NOVGO.NET Chapter 47: Wiped From Memory
Chapter 47: Wiped From Memory
Fin climbed the familiar stairwell of the Halden walk-up, carrying a brown paper parcel of smoked fish.
Loud banging echoed from the fourth-floor landing, accompanied by harsh voices demanding immediate entrance.
Four armed enforcement agents in blue tactical vests stood outside Apartment 4B, their rifles held at low ready.
A senior auditor in a grey suit hammered his fist against the apartment door with aggressive force.
’Jolly is still at school with Teacher Sefu, so the apartment is empty,’ he noted with relief.
Fin stepped onto the landing with steady balance, his boots making zero noise against the steps.
"Can I help you gentlemen find something on this floor?" Fin asked, his voice calm and level.
The four guards spun around with startled reflexes, raising their rifle barrels toward the newcomer.
The auditor turned with an arrogant smirk, holding up a digital warrant on a glowing data tablet.
"You are Fin, former logistics laborer and provisional Grade-D auxiliary commander," the auditor stated smoothly.
"I am Fin, and you are standing on my private welcome mat," he replied without moving.
"We have an administrative order authorizing the seizure of all assets and immediate license revocation," the auditor declared.
"District Four defense regulations state that auxiliary commanders are exempt from municipal asset audits during emergency readiness," Fin countered.
"The Regional Directorate issued a special executive override due to uncatalogued combat anomalies," the auditor sneered, tapping his screen.
"That override violates three separate lower-district charters established after the second gate crisis," Fin answered with a flat stare.
"Administrative decrees from District One override local charters whenever state security is invoked," the auditor retorted sharply.
The auditor pressed his thumb against the biometric sensor to transmit the asset freeze command to central servers.
A strange red error icon flashed across the tablet screen, accompanied by three rapid warning tones.
[ Error 404: file not found ]
[ Subject record deleted from central municipal archives ]
[ Biometric identifier: null / expunged by administrative authority ]
The auditor blinked in disbelief, tapping the screen frantically as data fields dissolved into blank grey lines.
"What is happening to your file?" the auditor stammered, staring at the empty screen in shock.
Fin’s intake records, hospital charts, gate permits, and tax histories vanished from the municipal network in real time.
’Someone with supreme clearance in District One is scrubbing my existence from the database,’ he realized.
"You cannot execute that asset freeze without a matching record," Fin said, pointing at the failed command.
"Guards, detain this unregistered stray immediately!" the auditor shrieked, backing toward the hallway railing.
"That is an asset warrant, not an arrest warrant," Fin answered. "Name a separate charge before you touch me."
Loud footsteps clattered up the stairs below as Ruby crested the landing in full silver armor.
Her kite shield gleamed in the dim hallway light, and her spear tip leveled directly at the auditor’s throat.
"Special Outbreak Enforcement Unit Vega-Six," Ruby announced, flashing a crimson clearance badge with a stern glare.
"This sector is under outbreak command. Show the countersignature authorizing armed enforcement here," she demanded.
"This is an administrative audit from the Central Directorate!" the auditor protested, waving his useless tablet.
"Your administrative audit is trespassing in an active military operational sector," Ruby retorted without hesitation.
She held her badge beneath the landing camera, identifying herself for the building’s recording.
The auditor searched his tablet again, finding no outbreak command countersignature attached to the order.
The four armed guards looked at Ruby’s spear, then at Fin’s calm eyes, and broke into a frantic retreat.
"Get out of this building before I file formal obstruction charges," Ruby shouted down the stairwell.
The sounds of scrambling boots faded into the street below as silence returned to the residential hallway.
"Those corporate auditors are getting bolder every single day," Ruby said, lowering her spear with an irritated sigh.
"Someone on the High Council deleted my official records to make me untraceable," Fin reported, examining his doorstep.
"That means they want you removed from public scrutiny so they can strike without witnesses," Ruby analyzed sharply.
"If the system does not remember my name, it will not track their casualties either," Fin answered grimly.
His sharp eyes caught a glimpse of an unaddressed manila envelope slipped beneath the corner of his entrance mat.
"Save the failed warrant number," Ruby said. "A missing file is trouble, not protection."
"And keep a copy of the footage," Fin answered. "Someone will try to tell a different story about this landing."
Fin picked up the envelope, noting the absence of any municipal postmark or delivery stamp.
He broke the black wax seal, pulling out a single glossy photograph printed on thick card stock.
The photo showed Jolly walking outside District Four Middle School, carrying her backpack with her red notebooks.
A crimson targeting reticle was centered over her face, stamped with bold stenciled letters across the bottom.
[ Subject two confirmed ]
[ Biological resonance: high grade ]
[ Harvest scheduled: phase 4 implementation ]
Fin stared at the photograph until Ruby reached across to lower his trembling hand.
A quiet, terrifying fury detonated behind his ribs, sending shockwaves through his newly enhanced physical frame.
He drove his heel into the threshold before he caught himself, putting strength where the boards could not bear it.
The floorboards beneath his combat boots cracked with a sharp snap, splitting straight across the hallway threshold.
The fracture stopped at the next support, leaving the damage confined to the threshold.
’They watched my sister at her school,’ he thought, his fingers tightening with restrained rage.
’They put a targeting crosshair over my family because they want to harvest her soul for another synthetic vat,’ he realized.
Fin carefully placed the photograph into his Sub-space Inventory, locking the item away behind secure mental barriers.
[ Inventory updated: Jolly surveillance photograph (subject two stamped) stored ]
[ Threat level escalated: immediate family targeted ]
"Fin?" Ruby asked softly, noticing the broken board beneath his heel.
"They marked Jolly as Subject Two for their Phase Four harvest," Fin said, his voice dropping to a whisper.
"Genesis is going to pay every single cent of that debt in blood," Ruby replied, her knuckles tightening on her spear.
"We are not waiting for them to send another batch of mutants to our doorstep," Fin declared.
"We gather the squad tonight and burn every laboratory they own in this city," he added with deadly resolve.
"I will contact Maya and assemble the Iron Dogs at our covert staging point," Ruby promised, nodding firmly.
"Tell Bram to bring all spare barricade spikes and incendiary canisters from Depot Four," Fin instructed.
"We need to move Jolly to the fortified shelter beneath Teacher Sefu’s classroom before sunset," Ruby noted.
"Teacher Sefu locked the secondary blast doors, so she will be safe with the other students," he agreed.
"Once your sister is secure behind the blast gates, our squad operates with zero operational restraints," Ruby added.
"Zero restraints and zero mercy for anyone involved in this project," Fin answered, checking his blade sheaths.
He stepped inside the apartment, setting the parcel of fish on the kitchen counter beside Jolly’s empty pencil cup.
He marked the broken threshold with a chair so nobody would catch a foot in it.
Fin looked at the patched window where afternoon light spilled across the kitchen table, his heart turning into flint.
"Nobody touches my sister," Fin said into the quiet room.
"Nobody."