“How long till you reach the processors?” I asked Rook “another fifteen minutes or so, why, you have somewhere to go?”

“Cut the shit Rook, you know I don’t have anywhere to go, but Crimon, I’d like to get some rest.”

“You got two hours’ rest. That should be enough”

“Not the point. “I said firmly. My mind’s not into this, I need some time to get my shit together.

“Stryme’s gonna be here soon, so you need to get that thought of rest out of your mind.”

“Stryme’s coming?”

“Yes, how else do you think you’re going to get into Sceleratus?”

“Walk in?”

Rook laughed at my poor attempt at a joke, then shook his head as he pried off the second last anti-corrosive plate free.

“You’re laughing, but I’m serious. Mr Black hardly told me anything during the debrief.”

“That wasn’t a debrief Cypher.”

“Mr Black wanted to ensure you were committed.”

“When Stryme arrives, that’s when the real debrief takes place.”

“Compartmentalisation,” I said, shaking my head. “Of course, only certain people know certain things.”

“That’s not true Cypher, Stryme’s in deep cover, and the last time we had an update from him was when you were in the Waste.

“So that’s what you'll be up to.”

“Yes, we were dealing with this. You so happened to be here as well, I’d say that’s fate, wouldn’t you?” He said with a laugh.

“Funny Rook, funny.”

“Right, but in all honesty. Mr Black didn’t want to give you dated intelligence. Once Stryme arrives, you’ll be updated accordingly.”

“Right.”

I ground my teeth in frustration, and then tapped my foot against the floor for good measure, hoping this ‘upgrade’ would end soon.

“There,” Rook said, pulling off the final anti-corrosive plate, and placing it on a stack of twenty-nine plates, next to fifteen plates of armour plating.

Rook picked up a cloth from the brown unvarnished table, dabbing it on his forehead with his left hand. Then guzzled down a pint of water, sucking air as he felt relief.

“Has something changed in Saunters?” I asked.

“Changed? Not that I know”

“Yeah…everyone’s on edge,” I said firmly.

“Aahh…the power shift that’s taking place within this sector of The Waste,” Rook said

“Power shift?” I said, confused by the words “Who in the IMBIBE fights for Sa—“ Then it hit me, like a brick straight to the face. Salamander the Girth.

“Salamander The Girth, after he and his people were taken out, everyone’s been vying to reign supreme,” Rook said.

“I see, When a King dies, everyone fights for the crown,” I said glumly.

Rook stopped what he was doing, nodding in agreement. “As much as you despise Mr Black, you’re so much alike.” He said laughing whilst shaking his head.

I turned to Rook, eyeing him up and down with disgust written across my face. I was about to say something, but I kept my mouth silent, and let my lips curl into a smile. “If you say so,” I added.

Rook disconnected the three Ecin-Batteries from my arm, then pulled each one of them out discreetly, placing them on the table. All three rolled on the table, vector lines gleaming from the little light emanating from above us.

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The batteries may have been spherical in design, but with so many vector lines stitched into their overall design of them, it made them hexagonal at an angle.

Rook brought pushed himself up, and headed over to the corner of the room, picking up two crates of different sizes. The one in his left hand was smaller, whilst the one in his right was partially bigger.

He dumped them on the table with a loud thud, which made his tools, the anti-corrosive plates and armour plates rumble.

Rook rummaged through the bigger bag, pulling a laptop free. He slid three cables into the laptop sockets and then wired them into my cybernetic arm which sparked two lights alive, in the colour orange and purple.

I watched as he eyed the lights quizzically as if they were to mean something. The urge to ask something was there, but I let it slide, just to see if he would say something willingly.

He didn’t say shit but went on to open the second crate, pulling out a small cuboid, which was smooth.

I squinted, trying to see what it was, but only got a better glimpse of it when Rook brought it over.

“Processor.”

“Yes.” He answered.

Rook slid the processor into the wrist section of my cybernetic arm, keeping his eyes on the lights which began blinking intermittently the moment he slotted it in.

The purple light turned red for a full second, then Rook's hand shifted, then it turned white, then brightened. Relief flashed across his face, and then he pushed himself up, heading over to the crate, and pulling another processor free.

He slots the processor in the shoulder section, eyeing the lights once more, the white light turned brown, then orange.

Beads of sweat formed around his forehead, as he fought with the processor, trying to slot it in the correct slot for a good five minutes. The lights around my arm switched from purple to red and from orange to green at the time, which confused the shit out of me.

What was Rook trying to do, and what was the meaning behind the variant colours? This made little sense to me. The light switched to green for two seconds longer than normal and relief washed over Rook’s face. The moment it turned purple it turned sour indicating his failure, which was helped by a curse under his breath as he continued his task.

“Trouble?” I finally asked.

“Yeah…” He said, “It’s not syncing.”

“You’re trying to sync my arm, with a processor?”

“Yeah…what bullshit are you doing?”

“Not bullshit Cypher. This is a new type of processor. Allimorphic Processor to be precise. It’s ten times faster than what you had before, which could provide you with improved vision in your Cybernetic eye and smoother feedback from your SMB. You’d also have better control over your Cybernetic Wrist.”

“Mr Black just plans on using me as a guinea pig for all your experimental tech?”

“Yes,” Rook said with a laugh.

“That’s not funny Rook, for Christ’s sake I almost died because of those Cyber-Black Out!”

“I know Cypher, I said I’ll look into some more, but right now, there's nothing in your system to say otherwise. Plus, it doesn’t help I’ve never heard of such symptoms before, so there’s nothing I can go on.”

“What in the IMBIBE is up with my Cybernetics then?!… I can’t dally with non-functioning tech right now.”

“Don’t worry Cypher. It’s as you said, You haven’t received a blackout in months. I believe you’ll be fine. The Ecin-Battery you had before was probably the problem. There’s a possibility that it couldn’t keep up with your output and balance your slethe as well without cutting the power before something dangerous happened to me.”

“You’ve said this before Rook, it makes sense, but that doesn’t prove anything!”

“I know it doesn’t Cypher, but it’s as you said, you haven’t experienced a blackout for months, which means it's gone.”

“…but it’s not registering within the diagnostics scheme when you pulled up my data, isn’t that weird?”

“It is…but your cybernetics are working fine. Look, once you finish this mission, I’m going to go through everything with a fine toothcomb, alright? I understand your concerns, but trust me…when we wouldn’t give you anything if we didn’t it’ll help increase your chances of success on the mission.”

“That’s what they all say, Rook, remember I told you that.”

“I will.”

Rook finally got the green light to stay on for more than two seconds, and finally removed his hand from within the battery slot for my shoulder.

He guzzled down a cup of water before wiping his sweat free from his face and neck, then pulled the final battery into the battery slot. This time, both lights changed intermittently between red, green, blue, white and purple each second.

Rook this time around was composed. When the light turned green, he flicked his wrist, changing the colour to purple, and then it changed to blue.

After watching him for three minutes, I began to realise, he was figuring out the pattern to this Allimorphic Processor, which no doubt was a puzzle of its own, annoyingly so.

Ten more minutes passed, and Rook finally got the lights to turn white, blink green, and then red.

“There.” He finally said, “All done.”

He slid over to his laptop and began typing away. Once he was finished, he slid back to, checking the wires. “What are you doing?”

“Firmware patch.”

Great I grumbled to myself.

Rook slammed a button on his keyboard and the lights within my arm went dead, for an entire minute, then pulsed on, then stopped. “Good.” He said.

He began pulling the wires free from my cybernetic arm, tossing them back on the table. Rook spent the next half hour putting my arm back together, and so I could finally get some damned rest.

“Let’s test the wrist again.”

“No.” I said we can do that in the morning, I’m tired as shit.”

Rook bellowed a long sigh, then nodded. “Tomorrow,” He said, walking out of the room, leaving me strapped inside the vice-grip. “A little help here?” I asked.

He turned to me, glaring at the perfect angle, He dropped his nose, which made his glasses slide down. “Tomorrow.” Rook said, turning back around and walking through the door, clicking it behind him.

As I ground my teeth, staring around the empty room with my arm strapped inside the vice-grip, the only thing that resonated with me at this time, was annoyance, and I was full of it. Asshole.