"So what exactly do we have here?" asked Chris Harrison to Jacks, who was part of the Operator team with this assigned task.
"Well, here's the thing," Jack quickly began to tell Chris and Leonidas about his encounter with what could be classified as a subordinate Cyber Ghost oddity.
Jack tried to be as concise and neutral as possible in his verbal report, putting aside his hatred for this particular type of supernatural being and trying to be 100% objective.
As he recounted his conversation with the former Tim, Chris' eyes turned a little red, his hands clenched so tightly that his bones creaked audibly, but he did not interrupt Jack's narrative.
Then he told how he had chosen to shoot, emphasizing the ability of bullets to do damage to this kind of oddity, that detail is perhaps the most important. An effective weapon was always considered good news in this kind of situation.
There are rarities that are difficult to kill with conventional weapons, so enchanted or pneuma-coated weapons are usually required, which are more effective in combat.
The fact that Jack's normal bullets worked on Tim indicated that normal people could use conventional weapons to fight this time, which was undoubtedly a good thing.
The normal minions of a Cyber Ghost were already complicated when it came to being destroyed with normal bullets, requiring explosives or artillery fire from the non-operators to finally finish them off.
"It could be the biological factor," Laria, who had finished the autopsy on Tim's body, approached the trio.
In her hand, she carried her scalpel, stained with the black blood spilled by the freak, but the girl didn't seem to be affected by this fact, behaving normally even if Chris and Leonidas were worried about her particular presence.
"The materials normally used by a Cyber Ghost to create its subordinate oddities, these omnic minions, are usually made of metals or special materials. For orbs without enchantment or pneuma, it will be difficult to deal effective damage.
Especially since there are no vital points, maybe that 'head' you took so long to destroy doesn't do anything special, or maybe it's just an expendable part of the oddity.
On the other hand, a human body has many more vulnerabilities, you don't know how easy it is to incapacitate a human if you have the right knowledge or tools" Laria's unfriendly words chilled the blood of the policemen and UNMSO members who were listening, except for her companions.
"You speak as if you were a human butcher," Sheriff Leonidas echoed with some humor, trying to ease the tense atmosphere.
"Human flesh doesn't taste good to me, according to these cannibals it tastes like pork, something sweet, I don't like pork or any food with a strange texture," Laria replied, not realizing that in the current context, her comments could be misinterpreted or overthought.
"Well... Laria, talk about what you found in the body," Irina, who couldn't stand the awkward situation, touched her friend's back to bring her back to the topic at hand.
"Please talk about that and not something else," Chris said with a sigh.
He knew that these UNMSO field agents were particularly strange and some had some eccentricities, but Laria next to him was the epitome of that, so he silently took a step back and moved out of the woman's attack range, just as a precaution.
"His body has been replaced quite a bit, except for a few major organs that have been rendered useless, everything else is mechanized. I guess he left those organs behind to give off a sign of life to serve as camouflage, Jack, what did you feel when you saw him?" Laria asked her boyfriend, who quickly replied.
"I sensed he was alive, that's why everything seemed so contradictory to me. Also, before the UNMSO badge attacked him, I only felt a vague sense of discordance, it probably used memetic methods," Jack's words plunged the crowd into stony silence.
"Is the bastard ghost using memes to hide the strangeness of his meat puppets? Damn, one of those things could be anywhere in Tuskville right now, even in a family's home," Leonidas was the first to break the silence, clearly disturbed by the matter.
Memes were information, and anything that affected them on that level was no game. It could cause bias, cognitive blindness, and even spread problematic ideas if that was the will of the Cyber Ghost, though it seemed to lack more sophisticated methods like that, anything involving memes was to be feared.
"And organizing a thorough search of the city is not only inefficient, it will attract the attention of this thing and could escalate the situation very quickly," Sophia said, joining the conversation.
"What a damn nuisance," Chris muttered before pointing at Tim's head.
"Was he aware of himself while being controlled?" the man asked with a hint of hope in his tone.
"No, he was completely assimilated by the Cyber Ghost and probably allowed the alien partial access to his memories, just enough to have some common sense but lacking some key details," Laria then took the head and handed it to Alexis who held it with an invisible hand made of Pneuma.
"Hmm... it's like Laria says, this thing is like a tick, it attached technology to Tim's brain to properly manipulate his actions, but it obviously has a lot of imperfections.
A lot of nerves have been burned, vision is probably impaired and while it could put up a good fight, a good headshot is enough to incapacitate it," Alexis did a quick skull check with some precision tools and then spoke.
"What's interesting is that he applied technological enhancements to the eyes of this thing, expensive but not too valuable. It doesn't solve the visual problem, it's as if he didn't really understand human biology and just randomly added supposed enhancements," Alexis realized the key point, then looked at Laria who nodded.
"The muscles were disproportionate, combined with a bunch of wires that had little use, although the purpose of them was surely to solve the human body's little strength and nerve problem" Laria's gray eyes seemed to glow at this point, the pneuma in her body reacting to her interest and causing that kind of physiological reaction.
"Did he have motor problems?" asked Ronald, attracting the attention of the speakers and causing him to shrug his shoulders in embarrassment.
"Yes, those wires sent electrical impulses that the nerves could not handle, they atrophied and burned out. The transformation process must have been excruciatingly painful, Tim suffered unimaginable pain, wishing he was dead and watching his body gradually lose sensation and control," Laria's words made many feel uncomfortable.
Jack in particular was really angry this time, no one deserved such a cruel fate, let alone a colleague of UNMSO who was constantly fighting against this kind of creature.
But this was not the time to let anger cloud his mind, no, that would be for later. Right now they had to do their job, which was to track down the damn thing and hunt it down before the situation got any worse.
"Looks like we won't be sleeping well for a while," Lisa said, checking the scope on her sniper rifle to make sure it was in good shape.
"I didn't feel like sleeping well anyway," Irina shook her shoulders as she stretched her body, warming up for what was about to happen.
"We're going to Tim's house and then to the place where the murder took place that the ghost was identified by," true to Irina's instructions, Alexis quickly organized the group's future path.
Only they would not be using the steam wagon, which would be taken to UNMSO headquarters and repaired for use the next day, so for now they would have to go on foot. Tim's remains were quickly wrapped in a body bag and would soon be cremated to prevent any further oddities or anomalies.
So the group of five found themselves trotting along under the guidance of Ronald, the only one who could accompany them on their long trek and who knew Tuskville quite well. Although the boy did not understand why they did not use a carriage, he did not ask the question because the others were absorbed in their conversation.
"Do you want the eyes; did you think of something?" Irina asked curiously about Jack's strange request of Alexis.
"Yes, apart from wanting to make a legendary weapon, I have a few more ideas, you know, I've been thinking about a scanner, like the one at headquarters, but portable," Jack quickly explained his purpose without wanting to play mysterious.
"Do you know how hard it was to build that thing? My father worked on it and I feel that when he talks about it, there is a mixture of hate and love in his words," Alexis said with a smile on his face.
"You're talking about the 'Biological Detection Scanner'? You like to aim for the impossible or difficult, Jack," Lisa clicked her tongue at the audacity of her teammate's thoughts.
"Well, I'd just like to try something, it doesn't have to be that complicated, this machine is the closest thing to a legendary object made today, coupled with the extensive database it possesses, I doubt I'll be able to accomplish even 1% of what this machine can do," Jack simply threw his hands up as he ran, showing that he partially acknowledged the difficulty of his wish.
"Exactly what do you want to achieve?" asked Laria specifically, she knew her boyfriend and knew that he wouldn't want something like that just for the sake of it.
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.
"Simple, a somewhat crude version of your creation of statistics for living beings, a much more portable pneuma sensor that would allow us to identify operators and oddities.
A communication and camera function perhaps? Make it as useful as a differential machine, but in miniature," Jack's whimsical words caused Alexis at his side to come closer and look at him excitedly.
"Count me in! It could even communicate directly with the main body of the scanner at headquarters, we could even query the information stored in that machine.
It's a much more complicated and elaborate thing, almost like that old technology in the ruins that stores a lot of data, some people call it a computer, others call it a mechanical brain," Alexis didn't hesitate for long, participating in such an interesting project was something he would certainly want to do.
"Well, before you get lost in your fantasies of revolutionary creations, we have arrived at our destination," Laria pointed out to Ronald, who was standing in front of a somewhat old apartment building.
"This is where Tim used to live, or at least this is the address his UNMSO buddies gave me, he lives in 313," Ronald spoke before the others asked him.
The boy was shaken from running for almost 20 kilometers without stopping, but his status as an Operator allowed him to catch his breath very quickly, so he was fine soon.
"Could it be true what that thing said, that Tim's wife is cheating on him?" asked Irina suddenly, making the others think about it.
"Let's hope we find the lady available and not involved in carnal affairs," Lisa spoke for everyone.
They were young adults and sex didn't bother them, but their mission was no trifle, so they weren't willing to put up with 'fun' moments like finding a cheating woman with her lover.
Only, as some UNMSO reports said, a Murphy found a way for a certain anomaly to act: If anything can go wrong, it will go wrong.
As the group approached the door of apartment 313, they heard the muffled moans of a woman coming from inside, making the situation somewhat strange.
"Should we stop?" asked Ronald with a red face, but Jack just put his axe on the ground and leaned on it lightly.
"Yes," the young man said, waiting for his companions to give him the space he needed.
Jack's heart beat differently this time, a pulse of visible energy surging from that organ and permeating his body before making its way to his hands. An invisible energy surged from his palms and coated the axe in his hand, causing it to emit a whirring sound.
Zum!
The lines carved into the weapon transmitted his pneuma, eventually causing the blade of the weapon to glow with a faint purple light. The whole process took a while to describe, but it was almost instantaneous.
Swoosh!
Jack lifted the axe with both hands and, with a show of power control, struck brutally at the wooden door, making a large gash in it. The sound of the blow obviously attracted the attention of the neighbors, but when they saw the glint of Jack's axe, they wisely returned to their homes.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
With three more bangs, the entire door was completely shattered, allowing outsiders to see inside the apartment. Was that necessary? No, but UNMSO had the right to do this if they felt it was vital to the mission.
Waiting for a couple to finish fucking or hoping they would be sympathetic when questioned was not on either of their minds. Jack's actions were a clear demonstration of power, and the lovers inside were affected by such an act.
A curly blonde woman covered in sheets and a young stocky man with no hair on his head wearing only boxer shorts stood watching the wreckage Jack had created, afraid of what might await them.
Only the UNMSO badge Alexis handed her kept her from screaming, the woman knew the badge, she had seen it in her husband's hands for years, but she never thought she would receive a visit from his colleagues, let alone like this.
"Is there something you want?" the woman asked with some trepidation.
Sometime later, when Tim's circumstances were explained to the woman, she was much calmer and dressed appropriately for the situation. At her side was her lover, who was not allowed to leave because he was also necessary in this situation.
Aside from the initial shock and horror of learning of her husband's final fate, the woman, called Narcisse, took it relatively well. There had been no love or concern for Tim in her heart for a long time.
On the other hand, her lover was visibly disturbed by the situation and looked as if he didn't want to be present, but Irina's eyes had settled on him, ready to kick him back to his seat if necessary.
"So you want to talk to me to find clues?" the woman asked intelligently, maybe she wasn't a UNMSO employee, but living so long with a member of the organization gave her some knowledge about some things.
"Yes, both you and your lover need to answer some questions, be honest, my friend here has a superhuman sixth sense and can detect your lies," Alexis pointed at Jack, who was leaning against the wall, his axe resting on the floor.
"Well..." the woman took a quick look at the man who had smashed his door with four blows and couldn't help but wink at him seductively, but Jack didn't react, he just stared at her.
Doubting her charm, the woman focused her attention on Alexis, who adjusted his glasses on his face before starting to ask the questions, ignoring Narcissus' suggestive action of putting her arms under her breasts to shake them.
"Why do you have a lover?" Alexis got right to the point, making the couple a little uncomfortable.
But his question had a point, and any refusal to answer it was unwelcome, so after a few seconds of mental struggle, Narcissus resigned herself to speak.
"Tim was small and too boring in bed," Narcissus said with some embarrassment, but Jack said nothing, so his words were true.
"Explain," demanded Lisa, who took all the notes of the conversation to keep a record that could be consulted later.
"Well, how can I put it? At first, it didn't bother me, I can say that I loved Tim at that time, I married him for a reason. But the spark quickly burned out. I had never thought that sex was so important in a relationship, and I imagined myself trying to make things work.
Well, sex isn't important in a relationship, but it is to me. I couldn't stand Tim's small cock, it was never the size to be exact, it was how bland he was in bed.
He wasn't open to anything, experimenting, doing it more than once, not even changing positions. Missionary every three nights, just for 2 minutes, how do you put up with that?" the wife gradually found the courage to talk about her private sex life with her husband and then with her other sex partners, apparently her current lover was not the only one.
Soon she was talking about her daily life with Tim, what the man was like, how he behaved, how he reacted in certain circumstances, and what he did at certain key moments.
His emotions were explored from the third person, creating a framework of what Tim once was, until there came a point in the story where Narcisse herself felt things were getting a little strange.
"A week ago, Tim changed, I thought he was finally catching up, you know, I even canceled my date with Gustavo that day because Tim invited me to dinner after he didn't come home the night before.
He seemed to have new courage, he was even doing well in bed for the first time, trying a lot of things in a very strange way now that I think about it. Until the next day, when he became even less pleasant than before.
He'd say he didn't feel like eating, or he'd eat at work, Tim eat out? The man had ironclad habits for years, maybe since the appointment the day before things were already strange.
He came in late and spent a lot of time in the bathroom looking at himself in the mirror, looking at his body in a very narcissistic way. Damn, was I already being controlled by this thing back then? I fucked a monster!" after exclaiming in obvious horror, the woman suddenly found her situation... strange.
"Am I the first to do this?" asked Narcissus suddenly, surprising the group, but it was Laria who answered.
"No, some men and women have had sex with freaks, either by mistake, ignorance, or because they sought it out," the brunette's words discouraged Narcisse, who was holding the hand of his lover, Gustavo.
"Now you can brag that you were with a woman capable of fucking monsters and surviving," Narcisse said with a touch of pride to her increasingly nervous bedmate.
Ignoring the rantings of a strange woman, the group already had an idea of how the Cyber Ghost could have taken control of Tim. By the most classic method of all: mental corruption.
It was by no means new, but if it was still current, it meant that this particular method was, and still is, quite effective. Corroding a person's psyche was something anomalies and oddities could do if they had the means.
Only then could an entity like the Cyber Ghost have caught a UNMSO member off guard and subjected him to its bloody transformation. Taking advantage of his suffering and mental fractures, the Cyber Ghost was right in his words; in the end, Tim stopped suffering because he was already technically dead.
"Ghosts and their damn mind games," Jack muttered in annoyance, but even though they had this doubt from before, the confirmation of Narcisse's story gave them a much clearer path.
After an hour of further questioning of both the woman and her lover, the group left the building with one item in particular: a silver metal octagon-shaped token that Tim had brought home the day before his drastic change.
"We have a lead and a somewhat disturbing account of an unbalanced woman, now we should go to the scene of the crime, Ronald, please," Irina said, getting the young man to work.
"Do you have a lot of time to fight these things?" asked Ronald, wanting to absorb some of the group's experience.
"Something like that, do you want to hear?" replied Lisa, recognizing the boy's interest, who quickly nodded.
"Well, there was one case..."
After an hour's drive, the group arrived at the scene of the crime, which was listed as the work of the Cyber Ghost, or at least one of his omnic henchmen, the reason they had come to Tuskville.
Oddly enough, they found themselves in front of a market on a shopping street, the same one they had passed through before arriving at the hotel, and where Jack had thought to return to buy a few things from a stall that had caught his eye.
"This is the Free Street, there are shops, but most people prefer to set up their stall on the side of the road and sell their things, it is a custom to do so. The crime was committed in a nearby antique shop, follow me." Although Ronald wanted to hear about the cases the group had solved, he knew he had a more important task to perform.
So he led his followers to a somewhat old store whose sign read 'Norm's Antiques', and although this place had been the scene of a murder, the 'Open' sign was in place and there was even a customer visible through the glass facing outside.
"This is where it was," Ronald pointed out before entering, followed by the rest of the group.
Just as the group entered, the atmosphere in the store suddenly became tense, the sales clerk and the customer, who had been talking just moments before, turned to face them.
Normally, this wouldn't be a problem, but the customer's face was turned toward them while his entire body was turned toward the clerk, his entire neck twisted 180 degrees, accompanied by a loud cracking sound.
"You are not the only ones who have the right to hunt, UNMSO," the two people spoke at the same time, no, they were no longer human, they were oddities subordinate to a Cyber Ghost.
"We desperately need backup," Lisa muttered between her teeth as she pulled out her gun.
"If you survive," said the henchman who was acting as a shopkeeper.
The customer's henchman twisted his body around to line up with his head, his skin seeming to cling unnaturally to his flesh. His hands reached out toward them, and a pair of black pipes emerged from his palms, shredding the flesh between them.
There was no way to react, they had been ambushed by one of the cursed Cyber Ghost's henchmen and now they were about to be mowed down, but Ronald shouted and stepped in front of the group.
"Retreat!" the boy shouted, and a pulse of invisible energy erupted from him, creating something invisible in front of his body.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
The sound of gunshots rang out, but no one was hurt because the projectiles had been stopped in mid-air, adding to Ronald's sweaty forehead, it was all very clear.
Ronald was a projection type and seemed to be able to create something with defensive overtones. The group quickly left the tent and prepared their weapons for the battle that was about to unfold.
The gunfire stopped and Ronald almost fell to his knees on the ground, but an unseen hand held him and pulled him back, also pulling him out of the shop to hide behind the group.
"You've done enough, boy, it's our turn," Alexis told him before turning his attention to the two henchmen coming out of the store, a man and a woman.
The skin on their bodies seemed unable to hold on any tighter, breaking and making a ripping sound. Soon, two figures of flesh and metal covered in dark blood stood proudly in front of them.
"You have made me angry... you will pay for this," the two henchmen said in unison, emitting a strange aura that made more than one shudder.
The henchman who fired earlier raised one of his hands again, while the other touched her abdomen, thrusting her whole arm in and pulling again, pulling out a piece of metal rib with sharp edges on it.
Looks like things won't be so easy in Tuskville.