NationStates Jolt Archive

Agent Eighteen sat in a meditative position on the freezing marble floor. A holopad was projected before her, and slim fingers danced over the illusion of a keyboard. Four messages were being created, clinical in their composure, soon to be polished and sent to three nations. These three nations were considered as having the best shot at solving this disgusting assassination. Aelosia, Ravea, Fodmodmadatol, all had a reputation in Cyberutopian eyes, good or bad. Extraordinary individuals came from these nations, ones that would serve Cyberutopian interests well.

Mass Communiqué from Agent Eighteen, Steward of the Position of People's Representative of Cyberutopia, to the Respective Governments of Aelosia, Ravea, and Fodmodmadatol

The government of Cyberutopia is under reconstruction after the deposement of the overly ambitious Master Air General Tyai Kensan. Just prior to his takeover attempt, People's Representative Duo Migashi was assassinated. Your government has been selected to submit someone you feel is capable of unearthing the method, perpetrator, and intricacies of the assassination. The detective which provides the most convincing explanation to the People shall receive a sum of six hundred seventy-two million, fifty thousand (672,050,000) Chits, which is approximately five hundred million (500,000,000) USD. This sum will be paid out over a span of fifteen years, at fourty-four million, eight hundred and three thousand, three hundred and thirty-three-point-thirty-three (44,803,333.33) Chits per year. This amount is not open to negotiation. Each detective shall receive a total of three (3) auxillaries to compose their staff. This staff shall be composed of two (2) Khrrckian Augmented to act as protection, and one (1) Cyberutopian liason, to facilitate communication, updates, and fairness in the investigation. The detective, of course, is not restricted to this staff, and they may requisition any equipment or extended staff from the Cyberutopian government, or obtain such equipment or staff through their own means. Attached to this message are information on the assassination, and Cyberutopia itself, for your detective to utilize in his or her investigation.

Attachment #1: Cyberutopia

Once you arrive at in the Multiport Subdistrict of District Tomakomai, procure transportation to the AgentComm government-fortress in District Sapporo immediately.

Transportation: Chief form of transportation is the magcapsule network that crisscrosses New Sapporo. Magcapsules will take you anywhere you want to go. If you wish to procure a car and drive that, you are free to, though your range of transportation will be greatly diminished, and you will not have access to the higher levels of the city.

Electronics: The two most important things to procure are a Device and an ENI (electronic-neural interface). These can be procured almost anywhere. If you do not wish to receive the implant to use an ENI, please procure a Temporary ENI, or TENI.

Armor and Weaponry: Both may be procured readily, though they are quite expensive for foreigners, and it will be a rare circumstance where they will be required.

Attachment #2: Assassination

Subject: Ex-People's Representative Duo Migashi.

Place of Death: The People's Representative's Residence, Government-Fortress 01, Subdistrict Sapporo, New Sapporo, Cyberutopia, Earth.

Time of Death: 8-9:30 pm, August 5, 2118.

Probable Cause of Death: Nanovirii injection, brain-liquifying strains, most likely ambushed while eating dinner. Introduction of nanovirii through food highly unlikely.

Special Notes: Death occurred almost exactly one day before Tyai Kensan's attempted coup. The vial or injection device was never found. Tyai was the supreme commander of the Cyberutopian Air Force. A vial of military-grade nanovirii was found missing from the Air Force's R&D storage facility by an Agent-sanctioned infiltrator.

End of message.

---

Communiqué from Agent Eighteen, Steward of the Position of People's Representative of Cyberutopia, to the Khrrckian Augmented stationed in the Aurora System

I have another contract for you. You have helped us before in stabilizing the Aurora system, and now I need protection for some...friends of mine that will be visiting. Select six (6) of your Augmented for bodyguard duty, and have them sent to Cyberutopia. Take the magcapsule system to the AgentComm government-fortress in District Sapporo. There, your six Augmented will receive their briefings. Each of your Augmented will be paid four hundred thousand, three thousand, two hundred and thirty (403,230) Chits per day of service, approximately three hundred thousand (300,000) USD. There is no time limit on this contract – it will go on as long as it needs to. While the contract is in effect, the six Augmented will not be under Cyberutopian control or protection, and the six Augmented may not stray from their contracted duty. Cyberutopia will not be held accountable for any Augmented losses under this contract. Chances of armed conflict are extremely low.

End of message.

Message from the Augmented, relay via Comsat Luna #33, previous source unknown
SIG: Leader

Ah. Cyberutopia calls upon us again. We will be happy to provide the service you require. Six bodyguards have been selected for you.

Oh. In the future, you don't need to send signals to Aurora Primia. We have long ago left that place. We have a drop box on Earth if you want to communicate with us; simply leave any message or file on the FTP server at aug.noneofyourbuisness.net.

We are sending:

Mareka Iron (WYRM EXSKEL)
Rekam Copper (WYRM EXSHEL)
Ikrai Copper (WYRM EXSKEL)
Kuru Ah (DBOOST WYRM EXSKEL)
"Aluminum Ghost" (WYRM EXSKEL)
Skree Newbreed (G-MOD OTHER)

Expect arrival via the light freighter Blue Ice within three days.

*tag* for now

"This is starship Blue Ice, west of District Tomakomai Spaceport, requesting permission to land."

"Starship Blue Ice, this is District Tomakomai Spaceport. Please transmit your credentials."

"Transmitted."

"Umm... Blue Ice, are you sure these are correct? You're listed as a 120-ton freighter, and your manifest shows no cargo... but our readings show you at 150 tons."

"Upgrades and modifications. We've had a few things done because of our line of work. Engines mostly."

"I... see. You are cleared to land. Transmitting approach course. Follow it to the letter. I don't want you trying something fancy and smashing up my port."

********************************************

Rekam Copper, veteran of Aurora Primia and Augmented soldier, stuck his head through the hatch and looked around.

Rekam:COMM> Nice landing, Skree.

He made no noise. Augmented speak by radio.

Skree:COMM> Are you kidding me? I had to follow a course plotted by a computer. If I'd been able to do it myself-

Mareka:COMM> You'd have done something flashy and come in with half the port yelling at us. Trust me, we don't want that.

Rekam shrugged and jumped out of the hatch. His mechanical exoskeleton hissed as it absorbed the shock from the resulting six-foot fall.

Rekam:COMM> Quit arguing. It's nice to get to a city again. I haven't been in one for months.

There was a thud and similar hiss as Kuru Ah, augmented soldier and part-time combat druggie, dropped to the ground behind him.

Kuru:COMM> Are you kidding me? There's people around here who would like nothing better than killing you, I'm sure. I'll be keeping a close eye out, even if nobody else is.

Ghost:COMM> Ghost thinks Kuru is paranoid. Kuru should lay off the drugs.

Kuru:COMM> Kuru thinks Ghost has airs. Seriously. Calling yourself "Aluminum Ghost" and referring to yourself in the third person? I think someone around here needs a little humility. I'd be happy to give it to him.

Ghost:COMM> Ghost resents that.

Ikrai:COMM> Come on, people. Stop bickering. We've got places to go and people to meet. Ghost, Mareka, come out with me. Skree, you finish up and bring up the rear.

Mareka and Ikrai dropped with another set of thuds and hisses. Ghost hit the ground with a somewhat louder clang. Skree, however, made no more than a quiet click as she hit the pavement.

The six mercenaries-turned-bodyguards set off at an easy lope towards the nearest magtube station.

A pair of black eyes lazily scanned the Cyberutopian Communiqué, taking in every last detail. Five hundred million USD. That was quite a large sum of money. The eyes narrowed. Just how dangerous would this job be? Three detectives from nations that were known to produce some of the best investigators in the entire world, as well as six Khrrckian Augmented. Ah, Khrrckians. Ravea had had some dealings with the nation, and was relitively friendly with the Wyrms, but those eyes had always been wary of Khrrckians. They were said to be excellent assassians and fighters themselves.

'Those Eyes' belonged to Riven Ward, one of the most famed-and reclusive-Investigators in Ravea. They had been permenently stained black in a particularly grusome incident involving a corrupt city deputy and a large amount of Radioactive waste. Ward had cut himself off from most human contact since then, becoming something of a hermit.

Now the Ravean government evidently thought this job was important enough to pull Ward out of hiding. Ward thought, then sighed. The prize was too large not to pass up.

District Tomakomai Spaceport-Two Days Later
Ward walked from the Sunshine, a Ravean diplomacy vessel that was used to transport the Detective to his destination. Sunshine. Honestly, what a stupid name. Ward sighed and wrapped his white cloak around him as he traversed onto the windy Starport and made his way inside. Now the first thing to do was to find out where his Augmented and liason friends were, then get an ENI. After that, it would be time for work.

Within a span of only a few seconds after walking into the main starport lobby, Ward found dozens of eyes riveted to him. What had sparse minutes before been a deafening cacaphony of socializing and business deals had been rendered freakishly quiet, and the silence was infesting the rest of the starport's interior as hastily whispered rumors fanned outwards. The Cyberutopian eyes were not focused upon his nightmare black eyes, that was nowhere near as shocking as the white cloak he had donned.

Even those with guilty faces were frozen, too shocked to make any sort of escape. The starport kept still and silent, as one would when confronted by an angry mother bear. Everyone waited for Ward's move.

---

As the six Augmented waded towards the nearest magcapsule station, made conveniently conspicuous by the words Magcapsule Boarding Station T-M36 holoprojected in English, Japanese, Russian, German, Mandarin, and a scattering of other languages. With minimal thought, it could be derived that the "T" stood for the District designation, in this case District Tomakomai, the "M" stood for the Subdistrict, or specifically Multiport Subdistrict. The numerical designation afterwards gave an idea of where the station was in relation to others, as Station 1 was always the closest to District Sapporo, and the numbers rose the further away the station was. This station was relatively close to District Sapporo, as the number of stations per District was often in the thousands. Probably about a three minute trip to the edge of District Sapporo, and several more minutes to get to S-G1, the largest and busiest of the nation's stations.

As the Augmented advanced steadily through a crush of bodies that would normally suffocate anyone other than a seasoned Cyberutopian or a heavily armored lizard, Kuru could pick up the steady 'tink, tink' of glass on Exshell. Spinning on his heel out of paranoid tendencies (and doubtlessly scattering a few people), the Aug would find a diminuitive man shaking a broken beer bottle in his face. The 'threatening' snaking of the bottle would periodically go limp before its master remembered where he was, and then pick up again.

"Gimme jar monies." The 'mugger' slurred to Kuru.

Kuru sniggered. "Fool," he said. "A broken bot-t-tle? Honesstly." The weapon on his back clicked. "Drop it-t. You want to drop it-t? No? All right, t-then."

Thud. Thud.

The first shot shattered the broken bottle, leaving the drunken mugger clasping a stub of neck. The second shot took off the mugger's hand, as well.

Kuru grinned in a decidedly unfriendly manner. "That-t ssober you up? No? Well, t-thiss sshould."

As Kuru reared up on his hind legs, a spray hypo flipped out of the black box strapped to his right forearm. He darted forward and pressed it to the stunned mugger's neck, delivering a heavy dose of Instant Sober.

"Have a nisse day."

Kuru turned and joined the other five Augs aboard the capsule. The doors closed, and they shot off towards AgentComm.

Ward didn't seem to notice the dead silence as he paused, reached into his cloak, and pulled out a large map of the city and started searching for the AgentComm government-fortress in District Sapporo, which was where he was to report to at once. He frowned for a moment, then flipped the map around as he realized it he was reading it upside down. Ward concentrated hard on the map for a few moments, then smiled as he found both his location and destination. He pocketed the map and started in the direction of the nearest Magcapsules station, but froze in midstride as he finally noticed the deafening silence at the station.

Curse these eyes! Ward quickly took out a pair of sunglasses and whipped them onto his face. No reaction. No one moved or made a sound. Ward inspected himself; none of his clothes seemed offensive. Black boots and slacks, a dark, longsleeved shirt parly covered by a lightly colered jacket, white and black gloves, the cloak, and his short black hair. His Casull 454. revolver-his only weapon, alibi one that could blow large holes in most people-was saftley strapped into a harness under his jacket, posing no threat to anyone. He stared bug-eyed through his sunglasses as he edged closer and closer to the exit of the Starport Lobby, still attracting a great deal of stares and attention. He finallly gave the onlookers a curious wave as he nearly ran out of the lobby, attracting even more stares outside.

Geez, Ward muttered under his breath. You'd think that they had never seen an outsider before. He soon found his way to the Magcapsule station and started the journey to the AgentComm government-fortress to begin his job, still reciving the chilling stare from the natives.

A variable amount of travel time later...

The pair of SpecOps soldiers stationed outside of AgentComm stiffened once they saw Ward moving in their direction. One of them took a step foward and began to salute, but stopped suddenly, leaving his hand hanging stupidly in midair. He almost certainly had a dumbfounded look behind the contoured black faceplate.

"What the hell...you're no – whatever. What's your name, and why are you here?"

"Riven Ward. I'm a Ravean detective; your government asked for my sevices in the murder of Duo Migashi. I was asked to report to the AgentComm government-fortress. And, for some reason unbeknownst to me, I'm getting some very odd stares from the locals."

Ward raised his eyebrow at the soldier, whose hand was still hovering at his head.

"And you don't have to salute me, either. Just show me the way."

The soldier dropped his hand as fast as he could. He and his partner turned to each other and laughed loudly.

"Yeah...avoid white cloaks in the future. It's after Labor Day, you know." He quipped dryly, before muttering something under his breath. "Baka gaijin..."

"Anyway..." his partner picked up, "follow us. You're probably growing impatient."

The two of them abandoned their posts, and opened the main gates. Unlike most 'secure' fortresses, there were no overly-complicated entrance protocols, just a numerical keypad with a three-digit code. This was, of course, because if you were good (or stupid) enough to be storming AgentComm, it was assumed you would be strong (or stubborn) enough to force your way through any sort of perimeter defenses.

---

A synthesized voice eminated from a surround sound system. "Hello, Mr. Ward. Please, have a seat. The others ought to be here shortly."

"I wasn't aware that Cyberutopia was so fixated on fashion. Thanks for the advice." Ward's dark eyes narrowed as the guards started laughing to each other. He thanked them once more as the guards took him inside AgentComm and sat down, yawning. He hoped that someone would drop by soon; He didn't want to be waiting here all day.

The Augs arrived several minutes after Ward did, despite having left the magtube station first.

Skree:COMM> I can't believe you managed to get us lost in this place, Kuru. "Someone's following us"? Honestly.

Kuru:COMM> I'm not the first one to make that mistake...

Skree:COMM> But taking a "back route" that ends up running us into a maze? Come on. I thought you couldn't get lost with GPS. Now I see I was wrong.

Mareka:COMM> Shut up, you two. Here's the gate.

Mareka hadn't changed much since the Aurora Primia wars. He carried less armor, so you could actually see his body underneath it. Not that it was an improvement. He also sported two strange bundles of composite rods, servos and fabric bolted to his back.

He nodded to the two guards on duty. "I'm Mareka Iron. My comradess and I were hired by your government-t t-to work as bodyguardss. I believe t-thiss iss where we are ssuppossed t-to be?

***************************************

It wasn't long until the Augs joined the Ravean detective in the waiting room.

Skree was the only one to pay much attention to him, giving him what could be considered a friendly smile and nod.

Skree was... strange. She seemed, at best, a distant cousin to the other Augs in the room. In fact, she looked like something out of a fairy tale. She stood almost as tall as the Ravean detective, with longer legs, longer neck, and... wings?

The only thing connecting her to the other Augs was the equipment she wore, and even that was limited to a set of black boxes on her forarms, a cable jacked into the back of her neck, and a harness with a few tools hung from it.

Ward's eyes snapped open as he heard a loud clanking in the waiting room. The black orbs turned to see the Khrrckian Augmented entering, looking quite large and somewhat akward in their strange armor and the odd piace of potruding metal. Ward blinked as one of the Augs-this one had an unusual set of wings-seemed to smile at him. He had never had a taste for giant lizards, but he appreciated the fact that one of them took the effort to acknowlage his existance. Mabey the Augs wern't as emotionless as he had previously thought.

Ward returned the smile and gave a little wave to the Aug in question. He hoped that the Khrrckian was assigned to him; it would certianly make things interesting.

Skree smiled again and wandered away from the other Augs to where Ward was sitting. Unlike most of the other Augs, she moved relatively quietly, and her voice was almost human.

"Hello... Are you one of the people we're here to protect?"

"Yup. Riven Ward, of Ravea. Looks like you are the ones helping us out." He nodded for a moment, then frowned.

"Which, of course, I will probably be grateful for."

He observed the Khrrckian closely, noticing her differences from the others.

"You look a little different from those other five over there. I like those wings, though. Nice touch."

Skree grinned smugly. "Different? I should think so. I'm not the same species. I'm not the same species as anyone. Technically, my species is Registered Hydrid 1,227."

She paused, and smiled again. "But what's the fun in being technical? Skree at your service. You could call my species Dragon." She spread her wings.

"It fits, wouldn't you think?"

Ward raised his eyebrows as his black orbs scanned Skree. He had always thought Dragons to be old mythical legands whose purpose was to capture pretty girls and get slain by knights. Skree didn't look like the type to be slain, however. She looked graceful as she spread her wings, even beautiful in a bizzare way.

"I should say so. I've always liked dragons, but I've never actually contact with one." He extended his hand.

"Pleased to meet you, Skree."

(Stupid Puppet! Forgot to log out.)

Scree blinked at Ward's outstretched hand. "Oh. Sorry, but I'm not exactly equipped for shaking hands." She tapped her claws against the floor. "These are good for fighting... not too good for shaking hands. There's a metaphor in there somewhere. Anyway. Pleased to meet you, too. I'm not suprised you've never met a dragon before. I'm a genetic creation. First of my kind."

"Yea, sorry about that. I should have thought about that beforehand." He blinked and shook his head at the stupid pun he had just made.

"Anyways...What's it like being the only member of a species? I would think that it would get quite lonely sometimes, wouldn't it?"

Skree shrugged. "Not really. The Augs keep me company, and there's a few other gene-hack dragons around. None of them are exactly like me, though. I was the first."

The same synthesized voice as had greeted Ward reverberated around the walls of the office. It had taken on a slightly disappointed tone, but still held the same sickeningly optimistic and cheery undertones as before. It had been programmed that way, after all.

"Hello again Detective, and greetings to the Augmented who have joined us. I have some unexpected news. One of the competing nations has chosen to withdraw, leaving only Mr. Ward of Ravea and the tardy detective from Fodmodmadatol. We will see if we can't remedy this problem as soon as possible. A replacement nation may have to come in later, as we are not keen on making Mr. Ward or the Augmented wait any longer. Something shall be done soon."

Something shall be done soon. Such a...comforting phrase. In an annoyingly vauge way, of course.

Heels clicked loudly on the ground as Mensana landed. He toppled over as he kept sailing foward, the parasail caught in an updraft. He gasped as he rose again, immediately pulling the emergency cords. Mensana landed, again, stumbling just before the two Cyperutopian SpecOps.

He plucked away brass tinted glasses, and tossed them aside to reveal particularly stuning brass eyes. He tore away dusty leather gloves with flashing teeth, wiping sweaty palms on a dustier brown leather jacket. Brow furrowed in realization of the vainity of this pursuit, Mensana deftly slid filthy hands into the pockets of worn jeans... The urbanized wild west.

Mensana glanced to the two SpecOps, looked to the sky, then looked back to the SpecOps. "Might want to keep an eye on the clouds... Not sure what happened to my 'Chat. Things might be falling some time soon." Tilt of the head, breaking out into a terrifically informal smile. "Can I come in?"

The pair of SpecOps soldiers, for all their earlier enthusiasm and hard training, were just plain tired from guiding Ward and the party of Augmented to the waiting room. One of them lifted his arm backwards, in the rough direction of the front gates. He dropped it again with the scraping rustle of armor on armor.

"It's the only door that's unlocked." The soldier said roughly, assuming this new jester was one of the detectives. He was a ceremonial guard, anyway.

Mareka turned as the newcomer entered the room.

"Well. I asssume you'rre t-the detect-tive frrom Fod-d-dmodmadt-t-tol?"

Skree winced as Mareka casually mangled the name.

"Never heard of the place, I'm from Fod. Mensana, from Fod-Saint Syndicate. I'm going to take a wild stab in the dark here... But you must be an Augmented. I'll take my commision now."

Mensana looked around the room, to the other Augmented, and then to the Ravean. Didn't take a genius to figure out who's who.

"Heh. Heh. Got-t it-t in one," Mareka said, not sounding convincing at all. "We'rre all herre now, rright-t?" He looked around the walls for a speaker or camera to address, found none, instead settled for talking to the nearest corner.

"I want-t t-to be able t-to choose who guardss who. We don't-t want any prroblemss," he said, with a pointed glance at Kuru. "Arre we going t-to be assigned t-three t-to a man, orr will some of uss not be needed?"

Ward almost said something about the Fodmodmadtol detective's outfit, but decided against it. He thought that this new Mensana characheter was a bit outdated; this man belonged in a spaghetti western, not in Cyberutopia. While Ward had always preferred the classic Noir detective look (An updated version, of course) this guy looked like he had never grown up. Oh well, it provided for some nice contrast.

Instead of commenting, Ward only rasied his hand and motioned in Mensana's direction, acknowlaging his existence.

The corner Mareka had been speaking to didn't answer him. Rather, a small patch of the wall nearest to the Khrrckian's head whispered. The AI was speaking in a low, deadly voice, experimenting with voice modifiers. It was probably just as bored as the guests. "Three to one would be the most logical decision for now. Another detective might arrive, and then your teams would be reorganized."

The one door in the room opened with an industrial groan, unlike almost all Cyberutopian devices and mechanics. Silence above all – the city was busy enough itself. The newly added room obviously hadn't settled just yet.

A slim figure entered sight in a manner that could never be called 'casual.' She gave a hard glance at those arranged before her, and then glared at the walls of the room for good measure.

Her voice was no softer than her eyes – caustic, at best. "Agent Eighteen, at your service. You'll have to forgive this goddamned room. No holofeed, the most uncomfortable furniture ever, and Icarus has permeated the entire room, along with finding some way of replicating a female voice."

"Hrmph. I've been found out." Icarus – one of three master AIs of AgentComm – mumbled in his true voice.

"Anyway..." the inital mood Eighteen had set by barging into the room was beginning to subside, "Detectives. The information in those two generic packets was, in all honesty, outdated and inadequate. Before I launch into an extensive speech on various things – are there any pressing questions?"

"No quesstionss."

Eighteen's silvery-white cloak crumpled as she leaned slightly on the basic desk behind her. Her lips parted slightly in irritation and she exhaled slowly as she noticed Ward's similar attire. She gave him a 'would you like your head bashed in now, or later?' look.

"Gaijin..." she breathed, a one word explanation.

"Right. I have to give you all the extended information and your Devices before you're thrust out into the city. It would just be cruel, otherwise. Amusing, though. Ahem. Most importantly, of course, is the sequence of events."

She took a deep breath and launched into the following. "Of course, it all started when Migashi was found dead at the dinner table, face down in some Ceasar Salad. With feta cheese, if you were wondering. The autopsy and funeral then commenced, in that order. Within 48 hours that idiot Tyai was blowing up Committee buildings, and had the three surviving Committees holed up begging Aelosia for help. The Agents retained control over the entirety of SpecOps and a decent portion of the seaborne Navy, but if Tyai hadn’t decided to be ambitious, it would have been a nice, smooth transistion of power to the Agents. Everyone wants us in control, anyway. But now we have a huge chunk of the nation to rebuild, and the Agents aren’t really in power, like we should be. Nobody really knows who’s in control, which is how this mess got started in the first place.”

Eighteen’s voice had become about as toxic as pure ethanol by now, so she took another moment to breathe. “But those are all deeply internal conflicts. You’re all here to solve ‘the mystery,’ collect the cash, and go home with a fat reputation with the People. The coincidence between Migashi’s death and Tyai’s rebellion is obviously too much to ignore. However, our head of state holds no military power, and Tyai had already bought off enough of the military for his coup – there was no reason for Migashi to die, other than to shock us. The only people it really shook up were the citizens – us Agents have already seen Fenix die, and he was a helluva lot more influential than Migashi. Tyai is heavily suspected to be the one who killed Migashi, but that’s not good enough. He’s too high up, and he’s dead.” She smirked slightly. “I had fun with him. In any case, the People want everyone involved found and punished harshly. The People play favorites, gentlemen, don’t forget that. There’s most likely a massive chain leading from the streets all the way up to Master General Tyai himself, so there’s plenty of digging to do.

“As far as his actual death goes, we figure Tyai’s ring got somebody oblivious and greedy from the street to do the deed. He got somebody else to ‘steal’ a vial of nanovirii from his own R’n’D department. Whoever it was is damn sloppy too, they didn’t even bother to cover it up. A private contractor of ours got us proof the nanovirii was taken from the R’n’D warehouse. It’s one of the few pieces of actual proof we have.

“If you find out who this middle link is that got the nanovirii is…” another predatory smirk, “the Agents will be glad to help with the interrogation. Another place to start is at Government-Fortress 01. Us Agents…will not be going in there. Ever. You’ll have to get your own support to comb that place. Other than that, my number is in the Devices you’ll be receiving. I’ll requisition anything you need double-step. ‘Cept for something like an APC, of course. That’ll just irritate me.” She gave something that could almost pass for a mirthful smile. “Your liaisons are waiting outside AgentComm, they’ll give you your Devices – packed with all the additional data and coordinates you’ll need – and once the Augmented have divided themselves up, the city is yours. Just don’t prowl around here, or we’ll kick you out. With a bayonet.”

"Well, that was a thorough briefing," muttered Skree, after the party had been issued with their Devices and escorted from the fortress by a couple of bored flunkies. "How do these things work, anyway?"

Mareka:COMM> Don't bother with it now. Right now I need to do divisions.

Mareka turned to address the detectives.

"All rright-t. Ssince t-there'ss only t-two of you, you'rre going t-to get-t-three guarrdss each. Warrd, you'll get-t Skree, Ghost, and Ikrai. Menssana, you'll get-t me, Rekam, and Kuru. No arrgument-tss about-t who'ss got-t who. That-t'ss final. Yourr guarrdss will t-tell you what-t t-theirr abilities arre sso you can give t-them insstrructionss accorrdingly."

Each of the Devices bleeped in turn. Upon inspection, the holder would find 10,000 Chits had been added to the accounts each Devices had setup automatically. The money was intented to fuel a relatively long stay in Cyberutopia as far as food and board went, but it could always go towards shadier purposes.

((Something I forgot.))

"Lesse'. . ."

Mesana stuffed the Device into a pocket, hoping to forget about it. It probably wasn't in his best interest to even carry it. Paranoid types always try and bug you at every corner, to listen in on conversations, to track your every movement. Mensana didn't like that, but money was something of a necessity.

"Okay. . . So you're Rekam, and you're Kuru. . . and I'm Mensana. And you're Mrrkre. Awesome. Now, I've never been here before. I'm practically a tourist. . . Government Fortress One. Take me there! And make it magical."

"No magic, Mrr. Messa- but-t we do have GPS- and atlassess. T-they worrk bet-ter anyway."

"T-the addrress? T-thank you."

Mareka stared into space for a moment.

"Follow me."

************************

One tube ride, sixteen back-alley shortcuts, and forty-five minutes later-

"We'd have arrrived in about-t five minut-tess if we didn't-t have t-to walk... But-t here we arre."

"S'big."

Mensana was apt to stare at this structure for a quarter of an hour, trying to make out the battlements on the roofline. No care for the entourage, and no care for the case! It's not everyday one's afforded the sight of such an impressive mirthful dungeon.

"This, Mareka, is a big imposing structure of death. Where's the knocker. . ."

Ward watched his counterpart leave for the scene of the crime-a commonsense thing to do. There would be time for that later, however. He turned towards agent Eighteen.

"Hey-Eighteen, was it? If you don't mind, I'd like to take a look at this Migashi fellow's body. Any idea where it might be?"

After he inspected the body, Ward made a note to visit Migashi's living quarters-wherever that might be. He'd then make his way to the murder site. He gave Skree a look, satisfied that they had been paired together, then waited for Eighteen's response.

Eighteen gifted Ward with a smile that betrayed little of the growing contempt she had for him.

"I'm afraid that unless you have the compunction to blow your way into his tomb, you won't be able to see the body. Your Device, however, can access the Infinity Archive, where you can find the autopsy records. There will be plenty to see there – I was told it was a very thorough autopsy. Cyberutopia has an information policy you may be unfamiliar with – information is completely liberated. Anyone can access anything. The system has it's faults, but I'm sure you'll find no complaint with it – certainly a detective finds great value in such a policy."

The Agent smoothly disengaged herself from Ward by turning her back to him. "In any case, I wouldn't delve into questioning those who control your resources, Mr. Ward. There are plenty of loose lips in the field."

Agents tended to have a very small comfort zone, and it was only shrinking in these times. Eighteen had felt violated since the detectives and their hulking bodyguards had entered the room. She felt comfortable with neither of them, and that bred doubt. Then again, had she been comfortable with anyone lately?

---

One could certainly say Goverment-Fortress 01 lived up to its name – layers upon layers of the finest steel, reactive plating, weapons ranging from machine gun emplacements to missile batteries to railguns, and a single ominously massive gate that could withstand an angry god's assault. A citadel of war to tower over a city bathed in the gory triumphs of battle.

Then again, one could easily mistake the interior of the fortress for the simple, if sprawling, house of some moderate dignitary. It seemed as though whenever a new Representative came to power, he didn't bother to reorganize the house – he simply added on more to the structure. Thanks to this eccentric habit each of the former occupants had shared, the style of the furnishings and architecture wavered from spartan to eclectic to grandiose and Elven.

The only thing the entire building had in common was that it was dead. It was cold and empty. Preserved, as if all vestiges of life had fled the fortress the moment Migashi's heart stopped beating.

The half-eaten Casear salad that had been his last dinner remained at the end of the table, still dimpled in the center from where Migashi's face had impacted it. The few leaves of lettuce on the plate were still vibrant and crisp. No dust had settled on the plate, while the former shine of the table was obscured by the substantial layer of gray featheriness that had simply given up on floating around, coming to rest on whatever unfortunate surface was below it.

All energy had dropped from the building, as if it were mourning Migashi's death with its own suicide.