When Maya stepped out of the elevator, Synapse waited for her in front of the massive panoramic window facing the morning skyline of East City. At the top of the tallest skyscraper in the city, his penthouse was sleek and minimalist, with red neon accents and metal floors.
Above the fireplace in the open living room to her left, a massive holographic screen displayed weather and stock information, while the stairs across the room led to an office with three floating holographic monitors and a display of disassembled sniper rifles.
Synapse regarded her with a cool downwards nod. His brown skin was fairly darker than hers, about John’s shade, and he tensed his strong jawline as if examining her up and down with his glowing cybernetic eyes. “You must be the Agent my secretary said was coming. You’re early.”
“Agent Wolfe, with the Supernatural Investigation Unit. I’m here to speak with you about the circumstances regarding Gigabyte’s death.”
Synapse raised a hand after her next step. She stopped in her tracks, and a drone rose from a compartment in the floor. Blue lights shot from its camera eye, scanning her from head to toe. The light in Synapse’s eyes pulsed, and he swiped at his wrist, opening his menu and typing something into the window that appeared.
“Just preemptive security measures,” Synapse said. “Maya Wolfe. Doesn’t seem like you appear on the Fighter net. You’re unpowered.”
Maya hid her concern behind a smirk — how did he get her full name? “And? I do not believe that information is relevant to our conversation.”
“I do. It means I don’t have to fear whether or not you’re here to challenge me.” Synapse spoke without a hint of emotion in his voice, and he gestured to his living room with equally robotic movements. “Welcome. Have a seat. I’d love to talk.”
The floor illuminated under Maya’s feet, guiding her path to the long sofa opposite a chair. But, Synapse was still an enemy. He was one of Apex’s allies, even if the official record said it was only a suspicion. She could hardly trust any of the seats to not be rigged, let alone the seat he told her to sit at.
Maya sat in the chair opposite the long sofa instead. Synapse bunched his eyebrows, a brief flash of frustration, before taking a seat at the long sofa himself. His eyes pulsed blue once again, and a beep came from the kitchen. The smell of coffee wafted through the air.
“Thought activated coffee? I’ve heard of voice activated machines before, but that’s impressive.”
“I’m mentally connected to every device in this building. Using my voice would be inefficient.”
“Well, going by previous comments you’ve publicly made, voice activation isn’t the only thing you find inefficient.”
“Ah, yes. My brother,” he said simply, as if the slight dig meant nothing. “I meant it. I tried many times to tell him about the unwanted attention his heroics would draw. That we didn’t have to make a show out of it to use our cybernetics for missions.” Synapse sighed. “Now I regret never having the chance to tell him I was right.”
“It sounds like you cared a lot for him.”
“Care is a strong word, but…he often depended on me for support whenever his missions would get messy. I often needed his assistance when an operation required a distraction, or a more forward approach than mine.”
“That’s all the interaction you had with your brother?”
“We’re not related by blood. No. Brothers in arms, never family.” Synapse said, his tone stiffening. “But this isn’t just about our life story.”
Maya pulled out her sketchbook and clicked her pen. “You say that you both relied on each other for support. Is that why you ended up on the train with him?”
“He didn’t directly call me for support, but…in a way.”
“Tell me more. Walk me through that day.”
The coffee machine beeped again. A glance and a shimmer of his eyes, and a drone that rose from the kitchen floor to continue making their coffee. Synapse refocused his attention on her. He cleared his throat, but there were no hand motions, no signs of nervousness.
Synapse was a man of efficiency, and doing as little as necessary for the most results. Sensing a lie from him wouldn’t be easy, unless it was a direct contradiction.
“Well, as Tucker Denali forced a woman to call him for support, Gigabyte immediately notified me of the event. He didn’t call me for help, though. Rather, he only asked if I knew quick ways to stop a train.”
“And?”
“I took that as a sign that he needed support. So I headed for the train myself, just in case.”
“Do you have evidence of those messages?”
“Our direct messages are sent through a secure line of communication that doesn’t save records, in case one of us is compromised.”
“Well, the sad thing is, we have evidence that points to otherwise. That you weren’t there to protect, but to help assassinate Gigabyte.”
“No. That’s not what your evidence is.”
“I’m sorry?”
“Your ‘evidence’ is only that I’m apparently allied with a terrorist trying to compromise international security. Assassination is a bold accusation.”
“So what actually happened?”
Synapse pursed his lips, glancing at the drone bringing their coffee over. He was taking a pause — to assess his story and give her a different version of what really happened.
The drone sat their coffee in front of her, but Maya didn’t take a sip of hers. She only jotted down his lack of immediate answers.
“I was there. I just failed to protect him.”
“Against who?”
“Tucker Denali, but also Sir Guardian himself. It seemed like he was there on a mission to kill Gigabyte.”
That was new. “Did you see anyone else of note there?”
Synapse shook his head. “I hadn’t seen Sir Guardian alone again after that, either. I would’ve taken my revenge if I did.”
“But weren’t you both together shooting that movie?”
“Our fight against Chase?” Synapse sipped his coffee, averting his eyes from Maya’s gaze for a moment. “Yes. But I couldn’t take that opportunity. It’s unprofessional.”
“Preserving the set was more important than avenging your dead brother from another mother? Interesting. I didn’t take you for a fan of movies.”
“I’m not. It’s unprofessional for my job. I don’t do flashy takedowns and catching bad guys. I shoot from a mile away before a target even knows they’ve been marked.”
Maya nodded and took notes. “You know, speaking of the movie also reminds me of another person of interest.”
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“Who?”
“West Gale. Online rumors say he was on the train, too.”
“I do not recall seeing him, or Mindgame, either. That was someone else you named as a suspect, wasn’t it?”
He was impulsively shifting the blame from someone she never mentioned could be connected to the case.
“Regardless, I did see them while we were shooting the movie. I wasn’t on set the day West passed in that accident, though. I—” Synapse paused. His eyes pulsed as his focus went distant. “Excuse me? That can’t be right. I’m already meeting with an SIU Agent.”
Maya’s heart skipped a beat.
Decker.
She knew this was close to the time that he and one of his agents were supposed to be coming to interrogate Synapse, but she showed up thirty minutes early. Why did they have to come so early, too? They were jeopardizing her interrogation. She was jeopardizing theirs in the first place, sure but she did it first, not them.
Synapse’s demeanor shifted to suspicion. “I would’ve appreciated knowing this was an arrest.”
“Trust me, I’m as confused as you are,” Maya said, rising from her seat. “But, maybe we had a scheduling error.”
“An error sent two Agents to my building at the same time?” His eyes pulsed. “These two are Fighters. Who did you say you were, again?”
“Agent Wolfe, with the SIU. It was nice talking to you, Synapse. Thank you for the opportunity.”
The elevator let out a ding, and Agent Decker stepped out. He whistled in awe as he took in Synapse’s apartment, but the joy faded from his face as he met eyes with Maya.
“You definitely weren’t on my bingo for showing up here, Wolfe.”
“Maybe I should leave, then?” Maya said. Senior Agent Decker had another agent beside him, too, and she waved at both of them.
“Excuse me? She’s been asking me questions for the past ten minutes. Are you sure she’s even supposed to be here?” Synapse asked.
“I’m sure she’s not, but that’s not important to you, sir. I’m Senior Agent Decker with the SIU, and this is—”
“No.” Synapse’s voice leaped from the walls themselves as the neon red undertones intensified. “I’m done speaking to Agents. I told her enough. I will not say a word more without my lawyer, who I’ll—”
The elevators slid shut, muffling Synapse’s voice as Maya dropped down the skyscraper.
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Maya thought her next step would be to check the records of Sir Guardian’s government missions, to further prove that Synapse was lying about him being there to “save” Gigabyte from Sir Guardian.
The records turned out to be too high for her clearance level.
She sighed and clasped her hands to her forehead, stewing in her frustration at her desk in their main office. The lights were off, and a coming rain dulled the gray sky. One of her coworkers sat on the other side of the dym room, typing away at her own keyboard — likely filing a record of her own about the last mission Maya missed.
Meanwhile, messy sheets and notes about Apex’s conspiracy surrounded her. Synapse had denied it all, apparently never having seen West Gale. But, he hesitated to give her an answer on what happened that day, and his story contradicted itself. Despite saying he wanted revenge ASAP, he also didn’t attack Sir Guardian before or after working on the “movie”.
She knew the real reason he and the rest were there, of course, thanks to Daniel’s testimony. On top of their testimony, even with the official story, it didn’t add up. Professionalism wasn’t an excuse. A stealthy assassin like him could easily figure out how to get around that, to kill Sir Guardian another way with such an opportunity like that.
He had lied. And she had proof.
The door slammed open, and Agent Hale came in with his face completely straight and calm, yet his eyes wide and his eyebrows bunched together.
Uh oh.
Rain drummed against the office windows. Across the office, her coworker paused her music.
Maya cleared her throat, glancing at the thick packet in Hale’s hands. “Afternoon, Hale. How’s it—”
“You knew we had a mission today.”
“Well yeah, but—”
“You knew Decker was assigned to interview Synapse about Gigabyte’s death.”
“Right, but you have to admit—”
“You knew it wasn’t your case!” Hale shouted, his skin boiling red underneath the surface. His eyes transformed, tinting a shade of yellow for a moment, too. He pinched his nose, calming the demon within. “And then you have the nerve to come back in here and sit back down like you haven’t consistently been ignoring your duties. Like you haven’t been ignoring me.”
“I did it for a reason,” Maya snapped. “Synapse won’t give anything to Decker and his Agent, and yeah, that’s my fault, but—”
“So you’re admitting to obscuring another Agent’s case.”
“But he’s lying, and I have proof!” Maya shot to her feet and spun her laptop around. “Synapse told me that he was only on the train to defend Gigabyte from Sir Guardian, but we know what’s on that card. Problem is, I can’t access Sir Guardian’s mission logs to prove that he’s lying because I don’t have high enough clearance! You do!”
Hale exhaled slowly, taking deep breaths through his nostrils.
“Why are you so against me doing the right thing?”
“Because I tried to stop you before this would happen.”
He slammed the thick packet in his hands onto Maya’s desk. Her eyes settled on the only text on the front, and her heart plunged.
“Notice of…administrative leave?” Maya’s mouth went dry.
“Senior Agent Decker brought the papers to our attention during our last meeting, and several other Senior Agents agreed. Considering the magnitude of the case, if you continue to obscure the efforts of another Senior Agent’s case, then you’ll be put on administrative leave.”
“They’re trying to fire me! Senior Agent Decker omitted the full details from Gigabyte’s chip, and he—”
“I signed it, too.”
Maya’s breath caught in her throat as Senior Agent Hale pushed the packet closer to her. Maya opened it and flipped to the back, past the pages of red tape and rules. Sure enough, his signature was scribbled right next to Agent Decker’s.
“They’ve given me one week to return with the consensus on whether or not I think you should be put on administrative leave,” Agent Hale said, taking a step closer. “I’m so angry with you because I don’t want to use this, Maya.”
Maya clenched a pencil on her desk tightly in her fist.
“You need to drop this. For your job’s sake.”
“Our top fighters are dying, and the one tournament that the entire world focuses on is at risk of being destroyed,” Maya said. “And our prime suspect is the deceased daughter of the family behind Arise Health.”
“And you’re still going on about it.”
“Listen, Hale. Senior Agent Decker’s daughter is in the hospital.”
“Why do you—” He paused, gasping. “Wait. What hospital?”
“Arise Health. Decker, the man who’s daughter is being treated by the enemy, is purposefully obscuring details about the enemy. He’s also in charge of the department investigating the enemy, who, coincidentally, has been completely negligent on making any advances,” she said. “Meanwhile, I’m one person with a notepad and a few connections. He’s pushing this and feeling threatened because I’m making progress while someone is telling him to stop me. Don’t you see the issue here?”
Agent Hale was silent for a moment, eyeing the paperwork.
“And I’m willing to bet, Senior Agent Hale, that if you unlock these logs for me, we’ll find another hole in the story.” Maya turned the laptop towards him.
Agent Hale paused, and deliberated for a moment more before he bent down and typed in his login. He passed the login screen, greeted to a blank list of Sir Guardian’s recent missions.
“I knew it! This means Synapse lied to me, and that we have proof there was no good reason for him to be there.”
He ran a hand along his chin.
“There’s something going on here, Agent Hale,” Maya said. “They want to stop me, but if you want to help me with what’s right, you can’t let them. I’m sorry for skipping out on missions and putting more work on you. I just want to do the right thing.”
“And I can’t even say that you’re wrong.” Agent Hale took the packet off of Maya’s desk. “Listen. You need to be more careful about this — more discreet. I can’t have you directly obstructing someone else’s interview again. But, I’ll buy you time, see how long I can get these orders stalled for, while you make some more progress.”
“Really?”
He nodded. “Besides, I hate to believe it, but if Decker is as corrupt as you say, I can’t wait to see his reaction when you blow the lid on this whole thing. All you need is more proof.”
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Rain drummed against the windshield as Maya merged onto the highway. Her folder of notes and evidence shifted in the seat beside her.
Now that Hale was on board, it felt like a massive weight was off of her shoulder. Even better, no one was scheduled to interview Mindgame yet, since they were still restructuring after Synapse refused to help with their interview.
An open door. She was home free. Mindgame lived in South City, the same place as the School of Flow’s dojo. Maya smiled — they were still on a trip, but maybe she could pop over to the Maroon Sports Bar for a visit, after speaking with Mindgame about Gigabyte’s death.
In her rearview mirror, A car swerved through traffic behind her, speeding through lanes. Maya’s mood shifted. It sped behind her and accelerated, filling her rear view with the driver’s insane grin.
Maya’s blood froze. The driver slammed into her tail bumper, and she spun out at seventy miles an hour.