The city wasn't always like this. It used to be cameras everywhere, armed guards patrolling the streets, and choppers flying above the city. But things change. Now, you've got twice the amount of cameras than before, more guards on the street with high-grade military equipment, more choppers, and the latest in city protection – drones. Drones that monitor crowds of people, pursue criminals, and suppress any civil disorder. How did it come to this? Well, allow me to explain how this shithole of a city became an even larger shithole.
Long ago, this city was a lawless place, but it was lively and wonderful for the most part. Then, the changes came – the monitoring, banning, and regulating, all for the greater good. But good isn't the same as right.
My folks always believed in raising our children in a better world built on tolerance and acceptance. That's why they kept going on marches at the mayor's office, hoping to have that kind of world built for us. They even took me and my sister, Kate, with them. That all changed in the downtown riots, a protest march that went bad. My mom was killed, crushed in the panic. After that, my family pretty much fell apart, and so did that dream of building a better world.
Years later, things went from bad to worse. My sister was framed for a crime she didn't commit, and I had to do whatever it took to clear her name. That meant storming the Shard and destroying its surveillance servers, which had monitored the city for years since it all began. When the servers were knocked out of commission, it left all electronic communication free of monitoring from the authorities. This sparked numerous rebellion groups to come out of hiding and begin revolting against the city's government. One of those groups was Group November.
Group November was the group solely responsible for organizing the downtown riots, or as many called it, the November Riots. The same riot that got my mother killed and destroyed our family. I should be hating them for being the reason the riots happened in the first place. In fact, some Runners like myself and Drake, still hold a grudge on them for their extremism and disregard for human safety. But as much as I hate to admit it, they were our allies, and we've maintained a neutral relationship with them. They kept us alive and well-fed, and in return, we did runs for their clients.
However, that all changed in what was known as the November Revolution. When the Shard servers were down, Group November took the opportunity to start a violent revolt that made the November Riots look like an amusement park ride. In the weeks of the revolution, a lot of the city was damaged and many innocent bystanders, aside from a few law enforcement personnel, were injured or killed because of Group November's incompetence. That was enough for Drake to sever the relationship between the Runners and Group November. Without our aid, Group November's revolution failed due to the lack of support from us and the public, followed by having their numbers chipped down from heavy opposition. When the city introduced drones and advanced security devices, Group November was finished. The last we've heard of them was when an army of drones and private security contractors raided their hideout and neutralized most of them. Since then, we've heard nothing from them. Good riddance, I'd say.
It's been a year since the Shard incident and the November Revolution, and although it doesn't look like it, the city has changed. Information and movement is closely monitored 24/7, military drones patrol the street, and our law enforcement officers are now private security contractors who bully and harass us as they please. All the while, I still try and find a way to clear my sister's name and hopefully clean up the mess I started.
******
[Downtown District, 7:00 PM]
It was a fairly pleasant evening in the downtown district. At this time, most citizens were on their way home from work, sometimes grabbing a quick meal at one of the restaurants before going home. Usually, the journey home would be short and simple, although for some, it's long and difficult.
Two private security officers were patrolling around an intersection, keeping an eye out for trouble and anyone who they believe was out of place. A young teenager was just making her way over to the bus stop when she was stopped by one of the men.
“Hey you!” one of the officers called over. “Come over here!”
“What do you want? I'm just going home, officer,” the teenager replied calmly.
“I said come here!” he repeated his demands, this time, he raised a gun towards her. “I'm not going to ask you again!”
“Alright! Alright! I'm coming over, sheesh,” the teen raised her hands in the air and approached the guards.
The officer continued his gun trained on her while his partner pulled out a scanner in one hand, and a police baton in the other. When the teenager was close enough, the officer pushed her slightly back with the barrel of his gun. “Hold still and prepared to be scanned.”
“What?”
The officer responded back with a slap from the butt of his rifle. “Hold still and prepared to be scanned!”
“Fuck you, bitch,” she spat back. “I haven't done anything wrong.”
She stood still and allowed herself to be scanned by the officer's partner. As her face was being scanned, she received another hit from the one holding the scanner.
“Hey! What did I do?”
“I told you to stand still!” The officer with the scanner grabbed her wrist roughly and held her still as he allowed the scanned to do a complete scan of her face. When the scan was complete, he shoved her back and examined the scanner. The scanner displayed the teen's profile and it stated that she had no criminal record, meaning she was free to go.
“Alright, you're clean,” the officer chuckled. “Now get out of my face.”
“Fuck. You.” She gave both men the finger before walking off to the bus stop.
******
“Is that our client?”
Somewhere from afar, Faith Connors sat at the cafe patio near the intersection. She wore a pair of sunglasses and a hoodie to remain hidden from the cops and blend in with the crowd. In her hands, she was using her cellphone to profile a teenage girl who was just recently harassed by two Pirandello Kruger security officers. Meanwhile her boss, Drake, monitored her status back at base and communicated with her through an earpiece.
The cellphone was a Runner gadget that allowed her to hack into city security. It did things such as hack into people's profiles to gain vital information, or to have an extra pair of eyes by hacking into a single security camera. On her phone, it displayed the teenager's profile, just like it did with the officer's scanner. But Faith was looking for information that could tell her if that teen was her client or not. According to the data, it didn't fully match the profile of their client.
“Negative,” she replied. “She's got attitude, but she's not our client.”
“Damn,” Drake cursed. “Alright, keep looking around for our client and stay out of trouble, but save that girl's profile for later. She could be a potential client, or a Runner if she's interested.”
Faith saved the teen's profile and continued her search. So far, her scan results turned up nothing. She was about to call off on the job when the PK officers stopped another person. It was a young man in his mid-twenties, wearing a blue coat and a white baseball cap.
“Hold on,” Faith pulled up her phone and began profiling the young man. “I think I might have something.”
“You, citizen, get over here.”
“Me? What did I do?”
“Get over here!”
“But I didn't-”
“I said move!”
As the young man slowly approached the officers, Faith finished scanning the man and his profile came up on her phone. His description matched the ones of her client.
“That's him,” Faith muttered. “Name's Ian Richardson and he matches the profile of our client.”
“Huh,” Drake muttered. “This guy's got quite a record – burglary, vandalism...and he's a hacker, just like our dear old Zach. I guess that explains the package you're supposed to deliver to him.”
“Well, that delivery's going to have to wait,” Faith whispered.
“Why's that?”
Ian had just approached the officers, and already, things were getting heated.
“Shut up and prepare to be scanned,” the PK officer ordered.
“Fuck you man, I haven't done anything,” Ian replied.
The cop with the scanner smacked Ian in the jaw, causing him to stumble. “I said shut up and prepare for scanning.”
Ian complied and allowed the scanner to finish scanning him. When the results came back, the officer raised his baton and approached Ian.
“Hey, what do you think you're-”
The officer whipped his baton across Ian's face. He cried out and fell to his knees as the officer continued to beat him. Meanwhile, his partner turned his back on him and raised his gun at a group of pedestrians who happened to be witnessing the awful scene.
“Move along! Everything is under control! Interfere and you will be arrested!”
That was enough for Faith to get out of her seat and approach the officer beating up the young man. With the armed officer looking away from his partner, this was the perfect opportunity to intervene.
“Great,” Faith muttered. “Just as I find my client, he's getting his ass beaten.”
“Faith, do not intervene,” Drake ordered. “You're on street level and if you stir up any trouble, you're screwed. It's not your fight.”
“Sorry Drake,” she replied. “But I'm not about to turn down this delivery.”
“We'll do the delivery another time,” Drake pleaded. “We have Ian's contact information, we can contact him and tell him to meet us at an undisclosed location for his package next time. Do not intervene.”
Faith wasn't listening. She was now behind the officer who was about to lay down another hard hit on Ian. She kicked out his leg, causing him to fall onto his knees and cry out in surprise. She then threw the officer down to the ground as hard as she could and landed a few knockout punches on him.
Ian got up on his feet. “What the? Who-”
“I'm with the Runners, get out of here!” Faith ordered. Ian didn't need to stick around and ask as he made a run out of the area.
“You! Stop right there!”
Faith turned around to see the officer's partner raise his gun at her and opened fire. The whole intersection erupted in chaos as people began running away from the gunfire. All the shots missed Faith. Now within melee range, Faith landed a few punches on the officer, who blocked her attacks with his rifle. He countered with a few swings from the butt of his rifle, striking her cheek. Despite being hit, Faith was still standing, but getting smacked around like that pissed her off.
“You're going to regret that,” she growled.
Faith retaliated with a few heavy punches at the man's face and gut, causing him to stagger. Finally, Faith managed to hit the most vulnerable part that wasn't armored – the groin. The officer cried out in pain as he bent over, clutching his groin. With him defenseless, Faith finished him off by landing a hard uppercut on the man's jaw, causing him to somersault in the air before landing on the ground out cold.
“Aw shit,” Drake sighed. “You've got multiple Blues on the way, plus a hunter drone.”
“The more the merrier,” she smirked.
“Don't get too cocky. There's a radio station just near where you are. Get inside, and take the elevator to the rooftops to lose the Blues before they arrive at your location.”
“Too late, they're already here.”
In the distance, the sirens of police cars were closing in on the intersection, but the hunter drone was already on site.
“HALT!” The drone locked onto Faith with its guns. “KEEP YOUR HANDS VISIBLE AND PREPARE TO BE TAKEN INTO CUSTODY!”
Faith responded by pulling out her sidearm from her waistband – a Glock 18 automatic pistol fitted with extended magazines, a reflex sight, and laser sight. It was loaded with Speer Gold Dot 9mm parabellum rounds; capable of punching through any light body armor, and leaving two types of holes in a body – a neat entry wound and a massive crater of an exit wound. The rounds were also strong enough to destroy a security camera or a small drone. Faith only used it as a last resort, but under circumstances like this, she needed to take down that drone otherwise she'd be dead before she could make a run for the radio station.
“You best not make things worse if you don't-”
Faith cut off Drake from finishing his sentence as she opened fire at the hunter drone, chipping away some of its metal and sending sparks in the air.
“...Or just ignore me. You can do that.”
She emptied all her rounds in the drone, but it was still standing. Realizing her gun was dry, she ran back to the cafe patio as the drone prepared to fire.
“SUSPECT HAS ENGAGED. RESPONDING WITH LETHAL FORCE.”
The drone released a barrage of automatic gunfire toward Faith, forcing her to duck and swerve all over the intersection. Pushing her way back to the patio, she flipped over one of the tables and used it as cover as the drone continued firing. As she reloaded her gun, Faith could hear the squad cars pulling into the intersection, followed by additional gunfire from reinforcements.
“Drake, a little help, please?”
Drake heaved a sigh of annoyance. “That's what you get for starting trouble on the street...Give me a sec, Noctis is just nearby. He'll help you long enough for you to make a run to the radio station.”
A few seconds later, Faith received a different transmission from one of the Runners: Noctis.
“Faith, it's Noc. I'm at the top of the building beside the radio station. I can see you and a shit ton of Blues and a drone closing in on your position.”
“No shit,” she replied, ducking her head in time as a stray bullet flew past her. “Anything you can do to help me out?”
“Zach installed a new app on my phone. Says that I can use my phone to hack into the drone and take control of it for a short period of time. If that's true, I'll get that drone off your back and use it to drive the Blues back while you make a run for the radio station.”
“Make it quick,” she fired blindly before lowering her arm as another barrage of bullets flew into the patio. “I'm about to be overrun!”
“Give me a sec...” As she waited for Noctis to hack into the drone, Faith could hear the sound of the hunter drone closing in on her position. If he didn't hack into it soon, she would be a goner in less than five seconds. “Nearly there...got it!”
At the last second the drone was above her, but rather than firing down at her, it turned in the direction of the Blues and aimed its guns at them. Before they realized what was going on, the drone opened fire, shooting at the ground near their feet.
“Shit! We've got a rogue drone! Repeat – we have a rogue drone!”
“Fall back! Fall back!”
Faith stuck her head out of cover and watched as the hunter drone chipped away concrete and patrol cars. Thankfully, Noctis was smart enough to not shoot any of the cops, otherwise it would have caused a huge mess for Faith and the Runners. She watched on, impressed by the damage the drone was doing.
“Hey, someone want to tell Zach to install that app on my phone so I can have some fun with the drones next time?”
“Faith, cut the chatter,” Drake said. "Noctis has bought you some valuable time, now get inside the radio station and lose the Blues."
Using the opportunity, Faith made a dash away from the patio and made her escape into the radio station. She broke into the building, startling the receptionist at the front desk. Before they could even react, Faith had already made her way into the elevator and took it up to the rooftop level. She breathed a sigh of relief as the elevator made its way up.
“Yeah, you can catch your breath,” Drake answered. "Damn it, Faith, why'd you have to stir shit up at a time like this? And on street level of all places!
“Well, no matter. You'll be safer on the rooftops, but right now, we've got to get you out of the hot zone. Meet up with Noctis and give him the package. He'll complete the delivery while you make your way back home.”'
“Faith,” Noctis radioed in. "I've just lost control of the hunter drone and the Blues are now closing in toward your last known position at the cafe, but it won't be long until they figure out what's happened. You almost to the roof?”
“I'm just about two floors away from the rooftop level. I'll see you in a minute.”
"Understood, I'm heading over to the radio station. Meet me near the radio's antenna”
The elevator stopped onto the rooftop level and opened its doors. Faith was momentarily blinded by the setting sun in the distance as she stepped out of the elevator. A sharp whistle was heard nearby and Faith turned to see Noctis leaning against the radio antenna.
“You sure caused quite a ruckus,” Noctis chuckled. “Pass me the package and I'll deliver it to your client.”
She handed the package to the Runner. “His name is Ian Richardson. I've sent his profile to you so you can find him and deliver the package to him yourself.”
“Got it, now get out of here,” Noctis ordered. “You'll need to lose the heat before you make it back home.”
“I know what I'm doing, now go find our client.”
******
Ian Richardson fled into an alley, catching his breath after escaping from the spectacle that occurred moments ago. He checked himself to see what kind of injuries he sustained. He touched his face before giving a pained hissed. His right cheek would certainly be bruising, but other than that, nothing was broken.
He heaved a sigh. It had been a hell of a day for him, and right now, he could really use a drink and a nice nap back home.
“Ian Richardson?”
Hearing someone call his name, he hastily turned around to see who it was. Was it a cop? Spotting a beer bottle on the ground, he picked it up and smashed it into a sharp weapon.
“W-who's there?” he asked nervously. “Show yourself!”
Out from the shadows, Noctis walked towards him with his hands raised. “Relax, I'm with the Runners. You requested a few things from us, right?”
Realizing he was in no danger, Ian released the broken bottle. “Yeah. I guess I was supposed to be meeting that lady for my package. How is she? Is she alright?”
“She's fine,” Noctis replied. “She told me to deliver you this to you. You have the payment?”
“Oh, right,” Ian reached into his pockets and handed Noctis 10,000 scrip currency. “Here you go. Spend it wisely.”
Noctis shook his head. “That's not enough.”
Ian frowned. “But you said that the payment was-”
“I know what the payment was,” Noctis replied calmly. “But since my friend risked her life to get you out of trouble, I think it's only fair that she gets a little something extra, don't you agree?”
Ian thought about the reasoning for a moment. “Well, she did save my ass...” He heaved a sigh before reaching into his pockets for an additional 1000 scrip. “Very well, here's some more scrip.”
“That'll do,” Noctis nodded, handing the package over to Ian and taking the additional scrip. “Now, you better get home. And just to be safe, you should lay low until this all blows over, got it?”
“Of course,” Ian nodded. “And if you see that lady friend of yours, tell her I said thanks.”
“Sure,” Noctis turned his back and walked out of the alley. “Take care of yourself.”
With his task complete, Noctis began his journey back home. Hopefully, Faith was already back at the base when he got back.
******
[Somewhere in another universe...]
Rainbow Dash flapped her wings furiously as she pushed herself through the heavy winds and rain. It was a stormy, summer night in Ponyville. The pegasi had scheduled tonight's weather for rain in order to help the crops grow and stay healthy during this time of summer.
Rainbow had just finished helping the Weather Team prep up tonight's storm and she was now heading back home to get some rest and prepare for another big day tomorrow. She continued flying, ignoring the large gusts of wind and rain brushing up against her face. Her wings were getting heavier from the large amounts of rain pelting against them.
"Storm's pretty strong tonight," Rainbow thought to herself. "A bit too strong than I thought it would be. Think we might have overdid it?"
At that same moment, there was a loud crack of thunder from behind her. Turning around, she saw flashes of lighting coming from the sky.
"Lighting?" she said out loud. "Since when did we schedule for lightning? I thought it was just rainstorm, not a-"
She was cut off from what she was about to say when a bolt of lightning crashed directly on top of her. There was a yell of surprise and slight pain, followed by a loud deafening explosion of thunder in the sky. It might as well have been a volcano erupting in the middle of the night.
By the time the storm had calmed down, the cyan pegasus was no longer flying in the sky. She had just simply vanished in thin air and nowhere to be seen.
Rainbow Dash was gone, but where has she gone to?
Author's Note
So, here it is - my THIRD attempt to rewrite this story. I started getting back into Mirror's Edge a while ago and I'd like to try my best to finish this story as best as I can while continuing my other stories.
Now, a few things I'd like to point out is that this story is going to be based off on the original Mirror's Edge, not Mirror's Edge Catalyst. Although there may be references to Catalyst, this story is going to stick to the original Mirror's Edge.
I will also make several minor references from other video games to make the story "interesting". But other than that, I hope you enjoyed the rewritten prologue of 'Faith and Loyalty'. Expect more chapters to come out soon, hopefully.
Featuring the OC Runner, Noctis, by clearshot01.
FACTS:
EDIT #1: Tweaked a bit of the text and dialogue.
EDIT #2: Corrected some grammar and tweaked more of the dialogue and text after a one year hiatus.
