CyberGene: Anyone need a Cyberhand?

Chapter 11: A Clash of Worlds

8:30 PM June 4th

Ripley

I waited and I waited, pacing around the room. What was I doing? Why was my first instinct at being told I might have a mortal enemy to invite them over to my house? And why was my mom cooking a nice meal for them?!

Actually maybe that would help disarm her nerves, perhaps lull her into a sense of security. If worst came to worst, my mom said to use her as an emotional bargaining chip.

I breathed in deeply, trying to calm myself. I had this in the bag, I just just might need some police protection because I’ve gotten involved with one of the most notorious criminal groups in the city in Metal Heavens.

What the fuck did my life become?

Diana

I wish I had brought a gun, but the precinct didn’t have my model currently. I should have just taken a different one earlier in the day, but now the armory was closed.

Ripley was involved with the Snake Fangs. I knew that. They could be waiting down this hallway. For revenge, to take my Implant… Ripley had to have guessed I got the SIM. What about that strange woman who took him, Missy?

Fuck! I really should have brought a gun! Or at least brought Yvette. I just had to hope my new mutations would surprise them, for all I knew they were aiming to make a profit off their clusterfuck of a deal by taking the Implant off me. Not that I knew how to extract a S.I.M from someone… someone alive.

The easiest thing to do would be to kill me.

But it was now or never. I was trained, I could do this.

I knocked.

Ripley

I heard knocking, and I knew it was now or never. I kept a rusty pan waiting by my side, she probably brought a police entourage with her, wanting to pry the BUG out of my head…

Why were there no guns in this house?!

Another set of knocking came, and I opened the door.

Diana

The door opened, and an intense smell wafted through the air. A pleasant smell in fact, perhaps a poison? I half-expected to see a man wearing a gas-mask but instead I was greeted by a shivering man with a pan held in his hand.

“Uh… hi, Ripley.” I coughed out.

“Diana.” He nodded, still twitching, and invited me in with the elegance of a beggar to his den. Which honestly… was not as bad as the outside made it to be. Located in a megabuilding that was a small town in itself capable of housing tens of thousands from every walk of life; complete with parks and a shopping center… forty-five floors above.

This section was underground, and trash from the upper floors had accumulated on the avenues of this ‘street’ through balconies and poor plumbing. Despite that, the room was spotless and even had charm with some light decorative plants and a wall filled with paintings and photos where there wasn’t piles of old machinery laying about.

Was that a young Ripley sitting on his mother’s lap? It was kind of cute.

Ripley

Why was Diana staring at a baby picture of me? Was she trying to blackmail me somehow?

Diana

To my surprise, there was another person standing over a table with an electric cooker plugged in. She was taller than me but extremely frail, and fairly aged… an older version of the woman in the pictures. Was that his mother? She was beautiful when she was younger but the years had… changed her.

She was missing an arm and an eye now, and there was a slowness as she worked on cooking.

Why was that?

Ripley

“Uh… that’s my mother.” I coughed. “She um… insisted on cooking for you, there really isn’t much place to sit but we can talk on the couch.”

I moved to the furniture, not taking my eyes off Diana in any form. I couldn’t trust her. Even then, I made sure to sit on the piece of the couch with the stains…

My mother then decided to greet Diana, and I honestly was sort of mortified. My mom smiled, then hug- why did she hug Diana, did she not say we were intertwined by fate to be enemies?

Why did Diana awkwardly hug back?

Diana

Why was Ripley’s mother hugging me? Was she going to stab me in the back? I saw a knife on the table, but there were no sudden movements. Then she let go, to which I let out a tight breath.

“You must be Diana, wow, God did you justice didn’t he? Why don’t you settle on the couch, dinner’ll be done in just a moment. Hope you like frittatas!” She seemed… motherly. I might have been jealous of that… It had only ever been me and my dad, my adoptive dad. Long before Brian Ulrich came along.

Right, the couch! I moved in, scooting past the cramped mattress to seat myself on the tiny couch Ripley was already sitting on.

What was that stain under his hand? On second thought, I didn’t want to know. There were other things, though, that I was more keen in learning about. “So… about our situation…?”

He blurted something that made me freeze. “What’s your compatibility?”

Immediately, alarms screeched in my head, should I tell him? Do I even trust him? Why was he asking? But then in a moment he said something that made me feel like a ghost had walked through me. “Mine’s at 99%”

Ripley

Should I have said that? Probably not, but I needed to know the specifics. If what my mother said was true, then- then this was bad.

This went deeper than it should have.

She studied me, trying to make sense if what I said was true but somehow that told me enough. She confirmed my theory before she even said anything.

“Same.” She looked uneasy as she said it, her eyes resting on my table.

I felt like a ghost had walked through me.

Implants that could directly grow from the slightest biological or technological imprint their MAL had consumed. My claw’s fingers had been torn, and Diana had been cut, then the Implants came to us on their own accord as though they’d chosen us.

Which means whoever they were intended for, they weren’t just receiving Gold-grade Implants. They were acquiring Gold Implants with unprecedented compatibilities.

Except… they were always meant to be confiscated by the police. That’s what Missy and Diamante said.

“Diana. I have some trouble that I’m in, and I think I have information you would want. Just-just it’s alot and-!” My voice shuddered, fucking hell, just why couldn’t I be calmer!

I want to be calmer!

My thoughts slimmed. It was an instant effect, what?

Psyche v.0.01 has updated to v.0.02

Effect: Increase to coherence of thoughts during stress.

The Feature updated? That was… way too quick. It had just been hours since the last one. I erred my speech for a second before resuming.

Diana

I blinked as his tone shifted as though pulled artificially into a more resolved state, but I was too carried away with my own nerves and curiosity to even try to figure out why the sudden switch in his voice. “The Pandora was always meant to fall into the police’s custody, and it could be activated remotely from whoever sourced it, you can see how that’s bad news.”

It didn’t take a genius to put it together, my lips moving on their own. “By opening it in the First Precinct’s evidence room, the MALignant would have access to tons of high-Grade Shardware and Mutagen confiscated. It would cripple our hold over the district and send Westcrook into chaos.”

“The question then, is why?” Ripley nodded, his eyes sharp.

His mother set a plate for me and him, and I couldn’t lie, it somehow returned the appetite this conversation had erased. “Thank you… Ripley’s mom? Sorry, I never caught your name.”

“Isabel Donovick-Gravas.” She got herself comfortable on the mattress, taking a bite of the food. “And the other question the two of you should ask, is who has the manpower to contain a MAL capable of perfectly digesting both genetic and digital material so quickly? I don’t know much about them, but NeoCore reports it had evolved into a Hunter. The third stage, in less than an hour. That’s not normal.”

Shit. We had stumbled onto something big, and there was only one possibility as to who could have planned this. I felt fear just saying it. “One of the Corporate Nations was trying to destabilize Westcrook? Why? It doesn’t make sense for any of the Founders to do that. The Free Cities are neutral?”

The Founders had raised their own nexus of civilization far away from the MAL, bastions housing millions where they lived to serve the propagation of their corporation.

SynTec in North-Eastern America and Europe.

Imperium’s empire blossomed in Africa.

Yuzhou’s grasp covered the Eastern half of Asia.

Haithama held the other half.

NeoCore took to suborbital floating citadels.

Beneath and in between all of that were the Free Cities, founded by the creator of the Neuroframes herself, Beauregard Mazhyr.

“The Free Cities…” Isabel finished chewing. “Are a stain on the Corporate lands from what my father left me to know; Mazhyr established us… NeoCore took our strongest from us, then left us to rot in lands close to MAL territory. Our use only comes up now when there’s a Swarm in sight and they need bodies to buffer them, and Westcrook is the bridge between the rest of New California and SynTec’s New Port City while we’re separated from Yuzhou by a MALtitan in the pacific. While The Infinite lurks in the ruins of The Floridian Gulf. Not to mention we’re close to Yellowstone’s electrical grid, so if anyone wanted to cripple New California… this is the prime location.”

“Shit.” I held my face. “And now we fucked up their plan.”

“I don’t think so.” Ripley said as he held himself seriously. “I think they changed it at the spur of the moment. I could’ve never cracked open that box even if you gave me a year, something caused them to open the box then and there. Dogwhistler… Missy mentioned they were who organized the deal.”

Dogwhistler… the hair on my arms spiked. I’d heard that name once before. I sent Ripley an invite to my lens feed as I scavenged through the recordings I’d taken, as per police protocol you were supposed to keep it on at all times on duty. Though… I’d deleted the data from when I fell down with Ripley, I told them I became unconscious.

The moment I was looking for was when the two Yuzhou Corporates had died. The male corporate had his Neuroframe spark on him the second he said the word ‘Dogwhi-‘

He was silenced by the woman named Ms. Himiko, before she killed herself.

“Dogwhistler. I’ve never heard of them in the police files, but it could be an alias for any number of powerful people.” I commented, there was nothing else in the feed that suggested a specific company — except that it couldn’t be Yuzhou by merit of them trying to obtain the package itself. Whoever was doing this was trying to implicate them in MALterrorism. “The box was SynTec? Could it be them?”

“Could also just be using a competitor’s brand.” Ripley scrubbed through the footage. “Might also be a powerful independant. We don’t know yet.”

“Chances are…” Isabel, Ripley’s mother, put down her finished plate. “They’re close to NeoCore in some way? MALseeds don’t remain in infancy for long, and a Gold one would be put to use immediately… MALs can only spawn seeds at their Grade or lower, not higher. So start by thinking of all the ones capable of affording a Titanium Grade at minimum.”

“Titaniums go up to billions of Shardyne…” Ripley clenched his jaw. “Could NeoCore be the one directly responsible for this? Maybe one slipped out of their hands?”

“I don’t know.” I remembered the conversation between Tusk and Missy. “Herald Ruby seemed to not know anything, it’s the only reason why either of us are still alive…”

“What do you mean? A NeoCore Herald’s involved?” Ripley leaned forward.

“There was a woman who took you, she called herself Missy, but Tusk seemed to know her personally by the name Emizren. So did the Herald, in fact… Ruby asked Missy to ‘come back’ and it seemed like they were close. Ruby let the two of us go and entrusted our Implants to Missy in exchange that she would help NeoCore learn more about the MAL’s source…”

Ripley

Missy was related to NeoCore? And now she’s in with Metal Heavens? That was like going from sitting on a throne to a pile of shit. “I’ve talked to her, she’s given me a month to prove that me being alive is worth more than the Implant in my head. But proving my worth seems… detrimental considering that I was locked up in Metal Heavens territory. Her right hand man, Diamante, should have seen him — he was more metal than man.”

“Metal Heavens?” Diana’s face contorted. “And you- oh fuck, that’s bad.”

“I know.”

“Like, I actually feel sorry for you.”

I seethed from my teeth. “Your sympathies are appreciated, Diana. But I’d rather have your support. If this is as bad as it seems, then I’m… we need to work together. The two of us have a combined value of over a hundred-million sheds, once our Implants develop it’ll be hard to conceal them.”

Diana

I tightened my jaw, that would mean knowingly conspiring with criminal activity… But Ripley, of everything he may be, didn’t look like a hardened criminal. If anything, he appeared to be forced into this situation.

Those pictures on the wall from when he was a child, highrises and parks, a loving family and clearly well-off. Something had changed in his life to drag him beneath the earth and into poverty.

I could relate to that. There was a time when I wasn’t that far from being in his shoes. A tiny house in the slum-levels, filth creeping into their home — they had a roof over their head.

I hadn't even had that.

Ripley

She raised up her hand with the palm open to me. “The information you gave me, I’ll put it to good use. Tell me how things go with Missy, I’ll… look for a way to support you.”

I shook Diana’s hand, my inner heart screaming that things had gone so well. “If it’s anything to go by, I might have a good supply of funds soon so your pockets won’t be too strained.”

Of course, I was talking about the Bronze Implant in my pocket. Hoaqin’s Implant. A quick 50,000 if I sold it without getting it analyzed, enough to keep me afloat in this house for several years. But it was Hoaqin’s… He was my friend, the only one I really ever had.

Diana smiled, then finally set to tasting her food.

“Took you long enough.” My mother chided her, and I’d realized I hadn’t even touched my plate. I was starving, two days of being unconscious did that to you.

“By the way…” Diana said in between bites. “Whatever happened to Selene and Hoaqin? You’re in a pretty good mood today so I hope they got out safe.”

My fork fell, my metallic hand trembling like the cold had injected itself into my blood. Right, I hadn’t even tried to think about…

It came back, the memories rushing downwards on my mind like the inevitable splatter of a waterfall. The blood. The carnage. Thud followed by thud. Hoaqin running as she was left for the MAL’s savage dance of death.

“Ripley? What does she mean… Selene?” My mother grew worried and confused, I could see it in her eyes. I’d never told her I’d rekindled my friendship with Selene. Hoaqin agreed to keep it a secret.

Diana poked my shoulder, but all I felt was the searing heat of Shaun’s rifle drilling into my flesh. It was her who prompted the MAL to lash out. To kill S-

“Everything okay with you?” Diana asked quietly, her grip growing hotter.

Then it quieted, what was I even worried for in the first place?

What happened had happened. It was in the past. It was in the past. It was-

I’d gotten over my father’s… this was no different. Take a step, a step away. Take a step and don’t look back. Yes, I let that Gold feed into my Frame, I let it submerge the inner workings of it’s updates into my thoughts and memories through that Matrix, anything, anything but…

“I’m fine.” I calmly reached down and retrieved the fork. “Not the Selene you’re thinking about. Juuust… got some bad memories attached to that night. But they’re fine. I have had a lot on my mind and Hoaqin’s probably worried sick about me. I’ll contact him soon.”

I took a bite, not minding the bit of dirt I’d rubbed off. A message in my lens flashed to view, one I promptly ignored.

Psyche v0.02 has updated to Psyche v0.03

Effect: Increased subconscious modification of Neuroframe Software: Personality Editing Matrix

———

9:17 June 4th

Ripley

Diana had left just a few minutes ago, my mother’s stare striking at me. “You didn’t tell her everything.”

“I couldn’t.” I said with finality, getting up to leave the apartment.

“It’s arguably the most important piece of information the two of you need to know.” She stopped me in my tracks.

“Yeah, but it’s also liable to tear us both apart. I need her protection, if Missy and Diamante are just playing an elaborate con to get a Gold Adapter for Metal Heavens then I’ll need any help I can get, even from the pigs.”

She squinted, anger sizzling over her. “Don’t tell me you’re considering it?!”

“I’m not! She’d kick my ass in a second!”

“That’s not the reason you should be saying!”

“I’m not going to kill her! I- she saved my life but I can’t trust her completely, not yet. If she knew that our Implants could synergize due to coming from the same MAL, that either of us could have both a BUG and a SIM simultaneously… then… the point is it just makes things more complicated.” I’d scooted past her, her body remaining a firm statue as I moved.

Dual Adapters… they were only the thing of rumors. Those who were said to wield mutations and cybernetics simultaneously, and both Diana and I had the potential to become one. All it would take was for the other to die.

“Just… look, I’m worried. You’re following in your father’s footsteps, getting involved in conspiracies and corporations and crime. The sensible thing for you to do would be to make a jump for an honest living, but…” Her expression softened, years of pain burrowing through her mouth. “There’s no honest living in this city. I’d be a hypocrite to say you have a choice.”

“And that’s why the only person I can trust to be truthful is myself, you’re the one who taught me that.” I didn’t budge further, I wasn’t going to just leave her worried like that.

“And your mother.” She both corrected and threatened me. “Gold is a big thing, so you’re going to have to listen to me exactly and buy specifically what I asked for.” Almost reluctantly, she shuffled away. “And remember, I love you my little Ripper.”

“I love you too mom.” I said, and I meant it as I stopped her from retreating by pulling her into a hug.

Finished, I closed the door behind me only to find that my feet couldn’t move further. There were too many things I needed to get, and the list of contacts my mom had sent me to scout throughout our Megabuilding were extensive. It was all so daunting, in one day I was planning on spending more than I had in a year.

“Little Ripper? That’s an endearing name.” A feminine voice sparkled in my head, causing me to jerk my head into the door.

“Who’s that?!” I searched around, finding nothing but the quiet trash-drenched avenue of my apartment block.

The voice responded, it was like a communication protocol through a Neurolink but far too clear and concise with the lack of jitters that came from a brain’s hasty nature. “The poor soul who’s now been tasked with watching over you, I’m your fairy godmother.”

“The shit is a fairy godmother?!” I whispered, curious eyes were already glancing out from the grime-coated windows of my neighbors.

“Cinderella? Guess you never watched it, Haithama made a killing from old Disney movies being dug out of the Old_Data. Call me Twilight, and I’ve been watching your every move. Nice meeting with the police officer, her name’s Diana, right?… Pfft, just kidding, Missy’s already given me the run-down of her. Actually, scratch that. I gave Missy the run down of Diana Ulrich.”

So the meeting was compromised then by… Twilight. I felt like I should’ve been panicking more, but my body remained remarkably assured as I slid into an available elevator. “So you’re part of Metal Heavens then?”

“Oh you had me laughing with that! Diamante’s going to be so pissed with you thinking he was chromed up like them. Don’t worry, I’ll be keeping that a secret. We ain’t Metal-heads, not the weird kind.”

“So you’re not a part of them? Then why was I locked up in one of their warehouses?” The elevator doors had just closed, and fortunately for me I was left alone and could speak normally. It helped me get my thoughts across.

“Metal Heavens’ a sucker for Shardyne, those gizmo’s are always thinking of some new toy to stick into their bodies. Just asked if we could get a place that’s secure for a few days, as much as they can be psychos, when Sheds are involved they can be real gentlemen.” Twilight’s apparating voice was playful, and it irked me that she was speaking so casually.

“So you’re not affiliated with them? Then who exactly am I dealing with, I’d like to know that much.”

“Don’t we all? Every deal involves some higher power just choosing to fuck up those at the bottom, they let you play with a few threads all the while you’re plucked up into the web with a false sense of influence. You think you’re selling guns on behalf of your supplier, but then it turns out you both’re just a cog some corporate is turning so that a gang can burn down a factory of their competitor.”

I rolled my eyes. “Yeah-yeah, I’m a poor victim to the system. Just spill it out.”

“Ooh, I can see why Missy liked you.” Her voice tingled with anticipation. “And that’s who you’re dealing with, Missy.”

“So she’s a lone mercenary? Or wait, no, she called Diamante her right-hand-man so there’s more people in her operation, you guys run in a group?”

“We’re just a few unfortunate souls who find ourselves in a common partnership. Sometimes we’re in for the thrill, other times we’re there with a goal. What’re you in for? You looking to be a legend of New California? The next Firestarter? Or are you just looking for an honest life in the city of lies.”

What was I looking for? I stretched my metallic fingers, the Warp Energy flowing ever so slowly to my whims. Something I had never managed to do except the time he had modified the grenade against the MALignant. Where had that Warp Energy even come from?

“I guess I’m no different from the others, just some guy who’s been beaten down to the slums… without the ability to change anything. For most of my life, I’ve been ordered around and dragged into what others want, but never for myself. So yeah, I want change. To survive and persevere in this crazy world.”

“And a Gold Implant fell into your head, how delightful. Now you have access to abilities most people dream for, and they’ll stop at nothing to get that thing out of you. Who knows? Show a sign of weakness and maybe I’ll take it for myself.” She added with cheeriness.

The elevator dinged open, and I almost didn’t want to walk out. If Twilight could dig into my head so effortlessly, then it makes sense that she could track me. Regardless, I stepped out, sweat clamming to my skin. If I was going to get attacked I’d rather it not be near my mother.

“I’m only kidding! But seriously, you’ve got to be able to protect yourself. The second anyone with a half-decent Analyze or Network feature spots the literal goldmine under your skull, you better bet that they and their friends will claw it out.”

“I-I know. That’s what I’m going out for, I need a basic combat protocol and a gun. Also looking for leg replacements, that’s why I’m visiting the Megabuilding market. My mother also said to buy a DataShield, but with the funds I have… it’s not looking likely.”

“Eh, as long as I’m in your head don’t worry. I act as a DataShield in a sense, besides I’ve already rewired some things so you can’t be tracked.” Twilight laughed in my brain, but her statement didn’t make sense to me.

“No offense, but no matter how good of a Data Delver you are… I doubt anyone would take the time to personally ward off digital interception for someone else twenty-four-seven. That kind of work requires a lot from the brain.”

“Who said that I have a brain?” She said, then my vision sparked up as the nighttime streets glitched into false contortions. As though being pulled from the twisted light, strands of brightness grafted over themselves… slowly building a human.

A digital human that only I could see. She wasn’t connected to me from an external source, Twilight was in my Neuroframe. She was like someone had taken the worlds of beauty and horror and struck them into one. Carefully braided hair of white snow was creeped upon by frizzled strands of shadowy darkness, her frilled dress was a careful blend of smooth light and crackling black.

One of her eyes white and black, the other was black and white.

Both had violet irises.

“You’re an AI?… an Emulect?” I couldn’t believe this; freely roaming Artificial emulators of intellect to this degree of sentience were banned in every setting across the world — under Warp Energy, they were one line of code away from becoming what were known as Daemons. Entities of Warpcode that self-modified and damaged you. The Old_Net was evidence enough of what the MAL could pervert their use for, and having one in my head was worse than carrying a hundred tons of ‘Embrance pills.

Staring at the beautiful and haunting woman of code, I felt a pit drag my confidence down. “How long have you been inside me?”

“Inside you?! We’re not that close yet…” Her ghost-like figure floated closer to me, one of her hands was a fractured claw of shadows and light while the other carried perfect, slender fingers with the nails painted a whimsical purple. She touched my cheek with the claw, and I could feel it’s cold sharpness. “Play your cards right once you meet my actual body, you’re pretty cute. And God, she could use some with how stuck-up she is.”

“Actual body? You mean, you’re an actual person and not some piece of living Warpcode?” I chose to ignore most of what she had said, but just who — or what — was Twilight?

She whispered into my ear, and by The Founders, it felt like her breath was grazing my ears. “Why can’t I be both? My author’d punch me if I spilled our secrets, but I’mma do it anyway. I’m built from a Psyche Protocol called Persona, think of it as taking out a chunk of your mind and turning it into a separate but still very much living digital-entity.”

It even felt like she was physically there, an artificial heat like a lamp’s radiating off. She was incredibly real, and I struggled to understand how my brain was even simulating this… Persona. A chunk of your mind digitized… I also had the Psyche Feature, could I do that?

I bit my lip, she was so incredibly close that I could make out both the perfections and imperfections in her form. It was making me nauseous, and as suddenly as she was woven from the light, she unraveled away to leave clear space.

“Seems like you can’t take on my active Avatar just yet, a hardware limit on your Neuroframe. Most of it is running to supplement your Implant and Personality Matrix, didn’t know you were a doll too. If I knew that, maybe I would’ve visited.”

I choked my breath, then spoke with a sharp finality. “I wasn’t.”

Somehow, I knew she was thinking of pushing the question further but I was glad when she ended up sighing. “Okay then, I’m curious how your own Psyche Feature will use it, a shame your mother didn’t know much about the Feature. It’s a rare club even among the Basic Features.”

Of course she had heard that conversation. I clenched my fist as I navigated the bustling streets, just a few minutes later and I would reach the market. I stifled my bitterness with a click. “Any tips?”

“Rewire the Personality Matrix, right now I’m seeing that it’s focusing on isolating grief and stress… sheesh, heavy stuff. But if you get Sensory Shardware you can link it to the Matrix via the Psyche function to be able to react swiftly and calmly under a specific directive.”

I could do that? It made perfect sense honestly, a Personality Matrix measured your brain’s reception of information it gathered both internally and externall and tweaked the emotional response so it would fall on the Matrix’s parameters, with my additional modification of isolating memories. And the Psyche Feature was unique in that it was the only Feature that directly altered an Adapter’s mental state.

Twilight wasn’t wrong about it being rare, among the few people I’d known to have the feature including Lucille, it essentially allowed them to better mold their mental faculties in response to their daily lives. Lucille, over time, became better at acting and socializing, some others had become more brave and domineering.

I didn’t see, however, how it allowed Twilight’s actual body to create personality constructs out of pieces of her own mind. That sounded not just dangerous, but scary to commit to.

“I’ll take that into consideration. So optics, audiovestibular, and possibly even integumentary-sensory augmentation. Some recent tech even allows you to smell from your skin.”

“That sounds like it would be hot.” She added.

“Did your, um, ‘creator’ remove her horny parts and give it to you?” I was kind of getting tired of this, I’d heard enough of this sort of talk working at that club.

“If she did, I’d gladly give some back to her… anyway, I would ask to see your list but I already have, change the place you’re going to. All that civvie stuff ain’t gonna cut it, don’t you got contacts that would deliver stuff to the club?”

“I mean, my mom said to stick to the Megabuilding where the vendors know us. And no, Lucille handled orders with the club’s funding whenever I requested something… she, uh, didn’t want me scraping in a profit they weren’t aware of. Otherwise, a lot of the gang members came to me with Shardware they bought personally. I’ve asked them from where, it’s mostly online from the Abyssnet or some back-alley vendor in various corners in the city.”

“Well scrap that, Ripley! Megabuilding’s all regulated for the most part, you won’t find anything worth your sheddy here. Head to a Monorail, we’re going south-east! To Little Requiem!”

I stopped walking. Little Requiem. “Uh, are you trying to kill me?”

“Relax… if anyone tries to do anything, I’ll take care of it, you’ve just got to give me permission.”

“Permission to do what?” I suddenly felt like I would not like this.

“To control your body!” Twilight exclaimed in glee.

I did not like that.