Dystopian in the making

"So Chronos, believe that god is pulling the strings here?" The voice of Loki echoed off into the night sky. The moon's sliver light shined weakly over the city's bright lights. A handful of specks covered the night sky, one would assume that they were stars, but that belief would be false. Chronos sat at the peak of a giant skyscraper, staring down at a pink-haired woman drunkenly roaming the city. "Everything seems to be in their favor after all." Loki's usual tone was replaced by a more rational one. Chronos gave a forced smile as he looked to the moon.

"We once dreamt of a world that would be free of God. You and I once believed that we could fight against our oppressors and live in the future she had laid out for us. But once the truth was exposed, our dreams came shattering down."

"In other words," Loki spoke. "We are still following her plans."

"Unfortunately, that may be the case. Ouroboros still existing proves that. Once again, we are shown that our enemy is not God."

"What are we to do? Let the younglings play the role of 'Hero'?" Loki paused. "Or do we finish what we started?" His tone shifted. A half-hearted vengeful tone echoed.

Chronos shook his head in disapproval. "All we can do is aid them." He looked back down at the pink-haired girl roaming the streets. Chronos stood up. "I failed to be the light you and the others sought from me. But our suffering will soon end. One way or another, God will pay for the suffering he had brought before us, but for now, we need to sow the seeds of light."

"So you'll continue watching over the sinners?" Chronos nodded at Loki's question. "Stubborn as always, I suppose. But I'm not immortal, you know."

"I know." Chronos's face twisted with guilt. "I know..." Without another word, Chronos lept off the roof and vanished into an aqua mist. The mist dissipated into the wind. A small glimmering trail brushed across Isabelle's face and towards a dark alley where a droopy man stood.

"Achooo!!!!" The man sneezed, startling the woman standing beside him.

"Xeno!!!" The woman shouted in a whisper. The woman had short brown hair that barely reached her shoulders. She wore a skintight latex suit that would have mistaken her for a run-of-the-mill prostitute. However, those thinking of that would either end up dead or permanently blind.

She opened her holographic console, and after a few seconds had passed, a swarm of drones stealthily bee-lined their way into the alley. They each turned on a dim light exposing the corpse of what was once a man wearing a silver mask that resembled one that you would wear masquerade party.

"Poor soul," Xeno said with a weary expression. Compared to his glitzy partner, he was dressed blandly. His black hair was unkempt, and he wore a lab coat stained with the presence of time itself. Dark bags rested under his eyes. He reached into his pocket, grabbed an energy drink, and chugged it before tossing it onto the corpse before him. He showed no sympathy toward the unrecognizable corpse before him.

"No respite for the dead, huh?" The woman said as the drones streamed the body with an acid that dissolved it within seconds. Once finished, the drones cloaked themselves and flew off.

"Of course not, Maddie." Xeno turned around to see a pink-haired girl passed out in the streets, being assaulted by a meaty drunk who had trouble walking straight. "These idiots don't have the slightest idea of what they are signing up for. 'Help make our city more advanced.'" Xeno mocked. "Lured with the promise of wealth by the damn Northern District bigwigs only to end up as another number for their experiment. This isn't a city of the future. It's a dystopian nightmare in the making."

"What can we do about it?" Maddie sighed. "As long as they got money, these brainwashed idiots will continue to fall into their trap-" Just before Maddie could finish her statement, Xeno walked out of the alley. "H-hey!!! Wait!!!"

Xeno ignored her pleas and rushed to the pink-haired girl.

"Oh...ho ho! So this is the sweet feeling of a woman's chest." A large man crouched before the unconscious woman with his hand grabbing her. A powerful scent of alcohol lingered on the streets, causing passersby to flee quickly. The man continued to grope Isabelle before gently turning her over so that her whole font was in his view. "Now... let's see how it feels without the bra." He placed his hand into her shirt, attempting to slide her breasts out of the bra. Just as the man did that, Xeno appeared behind him. The drunk man failed to notice his presence and continued. "So soft!!!!" The middle-aged man said while shoving both hands down her shirt. Now too turned on to stop, the man moved one of his hands from Isabelle's shirt and placed it on the front of her pants. "No then, let's see the sweet flowering blossom-"Xeno had enough and silently put his hand over the man's mouth and injected him with a chemical from a syringe into his neck.

Keeping his hand on the man's mouth, he leaned forward and whispered in his ear, "That's gonna be sexual assault and attempted rape on your record, you know."

"Hmph!!!!" The man tried to speak, but barely any sound escaped because of the hand over his mouth.

Xeno smiled at the man, who was now slowly closing his eyes, "Ah, but don't worry, if you're lucky, there might still be a woman out there to help you lose your sorry virginity after you are out of jail or maybe some bored man in the showers." The middle-aged man's body became motionless after completely losing consciousness from the drug injected into him.

"That's rich coming from you, Xeno." Maddie followed behind him with her gun drawn at her side. Xeno glanced at her, then spun away, blushing. The streetlights allowed Xeno to see more detail in Maddie's outfit than before. "See, you are also a virgin who can't even look a woman like me in the eyes." She said while giggling.

"How the hell am I supposed to look at you when you are dressed up like you are about to do some kinky shit at the nearby hotel, Maddie?" Xeno barked back while attempting to place Isabelle on his back. "Anyway," he cleared his throat as soon as he put Isabelle on his back and glanced at Maddie, averting his eyes a little, "What do we do about her?"

"Take her with us." She quickly responded as if she had already expected his question. "She's connected to Alan and the other keys."

"This babe-like, sorry excuse for a woman knows him? He must be a lucky man or unlucky because this girl is irresponsible as hell." Xeno struggled to try to adjust Isabelle to a more comfortable carrying position.

"Says the man who has not slept in days and is surviving off energy drinks." She glared at him. "But, it's not like we will watch her for long. I kinda planned to give her to Linda after we had our little fun talk." Maddie, with a sweet, cute voice trying to act innocent.

"Please...never talk like that in that outfit. I am now uncomfortably aroused."

"That arouses you?" Maddie said, somewhat disappointed.

Xeno saw her response but brushed it off as he walked towards a large hotel with bright red and white lights shining outside the building. Maddie then noticed that Xeno had moved on without her, and she quickly rushed back to his side. They entered the hotel and walked up to the lobby receptionist, and Maddie showed her a golden card. The receptionist then looked at the small group of three with a slight grin as they typed a code on a holographic console in front of them, calling an elevator to open behind the receptionist. They then opened a gate at the front of the desk and allowed the three to enter the elevator. The receptionist closed the gate and turned to give Xeno a complimentary smile before the elevator door closed.

"..." Xeno stared blankly at the closed door, "Yeah...she most definitely got the wrong idea."

"I mean, what did you expect? This is a love hotel, after all." Maddie said, giggling from behind Xeno, "And you are the only male in a reserved four-person room."

"So you planned this whole thing?"

"More or less."

Right after Maddie said this, a soft ding noise was heard, indicating that the elevator had reached its destination. The doors to the elevator slowly opened to reveal a large room covered from floor to ceiling in a reddish-pink color. As the pair walked out, they spotted Linda in a purple lace dress that was completely see-through, revealing her black undergarments. Xeno walked to the center of the room and stared at her with a firm look of disappointment before placing Isabelle on an enormous heart-shaped bed with an aromatic scent of roses emitting from it. Xeno gently put her down before turning back to look at the two women casually drinking wine at a small red table next to a large window that overlooked the busy nightlife down below.

"So, would the both of you please explain the outfits!?" Xeno shouted, unable to contain his emotions as he confronted two sexually dressed women in a love hotel.

"Whatever do you mean, why else are we here?" Maddie said, unzipping her suit down to the top of her cleavage.

"What do you think people normally do in a place like this, Xeno?" Linda slowly licked the edge of her wineglass as she looked Xeno directly in the eyes.

Xeno froze in the presence of two older women who were his type, performing acts of lust. His face turned beet red, and after a few seconds of thinking, he made a loud audible gulp and walked in front of Maddie. He gently placed his hands on her shoulders. Maddie sat paralyzed in anticipation as Xeno's hands slowly traced to her cheeks. Xeno moved his head closer to Maddie's, to which she responded by closing her eyes and puckering her lips. Xeno noticed he had her completely defenseless, and he gently removed his hands from her cheeks and quickly gave her a hard slap on both cheeks.

"Pfff~" Linda, who watched the whole thing play out, couldn't help but laugh at her best friend's failed attempt at seducing the man she loved.

"Owww," Maddie held her cheeks in pain, "What the hell was that for!?"Xeno quietly sat down before looking at Maddie, "Next time, don't seduce me while we are on the clock."

"Tsk" Maddie sucked her lips as Linda cleared her throat and explained why they were meeting in such a place.

"Sorry about that, Xeno. I'm sure a virgin man like yourself would have been scared to enter a building such as this, but you put on a brave face to walk into the blissful heaven. For that, you deserve a reward, but that can wait. As you know, this is one of the few places the government is forbidden to place wiretaps in." Xeno gave Linda a peeved look as Linda quickly shifted gears, "But I wanted to meet you here for...personal reasons." Her loving face from before turned into a glare.

"Hmmm...?" Xeno was unfazed by her stare and thought about why a traitor would ask to meet him in a 'private' location like this. "Oh, does this have to do with the incident from a few days ago?" He replied, causing Linda to lean forward a bit more. Her face was emotionless, but Xeno could see a deep rage in her eyes.

"I heard you were the one who set everything in motion."

"Look, I didn't do anything as such. I simply spoke out loud during a friendly conversation with some coworkers of mine." Xeno had a devious smile on his face as he denied any involvement. "Anyway, I was on the government-only floor of the mall, so there was no way for civilians to reach that floor. And from the last time I checked, that girl is a fugitive. So she would have been arrested on the spot if spotted." Xeno grinned, knowing what Linda was accusing him of.

"Umm... Xeno, you do know that-"Maddie tried to inform Xeno that Linda gave no information about what she was accusing him of but was interrupted by a hand motion by Xeno."I know, but Linda here is an old friend of mine. I would never lie to her." His tone was dark, as if he was trying to provoke Linda. To which he did.

"Bullshit." Linda dropped her guard and picked up her wineglass. She shattered it on the table and lept towards Xeno. Maddie quickly held her back. A playful grin grew across his face as he stared Linda straight in the eyes.

Linda gave a deep sigh and sat back down. Xeno stood up from the table and fetched Linda another wine glass. Once he returned, Linda gave him a spiteful look. "You sure love your mind games."

"Hehe," he turned to look out the window and spoke more severely, "To be honest, you have no right to wish that girl well. But I suppose one can atone for their actions. But just to be clear, I didn't do it to benefit your daughter. I only used her for an experiment."

"An experiment?" Linda lowered her glass and turned to Maddie, who then avoided eye contact with a sheepish look on her face.

"Hypocrite," Maddie said softly before turning back to Linda. "We are comparing data collected from the ancients regarding the 'sinners.' According to our data, the sinner's personality traits should reflect their sin. However, that's not the case this time around. Instead of showing the traits of their own sin, they are showing traits of another." Maddie explained to Linda.

"For example," Xeno chimed in, "Renne doesn't show signs of wrath as her calling suggests, but she shows signs of sloth and envy. The same goes for Alan. Instead of sloth, he shows pride and wrath." Xeno picked up a bottle of wine and poured some into the three wine glasses on the table. "Their powers are activated fully when they show signs of their own sin. But as it stands, none of them-"

"Actually," Maddie interrupted, "That new girl and Evangela both show their sins. But at the moment, they are non-combatants."

"I see." Xeno took a mental note of the information he had just received, cleared his throat, and looked at the girl sleeping on the bed behind him. "So what of her?""Leave her." Linda said without even thinking, "She needs to learn how to be a proper adult and not go around being pampered by everyone."

"Sounds like you don't like her," Xeno said.

"Not in the slightest. I've known her since middle school, and she hasn't changed." Linda sighed, "If I had to describe her in one word, that word would be greed." The three of them continued to have idle chatter through the night before they finally decided to leave the hotel, leaving Isabelle sound asleep on the heart-shaped bed.