What the hell does she mean? “Don’t trust Sargent Gonzada?” That’s…Ludicrous. I thought bitterly, passing through the commissioner’s door.

The change in light made about of inertia strike, but my mind was elsewhere, ignoring how my body felt. As I looked ahead, the secretary’s face was a lot more relaxed than it was before, hell, she even smiled, brushing her pink-tipped bangs from across the forehead as she told me to have a great day.

Whatever.

I stomped my way out of the waiting room. Now, how in the Imbibe would I get that done? I’d just been told not to trust my closest ally in BLED.

Whatever.

I slapped the elevator button five times before realising it was already highlighted, indicating it was already on its way up. Like that mattered. The only thing that coursed through my mind was what the commissioner said. I may appear cold as ice on the outside, at times, but on the inside, I was boiling furnace, ready to blow at any moment.

The elevator bell dinged, then light flooded through the door as it split open as if it was searching for light as it burrowed its way through a small tunnel. If this were a movie scene, I’m sure the violins would’ve been playing some sort of sonata. My life was no movie but it sure as hell felt like a damn tragedy.

Lieutenant Eclain walked through the door, hair black as polish, slipped back with his signature frustrated glum snake grin painted across his face. The bastard chin seemed to be pointier than usual, whilst his nose and his eyes had given him a hawk-like appearance. He too was cybernetic. SMB indicator pulsing at his right temple, beneath his pale skin.

Eclain wore the same combat boots I met him with three seven months ago. Long brown baggy pants, stuff into the boots and wearing a black leather trench coat, which matched his hair perfectly.

“Cypher,” He said gruffly, “didn’t expect you to be in such high places…being the trash that you are, that is.”

“Trash comes in all sizes, Eclain, you should know that, didn’t you just get that arm of yours from the skip out back?”

“Skip outback? Weren’t you the one that paid this?” He said, dangling his new arm.

“Paid. Yes. Found? No.”

Eclain smiled grimly, licking his thin lips, then proceeded to walk by me. So I did the same, entering the elevator and ignoring the bastard as best as I could.

I tapped the button for the bottom floor and watched as Eclain turned around, slipping his hand between the closing doors. The elevator doors opened back up and Eclain walked up to me.

The heavy scent of coffee and curry trailed from his breath like acid, making my eyes water from the rancid combination.

I caught sight of Eclain’s hand balling into a fist and shifted my head right, my body reacting naturally without much thought.

The bastard raised his knee to my chest, but I blocked it with my left shoulder, then kicked off the elevator wall, sending us both through the door.

A cybernetic arm appeared in front of me. I tilt my head to my right, knelt, then buried my knee into my chest, sending the bastard back two steps.

The moment I repositioned he was right in front of me again, forcing me to send my fist to my left, but the bastard went right, punching right into my jaw.

I skipped back, feeling the burning sensation of Eclains punch, then dabbed my inner jaw with the tongue, feeling the sweet soreness he left me with.

“That’s for the arm…piece of shit!” Eclain spat, turning to hold his chest. He flicked his thumb against his lip and walked in the opposite direction heading towards the commissioner’s office.

The urge to send this man flying through the window was heavy on my mind. At this height, Eclain wouldn’t trouble another soul, but he wasn’t worth it. So I simply ground my teeth and dabbed my gum, letting frustration settle in finally and closed my eyes. “I love this city, but it hates me.”

It took me three hours to get home from the Police District. Apparently, all traffic from the Industrial District was being diverted.

When I say all, I mean everything. Cotton, timber, steel, machinery, automatons, and chemicals. The streets were in a mess, I tried shifting to the highways from the Skylanes, but it was no different.

Thankfully, though, the autopilot was there to assist, and by autopilot, I meant Nova. She literally kept me abreast of what was going on, feeding me GPS, News and most importantly sports updates on my windscreen.

Sadly, no updates on what was happening within the Industrial District throughout the city, which, in my opinion, was quite weird.

The thing is, I couldn’t afford to worry about what was taking place within the city, because I had my own problems to handle and since I took this case. It was pretty clear that they would keep on stacking up on me, trying to relieve me of what little oxygen I had.

There wasn’t much left for me to do at this point, so I hit the hay. I could’ve dived into the case more, thanks to the updates I received from the commissioner, but the mental drag of it all took me out of existence for three hours.

When I finally woke, my head was pounding like a jackhammer on a construction site. Waves of pain emanated around my entire brain. It felt horrible and I hated it; like nails, drilling into my head, then popping like mini-explosions on a minefield.

But what could I do? I had popped two painkillers earlier, knowing full well this would happen, better to feel this for an hour than my jaw groaning in pain for five hours.

The Semantic Memory Board commonly known as a Biochip was a course of multiple neural chipsets ingrained into my brain. If I didn’t have a biochip, I couldn’t use my cybernetic arm and eye to the extent that I could.

It took me three years of training mentally to consciously stimulate my SMB to the level of mastery that I had. I was proud of myself and I should be, according to my doctor anyway.

It does have its drawbacks, though. Using my cybernetics for an extended period gives me headaches such as the one I was feeling now. It wasn’t a case that the chemical makeup of the painkillers would offset my biochip, but more so the overdrive they put my brain in once I take them. It wasn’t the best, but it was short-lived, and with fifteen minutes gone, I surely had to fight this out for another thirty minutes.

Incoming Call

“You’ve got to be shitting me,” I groaned, rolling off the bed hitting my face flat on the ground. “Yes, Rex, what do you want?” I snarled.

“Whaddayamean what do I Want…didn’t you give me some work to do?” He asked, tone laced in sarcasm.

“Fine, Rex, what did you find out?”

“Find out? What is the Imbibe are you talking about?”

“Listen, Rex, right now neural hemicrania is kicking my ass. So either we had a conversation this morning regarding some surveillance footage or your memory is thinner than sand particles straight out of The Waste.”

“Such harsh words…aww. Is this how you are when you take painkillers, Cypher? Such a drag…”

“I know, right?” I said laughing, whilst pulling myself back up onto my bed. “Enough jokes, Rex, did you find anything on the surveillance footage?”

“Surveillance footage?” Rex asked, voice aghast. “Haven’t checked as yet, was looking into the upgrade you needed for your cybernetic arm and eye, maybe that’s why your head‘s on the verge of splitting right now!”

“Wait a minute, you haven’t checked it for 9 whole HOURS?”

“Why would I? That work is as mundane as it gets, but this… software patching and firmware scrubbing, that’s the work of a true artist!” He said, voice beaming.

“Rex…if you don't.”

“Relax, Cypher…I gotchu covered, I sent on over the firmware patch and software patching for arm and eye, alright? I’m about to dive into that footage you sent me, alright?”

“Right…wait a minute. Why is there a damned firmware patch? I thought I just needed the new software update.”

“New software won’t work without the firmware upgrade.”

“This is bullshit, I don’t have time to strip my arm down!”

“It’s either that or go without it for the meantime.”

“My head’s killing me Rex, I can’t strip this down right now.”

“Well, don’t”

Rex was about to hang up, but I needed one more thing done and I truly dreaded it. I wasn’t one to request more than one thing from Rex a day, the bastard was pricey…pricey as hell, but that’s the cost of dealing with an S-Class Cyberweaver.

“I need a favour, Rex.”

“We’ve discussed this, Cypher.”

“I don’t do favours,” We said in unison. “I know, just listen and forget about the credits,” I finished.

“Forget about credits? Whaddaya think me for, Cypher, an activist? I got bills to pay!”

“I need you to look into Gonzada Prezini.”

“Gonzada Prezini…why does this sound…ah right, this is the cop you wanted me to look into, something about him being overly friendly with you”

“Right…him, why in the hell do you want me to look into him again for?”

“I met with the commissioner of BLED and she told me that I shouldn’t trust him.”

“Hold up. Pause. Let’s rewind back to what you just said, you met WHO?”

I groaned to myself over the amateur mistake I’d just made. . Damn it. This headache is killing me! I groaned painfully. I just told, a Cyberweaver, who I literally had to build trust with, that I met with The Commissioner of BLED.

Yes, Rex knew I was an EXiCON, but an EXiCON meeting with the Commissioner herself? If I knew Rex, his paranoid brain was screaming to shit on me and shit on me hard.

“…let’s not get dramatic now, Rex, but yes, I met with the commissioner. I said,

“Why?” Rex asked jovially.

“It’s the case I’m working on, the one you’re—“

“Helping you with?”

“Right…” I whispered.

“EXiCONS don’t report to commissioners, Cypher.”

“You’re right, but will you hear me out?”

“I’m still on the phone, Cypher, I never pegged you to be stupid or irrational, so I’ll listen…but don’t lie to me or I’ll wipe ALL Two Million Credits from your account…right now.”

“You hacked my ACCOUNT!... You bastard.”

“Don’t play with me, Cypher. I don’t know your life, Cypher, nor do I care why you act so frugally with dispensing credits, but I don’t take too keenly to anyone who has relations with Bridge City’s finest. Now talk.”

“I haven’t lied, Rex. It’s in regards to the case; you remember I asked about Protocol B5-10?”