I opened the door, dodging out of the way as a kid burst from the clinic in a fit of laughter. He was a cute kid with chrome legs. “Mama look! Mama look! I can walk now! I can walk!” He gleefully bounded about the courtyard.

A warm laugh emanated from the shop. “I see that!” I continued to hold the door as a worn-out-looking mother walked through with a nod of thanks.

Smiling faintly, I entered the clinic to see Nael washing down the chair. Of course, his head instantly snapped onto me as if he had eyes in the back of his head. “Shiro! What brings you here?”

“I want an upgrade,” I said. “And I’m here to pay off some of my debt.”

He waved it off as he finished sanitizing the chair. “Don’t worry about that debt, kid. You can pay me back when you’ve struck it rich. What are you looking to have done?”

“An upgraded cybereye. One HUD capable, preferably.” I said.

“Anything in particular? A specific corporation perhaps?” He asked as he patted the chair.

I took the hint and sat down. “Um… you have anything Sentinel? If not-”

“Sure, kid. They're a bit expensive, but I’ve got some Sentinel chrome…” He headed off to a side room and returned shortly carrying three boxes. “This stuff ain’t the most advanced, but they’re probably better than most things on the market right now. There might be better magitech stuff, but I'm not active in that field.”

Not that I blamed him. Magic was better left alone, in my opinion. There was just too much to it that I didn’t know. “What are the options?” I nodded my head to the boxes.

He set them down on a nearby cart. “Right, this one,” He held up one of the boxes, “Is a Sentinel Vanguard T-43. Real nice piece of tech. HUD capable, has built-in image enhancement, and three levels of zoom. Oh, and this particular one can fit two other augments.”

Nael put it down and then moved to the middle one. “This one is the Sentinel Bulwark A-33. A bit cheaper than the other, but it has a feature that the Vanguard doesn’t. Built-in infrared scanners. Sadly, that's it, and it can only fit one other augment.”

“I know you said Sentinel, but this one is something special.” He picked up a worn-out-looking box. “The Advent Phantom A-1. Advent is a tiny new corporation still in its experimental phase. Don’t worry though, a buddy of mine is the lead developer there and they take chrome very seriously. Advent stuff isn’t even on the market yet, but I got this as a ‘test’.”

“I don’t know if I’m okay being a lab rat.” Though if it's someone Nael is vouching for, it can’t be that bad. Wow… guess I did have a lot of trust in the guy.

He nodded his head. “I wouldn’t even mention it if I didn’t think it was preem tech, kid. Hear me out before you turn it down?”

“Fine.” It wouldn’t hurt to listen at the very least.

“The Phantom has an image enhancement, dual-zoom, and HUD. It's even got an auto-cleaning film so you won’t have to worry about particles. The kicker, though, is Advent's proprietary tech. They call it Blackout. Basically, for a minute, anything technological will fail to spot you. Think hyper-advanced feature scrubber but for your whole body.”

Damn, that was impressive… too impressive. “That sounds too good to be true.”

“Partly. Blackout is the reason the company hasn’t gone public yet. It’s got a few issues; it takes a day to fully reset the battery on Blackout, so it isn’t too reliable yet. They’re looking for beta testers though, which is how I got my hands on it.”

It was tempting… Did I really want experimental tech though? That was the kind of stuff Savants, those bastards, messed with. Would it fry my brain? “What do I have to do as a beta tester?”

“In a month from installation, you’ll have to head to their lab and do some tests. Nothing invasive, just making sure the tech works how it should be. My buddy, the lead developer, will probably also ask you some questions about how it felt and its usefulness. Oh, but you aren’t doing this for nothing! You’ll have lifetime access to their beta program for all of their cybernetics. Might not seem like much, but if Advent goes big-league like I think it will, beta access won’t be buyable for all the money in the world.”

“You’re really selling this, Nael.”

He rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. “Sorry, kid. My buddy has been hyping this up for weeks. I’ve checked it myself though. It's a good piece of tech.”

It did have some good features. And this beta-access thing? Sounded quite nova, not going to lie. Hmm… and I still have that Sentinel Corp research I might be able to pawn off to them… No, I should probably just keep it for a while till things calm down.

“It won’t cause me to Glitch, right?” No amount of benefits in the world was worth glitching. Losing control of myself and becoming a murder machine did not sound nice.

“No no. It's based on Medtech stuff, so it's perfectly safe.”

“I’ll try it.”

I blinked my new eye a dozen times as I tried to adjust to the light levels in Bukicho. I was still getting used to the thing, especially with this new Image Enhancer. Everything was far clearer than they had been back with the ASS-Corp stuff.

Oh, and I paid off my debt to Nael so I was broke again. Yay! I literally had 34 BP left… At least I could afford Silage. Maybe I could go klep some pockets after this? The pay was shit, but at least it was pay. If I was lucky, I could get five Rayn per pocket. Assuming I wasn’t caught, of course.

If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

The HUD was temporarily disabled, at least for now. I was waiting for the PA before I turned it on and got it all set up. Speaking of which, that was why I was headed for the Dragoon Saloon.

I entered Ichiban Street, pushing my way through till I arrived at the gate into the courtyard. Unfortunately, Shinobu wasn’t on duty, but I was still let in without much of a hassle. The courtyard beyond the gate looked… different. Maybe it's because I was tortured for so long in a similar place, but it didn’t feel as warm as it used to. Or maybe that was thanks to the lack of Fangs enjoying life. The entire place was packed with Fangs, but they all had grim expressions.

Don’t let it bother you, Shiro. Not your problem… hopefully. I walked past the throngs of Fangs and entered the bar. Damn, they were ready for war. The drinks were gone, replaced with cold iron. Everywhere was littered with weapons of some kind. Katanas, tantos, SMGs, and even a few rocket launchers were set up across the bar. Taru must’ve been busy.

Well, almost everywhere. Ishimaru’s table was still empty of everything but himself and far too many bottles. I walked over and sat down across from him. “What’s going on around here?”

He looked up, startled at my approach as he reached for his blade. He redirected and snatched a bottle. “Oh, itsh you! Gang-war. The uh- the inveshtigation had pointed ush to the Shpydersh. The boysh and Neo-Jokersh are preparing to wipe ‘em out.”

Spyders… hm… nope, didn’t ring a bell. Must be some nobody then. Sad that it had to come to this, but they really shouldn’t have attacked one of the most dominant gangs in Aythryn City.

“Why all the weapons?” Surely they didn’t need missile launchers to take out a gang. Or maybe they did? Send a message or something? That was a gang thing to do, right?

“You haven’t heard? Shomeone kicked the nesht. Shentinel Corp is moving a carrier into town while they look for shomethin’ or another. Might be the shtart of another cold war.” He rifled through his clothing before passing over the phone.

Shit! What are the chances that has to do with me? No no. Stay calm, Shiro. It's got nothing to do with you! Purely coincidence… fuck. I need to lay low for a while. No! That would be an admission of guilt if I was already under suspicion… I need to do something. Take a job or something. Just act casual as if I didn’t have the very thing Sentinel was willing to move a fucking carrier in to get. “You uh- you got a job for me?”

He sloppily shook his head. “Fangsh are bushy with preparationsh. Maybe- maybe Carone might have shomething? I’ll let him know you’re coming.” His eyes glowed briefly before I could even stop him.

“Ishimaru? I uh, I don’t know a Carone.”

“Really? He’sh the fixer down by Shakura Shtreet. Not ash good ash me, but decent.” He chuckled to himself. A second later a message came to my phone with Carone’s detes. Probably Ishimaru’s PA considering his eyes didn’t glow. That thing made working under the old drunkard so much easier.

“Thank you,” I said as I stood up from the booth while checking my phone. Next stop: Sakura Street.

Sakura Street was by far one of the nicer places in Little Yukoto. It was a street with low-level corporate execs and operators living up and down it, and it showed. Sakura trees, at least the hologram types, were settled all up and down the street hence its name. I headed over right after I set up my new phone and HUD.

Nothing too complicated. The phone was still in its setup phase, so I just breezed through all the settings until it was how I wanted it. The only oddity, at least that I could see, was a phone number pre-inputted into the contacts. A bit worrying, but I’ll trust the Fangs that the thing had anti-tracking software.

The place was clean. Far too clean to be out of the Corporate Quarter. The people walking around had smiles on their faces, and they didn’t appear to be obvious gang members. It was surreal. Even the vendors looked to be selling good food and not the garbage elsewhere in Little Yukoto.

And yet I could tell this wasn’t the corpo zone purely by the stench. Of course, there were the tell-tale scents of Tosta and pollution found all over the city, but I could also smell something a little more high-class: Dark Ether. Pretty expensive, but a very powerful trip from what I hear. Unfortunately for me, it smelled worse than a dying burning hobo. The nauseating scents would’ve been filtered through Autoduct™ if this was the Corporate Quarter.

My stop was a building a bit off to the side. It was a small antique store of ancient-looking pieces of tech. Even someone without any awareness could tell something was wrong with the place though. Two chromed-up guards stood outside, packing obvious iron under their belts. They glowered at me as I entered the store, the one on the right stopping me. “No weapons.”

“Relax choom, I’m not armed,” I said and activated Lethargic Presence. Hidden Weapon was always active as per my decision earlier. No way was I going to meet a mystery man without a gun. Thankfully, the ASCorp Sidewinder was in the vein of a holdout gun, so I should be able to sneak it in.

“I ain’t your choom, pal.” The grunt said as he patted me down. He yawned right as he passed by my small ASCorp Sidewinder, completely missing it. Must be more muscle than brain. “Alright, go on in.”

Yes! Thank you interface-sama! You truly do miracles. Should- should I try to liberate this guy's pockets too? No. Best I stop while I’m ahead. And it might cause me to lose the job if I antagonize this Carone fella.

Behind the counter stood a rather young-looking guy. He wasn't Kaijen like most people in Little Yukoto. Looked more… maybe Varythian? Regardless, he had some rather high end threads. A crimson suit, seeming to shimmer in the dozens of candles scattered around the room, clung to him.

He glanced up at me, fire literally sparking off of his fingers as he lit a candle. A Kinetic… pyrokinesis? Please don’t be Caro-

“You must be Shiro… Ishimaru said you would drop by.” The guy said. His voice was slow and smooth, drawing out each word as if teasingly. It was annoying. The fire idly trailed across the air in a feat that should be impossible. It snaked past me, though I didn’t flinch at the obvious intimidation tactic.

“Carone?”

He smirked, the fire twisted around and he caught it, turning it into a ball before snuffing it out into a closed palm. “Indeed… Ishimaru said you were quite skilled at investigation, yes?”

That bastard! Not only did he send me to an Kinetic, he even lied about my skill set! “I prefer more gigs with a more subtle touch-” he frowned, “but yes, I am quite good at investigation.” Fuck! Now I lied about my skill set! Dammit Shiro!

It took all of my training and stone-facing pain during the Fox’s Paw ‘learning experience’ to resist flinching under his burning eyes. Really, by comparison to the fox, his gaze was nothing.

“Interesting… I do have a gig then. A… client of mine was found dead this morning. Go find the killer, and report back. I expect this to be… discrete. The Crusade hasn’t sent an Inquisitor yet, and I need this done before someone reports the smell.” He twirled a flame around his hand. What a show-off… though I couldn’t blame him. Honestly speaking, if I had magic powers I would show them off too.

“Of course! Discrete is my middle name!” You’re trying too hard, Shiro! “Just send me the detes.”

His eyes glowed red, and a message popped into my HUD. Its address was in… let's see here… my PA pulled up the map app into my HUD and the location was at… Fuck me. “Your client was an exec?”

At least the pay was good. 300 BP for a hopefully short investigation. Ah, but that was assuming I could actually investigate. Dammit all! Insight! Please carry me again!

“Shouldn’t be a problem, no? Just approach with a… subtle touch.” Did he really just mock me?

“‘Course not…”

He leaned back and sat down on a rather comfy-looking chair, then tossed me a key. “You are dismissed.”

Bastard. I walked out of the store and headed back to my bike. Next stop, Timpton Tower. At least it wasn’t a corporate tower. Still, it was an apartment building that catered specifically to corpo executives, so it would be annoying to get into. It was close to East End though, so it couldn’t be too protected, right?