Chapter 35: The Proxy Protocol

New California Police Internal Document given to the commanding staff regarding the usage of Proxies in police assignments.

A Proxy is a unique method of support available only to BUG Adapters. The basic requirements for a Proxy require a Donating Adapter, often called Secondaries, and a Host Adapter, labeled Primaries and the required technical components. Through the usage of classified Data-Modules and a compatible Neuroframe or External Neural-Sync, a Primary Adapter may project their consciousness into a Secondary in a process not unlike the Neuralink used for modern day communications.

Albeit, this process causes a direct flow of Warpcode down the Neural gradient, allowing the Primary Adapter to act through the Secondary Adapter — who effectively acts as a Proxy. This connection takes a physical and mental toll on both Adapters, the severity depending on their Grade, Tier and Feature. Typically, Adapters with a Network Feature are most suited for the process, while Integration is also known to be beneficial in allowing the Primary to have increased mobility on the Secondary’s body.

The main benefit of this process is that Primary’s can use their own Features through the bodies of their Secondaries from an advanced range, giving them the ability to act out on field from afar. Highly skilled Primaries can also control multiple Secondaries at once, allowing them to coordinate operations with a higher efficiency.

Primaries can only act through Secondaries of a lower Grade, and in cases lower than Silver it has been known to cause severe mental and physical disabilities for the Secondary, and milder compromises for the Primary. A Primary can also not typically control the entirety of a Secondary’s body unless their Features have developed to the process with specific Protocols in place, otherwise known issues that can occur are as follows.

* Memory loss

* Loss of mobility

* Loss of Ego

* Voice stuttering

* Loss of coordination

* Excessive muscle contraction

* High heart-rate and blood pressure

* Lowered respiratory rate

* Nausea

* Loss of organ function (In severe, prolonged cases)

* Seizures (In severe, prolonged cases)

* Cardiac Arrest (In extreme cases)

* Implant Degradation (In severe cases where the Primary forces too much Warpcode into a Secondary)

Due to the risk involved, the usage of the Proxy process is only to be allowed to individuals trained and compatible with the process, limited only to First Rank and Special Investigators. If you believe that you or anyone of your sub-commanding Investigators are compatible with the Proxy Protocol, please alert them to us so that we may have them trained to build tolerance for the process.

8:22 PM June 24th

Diana

“What… what did you do?” My voice shook, it was unnerving hearing that cadence push out from her body. It wasn’t even said in her voice, but Rorsche’s exact speech flowed from her like he was… speaking through her.

Like… like. I clenched up, like the Yuzhou corporate at The Toxin Club, Ms. Himiko. That eerie stillness, the way Indra’s eyes moved before her neck did all in the sake of efficiency. How her mouth jittered like a broken machine as the steel vocal chords did more of the talking.

That Yuzhou woman had a veil under her mouth and wore a visor… because she was only a puppet.

“Proxy protocol.” Rorshce’s voice radiated from behind her mask, one of her eyes twisted in a different direction like a chameleon’s. “A shame you don’t have a BUG, could only imagine how good of a team we’d make.”

Nausea welled up in my stomach like a bubbling cauldron. “Still hung up over that failed move of yours?”

He- she, didn’t blink, only stared with that blank unemotive stare straight out from a horror movie. “You know, Indra knew her place.”

“What?”

Slowly the arm belonging to Indra Harmony rose up towards her chest, fondling it with rough squeezes. “She knew what she needed to give… and she learned to enjoy it. Even if she wasn’t my type, I can’t deny it wasn’t fun. She was so… desperate and I loved that look on her face, didn’t even need to use this at the time. It was me who pulled her out of that prison cell, you know, she looked at me like I was a god. Didn’t take long at all, just one nightly chat over coffee and she was bouncing away on me.”

“Stop that!” Rage seethed out from me.

“Is that how you speak to your commanding officer? We’re on duty, you know.” Indra’s eyes were droopy, half awake and half dead. “It was consensual. Surely you’ve gone around and had fun when you were younger too, why stop then? Just be a good girl and-“

I held up my hand at the machination concealed within the briefcase, it was still hooked up to Indra and seemed to hold some importance to the process in which Rorsche controlled her.

“Wouldn’t do that if I were you.” Somehow the sound of a clicking tongue made its way through her mask. “You’d be putting her life in danger and getting a free ticket off the police force, don’t know if your father can protect you from manslaughter against a fellow Investigator witnessed by your commanding.”

“What do you want?” Disgust permeated my tongue.

“I don’t know what genes you took upon yourself but you’ve looked fantastic lately. A beauty engineered to perfection.” Indra’s arm left her own chest to point out to my own with a trembling finger. “One touch, not even my hand.”

I quickly yanked Indra’s arms and pinned them to her side of the car. “Anyone can see you’re not in full control of her body. So no. What the fuck is wrong with you? You pervert!”

Indra didn’t look the slightest bit uncomfortable, her face a blank slate throughout. “You know, I’ve been wondering what was the best way to get under your skin for that slap of yours. For a while, I was thinking to just leave you on the mundane boring cases that lead nowhere, but you’re admittedly too useful for that. Besides, you would probably find a way to spin them up in your shining light. So instead…”

I choked as the next few words came out. “Anthony, Yvette and Indra. Those are the three you’re closest to in the police force. It’s obvious you’re desperate for connection — you’re lonely. Your dad might take it wrong if I put you in harm's way, but them? Anthony’s on a reckless run, he’d probably get himself killed without my help and his aunt won’t do shit about it as long as I get the Implant in his body back. That cadet friend of yours? Cradleborn-reject, still Cradleborn… so maybe I can have fun with her. She’s an officer and I’m four ranks above her. It’ll be easy. Then there’s Indra who's already my favorite toy, maybe I’ll use her a bit more, make it more obvious. Use her until she breaks. Save them, or yourself, simple.”

I stayed silent, my mind on the edge of breaking between both.

“You tell either of them about this and I’ll only make it worse. I’ll give you time to think. But not as much time as you think you’ll have. See you soon, Ulrich.” That last word was a particular punch of spite towards me.

Finally, Indra blinked as she shuddered out like worms were digging through her, falling limply briefly into the arms I still held her own with. “Diana… woah, must have been a particaaaarly bad trip… head’s all shades of fucked up.”

“Are you okay? Do you remember anything?”

“Remember?” She sounded so weak, on the edge of passing out. “I don’t… did I do anything?”

“No, just the First Investigator spoke to me.”

“Oh?” Her eyes smiled at me, squinting tightly in a whimsical fashion. It almost made me sick to see that. “What did he say?”

The words formed on my tongue slowly. “…To take good care of you.”

A childish giggle poured out from her. “He’s always so sweet. Don’t tell him I said that.”

“Can he hear us right now?” I tried my best to remain composed.

A sleepy nod came as the answer. “Always, can just shoot into my mind too whenever.”

That was… I felt so sick from this. The last week had been surprisingly easy-going, only for it now to twist on its head. “You don’t look so good. Maybe we should disconn-“

“No!” Her tired arm gripped mine, an unnatural strength fueling it. “Without him… I’ll be dead weight.”

I laughed, still trying to keep myself composed despite the aching need to electrocute someone building like a bottled fizzy drink on the edge of exploding. “Come on, that’s ridiculous, you’ve been hacking into things since you were a kid. You don’t need him.”

“I just…” She weakly sobbed. “He makes me better. I can’t think the way he does, he- he uses Dataweaving through me. My Network fits him perfectly, it means I don’t need to do that stupid job anymore… please, Diana. Without him, I- I can’t work on the field, or it feels like I’ve never left my brother.”

My stomach was on the brink of emptying its contents, I was glad when the alert came through my system that Choirmen was alerting everyone to move into position. They had confirmed the deal.

———

Indra wobbled on my shoulder, half limping and half skipping while laughing hysterically through the process. I shushed her as we neared the gate of the compound, Investigator Choirmen hidden just out of view of the entrance’s visibility.

Regrouping with him, I noticed the severe lack of reinforcements here. I’d expected him to say something about Indra’s half-conscious state, something serious, instead he quietly laughed. “How is it with Rorshce-Indra duty? It’s a tradition that we don’t tell the new recruits what they do, makes it a lot funnier. Should’ve seen Anthony’s reaction to it.”

It was not funny. Not one bit. “She’s certainly… they’re certainly a personality. You sure she can work like this?”

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“Works better like this.” He said passively, more focused on the guards by the entrance into the old warehouse. “Risham’s up on a nearby rooftop, patching him into your comms.”

A piercing pain stuck into my neck a needle of pure thought into the Neuralink. Risham’s whiskey-like voice poured into my head. “R-Risham speaking. Confirmed two guards stationed on the south-side entrance by your opening-g, Choirmen. Another three stationed by the north-side. My scope’s counting quite a lot of them inside, estimated to be fourteen… news about additional r-reinforcements?”

Choirmen’s thoughts came through even though he was right next to me. “C-coming soon. We’ll take out the perimeter and get them surrounded from all sides once we enter, l-likely to be a b-bloodbath otherwise-e.”

“Affirmed. We going to use the Rorsche shackles?”

“Yup.”

“Rorsche shackles?” I whispered. To which Indra pulled open her briefcase and took out six metallic angular plates with metallic hooks sticking out from them. They were standard Neurocuffs, capable of disrupting Warpcode in Shardware… but likely these were modified to give Rorsche access to whoever was shackled in them.

Risham’s voice vibrated in my head. “You’re fast right, Jones? I’m going to shoot non-lethal rounds at each of them, need you to place down the shackles on their Neuroframes before they can ping out an SOS. Indra and Rorsche will be able to hack into them and get us access codes, maybe even camera footage.”

“Understood.” The six shackles metallically plated together and even stuck to my uniform’s forearm like a bracer, and were thin enough that they weren’t a massive hindrance to my mobility.

“I won’t go slow for you, rookie. F-From your left to right, tell me when you’re rea-dy.” The voice was confident even amidst the faltering of a Neuralink. A confidence in both him and me, it was just what I needed to push myself out of the worry I’d been having for Indra.

Taking a glance from the corner past Choirmen, I got a sneaky look at the three criminal watchmen. Two with crimson eyes, and one with the armband of the Juniperos. I sent a third of my Braceshocker’s charge running through me, from this distance I’d make it in a few seconds. “I-I’m ready.”

No affirmative response came, a quiet splatter of a body onto concrete — only a flash of light as evidence of a shot — rushed my body into motion like a thunderbolt. By the time I’d made it halfway to the first guard, another with crimson eyes sputtered into awareness. Before he could even raise a decibel of warning, a piercing lance of blue no thicker than a needle zapped his head and sent him falling to the floor.

A quick slap on the first fallen guard’s neck latched the shackle over the frame, and by the time I’d reached the second guard, the third one who was much less attentive fell back with his eyes rolled up. Another slap on his neck reached him before he even touched the floor.

My eyesight mutation was really coming in handy, I’d definitely gotten closer to maximizing its Development now.

“Good work Jones, a little slow but you made it up towards the end.”

“Whatever… I need that fucking gun man.” Non-lethal snipers, especially of the electric variant, were just up my alley.

“If you can beat me in a shooting competition, it’s yours.” He joked, or was he serious? If he was serious, I was down. But there was a time and place, I quickly sat my focus on the three downed bodies around me, their bodies twitching as the shackles pulsed an ominous Bronze light over them.

Then I saw Indra, her arms outstretched like a zombie — twitching and shaking out of her control — the Iron glow visible within her Shardware’s joints and seams now under a corruptive Bronze glow. I couldn’t help but be concerned as her eyes went bloodshot, nothing serious but concerning nonetheless.

Choirmen seemed to notice the shift in my priorities, a stern gaze flicking from me to the backside of the building. There were three more guards in the perimeter.

I had charged up once more, and just as quickly, if not faster, shackled them all up once they were neutralized. Indra’s twitching only got worse, her neck randomy seizing as the six bodies under her gaze were digitally dissected.

Rorsche’s voice spoke from her, the twitching stopped in an instant as though she’d been possessed. “Hacked into the camera system indoors, I can confirm there are 18 gang members. 12 Crimson and 6 Junipero. Backup arriving in two minutes, do not engage without them. Five officers, two third Ranks Investigators and a Second Rank Investigator rendezvousing on your position. Jones, there’s a door I’m opening, it leads to a power grid and a hub for the internal framework of the building security. Escort me there.”

I wanted to spit on his face — the real Rorsche — for how quickly he could switch between douchebag and professional. With Choirmen giving me an impatient cough, I hurried to pick up the woman being controlled by my commanding officer.

Wrapping her arm around my shoulder, I had to place a firmer grasp on her hand once I felt it squirming up the sides of my rib cage. A warning glance would have to be enough. I hoped it was enough. Thankfully, Indra blinked free soon after and her arm pushed away, the Bronze-infected light pulsing to open up a small door.

It was easy to find the mainframe thanks to my internal sense of electromagnetic radiation, but the quiet humdum of talking past the room shivered me bare. I couldn’t make it out, but there were quite a few loud voices talking through. The flow of electricity in my body resonated with the room as I tiptoed with Indra leaning on me, not the easiest task but it would work.

Just about to turn the corner into the mainframe, I froze as one of the electrical fields within the room shifted. Then I saw its rough shape, almost arm-like in a weird oblong oval. Shardware. And Rorsche hadn’t warned me, he was willingly putting both myself and Indra in danger.

Just as he threatened to.

My Braceshocker ready, I indicated to Indra to open the door. A weak raise of her arm sent it quietly reeling back, and in a moment, I turned my Braceshocker’s aim to the back of a woman’s head while she was speaking to someone via a direct comms.

“Yeah, it’s weird. All the outside cams just froze, and I’m not getting any comms from the men out there. Think I have to call them off right now, fuck, Cannonarm’s going to kill me.” I waited for her to stop talking, and while she was busy dialing in the next chat, a quiet pulse from my gun sent a decisive shock through the back of her head. I quieted her fall by catching her, and then we had access to the security room and power grid.

“A-All secure.”

Choirmen responded. “Roger that, reinforcement’s outside. We'll have them surrounded on both the South-side and North-side.”

Rorsche spoke next, his mental voice particularly fragmented. “C-Confirmed target s-strength, looks like seven n-non-Adapters, three Tier Zeros, Five Tier on-es and a Tier Two… shit. A fuc-king C-Crimson F-Finger. C-Cannonarm, careful, his hand tur-ns into a mini-gun.”

Not one of the ones Indra pointed out today, great. Our intel was already lacking enough except for when it came to my family history, Founders I fucking hated this job.

After a tense minute, a crackling sound broke into my Neuralink. Looking upon Indra, I whispered. "Hey, did something happen?"

Only silence and a blank stare met me, so I reached into the Neuralink. "Hello, c-can you guys here me?"

It took a few seconds before Indra's eyes turned to me and Rorsche's voice defiled her presence. "It's just interference, don't worry about it."

Then he spoke again, except this time much louder, infact he was coming out from the speakers of the warehouse. “This is First Investigator Rorsche speaking, Third-in-command at Squad 13 of the Intelligence department of the Westbrook Police District. We have you surrounded. You are all under arrest for the purchase and sale of illegal Firearms and Shardware, come out with your hands up, unarmed and with your Shardware disabled. This is not a warning, we will open fire if you do not surrender.”

Clamor and panic exploded from beyond my door at once, this was happening… now? While I was in the building? I heard the panic roar as all the voices tried to make reasons, hearing snippets of ‘oh fuck’s or ‘trash the goods’ to responses from ‘are you a fucking idiot’ and ‘just blast them apart’!

Risham’s voice took an edged tone through the Neuralink which returned to me. “S-Switching to piercing rounds, lethal but silenced. I’m tracking you, Jones, give me a call to shoot if they threaten you-u.”

“T-thank you.” Was all I managed to get out before a louder voice shook the panic to stillness.

“I fucking swear- you Junipero bastards can't do anything right! Alright, three of you each stay armed at the doors, when they try to bust in give them teeth full of lead!” If I had to assume, that voice belonged to Cannonarm.

Everything that happened next occurred very quickly within a few seconds.

I moved as quickly as I could for the main power, prying the insulated case open and sticking my hands into the shocking bits. My body was on fire in a blink, tearing away more electricity than my inhibited mutations could handle. Fuck, fuck, fuck! I shouldn’t have taken those gene-limiters!

I scouted quickly, taking a second to scan Indra who was still dazed while plugged into the mainframe, while I heard three guns take aim in the form of electrical noise. The frequencies of their internal components taking a shrill pitch as they prepared to shoot.

“Risham! Take down the ones on North-side, three of them are aiming at the door!” I tried to get it through, but no response came, something was blocking the signal.

Another voice called, the situation was going from bad to worse. “Fuck! Someone’s hooked up to our central system! I’ve activated the signal blocker but they’re still in! Theo, reboot the mainframe! They might be in here.”

I felt a gun moving closer to me, while another three moved further south. A rolling set of footsteps was approaching. My body was charged for action as they neared our positions. Something had to be done. Now, or Indra could get hurt in a shootout.

I moved as electrical energy converted into force through my limbs, my body a blur of sparks. Before even leaving the confines of the room, I could feel where the closest grunt was, and my blue shot plastered over his nose as burns sent his eyes rolling back and his body falling.

With that dealt, my legs took me to the first of the three goons on my side. I didn’t have the time to calculate, I just charged my arms with enough electricity that a single punch carried enough force to smack him into the second guy and by the time I’d reached the third, I pushed a maximum-powered shot into his chest before finishing off the other two with quick pulses into their Neuroframe.

I knew it was potentially deadly amounts of voltage, but what choice did I have when Indra was so close by?

I slammed into cover behind a pillar out of their view, my body an aching mess as I slowed down suddenly. But my little stunt to protect Indra brought a lot of attention over to me, Cannonarm's voice growled. "What the fuck! They're already in! Just shoot already!"

A firework-like eruption of sound blasted through me, vibrations of the Northern-side being executed drenching into my bones. Then I heard an even louder crack of sound.

“Shit they have a sniper!” One of them yelled.

“Take cover!"

“Hol' up! Noone’s there?!”

What? I sucked a deep breath as they stopped the Hail Mary in favor of cover and stretched my senses as far as I could... No one was there. My squad had taken another entrance? I only got my answer once the piercing pain of the Neuralink returned.

“Signal jammer removed.” Rorsche spoke.

“I got your warning in time, good job, Jones. We took a different route.” Risham came next. "We're enter-"

Then it got jammed again.

“Shit, they've got a Bronze Delver on their hands!” One of them broke off from the main group, arming a heavy weapon as they ran towards Indra's location. “Someone’s in the mainframe!”

I moved without thinking, my body carrying such a heavy weight knowing I left her defenseless there. My shot was accurate, a clear beam trailing up to the man’s neck that spat sparks through his frame.

A clear trail leading right to my hidden cover behind the pillar.

“Someone’s there!” Cannonarm’s voice boomed, and all I felt was a thick reverberation of electrical surges. It was like a volcano bubbling with seconds away from erupting. Right, Rorsche said his arm could turn into a minigun. “I'll flush them.”

Dust and concrete splattered around me as I pinned myself into the tiny nook that was safe. The stray sparks of bullets and debris showered everything I could see -- as quick as I was, there was no escaping a minigun.

I resigned myself to that corner, cradling it as close as I could. Of course, Rorsche would leave me vulnerable! If there was one thing I wanted to do before I died it was tear his balls off his-

Blood splattered onto the floor ahead of me, the panicking fire turning away from my direction as new elements came into the fray. My squad burst through a side-door leading right into the warehouse, covering me as they opened fire onto Crimson Souls.

“J-Jones!” Choirmen’s voice may very well have been a choir at that moment. “E-Entered through a hidden tunnel-l located on the east-side. Couldn’t contact you or Indra once Rorsche made the an-nouncement, you both stable-e?”

“Y-Yeah.” Was my simplest answer, but that was the only answer I could give before chaos ensued.