket and carried a sleek medical case. Behind her, Rielle wore a tailored suit that did little to conceal the predator within. She carried nothing. She was the weapon.
The bouncer, a mountain of augmented muscle, scanned them. His data-pad lit up with Kara's forged Chrysalis Clinic credentials. "You're expected, Docteur," he rumbled, stepping aside. They were in.
The interior was a sensory assault. Strobing lights, holographic dancers, the smell of expensive perfume and spilled synth-champagne. The crowd was a sea of beautiful, empty faces and calculated laughter.
Kara moved with purpose, cutting through the decadence like a scalpel. Rielle followed, her eyes constantly scanning, assessing threats, plotting paths of destruction. They found Lady Valeriana in her VIP booth, already in a panic, fanning herself dramatically.
"Docteur! Thank the stars! I feel it already! A tingling! My face is melting, I know it!"
"A simple precaution, my lady," Kara said, her voice a soothing, professional monotone. She opened her case, preparing a placebo injection with steady hands. "This will stabilize you immediately."
While Kara worked, Rielle's eyes found the target. The Aerie. A glass-walled sanctuary above the main dance floor. She saw him. The courier. Smug, comfortable, a drink in one hand, the bio-case handcuffed to the other. Two hulking bodyguards flanked him.
Got you, you bastard, she thought.
She gave Kara the slightest of nods. The stage was set.
Rielle didn't wait. She melted into the crowd, heading for the base of the stairs that led to the Aerie. A server was coming down, a tray of full, bubbling glasses balanced expertly.
It was too easy.