Crisis Management (Cyberpunk)

Fight or Flight is the seventeenth episode of Cyberpunk. The previous was Resurrection Man, and the next is Fight or Flight.

Story
James Milton sat at his office desk with a cup of coffee and turned on his holographic television.

“Business magnate Cecil Carpfish was found dead this morning. Cause of death is not known,” said an announcer.

Milton smiled as he took a sip of coffee. Suddenly, Charles Rutherford burst into his office.

“What the hell, Milton?” screeched Rutherford.

“Hello to you, too,” said Milton.

“You knew you couldn’t beat Cecil, so you had him killed!”

“That’s an interesting theory.”

“This is low even for you! You won’t get away with this! The Pacific City police will be standing right where I am to arrest you in a few hours! I guarantee it!” Milton took another sip of coffee and looked back up at the holographic television.

“Breaking news! The PCPD has just released details of Cecil Carpfish’s death! It has been ruled a suicide,” said the announcer.

Another holographic screen appeared showing the commissioner of the Pacific City Police Department standing behind a podium.

“I’m glad my boys were able to wrap this up as quickly as they did and bring closure to Mr. Carpfish’s family,” said the commissioner.

“This can’t be possible,” whispered Rutherford.

“I guess the stress in Cecil’s life finally caught with him,” said Milton. “It’s sad. He was a good man.”

Rutherford clenched one of his fins into a fist and used the other to grab Milton’s cup of coffee and throw it through the holographic television, behind which it shattered.

“Neptune, man! You don’t have to throw a tantrum!” said Milton.

“What did you do, bribe the whole police department?” Rutherford asked him.

“No!” said Milton. “Not even I have that kind of money.”

“Then how did you do it? How did you get them to cover up Cecil’s death? How did you even kill Cecil in the first place? He has one of the most secure homes in the ocean.”

“The answer to those questions is obvious. I didn’t do it.”

“Keep lying! I don’t care! I’ll run against you myself if I have to.”

“I won’t stop you.”

“Yes, you will. I’ll probably end up like Cecil, won’t I? Doesn’t matter. Unlike you, I have integrity. ”

Rutherford walked out of the office, and Milton took a deep breath before dialing Sam’s number on his wristphone.

“I’m sorry,” said a feminine voice from the wristphone. “That number is unavailable.”

“Damn it,” said Milton. “I guess he really is done with me.”

Milton looked at the pool of black coffee underneath the holographic television. He didn’t usually drink his coffee black, but he wanted to try something new that day. He was almost relieved that Rutherford spilled it, because it tasted terrible.

He walked over the mess and used a rag to clean it up. While he was doing so, a piece of broken cup punctured his hand, reminding him of Cyclops shattering a mirror over his knee. Milton hyperventilated as he saw the blood rush from his palm, but he quickly regained his composure and wrapped the rag, now black with coffee stains, around his hand. He then used a feather duster to sweep the pieces of cup into a garbage bin.

Milton returned to his desk, putting his head down on the smooth wood as he listened to the holographic television. This office was all he had now, and he wouldn’t let anybody take it away from him. He killed for it once, and he would kill for it again, though he hoped he wouldn’t have to this time. He didn’t have to. At least not yet.

SpongeBryan lay in his bed after another sleepless night. Pat and Ron tip-toed into the apartment.

"I'm awake," he said.

"Oh," said Pat. "How are you?"

"I still want Wally dead, if that's what you're wondering," said SpongeBryan.

Pat was quiet.

"But I don't want to be the person to kill him anymore," SpongeBryan continued. "Wally must have had a lot of anger inside him to do what he did. The last thing I want is to end up like that."

"You're right," said Ron. "He isn't worth it"

"I doubt we’ve seen the last of him, though,” said SpongeBryan.

“If he comes after us, we’ll deal with it,” said Pat. “After all, we’ve dealt with worse.”

“Yeah,” agreed Ron. “Wally’s nothing compared to his father. I’m sorry he died, but I’m glad he isn’t out there zapping people anymore.”

Sam opened the box containing his new wristphone. As he attached it to his wrist, he heard the doorbell ring.

“It’s me!” said Wally, standing on the porch of Sam’s house. “I brought food!”

Sam let Wally in, and Wally gave him two bags of groceries.

“Thank you for doing this,” said Sam, taking the groceries into the kitchen.

“Don’t even think about it,” said Wally. “I still can’t believe you’re here. Why didn’t you tell me sooner?”

Sam put the groceries on a table and turned around. “Because letting anybody know I’m alive is risky. I wanted to call you as soon as I came back, but Milton talked me out of it, saying he didn’t know if this was permanent and that I shouldn’t bring your hopes up.”

“Wait, Milton? The mayor of Alveus?”

“Yeah.”

“The same man who ordered the attack that killed you in the first place?”

“He did what?”

Wally’s eyes widened. “Oh…you didn’t know, did you?”

“Of course. He didn’t tell me. Of course he didn’t tell me!”

Sam grabbed a hat and sunglasses and ran towards the front door. Wally stopped him, holding him by the shirt.

“Where are you going?” asked Wally.

“I’m going to have a conversation with Mayor Milton.”

“Please don’t do that. You have enough blood on your hands.”

“You want to know why I killed Cecil Carpfish?”

Wally closed his eyes, trying not to think about it.

“The day I asked you about your Harp00ner system, Carpfish, who uses the system, turns up dead. It’s okay. I know you know,” said Sam.

After a minute, Wally opened his eyes. “Why did you do it?”

“It was a favor to him. To Milton. He told me I owed him.” Sam laughed. “He told me I owed him!”

“Dad, he’s still your friend,” said Wally. “He probably didn’t know that you were with us when he had Cecil send the robots.”

“What kind of friend lies to you for six months? I’ll tell you. Someone who isn’t really a friend.”

Wally looked down.

“Please let go of my shirt,” said Sam.

“SpongeBryan and I had a falling out!” Wally screamed. “And it was my fault!”

“What?”

“After you died, or I thought you died, I blamed him. Him and his friends. I went crazy. I spent the next six months going on ‘shopping trips’ with them, learning everything I could about how they circumvented the security systems in the Upper Ring and then using their knowledge against them in the form of Harp00ner.”

”That’s why you created Harp00ner?”

“I wasn’t exactly a security nut before then. Yesterday, SpongeBryan found out, and we got into a fight. I stabbed him. Neptune, I stabbed him! Then you called me, and you asked me to meet you here, and I was so happy you were alive. I was so happy I didn’t even notice how interested you were in Harp00ner. I didn’t care. When I returned to Alveus, I was prepared to put everything behind me, but SpongeBryan and his friends attacked me, and I just went crazy again. I don’t know what’s wrong with me. I need you, dad. I need you to be here for me.”

Wally looked up again to show that his eyes were filled with tears.

“I want to be there for you,” said Sam. “I want to be there for you the way my father wasn’t there for me, but…I can’t.”

Sam let a small spark of electricity escape his finger, and it shocked Wally’s hand. Wally let go of Sam’s shirt, and Sam stormed out of the house. Wally looked down at his hand and saw that it was burnt. He wiped the tears away from his eyes as he left the house, ignited his rocket boots and flew towards Alveus, hoping to catch up with his father and stop him.

Jim took the order of an elderly couple seated in the corner of the restaurant.

“Hey, I know you!” the woman of the couple realized. “You’re the son of that man. What was his name, dear?”

“Mr. Carpfish,” grumbled her husband, who didn’t seem to want to be there.

“That’s it,” said the woman. “I’m so sorry for your loss.”

“Thank you,” said Jim. “I’ll be back with your food later.”

As Jim walked away from the table, the manager approached him.

“You know, you didn’t have to come today,” said the manager. “I would have understood.”

“No, the best thing for me right now is to keep busy,” said Jim. “Besides, I need the money.”

“What about your inheritance?” asked the manager.

“I turned it down. I still want nothing to do with him or his company. He killed any chance we had of reconciling when he killed himself.”

The manager sighed. “Come to my office. I have something to tell you.”

Jim walked into a small, cluttered office room with his manager behind him. The manager locked the door.

“Your father didn’t kill himself,” said the manager.

“What?” said Jim. “How would you know that?”

“I got a visit yesterday.”

“From who?”

“Electric Man.”

Jim was confused. “That’s not possible. He’s dead.”

“Apparently not, because he was alive and breathing when I saw him. He told me that you were going to ask to leave early so you could talk with your father, and he told me to say we were too busy and that I couldn’t allow that.”

“Why would he do that?”

The manager thought for a minute. “I saw him following your dad after he left. My guess is he’s the one who killed Mr. Carpfish.”

“But the cops said it was a suicide. They’d know if it was Electric Man’s work. Why would they lie?”

“Self-preservation. If the rest of Pacific City learned that Electric Man was alive and out on the streets killing people, there’d be panic. The police force would have to find and arrest him fast, and Electric Man wasn’t just a war hero. He was a bounty hunter. He knew the best ways to find people, and more importantly, he knew the best ways to get lost. A manhunt would yield nothing, and the cops know this. They figure the easiest thing to do is tell the public that your dad offed himself and wash their hands of this.”

“I can’t believe it,” breathed Jim.

“It’s the truth. Electric Man told me he’d kill me if I told you or anybody else about our meeting, but I’d rather die than have this on my conscience any longer.”

“I…I’ve got to get back to work.”

“Suit yourself.”

Jim stopped halfway out the door. “No. You know what? I think I’ll take a break today, after all.”

Jim changed out of his suit, walked out of the restaurant, and hailed a taxi.

“Where to?” said the taxi driver.

“Alveus,” said Jim.

Ron flipped through the channels of the holographic television in his and Pat’s grocery store.

“Wait, go back to the last one,” said SpongeBryan, who was eating from a bag of kelp chips.

Ron flipped to the previous channel, which had the announcer from before.

“…PCPD confirms Cecil Carpfish’s death was a suicide,” said the announcer.

“Whoa,” said Pat. “Really?”

“I did not expect that,” said Ron. “He had everything. Money, power, money. Why would he commit suicide?”

“It’s not that simple,” said SpongeBryan. “I doubt his life was perfect. Hell, he had a son who hated him.”

“Speaking of that, I wonder how Jim is taking it,” said Pat. “I know they weren’t on speaking terms, but he was still Jim’s father.”

There was a knock on the door.

“A customer! We finally have a customer!” said Ron.

“We’re open!” said SpongeBryan.

Wally walked in.

“Oh, shit! Did you bring the laser guns?” asked Ron.

“No, I don’t carry laser guns everywhere with me,” said Pat.

“Don’t worry! I come in peace,” said Wally. “I came here because I need your help.”

“Why would we help you? After everything?” hissed SpongeBryan.

“I know. At this point, I wouldn’t help myself. But this isn’t about me. This is about my dad,” said Wally.

“What are you talking about? Your father’s dead,” said Pat.

“No, he isn’t. He came back to life,” said Wally.

“How?” asked Ron. “I don’t know,” admitted Wally. “But one thing I do know is that he killed Cecil Carpfish, and he’s going to kill the mayor!”

“He didn’t kill Cecil Carpfish,” said SpongeBryan. “Cecil Carpfish killed himself.”

“No, my dad killed him. The cops are covering it up,” said Wally.

“Why should we believe you? How do we know this isn’t one of your tricks?” asked Pat.

“I’m done scheming. I just want to save the mayor before my dad gets to him. If Milton dies, whoever replaces him will be a lot worse,” said Wally.

“He’s right,” said SpongeBryan. “Milton’s been the only thing keeping this city together since Cyclops’ attack. Without him, there could be civil war.”

“Damn,” said Ron. “We have to help him, don’t we?”

“Yeah,” said SpongeBryan. “But if this is another trap, Wally, I swear to Neptune…”

“It’s not,” Wally interrupted. “You have my word.”

“Well,” said Pat. “What are we waiting for? Let’s go back to the apartment and get our laser guns!”

“The laser guns you should have had on you this entire time?” asked Ron.

“Shut up,” said Pat.

SpongeBryan, Pat, Ron, and Wally exited the grocery store as a taxi containing Jim Carpfish entered Alveus. Jim saw a lomg, jagged line of electricity cut through the darkness in front of the taxi.

“Could it be?” wondered Jim.

“Looks like we’ve got some lightning,” said the taxi driver.

“Yeah. Lightning.”