“Right.”

“Right…now as I’ve been tasked to investigate this murder, it seems that it could be a potential serial killer, based on the MO,” I said.

“MO?” Rex asked, confused.

“Modus Operandi of the killer”

“Someone else is dead?”

“Yes…same MO. I just got back from the crime scene.”

“I see, what does this have to do with the Protocol?”

“Nothing. But the protocol has been initiated because something’s going down in the city and the cops are hush-hush about it.”

“Meaning, it’s serious.”

“That’s what I believe.”

“Where does the commissioner come in?”

“She’s the Case Officer for the murders.”

“I’m not following; she’s the case officer for an EXiCON?”

“No…well yes she is, but she’s not one…I’m just reporting to her directly.”

“Why?”

“She mentioned that this could potentially be a serial killer based on the MO from the deaths and she doesn’t want the media to get wind of it.”

“The media? Doesn’t BLED have the biggest propaganda station in all of Bridge City?” Rex said, laughing.

“That’s Antillea’s finest for ya”

“finest…humph,” Rex said. I could hear the gears in his mind grinding against each other, trying to figure out what the commissioner was up to. I was glad for it, because the throbbing sensation in my skull, grew intense with each passing second I sat there, contemplating life.

At least I didn’t allow these headaches to make that yearn for suicide to kick in. That was another drawback of Bionic implants. A poorly done surgery would leave you with intermittent headaches. Some people handled the headaches well, and some couldn’t and preferred to just off themselves rather than live with the persistent pain.

I wasn’t one of them, I had more than one reason to continue living, and no miserly headache, or asshole, would ever stop me from making that happen.

“Alright, Cypher, I’ll do you a solid. This is what’s going on,” Rex finally said, tone still harsher than usual. “Hexan wants to control the narrative, if you say that this B5-whatever is, is in place, that means that she wants to control uncontrollable things, such as serial killers. Whatever is going on within the BLED for them to initiate this protocol? She doesn’t want this “potential” serial killer to harm her chances of getting re-elected.”

“Shrewd, but will it be effective?”

“I surmise that’ll be down to you and your paltry investigating skills.”

“You wound me. You made at least 80K from those paltry skills, Rex.”

“If cops weren’t so dirty I’d gladly work with them, but I’ve heard of too many talented Cyberweavers being betrayed by a cop. I’m good.”

“Duly noted.”

“Make sure to keep my name out of it, Cypher.”

“Always.”

“Good…I'm gone.”

“Wait…I have a question before you go” I asked.

“Did you hack my creditstrip?”

“I did.”

“Why?”

“Because I needed to know who I was dealing with.”

“Wait…you hacked it before working with me.”

“Of course…to know people is to know what they have and what they don’t have Cypher. You have credits but use them sparingly. That told me a few things. You’ve acquired it illegally or it has a purpose.”

I didn’t answer either of his statements, I simply kept my lips drawn to a line and listened over the line for the background noise of his television to fill the void of noiselessness between us.

“I’ll give you a similar warning, Cypher. You’re working with sycophants who want nothing but to keep their place in society.”

“I’ll remember that, will you look into Gonzada?”

“I will. 10K”

“What! That’s—“

“Robbery? That’s fine Cypher.” He snapped, cutting me off instantly.

The line went dead and my headache began to come alive even more intense than it did in the past few minutes. That bastard I hissed to myself, a feeling of annoyance hit me all at once.

I was pissed! Being showed up by the Cyberweaver left me sour, but I knew Rex had his reasons. Cyberweaver drivel at best I spat.

I didn’t do him any favours with the bomb I just dropped, but that’s fine…but 10K? For a simple data dive? One that you’d probably already done, might I add. That’s highway robbery.

“I. ain’t. paying. Shit. Fuck that!” I growled to the tone of my headache.

After wallowing in my self-pity and loneliness for fifteen minutes. I finally pushed myself off the bed and headed to my maintenance room.

I flipped the light switch to the left of the door and made myself as cosy as I possibly could. My maintenance room was the size of a small cabinet that I renovated for this specific purpose.

Maintenance.

It’s not that I didn’t trust the professionals with maintaining my cybernetic arm, but it was recommended that you know how to do self-service.

At times, I tried hard to forget that I left half my face and upper body in the ravine in which the frag detonated all those years ago. But no matter what I did, it still felt fresh.

The devoid feeling of nothingness and the everlasting pain I felt now and then were enough to remind me that my life was far from normal and never will be.

“I miss you both,” I whispered to myself.

After setting myself up, I pulled the drawer to my right, fished in it for a few seconds and pulled out a 200GB USB. I slipped it in the PC I had in the corner and boot loaded the software patch update from the mail Rex sent. Once that was completed, I then slid in an 8GB USB into the PC and boot loaded the firmware patch onto it.

On my wall were different drill bits of varying sizes and a power drill slung on the wall at an angle. I yanked it free, testing the battery with two squeezes of the trigger. The spooling sound of its engine kicked in. Once I was satisfied, I peeled off my synthetic sleeve that covered my cybernetic arm and rested it on the desk.

I removed all the screws from the anti-piercing plating and began to pry it all away, slowly. First part is complete, now for the second. I spooled up the drill once more, removing the secondary plating which was an EMP-Shield for the circuits boards within my arm.

‘The fastest way to take down a cyborg was to throw an EMP grenade’ They said. I never experienced it, but if I did, I’m sure it’d be horrible, but I’m not sure if it’d work, after all…EMP-Shield plating.

I finally removed all the EMP-Shield plating and finally got a good look at the circuit board and battery core inlay of my cybernetic arm.

Dust flaked up from the circuit board and I snapped open a can of compressed air, hissing the circuit board clean.

After a few minutes of spring cleaning the ivory coloured nodes of the circuit boards were finally free to show their true colours. The Coppertone vector lines still held their original colour, well I assumed that was still its original colour.

“Nova shut off systems,” I told the AA.

I felt the grasp the biochip had on my mind withered away and my brain was finally free to live on its power. As much as I would’ve liked the headache to dissipate some more, it was still painstakingly horrible, but not bad enough for me to not finish the job.

I removed the three ECIN batteries from the arm, placing them on the table, and seeing the dark-silver sheen of them beam in the short distance like black moons.

I pulled the drawer to my left, pulled out three cables attached to the battery I had inside. I attached the lines to the battery cores within my arm and slid the 8GB USB with the firmware update into the USB slot on my shoulder and watched the lights blink red till it turned green, confirming the firmware update.

I slid the 200GB USB into place and awaited the installation to complete. It took about fifteen minutes till the biochip squeezed my brain once more, reminding me that I was a slave to its pain and power.

“Nova, Diagnostic Check.”

Stancer Cybernetic Eye V3.8 Functioning at 100% Capacity — Software Update Pending.

— Firmware Update (Pending)

Stancer Cybernetic Arm V5.97 Functioning at 100% Capacity — Software Update Pending.

“Patch Notes available,” Nova said.

“Ignore…too tired to read that.”

“Understood,” Nova said.

I pushed myself up from the chair, and lethargically made my way back to my bed, to finally nurse this ever-surging migraine that wouldn’t go away.

As I closed my eyes and was about to count some automaton sheep, something highlighted in my cybernetic eye.