Please note that Tapas no longer supports Internet Explorer.
We recommend upgrading to the latest Microsoft Edge, Google Chrome, or Firefox.
Home
Comics
Novels
Community
Mature
More
Help Discord Forums Newsfeed Contact Merch Shop
Publish
Home
Comics
Novels
Community
Mature
More
Help Discord Forums Newsfeed Contact Merch Shop
__anonymous__
__anonymous__
0
  • Publish
  • Ink shop
  • Redeem code
  • Settings
  • Log out

Neon Lights: Noble Cause

The Rendevous 2/2

The Rendevous 2/2

Sep 25, 2026

-----

 

Brite stares outside the car as they pass lines of traffic. Her fluffed hair bunching against the window as she leans against it. The two have been on a fast pace from where Blink found her, record time really. She readjusts her improvised cotton sling.

“Don’t mess with the sling unless you want a lopsided arm.” She looks over at the glowing eyed man driving the car. Blink has barely moved the entire car ride, you wouldn’t even know he was alive if it weren’t for the comment.

Brite takes a breath before finally attempting to break the ice.

"So..I...uh....thanks for saving me back there..!" She looks at Blink who doesn't change his focus. He simply nods. "It’s part of the job." 

There's another pause in the car before Brite reattempts.

"Yeah! I figured and- and it uh- it was pretty impressive!...The fighting I mean. Kinda like those old kung fu movies! Though I'm not sure what that whole lightning thing was about...or the mummy....clothes..." She says with a cheerful grin. Blink remains unresponsive but he makes a slight nudge with his neck. "...I- I feel we may have gotten on the wrong foot here. I’d like to introduce myself!...despite you already knowing who I am. My name is Brite! Brite Fiore No-…Briteny, or just Brite really …and-and you are?" The keyrunner tilts his head before looking at Brite for a second then eyes back at the road.

“Blink.” 

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Blink!” She says her eyes closed and her smile wide. “You know I-I’ve heard a lot about you! Stories, I mean. Is-is it true? What the Travis guy said earlier..? You taking out a whole drug ring on your own..?” 

Blink eyes over at her with those same tired eyes again and Brite feels herself freeze in the seat for a few seconds. Unable to read what he means with his silence or if it means anything at all. “Stories are just that..Stories.” The car goes silent again.

The car remains quiet until a little orange dot begins to reappear on the screen. Brite becomes enamoured as Cle0 begins to manifest. She walks into view from the side of the screen with her hands behind her back in a rather sarcastic posture. "You must forgive my brother Blink here, Ms. Noble. He's not very good at the whole talking thing." Brite is bewildered by the figure speaking in what can only be described as a cross between a synthesizer and a vocaloid. The synthesis is so tuned that the inflections are to a near organic rhythm. A robot that was autotuned to sound human.

Blink looks at the wireframe and sighs "You weren't supposed to show yourself Cle0 we talked about thi-"

"Well, maybe if you were a better talker I wouldn't have to show myself and save this car from collapsing under the tension you seem to love to make. Besides, I already scanned Ms Brite and she shows only a .005% chance of any malevolent intent." She gives a wink to the girl. "That's very low by the way."

“Bad intent or not, she’s a liability.” He says bluntly keeping his eyes on the road.

Brite chuckles nervously before looking back at Cle0. "Well, I'm happy to give a good first impression, uh Miss Cle0? I’m not entirely sure what I’m looking at here, a video call? I would think you were a Construct but I thought that type of tech's been outlawed in this city."

"It is." Blink says looking at her with a piercing glare. 

"Oh Blink for the last time will you come off with that 'edgy-ness'! I already said she's nothing to be wary of."

Blink makes a tsk noise before beginning to respond but is interrupted by a ringtone from the dash.
 "...It’s Dust." Cle0 exclaims.

 "Dust? He's probably wondering why we're not there yet-" Blink presses the answer button. Instantly the three are blasted by what sounds like a wind tunnel.

"Hey!" Dust yells being barely intelligible. “Hey! Y’there Blinky Boy?”

"Dust? Where are you? what's going on?" Blink says trying to break through the wind. “Why aren’t you at the rendezvous location?”

"Uh well see, we were but uh there's been a change of plans, yeah...Cods uh- Cods is injured, yeah...yeah we were compromised and are now being...pursued but don't worry ‘bout us! We'll just need to meet somewhere more secure."

"What? What do you mean?" Blink retorts 

"LISTEN! There's no time for talk. Nobles are on our ass as we speak but we'll be there alright? Give me some time."

"Be where?"

"Where else, Blinky Boy?" Blink hears this and immediately frowns.

"I can't believe this."

"Keep the girl safe and we'll see y'all reaaal soo-" The line ends and Blink is notably annoyed. The car goes quiet again.

"Idiot! What does he think is going to happen?" Blink begins to lose his cool till he looks at Cle0 and Brite and sighs "Dust is saying he's going to meet us at the Cargo ship...we’re going after him before he gets our location compromised." Brite puzzled looks at Cle0. "It's where we live, an apartment complex." Brite makes an ahhhh okay face.

"An apartment complex that doesn't just include us. He's potentially bringing more people to a place that I need to stay under the radar." 
Brite begins to understand the situation and looks out the window to see a few cars beginning to speed up against them. Blink quickly takes note of the suspicious behavior. "Cle0 get me pings on these autos and Dust's location, we're going to him. I need any alternate routes you can throw at me."

"But Dust sai-"

"I understand what he said, just get me his location please."

"Alright Alright... Tracking 3 Noble affiliated autos in pursuit and more on the way, There’s another object approaching from the rendezvous point but it isn't the two. It’s smaller, looks like a-?" 

“ATTENTION CITIZEN" an automated voice blares from the noble sponsored autocars next to them. "YOU ARE HARBORING NOBLE FACTION ASSETS. YOU ARE REQUESTED TO PULL OVER AND RELIEVE ASSETS. IGNORING THIS MESSAGE WILL BE NOTIFIED AS RESISTAN-."

Blink presses a button that seals the windows in a metal encase.  The outside cameras flicker to life allowing the two to see the cruisers again now being even closer and nearly surrounding the car. Humanoid robot drones from inside the Noble autos, begin to shoot with Gauss rifles against the reinforced windows. Hot beams of light ricochet off the vehicle as the inner dash alights in response to the dimly lit canopy. Blink flicks a few other switches that are indecipherable to Brite.

Cle0 disappears from view and a wire frame grid replaces her on the dash. Three orange dots appear surrounding a blue dot which Brite presumes is themselves.  "Take a left coming up. It's going to be tight." Cle0 exclaims.

The car's wheels squeal at the sharp turn. Passing an underhanging canopy of metal roofing, Blink emergency breaks out of the surrounding cruisers and immediately drifts into an alleyway. He narrowly dodges one of the cruisers on his right and speeds in, again only missing nearby debris by a hair. Their car and the tailing assailants are now encompassed by a brick and metal jungle. Brite holds onto anything she can brace to with her good arm, her eyes wide. Here hands are clammy and shaking, overcome with terror and thrill.

Blink takes a glance at the rear view camera. "Still one following us…” the KeyRunner flicks one more switch. A whirring sound is heard from the back of his car as a small hatch under the trunk opens. Brite watches the rear camera as pieces of shrapnel fall to the ground meeting the pursuer's tires. Popping sounds coupled with bending metal are heard from behind them as it flips. The camera shuts off and all Brite hears after is crushing metal and falling debris made of more metal and brick. She's speechless white knuckle gripped on the dash. Blink looks at the camera and remains quiet.  


“Cle0 get those other autos on the tracker.”

“They’re not chasing us anymore.”

“What? What do you mean…?” Blink looks to the tracker to see those blue dots following that one from before veering off their trail.

"We need to take the lucky break Blink. Dust's location is imminent!"

"Already?" Brite reflexively shouts.

"When you ask for a shortcut, I can only give the most optimal."  The orange woman responds with sarcasm. "No worries for any debris! We'll be driving right next to their current location in 10 seconds! The highway bridge is unfinished, lacks any safety barrier. I'm not sure what they're driving right now but we only have 2 minutes before we run out of road ourselves, we need to act fast Blink." Blink and Brite both look over in the direction of the hover traffic to see two men hanging over a speeding automated hover truck.
"You have to be kidding me." He mumbles under his breath. He dials for Dust again, visibly irritated. Dust immediately answers once again the sweeping wind blares from the speaker.

"Yellow?" 

"I'm on your right." Blink grits through his teeth. "You both will need to jump from the truck."

"Well you don't have to scream, I can hear you loud and clear otherwise aaand see I wish we could Blinky boy but Cods'...uh Cods' leg is out of commission right now."

Blink clicks his tongue and looks at Brite. "I need you to drive." 

"What? With this arm??" 

"The two men there are your ticket out of this city. They will not be able to complete that task if they are stuck on a moving truck. Take the wheel."

"But I can’t-! I just said m-my arm is-!"

"Dust. Get to the top of the truck with Cods. You’re gonna carry him and jump when I tell you."  Brite watches the two as Dust climbs to the top of the truck helping Cods climb with no use of his left leg. He looks at her to which Brite immediately perks up. "When they jump, I'll need you to slam the brakes. Pull this lever here with your good hand, it's the emergency brake. I'll tell you when." Brite is pale in the face but she nods anyways. She can't help but feel his confidence to be contagious.

"Alrighty, in position Blinky!" Dust shouts from the dash.

"Just like that???" Brite mumbles her psyching up process now interupted. Blink flicks a switch and slowly his car door begin to open. The smell of rained asphalt bellows into the car. Even with the harsh wind Brite can hear the heavy hover traffic flying by next to them. Blink doesn't even give a warning, letting go of the wheel, leaving Brite to scramble. She jumps to the driver side, grabbing the wheel with her good arm keeping the speeding car aligned to the road and not careening into oblivion. The car is on cruise speeding down the highway. Brite looks to see they’re going at least 60 MPH, Blink leans out as they finally reach the truck's broadside, almost veering off the road. 

“30 feet away now to the west. You have 30 seconds. Whatever it is you're planning, do it now Blink.” Cle0 exclaims from the car’s speakers. Brite’s thinking is just about the same, what IS this man planning to do, the men are not in grabbing distance at all. Nonetheless, Blink leers at Dust and Cods as the two stand at the top. Just to guesstimate Brite can see the two have to clear least 20 feet. Cle0 sounds from the dash her voice slightly wavering.

"Half a Mile Blink. 10 seconds before stopping is not foreseeable." Blink looks at the end of the road and back at the two on truck.

"DUST, JUMP!" In that moment, Brite feels that fuzzy feeling again from. This time a bit stronger as if she's in a free fall. She looks around and takes notice of the wind taking a pause for the moment. as well as the traffic outside are seemingly going at a steady pace. Her own now riding at walking speed. Is she dying again? They say your life flashes before you eyes right before somethign like this happens. She looks over at the dashboard to see Cle0 looking back at her rather surprised. Finally, she glances over the keyrunner who's seemingly the only thing normal in this situation. Just leaning over the door rather normally or at least as normal as you can be. Eyes blinking like nothings different, only watching the cowboy in the distance who seems to be taking his sweet sweet time getting ready. Brite looks to the cowboy as well, seeing him contract his legs against the truck. With a single breath, He releases the tension and the two men fly from the truck with a dent left in the metal as he makes the jump. Brite watches Blink reach out for the two and finally feels her senses begin to catch up to her. The road now speeding back into place.

"BRAKE. BRAKE NOW!" 

She slams the brake pedal, pulls the emergency brake and listen to the spiked car tires squeal in agony as the pavement crunches beneath the reinforced grip. The car nearly skirts off the edge, just a hair from the end of the road into oblivion. Brite heaving looks over at Blink with his arm hanging off the swung up door and his leg barely hitting the pavement.

Brite watches the car suddenly power down as Cle0 gives her another look of intrigue, cracking a smile. "How peculiar." She beeps off the screen as she begins the cars diagnostic check. The girl looks back at Blink again, unsure what facial expression to make. Something between nauseous and exhilarated. She only just now noticed some grey looking filament hanging out of Blinks hand, the filament is striking similar to that mummy wrappings from before. Her senses are numb, all she can feel is her hands shaking and her head filling with sand. As if the overwhelming sense of relief had hit her with a sleep spell. Her head pulls her down against the headrest and she makes one last look at Blink pulling the two men up to safety before succumbing to the spell.

gearsio
gearsio

Creator

With the two finally on route to the meet up point, Brite attempts conversation with the KeyRunner who is simply not having it.

Comments (0)

See all
Add a comment

Recommendation for you

  • Blood Moon

    Recommendation

    Blood Moon

    BL 48.1k likes

  • Secunda

    Recommendation

    Secunda

    Romance Fantasy 43.8k likes

  • Touch

    Recommendation

    Touch

    BL 15.8k likes

  • Flower Girl

    Recommendation

    Flower Girl

    Mystery 2.2k likes

  • What Makes a Monster

    Recommendation

    What Makes a Monster

    BL 77.7k likes

  • Depths

    Recommendation

    Depths

    Science fiction 301 likes

  • feeling lucky

    Feeling lucky

    Random series you may like

Neon Lights: Noble Cause
Neon Lights: Noble Cause

331 views2 subscribers

6 years have passed since the death of his father, a cyborg KeyRunner named Blink, searches the underground mega city of Neo Vegas in hopes to bring justice to the untimely death. It's here he meets a runaway by the name of Brite. A mysterious girl who may just hold the lead he's been searching for but in this unlikely alliance do they soon discover their fates are far more intertwined than they thought in a conspiracy that runs deeper than the city itself.
Subscribe

8 episodes

The Rendevous 2/2

The Rendevous 2/2

9 views 0 likes 0 comments


Style
More
Like
List
Comment

Prev
Next

Full
Exit
0
0
Prev
Next