Rebel 2
REBEL 2:
GameLit RPG Cyberpunk Fantasy
By RIKER KANE
PUBLISHED BY RIKER KANE, 2019
Copyright © 2019 Riker Kane.
All rights reserved.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.
Table of Contents
About this title
Rebel 2
Prologue
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
More by Riker Kane
About this title
Rebel 2 is an action-adventure story with a Cyberpunk theme, following in the footsteps of the previous title. It contains:
● Light LitRPG Elements
● Futuristic, cyberpunk-inspired fantasy settings
● Intense fantasy action and violence
● Mature language
● Romance and harem elements with female characters
● Explicit sexual scenes and language
It’s highly-recommended you’ve read the previous title, as this is a continuation of Max’s story.
Rebel 2
Global nuclear war. Pandemics. Titanic volcanoes. Sweeping hurricanes. Catastrophic tsunamis. Undetected tectonic shifts and massive earthquakes that changed the landscape of the entire planet.
In the late 21st century, Earth was ravaged by natural and man-made disasters alike.
After finally understanding their own devastating nature in an uncompromising world, humanity was forced to come to an ultimate peace. In a worldwide effort to save themselves, the consensus from all nations was to begin the colonization of Mars.
The move to Mars was successful for even the earliest settlers. But the unprecedented task wasn’t without its struggles. Gathering the energy and resources required to move billions proved to be a slow process. As a result, few were rewarded the opportunity to leave their fading planet.
In the city of New Austin, the slums of Kings Row are home to citizens left behind on Earth and forced to fend for themselves. Even with peace established through advancements in science and technology, survival is not guaranteed. For some individuals, they have only themselves to rely on to avoid the despair of their personal chaos.
But rising above the chaos was Max Shaw. Armed with his ACE (Accelerated Cellular Extender), he fought for his survival in the War Zone and came out on top. Now he enjoys the peace after his victory in the company of his friends…
Prologue
Looming clouds and the threat of rain weren’t enough to darken the city below. Streetlights illuminated the paths for the speeder cabs to roll through on the broken pavement. Those walking the sidewalks kept their heads down to avoid attention from the unsavory citizens. Flickering neon blue and orange signs on the nearby shops enticed potential customers to come in and spend their credits on extra supplies and frivolous gadgets. Whether it was construction or another crime scene, police caution tape blocked areas too far to be reached by the lights of the city.
Underneath the bridge overpass, separated from the sounds of the speeders and the merchants peddling their wares, a lone man hunched over on all fours. The lone streetlight hanging above him illuminated the spatter of blood on the pavement. He coughed in an attempt to catch his breath, smearing the once white pavement in crimson.
“Where is it?”
The condescending tone of the feminine voice above him belonged to a woman who was smaller than him. But he was no less intimidated by her stature. He stayed leaning on the ground, palms pressed to the pavement in some attempt to steady himself.
“I asked you a question.”
A nightmare. A bad dream. Hell itself. He was stuck and he couldn’t escape.
Somewhere between sniveling, crying and coughing caught in his throat, making it hard for him to respond. A swift blow to his midsection cleared his throat for him. His wail echoed into the sky but too distant from the rest of the city for anybody else to hear. He rolled onto his back in pain, whimpering in agony.
“Don’t make me ask you again—”
“I don’t know! I don’t know! I swear!” He looked up pleadingly at his captors.
The platinum-blond woman gave him a cold stare, her arms crossed. The lone light above cast shadows on her face, highlighting the anger in her furrowed brow.
“Are you lying to me? Because I don’t like it when people lie to me.” She spoke through gritted teeth as if doing her best to hold back. Considering how much pain he was in, the man knew she was capable of so much more.
“I told you…” he gasped. “I don’t have it.”
“Then where is it—”
“Junkies. They took it.”
“You mean to tell me a loot junkie took it from you?”
“It wasn’t just one. It was a whole group of them. You know how they are. They overwhelmed me. I couldn’t fight ‘em off. Please—”
“Pick him up.”
The man was so focused on the woman he begged for mercy from, he didn’t want to acknowledge the man standing next to her.
Against his wishes, the disheveled man was forced back to his feet by the woman’s companion. It wasn’t hard to tell what the man was capable of. More than twice the size of the woman next to him, the hulking man cracked his knuckles as he looked down at the victim bleeding from his nose.
The blond took a step back and looked the struggling man up and down. “A bunch of junkies took you for everything you’re worth? I don’t believe you.”
“You have to believe me! It’s the truth—”
She reached forward and pulled the sleeve of his leather jacket up. “And what do you call this?” She eyed the marks along his arm. Puncture wounds along his wrist and forearm were clear against his dirty skin. “Still fresh. You’ve been using.”
“I haven’t…” He looked down at the ground, sniveling as he shook his head.
The blond sighed a deep breath and shook her head. “You know how this works. We get our credits or we get our loot back. Which one is it, Sam?”
The disheveled man hesitated. Everybody standing beneath the underpass already knew what his answer would be but everybody still waited patiently.
“I don’t have it… I don’t have any of it… If you just gimme some time—”
Another hard punch to his gut interrupted him. He collapsed back down to the ground in a heap, sniveling through the blood continuing to leak from his face.
The blond eyed her companion and gave him a nod. “Don’t kill him.”
“We shouldn’t give him this kinda chance,” the big man responded.
She looked down at the man hunched over on the ground. Clothes dirty. Hair disheveled. Blood dri
pping from the cuts and bruises on his face. Despite the sight, the blond managed to work a smirk onto her black lips.
“You heard him,” she said. “He won’t need much time. Will you, Sam?” She crouched down onto the pavement and put her hands on his chin, forcing her to look up at him. “Don’t let anybody ever tell you the GODs don’t have any compassion.”
The blond stood up straight and gave her companion a nod before turning around to walk away.
“Wait… Please… I’ll do it…” The man’s pleas fell on deaf ears as he was again forced back up to his feet only to take a punch across the jaw. Over and over, the pain from the knuckles driving through his chin reverberated through his head until he was shut off completely.
The sickening thud of bone being slammed against flesh would have weakened even the strongest men. But the woman listened with her eyes closed as if she were listening to her favorite song on the radio.
The big man dropped his hapless victim on the ground in a pile of unconscious flesh then turned around to join the blond.
“Did you do as I asked?” she said.
“He’s still breathing,” the enforcer responded. “What now?”
The blond had her hands behind her back while she contemplated her next decision. “Leave him. He’ll wake up and stumble his way to the infirmary. I trust he’ll remember enough to know his responsibilities.”
“You sure about this? The guy’s just another junkie. I don’t think he’s gonna keep up his end of the bargain. Nobody’d miss him if I took him out now.”
She slowly turned and looked up at the man next to her. “I meant what I said. The GODs run Santa Fe. And the GODs are capable of compassion. We kill every loot junkie on the streets, we’ll have no one left to worship us. Sometimes… All you need to do is let them know who’s in charge.”
She took a moment to admire her companion’s handiwork. The broken man on the ground lay motionless except for his faint breaths. Blood trickled from his nose, mouth and the cut above his eye. The sight of it would have made anyone else sick to their stomach but for her, it was a reason to smile.
“Let’s go,” she said. “We have business to take care of.”
Chapter 1
“…If you’re not wearing your sunscreen, make sure you stay in the shade. The warm front will move through New Austin over the next few weeks. Barring an unlikely change in the forecast, the skies will be clear. City officials warn about overcrowding on the coasts though that shouldn’t stop you from heading out there and enjoying the salty air…”
Max sat at the counter in his kitchen, his fork poking at the scrambled eggs before him. “Consistency isn’t bad… Not burned… Not undercooked. Let’s see how they taste.” Max wouldn’t have examined his breakfast so closely if not for the person watching him. He scooped a bite of the eggs into his mouth. As soon as it hit his tongue, his eyes narrowed in satisfaction. “Mmm… That’s good.”
The woman in front of him turned her head and watched as Max took another bite for himself.
“You don’t have to spare my feelings,” she said. “Your honesty would help me calibrate whether or not the eggs are optimal.”
Max chuckled to himself. “If you were anybody else, I’d think you’re crazy. But they’re good, Zigzag. I can’t imagine anybody cooking eggs better than this. They taste just like they always do. I guess that’s not really a surprise, when you’ve got the technical prowess to do it.”
“I have shut off my internal processes and timers that allow me to cook breakfast with such precision. I have studied professional chefs and cooks who rely more on simply knowing their dish is prepared properly.”
“I get it. It doesn’t take that much precision to make scrambled eggs but you got everything right. Seasoning. Texture. Perfect temperature, too. Doesn’t get better.” He gave her a wink and poked another forkful into his mouth.
The android gave him a polite smile then turned around back to tend to the stove top.
Despite what she was, it was difficult to tell she was artificial at first glance. Her movements. Her physical appearance. Even the sound of her voice was no different from a regular woman’s. Max had only been around her for a few weeks but he considered her a human only shortly after meeting her.
“I assume Proxy will be joining us for breakfast,” she said.
“You assume correctly. She woke up a little late though. And she seems to be taking longer in the shower than she usually does.”
“That is not surprising.”
“It’s not?” Max raised an eyebrow in curiosity. “Why’s that?”
Zigzag turned around. “Last night, when I was in my resting function, I couldn’t help but overhear you. More specifically, it was Proxy who was making a lot of noise.”
Max chuckled and shook his head. “Yeah… She was loud. It’s a good thing I don’t have any neighbors because I’m pretty sure they’d hear her through the walls.”
“I’m curious, Max. Proxy’s vocal indications of pleasure… Is that your preference during a romantic engagement?”
Zigzag said it with such a straight face, Max had to remind himself she was an android. “Well…” Max poked his fork at his eggs. “How do I put it? I wouldn’t say it’s something I prefer but it’s not anything I’m opposed to. Whatever comes natural.”
“I see… I’m curious if it would be more stimulating if I were to perform in such a way—”
“Don’t. It has to be natural. Like your cooking.”
“Hmm… I suppose you’re correct.” Zigzag bowed her head politely then turned around.
It would have been easy for Max to take advantage of someone like Zigzag. The android was easy on his eyes, the side of her head shaved to accentuate the feminine features of her face. Spending so much time around her only made both of them more comfortable. But the circumstances for being in the company of one another was more about a friendly camaraderie than anything else.
Max took a sip of black coffee and turned toward the display on his wall but his attention was taken by the blond walking up to him. In nothing but a towel around her waist, Proxy took a seat at the counter next to Max and put her chin in her palm. A tinge of water covered her skin like she hadn’t dried off completely, her wet hair cascading down her back and over her bare chest.
“Good morning.” Max bit his tongue and took a sip of coffee to hide his smirk.
“Yeah, yeah,” she sighed.
Zigzag turned around and placed a plate in front of the blond. “Good morning, Proxy,” she said as she piled on a scoop of eggs. “I’ve prepared scrambled eggs for you this morning. I’ve also made you a supplement of cured pork meats and bread.”
“Sausage and toast. You’re the best, Zigzag.” Proxy hungrily chewed on her food. The way she scooped her breakfast into her mouth made Max wonder how her petite frame always had all room for it.
“How are you?” he asked as he looked at her in amusement.
Proxy washed down her bite with a gulp of synthetic juice and sighed. “Better. Not great but better.”
“Zigzag and I were just talking about you. She was wondering why you were so loud.”
“I’m always loud.”
“You were louder than usual,” Zigzag said. “Your decibel levels nearly doubled the measurements of your previous encounters.”
Proxy stopped eating, her eyes narrowed at the android. “Are you always listening in?”
“I’m not listening in. As I explained to Max, it is simply something I overhear. If you like, during your next engagement, I can turn off my audio receptors—”
“No, no, no. I don’t care about you listening in. You can even join in if you want. I might get even louder.”
Despite the apparent frustration in Proxy’s eyes, Max still looked at her in amusement as he sipped on his coffee.
Max and Zigzag looked at the blond curiously. Proxy sighed as she took another bite of her breakfast. “I’m just a little frustrated, that’s all. There’s nothing be
tter to clear your head than having someone fuck your brains out, okay?”
“I understand,” Zigzag said. “Often times, sex and the resulting climax are used as a form of stress relief.”
“I’m glad you value our friendship so much.” Max chuckled again.
“You know I don’t mean it like that,” Proxy said. “It’s just… I’m operating for five different Contenders now and not one of them knows what they’re doing.”
“Isn’t that what an Operator is for?”
Proxy gave him a sideways glare. “I can tell a Contender how much HP and energy he has. I can tell ‘em if his abilities will be effective or not. I can even give ‘em some advice on what his opponent’s tendencies might be. I can see the whole arena and gauge distances properly. But it takes more than having the numbers to win a battle. It takes something else you can’t train or teach. It’s just something you have.”
“Instinct,” Zigzag said suddenly, getting both of their attention. “Instinct is the difference between success and failure.”
“Yeah… That’s it.” Proxy turned to Max. “You had instinct. It was obvious right from the start. I knew I saw something in you when I first laid eyes on you.”
Max rolled his eyes and sighed. “You were never much of a romantic, Proxy. Don’t start now.”
“I’m not being romantic. It’s the truth. You were the best. Everybody else knows it, too. Sometimes when I’m in the lounge, I can hear some of the Contenders talking. They all wonder where the Rebel went…” Proxy blinked her eyes, giving him a puppy-dog stare Max had seen too many times. “Maybe if you come back—”
“Proxy, we’ve been over this.”
“Just one match! Mess around. Have fun. Nothing serious on the line.”
“What’s the point of that?”
“I just need to know what it’s like to operate for someone who knows what they’re doing with an ACE.”
Max leaned back in his seat. He took a sip of his coffee. Even though he didn’t say a single word, it was enough of an answer for Proxy. The blond took another forkful of eggs into her mouth while Zigzag refilled her plate.