Two truths of the watch in New World City. First: Don’t buy into the lies. The State wants you to believe they see everything and have it all under control. They don’t. Drugs. Weapons. Murder. Magic. Mayhem. Anything is possible. Second: Heroes are needed. But heroes die like everyone else.
Two hard truths of the neon-soaked sprawl. Two hard truths that Constable Shuwen Li had to learn the hard way.
Go back five turns of the wheel. She was working the security detail when Mayor Eli Strauss Sr. bit the dust. During a speech. He was cut down mid-sentence. In broad daylight. On live TV.
Shuwen was right there. Only age twenty-one at the time, but already a decorated officer. She stood in front of the stage. In her crisp, blue uniform. Shoulder to shoulder with her elite team. Right next to her old partner, Tomas Sterling. They looked out over the crowd, watching for any sign of trouble.
But the trouble came from behind. A cyber-synth monster with four arms wielding the big katanas.
The State insists that monsters like that aren’t real. But it was real enough for Old Man Strauss. It burst through the curtains at the back. Cut through two officers like butter. Turned the podium into a butcher’s block. Decapitation. Dismemberment. Blood spattered the faces of the onlookers. Wet slap of limbs falling dead to the ground. A moment of horrified, shocked silence.
Then total chaos. Thousands screaming. Panic. Wild gunfire. People running in all directions.
Several officers were trampled to death as they tried to control the mob. Tomas Sterling was one of them. He was built solid. Like a brick wall. But that didn’t matter. An anarchist got lucky and kicked out his leg. Tomas fell to one knee. That was all it took. The frenzied mob rushed over him. He was crushed. Shuwen right there beside him. She had taken down two anarchists. Was binding the hands of a third when she saw Tomas fall. Their eyes met, shared the recognition of doom in that moment before he disappeared. Under the wave of bodies.
She was never the same after that day. Seeing the people she had sworn to protect trample her partner. Consume him like a mindless mass of flesh-eating bacteria. Whatever youthful optimism she might have had—it bled out right there on the street, along with Tomas.
One hard truth chiseled into Shuwen’s brain.
Heroes die.
Ever since then, she saw the city and its people differently. She saw the ugliness. The corruption. Always there. Bubbling beneath the surface. Waiting to boil. Waiting for her to bring the cold fist of justice.
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