Jace was ready to give a leg and a kidney for a painkiller by the time he got his panting and exhausted self to the Enforcer's Hub.
[Suppressing Physiological Excitation]...Halo flashed in his vision.
If the thing really did anything to help with the pain, he couldn't tell, he didn't feel any less worse.
The Enforcers Hub had a strong Municipal Building style, except for the fact that its walls seemed to be one gigantic display.
Flashing slogans like: OMEGA is watching…You are never too Old for B.E.E.P…Say Yes to Responsible Firearms Usage Today.
The most eye-catching thing, though, was the Enforcers' slogan, a dagger stabbed in front of a gladiator helmet, and projected in a 3D matrix above the entrance way.
If he were in a better state of mind, he would have spent a lot more time appreciating the whole aesthetics and futuristic vibe of the structure, but his heartbeat was still drumming erratically in his chest.
Hello, Mr. Jace, a white bot with pulsing blue lines running between its seams greeted him from the receptionist desk as he made his way in.
Being addressed by name by something he had never met before was a bit off-putting.
One look into its lifeless techno eyes and Jace reminded himself it was like talking to his bank account, this thing was part of one connected system, of course, it would recognise him.
It probably pulled up his biodata the moment it set eyes on him.
"I am here to report a kidnapping," Jace said the first thing that came to mind.
Victim?
"My daughter."
Contracted grade Dependent, the bot analyzed without pity. Contracted Denizen Crime Procession is on the Ground Floor.
Please Proceed to the Right Floor for Procession.
Jace had expected such; he threw in the last chunk of the first Medibar into his mouth and made his way right.
It did not take him long to find the 'Contracted Denizen Processing Center.'
A large open section, with two bots positioned strategically at the entryway into the lobby and the other at the entryway into the office, where the whole process really went down.
Number 107, the bipedal bot at the first entryway, announced to him as his mind was still trying to make sense of the large crowd of people packed in the lobby.
"Wait a minute?" Jace snapped at the bot as a paper slip carrying the aforementioned number was printed from a slit in its chest and handed over to him.
"Do you mean like a hundred and seven people before my turn?"
Negative…The bot replied.
The answer did not immediately put Jace at ease, considering the scores of people he was looking at waiting in the lobby.
"So what does the number mean?"
It implies that you are the 107th Contracted Denizen to arrive.
"Okay…" Jace accepted. "So how many more denizens before it's my turn?"
28 Denizens have already been attended to, there are currently 79 Denizens left to be attended to before it's your turn.
"I need to make my case as quickly as possible," Jace tried to clarify to the bot. "My daughter has been kidnapped; it's an emergency."
Please find a corner to await your turn. All matters pertaining to individuals of the same denizen tier will be attended to fairly and without prejudice.
"I need to get in there now," Jace swore to the bot, his fists curling up in rage.
All forms of Assault on Omega Asset will be penalized to the full weight of the law. Please proceed to await your turn.
Jace held back his rage, found some corner to huff and puff, hoping it would do something to help his very disoriented thoughts and feelings.
It didn't help.
He shut his eyes, his thoughts flashed back to the Cafe, simulating things he could have done better, actions he could have executed better, decisions he should have made instead.
The mental torture didn't stop there. It ran all the way back to their apartment, reminding him how thoughtless his promise was. Why did he have to change the status quo? Why did he even fuse with the original Jace?
"Shut the hell up!" he snapped at his thought process, his fingers dipping into his hair and pulling on it, like he was some addict suffering a withdrawal.
The action earned him a few stares from fellow Contracted Denizens who obviously did not have issues as serious as his, to have the brain power to spare for staring around.
He needed to distract himself desperately.
The Enforcers.
He tried to pull up what he knew about them in an effort to have his mind on anything at all.
They were individuals chosen by OMEGA for the position before they were even born.
Mostly kids to Tier 2 Denizens and higher, they underwent OMEGA-sanctioned gene engineering before birth.
Spent their childhood participating in a mandatory advanced education program, and had their asses sent off to OMEGA Bastion the moment they turned ten.
No one knew what they had to undergo in the Bastion, but they never returned to their place of origin after they went there.
They were assigned ranks and functions and sent off to whatever post OMEGA assigned them.
Beep…a tone went off, reminding the low tier denizen crowd that the next person could proceed.
It was still a long way from his turn, 78 to be exact.
He pulled out a MediBar from his pocket.
[Bio-Energy: 19% (Metabolic Bio-Energy Procession Active)]
[Est. Time to Full Metabolic Procession | 3hrs 27mins]
Jace chewed on a new bar anyway.
Eugghhhh…He gagged reflexively; just a few minutes off this shit was enough to bring back his disgust for it back to a full 100%.
He forced it down anyway, it did a pretty decent job of purging his mind off thoughts. For all but a minute anyway.
The negativity and judgmental thoughts returned, in a much fiercer intensity.
Beep…The tone went off again. Just 77 more beeps and it would be his turn.