Providence

The Providence Incident - 20 Years Prior to 2619
The Providence Bank was always a busy place, flowing with people even at first in the morning. Hundreds of people, shoulder to shoulder, waited for their turn in different lines. The sound of people talking, the sound of their feet on the marble floors, the occasional baby crying in the background, it all rhythmically made the place become alive.

A pink mohawk sprouted between the crowd and danced as it went to the centre of the white lights that painted the place. That mohawk sprouted down, showing the body of a woman. She chewed a piece of gum, colored orange. She continued through the bank until she came upon a bench where she sat and waited patiently for something to happen. After about half an hour later, the sound of an explosion at the distance, gunshots and police lights made the place tremble in terror. The people ran like a stampede to the doors, chaos taking root.

The woman smirked and pressed her ear lightly. Her skull deformed and made an ear shaped hole in it. The ear rotated and pressed itself on her skull, leaving way for a mask which formed on her head, void black at first. It blinked blue for a bit before going void black again.

Inside that black mask, the eyes of the woman adjusted to a blue light. An AI welcomes her with the words: ‘Welcome back, Nomad.’

“Q. Voice commands.” The woman said as the blue lights changed inside the mask, and showed the world once again. The panic in the faces of people, their shouts and cries for help felt like music to her. The harmony in those true and genuine feelings, their voices trying to make an echo inside that loud city. It felt good....

“Shutdown.” She commanded the AI as she walked to the crowd. The world in that bank went dark, the lights failed instantly after that single word. Her arm quickly reached for her jacket, getting a double barreled shotgun from it. She pointed the barrels of the shotgun up as the lights went out. The complete darkness of the building was disturbed by an orange light. It was made out of a silver material, the handle was made of beautifully black-tainted wood, and was lightly touched by the orange light. Two shots. “And entre the Bank Heist music!” She said with a laugh behind the mask.

--

Explosions, shots and police sirens. All coming out of the same point. It terrified the people around me, but to me, it seemed like a distraction. Like making us divert our attention to another place, to hide in plain sight of the people. Then I saw that mohawk, calmly raising and walking towards us, my senses went blank. Why was she so calm? I caught a glimpse of her face with the corner of my eye as my mother dragged me along with her into the crowd. The speakers of the bank started blaring a song. It was really old, but I’ve heard it before, in one of those radio stations that only played old songs. What was this? Where has my mom gone? Where am I? Darkness took over me. My senses died but the rest of me didn’t. I suppose it’s what was necessary?