The Bodyguard II
Andrea’s decision to join the OCSF was a source of immense pride for her family. However, her close friends were less thrilled. For years they’d been the type to hang around in the sewers, spending their time scavenging the unfinished Outer City. They had always derided the Inner City’s leadership and lamented about all of them being an afterthought, a group to either ignore or oppress. The mentality held by the majority in the Outer City was “us against them”. It was no different for Andrea’s friendship group. They strongly believed the Inner Citizens were undeserving resource hoarders, whereas the hard-working Outer Citizens had been left with next to nothing.
What was once idle complaining between disgruntled teens eventually developed into plans of action as they matured into hardened, indignant young adults. But when she told them about the opportunities her career could provide, her friends didn’t see joining the Inner City’s “Olive Branch” OCSF as an acceptable answer. They knew in their hearts that the only way to get the resources to continue building the Outer City was to take them – by protest if necessary and not exclusively peaceful. And so, on the day of Andrea’s acceptance into the security forces, she was no longer able to call most of those she had spent her youth with friends. They ostracized her for siding with “the enemy”.
Only her two closest friends kept in contact with her. The two were opposites in size but equal in loyalty to their friend. They came to her graduation party, one giving her a tight hug around her waist, the other lifting her off the ground with a huge bear hug. When it was time to say goodbye, she watched them walk off. She knew things would be different, but was blissfully unaware that this would be the final time she would ever see them through her own eyes…
Working in security was everything she hoped it would be. But there was always more she thought she could do. And that meant she needed a promotion. Ascending the ranks in the force was not as straightforward as she had imagined, and justice often took a different shape than her compassionate nature would have liked. But rise she did. Once she reached High Officer, it became more difficult to keep up with her peers. The more authority she gained, the less respect she received from her new peer group. Then there was the calibre of criminal she was expected to go up against.
In the field, it was all too common to augment the self with cybernetics. Though Andrea was initially trepidatious, the benefits quickly became tempting. They’d definitely prove useful when ambushing whole criminal syndicates by herself. Simple arm and leg enhancements were all she felt she needed, and she was correct, soon becoming an Elite Officer.
Though she was making good money, her family depended on her financial support. From schooling costs to medical bills, every credit earned when into their care. This meant she could not afford the further augments required to qualify for the highest role one from the Outer City could achieve; Tech Squad.
For her, management was never the goal. She preferred to be out on the streets, interacting with the people she was actively helping and seeing the situations they were in firsthand. It was important to her to have a personal connection with those she was assisting. Andrea didn’t want to forget where she came from. Though that wasn’t hard. Every day was a constant reminder that she had to live behind a blockade of class. Walking a fine financial balance was a constant stress. She couldn’t both provide for her family and simultaneously get enough enhancements to get promoted to the role she wanted to become. It was an unfortunate and unpleasant conundrum.
Her languishing did not last long, however, for whispers began of something that was about to change the lives of everyone in both the Inner and Outer City districts: A barrier would be activated in the coming weeks, one that would forever divide both regions. Andrea probed her commanding officers to find out what that meant exactly. Those that had connections to the barrier construction teams informed her that it would completely restrict travel and what little supplies were being sent to the unfinished zone.
This meant many things. The Outer City would be completely abandoned, left to fend for themselves. There would be uproar, riots, and a whole lot more work for her. Would Andrea be able to keep up with her minimal augmentations? That was only the start of her long list of troubles to come.
On one of the following days, a powerful Executive from the Inner City by the name of Duun Strutts, took a tour of the local security station, looking to bolster his personal security detail. The brass of the station ordered all officers who resided in the Outer City to line up for inspection. When the tycoon laid eyes on Andrea, he stopped in his tracks and immediately approached her. She felt her skin crawl as he complimented its alabaster nature and pushed a lock of her shock-blonde hair out of her face. She had the good sense not to flinch away from the unwanted touch despite her innate desire to. He stared into her azure eyes and commented to her Chief and Commissioner that “it would be a waste to let one as beautiful as this” be locked out of the Inner zone.
The new position would require her to relocate to the Inner City and join the conglomerated City Security Force. She knew there was no way to turn down this offer without dire consequences. In that moment, all eyes on her, she had no one to turn to. She felt hope sink out of her as they continued to explain the position. Panic struck her knowing she would have to abandon her family outside the gate, leaving them to fend for themselves. Despite knowing it was a death wish, for the sake of her family, she had to refuse the offer. However, before she could get a single word out, as if reading her mind, the Executive guaranteed to bring her family along with her, as well as finance her augments that would place her far above Tech Squad. He had done his homework. Now there was neither true choice nor option. In what would become the biggest regret of her life, she agreed then and there.
GuNNhead 
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