| Health: 100% |

| Body Equilibrium: 16% |

| DPS: 15 |

| Defense: 25 |

| Agility: 13 |

| Perception: 27 |

| Intellect: 12 |

| - - - - - - - |

| Arm Holster |

Darius lay face down on an old padded massage table, as Tinker attended to some machinery nearby.

It had only been a few days since Leary’s death, and the memory was still raw for everyone. However, some mild sense of levity was beginning to return, and research needed to be done if they were going to learn what made Darius tick.

“Get comfortable. This could take a while.” Tinker filled a syringe with some clear liquid and injected it into Darius’s side.

“[BODY EQUILIBRIUM] 16%, ability slot enabled”

“Hold on, I’ve got a new ability slot.” Darius said.

“Like with your arm? Man, this is new ground. I’ve never seen cybertech that works like this.” Tinker filled another syringe with amber liquid and injected it in the same place. “What things do you get to choose from this time?”

“Select an ability: Grasshopper - Allows you to jump up to seven feet high; Spinal Decompression - Allows for the ability to land on your feet with minimal injury from moderate heights”

“Higher jumping or safer landings.” Darius said thoughtfully.

“What are you going to choose?” Tinker asked.

“Safer landings. Spinal Decompression, please.”

“[STATEMENT] Spinal Decompression selected.”

| Health: 100% |

| Body Equilibrium: 16% |

| DPS: 15 |

| Defense: 31 |

| Agility: 23 |

| Perception: 27 |

| Intellect: 12 |

| - - - - - - - |

| Arm Holster |

| Spinal Decompression |

“This tech is something else.” Tinker said, while connecting wires to Darius’s chromed spine.

“Should I jump off the roof to test it out?”

“No! Don’t tempt fate.” Tinker secured sensors to the flesh of Darius’s back. “We need you whole if we’re going to pull this off.”

“What exactly is our plan? CURL hasn’t been able to track Geracht down. It’s like he’s disappeared off the face of the planet.”

“Well, we need the parts, and the encryption key. Thanks to the P-Sec Preature interrogated, we know that Del has the key. I guess we just handle whatever comes first. Del knows where we are, and has given us his demands. We don’t know what his timeline is, so we have to act quickly.” Tinker connected the last of the sensors near the base of Darius’s skull. “There, we should be able to get some readings soon. This is much easier when you’re awake.”

“What do you need me to do?”

“Just sit tight for now. You’ll be seeing a mirror image of what I’m doing, soon.” Tinker sat in his swivel chair and rolled it over to the nearby desk. He typed on the keyboard and in a moment, Darius’s vitals and root directory were displayed on both the screen in front of Tinker and the heads up display in Darius’s cybernetic eyes.

“What are we looking for?” Darius asked.

“Anything we’d missed before. The first time we’d taken a look at your file system, we were also trying to save your life. So, we don’t have a complete picture of your systems.”

“Thanks for that, by the way.”

Tinker smirked to himself. “You’re welcome. Now let’s get into that file system of yours. CURL upgraded your security, right?”

“Yep. She says that even she couldn’t get into it now.”

“Hah! That means she installed a backdoor, but don’t worry, you’ll be locked up tight against all but the best hackers now. The new security won’t hinder what we’re doing here. As long as you’re aware and willing, we’ll be able to explore the system.”

“Okay, what’s next?” Darius asked.

Tinker typed on the keyboard, eyes focused on the screen. “Well, now we explore. I’m looking for anything that might give us a better idea of how your tech works. What we know so far is that the spine seems to be the core of this setup, not a neural core as is the norm these days. This is good, because it’s almost like you have a second brain, which is focused on your healing and protection.”

“That explains a lot. It answers my questions to a certain degree.”

“Simple AI, I’d imagine. It makes sense, given all that your system is managing. It would need to have some way to interface with your own brain as well, and I think that’s why it’s connected to your central nervous system.”

“My father must have been working on this for years.”

“I’d say so. Your arms appear to be the earliest of your cybernetics. Originally installed on someone else. Does the name Donna Byun mean anything to you?”

“She was my mother.”

“Then these arms used to be hers.” Tinker spoke hesitantly.

“That’s what Del meant when he saw them. He said that my father was a sentimental fool.” Darius remembered.

“Your father was a genius, as far as I’m concerned. Too bad it skips a generation.” Tinker joked.

“Hey!”

“I’m kidding. Now hold still. I’m losing some of the readings when you move.”

Tinker worked on the keyboard for another moment, exploring the file system.

“I see the operating system files. Most of them are protected files, so I can’t open them or interact with them in any way. Let’s check for that cybernetics registry again. No, nothing. Still no registry.”

“What do you mean?” Darius commented on the mirror image within his vision. “I see a file.”

“I’m not seeing it on my screen. The folder is empty.”

“I see it clearly. It’s called darius.extex”

“That’s an extex multimedia text file. It could contain almost anything. Why don’t I see it here?” Tinker pulled out an optical data cable, capable of carrying video and audio data via light. He plugged it from Darius’s spine, directly into his monitor. “Whoa, I see it. That’s some fancy trick to hide a file.”

“Let’s open it.” Darius said.

Tinker tries to open the file, but a password prompt pops up. “Password protected, damn. We’ll need to get CURL to crack it.”

“Wait! Try my mother’s name. Try Donna Byun, upper camel case, and with no spaces.”

Tinker typed it in, but it failed. He tried it again using numbers in place of some letters, but it failed again. Then he tried DONNA, all caps. The file opens, displaying a video of Gradius Byun sitting in a workshop.