"Whatever, Cypher, I know why you called."

"Are you sure? Because that shoddy ARS program you gave me, didn’t record shit last night!”

“Holy shit, are you serious?”

“Quite.”

“The backup recording from my Cybernetic eye saved me a lot of time.”

“Fuck, my bad Cypher. I didn’t know it wouldn’t work for you. I thought it would, but I guess the bugs aren’t fixed as yet!”

“Wait a minute…you gave me shoddy programs…to work with?”

Gonzada went quiet as if he were searching for the right words to calm me down.

“Not really, it’s a work in progress!” He said laughing.

“Work-In-Progress MY ASS! You know how I’m seen at BLED, and this is what you do to me? Come on Zade!” I shouted, flustered.

“I’m sorry Cypher, but I really thought it would’ve helped!”

I didn’t answer but felt the calluses of my right hand as squeezed it, annoyed as hell. I didn’t wake up for this shit I thought bitterly.

After thirty seconds of silence, I let my annoyance go by and sighed my frustration away. “it’s cool Zade” I finally answered. "but have you heard…anything on the Case Officer for my case?"

“Yeah, one’s been assigned…wait, they haven’t contacted you?”

“No, no one hasn’t contacted me as yet and last I checked, no one’s been assigned to my case”

“Weird.” Gonzada whispered. “ok, give me a second…have to look into this.” The line went silent for about two minutes, then. "Right, Cypher…I see a case officer has been assigned to Adrianna Smith's, but, for some reason, I don't have access to see the name."

“Is that normal?”

“Not really.”

"Alright…do you know how long till the name will be revealed? I need someone to interview her co-workers and husband."

"Yeah, yeah…I know. Just sit tight, for now, alright?"

"Once something happens, I'll call you."

"Alright, Zade…many thanks again."

“Don’t mention it.”

After the call with Zade, I didn't know what to do. I had to sit back and wait…something that made me quite agitated in truth. Whatever.

I pushed myself up and went back into my living room, planting myself into a chair and turning on my Television. I siphoned through the channels looking for something to watch. Still, I was unimpressed with the limited variety of shows that were on at this time.

When nothing of interest showed, you watched sports, and that's what I did, a taped game from last week. Long overdue in my viewing. Yes, I might've worked in months, but I wasn't no slouch to just sit around and watch T.V. all day.

Incoming call from Rex Levin

"That was quick…."

"Not calling about the video analysis, Cypher. I just got a call from Yeltor Evls."

“Oh really…What does that scumbag want?”

“Said he needs you for a job.”

Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

"No can do… I'm busy, and so are you when last I checked."

"Not busy enough to say, 'refuse his credits,' Cypher, you know this."

"Credits will be the end of you one of these days, Rex."

"Not if they can't find me. You know how good I am."

"The Best Cyberweaver in all of Antillea," we both said.

I rolled my eyes and shook my head, knowing full well that Rex was good. Good at what he did, so I couldn't fault him for being cocky.

Hell, if I were an S-Level Cyberweaver, id' be that cocky too. Bastard.

"Don't worry, Cypher, I'll get back to you within an hour or so."

“I hear you.”

"Oh, before you go, I forgot to ask, why did you send this footage to me? It looks pretty normal. The woman gets mugged, stabbed three times in her chest. Killer leaves. The End."

"It's weird, man…When I investigated the crime scene, it felt hollow, decrepit and void of any type of emotion. As if someone just placed her there. Yet, when I saw the footage, there was passion, anger. It just didn't feel right. She was stabbed three times for Christ sake…furthermore, her face lacked emotion."

"Whoa…look at you playing detective."

"I ain't playing shit Rex. Nova got some updated patch that gave me the rundown on different types of murders. Who knew that stab wounds indicated passion. Weird, right?"

"Quite…but look at where we live, Cypher… everything's weird here."

"True," I admitted, laughing ruefully.

“What else have you noticed in that alley so I could take a deeper look."

"Nothing…it's just an alley, but it's as I said though. Her eyes didn't have any emotion. It was haunting. I felt like I was staring into space."

"I see…send me a photo of her face. I wanna see if I can paint the same picture you did."

“You know I can’t do that.”

"Cypher, you ain't supposed to send me videos either, but here we are. Ok, how about this, I hack into BLED's infamous unhackable database, get this video, charge you for not sending it to me right away, and make it easy to follow my footsteps, leading to you. How does that sound?"

“Asshole.”

“Good, I’ll check my cyber box in a few.”

“Whatever.”

Rex fizzled out of existence once more. Rex wasn’t just an S-Class Cyberweaver, but an S-Class asshole. I wasn’t scared of him or anything, but I knew he’d do what he’d said he do. Hack the BLED mainframe, leaving traces to me, setting me up for the fall.

“Ugh…” I groaned to myself, feeling flustered. “He’s only acting this way because I turned down Yeltor’s offer. Doesn’t matter.”

I checked the time, noting it was minutes to eleven, and forced myself into the shower. If I don't hurry… I'll be late, and Jix won't let me hear the end of it.

After a lengthy shower, I dried myself off, flossed, brushed my teeth, and steadily made my way into my walk-in closet. I rummaged through the closet for a short while before finally settling on a white blazer with sleek silver lines, with red LED lights at the back, to match my cybernetic arm on occasion.

I selected a black tee for an inside shirt to match the dark blue slacks I'd chosen. The slacks had two embroidered patterns that gleamed silver in the right light. Not my favourite, but I felt flashy today.

Then, I selected a pair of navy blue boots with white circular patterns woven into them, which shimmered each time I stepped. Useless, but fancy.

As I walked, I made my way to my mirror. I took a long deep look at my face and noted the imperfections of the cloned flesh that was stretched across the left side of my face.

My cybernetic eye colour was brown, matching my own colour. I tapped the synthetic skin, feeling its sturdiness, and was satisfied. My nose was thankfully still real, but half of my jaw was replaced.

Still handsome enough to draw attention, I noted to myself as I picked up the sponge and started puffing the rolls into my hair. "Nice…" I finally said to myself, but one more thing was missing.

I slowly rolled up each sleeve to my elbow, picked up the arm sleeve for my cybernetic arm, covered it in its entirety, and then made my way out of my apartment.

The elevator took to me to the basement floor within the apartment complex I called my home. "I'm driving today, Nova. Release the cardock."

"Skylane mode Sir?" The A.A. asked.

"Nah… I'm feeling the road today.

“Acknowledged.”

I stepped out of the elevator, made a right, travelled down a flight of stairs, and waited by a white door that flashed upon scanning my entire body.

The sound of metal dislodging and lodging groaned to my right, and a loud hiss of compressed air bellowed in front of me. The cardock door slid back, and my car was there, sitting waiting for me.

My Xenotis X was sharp and sleek in design but fierce in appearance. It was coloured dark blue with wheels coloured black and gold, giving them an aggressive feel.

The grill had a pure gold trident stitched in. That was my request, and it damn well made her look amazing.

I approached her, and the door clicked open. The engine automatically started with a low hum. I pulled the door open, and the digital dashboard came alive, performing a diagnostic check.

I viewed the diagnostic layout noting everything was green, for perfect. Tire Pressure, Oil Pressure, Transmission. Battery.

"Perfect…" I said, waiting for my personal basement door to slide open. Once it did, I slowly pressed on the accelerator, with my foot sunk into the clutch, and not just heard the beast roar but felt the vibration channel from engine straight to steering wheel, and goosebumps through my skin.

Once I caught a full view of the road, I sank my feet and felt the road's tension through my staring wheel as I made my way to my next appointment.