Treeka awoke to a luminesce of pain. Her retinas were boiling and her brain was on fire. Although most of her systems were offline, one of her optic nerves still functioned. Anya was pressing buttons on a control panel with a mischievous grin on her face. She seemed to be enjoying herself. A woman in her early fifties walked in and said something to Anya, who departed in a hurry. The newcomer flipped some switches and pressed a button, and Treeka’s pain stopped. She didn’t know how long Anya had been torturing her, but it had been far too long.
“Are you Treeka?” the woman asked.
Treeka nodded.
“Good. You won’t mind if I get you out of here, will you?”
As Treeka considered the ramifications of the question, her systems came back online. As soon as her databanks were up, she ran a reverse image search of the woman and pulled up any and all information available.
Dossier:
Subject name: Dahlia Verk
Aliases: Dahlia Frost, also known as the Black Heart
Known Groups: Black Iris, Jedaci Jedla (Knife Eaters)
Country of Origin: Slovakia
A message appeared on her HUD.
Warning: Subject is extremely dangerous.
“My name is Dahlia, but you should already know this.”
“Have we met?” Treeka said in a weak voice.
“Yes, once before. The raid on Doc Chop’s lab?”
A wave of recognition flooded Treeka’s brain. The battle with that cybernetic fire freak, Aiko getting stabbed, and Eva losing an arm all flashed through her mind.
“I find myself in a rather awkward position. I underwent some modifications—not by Doc Chop, but another, less crazy doctor who goes by Clemmant,” Dahlia said.
“Why are you telling me all this?”
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“I need your help. I can’t access all my systems and I—we—need to be ready when Doc Chop makes his move.”
“I don’t follow. Why would I want to help you?”
“Do you know Nigel Watson?” Dahlia smiled.
“I see that you do!” She pulled back a section of her hair and pointed to her scalp. “I think something got damaged and I need you to help me fix it.”
“I’m not a doctor,” Treeka said.
“No, but you’re a cyborg like me, and know how to use your diagnostic interface. I need you to scan me for errors.”
“It doesn’t work like that. I need to be hard-wired.”
Dahlia fished out a coil of clear cable and connected one end to the access port on her scalp. She examined Treeka for a moment.
“Where’s your interface?”
Treeka pulled up her shirt, allowing access to her metal torso. She tapped the side until a panel opened. She took the other end of the cable and plugged it into her auxiliary port. An options screen overlayed her vision, and a wireframe of Dahlia appeared.
Diagnostic Options:
Scan remote host
Repair remote host
Access metadata
Treeka chose the scan option. Moments later a status report appeared.
System Message:
Diagnostic Complete.
Cognitive Functions - Partial
Expert Systems - Pass
Deep Learning Systems - Pass
Logic Processor: Unknown
Processing Power Available: 52%
Cybernetic Brain: Damaged
Empathy Receptors: Normal
WARNING: Abnormal brain patterns discovered. Exercise caution.
Except for the warning message, Treeka relayed the diagnostic information.
“There’s some damage, so pushing yourself would be inadvisable,” Treeka said.
Dahlia severed the connection and put away the cable.
“Doc Chop will be landing soon. He has to replenish his batteries or something. Wait for my signal, then I will get us out of here. We need to get Nigel a message,” Dahlia said.
“A message for what?”
“For the attack, of course. Who stole something that a colleague of whose needs? If Nigel discovers what’s on the device, then Doc Chop’s organization will be exposed.”
“Are you on our side?” Treeka asked.
Dahlia gave her an unreadable look.
“Of course. Nigel and I haven’t been on the best of terms, but in this we are aligned. Doc Chop must be stopped at all costs.”
A sense of unease washed over Treeka as she assessed the situation.
“Stay alert and wait for my signal,” Dahlia said.
Anya strode back into the room. “We’re not ready for her yet. Enyo is not yet online. That stupid Gregor isn’t helping, either. I thought your hacking group was the best. I guess you’ve gotten too old and soft.”
“Watch your tone, girl,” Dahlia said in a cool but menacing tone.
“Ladies, fighting isn’t becoming of professionals, especially ones of your caliber,” Dr. Sylvester said as he entered.
Anya crossed her arms and gave Dahlia a look of annoyance. “If I didn’t know any better, I’d say the infamous Black Heart has gotten cold feet.”
“Now, that simply isn’t the case, dear. She’s given us assurances of cooperation. And besides, she does want those upgrades I promised her,” Dr. Sylvester said.
The doctor caressed Dahlia’s face.
“Now, will you two leave? I need to finish my interrogation of our stowaway,” Anya said.
“Try not to hurt her too much. She’s the only one who can interface successfully with Enyo. The most advanced cybernetic frame I’ve ever seen,” Dr. Sylvester said.
The doctor led Dahlia out. When the doctor and Anya were ahead and out of view, Dahlia turned and made a fist. Treeka took it as a sign to hold fast and endure the pain and suffering—for now. Payback was coming and it would be a bitch for Anya.