《Neo-Tokeyo 199X: M1》


 Chapter 1: Retiring

    The audible wind flew down the highway past the burned civilian hover cars and husks of long-outdated tanks.


    In the distance, several small arms and large-caliber guns were firing up a storm. They were shooting at some unknown and unseen enemy.


    The warm wind flew past the rubble piled up outside the large city.


    As the wind entered the city it stirred up large amounts of dust from the destroyed and damaged buildings.


    Boom!


    A large explosion enveloped everything in sight with its blinding white light.


    The holo-recording once again returned to a sharply dressed reporter who spoke in a solemn tone.


    ¡°..and just like that the old capital city Tokeyo and a large area around it was destroyed. The explosion killed the surviving government members and several millions of suffering civilians...¡±


    Arron Wynterz sat in an uncomfortable metal hover chair in front of commander Rub''s desk.


    He was only half paying attention to the old 2-d holo-tv which was playing at a low volume. The small holo projection hovered above the commander''s desk and kept drawing his eye every few seconds.


    Arron returned to taping in the last few answers and details using the holo-keyboard on the clunky palm-sized military-grade data-pad.


    The palm-sized datapad was quite an old technology, but it still had the reputation of being unhackable, unlike his military-issued wrist data-pad or a similar civilian version.


    ¡°From their ashes, the new Megacity Neo-Tokeyo was born. Today, July 26, 198x, major preparations are now underway to celebrate the tenth anniversary of the completion of the first level.


    In a few months, representatives from the W.H.O [World Humanitarian Orginization] will be attending the event hosted by the [Party of Mother and Father] on the fourth level of the Neo-Tokeyo. This is to show the strong unity between the many member states of the WHO...¡±


    Arron quickly read over everything making sure it was correctly filled out. Of course, everything was written in [Common], the language of all member states of WHO. All other languages were discarded and replaced when Mother and Father took over.


    It had been quite a pain in the ass to learn but now it was just a part of everyday life for Arron.


    ¡°Finished?¡± asked commander Rub.


    ¡°Yes commander!¡± said Arron as he handed over the clunky data-pad.


    Commander Rub grabbed it with his cybernetic hand and swiped through the projected holo-pages, checking off each page after briefly glancing at them.


    ¡°You know, it''s a shame to see a fine soldier like you retire when you''re only 25. With your skill and dedication, you could have climbed up the ranks and even joined the WHO''s main force over on the main continent. I hear they are always looking for loyal soldiers to fill the empty spots that pop up,¡± said commander Rub.


    ¡°I''ve served 8 years. Now that my second tour is over I feel a calling to return home,¡± said Arron.


    ¡°I don''t know why you would want to return to such a small place. Sign here,¡± said Commander Rub.


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    A nearly blank blue holographic page with only an X and a line floated above the data-pad. With his right pointer finger, Arron signed his full name in cursive.


    Commander Rub waved his hand over the data-pad, shutting it off. He stood up from his desk and waved a hand towards a corner of the room.


    ¡°Almost done, I just need you to step on the Bio-scanner. We need to make sure that you''re not carrying any military-grade cybernetics that would be illegal for civilians.¡±


    As soon as Arron stepped onto the Bioscanner a metal ring detached itself from the bottom. A bright blue light filled the entire space of the ring.


    It slowly began rising, as it did the blue light surrounded Arron''s body and penetrated all that it touched creating a full readout of his body.


    Nothing could be hidden from it as it would show all artificial implants, cybernetics, and illegal objects inside his body.


    Ping! The Bio-scanner let out a happy sound when the metal ring stopped above Arron''s head.


    The light had turned green, signaling that no problems were discovered.


    Commander Rub looked at the miniature hologram readout of Arron floating above his wrist data-pad.


    ¡°No scars from implant surgery and you don''t have any cybernetics other than your NerViz implant and the cloud chip. You only took the basic bone and muscle strengthening serum that all soldiers are required to get... are you one of those old-fashioned soldiers who shy away from any upgrades?¡± asked commander Rub.


    ¡°No, I don''t hate them. My NerViz implant and wrist data-pad work just fine for everything I need to do. So I never found a need for any upgrades. Plus they''re too expensive,¡± said Arron.


    ¡°Ha! I forgot you signed up only two years after the destruction of the old capital. With your low clearance, you have been out of touch with society for far too long! It was indeed expensive over 8 years ago when you first joined the military,¡± said commander Rub. As he spoke he rolled up the right sleeve of his red and yellow camo uniform.


    ¡°I got this last year to replace my right arm I lost during the Troubles. It''s several times stronger than the strength I had at the peak of my youth,¡± said commander Rub, pointing to his right arm.


    It was entirely made of cybernetic metal, the grade of the metal Arron did not know. The cybernetic arm was attached to his shoulder with various nuts, bolts, and other mechanical bits that could not be seen.


    ¡°The technology sure has come a long way. Now everyone with a decent job can buy something like this if they save for it. If you ask me, it''s too cheap. It has now become a fad to get pointless and gimmicky party trick implants. But that will soon pass, as all fads do and then those who wasted money on such things will feel foolish and have to pay even more money to remove them if it is possible.¡±


    ¡°People have enough money to waste on such things?¡± asked Arron.


    ¡°It is not all that surprising when you take in the fact that it is only happening on the 2nd - 4th levels of Neo-Tokeyo. It is mainly popular on the 2nd and 3rd levels. Even though each level is a part of Neo-Tokeyo, they all have their own quirks and personality.¡±


    ¡°I guess you wouldn''t know about any of this since you have been cut off for so long. According to a WHO representative on the news, Neo-Tokeyo is supposed to be the leading city of all of the member states and is used as an example due to its use of the newest technology,¡± said commander Rub as he started typing up the release form.


    ¡°Four levels? I didn''t even get to see the first level before joining the Nippon branch army,¡± said Arron as he stepped off the bio-scanner and rubbed his neck which had started to itch. The area he rubbed was at the base of his neck where his NerViz implant was.


    The NerViz implant had several functions, the most important was the fact that it allowed its users to see, interact with, and send all types of data. Thousands of new devices and technologies being invented and produced every year required the NerViz implant to use them properly.


    ¡°With this, you are free to leave the Nippon branch army base. You need it so you aren''t shot for suspicion of desertion,¡± said commander Rub, as he swiped his hand over his wrist data-pad flicking it toward Arron.


    Ding! Arron''s NerViz implant notified him that his wrist data-pad received a new message.


    He tapped on the blinking holographic notification which opened the message.


    A blue holographic document appeared. Immediately small dense white words appeared and began scrolling up for several seconds before reaching the bottom which had commander Rub''s signature as well as the digital seal of the Nippon army branch.


    Arron swiped down and the document disappeared.


    ¡°Since you''ve been away from society, you need to make sure you get up to date on everything. If you don''t you could get yourself into trouble,¡± said Commander Rub.


    He held out his hand for Arron to shake. ¡°If you ever want to rejoin or need any advice feel free to call me. I''ll get back to you when I can.¡±

 Chapter 2: Office Of Reason

    Arron was stopped several times as he walked through the Military base wearing civilian clothes. After showing his discharge papers for the tenth time to the roving security bots as well as their human counterparts, he was finally able to exit the highly secured base.


    It was just after 8 am as he started to walk to the nearest Highspeed MagLev Station. He only carried a small cloth bag that held his PT workout clothes, work uniform, and a spare set of civilian clothes.


    Other than his clothes he was only allowed to take his canteen and the nearing 10-year-old military-issued 198x wrist data-pad.


    The distance he needed to walk was rather short. Since the military base he was stationed at was in the middle of nowhere, the MagLev station was just a small ParaConcrete platform with a roof and bench.


    Arron looked at the blue 2-d holo-sign that was projected right next to the bench.


    ¡°It only comes here at noon?¡±


    With a sigh, Arron sat down on the bench and sorted through the recently unlocked functions on his NerViz and wrist data-pad.


    From the moment he entered training and through the 8 years he had served, he along with every low-tier officer and grunt were cut off from the outer world.


    This served two purposes, it stopped soldiers from receiving news of current events, both local and global, preventing anything from affecting them from completing their duties. It also protected the military''s secret information making sure that no one could leak information to civilians which might cause problems.


    Arron looked over the several options on the holo-menu that was floating above his wrist data-pad. The first option that caught his attention was the Holo-News broadcast.


    ''Why not catch up on some current events. I have a lot of time before the MagLev arrives,'' thought Arron as he tapped the news button.


    Three news stations popped up for him to choose from. Arron didn''t care which one he watched so he just went with the default channel.


    A small transparent 2-d holo-screen was projected in front of his face showing a middle-aged man and young woman sitting behind a red news desk. Both were wearing yellow clothes.


    ¡°Good morning to all of you just joining us. I am Pake and this is my co-host Fela. You are watching PNN. The first major news this morning has to do with the popular actress Jena.¡±


    ¡°Sources say that she has been accused of being a Non-believer by a co-worker. The holonet has been in such an uproar about this event that Mother and Father Immediately ordered the [Office of Reason] to look into the matter, ¡± said a cheerful Fela, as she read the floating script in front of her.


    ¡°I think this was a clear message from the [Party of Mother and Father]. This shows that even those at the top are not untouchable. The results of their findings will be out sometime in the next few days when they finish their interroga... meeting,¡± said Pake.


    ¡°How shocking to find out that such a thing like this happened, and for it to happen when she was at such a high point in her career...¡± said Fela. She shook her head. ¡°But, if I am to be honest with our viewers, it would not surprise me if she was secretly a filthy separatist.¡±


    ¡°Ah...yes... well... I don''t think she is a... you know, seeing as she''s still...¡± There were several seconds of silence between the two news anchors as they looked at each other.


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    Pake was the first to look away and started reading off the next news topic.


    ¡°In other news, thanks to the great wisdom of the [Party of Mother and Father] and the policies they have passed, the economy is booming! We have an expert economist from the local [WHO] office to explain why the soaring boom is here to stay for good!¡±


    Most of what Arron watched meant little to him as he was playing catch up and was just trying to absorb everything like a dry sponge. He would try to sort it all out later either on the MagLev ride or when he got home.


    ***


    A female in her early 20''s sat at one of the hover chairs behind a white para-steel table. The sterile walls of the large room were made of the same white para-steel.


    The light inside the room was extremely bright and made it uncomfortable to keep her eyes open.


    Click!


    At the sound of the para-steel door unlocking and opening to the side, Jena turned her head to see who had entered the room.


    Three people entered the room, one male and two females all middle-aged. Each of them wore white suits that matched the room''s color.


    They silently walked to the table. The two females stood at either side of the table while the male placed a large slim Holo-pad onto the table and started to tap out a few notes on the holo-keypad that appeared.


    Jena silently watched the three knowing that she was not in a good spot right now. Her mind was racing. In her mind, she was going over all that had happened late last night.


    The man finished typing and made a quick gesture with his hand over the holo-pad, and pushed it to the middle of the table.


    A blinking red light appeared above the holo-pad along with a ticking timer next to it.


    ¡°I am Agent Real Lintern of the [Office of Reason]. These two are my co-workers,¡± said Real, pointing to the two cold-faced women standing to either side of him.


    The two women said nothing, nor did they move at all. They just continued to stare at Jena with their cold gazes.


    ¡°As per policy of the [Office of Reason] when meeting with TROUBLED people, this Interview is being recorded. This recording will be used now or at a later time when and if needed,¡± said Agent Real in a dry tone as he repeated the line as if he had done it millions of times before.


    ¡°Jena Kara, F-031-2-112021, Social credit score AAA. Address: 4th level, floor 700, apartment building 320, apartment number 17. Is this information correct?¡±


    ¡°Yes...¡± said Jena. She was not sure if she should say anything else that was on her mind, but decided it was best to stay silent.


    The man pressed a button on the table and a drone detached itself from the ceiling and began circling Jena scanning her entirely before returning to its original spot.


    A replica of Jena appeared above the holo-pad along with all the data gathered from her NerViz cloud chip streaming up next to it. With a wave of his hand, Agent Real pushed it out of sight.


    ¡°We are in the beginning stage of our investigation. If you have anything to add, now would be the time,¡± said Agent Real.


    ¡°I''m not a non-believer and not one of those Separatists! I follow all of the laws that Mother and Father put forth,¡± said Jena, trying to plead her innocence.


    ¡°So... you are saying your co-worker is lying?¡± asked Agent Real. His face still showed no emotion.


    ¡°I have no idea what she said! All I know is that the rumors spreading on the Holonet and the news are all wrong!¡±


    ¡°Your concerns on the subject have been recorded. If that is all, today''s meeting is finished,¡± said Agent Real. He pulled the Holo-pad towards him and stopped the recording.


    ¡°Wait! That''s it? What about clearing my name?¡± asked Jena.


    ¡°As I said before, we are still in the preliminary stages of our investigation. We will be checking out every piece of information people have sent to us. If you have anyone that wants to vouch for you and your character, you can have them call us and set up a meeting. If not, we will give you the results of our finding within a week.¡±


    Agent Real stood up holding the holo-pad under his arm as he pushed the hoverchair back under the table. He walked to the white para-steel door with the two cold female agents beside him.


    ¡°In a moment someone will come to escort you back to your apartment. I suggest that you do not cause any more problems for Mother and Father while we are investigating,¡± said Agent Real.


    With those last words, the three white suit agents of the [Office of Reason] exited the room.

 Chapter 3: Returning Home

    Arron used his time on the MagLev to absorb what he could. From what little he was able to glean from the news Commander Rub was right, there was a lot that he had missed while he was serving in the Nippon branch army.


    When he had joined the branch army the country of Nippon was just a small ravaged island that had just become an official member state of the [W.H.O].


    From such a beginning Neo-Tokeyo had been built up using the latest technologies including the new Mechanized worker bots. The Mechanized worker bots could be controlled remotely as well as by someone sitting inside and using the manual controls.


    With this new technology, the dangerous areas of the old capital were cleared. The areas full of rubble and other hazards now posed little danger allowing for such a fast turnaround from the disaster.


    The Megacity Neo-Tokeyo was now the leader in modernized factories, using drones and specialized worker bots to take care of all sorts of problems. It was to the degree that the WHO praised them every time it was mentioned and relied heavily on the production power of the new factories to continue their efforts of uniting the world.


    ¡°We have reached Novhere station. Please disembark quickly. The MagLev will depart for Boondis station in 5 minutes.¡± A robotic female voice rang throughout the inside of the MagLev after reaching the small station of Novhere town.


    Arron stepped off the MagLev onto another para-concrete platform that looked the same as the one near the military base.


    Arron checked the time on his wrist data-pad before looking through the few faces that had gathered at the platform.


    When he found a familiar face, he walked over to them.


    ¡°You look almost the same as when you left, just more muscular now,¡± said a female with short brown hair. She wore blue jeans and a plaid t-shirt with the ends tied near her navel.


    She was smiling at Arron as she held her hand out.


    ¡°I wasn''t expecting to see you here Mel. It''s been several years since we last saw each other. How are your parents?¡± asked Arron as he grabbed her hand and shook it.


    ¡°They''re doing as well as anyone in our small town can do. Both of our parents still meet up every week to tease me and the town''s other unmarried children,¡± said an exasperated Mel.


    ¡°You still haven''t tied the knot with anyone?¡±


    ¡°Too much work to do on the family farm. My last relationship was with you before you entered the WHO military. I''m sure your parents will be happy to have you back, to help with running the farm. The work quotas are never-ending.¡±


    ¡°Are you the one here to pick me up?¡± asked Arron, not bothering to correct her about The WHO military.


    ¡°Yep, everyone else was busy so I offered to come and pick you up. My hovercar is in the parking garage over there,¡± said Mel pointing to a large vertical para-concrete building.


    The building she pointed to had car after car stacked on top of each other leaving only a small space between each one to minimize the space used.


    The two walked to the large parking building. There were no doors or stairs to access the hovercars inside.


    Mel walked up to a scanner embedded in the wall and held her right hand over it. With a swipe of her hand, the NerViz cloud chip in her hand instantly communicated with the scanner and paid the parking fee.


    Over a hundred levels above their head''s a platform extended out from the building. The platform held Mel''s hovercar and smoothly descended to where the two stood.


    The car looked to be the same old model she had when they were in high school. A Fire-chicken.


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    ¡°She''s old but she still works great. There is none of that new junk tech inside. Hop in!¡± said Mel, as she patted the hood of the hovercar and opened the driver¡¯s door which swung up.


    ***


    Jena sat at her desk inside her apartment room. She was looking at the large floating list of friends in front of her trying to decide on which ones to call.


    Her hand was raised and she hesitated for a moment before her finger pressed onto the holographic name of someone she had met when she had first arrived on the 4th level. They had known each other for several years now.


    The holovid call was answered after only a few seconds of waiting. A holographic red-headed female appeared in front of Jena.


    ¡°Hello? Oh it''s you, Jena,¡± said the woman.


    ¡°Hey Triss, you''ve heard about what is going on in the news right?¡±


    ¡°Yeah, I am sorry you are going through something like this,¡± said Triss.


    Triss stared at Jena with a look of pity covering her face.


    ¡°I was wondering if you could help me by talking to the [Office of Reason] and vouch for me. I only need you to let them know that the rumors are false.¡±


    ¡°That... I''m sorry but I can''t do that... If I did...¡± said Triss reluctantly.


    ¡°Triss what are you doing? You''re on in 5 minutes!¡± shouted someone out of range of the holovid.


    ¡°I''m really sorry about this. Maybe if you just apologized to them they would forgive you for what you did.¡±


    ¡°But I didn''t...¡±


    ¡°I''ve got to go. Just know that I fully support you,¡± said Triss before ending the holovid call.


    ¡°...thanks I guess...¡± said Jena as she looked at the floating list of names in front of her.


    She slapped her cheeks with both her hands snapping her out of her slump and said, ¡°I have to be positive about this. Let''s try him.¡±


    Her finger pressed on another holographic name on the list starting a holovid call.


    ¡°Hello, Brian I...¡±


    ¡°I''m sorry, but I heard you''re a Nonbeliever. I can''t be seen with you. Stop calling me and don''t come over to my place. I am blocking you now!¡±


    click...


    ¡°The third time''s the charm,¡± said Jena as she pressed another name.


    ¡°Why are you calling me! I don''t want a Separatist associating with me! Mother and Father might think I believe whatever it is you do!¡±


    ¡°I''m not any of...¡±


    ¡°You''re done! Just accept it. You weren''t even a good actress! Just a small nobody that got too much fame!¡±


    Click!...


    Jena continued trying to contact those on the list but it seemed word had gotten out that she was calling people and now everyone she tried calling either ignored or blocked her calls.


    She felt utterly lost and hopeless. In a few days the [Office of Reason] would come out with their verdict and if this continued she knew what would happen.


    ***


    ¡°Like I was saying, the people in the Megacity don''t know how much work we do. All they do is demand more and more. We are already working as hard as we can but they want us to work harder so that they can eat more,¡± said Mel as she drove through the rural unkempt dirt streets of Novere passing the long stretches of the many large farms that made up the majority of the town.


    Seeing all the familiar sights brought back many memories of when he was young and had been allowed to play in the fields which was a rare treat.


    ¡°The money is good though right?¡± asked Arron.


    ¡°I wish. We''re still only making enough to get by. At least those giving the orders from the megacity know that if we die from starvation then they would have to live on the new synthetic sludge that they call food.¡±


    ¡°So things haven''t changed much since I was last here.¡±


    ¡°Nope. It¡¯s still the same system of once a year Mother and Father decided what we farmers will grow for the megacity and how much. The politicians from the party of Mother and Father only come out here once or twice a year to try and drum up support for whatever cause they are pushing in the megacity, but it has nothing to do with us. Then they just ignore us unless someone disregards or fails to meet the quotas they set.¡±


    ¡°And if they fail?¡±


    ¡°Depending on how serious the situation is, they get a call or a personal meeting with an agent from the [Office of Reason]. We are unable to go against the orders as it will lead in most cases to the person being charged with attempting to harm the country.¡±


    Mel stopped the hovercar near a short branching dirt road that ran towards a well-kept blue house and several large garage buildings.


    ¡°Thanks,¡± said Arron as he exited her car.


    ¡°No, problem. We can catch up some other time when we aren''t so busy,¡± said Mel, waving before driving off in a cloud of dust.


    Arron turned to look at the distant blue house. It wasn''t much, but it was all he had known before the military.


    ¡°I''m back home,¡± said Arron.

 Chapter 4: Normalized

    The news and rumors of everything happening to Jena exploded out of control. On every social media platform that the party of Mother and Father allowed, this piece of news, as well as rumors, were all that was being talked about.


    Both her supporters and those who felt a sense of schadenfreude as they watched people¡¯s lives and careers destroyed, argued back and forth.


    [I hope Jena doesn''t get Normalized.]


    [She''s not going to be Normalized and even if she did, so what?]


    [Everyone knows she is a good person and not a Non-believer!]


    [Who are you to say what Mother and Father decide is wrong? Are you a secret filthy separatist?]


    [What? Why are you attacking me now?]


    [Even if she is normalized she deserves it!]


    [She wasn''t really normalized, you all are overacting. She can still do other stuff.]


    [Right, she can still act even if she is Normalized.]


    [You idiots. Do you not know what it means to have a C grade SCS?]


    [Have to agree with the post above. If she is normalized, who will hire her for such work?]


    [No one. Once you have the taint you can''t return.]


    ***


    PING! PONG!


    It was late at night when the automatic doorbell went off. Her NerViz received the video feed and started to stream it in front of her face in a small 2d opaque window, allowing her to see who it was.


    Three people were standing outside, all wearing black suits. Before she could inspect the three of them further, a large man stepped up to the door.


    Knock! Knock! Knock!


    ¡°We are field agents of the Office Of Reason. Open the door!¡± said the man. His voice boomed out louder than any normal voice box could allow.


    ¡°Open up! We know you are here.¡±


    Jena threw off her covers and stumbled around her bedroom as she tried to hurriedly get into a robe to cover her nightclothes and slip some shoes on.


    The banging on the door was getting louder as the man at the door was getting impatient.


    With such a loud racket Jena knew that the tens of neighbors on this floor could all hear the man as well.


    She walked to the door and waved her right hand over the door¡¯s lock scanner and unlocked the door. With a slight hiss, the door smoothly slid open.


    ¡°Jena Kara?¡± asked the large man who had been banging on the door. He was wearing a black suit and a dark visor that completely covered his eyes. Each of the three agents were dressed this way.


    ¡°Yes. What is this...¡±


    A female on the left took a scanner out from inside her inner suit pocket and pointed it at Jena''s right hand.


    Immediately Jena''s information popped up on a holo-screen and started to scroll up.


    ¡°It''s her,¡± said the female agent.


    ¡°Jena Kara, you have been accused of committing crimes deemed unacceptable by the [Office Of Reason],¡± said the large man.


    ¡°After investigating the allegations you have been found guilty and must be Normalized,¡± said the second male agent.


    ¡°Your job as an actress has been revoked. Your social credit score has been reduced to the rank of C: 600. Your bank account as well as all other assets, have been frozen and will be thoroughly investigated. If everything checks out you will only be able to access the allowed amount based on your social credit score and the laws set by Mother and Father. Everything else will be held onto by Mother and Father.¡±


    ¡°We are here to fulfill the will of Mother and Father. You WILL follow us to the MagLev. We will be escorting you to the first level,¡± said the female agent.


    ¡°Now? What about my belongings? Can I put on some proper clothes?¡±


    Both of the male agents reached out and grabbed her arms putting them into magnetic cuffs.


    ¡°When you inform the [Office of Reason] of your new residence on the first level, we will send your belongings to you. Of course, only the items that a C rank SCS person is allowed to have will be sent to you. Everything else will be handled by Mother and father,¡± said the female agent.


    Jena was pushed on the back by one of the agents forcing her to exit her apartment.


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    The door hissed shut as the four walked down the hallway and exited the building using the Mag-shoot.


    Those that were still outside at such a late hour were few and far between. There were mostly only transport robots and drones flying around. But those that were out and about all had looks of shock on their faces when they saw her. It was as if she was the worst criminal they had ever seen in her life.


    Jena ignored the stares. She knew that they were probably recording her and this would most definitely end up on the news.


    When she tried to take her mind off everything by accessing the Holo-net to make a call she only received an Error message.


    [Access denied! Your Social credit score is too low to access the 4th level''s Holo-net.]


    Jena walked in a daze and wasn''t paying attention to where she was being led to until she was shoved onto the MagLev and pushed down into a seat with a buckle automatically snapping around her waist.


    The MagLev was filled with questionable people who all stared at Jena and quickly looked away when she or one of the Field agents looked their way.


    Soon the MagLev exited the 4th Level''s large MagLev station and plunged almost straight down as it headed for the first level of the megacity several hundreds of floors below.


    After the gut-wrenching drop, the MagLev did a sharp spiral turn that split off from the main track and led through the open gates of the first level¡¯s sector 1 MagLev station. The open gates shut immediately after the MagLev shot through.


    When the MagLev came to a complete stop, Jena was pulled up out of her seat and dragged off the MagLev onto a bustling platform.


    The station¡¯s platform was far busier than the few glimpses she had seen on the 4th level. There were several hundreds of people walking about, all not caring or paying attention to Jena and the three agents huddled around her.


    The temperature was far warmer and more humid on this level than she had grown accustomed to on the 4th level.


    The magnetic cuffs let out a loud click as the female agent unlocked them and took them off of Jena''s wrists.


    ¡°Don''t cause any more problems for us or we''ll be paying you another visit,¡± said the female agent as she gave Jena one last shove away from the MagLev. The shove pushed her into the milling crowd of people who still paid no attention to her as if this was nothing new.


    Jena stood motionless in the crowd trying to gather her wits and think of what she should do now. The air all around her smelled of mystery food along with garbage.


    She used her NerViz implant to access her contact list but found almost all of the names on the list were now grayed out. She could no longer call any of them even if they would accept the call.


    She pressed one of the only names not grayed out, hoping he was still awake and would pick up.


    The call was picked up after several seconds passed by.


    ¡°Hmph.... so you finally call me after acting like I don''t exist for the past several years,¡± said a gruff voice that sounded groggy from just waking up.


    ¡°Uncle, I wasn''t ignoring you, I was just too busy with work!¡±


    ¡°Saw you on the news the other day.¡±


    ¡°None of it is true! I really have no idea what happened!¡±


    ¡°You need someplace to live right? You know where the workshop is. I''ll be waiting for you,¡± said her uncle before hanging up.


    Jena walked out of the station and hailed a driver-less hover cab paying the heavy fee to be taken to Sector 7.


    The city lights, signs, and heavy traffic even at such a late hour brought back many memories. There were a few flying vehicles far above the heavy hovercar traffic jam.


    When she arrived at the outskirts of Sector 7 zone 2, she exited the hover cab and began walking through several familiar streets. Before long she arrived at her uncle¡¯s medium-sized workshop near the border of zone 2 and zone 1. The garage sign above the large parasteel garage doors had long been taken down.


    Loud clunks and clacks came from the small side door as numerous different types of locks were being unlocked by someone from the inside. The small but thick parasteel door opened with a screech loud enough to wake the dead, showing its need for a good oiling of its hinges.


    A man nearing 50, with a gray speckled beard and hair, stood at the entrance looking at Jena for several seconds not saying anything.


    ¡°You better come in before you start trouble dressed like that,¡± said her uncle as he stepped to the side allowing her to enter the workshop.


    The door screeched shut behind her and the loud clunks and clicks were heard again as the locks were put in place.


    When her uncle was sure the door was properly locked, he turned back to Jena.


    ¡°So... you have returned. Did you get all that hopeless dreamer out of you?¡±


    ¡°I''m not like those idiot dreamers! I actually made it!¡± said Jena.


    ¡°And look where you are now. Right back where you started. You of all people should know that Mother and Father should not be trusted after what they did to your parents.¡±


    ¡°I am not like them! They were ...¡±


    ¡°Don''t insult their memory! They loved you and only wanted the best for you.¡±


    ¡°If Mother and Father heard you say that...¡±


    ¡°What? Are you going to report your own family to the [Office of Reason] like any of the mindless dreamers? Dreaming of gaining just a few more points, so that maybe, one day in the distant future, they can move to a higher level of the city?¡±


    ¡°Uncle...how could you say that? You know I wouldn''t do that!¡± said Jena, hurt that he would even think such a thing, let alone say it to her face.


    ¡°How am I supposed to know who or what you have become after several years living up there with ''them''.¡±


    They two stood silently for over a minute before her uncle scratched his neck and pointed.


    ¡°Your room is still empty. It will need to be cleaned as there probably is a lot of dust covering everything. I''ll get the cleaning bot to do it. Recently it has been glitching out and doing odd stuff, so you might want to do it yourself.¡±


    He turned around and started walking through one of the maze paths between the large piles of junk that filled almost all of the building except for a small work area and the rooms that they lived in.


    He looked over his shoulder and said ¡°You''ll start working at the office in the morning to pay for your rent. I won''t be having you doing nothing but moping and lounging around in your room for several weeks.¡±


    ***


    Arron sat at the breakfast table with his parents. He was drinking his last cup of coffee while he half-listened to the news and thought about the chores he had to do on the farm.


    ¡°Here is agent Goose from the [Office of Reason] to give a short statement to all our viewers.¡±


    ¡°I want to first give thanks to all who sent us information, and want to remind you that if you send us any information you will receive the proper amount of points added to your social credit score depending on how useful it is. As for our recent big case with the former actress, we investigated the accusations and in the end, the situation was normalized.¡±

 Chapter 5: Burst

    Several months passed by as Arron continued day after day, doing the daily farm chores in the small sleepy farm town. Everyone he knew was either a farmer of the large plantations or animal herders and breeders. Many of the townspeople held second jobs as shopkeepers, police, or Emergency first responders.


    Other than the three black-suited [Office of Reason] agents stationed at the town, the community was closely knit with everyone knowing each other well enough that if something happened they were all willing to help.


    New years 199x.


    It was only a day after the New Years¡¯ holiday, one of the only two holidays during the entire year. The second holiday was the yearly remembrance of when the WHO normalized the [Troubles], which led to the birth of the [Party of Mother and Father].


    As per Arron''s normal morning routine, he was eating breakfast with his parents while watching the news on a first-gen Holo-TV that was nearing 20 years.


    This model had been popular due to it being mass-produced cheaply during the early years of the [Troubles]. Its production was discontinued when the factory that produced it had been repurposed for creating war material to protect the old capital.


    ¡°In other news, the great economic bubble has burst. According to a press statement from the [Party of Mother and Father], ''No one should panic as this is only temporary.'' They also referred us to the WHO''s statement,¡± said the news anchor Pake.


    ¡°We don''t want to bore you with reading such long statements, so we brought representative Kommy from the [WHO], to explain everything in greater detail,¡± said Fela, who sat next to Pake behind the news desk.


    The holo-Tv screen widened to reveal a man sitting on a plush couch next to the news desk.


    ¡°Thank you for having me on. For all of those watching now or in a future rebroadcast: Let me be clear. This is only a minor setback. Yes, it is affecting every member state of the WHO.


    But~... we are working with each member state including with the [Party of Mother and Father] to form new laws and regulations to Normalize the current situation. The temporary pains will only last for a few weeks. So we of the WHO, ask that everyone sit tight while we take the proper steps to normalize everything,¡± said representative Kommy.


    ¡°This reminds me of the [Troubles]. Back then...¡± said Fela.


    Cough. Representative Kommy interrupted her with a short sudden coughing fit out of nowhere.


    The mention of the troubles further reminded Arron of his experiences during the [Troubles]. It was a dark set of years that consisted of war, famine, and natural disasters.


    On the news, it was later said that these problems were happening all around the world. Many natural disasters had destroyed whole country''s around the world killing millions and creating areas of great danger for human survivors.


    Arron did not know if it was true or not since the only information about the outside world and other countries was closely guarded by the WHO and [Party Mother and Father]. Normally the only thing that would be reported on was when a new member state joined the WHO or when they won some sort of victory in a far-off country that they were trying to liberate and Normalize.


    Arron had been a young boy during the harshest years of the Troubles.


    During his mid-teens, the war, famine, and natural disasters disappeared when the country of Nippon joined the [WHO]. The tail end years of the [Troubles] consisted of the WHO convicting and Normalizing those they held responsible for everything.


    Soon after the [Party of Mother and Father] was born and started to take control of the war-torn country.


    This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.


    The dark years of the [Troubles] were part of the reason why Arron joined the Nippon branch army, the other reason was for the pay that he would receive and be able to send back home to help his family.


    It was only recently that he found out that several farmers he had known were part of a group of people who had been Normalized for crimes against the WHO and the [Party of Mother and Father].


    Despite most everyone alive having lived through the [Troubles], It was still extremely rare for anyone to mention it.


    Knock! Knock!


    ¡°Ah! That should be Mel!¡± said Arron.


    He stood up and walked over to the front door waving his hand over the door¡¯s scanner unlocking the door with a click.


    Mel opened the door and walked in. She was wearing a blue and white flannel shirt that was tied at the front while the back was tucked into her pants, reminding Arron of the wild tomboy she had been while they were growing up.


    ¡°What?¡± asked Mel as she looked back at Arron.


    ¡°It''s so nice to see you Mel. When are you and my son going to give me some grandkids?¡± asked Arron''s mother.


    ¡°Mother! You know we¡¯re only friends now!¡±


    ¡°We''re not getting any younger. You two need to tie the knot and get started,¡± said Arron''s father.


    Mel with pink cheeks looked towards the Holo-TV that was currently playing PNN news. Trying to change the subject she asked, ¡°Why are you guys watching that crap? It has nothing to do with us out here.¡±


    ¡°I like to try and be up to date on what''s going on in the megacity,¡± said Arron.


    ¡°Mel, have you eaten breakfast yet? If you want there''s some extra food you can eat. I''ve been making more food over the last few months to help freshen up my boy since the entire time he was in the military he was eating that sludge the megacity people like,¡± said Mother.


    ¡°Mom, it wasn''t that bad it had all the vitamins and nutrients needed to keep me fit,¡± said Arron.


    ¡°Thanks!¡± said Mel, as she sat down next to Arron and began to eat the food offered to her.


    Arron turned his attention back to the news.


    ¡°...this bubble burst and the coming recession is the fault of the over-regulation of the economy. Some may even go as far as to say the fault lies squarely on the party of Mother and Father for forcing banks to give loans to those that could not pay it back. One bank told me that they were threatened with lawsuits if they did not give out the loans,¡± said Pake, in a serious and respectful tone.


    Arron stopped chewing his food as he heard these words and looked up at the Holo-TV.


    This was the first time he had heard such negative words against the [Party of Mother and Father], and it was being broadcasted live to the tens of millions of people who were watching.


    The following words coming out of the Holo-TV did not register in Arron''s brain as he watched two sentry bots float into view behind Pake. Their arms outstretched reaching for Pake''s neck and arms...


    [Beeep--- Temporary broadcast failure! Please stand by as we reboot the system!]


    A 2-D holographic yellow emergency broadcast message scrolled across a red background as they dealt with the broadcast failure.


    After a minute of waiting the news broadcast was once again brought back live.


    A sweaty man''s face covered most of the 2-d Holo-TV screen. Arron had never seen him before.


    ¡°We at KNN are sorry for the disturbing false message that you may have heard moments ago.¡±


    ¡°The [Troubled] person known as Pake was a Non-Believer mental patient who escaped from one of the Re-learning camps. There is no need to worry for us, we are all safe here now that the situation has been normalized.¡±


    ¡°We at KNN all agree that the laws and regulations of the WHO and the party of Mother and Father have nothing to do with the current economic bubble burst. We now bring you back to the normal morning news broadcast with the news anchor Kommy and his co-host Fela,¡± said the sweating man with a monotone voice and deadpan expression.


    ¡°Sorry for the interruption of our morning broadcast. I am Kommy reporting for Kommy news network, and this is my Co-host Fela. There is a lot of news to cover today. But first, why don''t you give us the weather report Fela,¡± said Kommy, turning to Fela who sat beside him at the floating news desk.


    ¡°Uh...the...um... weather?¡± asked Fela.


    ¡°Yes, the weather forecast for today,¡± said Kommy.


    ¡°Electrocuti... I mean severe thunderstorms...¡±


    Arron turned off the Holo-TV.


    ¡°They just now realized that guy was a mental patient after 5 years?¡± asked Mel between bites of food.


    ¡°What on earth were their security forces doing all that time?¡± asked Arron''s mother.


    ¡°By the way, why did you ask me to come over?¡± asked Mel.


    ¡°I need you to take me into town so I can get some parts for the hover-tractor.¡±


    ¡°What? I thought you fixed it last week? Isn''t that thing already over 20 years old?¡±


    ¡°Yep, nearly as old as us. The parts are getting hard to find as well, so I have been having to make do with what I can find.¡±


    ¡°If you have 10,000 Credits you should just go and buy a new one.¡±


    ¡°That''s nearly a full year¡¯s salary! Even If I had that kind of money with this bubble burst I can''t spend it on a new hover-tractor even if I wanted to.¡±


    ¡°Then I guess you are stuck with that old junker. We can both go to town after I finish eating. Lucky for you I also need to go to town to get some things as well,¡± said Mel.


    ¡°What for?¡±


    Mel turned her head away from Arron and muttered, ¡°Our Hover-tractor is having some problems...¡±

 Chapter 6: New Job Prospects

    As Mel drove them into the small town Arron looked out the window of the old hovercar. There was little to see as they passed the few shops and warehouses on their way to the parking building near the MagLev station.


    Mel drove the car onto an empty parking pad and the two of them got out. Arron waited for a few more seconds as Mel waved her hand over the scanner on the wall and registered her car.


    When she stepped off the parking pad flew up into the air and entered one of the many empty spaces in the large towering building.


    ¡°Let''s head to Arks Parts first, then we can go anywhere else you need,¡± said Mel.


    ¡°Right,¡± said Arron, a bit absent-minded. He used his NerViz to pull up a list of items and parts he needed, each having a different production code.


    Arks Parts was just a giant warehouse that was several floors high. It had hundreds of rows of towering shelves that started at the floor and went all the way to the roof.


    Arron could see several old drones flying around as well as outdated worker robots moving up and down the long aisles. Both drones and robots were busy moving parts and other items from the back of the warehouse to the proper shelves.


    ¡°Mel, Arron! Nice to see you guys. Is there anything I can help you with?¡± asked a man the same age as Arron.


    ¡°Hey Cam, I''m just here for some parts. Just point me to one of the hover carts,¡± said Arron.


    Cam Ark was another childhood friend and the son of Ram Ark the owner of Arks Parts. He pointed to a corner of the warehouse where several rectangle hover carts were.


    Arron looked over to Mel to see what she wanted to do.


    ¡°You go get your parts. I have to talk to Cam about ordering some special parts,¡± said Mel.


    Arron walked over to and stepped onto the large flat hover cart.


    A handlebar popped out from the cart and rose to waist height. A 2-d holographic interface opened asking for the manufacturing id of the items he wanted.


    Upon uploading the list of individual part id''s that cart made a sudden jerk and began to rise high into the air. It stopped when it reached a predetermined height and then started to fly towards one of the many rows of shelves.


    It entered one of the narrow pathways and began flying down the pathway. Drones flew under or over the platform altering their course so as to not crash with the cart and Arron who stood on top.


    The hover cart jerked to a stop when it reached the shelf with the first part that Arron needed.


    The cart continued to move from part to part. The higher-level shelves that Arron was getting parts from were all filled with old parts for long-outdated machines. The parts for all the latest machines and appliances were all on the bottom shelves for easy access.


    After gathering everything on the list Arron pressed the green holographic button to return to the front of the warehouse to pay for the parts.


    When the hover cart arrived it connected to the front desk and a holo-menu popped up with each of the parts information.


    Cam checked to see if everything was correct before quickly tapping a few of the holographic buttons to ring up the total price.


    ¡°That will be 212 credits. Looks like these parts have all been discontinued several years ago. Soon you won''t be able to find any working replacements,¡± said Cam as he looked at the different parts.


    ¡°It wouldn''t be a problem if that law banning second party manufacturing of discontinued parts hadn''t been passed,¡± said Arron.


    He waved his right hand over the counter scanner which let out a loud beep as it deducted the credits from his bank account.


    ¡°Ain''t that the truth. We had to hand over all those parts to the [Office of Reason] when the law passed. We lost well over 50K credits in all the parts they took. They didn''t even pay us 1 credit.¡±


    ¡°50k! It would take me five years to make that,¡± said Arron.


    ¡°I know man. We only just recently recovered from that loss. My father was thinking of buying one or two of those older delivery bots, or even a used Mechanized worker bot from a factory in the megacity. But now with the news of the bubble burst, we can''t spend our credits on stuff like that.¡±


    The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.


    ¡°I heard either of those things cost even more than a new hover-tractor,¡± said Arron.


    ¡°The initial cost is not the real problem, it is the costs to keep them running that is the problem. I''m not even sure if the manufacturer of delivery bots even thought about long-distance traveling in the countryside. More than likely they were only focused on their use in the megacity.¡±


    ¡°Where did Mel go?¡± asked Arron. He looked around but could not see her anywhere.


    ¡°Oh, she already left.¡±


    Arron signed. With a wave of his hand, he bid Cam farewell and then pushed the hover cart out of the warehouse towards the hover-car parking building.


    A large crowd of maybe 90 to 100 people was gathered outside of one of the warehouses. Unhappy voices could be heard coming from the crowd. Seeing this Arron was intrigued as something like this was extremely unusual.


    He walked over to the crowd and found Mel standing near the rear of the crowd.


    ¡°Mel, what''s going on?¡±


    ¡°Three new Agents from the [Office of Reason] have arrived. I''m not sure what is going on but someone needs to stop Tubbs before he gets in trouble.¡±


    Arron now recognized the angry voice as that of Tubbs, another of his childhood friends. He left the hover cart with Mel and made his way to the front of the crowd.


    ¡°What do you mean that is the price!?¡± asked the Chubby man Arron recognized as Tubbs.


    ¡°The party of Mother and Father has issued the new prices due to the current minor economic problems we are experiencing,¡± said a black suit female agent with a hard expression.


    A large portion of her face and eyes were covered by the dark visor that went from one ear to the other.


    Standing next to the female agent were two other agents in black suits not paying Tubbs any attention as they scanned the crowd. Their arms were far too bulky for normal muscle which hinted at the fact they were cybernetic implants.


    Behind the three agents were two round floating security bots, whose arms were clicking and clacking as they lazily moved back and forth.


    ¡°That price is not even enough to cover the entire cost of producing everything!¡± said Tubbs.


    ¡°You''re lucky that Mother and Father are even giving you any money at all. If you wish, we can go inside and discuss this privately until we have normalized your concerns,¡± said the female agent.


    Arron placed his hand on Tubbs'' shoulder, causing him to tense up and whip his head around to see who was touching him.


    When he saw it was Arron he relaxed.


    ¡°Come on Tubbs, it''s not worth getting into trouble,¡± said Arron.


    ¡°But...¡±


    Arron shook his head and pulled the chubby arm of Tubbs, leading him away from the agents.


    Tubbs left the area dejected and the crowd soon dispersed seeing there was nothing they could do.


    ***


    Another month passed and the effects of the economic bubble burst were still present and in full effect.


    Arron was growing worried now that the news was reporting that it would be only a few more months until the minor economic problem was Normalized.


    After thinking about the problem for some time, he decided that he needed to pick up another part-time job to help pay for all the costs of running the farm.


    Once he came to the decision he started a holo-call.


    ¡°Hello?¡± the person who answered the holo-call was Tubbs.


    His chubby face filled the entire holo-screen making it appear super large.


    ¡°Damn it Tubbs! Can''t you pick a setting that doesn''t give the person calling you a heart attack?¡± asked Arron.


    ¡°I picked the setting that shows my good side! All the other settings made me look fat! Why did you call me? Do you need something or are you just calling to comment on my choice of settings?¡±


    ¡°Is your dad home? I need to ask him something.¡±


    ¡°I think he is getting ready to leave. Let me transfer the call to him.¡±


    The holo-call flickered for a second before a new person appeared before Arron. Tubbs'' father was using one of the normal default settings that showed his upper body and the surroundings.


    ¡°It''s been a while since I''ve seen you Arron. What can I do for you?¡± asked the man who looked almost exactly like Tubbs, only less chubby and several years older.


    He was buttoning up his red uniform with its yellow buttons and badge. On each of his shoulders were the pinned insignia clearly showing he was the chief of Novhere''s police.


    ¡°Do you have any open slots to hire someone part-time?¡± asked Arron.


    ¡°Unfortunately I do not at this time. I hired two new greenhorn officers before the bubble burst. With the current economic problems and our small budget, we only have enough to pay for those already working. If the crisis lasts longer or our budget gets cut again, I''ll have to cut the new guys loose,¡± said Chief Tubbs.


    ¡°Oh... well, do you know anyone in town that is hiring?¡± asked a disheartened Arron, hopeful for some type of part-time job.


    ¡°As far as I know no one in town is hiring at the moment. However, I do know that the police force in the megacity Neo-tokeyo is always hiring. They are always in need of people because of all the new tech and new crimes that keep popping up all the time. If that is something you are interested in, you might want to contact them. You will probably have an easier time if you know someone that can arrange an appointment for you.¡±


    ¡°Thanks for the information,¡± said Arron before waving and ending the call.


    Arron was not sure if going to the Megacity was something he wanted to do, but he decided to contact another person on his list that he had not called in several months. Unfortunately, he only got a recorded answering holovid, stating he was either busy or could not accept the call.


    Arron recorded a short message asking him to call him back.

 Chapter 7: Megacity Neo-Tokeyo

    ¡°So why did you call me? Are you having second doubts and want to come back because of the bubble burst?¡± asked commander Rub. It was the next day when he was able to return the holo-call.


    ¡°No regrets, I just wanted to ask you about policing in Neo-Tokeyo since I know you used to live there. ¡°


    ¡°Are you planning on going there to look for a job?¡±


    ¡°Yes, I was told it was a good place to look for that type of work,¡± said Arron.


    With all the new technology advancement and new products coming out every few months the use of high tech was becoming even more important to everyday life in the megacity.


    With all the new tech and advancements in cybernetic implants strengthening normal people, there were many new crimes committed. As to not be overrun with lawlessness, the megacity had a robust police force that strived to stay one step ahead of the criminals.


    ¡°I guess you could do worse, but even if they are desperate for more police they won''t just take random people off the street.¡±


    ¡°Do you know anyone that I can contact to get an interview with the police?¡±


    ¡°I know one of the police chiefs. I''m sure if I ask he''ll at least give you an interview.¡±


    ¡°That would be a great help if you could!¡±


    ¡°I''m sending a document over to you. Put it on a secure datapad when you get it.¡±


    Arron''s NerViz notified a second later that he had received a new document. He opened a menu on his wrist datapad and selected the transfer option before flicking the blinking document towards his old secure palm-sized datapad.


    ¡°You''ll need this document as added proof that you are who you say you are.¡±


    ¡°Isn''t a scan of my NerViz cloud chip enough to show my identity?¡±


    ¡°Most of the time, but there are still a few ways to fake or mask an identity. You need to be prepared when you go to the megacity. It is nothing like your small country town or anything you have seen before. You can interact with almost everything and they can interact with your NerViz cloud chip as well. The ads are everywhere and mostly hit or miss.¡±


    ¡°Thanks,¡± said Arron. He gave a salute to his former commander before swiping his hand left to end the call.


    Arron had already informed his parents of his plans. They were reluctant to have him leave again with not even a year passing since he had returned home. His parents agreed that if he got a full-time job in the megacity the extra money he could earn would be a great help with keeping the farm running.


    He only had one more person to call.


    He pressed his childhood friend¡¯s holographic name and started a call.


    ¡°Hey, I''m busy with life. Leave me a vid and I''ll get back to you.¡± Unfortunately, Arron was unable to reach her and only got a pre-recorded answering-holovid.


    ¡°Hey Mel, I''m heading to the megacity for a possible job, so we won''t be able to hang out much anymore. Give me a call when you can so we can talk more,¡± said Arron recording a quick Holo-video message.


    ***


    Arron waved Goodbye to his parents as he stepped onto the MagLev train. It took him a few seconds to make his way down the narrow pathway and find his seat.


    When he found it he was happy to see it was one of the several thousands of window seats and not one of the aisle seats.


    There was a man already sitting in the aisle seat next to him. He had his face buried in his unfolded E-newspaper as he silently read the early morning news.


    If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.


    ¡°Excuse me,¡± said Arron as he tried to squeeze by the man without disturbing him too much.


    A short time later the MagLev finished receiving all the new passengers and shot off at a high speed towards its next destination, Megacity Neo-Tokeyo.


    Arron''s attention was glued to the window as he watched the large plots of farmland pass by. Many of the fields had more bots walking and hovering in them than humans. They were all working on getting the fields ready for the spring planting which was a very important time of the year.


    Arron had already made sure that all the preparations on their farm plot were finished before hopping onto the Maglev.


    As he watched the passing landscape he was able to catch glimpses of areas that still showed the effects on the land from the [Troubles].


    ¡°Hmph...country bumpkins and their low tech,¡± muttered the man next to Arron.


    Arron ignored the man. He had already been told by Commander Rub that those living in the megacity considered it torture to live in what they called the ''Low tech slums'' of the countryside.


    Arron thought it was a bit harsh and didn''t think it was anything like that.


    It wasn''t that far behind the tech used on the military bases he had been at. So he thought it was just people turning up their noses at things they did not like or didn''t know enough about to form a proper opinion on it.


    As the MagLev headed towards Megacity Neo-Tokeyo, they passed by several towns. The closer they got to their destination the towns turned into cities with larger buildings and more activity of hundreds of hover vehicles driving around.


    He was even able to see a giant black factory that took up several tens of acres. It was surrounded by a fence that was made up entirely of electricity and the receptor poles. He could see the flowing yellow gold electricity constantly flowing in many waves from each of the poles.


    This was Arron''s first time personally seeing the Relearning camps for the [Troubled]. He had only seen a few clips of them on the news. He craned his neck to see even more of the Relearning camps.


    Through the flowing electric fence, he could glimpse a few thousand people wearing grubby clothes exiting and entering the large factory.


    They were the [Troubled] who had been sent there to work off their debts and crimes.


    The large factories were active 24/7 and created many of the parts needed for the high-tech equipment and tools used in the megacity.


    In one of the KNN news segments on the relearning camps, the news anchor Kommy had called the [Troubled] people useful idiots, who needed to be taught the proper way of life.


    The [Troubled] lived a hard life.


    ¡°God help us all,¡± said Arron as he sat back in his seat.


    The man next to him folded his E-newspaper and looked at Arron.


    ¡°This your first time to the Megacity Neo-Tokeyo?¡± asked the man who had a plain forgettable face.


    ¡°Yes,¡± was all Arron said.


    ¡°I don''t know what laid-back country town you''re from but in the megacity, all laws are enforced. Including several that you may be unfamiliar with. You better watch what comes out of your mouth. As one of the Office of Reasons motto succinctly put it, ''Words are Violence''.¡±


    ¡°Why do they have more than one motto?¡±


    ¡°Geez, you really are a country bumpkin. They have more than one motto because three different branches make up the Office of Reason. You have the white-suit agents who are the office workers, the black-suit Normalizer field agents, and the Gray-suits that do ''Stuff''''.¡±


    The man grew tired of talking to the clueless Arron, so he flipped open his E-Newspaper and shoved his face back between the two pages, once again ignoring Arron.


    Off in the distance, Arron could just start to make out a large cone-shaped building rising high into the sky even passing into the clouds.


    As the MagLev shot forward the building grew larger and wider with every second.


    From the size of a skinny skyscraper to the width of the large factories, until it finally covered all that he could see and was even wider and taller than many natural mountains.


    This was Megacity Neo-Tokeyo.


    The MagLev turned and headed directly towards towering walls that were made out of millions of tons of Para-Concrete and Parasteel.


    When the MagLev reached the walls it did not stop or pass through one of the opened glowing entrances but instead began climbing perpendicular up the walls of the Megacity.


    The sudden change in direction caused Arron''s stomach to lurch as he clung onto a handlebar next to him. His body was now pressed into his cushioned seat.


    ¡°Cheeh... bumpkin...¡± muttered the man next to Arron, when he saw him gripping onto the handlebar for dear life.


    Several white flashes passed by his window but he was too busy holding on to the handle to take notice of what it was.


    Several minutes later with another jerk the MagLev flattened out its accent and came to an abrupt halt as it passed through a bright white light covering the entrance in the massive city wall.


    ¡°We have arrived at our destination. Welcome to the fourth level of Neo-Tokeyo.¡±

 Chapter 8: Sights Of The Megacity

    A large portion of the people on the MagLev hurriedly stood up and exited the opened doors onto the 4th level MagLev station.


    Arron smacked his face once to regain his composure and grabbed his hovercase from above his seat before following the crowd of passengers.


    As soon as Arron stepped onto the large platform he was hit with a large wave of cold air that he had never experienced before. It would soon be spring so Arron had not bothered to pack any thick winter coats, just the jacket he was currently wearing.


    The air was also thinner which made it harder for people to breathe. Arron stood there with his hovercase next to him as he tried to grow accustomed to the new atmosphere.


    He took in all the sights trying to calm down. The large platform and the station were the largest he had ever seen before. It had 6 MagLevs Loading and unloading people at any one time. As soon as one was finished it would shoot back out of the entrance in the wall and disappear from view with another one soon arriving to take the empty spot.


    With such high activity, the fourth level entrance was only closed during emergencies or on mandated holidays.


    The entire station was a semicircle, with its walls and ceiling made of shiny cold Parasteel. The ceiling was several floors above his head making the entire place feel like a large metal cave.


    It looked and smelled completely sterile as if someone had just cleaned the entire area with harsh medical chemicals. It had to be the cleanest station he had ever seen. Even with the thousands of people constantly walking off and onto the MagLevs.


    Arron walked along with the several other thousands of people as they made their way towards the mag-shoots that continuously shot upwards, each one carrying at least a hundred people out of the station.


    There were over ten mag-shoots on this side of the station, each of them had a long line.


    Arron didn''t see the difference in the lines so he just picked one.


    Standing in line he watched as the other lines were moving along faster than the line he was in. The people just waved their hands through a holographic light which turned green and allowed the person to pass the wall separating the station from the Mag-shoots.


    He was weighing whether or not to switch to one of the other lines when he saw a woman wave her hand through the holographic light. The light, instead of green, turned Red and the gate stayed closed.


    ¡°What? Why am I not allowed to pass?¡± asked the woman.


    Several security bots floated down from a small hole in the ceiling ''gently'' grabbed her arms and escorted her out of Arron''s view.


    Seeing this Arron was worried that he would be rejected at the gates and was not sure what to do if that happened. In the end, he decided against switching and waited another ten minutes before reaching the front of the line.


    At each gate was a flag of the party of Mother and Father which had a red background with three yellow words which descended from the top to bottom: [Liberation, Inclusion, Normalization.].


    Arron found out the reason the line was so slow was because the two Police officers in their red and yellow uniforms, were scanning each and everyone''s NerViz chip in their hand as well as asking them several questions.


    Arron held out his hand and it was quickly scanned by one of the officers. He was wearing an Oxygen reBreather, which made him look quite sinister.


    ¡°Arron Wynterz, M-031-3-239019. Rejected,¡± said the officer as he read through all of Arron''s information that was streaming up in front of his eyes.


    ¡°Stop wasting our time unless you''re actually here for something,¡± said the second officer.


    ¡°I am here for an interview with a police chief named Harlan. Here is the document proving it,¡± said Arron, presenting the secure datapad.


    The first officer grabbed it and turned it on. The holo-document immediately started to scroll up and at the end showed the signature of commander Rub.


    ¡°What do you think, Zerk?¡± asked the first officer.


    ¡°Looks real to me, Berk. See, his records say that was his commanding officer before he retired last year,¡± said Zerk.


    Berk did a quick scan of Arron and his luggage scanning for anything illegal.


    ¡°You can pass but don''t think this gives you the right to cause trouble. If you step out of line you will receive a visit from the [Office of Reason]. Move along citizen,¡± said Burk.


    Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.


    Arron passed through the gates and squeezed onto one of the Mag-shoots that still had room.


    The mag-shoots were fairly simple compared to the ancient tech like Elevators. The only moving parts of the Mag-shoot were the round platform disc that everyone stood on and the one that was above their head. No walls were connecting the two discs which fit snugly in the Parasteel tube shoot.


    Arron was one of the last to get onto the mag-shoot disc before the Para-steel doors closed. The disc started to rise and gained speed quickly.


    Soon, the parasteel walls next to Arron were nothing but a blur before... whoosh!


    They passed a section of the wall that was made of reinforced glass revealing the 4th level city for a second before continuing up into the parasteel shoot. Several seconds later the disc came to a complete stop at the exit platform.


    Everyone spilled out on the platform, the majority with wobbly legs.


    Arron stopped in his tracks full of wonder at what he saw.


    Hundreds of large buildings towered high into the sky. There were even some buildings that floated high overhead using some sort of hover support system.


    In the sky, several stylish blocky flying cars flew overhead following one of the many sky roads. There were a few larger semi-truck variants that were flying below them hauling their cargo to unknown destinations.


    Arron stared open-mouthed at the newest generation of flying cars in amazement. He had only used hovercars in both the military and his civilian life back home. Although he had to admit the flying cars looked cool, he was more into the classic hover cars.


    The Sky was not as jam-packed as he thought it would be with how big Neo-Tokeyo was. Some of the information he had heard about the city must have been wrong.


    Arron was brought back from his daze as the doors to the Mag-shoot behind him slammed shut.


    He saw the platform rise and then flip over into another Mag-shoot. It descended and stopped at another platform that had several thousand people waiting to get to the MagLev station below.


    Arron began walking down the steps following the path into a large domed-off area.


    He sighed in relief as he entered the dome. The entire place was far warmer than outside. When he inspected the place he found that the entire inside of the dome was a large lush garden.


    At the center of the garden was a large town square. There was already a large gathering of people at the town square, while several others walked around enjoying the garden.


    From high in the sky an artificial waterfall gushed out water which fell into a large fenced-off pool in another part of the garden.


    As he walked down one of the paved paths that led to the town plaza, he counted at least 100 different types of flowers that were all blooming or just about ready to bloom.


    The air was filled with many songbirds chirping and tweeting in the several different varieties of trees that were scattered throughout the garden.


    It was all quite breathtaking but Arron had to stay focused as he was not here for sightseeing. He still didn''t know where exactly he had to go, so he found a carved stone bench near the waterfall pool and sat down.


    He curiously tapped the bench with a finger and was surprised to find out it was real stone and not an imitation.


    Arron turned back to his NerViz menu and tapped onto the option for the Holo-Net, so he could access the city map.


    ¡°Why is it not connecting?¡± asked Arron.


    He tried multiple times to access the Holo-net with his NerViz, but all he got was a grayed-out error when he tried to access it.


    After getting nowhere this way, Arron stood up and started to look for someone who he could get information from.


    He found an officer walking leisurely down one of the paths, so he jogged over to him and asked, ¡°Where can I get access to a map?¡±


    The officer silently pointed towards the town plaza where the large crowds of people were gathered.


    When he arrived at the plaza he found several large opaque holo-screens constantly flickering with ads for those who passed by them.


    It took him a few more minutes to search the plaza for the map that was hidden in between all of the ad screens.


    Next to the map was an even larger screen that dwarfed all the other screens. The large yellow words: [Breaking news and announcements.] scrolled continuously at the bottom of the opaque holo-screen.


    ¡°For this morning¡¯s breaking news. The Office of Reason has released a short statement that a small group of Separatists was captured. They ask if you have any information...¡±


    Arron turned his attention to the map which was a large top-down 3-d rendering of the fourth level.


    When he walked up closer a red dot appeared on it with his identification and the message ''You are here!''.


    The red dot showed that he was almost at the edge of sector 3 which was situated on the outskirts of the city. Sector 3 was one of the five large sectors of the fourth level. Sectors 1-4 were all on the outskirts of the city while sector five was sandwiched in between.


    He scanned the map for the Police HQ and found that it was in sector 5, zone 3. The very center of the large city. He would have to pass through several different zone checkpoints as well as the sector 3 and 5 borders to reach his destination.


    Arron tried to memorize the route to the Police HQ before turning around to find the exit from the garden.


    As he turned his gaze fell upon a bald man who was staring at one of the holo-screens intently. Arron stopped to look and see what it was that had caught the man¡¯s attention.


    ¡°With one! That''s right 1 surgery. We can screw on a new head of hair for you! Act now and we will throw in two extra hairstyles for free! All you have to do is unscrew and replace it with a new style to keep things fresh every other day! For those who want more variety, our ultra package contains 10 different styles!¡±


    Arron had to stop himself from laughing.


    The bald man continued to watch the ad for several more seconds, deep in thought.


    Moments later he accessed a menu with his NerViz that Arron could not see, and with a few motions of his hand he selected an option on the menu.


    A floating ball hover-bot popped out of the ground and beeped a greeting to the man. It immediately started to float away leading the man to some unknown destination.

 Chapter 9: ...I Just Dont Know Where I Am

    As Arron walked through the crowded town plaza his plainclothes stuck out like a sore thumb. Many of the people he passed looked at him with distaste and quickly moved away from him.


    This made it quicker for him to get to the exit but it did not make him any happier.


    When Arron stepped out of the large domed garden he stopped in his tracks once again. In the distance, he could see two large clear tubes which disappeared into the sky.


    As he inspected the distant tubes, several capsules could be seen flying up into space in the right tube while in the left tube even more capsules were descending to an unseen platform.


    Arron turned his attention back to the quick notes he had taken to help him traverse through the several zones and the two sectors.


    He reoriented himself toward the direction he needed to go and stepped on the sidewalk...


    As soon as his first foot touched the right side of the large sidewalk it started to move forward and at a decent pace. Arron was unprepared for this and fell on his butt from being half on and half off the sidewalk.


    He struggled to stand up while the sidewalk continued to move forward. On the left side of the large sidewalk, several people zipped past him all heading in the opposite direction of Arron. They didn''t even bother to pay the floundering Arron any attention.


    Now back on his feet, he looked down at the sidewalk with great interest.


    This was truly a surprising technology. He guessed that if the moving sidewalk was present throughout the entire level and maintained the same speed, he could cut off several hours from his original estimation if he were to just walk.


    ¡°What are you? An old man? Why are you using such a slow speed?¡± asked an impatient woman behind Arron.


    Arron looked over his shoulder to see a large woman with exotic purple hair rolled into many circles creating a pyramid atop her head standing behind him. In her arms, she held what looked like a small robotic dog.


    ¡°Bark!¡± said the robotic dog in a non-threatening metallic voice.


    Arron, with a confused expression, asked, ¡°What? This is slow?¡±


    ¡°Hmmph!¡± the large woman instead of answering him... flew into the air and zipped off towards a line of several waiting red and yellow taxis.


    With her right hand, the large woman made a few gestures opening an unseen menu and paid the fee for a ride. The door of the taxi popped open for her to enter.


    Seconds later the door slammed shut and the taxi rose into the sky, joining the many other flying vehicles. Floating blinking lights were all that separated the two lanes of flying cars as they whizzed past each other.


    Arron had not seen any driver in the front of the taxi and guessed that this was the famed self-driving car of the Megacity. He wondered if all the cars flying above him were like that.


    Since he had no money to waste on such a luxurious ride he continued to use the moving sidewalk.


    The sidewalk came to a complete stop when it reached a four-way intersection. A large holographic blinking red hand could be seen on the other side of the crosswalk.


    As Arron waited for it to change he looked around and saw that there were zero hover cars on the pristine street. All the traveling seemed to be done by flying vehicles.


    ¡°Why even have a street like this and keep it in such good shape if no one is going to use it?¡± wondered Arron.


    While waiting Arron opened his NerViz system menu and looked for the option mentioned by the woman. When he found it, it showed that the sidewalk movement was set to the default slow speed. He decided to change it to a faster speed which would allow him to reach his destination even quicker.


    Several moments later the red hand changed to a green walking human allowing Arron to cross the street. On the opposite side of the street Arron could see several large buildings towering high into the sky.


    As he passed them at a quick speed he found that they were all different types of stores. Every one of them had at least one holo-screen on the wall of the building. They were either showing items that they had inside the building or they accessed his NerViz cloud chip and displayed ads based on his past purchases.


    Many different brands of new hover tractors appeared each time he passed them. Each one of the tractors was priced at a stupidly high amount of credits.


    If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement.


    A large screen that filled the entire wall of one of the large buildings was broadcasting KNN as he passed.


    ¡°...the new special unit once again suffered deaths due to some mishap.¡±


    While riding the moving sidewalk Arron spent most of his time watching the ads and every once in a while the news broadcast on the passing buildings.


    Arron felt that it was all an exotic experience different from any he had in the military or his small hometown.


    He felt that people who complained that there were ads everywhere were over exaggerating.


    Sure there were some but it was nothing overwhelming and they were all quite refined, except for the few random [Party of Mother and Father] ad''s which were quite... awkward.


    When he grew tired of watching ads he decided to enter one of the stores to check it out.


    Some of the stores hovering in the sky above could only be accessed using flying clothes, or a flying car.


    Arron didn''t care which store it was and just stepped off the sidewalk next to a random building only wanting to get a quick peek.


    With a hiss, the doors of the large skyscraper store immediately opened for him. He entered to find that it was empty of any humans. There were only bots and several current-gen humanoid robots moving around organizing, packing, and unpacking things.


    A second after stepping into the store an ad popped up right in front of his face showing off the store¡¯s weekly specials.


    After a glance at the items, he understood that this entire store was for the many types of flying clothes. He took a closer look at the price and nearly had a heart attack.


    The ''exotic'' flying clothes being shown off were 20-35k credits!


    While Arron stood staring at the shocking prices a humanoid metallic robot walked over to Arron.


    ¡°A customer! Such a rare occurrence! Initiating assistance mode! How many I help you customer?¡±


    Arron looked over to the shop¡¯s assistant robot. I was painted in a way that made it look like it was wearing a black tuxedo. But there was one problem... It had no head.


    ¡°Umm... does this store have anything less... ''exotic''?¡± asked Arron.


    ¡°Certainly,¡± with a wave of its robotic hand, the ad in front of Arron changed to show a large list of flying clothes.


    ¡°We have hundreds of styles for those that wish for more modest looks. The multi-colored versions cost 15k credits while the single color ones cost 10k.¡±


    ¡°Do... you have anything less expensive?¡±


    ¡°Oh,¡± was all the assistant bot said.


    The tone of its robotic voice turned somewhat dismissive. If it had a head that could show expressions Arron was sure that it would be showing contempt at those words.


    With a wave of the hand, the large list disappeared leaving only one thing left. It was a plain gray-colored working one suit costing 5k.


    ¡°Thank you for showing...¡±


    ¡°Assistant mode terminated. Goodbye citizen,¡± said the assistant bot as it turned its back on Arron.


    Aaron exited the shop. Even though he knew that the shop owner had given the shop''s assistant bot that personality, out of the many dozen that could be picked, he still felt that it was an unpleasant experience.


    As he continued through the many sectors he passed an industrial zone that had few factories and mainly only had large whorehouses with hundreds of humanoid Robots and drones moving about carrying things.


    On his solitary ride on the sidewalk, he saw no other humans, only several robots going about their jobs such as street cleaners, garbage removal, sewage care/repair.


    He could see that the city had a large reliance on the robots to take care of what they viewed as minor or dangerous jobs.


    Arron was now in a civilian zone and found that the moving sidewalks all radiated heat warming up anyone that was on them.


    He looked around at the houses trying to figure out where he was but everything looked the same! He was now having a hard time trying to figure out which way to go since he had lost track in the large maze of similar houses. The NerViz GPS and map were still not working.


    As he stood still off of the sidewalk trying to figure a way out of this predicament, a curious voice called out to him.


    ¡°What are you doing mister?¡±


    Arron turned and found a young boy standing in the front yard of one of the houses with a metal ball and a large robotic dog that was wagging its tail waiting for the ball to be thrown.


    The boy was the first person Arron had met since leaving the area of the domed garden.


    ¡°Trying to decide which way to go, everything looks the same,¡± said Arron.


    ¡°You''re lost mister? I''m 8, and even I get lost,¡± said the kid.


    ¡°I''m not lost! I just don''t know where I am. This is my first time here so...¡±


    ¡°What? Why don''t you have the NavGuide activated? Are you an M?¡± asked the kid, looking at Arron with an odd expression.


    ¡°The NavGuide?¡±


    Taking pity on Arron, the 8-year-old boy walked Arron through the steps of setting up the NavGuide. He made sure to point to each of the different settings telling him what to choose.


    The young boy walked back to his front yard with his robotic dog while laughing at Arron.


    Arron set the destination as the Police HQ and then activated the NavGuide.


    A blue fist-sized holographic pixie appeared in front of Arron.


    It looked like a grumpy old man.


    ¡°What are you staring at? Haven''t you ever seen a NavGuide before?¡± asked the grumpy NavGuide Ai.


    ¡°Hurry up and follow me,¡± said the grumpy NavGuide.


    Arron stood still looking at the floating holographic NavGuide deep in thought.


    ¡°Hey! Over here!¡± said the grumpy NavGuide.


    Arron was starting to get a feeling that this fast paced Megacity was not such a friendly place.

 Chapter 10: Police HQ

    ¡°Hey! Over here!¡± said the grumpy NavGuide for the millionth time.


    ¡°I can see it! Will you shut up!¡± said Arron, growing irritated with everything.


    He now had a growing headache due to everything in the city trying to access the NerViz cloud chip.


    The sidewalks, doors, bots, ads, even the lights on the streets all accessed his cloud chip to adjust to his settings which were all set to default.


    ¡°Someone got up on the wrong side of the bed,¡± said the grumpy old man pixie. ¡°My job is done. Only ask for my help if you are too dumb to find your way around the city.¡±


    Arron was only a few steps away from the front door of the large red and yellow police HQ building. The large building pierced the sky well above the other buildings near it. There were no ad''s news screens on or near the building.


    The large yellow doors, each with the badge of the police department on them, opened as he walked up to them, and closed when he stepped inside. There was an audible click as the doors locked behind him.


    He was now standing in a small 10x10 lobby with no doors or stairs anywhere.


    Four holes in the walls, two on the right and two on the left opened and spat out four hovering security bots each with four hands. Two for grabbing and two for electrocuting or stabbing troublemakers.


    ¡°M-031-3-239019, what do you want?¡± asked a cold female voice from the ceiling wall.


    ¡°I have an interview with Chief Harlan,¡± said Arron.


    ¡°Documents?¡± asked the cold female voice.


    One of the bots next to Arron reached out one of its gloved mechanical hands demanding the documents to prove why he was there.


    Arron handed over the military-grade datapad and watched as the bot silently plugged it into a slot in its chest.


    Nothing happened for over a minute.


    ¡°Military-grade?¡± asked the cold female voice. ¡°What is the decryption key?¡±


    ¡°Ah! Sorry about that.¡±


    Arron walked over to the datapad that was sticking out of the security bot''s chest and used the holographic keypad to enter a long string of numbers and characters unlocking the document.


    A blue holographic light shot out from each of the walls near the ceiling creating a blue screen as they all connected. The screen quickly fell, passing over Arron and disappearing into the ground.


    A few more minutes passed and then the cold female voice spoke again.


    ¡°Don''t move, you will be brought to the waiting room.¡±


    The security bot returned the datapad to Arron before the entire floor and ceiling started to move up at a fast speed.


    It only stopped at two red doors when it reached the second to last floor at the very top of the building.


    The doors opened immediately as the floor came to a complete stop.


    Arron quickly passed through the doors into a brightly lit red waiting room that had several neat rows of hover chairs. All along the side of the room were the red and yellow flags of the party of Mother and Father.


    At the front of the room, there was a long marble front desk, with three middle-aged females sitting behind it.


    Behind them carved into the wall, was the motto of the Party of Mother and Father: Liberation, Inclusion, Normalization.


    Two of the females were busy watching a large floating display of several holo-screens that showed security footage of the entire building. Every few seconds they would make a swiping motion and the footage on one of the screens would change to another area.


    You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.


    The third was typing furiously on a holo-keyboard. She only stopped for a second when Arron walked towards the front desk. She said no words, only silently jabbed a finger towards the hover chairs and returned to her paperwork.


    Arron just picked a random chair and looked at the walls on the side. He hadn''t noticed it before due to the flags, but there were several projections of 3d holographic faces spinning all along the wall. Each of the heads had their name and government ID underneath.


    On the wall above all of the spinning heads, was a large holographic sign with yellow words: [Most wanted Separatist].


    When he looked back to the front desk he found that the entire surface of the front desk had turned into a holo-screen and was now Broadcasting KNN.


    Overall Arron was quite pleased with the security and the professionalism at the place he would soon call his workplace.


    ''With such a large building I wonder if I will get an office of my own or if I will get one of those privacy-screen cubicles,'' thought Aaron.


    Only five minutes passed before a door to the right of the large stone desk opened.


    A female secretary wearing a yellow officer skirt uniform entered the waiting room. Her eyes quickly scanned the room and found Arron, the only person sitting in one of the hover chairs.


    She walked up to Arron and asked, ¡°M-031-3-239019¡±


    ¡°Yes, that is me.¡±


    ¡°Follow me.¡±


    Without another word she turned and started to walk briskly back towards the door that was still open.


    Arron followed behind her as they walked down a large marble stone hallway with many doors on either side. The only noise was the loud clack of the secretary''s high heels on the marble floor.


    The secretary stopped in front of a closed stone door. Her hand waved over a scanner on the door and a holographic light was projected allowing the secretary to place her hand inside and start moving it in many weird motions and gestures as if she was playing some invisible game.


    A loud click was heard and the stone door hissed opened. The secretary motioned for Arron to enter the room.


    It was quite spartan inside the room, with only a marble desk in the right corner and two hover chairs on the opposite side of the room. Directly across from the stone door was another closed door with a large nameplate above it reading [Chief Harlan].


    A small holo-tv screen was hovering over the desk and was playing KNN at a low volume.


    The female secretary walked over to the desk and pulled out a super slim current-gen secure datapad from one of the drawers.


    She started to tap many options and type in several things before walking over to Arron and handing the datapad to him.


    ¡°Fill this out.¡±


    After handing him the datapad, she returned to her desk and started working on documents that were needed for chief Harlan''s afternoon speech.


    ¡°Due to the public outcry of the citizens of Neo-Tokeyo who want stricter regulation on the city police, the Party of Mother and Father have agreed to support such reasonable requests. A statement was put out by Mother and father,¡± said news anchor Kommy.


    Fela continued to where he left off, ¡°Here is the statement. ''We are aware that many citizens do not want the police to have such questionable power as they had before. With the new regulations that we have put in place, everyone can be assured that the police have been further regulated and brought under our control. You can now think of every action they take as a sanctioned order by Mother and Father.''...¡±


    Arron turned his attention back to the datapad and started to fill out all the information it asked for. He checked one last time to make sure that everything was filled in correctly before standing up and walking over to the secretary''s desk.


    She held up a hand to stop him and then with her other hand opened a menu and pressed a name starting a call.


    ¡°What is it?¡± asked the floating head of a 50+-year-old man with graying hair.


    ¡°Chief, your afternoon interview.¡±


    ¡°Send him in, let''s make this quick. I still have to prepare for the news press conference.¡±


    The closed door slid open revealing a bright room that had a full wall of reinforced paraglass, allowing Arron to see the entire city far below as well as the many flying vehicles.


    Inside the office, there was a large wooden desk with two hover chairs in front of it and several cabinets filled with who knows what.


    ¡°Sit,¡± said chief Harlan, pointing towards one of the hover chairs.


    A security bot flew from the ceiling and grabbed the datapad from Arron''s hand and brought it over to chief Harlan.


    He quickly swiped through and taped things here and there and typed in a few extra details.


    When he finished he tapped a final button and swiped his hand towards Arron.


    Arron''s NerViz system notified him of a new message. Taping on the blinking message icon revealed a floating holographic business card above his wrist-datapad.


    ¡°Everything looks to be in proper order. That is my business card with my secretary''s number. Someone will be in contact with you within a day or two to give you the results. You need to stay out of trouble until then. If you have any questions talk to my secretary and she will help you,¡± said Chief Harlan, before turning back to preparing for his important press conference speech.

 Chapter 11: Interview Results

    Arron stood in front of the secretary''s desk as she finished typing up a document.


    As he waited he tapped on the mail option and accessed the business card that had been sent to him.


    The floating holographic business card was quite plain having the Motto of the [Party of Mother and Father] at the top, Chief Harlan''s name in the middle, and the address of the Police HQ at the bottom along with his office''s contact number.


    Arron tapped the card and it flipped over revealing its back where he found a detailed description of the [Party of Mother and Father''s] Motto.


    [Liberation: Mother, Father, and WHO will liberate the world.]


    [Inclusion: Mother and Father will always be with you.]


    [Normalization: Normalize all that is wrong.]


    ¡°What do you need?¡± asked the secretary briskly.


    ¡°Is the interview really over?¡± asked Arron. ¡°It seemed a bit short.¡±


    ¡°The chief''s time is valuable. The security committee from the party of Mother and Father will look at the information later. I was told to give you the address of this cheap hotel. Your friend has already paid for you to stay in one of the rooms for one day, if you stay longer you will have to pay for it yourself,¡± said the secretary.


    She grabbed the floating holographic address and flicked it towards Arron who received a notification from his NerViz of the new mail containing the address.


    Arron stood there for a moment as he accessed the NavGuide and entered the address of the hotel.


    ¡°Oh, It''s you,¡± said the grumpy NavGuide, when it materialized in front of Arron.


    For the first time, Arron saw some emotion on the Secretary''s face. She looked at Arron with a weird expression he could not place.


    ¡°What?¡± asked Arron.


    ¡°Nothing...it''s just... you have a weird taste,¡± said the secretary looking away from Arron.


    ¡°What? Isn''t this the default NavGuide? I had someone help me set it up.¡±


    ¡°Are you serious? How could that thing be the default mode!¡± with a sigh the secretary made a hand motion for Arron to come closer. ¡°You were tricked. Show me your settings so we can see if anything else was tampered with.¡±


    Arron hesitated for a bit but decided to step forward and turn off the privacy setting allowing others to see the settings menu.


    ¡°Change this to that, and this one the third option...¡±


    Two minutes later the floating grumpy old man turned into a blue floating ball of light that cheerily tinkled every once in a while as it floated in front of Arron.


    ¡°Show me your other settings,¡± said the secretary impatiently.


    When she saw the large list of options that had been unlocked upon his arrival to the Megacity her mouth twitched.


    ¡°Are you an M? You have almost all the settings either turned on or set to default!¡±


    ¡°Is that bad?¡±


    ¡°Of course it is! Right now everything can access your NerViz cloud chip! Even a determined hacker could find some way to hack into and get your info if they wanted to. I''m surprised you aren''t laying on the ground holding your head from information overload.¡±


    ¡°So that''s why I have a headache,¡± said Arron, as if some great world mystery had been solved.


    Arron spent the next ten minutes getting berated by the secretary as she helped him properly choose each setting.


    ¡°...I feel like I''m helping my 80-year-old grandpa,¡± mumbled the secretary for the tenth time. ¡°Make sure you keep those settings. All the unimportant things were turned off, now only Mother and Father, the Office of Reason, and the Police scanners can access your NerViz cloud-chip without first asking for confirmation.¡±


    ¡°Thanks again,¡± said Arron with a bow before following the NavGuide out of the office.


    Ting! Every so often the NavGuide cheerily let Arron know that it was still there as it led him to the cheap hotel.


    After checking in with the front desk of the giant hotel he took a small Mag-lift to the floor that his room was on.


    This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.


    When he swiped the access card through the projected holo-lock the door clicked and slid open for a few moments allowing him to enter and then clicked shut again.


    The room''s dim lights turned on as soon as his feet entered the room. Looking around, Arron found that although it was not a huge room, it was far from what he would call cheap.


    He was amazed at some of the new high-tech inside the room, some of it he had only heard about on the news or read about on the holo-net.


    The room¡¯s bed was the newest model from the company Floating Feather, the [Sleeping Wind 9x].


    It used the power of artificial wind to keep the user floating in the air. It had hundreds of different settings for all types of sleepers!


    Across from the bed was a counter that could be used as a desk, or with a press of a button it could be used for cooking. To the side of the desk, there was a motion-sensing sink.


    On the wall above the desk and sink was a large mirror that with a swipe of the hand could be turned into a 2-d holoscreen.


    The far end of the room had a black opaque privacy shield that could be turned on and off. Behind it, he could hear the sound of bubbling water.


    When he walked over to the privacy shield he swiped his hand down causing it to dim and disappear.


    A large bubbling Jacuzzi was set in the floor next to a wall made out of reinforced glass that had a one-way tint.


    The sight was even more breathtaking than chief Harlan''s office view.


    Many buildings and a few of their ad''s littered his view but in between them and far above he could see the night sky clearer and closer than ever before. The night¡¯s stars and the moon shone down on the city, lighting it up further with a soft glow needing no artificial light to see.


    Arron spent over a half-hour soaking in the Jacuzzi as he stared out of the windows at the night sky and the many flying cars that passed by below.


    When he stepped out of the water, there were already several fluffy robes in different colors waiting on a shelf for him to wear.


    He picked out a blue one at random and put it on. Everything about the robe was extremely long, with parts of it dragging on the carpet. He checked the other robes and they were all the same.


    As he finished tucking in and tied the robe in a way so that it would not cause him to trip, the robe immediately shrunk to fit his body.


    Which left Arron quite impressed.


    He hopped onto the [Sleeping Wind 9x] bed. His body floated up and down for a few moments as it was stabilized. The sensation felt as if he was floating on his back in the ocean.


    The noise from the mechanisms that created the wind was whisper quiet. The noise that they did make was quiet white noise that would help the user fall asleep.


    When Arron looked up to the ceiling he was surprised to see that there was a Holo-tv screen above the bed. He had seen an ad for this version while walking to the Police HQ.


    It was one of the newest models that allowed the user to change its size by just looking at and using their fingers to drag the edges out to whatever size they wanted, no physical touch needed. Of course, you had to connect to it with your NerViz cloud chip for it to work.


    There was an even more expensive mobile version that allowed you to connect it to and use your NerViz implant to watch everything wherever you wanted and in whatever size.


    Using the resizing option he dragged the screen until it covered the entire ceiling and turned it on.


    [Temporary access granted.] A message appeared on the screen before the screen began to broadcast the news channel KNN.


    ¡°The suspected separatist we reported on yesterday, is now in the hospital due to tripping up a flight of 100+ stairs. We have an expert on such matters to explain everything in more detail.¡±


    ¡°Yes old fashioned things such as steps are extremely dangerous and things like this tend to happen often. We suggest that...¡±


    Arron soon grew tired of watching the news and turned off holo-tv.


    With his eyes closed, he thought over everything that he had experienced today.


    It was a wild ride, and hopefully, his trip here was not in vain. If he received a position on the police force he was sure that in the future he would be able to easily pay for any of the high-tech items he had seen advertisements for.


    ***


    At noon the next day, Arron finally received the holo-vid message he was waiting for.


    ¡°The committee has found that you meet their requirements. For security purposes come to my office to receive your job posting and other sensitive information,¡± said chief Harlan, in the short holo-vid.


    ***


    Back in Chief Harlan''s office.


    Arron had to sign a few more non-disclosure documents before he could receive his orders. He let out a sigh after finishing everything.


    ¡°I am ready to receive my orders! I will work hard to keep the peace on the fourth level!¡± said Arron as he gave the chief a salute.


    ¡°You? Here? With your social credit score, you''re not even qualified to be standing in front of me. We already have more than enough qualified police officers to keep the law enforced on the fourth level,¡± said chief Harlan.


    ¡°Social credit score?¡±


    ¡°That''s right I almost forgot you were from the countryside. Mother and Father may not care enough to enforce the social credit scores in the backwater towns, but in this city, it is the law of the land and we enforce it fully. I am surprised with the Huko laws that you are even able to stay in the city.¡±


    Hearing all this Arron was unsure what Huko laws were or how important the Social Credit Score was.


    ¡°I guess you are very lucky since Mother and Father decided that you have all the requirements for a very special group. Here are your orders,¡± said chief Harlan.


    He abruptly tossed a miniature slim secure-data stick over to Arron. It was a newer model that was able to plug into the NerViz implant at the back of the user¡¯s neck. This allowed the user to view the content privately keeping it out of others¡¯ eyes.


    Arron slotted it into one of the two slots that the NerViz implant had and accessed the only document on it.


    In front of his eyes, a text file opened up. At the top of the document in big letters read. [Assignment: M1- S.T.F.]


    Arron had never heard of this group before. Who were they and what did they do?


    ¡°Look kid, the megacity is not a fantasy land. There are no heroes here. It is a cruel place that will either break you or make you into a stronger person. It is all up to you whether you let it have its way with you or you embrace the hardship and forge yourself anew.¡±

 Chapter 12: Clearing Up Questions

    When Arron once again arrived at the fourth level''s MagLev station he was stopped at a checkpoint by two station police.


    ¡°What''s a B rank doing on the 4th level?¡± asked one of the officers.


    ¡°Stop messing around Mort. There are others behind him. If he is allowed to leave then pass him through. If not let the security bots handle him,¡± said the second officer.


    Mort continued to read scanned info from Aron''s cloud chip.


    ¡°He''s not a wanted criminal and looks like he''s allowed to leave.¡±


    ¡°Move it along citizen,¡± said the second officer waving Arron past.


    As Arron walked past his NerViz notified him that he had received a new high-priority message.


    [Report to M1-HQ Immediately: Level 1, Sector 12, Zone 3, the damn big building with the M1 Holo-sign.]


    Arron walked down the large station platform with several MagLevs entering and leaving the station, as he searched for one that would bring him to Neo-Tokeyo''s first level.


    As he waited for the right MagLev to appear, he thought over what chief Harlan had said.


    Hopefully, his experience working in the megacity would not be that bad. No matter what, he would not bow down and would overcome all challenges that he encountered.


    But first, he had to clear up a few important things he was unclear on. After finding a hover bench to sit on he started his quest for answers to his questions.


    Since he still couldn''t access the Holo-net he was forced to use his wrist-datapad to search through the backlog of KNN news clips which the party of Mother and Father allowed everyone to have access to.


    ¡°The new Huko law has been put in place to protect the safety and control the massive population flow. Those not born Neo-Tokeyo will not be allowed to live or work in the Mega-city unless they receive a special OK from the party of Mother and Father.¡±


    ¡°I see so that''s what he was talking about,¡± said Arron as he closed the holo-vid.


    With the holo-keypad, he typed in: M1 S.T.F.


    Immediately thousands of clips appeared and after a bit of searching, he found the [View from oldest clip] option and tapped on it.


    The long floating list was reorganized and he pressed his finger on the first video.


    Surprisingly it was a clip from the mental patient Pake. What Arron found more interesting was that it had not been scrubbed from existence like everything else after the incident some time ago.


    ¡°Due to the large uptick in new tech crimes which are becoming more cunning, explosive, and deadly on the first level. The police are having trouble handling everything. The party of Mother and Father in their infinite wisdom decided to create a new unit called the M-1 ''Special'' task force. This special task force will operate separately from the first level''s police force,¡± said Pake.


    ¡°They sure sound ''Special'',¡± said Fela.


    Arron continued to play clips from the long list of holo-videos.


    ¡°Not much has happened since the party of Mother and Fathers decided to create the new M-1 ''Special'' task force last month. Today, after such a long wait, the M-1 S.T.F. is finally taking charge of all new tech crimes, as well as any other dangerous crimes.¡±


    ¡­


    ¡°The new special task force has seen skyrocketing deaths and serious injuries due to the work they do. The chief of the M1 STF claims it is due to lack of proper equipment to protect themselves against the dangerous situations they seem to constantly find themselves in,¡± said Pake.


    ¡°Maybe they should stop getting into those situations,¡± said Fela.


    In every video that had not been memory-holed by mother and father, the people talking about the M1-STF all did so in a mocking way. Some even went as far as to call it a place of death, or ''The new special walking dead unit''.


    ¡°What have I gotten myself into?¡± Arron muttered to himself.


    Just as he muttered those words the MagLev he was waiting for arrived.


    The tens of doors clunked open but no one exited the MagLev onto the station¡¯s platform. This allowed Arron and the handful of other passengers to board without much waiting.


    You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.


    When he saw the seats of this MagLev he silently cursed. There were no cushioned seats, only two long rows of benches on each side of the cabin with a few intact seat buckles.


    Arron saw the other boarding passengers scrambling to get to one of the spots that still had the flimsy seatbelts.


    Arron sat down and claimed one himself, clicking the flimsy belt into place.


    ''Will this thing even work?'' thought Arron, as he looked at the loose, frayed, and stretched material.


    A second later the seat belt immediately shrunk back into the wall behind him pressing his waist firmly into the wall.


    It was super tight and very uncomfortable. Arron looked around and saw that the belt seemed to be one-size-fits-all.


    Another man was sitting next to him on his right. The man¡¯s large gut looked to be cut in half due to the tight belt squeezing him up against the wall.


    ¡°I hate riding this damn MagLev! I need some food, but this is the cheap MagLev,¡± grumbled the man.


    The unlucky people that got onto the MagLev last did not sit down on the bench, but instead, they grabbed onto the handlebars hanging from the middle of the ceiling.


    Those who had enough money wore magnetic clamping boots that held their legs in place while they held onto the bar above. Those that did not have such a luxury, tried to crowd at the front of the MagLev to lean against the front wall while holding onto the handlebar.


    Arron ignored the others as he started to read up on the Social Credit Score from the Information page that everyone could access.


    [Your social credit score controls everything. What rank you have determines what rewards, privileges, or punishments you will receive.]


    [Social credit score tiers:


    AAA: 1050+ points. Super special citizen.


    You will get access to all super special benefits such as; Living and working on the 4th level, being able to run for political office in the Upper house of the party of Mother and Father with no extra requirements to register. You will be able to live and work on the 4th level. You will receive minimum tax requirements. You will receive health priority 1. Your children will have first choice to the tier 1 government schools.


    AA: 1030-1049. Model Citizen.


    You will receive special benefits such as; being allowed to live/work on the 3rd or 2nd level. A minor tax requirement. Health priority 2, your children will have first choice to tier 2 government schools. The party of mother and father can and will use you as a model citizen in their ads for lower-level citizens.


    A: 960-1029. Normal citizen.


    You receive no benefits other than being able to live and work on the 2nd and 3rd levels.


    B: 850-959. Citizen with minor problems detected. You are allowed to live on the 2nd level. You are locked in tier B for a minimum of 2 years of probation. The office of Reason will send a message explaining how you can fix any problems that have placed you into tier B. If you fix the problems during the two years you will be allowed to work on reaching tier A.


    C: 600-849. Potentially troubled citizen.


    You are restricted to the 1st Level for both work/living. You are locked at tier C for 3 years probation before they can work towards tier B. Your name will be put on an internal government list of potentially troubled citizens. During the three years of probation, an agent from the Office of Reason will come to your home once a week with a checklist. Your workplace will send reports of any problems to Mother and Father and the Office of Reason. You are only allowed 2 children for the rest of your life.


    D: 0-599. Troubled citizen.


    You are restricted to the 1st level. You must follow the laws and regulations on which jobs and where you are allowed to live. You will be locked at tier D for 5 years of probation before you are allowed to work on getting back to tier C. Your name will be put on a public database for all to see.


    This database will be used by the Party of Mother and Father to show which crimes and bad life choices everyone else should avoid. You will receive monitoring 24/7 by the Office of Reason. Any college degrees gained before will be revoked.


    You are not allowed to apply for any social benefits, bank loans, or vacations. Due to your low credit score, you may be fired from your current or future job for any reason.


    You will be sterilized and your Children will be taken by the [Office of Reason] and put in tier D government school with dorms. See section 3 for further restrictions.]


    [For further documentation and information read section 2.]


    Arron closed the information page and tried to soak in all the information. It seemed this really was a big deal.


    The MagLev jerked forward and started moving away from the station and moments later it was hurtling straight down the side of the Megacity''s walls.


    Arron''s upper body slammed into the large man next to him who was smooshing the person sitting next to him.


    A minute later the MagLev did a sharp 90-degree twirling turn as it entered the 3rd level MagLev station to unload and pick up passengers.


    When it came time for the MagLev to leave again, Arron braced himself better this time gripping onto the seat between his legs and spreading his feet out to try and stabilize himself for the coming sharp fall.


    As the MagLev shot down again he heard a loud ''SNAP!'' next to him, followed by a cry of shock.


    Arron watched as the large man tumbled down the aisle slamming into everyone that was standing and holding onto the bar above them.


    The entire central aisle was cleared as everyone was plowed over and fell to the front where several sickening cracks were heard.


    Multiple loud cries of pain and low moaning came from the large pile of bodies that the fat man now lay on top. It all sounded like there would be several people needing medical attention.


    All this happened and yet it was only the descent to the second level.

 Chapter 13: Level 1, Sector 12

    Arron stumbled off of the MagLev along with several other passengers who were limping or being helped off by another person. If they didn''t get off now there would be hell to pay since the MagLevs did not allow people to stay on them longer than their tickets destination.


    The large man who had caused all the trouble was still laying on the floor as the doors to the MagLev closed and shot back out the station to its next destination.


    Ding! At that moment Arron''s NerViz Implant made a bunch of racket as it started to send him several notifications.


    Arron taped onto the furiously blinking holographic icon above his Wrist datapad and read through all of the notifications.


    The most important of the bunch was the notification letting him know that his social credit score had been updated to its proper score and he was now granted proper access to the first level¡¯s city network.


    Arron swiped down, closing the notification and opened his personal government issued profile. Sure enough, he found his social credit score right under his name [B: 850].


    All the options that had been grayed out before were now unlocked. Now the only thing grayed out was the contact information for Chief Harlan on the 4th level.


    Along with the numerous notifications, there was a second reminder from the M1 headquarters giving him the address once again.


    Arron looked up from the notifications and studied his surroundings.


    The smell of cheap but sweet street food, mixed with stale beer, piss, puke, BO, and rotting garbage all assaulted his nose.


    The station was far warmer on the 1st level than it was on the 4th level. It was a damp heat which led to the smells being far worse.


    With over 10x more people on the MagLev station platforms than what he had seen on the 4th level, this was to be expected, but some of the smells were downright rotten.


    The station showed its age with how worn down it was. Several cracks, large amounts of grime and rust could be seen almost everywhere.


    Arron opened the NavGuide and entered the address to the M1 HQ in the 12th sector which was not that far away from Sector 2 where he was currently. He made sure to pick the option to find the fastest route to his destination without worrying about the cost. He wasn''t here to sightsee today, that could happen later.


    The blue blob NavGuide chimed a happy greeting upon seeing Arron and started to lead him through the crowded station platform towards one of the exits.


    As he was exiting the large mass of people and nearing the exit his path was cut off by an extremely grimy and rusty square cleaning bot. It was a model from several generations ago. The cleaning bot held onto an equally dirty broom which looked to have over half of its threads missing.


    The cleaning bot was wildly sweeping the ground, flinging trash and dirt into the air as it ''cleaned'' the station.


    Everyone at the station gave it a wide clearing so they would not be in the range of its cleaning... unfortunately Arron had not been paying attention and was forced to dodge several rotten food pieces as they were flung into the air near him.


    The cleaning bot continued moving forward mutely working on its task of ''cleaning'' the entire station platform.


    On the walls near the MagLev station''s exit Arron started to see several holo-graffiti programmed on the station''s walls.


    Some were blinking swear words, or messages that a person had been there. A few people had even programmed moving 2d pictures.


    The two holo-graffiti that stood out to Arron was the message that said [Kill all Separatists.], and a large animated picture of a large plump woman blowing a kiss towards a stick figure man.


    Arron was unsure why the holo-graffiti was allowed to stay on the walls. He guessed it was probably the same reason why the MagLev station looked like it did.


    The station guards paid no attention to Arron as he made his way through the exit. They were only stopping those who were trying to enter the station.


    As he exited the station out onto a small plaza. Even though it was around noon it looked as if it was still the middle of the night with how dark it was. At the center of the plaza there was a large dry fountain which was not working.


    Surrounding the fountain were several large flashing signs with news, ads, current events for sector 2, and a map of the entire sector.


    There were several groups of people all over the small plaza.


    One of the groups was break dancing with the help of their cybernetic implants. A teen used the tips of his metallic fingers to do various hand-stands, while a man with a polished metal plate covering his head was able to continue spinning on his head like a toy top.


    Across from them was a rare sight to see, it was a band with only humans playing the instruments. They were creating an awful screeching racket as they played their newest song.


    The noise assaulted Arron''s ears making him feel like he was going insane. He didn''t know if you could even call this music, but nearly a hundred people were wearing odd colorful outfits surrounding the band cheering them on.


    He plugged his ears and ran through the various crowds following the NavGuide out of the square passing several dozen Holo-ads that winked on and off.


    The buildings near the plaza all towered high into the sky, some even reached the ceiling far above which separated the first and second level. There were only a few heavily guarded exits and entrances for Flying cars far above.


    The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.


    The NavGuide led him to another MagLev station a short distance away.


    Unlike the 4th level, the 1st level had an internal MagLev network that was not connected to the outside. It was used for getting around from sector to sector due to how large the first level was compared to the upper floors.


    Taking a taxi on the first level was even more expensive than on the 4th level due to the large distances and many zones and sector checkpoints. This caused the MagLevs to be used heavily by the first level''s large population.


    Arron used his wrist datapad to access the station''s ticket application and paid for a ticket to sector 12 zone 3.


    [Checking SCS... Authorized. 20 credits have been deducted from your account.]


    When the transaction was finished his NavGuide led him to one of the lines to enter one of the carriages. The people that were entering the carriage were all being scanned by security bots as they passed by.


    When Arron reached the front of the line he found the carriage was already near max capacity. He was forced to stand at the back of the jam-packed MagLev.


    After his two previous rides, one up and one down the large walls of the Megacity, he now had a slight distaste for MagLevs, which he had not had before coming to the city.


    ¡°Dear passengers, people who travel without a ticket, behave disorderly, or smoke in public areas, will be punished according to regulations. Your behavior will be recorded in both the Office of Reasons database as well as your Social Credit Score. To avoid negative points being added to your Social credit score, please follow the relevant regulations and help with the orders issued on the MagLev and at the station,¡± said a middle-aged female voice that came from the MagLev''s ceiling.


    This was Arron''s first time hearing something like this and he was not sure why the announcement was made. Was there something about tickets that he did not know about?


    Arron looked at the ceiling of the MagLev and found that it was a large Holo-vision. It was currently broadcasting KNN but the only person paying any attention to it was Arron. Everyone else was reading their E-newspaper, watching holovids on MeTube, one of the main social websites that were run by the party of Mother and Father. Several passengers had their hands wildly moving in front of them as they played an unseen game, there were even several people in worn-out suits typing up documents for work.


    Arron was surprised to see so many people who had Visible Cybernetic modifications. He couldn''t even remember if he saw one person on the 4th floor with such a variety of visible modifications.


    He turned his attention back to the broadcast of KNN.


    ¡°...they say that the population of the first level has tripled from just two years ago. The same experts are unsure how fast the population will grow in the next year but their best guess is it won''t be enough to cause too much strain on the food supply in the stores or the housing costs,¡± said Kommy.


    ¡°Now onto today''s weather can our viewers take a guess? ...You guessed right! More damp darkness with the possibility of rain like always,¡± said Fela cheerily.


    ¡°Such depressing weather,¡± said Kommy, with a sigh and a faked sad smile on his face.


    ¡°Everyone should cheer up, in a few months there is a 50% chance of sunlight reaching the first level during the peak of the summer months! If such a rare day happens I am sure everyone will be able to enjoy an hour or two of sunlight.¡±


    Arron let out a long sigh. Although it was far warmer and more comfortable than on the cold 4th level the weather was not to his liking. It indeed was a depressing eternal night almost all year round.


    With the quick speed of the MagLev, he reached sector 12¡¯s MagLev station which looked several times cleaner than the last station. He took a few steps out onto the city square plaza and stopped when he saw several large statues at the center.


    They were enormous, standing several stories high, and were quite amazing to look at.


    The largest statue showed a military officer in the center pointing forward while shouting. On the right of the officer was a soldier in the motion of charging forward with his weapon held at the ready and his face set with determination. On the left of the officer was a mother holding a young baby to her chest protecting it from some unseen danger.


    Arron studied them from afar for a few moments before walking up to one of them and looking at a small floating holo-screen at the base. It explained what they were and why they were there.


    [In memory of those who fought and died for liberation during the Troubled years. Paid for by veterans. Authorized by Father]


    Arron looked at another nearby statue that looked like a replica of a small and insignificant city compared to the Megacity Neo-Tokeyo.


    [Honoring the several hundreds of millions that lost their lives during the destruction of the old capital. Paid for by the comity of remembrance. Authorized by Mother.]


    There were several such statues in the dark square but none were as large as the first two. Several of them had been salvaged from the old capital and still showed damage from the old city''s destruction.


    Ting! The blue NavGuide chimed loudly reminding Arron that he was supposed to be somewhere else.


    When he reached the sidewalk he stopped and waited for it to start moving.


    One minute passed but the sidewalk showed no sign of moving. It looked exactly like the sidewalk from the 4th floor.


    Several tens of people walked past him looking back at him wondering why he was standing still staring at the ground.


    ¡°I guess it''s broken?¡± Arron quietly mumbled.


    He would have to walk the rest of the way dragging his hover case behind him.


    To his surprise, the roads were jam-packed with hover cars. In the air far above the road, there were only a few random flying cars passing the hectic lunch rush hour below.


    Arron watched as a flying red and yellow police car raced through the air sirens blaring as they headed off to some area where a crime was happening.


    On his walk to the M1 HQ, he saw even more late-generation round floating bots taking care of minor jobs.


    As he got closer to his destination he now understood why people had mentioned the ads. The first floor was nothing like the 4th floor in that respect. The ads were everywhere and they were also the main source of flickering light for the dark streets outside the giant towering buildings.


    Seeing everything with his own eyes on his walk gave him a better understanding of what the rest of the first level was like. Now he could understand all the reviews.


    Although some reviews he had read complained that the first floor was poor. It was still far more high-tech and seemed to have several 1000''s times more money flowing around than what could be found in his hometown.


    He could now see why the city people looked down on everyone from the country towns.


    The majority of the people in the city who but not all who claimed to be ''poor'' in the city would be considered middle or high class back at his hometown with all the tech and money they had.


    Ting! The NavGuide stopped and let out a loud chime before it disappeared.


    Arron looked up at the massive building in front of him. It was one of the buildings that seemed to rise to the ceiling. The M1 HQ building was also extremely wide, taking up several normal city blocks.


    The entire building was bare of any ads or news screens and only had a large dark blue glowing M1 HQ projected on each of the four walls.


    He had finally arrived at his new workplace.


    The first level was vastly different from the 4th level, but for better or worse, he would make the most of it and strive to put his all in completing whatever tasks he was given.

 Chapter 14: M1 HQ

    There was a small line with a few people at the front entrance to the tall M1 building.


    Blocking the front door was an extremely muscular man standing just over 5 ft tall. He was wearing a tight-fitting dark blue uniform that had a white and black checkered stripe on both shoulders. Covering his chest was an ancient and worn parasteel bulletproof vest with a large dark blue M1 stamped on it. His head was bare with no helmet or hat which drew attention to the man''s lower jaw that was very shiny and completely made out of parasteel.


    Arron had not seen such a bulletproof vest since the early days of his military training. In between the harsh training he had watched many classified holovids that were only allowed for military viewing. There were many hours all showing front-line action during the many years of the Troubles.


    Unfortunately, sometime later those videos were lost due to the files becoming corrupt and unrecoverable.


    Beside the man was a humanoid security bot that was painted to look like it was wearing an M1 uniform.


    ¡°Barty, why are you here again? This is your 7th visit this week. If it is not life-threatening stop coming here and go to the police!¡± said the agitated Muscular M1 officer.


    ¡°Bis, I told you last time the issue is a very big deal for me, but the police won''t do anything about it for me!¡±


    ¡°Stop calling me Bis, use my full name damn it! If you''re coming here for the same thing as last time then get lost! We have too many other things on our plate. I don''t have any time to go sneaking around watching a cheating wife.¡±


    ¡°Bishop, please help me out here, we went to the same school together,¡± said Barty.


    Bishop didn''t say anything more and only pointed for him to leave. Barty looked at the security bot next to him and sighed in defeat before leaving.


    ¡°Next!¡± said Bishop as he looked at Arron who was next in line.


    ¡°You look new here. Artie, scan him and get his info,¡± said Bishop, ordering the security bot next to him to go into action.


    The security bot stepped forward and raised its hand.


    BZZT! And gave Arron a low-powered zap on the arm.


    ¡°Ow!¡± said Arron as he jumped back in shock. :p


    ¡°Stand still maggot!¡± said the security bot in a metallic voice.


    ¡°Damn it! Who messed with Artie''s personality software again!¡± shouted Bishop as he turned around and looked at the slightly cracked open front doors.


    Arron could hear muffled laughter coming from behind the door.


    ¡°This is not funny. How many times do I have to tell you to stop pulling these kinds of pranks!¡±


    ¡°Artie, come back over here on standby,¡± ordered Bishop. He stepped forward and held up a scanner that was over ten years old.


    ¡°Your SCS is at B? And you have two tours of military service? What''s a royalty like you doing here with us mortals?¡± asked Bishop with a confused look on his face as he stared at Arron.


    ¡°I received orders to come here for my new job,¡± said Arron. He tapped on the wrist datapad''s message icon and showed Bishop the several messages he had received ordering him to come to the M1 HQ.


    ¡°Hmm, looks legit. You can pass, just don''t start any trouble. The security bots when they work are not the nicest to trouble makers.¡±


    ¡°What happens when they don''t work?¡±


    Bishop pointed to Artie and said, ¡°People tend to lose a body part or two.¡±


    Arron looked at Bishop''s metal jaw wondering if that was how he received the wound.


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    Bishop, seeing this corrected his assumptions, ¡°While on patrol I was shot in the face and lost my entire lower jaw.¡±


    ¡°Next!¡± shouted Artie in his robotic voice.


    Arron walked up to the large front doors which automatically creaked open sounding like they needed a good oiling as well as new parts. As he passed the opened doors he saw that they were nearly a foot thick made of a cheap mixture of heat resistant and anti-ballistic metals.


    Like the police HQ on the 4th level, he stood in a small enclosed entrance once the doors closed behind him. There were four round security bots inside, one in each corner of the small entranceway.


    A holographic menu appeared in front of his face asking him to choose one of the options for why he had come to the M1 HQ.


    He picked the [Job opportunity] option at the very bottom. For some reason, this option had a far smaller text font than the other options.


    Loud clunks and whirring sounds started as the hidden locks and machines started to work. The wall in front of Arron started to lower revealing a simple security metal door. Several more clunks could be heard as the large metal bolts were pulled back and the thick security door opened.


    Arron walked into an equally small waiting room which only had ten or so hover chairs which were all empty.


    The parasteel walls were bare of anything but the M1 logo. The front desk was made of a sturdy para-steel with a reinforced paraglass screen from the top of the desk to the ceiling blocking off the lobby room from the front desk ladies that sat behind it.


    There were two girls around 20 something sitting behind the desk. One of the girls had short hot pink hair and was chewing on some type of gum. She continued to blow large bubbles as she watched Arron standing still inspecting the waiting room.


    Pop! A large bubble burst and covered her nose and mouth.


    ¡°Hey there tiger. You look new around here. You lost? Or did you come here just for me?¡± asked the girl who was now trying to pull the bubble gum off her face.


    ¡°Mishka, stop flirting and do your job properly. If your uncle sees you messing around like this you''re going to get the both of us in trouble,¡± said the second girl who wore large glasses and had her black hair tied into twin pigtails.


    ¡°I''m just playing with him, Meg,¡± said Mishka.


    Meg pushed up her glasses and started to use her floating holo-keypad to type in some information and then tap on several options, bringing up a menu that was blocked from Arron''s view.


    ¡°You''re Arron Wynterz, M-031-3-239019, here for the afternoon interview?¡± asked Meg as she looked over to Arron.


    ¡°I am,¡± said Arron as he showed the orders he had received.


    Meg nodded her head and pressed a green holo-button.


    Immediately a heavily scarred and square-jawed face of a middle-aged man appeared floating above the desk.


    ¡°What is it, Megane?¡± asked the man in a sharp voice.


    ¡°Chief, your 3rd-afternoon appointment is here!¡± said Megane quickly.


    ¡°I''ll be out to get him in a second,¡± said the gruff chief. His head turned to look at his niece who was still trying to pull the gum off her face.


    With a deep sigh he said, ¡°Mishka, I hope you aren''t causing Megane any trouble.¡±


    Mishka stopped pulling at the bubble gum on her nose and smacked her sticky hand into her forehead, getting gum into her hair as she saluted the chief.


    ¡°Don''t worry Uncs. I have taken all your lessons to heart and I am nothing but professional!¡±


    She made for an odd sight to see saluting the chief with bubble gum covering her face and hands.


    The chief couldn''t bring himself to say anything and just ended the call.


    A minute or so later a door to the internal mag-shoot opened revealing the scared-faced chief wearing his dark blue uniform.


    On his shoulders instead of the checkered stripes, there were two braided thick strings, one black and the other white, below them was a white diamond patch. On his chest was the large badge that clearly said, [Chief Chesty Buller].


    Arron could see that both his left arm and leg were metallic cybernetic prosthetics. He had seen an old news clip of the chief and knew that he had lost them during a standoff with a group of saboteurs who to this day had still not been caught.


    ¡°Follow me,¡± said the chief.


    Arron stood quietly in the Mag-shoot as it shot up for several seconds and then began moving vertically before stopping and opening its doors to a small office that had no nameplate.


    The two walked into the office and chief chesty sat down behind his desk that was almost completely covered with old equipment and a stack of different datapads.


    Arron remained standing, hands clasped behind his back.


    The only decoration in the room was an old holographic picture of a much younger grimmer-faced Chesty Buller without all his scars. He was wearing a military uniform that had been worn by soldiers before and during the troubled years.


    Chief chesty searched through the pile of datapads and found the one he was looking for. He pressed a few buttons and started skimming through the information, but immediately stopped and looked up towards Arron.


    ¡°There are only three types of people who join the M1. Those being punished, those running from the law or some politician, and then you,¡± said Chesty pointing at Arron with his metal finger.


    ¡°Me?¡± asked Arron, confused.


    ¡°Yes, you. An idiot that joins out of their free will,¡± said Chesty as he stared directly into Arron''s eyes.

 Chapter 15: Dr Octy

    ¡°I don''t care why you decided to join. I will only give you this once chance to give up. If you do not take this opportunity then I expect you to fulfill your duties with every fiber of your being. No half-assed attempts, that only gets people killed,¡± said Chief Chesty.


    ¡°Sir, I will not quit!¡± said Arron, giving his best military salute.


    Chief Chesty looked at Arron with approval and said, ¡°Good. We need all the idiots with firm commitment that we can get.¡±


    He turned back to scanning the information on the data-pad.


    ¡°How was your experience in the WHO''s branch military?¡± asked Chief Chesty.


    ¡°I spent most of my time either training or fixing broken things at base. I saw nothing of the front-lines, only the results of battle,¡± said Arron.


    Chief Chesty nodded and continued to read before looking at Arron and saying, ¡°Your SCS of B makes you eligible for team leader training if and when you pass probation.¡±


    He finished looking over the scrolling documents and set the data-pada back down onto the pile on his desk.


    ¡°Just a few more steps before you can officially join. First, a few tips for you. Do not use the words special task force when referring to M1. The politicians from the party of mother and father attached that to our name on a whim. Now they, along with the media, use it to ridicule and mock us. You could say we have a rocky relationship with them. As for the relationship between M1 and the police, it is not bad, but there is a bit of rivalry between us. Do not do anything that would harm the relationship between our organizations.¡±


    ¡°Before we can continue you need to go see Dr. Octy. He''ll give you a full checkup to make sure you have nothing wrong with your body or have any illegal modifications. Come back to me when you have passed his physical check-up,¡± said Chief Chesty. He flicked his hand forward and sent Arron the directions to Dr. Octy''s office.


    A short while later Arron was standing outside a large office. The door opened on its own and a cold female voice spoke from within the office, ¡°Come in, the doctor is waiting for you.¡±


    Arron entered the cold front office which was empty except for a desk and a middle-aged dark purple skinned nurse who sat behind it.


    On her chest she wore a holo-name tag that read [Nurse Neca]. She wore a white uniform and her snow-white hair was tied in a tight neat bun on top of her head. Her cold staring red eyes looked over Arron for a second before she stood up and pointed to a sliding door next to her which led to the inner office.


    Arron walked into the room and found that in the sterile white operating room. There was very little medical equipment inside the room. He couldn''t even see any type of bio-scanner in any of the rooms corners. There were just two sterile metallic surgery tables at the front of the room with mechanical arms hanging above them.


    A man in his late 60''s with gray hair was hunched over a small metal desk that was crammed in one of the back corners. He was fully focused on his work not aware that Aaron and nurse Neca had entered the room.


    ¡°Doctor,¡± said Neca in her cold dead voice.


    ¡°Ah!¡± Her voice caused Dr. Octy to jump in fright.


    Poof! Smoke exploded out from a test tube covering the doctor from view for a few seconds before the fans on the ceiling started to suck the smoke out of the room.


    ¡°Phillya, how many times do I have to tell you not to sneak up on me like that!¡± said Doctor Octy, as he spun around on his hoverchair and looked at her.


    Arron stifled a laugh when he saw the doctor''s eyes. They were extremely large due to the magnification goggles over his eyes that were zoomed all the way out to the maximum magnification.


    ¡°Huh? Where are you?¡± he asked, looking around the room trying to find Nurse Neca.


    ¡°Doctor the magnification,¡± said Nurse Neca.


    ¡°Oh right!¡±


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    The soft sound of wiring gears sounded out as the googles retracted and metallic shutters covered the lens. He reached up to both the left and right goggle lenses and used the hinges to flip them out to the side revealing a metallic ring embedded around both eyes that were used for locking the goggles in place.


    As the doctor''s eyes readjusted he noticed Arron standing next to Nurse Neca.


    ¡°Phillya, who¡¯s he?¡± he asked, pointing at Arron.


    ¡°A new probation member that needs a checkup.¡±


    ¡°Oh? A new test subject?¡±


    ¡°Doctor...¡±


    ¡°I was just kidding... for now. Right! Step over here in front of me,¡± said Doc Octy.


    He flipped the two goggle lenses back over his eyes. They both made audible clicks as they were locked into place.


    The doctor''s hands moved in the air and started selecting options on a menu Arron could not see.


    The metallic shutter unfurled to reveal pitch black lenses which now had a red light emitting from them.


    The lenses zoomed out and then back in several times as Doc Octy started inspecting Arron from head to toe. While he inspected Arron his right hand was clasping his chin in a thinking pose.


    Arron felt a little uncomfortable being stared at like this and shifted from one foot to the other.


    ¡°No need to be nervous my boy. You don''t have anything in your body that you shouldn''t.¡±


    Dr. Octy moved right up close to Arron and six thin robotic arms extended out of his back. Three arms on the left and three on the right, each one had two fingers for clamping onto things.


    As Dr. Octy continued to inspect Arron''s body still using his thinking pose, the six arms started to move as if on their own, each completing different tasks.


    Arm one reached over to the desk and grabbed a wooden stick out of a glass jar and then shoved it into Arron''s mouth pushing down his tongue showing the inside of his mouth.


    Arm 2 and 3 had grabbed onto his arms and were moving them in complex motions and rotating them testing out his limberness and muscle mass.


    Arm 4 was repeatedly poking everywhere on his chest, stomach, back, and legs.


    While Arm 5 was using a tool to inspect Arron''s ears, and Arm 6 was scanning his eyes.


    All of this was happening at the same time.


    Arron felt like a doll being played with as he was repeatedly poked and had his arms moved around making him look like he was doing some sort of ancient dance.


    ¡°Doctor...¡± said Nurse Neca in her cold voice.


    ¡°Right, right. We gathered enough data to add to your work profile,¡± said Dr. Octy. For some reason, he sounded a bit disappointed as the six arms retracted from Arron and disappeared into his back again.


    ¡°You pass with flying colors. The military sure knows how to modify the genetic makeup of their soldiers'' bodies. I sure would love to get my hand one a sample...¡± said Dr. Octy as he looked at Arron in deep thought.


    ¡°Is the check-up done?¡± asked Arron.


    ¡°Wait! One last thing!¡± said Doctor Octy as he held up a hand to stop Arron from leaving.


    He moved to his desk and opened one of the drawers and pulled out a white stick that had something round at the end covered in a wrapper.


    ¡°Here take this,¡± said Doctor Octy in a solemn tone as if the item was very precious and important.


    ¡°What type of medicine is this?¡± asked Arron as he inspected it trying to figure out what it was.


    ¡°Huh? Haven''t you seen a candy sucker before?¡± asked Dr. Octy, with a confused look as he stared at Arron.


    ¡°Well, yeah but...¡±


    ¡°Phillya, I am running low on suckers. Please order some of the same brand... Wait! Let''s get dangerous and order a different brand. There is nothing more exciting than living dangerously by changing what people expect to receive.¡±


    Nurse Neca stared at him with a blank expression on her face for a few seconds before leaving the room to go place the order.


    ¡°Don''t mind her. She acts cold but she is really a romantic at heart. Her coldness is probably due to her lovely name her parents gave her, Neca Philliya,¡± said Dr. Octy in a whisper.


    ¡°Quite fitting for her to be my assistant in my experiments. Don''t let her know that I told you her full name.¡±


    A holo-vid popped up in front of Dr. Octy with Nurse Neca staring back at him.


    ¡°You already told him my last name several times. There is no point in whispering about it.¡±


    After saying that the holovid winked out.


    ¡°Damn it! She''s spying on me again. I''ll have to check the settings again. You can leave,¡± said Dr. Octy, with a wave of his hand trying to shoo Arron away.


    ***


    ¡°I see you made it back in one piece,¡± said Chief Chesty.


    ¡°Yeah those two are... interesting,¡± said Arron.


    Chief Chesty started to type on the holo-keypad of a secure data-pad for several seconds before stopping and signing his name on one of the documents floating lines. He motioned for Arron to come forward and sign the second line.


    ¡°With this, you have officially joined M1 as a trainee. You will need to finish M1''s training course to start fulfilling your duty and receiving pay.¡±


    With a flick of his hand Chief chesty sent new directions to Arron.


    ¡°Head there, that is where you will be staying during your training.¡±

 Chapter 16: Dorm Mates Of Room 25

    Arron stepped off the Mag-shoot and passed a door marked Dorms #1, entering a dimly lit hallway with 50 doors. There were 25 doors on each side of the hallway, each of them having a glowing white number.


    The hallway was empty and completely silent.


    Arron''s new room was number 25 which was at the back of the hallway on the right wall.


    When he reached the door he waved his right hand, which had the NerViz cloud chip, over the lock scanner on the door. The lock scanner turned green unlocking the door with a click and a hiss as it opened automatically.


    Arron immediately felt the gaze of two people who were sitting on two different beds that were placed next to the right and left walls of the small room. A third unoccupied bed was situated at the far end of the room.


    The two young men did not say anything and only looked at Arron.


    Arron stepped inside and did a quick scan of the room. It was completely bare of any decorations or any other furniture other than the three beds and three lockers under each bed.


    The door closed behind Arron with a click as he walked over to the empty bed and placed his hover suitcase on the bed before he sat down on the bed.


    He looked to the man on his right who was quite skinny, had short curly brown hair, and was around Arron''s age.


    Before Arron could greet him the man started to audibly mumble loud enough that everyone in the room could hear him.


    ¡°He''s looking at me! What should I do? Should I say something? No, it''s best to ignore him and act like I don''t see or hear him,¡± said the skinny man. After saying this he started to stare at the ceiling light as if it was some great art piece that he was trying to decipher the meaning behind its existence.


    ¡°Don''t mind Temid, he''s scared of everyone, even his own shadow,¡± said a young man who looked to be in his late teens.


    ¡°Not scared... not scared...¡± muttered Temid over and over as he stared at the light.


    ¡°I''m Iboi Semore. Nice to meet you,¡± said Iboi, holding out his hand that had many calluses on it.


    Arron shook the offered hand while looking at his eyes. They looked similar to the goggles that Dr. Octy wore but these were permanent. There were no eyes behind them, only the cybernetic implants that glowed blue as they looked over Arron.


    ¡°Arron Wynters, I hope we get along in the future,¡± said Arron politely.


    ¡°I was born blind,¡± explained Iboi after seeing Arron looking at his eyes. ¡°You know, you''re quite lucky to join us when you did. Out of all the other candidates for graduation, we are probably the sanest. That bed you''re sitting on only just became available this morning.¡±


    ¡°Did they graduate?¡± asked Arron.


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    Iboi shook his head, ¡°Nope. He flunked out. Agents from the [Office of Reason] took him away kicking and screaming. Apparently, he had massive debts to several powerful people. My guess is he was sent to the Relearning camps to pay it off.¡±


    ¡°Must not fail...¡± muttered Temid several times.


    ¡°What''s your SCS?¡± asked Iboi, wanting to compare and compete to see who had the best score.


    ¡°B,¡± said Arron, not beating around the bush.


    ¡°Whoa... You could be living a comfortable life on the second level. What''s a guy like you doing down here in the slums with us?¡± asked Iboi.


    Temid stopped staring at the light for a second to take a closer look at Arron for a few seconds before returning to pretending not to see him.


    ¡°We''re both rank C,¡± said Iboi, pointing towards himself and Temid. ¡°It will probably take us at least 10 years to get to Rank B.¡±


    Arron continued to talk with Iboi for over ten minutes getting to know him and through him Temid as well. He was able to learn a few things about the training that would help him not screw up.


    As he was unpacking his hover case Temid shot to his feet.


    Arron looked over to him and saw that in a jerky robotic way he thrust out his arm and extended his hand toward Arron.


    His face was blank of any emotion. Out of the corner of Arron''s view, he saw Iboi quickly plugging his ears.


    ¡°I''M TEMID SHYMUS! NICE TO MEET YOU!¡± shouted Temid at the top of his lungs. He had finally mustered the courage to greet Arron almost a half-hour late.


    ¡°Ah...yes... nice to meet you,¡± said Arron, his ears still ringing. He took the man''s hand and shook it lightly to not frighten him.


    Temid returned to his bed and continued to stare at the ceiling with a satisfied expression on his face.


    Arron looked over to Iboi who just shrugged his shoulders, he had grown used to his outbursts.


    He returned to unpacking his clothes into the locker under his bed. As he was finishing a buzzer sounded above the door and a red light turned on.


    Both Temid and Iboi stood up and walked to the door.


    Iboi looked over his shoulder and said, ¡°We have to go to our afternoon training. We can talk more when we get back.¡±


    ¡°Do I have to go?¡± asked Arron.


    ¡°Nope, you start tomorrow with all the other newbies!¡± said Iboi with a wave as the door closed, blocking Arron''s view of them.


    Arron sat on his bed not knowing what to do to pass the time now that he was here all alone.


    Then he remembered he still had something he needed to do. He opened his contact list and found the name. He gave a sigh of relief seeing that it was not grayed out and he was still allowed to call them.


    He pressed on the floating name and waited several moments. As he waited for the call to go through he decided to turn on the privacy mode, making it so no one other than him could see or hear his conversation.


    Well, Mother and Father as well as the Office of Reason could if they wanted to. But why would they want to spy on him?


    Several minutes later a girl with the air of a tomboy appeared floating in front of Arron.


    ¡°Hey Mel. Nice to see you. Did you get my message?¡± asked Arron.


    ¡°I saw it this morning but I have been too busy getting everything ready for the heavy workload coming in the next few months,¡± said Mel, whose face still had some dirt on it. It seemed he had caught her in the middle of working outside.


    ¡°Unfortunately we won''t be able to hang out much anymore. I just signed the paperwork today and I am officially part of the M1 probationary trainees,¡± said Arron.


    ¡°M1? I think I heard something about them but it wasn''t good. Everyone was shocked to hear that you just up and left without telling anyone but your parents,¡± said Mel as she used her sleeve to wipe the sweat off her face. This action also smudged the dirt on her face.


    ¡°Yeah, sorry about that. It was kind of a spur-of-the-moment thing. I was given a chance for a job and I had to leave when I did or I would have lost the opportunity.¡±


    ¡°When do you start training?¡±


    ¡°Tomorrow, I don''t know how long it will be for but I will keep you guys updated if anything changes.¡±


    ¡°Oh, wait! Before you hang up tell me, is the Megacity Neo-Tokeyo like what we see on the dramas and the news?¡± asked Mel. She was staring intently at Arron waiting for his reply.


    ¡°The city?... It''s... far more ''Interesting'' than anything in those dramas or News clips.¡±

 Chapter 17: Training 1

    ¡°100 more pushups! Then, I want you to do 10 sets of ten laps around the track!¡± shouted a middle-aged bald man.


    He was wearing a gray jogging suit with the dark blue M1 on his chest and arms. His shouts were extra loud as he was using a cybernetic implant that could amplify his voice up to 10x louder than normal.


    The underground training room made it so his voice bounced off the large walls. It had been this way all morning as the new trainees continued to work on various tasks given to them.


    The bald trainer paced back and forth in front of the several tens of rows of trainees.


    ¡°For all you new probies joining us today, I won''t accept half-assed attempts! Either do it right the first time or do it all over from the start!¡±


    Arron looked around as he easily continued to complete each task without any problem. The same thing could not be said for the several hundred other probationary trainees who were grunting and groaning as they continued on with the torture.


    Both Iboi Semore, and Timid Shymus were sweating and panting heavily between loud grunts as they joined Arron on the track and tried to keep up with his fast pace.


    ¡°Probie 223 Arron, get over here!¡± shouted the bald trainer man.


    Arron let his huffing and puffing dorm mates and jogged over the bald trainer.


    When he stopped in front of him the trainer started talking again.


    ¡°Probie your...¡± instead of speaking at a normal voice level the trainer''s voice was still magnified ten times causing Arron to slap his hands over his ears to block the noise.


    The bald trainer reached up with his right hand and tapped on his throat changing the volume setting.


    ¡°Your performance in all the tests has been number one. I guess I shouldn''t be surprised when trying to compare the rabble over there with someone from the military. The military knows how to train their soldiers,¡± said the bald trainer. His normal voice surprised Arron as it was softer and far quieter than Arron would have guessed.


    ¡°Thank you sir!¡± said Arron, saluting out of habit from the military.


    ¡°No need to salute Probie, we aren''t in the military anymore.¡±


    ¡°You were in the military also?¡± asked Arron, surprised to see yet another veteran in the M1.


    ¡°Served under the chief. We were just young grunts back then...,¡± said the bald trainer as he looked off into the distance reminiscing on the past, maybe about when he had hair or possibly his time in the military during the Troubles. Arron didn''t know which it was.


    ¡°Any way you pass. There''s no point in having you waste time training with these wrecks anymore. You can head on to your next training class.¡±


    Arron waved to his grunting and gasping dorm mates who were still running around the track but he got no response from them.


    He left the large room and stopped out in the narrow hallway and tapped on his messages and found his schedule. The next training was... Target practice.


    The large indoor shooting range was only down the hallway from the physical training room.


    Arron entered the shooting range and found it to be nothing special, it was just a well-lit regular large weapons range for training the recruits in shooting.


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    The large room was silent as there was only the shooting instructor sitting in a hoverchair near the entrance.


    Arron walked over to the large sleeping man who had drool running down his cheek into his large bushy red beard.


    ¡°Ummm... Sir, I''m here for training...¡± said Arron, hesitant on whether or not he should be interrupting the man''s sleep.


    With a start, the man jumped up onto his feet his large parsteel fists were raised ready to fight as he scanned his surroundings for danger.


    When he found Arron standing alone nearby he relaxed and nonchalantly wiped some of the drool away with his sleeve.


    ¡°You a new probie? Are you lost? Shouldn''t be anyone here for several more hours...¡± said the large man''s gruff voice.


    ¡°I passed all the requirements and was told to come here.¡±


    The shooting instructor looked at Arron more closely before nodding.


    ¡°I am Al, your shooting instructor. Follow me,¡± said the large instructor as he walked over to one of many large metal lockers emended inside the right wall near the entrance.


    With a wave of his right hand over the lock scanner he opened the locker and took out two pistols each from one of the many shelves that held several hundred of the old surplus pistols.


    Al slammed the locker shut and handed Arron the smaller black pistol.


    ¡°This is the DualPockmark v1 pistol, the standard issued weapon for all M1.¡±


    Arron was forced to listen to a list of nearly 100 rules of what not to do while at the shooting range.


    When Al finished he walked over to the left wall near the entrance and pulled down a folding parasteel table.


    ¡°Before you can start shooting you must show you can properly take care of your service weapon,¡± said Al as he took his own DualPockmark v1 and quickly dismantled it and put it back together.


    ¡°Your turn,¡± said Al waving Arron forward.


    Arron had never used the DualPockmark v1 before but was still able to take it apart and assemble it within a respectable time.


    Al stood there watching Arron''s every move. He had a holo menu open and furiously typed out notes and tapped certain options as he watched.


    ¡°Alright step up to booth 1,¡± said Al pointing to the shooting booth all the way next to the right wall.


    ¡°Alright, you have ten tries today. Show me what you got.¡±


    ¡°Um, instructor the ammunition?¡±


    ¡°Don''t need any. It already has a special laser blank inside that gives proper feedback each time the trigger is pulled.¡±


    Arron stepped up to the shooting range and a green holographic target with many rings popped up at 100 yards and started to move slowly left and right.


    Arron took a deep breath aimed the pistol as soon as he flipped off the safety a white holographic target assist popped up.


    Pa!Pa!Pa!


    Sure enough, after each shot, there was a small kick from the pistol but it was manageable allowing Arron to finish the ten shots quickly.


    Each time the pistol let out a bark a red dot appeared on the green target. All ten of the shots were grouped inside the first to center rings.


    ¡°Good. You''re not a screw-up who can''t hit the side of a barn even with the target assist. Come over here,¡± said Al.


    Arron returned and handed back the DualPockmarkv1 to Al and received the second pistol.


    ¡°You passed the first test so you can try your luck with this bad boy. Do you know what it is?¡±


    ¡°Yes, it''s a Fatboy,¡± said Arron looking at the pistol in his hand.


    It was quite a chubby pistol and had gained the nickname ''Fatboy'' due to its two magazines and the twin barrels one above the other.


    The Fatboy was created during the early years of the Troubles as a compact all-in-one weapon for the soldiers. The large lower barrel could fire large .50 cal bullets which were good for handling lightly armored targets while the upper barrel fired smaller rounds for soft targets like humans.


    The Fatboy had long been retired from military service and all the surplus weapons in stock were sold off by Mother and Father to any of the Police forces of the Mega-city who wanted to buy them.


    Only two forces bought them with the main buyer being the M1 and the second buyer being the first-floor police station. They bought them just as a backup because they were cheaper than the new weapons that were being used on the upper floors.


    ¡°So you understand its quirks?¡±


    ¡°It has no target assist, only iron sights. And the only digital component it has is the digital display of its current ammunition¡±


    Al nodded and waved for Arron to disassemble and assemble it. When Arron completed that task he went back to booth 1.


    Bang! Bang! Bang!


    The roars of the .50 cal rang out as he continued to shoot blanks at the several green moving holographic targets that winked out one after another after being hit.


    As the gun continued to bark one shot after another his hands could only feel a buzzing numbness as he held onto both the front grip and the pistol grip. His arm muscles strained as he fought to keep the gun under control.


    When the last target disappeared a score popped up in front of instructor Al on his wrist datapad.


    ¡°Impressive,¡± said instructor Al, ¡°Next, test.¡±


    Arron continued to breeze through the basic courses using several different weapons from the M1 arsenal and in the end, he passed with flying colors.

 Chapter 18: Training 2

    That night Iboi and Temid both looked at Arron with a different light in their eyes. Iboi''s cybernetic eyes were truly glowing a different color.


    ¡°You haven''t even been here for two full days and you already passed the physical, weapons, and mechanics requirements! At this rate, you will pass all the requirements before us! What kind of monster are you?¡± asked Iboi. His green glowing cybernetic eyes continued to zoom in and out while he inspected Arron trying to find a flaw.


    ¡°I''m nothing special, there are far more monstrous people in the military. I still have to take M1 history, Laws and Regulations, and basic hacking classes,¡± said Arron.


    ¡°Hmph, those classes are all easy,¡± said Iboi.


    ¡°Maybe for you,¡± said Arron.


    ¡°What job are you looking to get with the M1?¡± asked Iboi.


    ¡°Not sure, definitely anything other than a mechanic. I already did that for 8 years in the military, I want to do something else.¡±


    Temid was too exhausted to say anything and just laid on his bed watching the two continue to bicker.


    ***


    ¡°...and so that is why the old history books of the past are banned! If you see any contraband like that, you are to report it to the [Office of Reason] right away. If you do not and they find out, you may be charged with aiding separatists,¡± said the humanoid robotic professor. The tall silver professor stood in the center of the large classroom that was shaped like a fishbowl.


    Arron sat in the 20th ring of hoverchairs that had a foldable desk attached to them. The 20th row was high enough up on the wall that he was able to see the entire room and the several hundreds of trainees as well as the robotic professor on the center stage below.


    ¡°He''s a robot but he''s worse than my high school science teacher who droned on forever,¡± mumbled a girl who was sitting in front of Arron.


    They had been listening to the lecture for several hours on various laws and regulations that they needed to be well informed on.


    The reason they had no human teacher was due to the ever-changing laws and regulations that were hard to keep track of. The robotic professor was routinely updated with the newest information every day so it was never behind in what it taught in its classes even if that led to some confusion for the trainees.


    Such information mainly pertained to laws dealing with Ads, assistant store bots, security regulations, transportation, worker drones and bots, as well as the new Mechanized worker bots (MWBs) that were becoming more and more popular in the industry sectors. Due to their versatility and strength to take care of troublesome problems remotely with its two arms and large treads that other machines could not do.


    Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.


    ¡°Quiz time! Probationary trainee Duemass, what is the difference between the M1 and the police force on the first Level?¡± asked the robotic professor.


    ¡°Uh...Nothing?¡±


    The bot professor''s eyes flashed bright red and a loud buzzer rang out from its mouth.


    ¡°Wrong! The main difference between the two, other than the lack of funding to the M1, is the tasks they are charged with handling. The M1 patrols the more dangerous parts of the city as well as taking on all of the deadly situations. The Police take care of the minor arguments and other civil cases such as speeding, jaywalking, and parking violations. Probationary trainee Duemass, as added homework you are to watch all 100 episodes of the history of M1 by the end of the week!¡±


    ¡°But that''s over 100 hours! How am I supposed to finish it with all my other training?¡±


    Arron raised his hand which caused the robotic head of the professor to do a quick 90-degree jerking turn to look at him.


    ¡°Probationary trainee Arron what is it?¡±


    ¡°Didn''t you say that both hover cars and flying cars are mandated by law to be controlled by the Auto NavGuide driving system? How can anyone be speeding?¡±


    ¡°Because long long ago in a far... Error...wrong data. The answer to that question is due to the ''Auto driving safety act'' that was passed in 198x. Due to the large number of accidents as well as 90% of drivers failing to pass the new driver tests, all vehicles from 197x onwards are to be modified with the Auto NavGuide driving system. All new vehicles no matter what type or what they were made for must have the system built-in by factory default. Vehicles from 196x or older were not included in the law. But such old vehicles are rare to see since the government did a forced... Error...a voluntary buyback where they destroyed...Error... recycled the vehicles. There is also the chance that someone has hacked the car¡¯s driving system.¡±


    The professor bot¡¯s head jerked 180 degrees to look at another person, ¡°Probationary trainee Smorty, Is a citizen with a D rank social credit score allowed to access the MagLev or a Taxi? At what rank can you access the holo-net and the government-sanctioned social media?¡±


    ¡°No, they can not! SCS rank C is the minimum rank!¡± said a man with large glasses.


    The professor''s eyes glowed green and a dinging sound emitted from his mouth. ¡°Correct! Remember if you see someone without the right SCS using such things you must report it... or you may be charged with assisting separatists.¡±


    ¡°Probationary trainee Liistor. List as many things as you can that will cause a citizen''s social credit score to receive negative points!¡±


    ¡°Overdraft on a bank account, using fake money, posting negative news or gossip on the Holo-net or social-media about the party of Mother and Father or any of its members. Spreading information deemed to be false by the [Party of Mother and Father]. Impersonating a government teacher and sharing unsanctioned teachings with one or more persons. Speech violation, religion, tax evasion, any type of fine such as a late fee, work fine, noise and animal fine, a speeding ticket, jaywalking. Unauthorized house renovation, and any minor or major crime.¡±


    Again the professor''s eyes glowed green and a dinging sound emitted from his mouth. ¡°Very good! There are many, many more ways to lose points. Be sure to study up on all of them so you know what not to do so you don''t get yourself in trouble.¡±


    After a few more questions the robotic professor again started into its next topic discussing the new laws and regulations for the booming cybernetic research and business that had popped up over the last 10 years.


    ***


    Arron''s next class was basic hacking.


    The class was somewhat easy. He along with the other trainees were taught how to hack into and bypass many different types of simple locks including vehicle and house doors. This was all done by using a secure data-link cable connected to their NerViz implant to use its fast processing power.


    For more advanced locks they would need special equipment and a hacking specialist to get the job done properly.


    And so Arron spent his next few weeks engrossed in his studies of Neo-tokeyo''s laws and the basics of hacking.

 Chapter 19: Discovery

    With the economic bubble burst still showing no sign of lessening, many people were beginning to feel the effects as the non-essential items that people normally bought were becoming harder to buy due to the inflation that had now hit the market hard.


    Jena sat in her cramped office which only had room for a desk, a hover chair, and an ancient file cabinet.


    She stood up and stretched after deciding to take a break from her grueling work.


    Living on the top floor with the politicians and lawyers as well as dealing with things at her former job she had learned quite a lot about paperwork and contracts, mainly how to spot bad contracts that screwed you over. Because of this, she was put in charge of taking care of the paperwork for her uncle''s Mechanical repair garage / spare part shop.


    Shockingly enough her uncle had been keeping all his records on paper!


    ¡°Ughh, just remembering that first week makes me want to smack someone,¡± said Jena as she rubbed her eyes.


    This office had been filled to the brim with paper files stacked on top of each other. There was no order to the mess and whoever had been in charge of the files before had just randomly shoved the files inside the office.


    During that first week, she had spent the entire time sitting outside the small office in the narrow winding path that cut through the towering piles of junk, while she digitized the documents from the office and tried to sort them.


    When she had finally cleared the small office several months ago her uncle had informed her that the office was only the assistance''s office. His office was on the other side of the garage and was even a bigger mess.


    Now that she had finished digitizing the last of the documents, a large blue holo-screen hovered over the desk neatly displaying all the files going back several years.


    Jena sat back down in her hoverchair and continued reading, sorting, and inspecting all aspects of the Mechanical repair garage / spare part shop.


    Her brows behind her thick reading glasses furrowed into a frown.


    If she had been looking at everything just using the paper documents she would have probably not noticed it, but now that the accounting system had worked its magic, she could see there were several discrepancies marked in red that were being pointed out by the system.


    The documents showed that the shop had been losing money for some time now but it was not that noticeable. But now with the bubble burst affecting everything the loss of credits was far more noticeable.


    Someone was stealing money from the shop!


    Not directly from the business bank account, but by using the spare part purchase scam.


    How It worked was when the shop needed to buy a part or parts for a project, the paperwork would always list the parts at a higher cost than they were and the difference was pocketed by the scammer.


    As she continued to read through the information, she found that whenever her uncle found a part he had to have in his collection of junk, he sent someone to buy it and the same thing seemed to happen.


    Jena opened a blank holo doc and started to type out the names of the people that kept popping up.


    This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.


    When she was sure that she had found all the culprits, she had the system flag all mentions of their names in the system.


    ¡°How is this possible?¡± muttered Jena as she looked at the new information.


    The number of mentions was staggering... they had been doing this for years. Each person had already scammed several hundred thousand credits from the shop.


    She scanned through the work logs and found that all those that had been flagged also came to work several hours late and left an hour or two early.


    Jena''s frown grew even deeper.


    What was her uncle doing allowing for such poor behavior and still paying them as if they had worked full time.


    With this and the part price scamming the shop was losing more money than they could take in from their current projects.


    Soon the business would go bankrupt which would heavily affect her uncle''s social credit score.


    Not only that if anyone declared bankruptcy the [Office of Reason] would put a black mark on their record and bar them from reopening or starting another business. Failure was not rewarded by the party of Mother and Father.


    If you failed they would view you as being a risky gamble as well as an unreliable person who would not be able to properly pay taxes. It was better to give the land, or building to another person to test their luck. More often than not the person receiving the land or business had some connections to the party of Mother and Father or they had done some meritorious deed for the party and were being rewarded with the chance to make money for the party.


    With a swipe of her hand, the floating documents on the big blue holoscreen were replaced with a few rows of floating heads showing the faces and information under each one of the shop''s employees.


    All but two of the pictures had a red X covering their faces. Meaning they were the only two who had not been part of the scamming and they came to work on time and worked their full shift.


    She read the information in their profiles as well as the notes that had been left by her uncle.


    William, age 19. Good mechanic, very dense. He seems to like hiding in the corner of the shop everyday even when not on the clock.


    Julia, age 18. SUPER CLUTZ! DO NOT GIVE HER ANY TOOLS! She cut my Rare ''Blue Unicorn chip'' in half! Given the task of being Williams¡¯s assistant.


    She swiped up and the screen changed to the multiple security cameras placed inside the building. After a short time searching she found both William and Julia the only other two people currently inside the shop at such an early hour. They were both working in one of the cleared corner workspaces.


    Due to the cheap security system package, there was no sound but she could see that the two were diligently working on an old Hovercar.


    Jena exited her office and made her way through the maze of parts before stopping at the corner of one of the junk piles near the workstation that the two were working at.


    She silently watched the two from her perfect hiding spot.


    Will was currently laying on a hoverboard under the jacked-up hovercar trying to replace or fix several of the old rusted and cracked parts, while Julia stood nearby and would hand him whatever part or tool he needed.


    ¡°Umm... Will...¡± said Julia in a soft hesitant voice.


    Will''s grease-smudged face popped out from under the Hover car and he looked over to her with a confused look and asked, ¡°Yeah?¡±


    Julia''s face flushed red and her eyes fluttered around the area trying to regain control. ¡°N... it''s nothing....¡± she said as she looked at the ground.


    ¡°Oh...Okay...¡± said Will as his head disappeared back under the Hover car.


    Ten minutes later...


    ¡°...Will...¡±


    ¡°Is something wrong? Is it your stomach? I know we have been working for a few hours, we can take a break if you need to eat a snack,¡± said Will sincerely.


    ¡°N... No, I''m fine... I can still keep working...¡± said the rosy pink-faced Julia.


    ¡°Okay... Just let me know if anything comes up.¡±


    ¡°I will...¡±


    This went on for the entire time Jena watched the two. Making her want to smack the two idiots and tell them to just go on a date already!


    She walked away with a better understanding of the two. Although they had their quirks they seemed to be good workers. As for the others... she would have to talk to her uncle about them. Which was where she was going right now.


    Her uncle was now leisurely sipping his extremely bitter coffee in his recently cleared and cleaned office. He was reading the morning''s E-newspaper before he had to start working on one of the many commissions.


    Bam! The door to his office slammed open.


    Looking up he saw the irritated and strained look on his niece''s face.


    ¡°What''s gotten to you so early this morning? You Constipated? Got some medicine for that over there.¡±

 Chapter 20: Restructuring

    Jena ignored her uncle''s finger that was pointing at the medicine and closed the door behind her.


    ¡°Uncle, you need to fire these people.¡±


    With a flick of her hand, she sent the data from her wrist data-pad towards her uncle''s desk. The data appeared over the desk and started scrolling up revealing the faces and listing all that they had done.


    ¡°Jena, we can''t just fire them. They''ve had a hard upbringing so...¡±


    ¡°They''re stealing from the company! They''re also taking home pay for at least 14 hours a week that they did not work for. I read the sob stories they told you. Even if they are true you can not overlook the nearly 1 million credits lost due to their stealing!¡±


    ¡°I can put them on temporary hold for work, and ask them to pay back what they stole.¡±


    ¡°Uncle you know as well as I do what happens to those who do not take the proper measures and try to be kind-hearted. We need to report this to the [Office of Reason]. When... not if, but when they find out about the theft of such a large amount of credits they will view you as an accomplice if you do not report this. It will not only be you that is affected but also the shop, me, and the only two good workers in the shop.¡±


    Uncle let out a sigh as he looked at all the data in front of him.


    Each of them was an orphaned kid of one of his long-dead friends who had died due to the wounds or injuries they had received during the troubled years. Because of their parents'' relationship with him in the past he had been turning a blind eye to the kids who were now young adults, coming in late and leaving early.


    But his niece was right. Now that the theft was discovered and if he did nothing, he would be held accountable along with them.


    With a heavy heart he signed off on the termination of all but two of the shop''s employees. His hand whizzed around the holo-keypad as he typed up a short formal message. He attached the data gathered by Jena and sent it to the local Level one Office of Reason.


    He didn''t know what exactly would happen to them but he could guess just by thinking of a similar past event.


    ¡°I guess we will need to hire some new people?¡± asked Uncle.


    ¡°We can''t. With the economic situation and the shop losing money every month we can not afford it. We''ll just have to have Will and Julia work full time now and you will be working on the big projects. Show me the list of waiting contracts,¡± said Jena as she sat down in a hover char next to her uncle.


    He swiped his hand clearing the holoscreen showing a menu. He tapped onto the blinking icon that had the number 9999+ above it.


    A large list of several thousands of work requests appeared with some of them dating over a year old.


    Jena quickly scanned the contents of the request and flicked her hand, permanently deleting it.


    ¡°Why did you delete that? ¡­ Well I don''t really care since it was from that guy. He tried to bribe me with such a small amount of credits to fix it for him. He didn''t even offer to pay the full cost. I was just keeping it to let him think I would do it later.¡±


    Jena continued to skim the contents of the request and was on a deletion spree.


    ¡°Hey! That one... well I don''t care about that one either way too hard you can delete it.¡±


    ¡°Wait! Why are you deleting that one? It''s an easy one!¡±


    Jena continued to delete all the requests that were too hard and paid too little for what they asked the request that they would lose money on, and even the thousands of easy jobs where they would neither lose nor gain any money.


    Uncle looked over the list that was now far smaller and had only a few hundred requests left, several with dates from more than a year ago.


    ¡°Wait, isn''t this just a list of the hardest jobs? Why did you delete all the easy ones!¡±


    ¡°We can''t get out of the hole we are in if we keep working on the small requests. Although all these may be hard, they all pay extremely well. I''ll make sure to put out some feelers to see if we can get more jobs like this. From now on we have to be careful with our spending making every credit count.¡±


    ¡°What about my collection?¡± asked uncle with a sad expression.


    ¡°You should be able to buy one rare part using a portion of the reward from this request. I''ll give you the money after you finish the task and they have paid us.¡±


    The request she pointed to was the hardest one on the list, but would also allow them to pay off all of their most important bills. It would also allow them to set aside enough credits to pay for several months of full-time work for Will and Julia.


    Her uncle left the office both sad and unhappy at all that had happened this morning. Everything was getting turned upside down.


    Jena continued to sort the request from most to least important. She then typed up several messages to the requesters making sure they had not forgotten about it, while also asking if they still wanted the task to be completed.


    Almost all of the replies she received were messages pleading for her to take up the requests as they had been waiting a long time and wanted the task to be completed.


    A few truly had forgotten about it and decided to cancel the request as they no longer needed or wanted whatever it was they asked for.


    After an hour of work, the list was completely pruned and sorted. Jena swiped her hand clearing the screen bringing her back to the main menu where she tapped on the icon for the Holo-net.


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    [Please input your Government-issued ID: ---]


    With quick fingers, Jena tapped in her Citizen ID and smacked the enter key.


    A loading screen appeared for only a few seconds as it processed the ID to make sure she was allowed to access the Holo-net.


    With a ding, the browser appeared and was fully connected to the level 1 Holo-net.


    She connected to Scamozon the largest holo-net store which had many of its large warehouses on the first level. Although it had a suspicious name it followed all laws and regulations of the Party of Mother and Father.


    She found the section she was looking for and after a while of reading reviews and inspecting the holographic images of the item she wanted, she was somewhat satisfied with it. She tapped on the buy option and added several sets to her cart before finalizing the purchases.


    [Checking SCS... Checking bank account...Purchase complete!]


    Soon Jena¡¯s NerViz notified her of the successful purchase.


    [Your items will be delivered within the hour by drone delivery!]


    ¡°Good, now that is taken care of, I can focus on the next task,¡± said Jena.


    She logged off of the Holo-net and walked back out into the maze of junk and made her way to the storage room that housed the aging square work bots that were resting on rusty A1 parasteel shelves.


    She found the 3 work bots that worked 90% of the time and checked to make sure that their fuel cells were fully charged.


    ¡°We have to work with what we have,¡± grumbled Jena.


    She turned the three work bots who floated up to eye level waiting for orders.


    ¡°Follow me!¡±


    Jena and the work bots made Their way to the right side of the garage and looked around making sure her uncle was not nearby before giving the worker bots another command.


    The three worker bots immediately started to clear the large pile of junk next to the wall and piled it up farther away.


    A short distance away in one of the offshoot branching paths Uncle was lost in thought while grumbling to himself. He was currently searching for parts in the pile of junk so he could start the job that had been given to him.


    As he was reaching for one of the parts several worker bots swooped down and started to move all the items away.


    ¡°What? What''s going on...? Stop!¡± He tried to force them to stop but received an error.


    He turned around and found that the entire right wall was empty except for two large dumpsters with the words recycle.


    Standing nearby was Jena, who was sorting through various parts from her uncle''s junk piles.


    ¡°What have you done!?¡±


    ¡°I''m cleaning up the shop,¡± said Jena as she tossed a piece of metal into the dumpster.


    ¡°Stop messing with my piles! It''s fine how it is right now since I know where everything is! How am I supposed to find anything with you doing this... Why do you have my Blue unicorn chip in your hands?¡±


    ¡°This piece of junk? It''s cut in half so it''s worthless.¡±


    ¡°That''s a mega chip from the per-troubled era. They are super rare and even if it''s cut in half it is still priceless! Don''t throw it away!¡±


    ¡°I''m not throwing it away, I''m salvaging it to earn money for the shop.¡±


    Ding! The shop''s doorbell rang.


    Jena walked past her fretting uncle who had snatched away the Blue unicorn chip pieces and was holding onto them like they were newborn babies.


    The shop''s door was unlocked and groaned as it opened allowing several large hulking drones to enter. They flew over to the empty right wall and dropped off the large containers that held the items she had purchased. As soon as the delivery drones dropped the containers they zipped out of the garage doors leaving the shop.


    Jena opened the container and viewed the large structures and parts with her own eyes.


    When she was satisfied that everything she had ordered was there, she turned to the three waiting work bots.


    ¡°Start constructing these next to the wall,¡± Ordered Jena.


    The three work bots compiled and emptied one of the containers before starting assembling the large shelve which would cover the entire wall and reach the ceiling when finished.


    Each of the containers had a large shelving system along with a ''cheap'' lift to get to each level of structure.


    ¡°What''s this? Didn''t you say we have to cut back on spending?¡± asked Uncle.


    ¡°I bought it with my own money. We can''t keep working in a pigsty like this,¡± said Jena, pointing to the maze of parts behind her.


    ¡°Pigsty? How rude. Also Jena you shouldn''t waste your money like that. You need to save it and use it when you get married and have a kid! In these trying times every credit counts,¡± said her Uncle.


    Jena threw a junk part at her Uncle who caught it and quickly inspected it for any damage.


    ¡°Would you stop throwing parts from my collection? This is a v3 harpy sister processor. Although not super rare it is still hard to find them in good shape due to their personality.¡±


    Jena was now ignoring him as she continued sorting out stuff that they could salvage and gain some credits.


    Uncle walked off grumbling,¡°...the 4th level really has changed my cute little niece into a demon who now bent on stealing all the rare parts in my collection.¡±


    A hover cart floated behind him carrying all the parts he needed for the current project as he headed through the maze to find his workstation.


    Jena watched as the first large shelving system was set up. When it was done she walked to the back corner of the shop looking for Will and Julia.


    ¡°...Will...?¡±


    ¡°Yeah?¡±


    It seemed they were still caught in the awkward stage of what they considered a conversation.


    ¡°Nothing...Oh there''s someone here,¡± said Julia, as she noticed Jena walking over to them through the pile of parts.


    ¡°Who?¡± asked Will as he popped his head out from under the hovercar to get a better look.


    ¡°WOW! IT''S JENA THE MOVIE STAR!¡± shouted Julia.


    She ran over to Jena and held out her hand that was shaking with excitement.


    ¡°I am your number one fan! I know everything about you! You grew up on the first floor like me, but you were able to break out after playing a small role in a movie that was shot on the first level. Then you managed to land a role in a major movie shot by the producer Kappaer on the 4th level and shot to stardom.¡±


    ¡°Oh...so this is the boss''s niece he won''t stop talking about,¡± said Will. He inspected Jena for a split second before sliding back under the hovercar.


    ¡°Ah! Don''t let the boss know that Will told you, but he always talked about how he was happy that you made it big... but he was always worried about you. It''s sad that you were... uh... Retired...¡±


    Cough. Jena covered her face from embarrassment.


    ¡°Well, I came here to give you both an update on the current changes happening to the shop. For now, there are only 4 employees at this shop. You two will be working here full time and I will be handing out any of the tasks that you will need to complete.¡±


    ¡°You will be taking care of the smaller jobs while Uncle takes care of the large projects. But if he needs help you will have to give him a hand. Right now I need you to drop what you are doing and try to fix the rest of the work bots. We need them to be fully functioning as they are going to be getting far more use than before.¡±


    ¡°This is so cool! I actually get to work with Jena!¡± said Julia happily.


    Will pulled himself out from under the hovercar and Julia hurried over to help him up. She quickly used a towel to wipe off his face and hands, cleaning the grease and rust off of them.


    ¡°Thanks,¡± said Will before he started to gather the tools he needed to work on the bots.


    ¡°No, problem...¡± said Julia with her cheeks lighting up.


    Jena led the two to the storage room and unlocked the door.


    Will immediately got to work dissembling the work bots one by one, cleaning, tightening, tuned up parts as well as finding new parts for the worn-out parts. If there was not a proper part he made do with a makeshift fix.


    Soon the shop was busy with half of the worker bots cataloging and sorting the parts before placing them on the newly erected shelves. The most useful cheap parts were placed on the bottom while the more expensive parts and those of her uncle''s collection were put at the top.


    The rest of the bots not cataloging the parts were in charge of clearing space and setting up the new shelves.


    ¡°With this, we can be even more efficient and get everything done faster. Maybe even bigger projects will come to us,¡± said Jena happily as she looked at the activity all around her.

 Chapter 21: Job Assignment

    Arron stood at attention in the dimly lit physical training room with 10 other trainees.


    They were standing in front of a platform that had just been set up by worker bots for the graduation ceremony of the 11 people standing there.


    Arron only knew three of the 11 men standing next to him. Iboi, Temid, and a guy nicknamed Toothbrush or tooth because of his odd love of toothbrushes that he collected.


    The M1 graduation ceremony happened once every week at noon to accept the new probationary members so they could fill in the empty spots due to death or early retirement.


    This week''s graduation was supposed to be the same boring process as always. There would be no outside guests attending the ceremony, only the 11 graduates and the robotic professor who would handle all the paperwork.


    But today was different as Chief Chesty had shown up and was now standing on the stage looking at the 11 new graduates.


    ¡°I know... and I am sure by now you also know... that M1 attracts many odd people. People with questionable backgrounds, as well as those who were given this job as a punishment.¡±


    ¡°With the completion of basic training your past no longer matters! You are now a probationary member of M1!¡± said chief Chesty as he looked out over the men standing in front of him.


    ¡°This is a fresh start for most of you, while for a few of you it is just the beginning of a new journey. I am sure that you all have heard about the dangers that some of you, but not all, will be facing. I suggest you give your utmost effort and join the brotherhood of the M1 in order to survive out there. Here at M1, we take this brotherhood more seriously than anything you''ve ever done in your life.¡±


    ¡°You must work well with your partner as well as your other team members. For those who will be patrolling outside under no circumstance are you to break communication with your unit logistics team! We do not allow lone wolves to stay active in M1 as it is the fastest way to get you and your partner killed!¡± said chief Chesty, as he glared at the men in front of him trying to look into their hearts and see which one of them would betray their oaths.


    ¡°You will come up here 1 at a time and recite the M1 oath, and then receive your new assignment and equipment if any is necessary. After you are sworn in, your government IDs will be updated in the system changing you from a regular citizen to a member of the M1.¡±


    ¡°Those of you who sweet-talked or had someone ask the higher-ups for favors just so you could get a better assignment such as officer better show me that you are giving 150% effort or you will be demoted. The M1 has no time to play your political games when the lives of other M1 members are on the line,¡± said chief Chesty as he stared at a few people for a few seconds.


    Arron heard a low snort nearby but did not look to see who it was and just continued to look forward.


    As soon as the chief stopped talking, work bots began moving a metal desk and several metal crates up onto the platform. White opaque noise-canceling walls materialized on each side of the platform and the rear leaving the front open.


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    ¡°Luo Puh, you''re first!¡± barked Chief Chesty, who was now sitting behind the desk with the two hovering work bots nearby.


    When Luo Puh walked up onto the platform a fourth opaque wall popped up blocking others'' view as well as all that was said inside.


    One after another the graduates left the stage and lined back up, holding their new uniforms and any standard-issue equipment that was needed for their assignment.


    ¡°Arron Wynterz!¡±


    Arron looked over to Iboi and Temid and gave a nod to them before leaving the line and climbing up onto the platform to stand in front of the desk.


    The noise-canceling wall immediately materialized and made the small enclosure buzz with an odd muffled quietness.


    ¡°Take his measurements,¡± Chief Chesty ordered one of the work-bots with a wave of the hand.


    The work bot flew over and promptly started its task.


    ¡°Unlike most of the other probationary members you already signed the papers so there is no need to do another oath,¡± said Chief Chesty.


    The work bot floated away from Arron after taking the measurements and updating his profile.


    It moved towards one of the metal containers and picked out two sets of the dark blue uniform.


    Next to that container were two other containers. One held several light armor vests and old helmets while the other was filled with rows of worn and well-used DualPockmark''s as well as several fatboys.


    The work bot did not pick up any of the armor or weapons and returned to Arron with just the uniform.


    Arron looked to chief Chesty wondering what assignment he would be given, where he only needed a uniform.


    Without a word, chief Chesty flicked his finger towards Arron.


    Ding! Arron''s NerViz alerted him to a new document waiting to be opened.


    [New job assignment: M1- ERF. Unit three of the Experimental Research Force.]


    Ding! A second message notified him of his government ID changing: [Arron Wynterz, SCS: B, M1-ERF-M-031-3-239019]


    ¡°Due to the nature of your assignment, you will have to wait until after I finish up here. Then I''ll take you to receive your equipment and give you a more detailed explanation.¡±


    With a wave of his hand, chief Chesty dismissed Arron.


    When Arron was back in line Iboi and Temid, who had already received their tasks, both looked to Arron with a look asking what job he had received.


    ¡°ERF,¡± said Arron.


    ¡°Never heard of that before. I got the job you didn''t want. I''ve been assigned to garage #1 as a probationary mechanic,¡± said Iboi.


    ¡°Unit Logistics,¡± said Temid quietly.


    When the last person received their orders chief Chesty stood up from the metal desk.


    ¡°Alright, you all have received your orders. Go report to your new job postings and get acquainted with your coworkers. For those who will be working outside on the front lines, be sure to put your best foot forward when you meet your partner. They are there to help you learn the ropes if you have any questions don''t hesitate to ask them. Dismissed!¡±


    Arron stayed behind as the others left the training room and boarded one of the Mag-shoots to head off to their new job postings.


    ¡°Arron, follow me!¡± said Chief Chesty.


    He led Arron to a more secure Mag-shoot which needed several different identification measures to unlock.


    As soon as they were in the mag-shoot it shot off to an unspecified place inside the M1.


    The doors opened to reveal a large warehouse filled with broken weapons, vehicles, and other junk neatly stored on shelves or the ground in different sections of the large warehouse room.


    Chief Chesty led Arron quietly through the maze of broken equipment which were all labeled with holographic name tags. There were many things on the shelves that did not look broken at all but had a heavy layer of dust covering them.


    They stopped in front of a large metal container labeled [ERF Heavy Armor v16].


    ¡°Here,¡± said Chief Chesty as he rummaged around in the container and pulled out a black heavy parasteel chest armor.


    Upon further inspection, Arron found that the heavy chest armor had what looked like rust-red paint caked onto it. It didn''t look all that old.


    ¡°You might want to put it through a Mist Vibrator since it still has a bit of its former owner covering it,¡± said chief Chesty, as he continued to rummage around in another box and pulled out a metal case for Arron to store the heavy armor.

 Chapter 22: Partner

    ¡°You''ll receive the rest of your gear tomorrow when you start your first day on the job,¡± said Chief Chesty.


    Arron looked up from the heavy chest armor to see Chief Chesty already walking to another area with several dusty desks.


    On top of one of the desks was a shining small parasteel container that looked to have been placed there not that long ago.


    Chief Chesty placed his hand over the box and a loud click sounded out as the lock was disabled.


    The chief took out three small data chips and one secure data-stick from the box and handed them over one by one.


    ¡°This is the upgrade chip for you NerViz. All it does is unlocks a few hidden options that you need to work properly as an ERF member. This next chip is your Ration chip,¡± said chief Chesty.


    ¡°My what?¡± asked Arron.


    ¡°Your monthly Ration chip. Keep it safe as you need it for when you want to buy fresh food from any of the local shops. Each month it will keep track of what is on ration that month and will let you know how much you can buy. Since it changes every month some things may be expensive and restricted one month and the next month it may be cheap. Your SCS also affects how much and what you can get. With your current SCS, you don''t have to worry.¡±


    Arron was a bit surprised that something like this existed. ¡°Why is there something like this? Isn''t it better to use the NerViz system?¡±


    ¡°You should already know that the NerViz isn''t 100% hack proof. Why would mother and father waste time on using something that could circumvent the ration restrictions? The chip is fully encrypted and if it loses connection to the main servers in the Office of Reason or is tampered with it will combust and become nothing more than scrap. They take their rationing and the SCS restrictions seriously.¡±


    Arron was not sure what he thought of this revaluation. Almost everything was connected and used the NerViz system but Mother and Father did not trust it enough to use it for their Rations system?


    ¡°That upgrade chip in your hand will also upgrade your NerViz''s security with stronger encryption, meaning others will have a harder time hacking and taking your information. I suggest you don''t try to modify any of the systems as the security also protects against you hacking into it as well,¡± said chief Chesty as he pointed to the security chip.


    ¡°Oh... this is my first time hearing about all of this since everywhere else I have lived never had something like this ration chip.¡±


    ¡°Next, use this secure datastick to read through the Manual for the ERF. You are to have it fully read by the end of the next month. This last chip has your bonus signing pay as well as your first month''s pay. The accountants have already done the paperwork for creating your new bank account with the city bank.¡±


    ¡°New account? What about my old bank account?¡±


    ¡°Outside bank accounts only work for one week inside the city. If you stay longer you need a city bank account to receive money and pay for goods, services, and any bills that need to be paid. Of course, you might have guessed you must have the right SCS to be able to have a city bank account.¡±


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    ¡°I see...¡±


    ¡°Hurry and use the upgrade chip. Then you need to finish the setup of your new bank account and transfer the money to your new bank account. If there are any problems we can take care of it now.¡±


    This was Arron''s first time updating his NerViz Implant with something like a data chip. Normally he used his connection to the holonet to get a wireless update. The same thing was done for all cybernetic implants they received their updates wireless.


    It was only recently during one of his classes did he learn about the possibility of updating certain things using a wired connection.


    Arron inserted the warm glowing blue data chip into one of the slots at the base of his neck. It made an audible click as it locked in place. He felt the warm heat of the upgrade chip immediately spread out. Arron endured the heat that felt like it was going to melt his neck.


    Ding! A loading holoscreen message popped up in front of Arron with every option on the menu grayed out.


    [Upgrading system! 0%...10% ... 50%... 100! Completed upgrade!]


    Click! The upgrade data chip was automatically pushed out of its locked state and ready to be pulled out now that it had completed its task.


    Arron reached back and grabbed onto the now cold parasteel data chip. When he pulled it out and looked at it again the warm blue glow was gone.


    Chief Chesty wordlessly took the chip and tossed it back into the small Parasteel lockbox.


    Arron slotted the Payment chip into his wrist datapad and tapped onto a few options.


    [Pending bank transfer... Checking Social Credit Score... Rank B... Bank accounts max allowance raised... Restrictions lowered... Transfer of 12,000 credits was a success! Account balance: 12,365]


    ¡°Chi...chief I think there was a mistake...¡± said Arron with wide eyes as he looked at the balance.


    ¡°What? Did the 12k credits not transfer?¡± asked Chief Chesty.


    ¡°No... they did... but 12K? This is...¡±


    ¡°What were you expecting more? I am afraid with our current budget we can''t ...¡±


    ¡°No, It''s not that. Is this really all for me?¡± asked Arron.


    ¡°Oh, I forgot you''re from the boondocks as well as the military not paying much. Yeah, It''s 10k for normal ERF monthly pay and the 2k signing bonus. If everything is all situated let''s go meet your partner along with the rest of your unit.¡±


    Arron nodded and followed The chief back to the Mag-shoot.


    ***


    ¡°Unfortunately the rest of your unit is currently busy working on something. I could only snatch away your partner and one other new member that graduated along with you,¡± said Chief Chesty as he sat down behind his desk in his office.


    Ping! A small hologram of Megane sitting at the front desk fizzled into existence over the chief''s desk.


    ¡°Chief, the two you asked for have arrived.¡±


    ¡°Send them up,¡± said Chief Chesty. He waved his hand over the hologram and ended the call.


    Ting! There was a loud chime that went off when the Mag-shoot had arrived.


    Chief chesty pressed a button on a menu Arron could not see and the doors to the office opened.


    Arron looked inside the Mag-shoot to see who the two people were. One of them was someone he knew... It was Toothbrush, who had also graduated with him.


    The other man standing next to him was of average height and was a bit skinnier than Arron. He was wearing the standard M1 dark blue Uniform with a helmet held in his right hand which happened to be cybernetic. The man''s black hair was spiked with a gel. The tips of his hair were dyed white.


    The man smiled at Arron with a friendly twinkle in his eyes, which gave Arron the feeling that he was looking at a handsome playboy. The man looked to be somewhere around Arron''s age as well.


    The two men stepped out of the Mag-shoot and into the office, to stand next to Arron.


    ¡°Arron, you already know Tiller Bruher,¡± said the Chief pointing to Toothbrush. ¡°He has joined your unit as a junior logistics member.¡±


    Both Arron and Toothbrush nodded to each other, recognizing each other¡¯s presence.


    ¡°Officer Kix, standing on your right, will be your partner. He graduated a half year ago, although he has only been on the job for a short while this is still good considering the jobs¡­ difficulties. If you have any questions you should ask him first.¡±


    ¡°Hi Probie. I''m Officer Kix Upreme,¡± said Kix as he held out his empty left hand.


    Arron shook it and said, ¡°Arron Wynterz.¡±


    ¡°Kix, I''ll leave it to you to explain the basics to them. You should be able to handle all their questions. Take both Tiller and Arron to the apartment complex and get them settled in,¡± ordered Chief Chesty.


    ¡°You got it chief!¡± said Kix with a quick sloppy salute.

 Chapter 23: ERF History

    Arron and Toothbrush sat on a plush couch seat in the back of the dark blue flying car.


    Kix sat on the couch in the front, facing Arron and Toothbrush.


    ¡°It really is a flying car. This is my first time in a flying car,¡± said Tooth.


    ¡°Same,¡± said Arron.


    He looked outside the tinted windows and saw the late afternoon traffic jam far below them.


    ¡°The chief OK''ed the use of this company flying car for a one-way trip,¡± said Kix, slouching deep into the comfy couch.


    ¡°Well I guess I should start explaining things while we head to the apartments,¡± said Kix.


    Both Arron and Toothbrush turned their full attention to the slouching Kix.


    ¡°First things first, M1 has already paid for your first month of rent for your new apartment. It is a sort of bonus reward for graduating. The majority of us single people who don''t have families live in the same building. As for paying rent after this month, it is fairly cheap and you can make advance payments for up to 5 years. There is a no money back policy for that.¡±


    ¡°What? What if I want to search for and live in a better place,¡± asked Tooth.


    ¡°Trust me you won''t find a better place unless you become CEO of one of the megacorps or you become a politician for the party of Mother and father,¡± said Kix. ¡°What are your SCS ranks? I''m rank C.¡±


    ¡°B,¡± said Arron.


    ¡°C,¡± said Tooth who looked at Arron with shock.


    ¡°Wow B rank? Just a reminder to you, M1 requires all members to live on level 1 so that they are able to respond to calls and alerts immediately.¡±


    ¡°Guess I''m pretty lucky to get you as a partner... or is it that you are lucky since the last guy who was going to be my partner died.¡±


    ¡°How did he die? Did someone shoot him? A hovercar bomb? Melee cybernetic weapon fight?¡± asked Tooth.


    Kix shook his head with a slightly embarrassed smile on his face, ¡°He died from a heart attack caused by... a new illegal mixture of drugs and immersive Holoporn.¡±


    ¡°Damn even with Mother and Father legalizing the small-time stim drugs, people still have to ruin it for everyone by selling stronger illegal drugs,¡± said Tooth shaking his head.


    ¡°Mother and Father only legalized stims to keep control of the population and make money off of it,¡± said Kix with a sad expression as he stared out the window and thought of past events.


    ¡°Whoa... aren''t you afraid of what will happen if the Office of Reason hears you say that?¡± asked a shocked Tooth.


    ¡°Growing up I saw worse things happen to people than getting a slap on the wrist for saying a few words,¡± said Kix.


    ¡°Kix, I''m curious about the ERF. I have never heard about this group inside M1. Well I didn''t know much about M1 before either, so...¡± said Arron.


    ¡°Ah, so you''re from out of the city. Impressive to see you have a B rank already. As for the ERF: the Experimental Research Force. There are a few internal nicknames we have given ourselves and ones others at M1 have given us. The new one going around is the Elite Riot Force since we always get called out to handle such situations. An older one still in use is the Expendable Rat Force,¡± said Kix.


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    ¡°Expendable rat force?¡± asked Arron.


    ¡°You both are in the ERF so I don''t have to keep any secrets from you. In the beginning, the M1 completely lacked the proper funds and everyone had to bring their own equipment and supplies to work. Of course with the dangerous work that M1 does there were many deaths and M1 started to get the ''special'' suicide force nickname by the media. That''s why if you look at all the veteran members of M1 they either have several cybernetic limbs, implants, or severe scars.¡±


    Arron looked at Kix''s hand.


    ¡°This was from when I was a kid, the loss was quite troublesome not only for me... Anyway back to the ERF. I think the press conferences of so much damage and death, as well as the new nicknames, got to Mother and Father and they decided to start sending their prototype equipment to M1 and have them test it out.¡±


    ¡°Prototypes? Sweet we get to work with and see the cutting edge equipment before everyone else!?¡± asked a hyped Tooth.


    Kix shook his head, ¡°It''s not that great. Arron, the chief took you to see the ERF armory already right? That place stores all the old, broken, or failed prototypes as well as the most current versions of things that we still have to test.¡±


    ¡°That entire warehouse was nothing but prototypes?¡±


    ¡°Yep, I would have to say it''s filled with around 60% failed, 10% obsolete projects. The last 30% are the new prototypes that are still waiting to be tested. We are Mother and Father¡¯s test rats. There are no safety measures as there are no guidelines on what to protect against.... failures are common and sometimes deadly... from our test, the kinks are worked out and safety measures are created.¡±


    ¡°What about this?¡± asked Arron pointing to the case that held his new heavy chest armor.


    ¡°The ERF heavy chest armor v16 Right? That''s the newest prototype version, you''re quite lucky that you joined now. Soon we might be able to use standardized armor. It''s all because the chief called in a few favors with some of his old contacts on the 4th level from when he was the police chief. But we are still waiting.¡±


    ''The chief was a former police chief on the 4th level?'' Arron thought to himself. It was hard to see how he ended up in the M1.


    ¡°By standardized armor you mean the full body armor used by the first response medics and other police forces on the 2nd-4th Levels?¡± asked Tooth.


    Kix nodded his head. At that moment the flying car stopped in front of a large parasteel gate embedded in the wall high above the ground. They had reached the sector 12 checkpoint that led to Sector 11.


    A police officer wearing a red flying uniform flew over to the car along with several round floating security bots that surrounded the flying car.


    The officer tapped on the window and motioned for it to be opened.


    ¡°I need to see everyone''s ID,¡± said the officer as he held out a scanner.


    Arron and the other two held out their Right hand and allowed the gate guard to scan them.


    ¡°You can pass. Don''t try going where you do not belong,¡± said the officer guard as he pressed a holographic button and waved them forward.


    The security bots moved out of the way and the large gate started to open.


    The flying car once again moved forward passing through the gates entering a small tunnel in the wall that separated sector 12 and sector 11.


    As they passed through they saw two different ramps leading up to what Arron guessed was the 2nd Level. Both entrances were covered with visible thick flowing electricity. Seconds later they were out of the tunnel and flying through the skies of sector 11 towards the residential zone 3.


    ¡°They have such high security for moving through the sector walls?¡± asked Arron, who had only used the Maglev to get around.


    ¡°That''s nothing, you should see the security for the gates that lead out of the city. Good luck trying to leave...¡± said Kix.


    ¡°Right, I heard it is guarded like a fortress and there is an Office of reason agent always stationed at each entrance,¡± said Tooth.


    Kix nodded and started to once again explain the details of their job.


    ¡°Although we live in sector 11, zone 3, our unit is based in sector 12. In total, the ERF has 15 units with 10 members each. 1 unit for each sector 1-11 and 4 units for sector 12. Each unit has 1 senior and 2 junior logistics and 7 field officers. The unit commander is the 7th member and often switches between each of the 3 different partner groups giving support to whoever needs backup.¡±


    ¡°Seems simple enough,¡± said Arron.


    Toothbrush nodded his head in agreement.


    ¡°Generally everyone at M1 could care less about why you joined M1, all anyone cares about is if you give your all to complete the task given to you. As for me... I joined for a better life...¡± said Kix.


    ¡°M1 a better life? Which sector did you live in before?¡± asked Tooth.


    ¡°Sector 1,¡± said Kix as he stared out the window at the hundreds of towering Apartment buildings that passed by.


    ¡°Oh...¡± said Tooth. He looked puzzled but after a bit of thinking something clicked in his head as he realized something. He kept his mouth shut and continued to stare out the window.

 Chapter 24: Apartments

    Their flying car started to slow down as it approached a large dark parasteel apartment building that was 300 floors high.


    The thousands of individual lights shining out from the many windows of the building made for an enchanting sight. It also brought some light to the ever-present darkness of the First level.


    The flying car stopped in front of the building at the 299th floor and waited as the black parasteel wall opened up like a giant monster opening its mouth. But instead of sharp teeth and a dark hole, there was a well-lit garage with many landing pads for flying cars.


    As the car softly touched down at one of the landing pads the three occupants inside got out.


    Thump! As soon as the door shut the flying car spat out their luggage from the trunk and then shot back out of the building flying back to the M1 HQ.


    Kix sighed with a smile on his face as he quietly laughed and looked around at the garage which had hundreds of landing pads but only 10 or 12 of them were ever in use.


    ¡°What?¡± asked Arron.


    ¡°We all live on the floors next to this garage. It would be so convenient if we could own a flying car,¡± said Kix.


    ¡°With the huge amount of money we are being paid each month, I''m sure if you saved up enough money you could buy one,¡± said Arron.


    ¡°You may not know this but you can''t just buy a flying car. Not on the First level at least. No matter your SCS or your money in the bank. Only the politicians, Office of Reason, police/M1, and major companies are allowed to use them,¡± said Kix.


    ¡°Huge amount? You just joined so how much are you getting paid?¡± asked Tooth.


    ¡°10k a month!¡± said Arron.


    ¡°Huh?¡± both Kix and Toothbrush looked at Arron confused.


    ¡°What? It''s a lot of money!¡±


    ¡°What were you getting paid before joining M1?¡± asked Kix.


    ¡°Around 12k give or take a few hundred.¡±


    ¡°Then why are you so surprised?¡±


    ¡°That was my yearly earnings!¡± said Arron.


    ¡°What!¡± said both Kix and Toothbrush at the same time.


    ¡°Even the poorest person I know in the slums of level one makes around 5k a month...¡± said Kix looking at Arron as if he was a foreign object.


    ¡°You said you were from outside the megacity but... damn do you country bumpkins really get paid so little?¡± asked Toothbrush.


    ¡°I see that''s probably one of the reasons why Mother and Father implemented the Huko laws. It''s no wonder people want to come to the Mega-city,¡± said Kix.


    ¡°You think so?¡± asked Arron.


    ¡°I guess it is probably also because all the news ever shows or talks about is how the people in the megacity are richer and far happier now than they were during the dark years of the troubles. With all the stims and the overwhelming amount of entertainment shoved into our faces it''s easy to be distracted and overlook or ignore anything bad happening around us...¡± said Tooth.


    ¡°Allowing mother and father to rule over us with little worry. But when you look at it from our perspective they are only paying us a 10k lump sum at the beginning of each month due to the fact we may die during the month. It is supposed to be hazard pay but it is only 5k more than that poorest person. 10K... that''s how much our lives are worth to Mother and Father...¡± said Kix.


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    ¡°To be honest there is worse work that we could be doing and getting paid less for it or not at all. In a way we are lucky to at least have a job in sector 12,¡± said Tooth.


    ¡°Well... this garage would be no help to me as the type of car I want is an old hovercar,¡± said Arron. He decided to change the topic to get away from the gloomy discussion as they started to walk towards the Mag-shoot connected to the garage.


    ¡°What car?¡± asked Kix.


    ¡°A 1967 Phord Zelby ZT500. Painted in a dark blue, with twin white stripes down the middle,¡± said Arron as he gazed into the distance imagining his dream hovercar.


    ¡°Ha! Fat luck with that. All of those old clunkers were most likely destroyed during the mandatory...Voluntary recycling,¡± said Toothbrush.


    ¡°I know that, but it''s just that they don''t make them like they used to. Now, it seems like they are just building the new hovercars to wear out by the time the next generation comes out so that people have to buy the new model,¡± said Arron.


    ¡°That happens with everything in the city, not just the hovercars,¡± said Kix as they reached the Mag-shoot. ¡°Arron, your apartment Is on floor 300, room 3, so we''ll go there first. Both tooth''s and my apartment are on floor 298.¡±


    A few seconds after entering the Mag-shoot they were already at their destination on the 300th floor. The Mag-shoot doors opened at the end of the long hallway which had over a hundred doors on each side. There were no windows or decorations in the hallway.


    They exited the Mag-shoot and found a young couple just outside and to the side waiting to take the Mag-shoot down.


    ¡°Hello,¡± said the three all at once as they stepped to the side to allow the couple to enter the Mag-shoot.


    The man nodded to them with a warm smile while the woman ignored the three of them as she dragged the man into the Mag-shoot.


    ¡°Cheerful neighbors you have there,¡± said Tooth.


    ¡°What do you expect? Just this apartment building at the minimum can house 60k people with the max somewhere around 120k. You, as well as everyone else, do not have time to stop and greet everyone you meet in the hallways,¡± said Kix.


    ¡°60,000? 120,000?¡± muttered Arron under his breath in shock.


    That was several tens if not hundreds of times more than the population of many of the farm towns all in one building!


    The three of them walked down the shiny hallway with the sound of their feet clacking on the cold para-steel until they reached room #3.


    Arron swiped his right hand that had over the lock on the door but nothing happened.


    ¡°What are you doing?¡± asked Kix.


    ¡°Trying to unlock the door...?¡± said Arron.


    ¡°How do you not know about the holo-locks? These are not like the old scanner locks from 20 or 30 years ago. Those are easier to hack than these holo-locks.¡±


    ¡°But all the other...¡±


    ¡°No Butts, especially not yours. You should be happy that we have such high security here compared to other places,¡± said Toothbrush.


    ¡°You need to place your hand on the holo-lock and fill out the information to prove your identity, SCS, and then set a lock gesture that is tied to your NerViz Chip,¡± said Kix. He gave Arron an example showing his hand flailing around.


    ¡°Something like this exists?¡± muttered Arron. He went through several steps to verify his identity and registered his NerViz chip.


    When the Holo-lock projected a blue light out the others looked away while Arron placed his hand inside and started to move it. He decided to just make it something simple that he could remember even if he was exhausted.


    Starting with... the wave up and down like ocean water, then a flip upside down, a jig to the left, a jig to the right, robot up, down, all around, Dance... just a simple modest compilation of hand gestures anyone could remember.


    ¡°Are you done yet?¡± asked Kix, interrupting Arron''s flow.


    Deciding that this was enough Arron pressed accept and watched the holographic hand repeat the gesture before he pressed confirm.


    ¡°Finished,¡± said Arron after he unlocked the door to the apartment.


    ¡°Hurry up and put your stuff inside and come out. You''ll be staying here for a long time so you''ll have more than enough time to check everything out later,¡± said Kix, as he and Toothbrush waited outside.


    Arron only took a quick look around the apartment and found that it was bigger than the hotel room he had stayed at on the 4th level. Unlike that room, there was an actual door to a full bathroom and there was also a small kitchen.


    The rest of the apartment was quite bare of any of the high-tech gadgets or furniture that he had seen on the 4th floor. There was only the cheap carpet covering the parasteel floor.


    There was a small bed in the almost closet-sized bedroom. Above the bed was the only window in the apartment covered with cheap red curtains.


    He took a quick peek out of the curtains and was surprised to see that it was quite the view.


    Closing the curtains he placed his luggage next to the bed and then exited the apartment where Kix and Tooth were waiting.


    They made their way to Toothbrush''s room and he quickly went through the same process.


    ¡°Alright! Now that''s done we need to go out to celebrate! The others are probably already waiting for us, so let''s not make them wait any longer!¡± said Kix as he led them back to the Mag-shoot.


    It only took them a few minutes to reach the first floor of the large Apartment building.


    With a ''Ding!'', the Mag-shoot doors opened allowing them to step out onto a bustling brightly lit street that was filled with so many different aromas.

 Chapter 25: Meet Up With The Team

    Arron and Tooth followed Kix as he dived into the large mass of people that crowded the entire street between the many tall apartment buildings that populated the area. There was no way any type of hover vehicle would be able to drive around here.


    Two teenage kids zoomed past them on hoverboards as they erratically weaved their way between the mass of people. Some of the people who were nearly hit shouted a few choice words at the teens, but they had already disappeared into the crowd ahead of them.


    Everywhere Arron looked he could see all types of people with various stages of cybernetics showing on their bodies. From little things like goggles or a cybernetic hand to those who were showing more metal than skin.


    This sight along with the sense of fashion on the first level was far more exotic and in your face than on the 4th level where Arron had not seen any obvious cybernetics, dyed hair, clothes that change color, or even see through clothes.


    ¡°This way!¡± shouted Kix over the loud noise of tens of thousands of voices as well as the other nightlife sounds.


    The three of them separated from the large mass of bodies into a wide side alley that was filled with popup stalls on each side. The smell of hundreds of different types of foods all mixed together to make an odd but enticing aroma.


    As they walked down the long alley Arron looked at each stall to see what they were selling. There were both thick and thin soups with almost anything you could imagine floating in them. Some of the stalls sold dumplings, desserts, and even a few sold some sort of meat.


    Each stall had its holographic sign floating above to advertise its food. With all the signs the dark alley was filled with a riot of colors lighting up their path.


    In the light, Arron could see several flying drones dropping off packages at the stalls while some were even taking cooked food in sealed metal containers, high into the air to fly to some person who had ordered the food. Seeing it all made Arron realize just how many drones were flying above them!


    This was so different than in the country.


    ¡°Oh look at that!¡± said Toothbrush, pointing at an odd glowing tube sign.


    The tubes of the sign were bent in many ways making a picture that had nothing to do with the food that was being sold. Different parts of the sign were glowing with neon colors.


    ¡°Wow someone must be rich, to be able to buy and use such a relic as that neon sign. Aren''t they afraid that it might get damaged?¡± asked Kix.


    ¡°Is it that big of a thing?¡± asked Arron.


    ¡°It''s a pre-Troubles era sign. Of course it costs a lot of money and you also need to take care of it more carefully than the cheapo holo signs on the rest of the stalls,¡± said Toothbrush.


    The stall owner with the neon sign had heard their praise and smiled at them happily while the other nearby stalls all looked at them angrily.


    ¡°Since the holosigns are so cheap to make there are like A1 parrasteel, it can be found everywhere and there is nothing special about it. You can also just have any random kid off the street program a design or just do it yourself. But the neon sign is different in every aspect,¡± said Kix.


    As they walked through several other side alleys, a thought popped up into Arron''s head as he remembered part of the laws from training.


    ¡°Isn''t this a violation of Mother and Father¡¯s gathering and business laws?¡± asked Arron.


    ¡°They don''t care about what happens down here as long as nothing is going on that affects them they turn a blind eye to it. But if you were to do something like this on the 2nd - 4th level you would be immediately arrested,¡± said Kix.


    ¡°Even if they turn a blind eye to it, the last I heard, they still make sure to take 50% of the stalls'' earnings,¡± said Toothbrush.


    Kix stopped and his hand snapped out grabbing a hand that was reaching towards Arron.


    ¡°Get lost scum,¡± said Kix. He used his free hand to reveal his holographic M1 id to the man.


    The Pickpocket¡¯s face soured at seeing the M1 Id. He hurriedly wrenched his hand away from Kix and slinked off into the crowd of people to find a different target.


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    ¡°I know it might be fascinating for you to see everything but you need to keep an eye out for sneaky people like that. They will steal anything that is not tied to your body,¡± said Kix.


    ¡°Right,¡± said Toothbrush, nodding in agreement.


    The three continued down the many different side alleys for another ten minutes.


    ¡°Just around the corner and we will have reached our destination,¡± said Kix.


    When they rounded the corner they stopped in front of a small 30 story building crammed between two towering 300-floor buildings.


    ¡°What? I thought we were going to be eating at one of the stalls,¡± said Arron.


    ¡°No way! You''re more likely to get sick if you eat their questionable food,¡± said Kix, as he walked forward towards the decent-sized line of people entering the small building.


    A large holographic sign was plastered over the entire front wall of the building.


    It was a large black bug wearing a monocle and a top hat. Its right arm was animated to move back and forth, simulating it smoking a cigar and puffing out rings of smoke. Under the holosign was the glowing holographic name of the building, [The Roach].


    As they left the brightly lit street they entered a dark lobby that took up what seemed like the entire first floor.


    In front of them, there were three different lines of people waiting all outlined by a green holographic light on the ground. Two of the lines were jam-packed with people waiting while the third had fewer people.


    Kix led them to the shorter line, where they waited until it was their turn.


    ¡°Next!¡± shouted the robotic servant.


    The robotic servant looked at the three of them and held out its scanner before asking, ¡°Reservation?¡±


    Kix waved his hand back and forth, ¡°Not us, we''re the last of the group for the reservation under the name Officer Pointer.¡±


    The robotic servant''s arm lowered and its eyes glowed yellow as it searched its reservation database and found the proper details. ¡°Officer Pointer. Reservation for Ten. Seven present. Room for three more. Affirmative. Your table is on the 13th floor in room 30. Next!¡±


    To Arron''s surprise, Kix walked over not to the Mag-shoot, but a set of stairs!


    ¡°Don''t be surprised by something like this,¡± said Kix before Arron could ask a question. ¡°It''s like this at most businesses and buildings on the first level. Here at [The Roach], only the VIP are allowed to use the Mag-shoots, everyone else has to use one of the three sets of staircases.¡±


    As they walked up the stairs they heard many different odd sounds coming from each floor, some were more... sensual than others.


    It took them a few minutes to climb the stairs with the large crowds of people coming and going from the various floors.


    ¡°This is our usual gathering spot after a hard day''s work, [The Oasis],¡± said Kix, when they reached the door of room 30 on the 13th floor.


    When they entered the ''room'', Arron saw that it was an old-style bar with several hundred people already sitting at stools near the bar or tables.


    It was dimly lit with an orange glowing light from the ceiling and glowing holographic strips on the ground to light their path.


    Behind the bar were several robotic bartenders. Each of them had several robotic hands that were all busy doing different tasks such as washing glasses, preparing snacks, pouring drinks, serving the drink and snacks, and taking payments.


    Several holotv screens hovered over the many tables and were broadcasting different content at a low level.


    ¡°... And I was saying Mother who? I haven''t seen mother in years!¡± said a skinny comedian standing in front of a pre-Troubled era microphone.


    ¡°Not that Mother the other Mother!¡± said a second heavy-set comedian standing next to him. Loud laughter escaped the speakers of the holo-tv.


    ¡°In other News, Here is a clip of an interview with Macy Poisey, a member under Mother,¡± said news reporter Fela.


    ¡°I know a lot of people on the first level want to live on a higher level, but there is no need for that. On the higher levels, everything is too expensive and the people are not nice. It would be much simpler and cheaper if they just stayed on the first level,¡± said Macy Poisey, an old lady who looked ready to die at any moment.


    ¡°I''m sure the viewers will take your revealing suggestions to heart,¡± said Kommy.


    ¡°Oh! One more thing, I would be grateful if the viewers all continued to support me. If I can keep your support I will work towards a future where everyone gets free money!¡± said Macy Poisey.


    The people at the tables quietly talked to each other, some laughed out loud at a joke or something that happened at their table. While the other patrons sat at the front bar nursing their drinks as they mutely stared into the bubbling liquid lost in thought.


    Next to the bar in a corner was an empty stage that currently had a bizarre light show flashing different colors and shapes. Arron was sure if you used some extra stimulants the show would probably be even wilder.


    Overall, It was a nice atmosphere that made Arron feel quite relaxed.


    ¡°Kix!¡± A booming voice cut through the quiet atmosphere.


    The three of them looked over towards the voice and found a man in the far right corner waving for them to come over.


    When they reached the table Arron saw there were already 7 people (four men and three women) sitting down eating and drinking together.


    The man who had called them over raised both hands and pointed at them with gun fingers and said, ¡°Hey! Glad you guys could finally make it here! We were beginning to think you got lost.¡±


    ¡°Captain Pointer, I had to show these guys around a bit so that''s why we were late,¡± said Kix as he sat down in one of the empty hover chairs around the large table.


    ¡°Ah... so you guys are the new probies,¡± said Captain Pointer as he looked over Arron and Toothbrush.


    Arron also looked at him more closely and saw that the left half of his face was covered in a chrome-colored metal while the rest of his face including his bald head was covered in horrible burn scars from either fire or acid. Maybe it was both, Arron could not tell.


    Captain Pointer reached out and grabbed Arron''s hand in a firm grasp and shook it while smiling and said, ¡°Welcome to ERF''s unit 3!¡±

 Chapter 26: Introductions

    ¡°Hey tiger! Nice to see you again!¡± said a drunk female voice behind Arron.


    Arron turned around to see the short bubblegum pink-haired Mishka being supported by Megane.


    ¡°Mishka, come on we have to leave. You''re too drunk to be staying outside!¡± said Megane.


    ¡°Aww, you''re no fun. Wait... why do you have 4 eyes? You should get that checked out along with replacing your glasses and two of your eyes.¡±


    ¡°Thanks for chatting with us Captain Pointer, but we''ll be leaving first,¡± said Mishka.


    Captain Pointer waved to the two girls as they left.


    ¡°You gonna introduce everyone or shall I?¡± asked Kix.


    ¡°Bishop, our heavy weapons specialist: explosives, machine guns, and such,¡± said Captain Pointer as he pointed to the shortest person present, he was close to 5ft tall with buzz-cut hair.


    ¡°He is one of the sturdiest people in our unit. He grew up with brittle bones and later went through a painful surgery to replace them with a parasteel alloy mixture. He can pick up heavier things than you or I can without a problem. But it all comes with a heavy upkeep repair cost every year.¡±


    ¡°We''ve met before,¡± said Bishop casually in a deep voice, before taking a drink from his glass.


    The glass he held was filled with a furiously bubbling black liquid that looked more like something a mad scientist would have created in their secret laboratory.


    ¡°His partner is Prissilla (Don''t call her that or she will kill you),¡± Captain Pointer whispered quickly. ¡°We all just call her Priss. She is a long-range sniper specialist, which melds with Bishop''s short and medium range weapons.¡±


    Priss, who had her chestnut brown hair in a ponytail, glared at Captain Pointer with her two cybernetic implant eyes that were now glowing red. When she looked over to Arron and Toothbrush her glowing eyes turned green and she merely nodded to each of them.


    ¡°Ward is our team''s exoskeleton defense shield specialist. With the Mechanized worker bots advancements and the new models getting bigger his job has gotten a lot harder,¡± said Captain Pointer as pointed to a tall muscular man with a short crew cut.


    ¡°The team''s number one meat shield,¡± said Ward.


    ¡°His partner Knox Harup, is also an exoskeleton user, but he specializes in melee fighting,¡± said Captain Pointer, pointing to another tall muscular man who was bald and had a large bushy mustache.


    Knox waved his right hand in a greeting as he picked up a few snacks with his left hand and shoved them into his mouth.


    Both Ward and Knox were by far the tallest and largest of the group. They also had the most visible scars. Between the two of them, there were several hundred scars all over their visible skin including their face and necks.


    ¡°Lexa is the unit''s head of logistics. She makes sure we get the supplies and information we need in a timely manner, along with helping us take care of the unit¡¯s paperwork. She''s also good with programming things if you need help with stuff like that,¡± said Captain Pointer.


    Lexa was a quiet and proper-looking middle-aged woman. She looked like a middle school teacher with her neat gray jacket and skirt. Her black hair was tied up in a tight bun and had a pair of thick glasses perched at the end of her nose. She looked out of place with the rest of the ruffians that were sitting around the table.


    Lexa smiled at the two with a nod and then her face returned to daydreaming.


    ¡°Kat, short for Kathreen, is our ever cheerful member that has been helping Lexa with logistics while we were short of members. She is more of a wild card helping with more delicate things such as locks, alarms, and other hacking problems. Now with a new probie joining our logistics office, she can be free more often to help us.¡±


    ¡°I''m the unit''s most nimble and best burglar,¡± said Kat, with a dimpled Cheshire grin. She had shoulder-length red hair.


    ¡°Last of the other members is Kix, he is newish compared to the other members so he hasn''t found a specialty yet. (Don''t talk about family stuff around him, it''s a touchy subject).¡± Captain Pointer whispered the last part.


    ¡°Then there is me, I can fill in wherever needed. That only leaves you two the newest members. Why don''t you introduce yourselves to us,¡± said Captain Pointer.


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    ¡°Arron Wynterz, no specialty, Kix''s partner.¡±


    ¡°Tiller Bruher, but people call me Toothbrush, I am the new junior logistics member.¡±


    ¡°Your nickname is toothbrush? What a coincidence! Hey old Tooth! There''s someone you might want to talk to! It sounds like he has the same hobby as you!¡± shouted the grinning Kat.


    An older man with a full head of white hair wearing a worn black work suit that now looked more of a light gray was sitting at the bar blankly staring at his drink. When he heard his name he turned around and looked over towards Kat who was now waving him over.


    The older man stood up and walked over to them. Arron could see on the left cheek was a fresh red imprint of a hand.


    ¡°What happened to you ol'' tooth?¡± asked Ward.


    The old man stood there staring off into the distance, his eyes gleaming with 1000s of years of life experience.


    ¡°Shhh... everyone quiet, he''s going to say something!¡± Captain Pointer hushed the rest of the members.


    ¡°Mumble... and then Bam slapped me in the face!¡± said old Tooth.


    ¡°Why?¡± asked Knox.


    ¡°Was watching her brush her teeth.¡±


    ¡°Knox, Did you even need to ask?¡± asked Kat.


    ¡°Young Kat, you said someone has the same hobby as me?¡±


    ¡°Him, Young tooth meet Old tooth,¡± Kat pointed at Toothbrush and introduced the two to each other.


    ¡°I''ll remember you. We can talk later about our hobby,¡± said Old tooth. He turned around and walked back to his barstool.


    ¡°What hobby?¡± asked Toothbrush.


    ¡°He likes handing out toothbrushes to women and watching them brush their teeth,¡± said Priss.


    ¡°It''s a weird flex, but it''s relatively tame and nowhere as crazy as some of the sick crap that the politicians of Mother and Father participate in,¡± said Kat.


    ¡°What?¡± asked Arron, surprised at hearing something like this.


    ¡°I do not have a hobby like that!¡± said Toothbrush.


    ¡°Sure...¡± said Priss. Her eyes zoomed in and out as she inspected Toothbrush.


    ¡°I can''t say anything more on the subject or I would be getting a visit from the Office of reason,¡± said Kat pointing to several hovering security bots floating in the air.


    ¡°You guys, Arron''s a country bumpkin who recently came to the megacity. Man, do I have my work cut out for me having to explain everything to him. Can you guys help me out!¡± said Kix.


    ¡°Oh? A cute naive bumky?¡± asked Kat.


    ¡°If you need anything just ask us!¡± said Knox pointing to his chest.


    ¡°First you should order something to eat and drink before we start our chat! This place has all the good synth food,¡± said Ward.


    ¡°Right! You need to buy the boiling brew. It will keep you awake, give you strength, and put some hair on your chest!¡± said Bishop.


    ¡°Don''t drink it unless you want to burn a new hole in your stomach,¡± said Captain Pointer.


    ¡°Captain, you''re too weak!¡± laughed Bishop as he slapped the captain on the back.


    ¡°Synth food? That mush?¡± asked Arron, remembering the pink mush from his time in the military.


    ¡°Wow, he really is behind the times. Lexa, inform him of the new synth food!¡± said Kat.


    Lexa sat up straight and pushed her glasses up her nose and stared right into Arron''s eyes.


    ¡°Synthetic Food, normally referred to as synth food. Is cheap and plentiful due to the many recent advancements in this field of study that were prompted by the Megacity¡¯s large population density.¡±


    ¡°Synth food is made partly out of real food with... other items added. Before it was just a basic pink mushy slush. But last year several breakthroughs were made, resulting in the Synth-pack which makes it more palatable to eat.¡±


    ¡°The new synth-packs allow you to put the pack in the Synth-cooker 9000. Which claims with one press of a button you can create ''OVER 9000!'' different things. In recent months they have created the synth vitapouch, a jelly-like drink with a lot of calories and all the vitamins you need for a day of work,¡± said Lexa finishing her short lecture.


    ¡°Right, so many different food variations you can eat... just... the taste is still not the best. That''s why many people still use spices and specially made sauces to mask the flavor which the synth-food company calls the original flavor,¡± said Knox with a shake of his head.


    ¡°I heard that some people have only been buying and living on the cheap Vitapouches,¡± said Ward.


    ¡°...probably you,¡± mumbled Knox under his breath.


    ¡°What? Is their SCS rank D?¡± asked Bishop.


    ¡°Nope, they''re rank C!¡±


    ¡°Wait! Wait, why are you guys so happy about synth-food?¡± asked Arron.


    ¡°Since you come from the country you probably don''t know but the ''fresh'' real food here in the city is expensive and heavily rationed. All the fresh imported food that comes to the Neo-Tokeyo first goes to the 4th level. They get to pick and choose what they want first, then the 3rd level, and 2nd level. The stores on the 1st level get whatever is leftover. This makes the prices of real food volatile and extremely expensive every month,¡± said Lexa.


    ¡°Yep, Synth food, whether you like it or not, is a major part of everyone''s diet on the first level. It''s cheap and plentiful but not really sure if it is healthy or not,¡± said Captain Pointer.


    ¡°If you listen to anyone from the levels above, especially the 4th level, they will make it sound like putting so many spices or sauces on your food is the worst crime imaginable. I saw someone on the news even go as far to say everyone who does so is uncultured and ruining the taste of food,¡± said Ward.


    ¡°Who cares what they say? I would maybe think about listening to them if they stopped eating their meat steaks and other luxury food and actually ate what we do every day,¡± said Priss with a huff.


    ¡°Arron, you''re in luck since this bar has some of the best sauce for the synth food, and the drinks are not all that bad. Why don''t you take a look at the menu,¡± said Kix as he tapped the table a few times in front of Arron bringing up a holo-menu.


    The menu listed all the different types of synth food as well as hundreds of different drinks he had never heard of before.


    Everyone watched him look through the menu waiting to see what he would choose.


    Arron decided to play it safe and tapped on the image of fries. He added the recommended sauce and then tapped on a simple clear looking drink. Completing his order.


    Ding! A message appeared in front of him.


    [Payment accepted! Your order will be out shortly!]


    ¡°OH? So you like living dangerously?¡± asked Kat.


    ¡°It''s always the simple quiet things that are the most dangerous,¡± said Bishop, with the nod of his head.


    Arron looked over to Kix confused.


    ¡°We call that drink the ''Molotov cocktail''.¡±

 Chapter 27: First Task On The First Day Of Work!

    Arron slowly opened his groggy eyes with the sound of the NerViz morning alarm still ringing in his ears. With a swipe of the hand, he silenced it and rolled over onto his back.


    The sterile para-steel ceiling of Arron''s new apartment reflected his shabby face as he groggily stared at it.


    He couldn''t remember anything that happened after ordering his food the night before. Whatever he ate and drank last night still had his stomach feeling like it was on fire.


    It was a surprise that he made it back to his apartment in one piece and was able to remember the holo-lock gestures.


    Arron parted the curtain next to him and looked at the ever-dark ceiling of the first level.


    It was still covered with the fake starry night sky. As he watched there were even a few holographic shooting stars that shot through the simulated night sky.


    His mind was now starting to work through his morning grogginess and all that he had learned the last few days came back to him.


    For him, life in the Mega-city Neo-Tokeyo was exciting and full of new experiences... but danger lurked around every corner both figurative and literally.


    ''Everything seems to have regulations or a specific law written for it. Mother and father are keen on making sure nothing goes unregulated,'' thought Arron while standing up and stretching.


    He walked out of his room and headed towards his sterile para steel bathroom which had a simple sink, recycler toilet, and a cold shower that used no water or liquid. Cold showers were created for the first level after the water regulations were put in place due to the high population.


    A personal liquid bath or shower in one''s home was impossible to have unless you were a politician or lived on the 4th level.


    A few minutes later Arron exited the bathroom completely clean, shaved, and now wearing his dark blue M1 uniform.


    Since this medium-sized room was the other room besides his bedroom, it acted as the kitchen, dining room, and living room all in one. He was lucky that he had an extra room and was not living in a studio apartment that made up a large percentage of the first level.


    Currently, the room was completely bare except for the installed kitchen appliances. Things like the infrared cooker and the fridge with a small freezer that was embedded in the wall.


    Now that he had a chance to look around his apartment more thoroughly, it all made him like it was a prison cell.


    He had not had any time to buy any furniture for the apartment or even food for his fridge. So, he sat down on the floor with his back resting against the wall and then used his NerViz to access the first level''s holonet.


    [Verifying SCS... Access granted!]


    ¡°Hmmm... what to buy?¡±


    He started to quickly scan through the local restaurants and stores that had 24/7 drone food delivery.


    His stomach was still not feeling well, so he decided to pass all the hardy breakfast food and coffee.


    A minute later he found a nearby store that was selling what he was looking for...


    ...Jelly Vitapouches. He felt quite lucky when he saw that they had 2 flavors! Original, and Pickled plum.


    ¡°Well pickled plum should be better than the original...¡± said Arron.


    He added ten of them to the cart and pressed the holographic [Complete order] button.


    [Verifying SCS...Verifying credit balance... purchase complete!]


    [Ten credits have been deducted from your account.]


    ¡°This stuff is cheap, let''s hope it doesn''t taste that way as well,¡±


    Ding! His NerViz notified him of two new messages he had received after successfully placing his order.


    [Estimated delivery: fastest 5 minutes, delayed 10 minutes.]


    [Based on your recent purchase, we are happy to inform you that you can now pre-order a new Jelly vitapouch flavor that will be launching next month! ''Pickled Pickle'' 2x the sour pickle flavor.]


    Arron shook his head and deleted the messages. While he was still connected to the holo-net he decided to order the newest wrist datapad to replace his current wrist datapad that was ten years old.


    He found that all of the newest generation of wrist datapads were sold out and the only option was to pre-order and wait for the next batch.


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    On the ground next to him was a transparent E-newspaper that was the only other thing that came with the apartment. It had a one-month free subscription to level 1 E-news companies that were Approved by Mother and Father.


    With nothing else to do he picked it up. When he unfolded it, the morning''s current news articles appeared. The list of articles was constantly getting updated as new pieces were added in real-time.


    A hot new viral article that had just been posted a minute before caught his attention.


    The headline read: [Funny memer in hospital: He is now in a hospital after being attacked due to a brutal hit piece article written about him.]


    Before he could tap on the article to expand and read it, the Headline changed and it dropped to the bottom of the E-Newspaper under several older news posts.


    [[Correction] Former Funny memer deemed not funny: The unfunny memer is now in the hospital after an unrelated expose all article.]


    Not even 5 seconds later the article disappeared from the front page.


    Arron sighed and folded the e-newspaper which went back to its blank clear material. He used his wrist datapad to access the News clips database to pass the time while he waited for his deliveries.


    ¡°This day in history, many of the greedy farmers were replaced nearly 12 years ago. But unfortunately, the new farmers continued to sabotage Mother and Father¡¯s efforts by not doing their jobs correctly and over 6 million died that year.¡±


    Arron waved his hand, closing the news. He was now in an unhappy mood. ¡°What a bunch of rubbish.¡±


    At that time he had just started high school. He knew that it was not the fault of the farmers, it was just the result of the many new regulations and the high quota demands set by the Office of Reason''s collectors.


    Ding! [Delivery has been completed!]


    Arron opened his front door and found ten jelly vitapouches were placed on the ground with no sign of the drone that had delivered it. He had no idea how it got inside the building.


    He picked them up, brought them back into the apartment where he placed 9 of them in one of his empty cupboards.


    After double-checking that he had done everything he needed to do he grabbed onto the metal case that held his cleaned ERF heavy armor v.16 and exited his apartment and made sure that the door was locked behind him.


    Seeing the lock jogged his memory. As he walked to the Mag-Shoot, he accessed the Holo-net and purchased two sets of Holo-locks for 200 credits. He had to spend another 50 credits for them to be able to have them sent to his parents and Mel.


    Ding! The Mag-shoot doors opened as he finished his order and closed the holo-net.


    He stepped onto the Mag-shoot joining nearly twenty other people. The majority of them all had their heads buried in their E-newspapers.


    A female standing next to Arron was more interested in inspecting his uniform and metal case than the E-newspapers.


    A mocking grin formed on her face as she looked at him, but she did not say anything and only quietly laughed at him.


    Arron quietly ignored her and slowly sipped on his extremely sour [Pickled Plum] jelly vitapouch, while he waited for the Mag-shoot to reach the ground floor.


    The jelly, although extremely sour, was actually soothing his burning stomach. It also was fully erasing all the fuzziness from his mind and filling him with energy to tackle his first day of work!


    The Mag-shoot stopped once again at floor 298, where Kix and Toothbrush entered the Mag-shoot to join Arron along with several tens of other people.


    All three of them were sipping on their [Pickled Plum] jelly Vitapouch. Seeing this caused them to let out a soft chuckle.


    The female standing next to Arron looked at them with distaste and tried to hug the wall and get as far away from the three as she could.


    Several minutes later the three had arrived at the MagLev station and were in one of the many lines to get onto the packed MagLev heading to Sector 12.


    At each entrance to the MagLev, several security bots were hovering in the air scanning the faces and NerViz cloud chips. They were doing their programmed task of searching for any irregularities, criminals, or D SCS citizens who might try to enter the MagLev.


    When only ten people were standing in front of Arron, a loud robotic voice echoed out from above the MagLev.


    ¡°Criminal located! Crime... Violation of speech code against Mother and Father... Begin Normalization!¡±


    Four security drones swooped down with extended metal claws crackling with electricity and grabbed onto a female''s arms and legs. The female target was knocked out immediately from the high voltage.


    The four security drones flew away carrying the limp body through the air above everyone at the station platform.


    The surrounding people had only stopped what they were doing for a few seconds as they watched it all happen. Then, everyone continued with what they had been doing as if nothing had happened.


    Or maybe they just didn''t care since they had other things to worry about, such as getting to work on time or buying a certain fresh food item that was on sale.


    Arron watched it all with his mouth wide open.


    ¡°Hurry up! Stop holding up the line,¡± said Kix as he gave Arron a push from behind.


    The security bots scanned Arron as he walked to the entrance. He waved his right hand over the scanner on the door and paid for a spot on the MagLev before quickly entering the MagLev.


    He spent the rest of the cramped ride packed like sardines. He did not pay much attention to the ride since his mind was still on the woman that had been taken away.


    They arrived at the back entrance to the M1 HQ ten minutes after getting off the MagLev. The three of them entered using their NerViz cloud chips to open the door and record the time they arrived.


    Kix and Arron separated from Toothbrush and headed to the ERF locker room. Before they could get there, Miska from the front desk added both of them to a call which was picked up immediately.


    ¡°The chief wants to talk to the two of you immediately,¡± she said before ending the call.


    ¡°It''s only your first day of work and you already have the chief calling us to his office? What did you do?¡± asked Kix, as he looked at Arron.


    ¡°Don''t look at me like that, I have no clue what is going on!¡±


    The two quickly made their way to a Mag-shoot and shot towards the chief''s office.


    Ding!


    The doors opened and the two stepped out and respectfully saluted Chief Chesty.


    ¡°Chief, Officer Arron reporting.¡± ¡°Chief, Officer Kix reporting!¡±


    ¡°In a few minutes a reporter from one of KNN''s E-newspaper branches will be arriving here,¡± said Chief Chesty as he looked up from the morning e-newspaper on his desk.


    ¡°Do you want us to escort her around somewhere?¡± asked Kix. He was relieved but also still confused at why they had been called.


    ¡°She is coming here to interview new members of M1. Arron, you were randomly picked. I had no say in this as it was a direct order from Mother and Father,¡± said Chief Chesty.


    ¡°Which reporter?¡± asked Kix.


    ¡°Kellery Heaton.¡±


    ¡°Her?¡± asked Kix with a grim look on his face.


    ¡°Who?¡± asked Arron.


    ¡°The author of many complaining expose all articles. The most recent article was about the former funny memer, who had made a meme about her.¡±

 Chapter 28: Interview On The First Day Of The Job.

    ¡°Why would the party of Mother and father order something like this?¡± asked Kix.


    ¡°Who knows? They may have gotten tired of the bad rep we have and want to clear it up. Maybe it''s to help with getting recruits, or they are just doing someone a favor and another hit piece will be written about us,¡± said Chief Chesty.


    With a wave of his hand, he dismissed the two from his office.


    ¡°Arron have you ever been on the Holo-news, or done an interview for any e-mag or e-newspaper?¡± asked Kix as they walked back into the Mag-shoot.


    ¡°No, I''m not that interesting of a person,¡± said Arron.


    ¡°Alright, a word of warning. Watch what words you say. You may be allowed to think it but if you voice something deemed to go against the speech code regulations you''re toast. Right now Mother and father have no way to know what you are thinking, so keep all the troublesome thoughts inside that head of yours.¡±


    ¡°Is it really that bad?¡± asked Arron.


    ¡°What do you mean ¡®that bad¡¯? It''s common sense that you don''t say things that would anger Mother or Father. Otherwise... normalization...¡± said Kix, drawing an invisible line across his neck with his finger.


    ¡°But you...¡±


    ¡°Remember, this reporter is from KNN''s E-newspaper branch. This will be distributed nationally, if the article goes viral, it will appear on the Holo-news later today. Don''t say anything stupid or they will just edit it out of context and make you look even worse. Just go along, to get along.¡±


    Arron had some strong opinions on several things but decided to follow Kix¡¯s suggestion about giving a bland interview.


    When they arrived at the front lobby they found Mishka and Megane hiding behind several holo screens pretending to be busy. When they occasionally took a few side glances at an elderly woman, frowns would appear.


    The elderly woman looked to be in her late 50s or early 60s. She was currently letting out a cackle while watching reruns of a Late-night comedy show.


    ¡°Separatist are totally bad, am I right?¡± the host of the late-night show asked the crowd of Holographic audience members.


    ¡°So true! Separatist bad!¡± ¡°Yep, Separatist bad!¡± Many of the voices from the audience were picked up and broadcasted.


    Only old people and the mentally deranged would find such ''Comedy'' shows funny.


    ¡°Haaa... such a good show,¡± said the elderly woman. She wiped a tear away from her eye after regaining her breath from cackling so hard.


    When she noticed Arron and Kix standing a short distance away, her smile disappeared and a scowl appeared on her face.


    ¡°Which one of you is Arron?¡± she asked with a brisk tone.


    Arron stepped forward, ¡°I am. Are you Madam Kellery?¡±


    ¡°I don''t do autographs.¡±


    Arron was slightly confused. He didn''t even know about her before this morning, so why would he even want her autograph?


    ¡°I need a private room where I won''t be interrupted by anyone,¡± demanded Kellery.


    She was not looking at Kix or Arron as she gave her demands, but instead at Mishka and Megane who were still hiding behind the front desk.


    ¡°It has already been prepared exactly as you asked,¡± said Mishka as she pointed to the smooth wall on the left side of the lobby room.


    Stolen novel; please report.


    The wall opened up revealing a small white room with a long rectangle table and hover chairs at each end. They were far apart from each other.


    Kellery entered the room first followed by Arron. The wall immediately shut after he stepped into the room and all sound from the lobby was completely blocked.


    ¡°Sit over there,¡± said Kellery pointing to the chair at the opposite side of the room.


    From a large Hover case, four hover bots popped out and started to move into the positions Kellery Heaton wanted.


    As soon as the green lights on each of the hover bots lit up the scowl on her face turned into a bright smile.


    ¡°Hello valued readers and welcome prime holo-vid subscribers. Today we have an exclusive interview with a new recruit of the M1 ''special'' task force! Please state your name for everyone,¡± said Kellery in a sickly sweet sing-song voice.


    Arron was taken back for a second, the interview started without a short briefing to let him know what to expect or even a warning.


    ¡°Arron Wynterz.¡±


    ¡°What did you do before joining the ''special'' task force?¡± asked Kellery.


    ¡°I was a farmer,¡± said Arron.


    ¡°The Information I have says you served in the WHO military. Is that correct?¡±


    Arron''s brows furrowed a bit before returning to normal. ¡°How did you get that information? Only the Office of Reason and Mother and Father are allowed to view such records.¡±


    Kellery''s smiling face turned into a scowl as she turned to one of the hover bots, ¡°Edit, erase that last part.¡±


    She turned back to Arron.


    ¡°Listen kid, I ask the questions. You answer them and then we both can leave.¡±


    Her scowling face turned back to the bright sunny smile.


    ¡°Why did you, someone with a military background, decide to join the ''special'' task force? Debts? Running from the law? An order from the [Office of Reason]?¡±


    ¡°I needed the money because of the bubble burst,¡± said Arron.


    ¡°A country bu...person like yourself, must have had quite a shock moving to the Mega-city Neo-Tokeyo, and to join the ''special'' task force right away... Simply amazing.¡±


    ¡°Yes the city is quite... different,¡± said Arron.


    ¡°You are on the three approved social media, right? Such as Faceplant, Barker, Ego holo-vids?¡±


    Arron did not know what this had to do with being an M1 recruit.


    ¡°So that... others can follow your exploits as an M1 recruit! Or is your SCS so low that you are unable to join?¡± said Kellery, making something up on the spot after she saw the confusion on Arron''s face.


    Her hands were hovering over her holo keyboard ready to type in the information.


    ¡°My SCS is high enough to join them,¡± said Arron.


    Kellery leaned forward with gleaming eyes. The hovering interview bots mics and cameras all zoomed out to get the clearest sound and picture, as they waited for his answer.


    ¡°I am not on any social media.¡±


    Kellery nearly fell out of her hoverchair. Several mixed expressions appeared on her face as many of the ''questions'' she had prepared were tossed out the window with this simple answer.


    ¡°Edit. Clean up the last few seconds.¡±


    ¡°Ahem...¡± Kellery cleared her voice and plastered her smile on her face, once again creating a studious and serious appearance as if she was ready to get down to the bottom of some mystery.


    ¡°But why not? Everyone is on the approved Social-media! You''re not one of those people are you?¡±


    ¡°Those people? I don''t know what you are referring to.¡±


    ¡°A non-believer¡­ or even a¡­ separatist~?¡± asked Kellery, slowly drawing out the last word.


    ¡°I don''t see how not being on social media leads you to think that. I''m not on social media because it rots the brain and turns its users into raging drones that spout whatever is sanctioned or popular at the time. Plus the yearly fee that you have to pay to even access them stops some from using it.¡±


    ¡°So what you''re saying is, there needs to be a new health regulation determining who can be allowed on social media?¡±


    ¡°That''s not what I said. I think people need to stop attacking each other over stupid things. There are people trying to harm others they don''t even know over something that was said recently or in the past. Everyone needs to stop arguing and start talking to each other face to face in real life.¡±


    ¡°You''re talking about certain people getting Normalized right? Is there anyone in particular on social media that you are championing this opinion for? Have you seen someone get normalized in real life?¡±


    ¡°No one on social media. It is my own opinion, and yes I have seen a few people who have had such things happen to them since I entered the city.¡±


    ¡°Don''t worry, you''ll get used to it after a while. Back to your previous point. So what you are saying is, Mother and father are not doing enough to enforce their speech codes?¡±


    The interview went on for over an hour with little of the questions and discussion actually having anything to do about the M1. Several times during the interview, Kellery stopped and made edits or reordered things.


    ¡°That concludes the interview. I hope everyone has been enlightened on the type of person who joins the ''special'' task force.¡±


    With that, the hover bots stopped recording and flew back to the Hover case.


    ¡°I am sure you are familiar with my high standard of writing, Yes? You will be able to read the article later today,¡± said Kellery as she stood up with a scowl on her face.


    ¡°I am sorry, but I am not familiar with any of your current or past work. But I did hear that 90% of the people you write about end up in the hospital... and the other 10% were found dead,¡± said Arron.

 Chapter 29: Gear Up!

    ¡°What''s with her?¡± asked Kix. He pointed to Kellery, who was stomping out of the M1 HQ.


    ¡°I told her I was unfamiliar with her work,¡± said Arron, walking out of the small side room.


    ¡°So how did the interview go?¡±


    ¡°Ehhh... not horrible...I think?¡±


    ¡°Oh boy, I can''t wait to read the hit piece that will be published later,¡± said Kix as the two walked towards the Mag-shoot.


    ¡°Is every interview like this?¡±


    ¡°Her whole job is to find things she thinks are bad, and make a stink about it. This may be your first interaction with the media, but I doubt it will be your last now that you have joined M1. I suggest you get used to the media not being nice. If you want to get a fair shake, you need to look out for yourself since they along with the politicians and the other mobs will throw you under the bus if it suits their narrative.¡±


    ¡°That bad?¡±


    ¡°Worse than that. Mother and father created a majority of the media regulations and speech codes to be obtuse. Because of that, anyone who produces any type of media will willingly silence anyone they think is not talking or thinking correctly. Anyone, no matter who it is. There is a thin line and if you step over it... you are playing with your life and you may end up disappearing.¡±


    Ding!


    The two once again arrived at the locker room and dropped off their other personal items, as well as hanging up a set of civilian clothes and a second clean uniform inside the locker.


    Kix took a look at the holographic work schedule on his holo wrist datapad.


    ¡°Right, looks like we''re on patrol duty for now until you finish your probation, or if the chief changes his mind. Let''s head to Garage 23 and get the rest of our gear ready.¡±


    Kix walked over to the far end of the locker room and waved his hand over the old scanner lock. The wall opened up to reveal a spiral staircase that went up as far as Arron could see and also descended even farther down.


    Various sounds echoed throughout the para steel circular stairwell lit with dim yellow lights on the wall.


    There were sounds of electric tools, the rotor blades of one of the M1''s transport hover-copters, and many bangs and curses from the mechanics.


    When both Kix and Arron stepped on the right side of the stairwell it started to quickly move down deeper underground. It stopped when they had reached a large black parasteel door marked with yellow 23.


    After a swipe of his hand over the holo-lock, the sturdy door opened allowing Arron and Kix to enter.


    The lights inside garage 23 turned as soon as the door opened revealing a small cramped garage that already held an angular armored hovercar that took up most of the room. It was slimmer at the front and was larger and boxy at the rear.


    It was painted similar to M1 uniforms with dark blue covering the majority of its body, with white checkers on both sides, and a large white M1 on the hood. The glass was covered in a silver two-way tint that prevented anyone from looking inside.


    ¡°That Is the most recent ERF prototype APC v.6 that Mother and Father gave us. You could say we''re lucky to have this as our patrol vehicle. That is if you compare it to the problems in v.1-5. Hopefully, all those problems have been fixed. I heard that they added a lot of new toys in her, so we have to field test her while on our patrols,¡± said Kix.


    He walked over to the left wall of the garage where several pieces of equipment were hanging or stored on shelves and started pulling several of them off of the wall.


    ¡°Prototype APC v.6? Is it any good?¡±


    ¡°It''s better than nothing. The armor is A7 parasteel and can withstand small arms and regular rifle rounds. Anything bigger... nope. Don''t even get me started on v.1-2. Those pieces of trash were just modified mass-produced A1 and A3 parasteel hover cars. They were just metal coffins.¡±


    ¡°Really? All the hover cars I''ve seen look sturdy.¡±


    Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.


    ¡°Sure they look like that, but they''re all trash. Bullets and sharp objects pass right through them and they crumble at the slightest touch. The only part that is worth a damn is the underbelly due to all the metal parts and plates underneath.¡±


    ¡°Best put on your heavy chest armor now,¡± said Kix as he tossed a light black helmet over to Arron. ¡°Our new helmets. Make sure that you plug the attached cable into your NerViz implant.¡±


    After getting the heavy chest armor on Arron plopped the light metal helmet visor on his head. There were two cables on the back of the helmet causing him to fumble around with each trying to see which one would fit into the NerViz slot. It didn''t help that his neck was partially obstructed by the heavy chest armor that he now wore.


    When he successfully plugged the wire into the slot a two-way mirror visor slid down covering his face.


    Holographic green text appeared on the visor. [New user... Loading default secure M1 software... complete!]


    On the top left of the visor, Arron could see the date and time as well as his exact location.


    Underneath this was the words [Officer Arron. Stream active.] On the right side were three main options that he could use for quick action: [Logistics], [Call HQ], [Media].


    ¡°Here, take these magnetic cuffs, and put on these boots. They''re the newest AB V.3,¡± said Kix.


    When Arron looked over to Kix a white box appeared around his face and a quick scan happened in less than a second turning green, above his head was his name, age, SCS, and government ID. Under that were the words [No warrants][Security level to low for Further information].


    Arron took the Magnetic cuffs and hung them on his new heavy utility belt. He took off his civilian shoes and picked up one of the black AB V.3, which were large knee-high metal combat boots. It looked like a piece of hockey sports equipment from back when humans actually played sports.


    It felt quite heavy and rigid making Arron wonder how he was supposed to move around wearing such clunky things. He put his right leg into one of the boots all the way, it felt as if he was sticking it into a container of cool jelly.


    The many metallic straps on the boot immediately tightened so that the boot fit snugly, not allowing any wiggle room. Arron quickly put on the other boot and then stood up.


    Despite the obvious extra weight, it was surprisingly still easy to move around but now there were soft clacks as he walked.


    ¡°These bad boys will keep your legs safe from most everything except for heavy arms or point-blank explosions. They can also magnetically lock onto any metal, or at least that''s what the researchers claim. It comes in quite handy in many situations,¡± said Kix, slapping his armored boots as he stood up.


    He pulled down a small one-inch square piece of parasteel from the wall and tossed it over to Arron. ¡°There should be a slot on the upper left of your chest armor, put that there.¡±


    The square piece of Parasteel was sucked into the slot and became extremely sturdy, unable to move. Kix tapped on his square metal piece and a holographic badge appeared projecting out his information [M1: Officer Upreme, ERF 3-3-1].


    Arron tapped on his square piece and his holographic badge appeared: [M1: Officer Wynterz, ERF 3-3-2].


    Kix walked to the back of the Armored vehicle and opened the back door revealing a parasteel cell with enough room to fit at least 6 people comfortably three on each bench. On the floor was a large metal box. Kix tapped a yellow button on the side and read the information that was spat out.


    ¡°Just making sure the light armored exoskeleton is still ok,¡± said Kix.


    ¡°Why do we have an Exoskeleton? Isn''t that something for Ward and Knox?¡± asked Arron.


    ¡°You expect us to go out and have to wait on those two if we run into trouble? If crap really hits the fan you''ll wish we had two of them. Even though this is just the P.L.E.v.2 [Portable light exoskeleton], it is better than nothing. Since you have no experience with stuff like this I''ll be handling it for now. You need the proper muscles and reflexes to use them or you will end up hurting yourself or worse,¡± said Kix.


    He tapped on a few buttons connected to the door and turned the electric security screen on and off to make sure it was working.


    5 bolts of electricity shot back and forth separating the cell and the door.


    ¡°You get to test out this new prototype instead,¡± said Kix with a smile as he pulled out a compact but heavy metal case that had been sitting behind the PLE, and handed it over to Arron as he slammed the rear door shut.


    ¡°Portable motorcycle v.1. Just press the red button to unlock and the green to bring out the motorcycle. Just don''t do it here as we don''t have enough space and you would damage it and the APC. It''s for getting around if the APC breaks down or if we can''t get into an area with the APC. Hurry up and get in! We''re ready to head out!¡±


    ¡°What about my sidearm?¡± asked Arron as he opened the right-side door.


    ¡°It''s in the front console, just put your hand on it and it will pop out after scanning,¡± said Kix as he entered the left side and sat behind a steering wheel.


    The dark interior of the car was lit up by the dashboard that also presented all the information his visor had, as well as even more options such as holographic maps and a new prototype level one GPS Pixi system, for navigating manual vehicles.


    ¡°What? This has manual steering?¡± asked Arron.


    ¡°Of course, otherwise how could we do our job?¡± asked Kix while he pressed one of the options on the dashboard.


    [Please wait, all elevators are currently being used.] said a robotic female voice.


    ¡°You gotta be kidding me! We have ten elevators and all of them are in use?¡±


    They had to wait for over 5 minutes before the front wall of the garage opened, revealing a large square platform.


    Kix revved the engine and drove out of the garage onto the platform. The front garage door closed behind them before the platform started to rise heading to the main ground-floor exit.


    ¡°Hehe... this baby also has a new option we might be able to test out later. With a flip of this switch, wheels pop out and we can drive around with them. Although I haven''t driven anything with wheels before how hard could it be? Should be simple enough,¡± said Kix.

 Chapter 30: First Patrol

    ¡°Lexa, you got the coordinates for our probies first patrol?¡± asked Kix as he revved the engine of the prototype APC.


    Beep! Toothbrush''s holographic head popped up over the dashboard of the car.


    ¡°Lexa is busy with a task for the Chief. I will be your logistic contact in the HQ for today''s patrol,¡± said Toothbrush, a little unsure what else to say.


    ¡°Great... two probies for the price of one. Young Tooth, make sure you give us the information quickly when we ask for it. We expect you to be on your ''A'' game if we call for backup,¡± said Kix.


    ¡°Right! Understood. Your patrol assignment is Sector 10, Zone 3. You are in charge of the civilian district traffic control,¡± said Tooth quickly.


    Kix frowned but nodded while saying, ¡°We''re heading out. Don''t get lost in your paperwork.¡±


    When the holo-call ended, Kix gunned the engine, causing them to fly up the large underground exit ramp, which had ten other ramps connected to it.


    The exit was blocked by a thick parasteel metal wall gate that was slowly rising just enough for the APC to pass by.


    On the sidewalls and the ceiling of the exit ramp were several holes for security drones to exit out of. If some uninvited guest got past the wall they would be in for a rude reception.


    As they passed through the exit gate, the glowing city revealed itself. Kix drove past the large VIP parking lot. Next to the parking lot were several landing pads for M1''s four aging hand-me-down Hover-helis that they had received from the army.


    Kix slowed down to a crawl once again as he waited for the Security bots guarding the two different ramps to do their job. One of the ramps led to the lower ground traffic while the other was connected to the high-speed emergency highway.


    A second later the two security bots moved aside after they had scanned the vehicle and its occupants.


    With a roar, the engine of the APC was back to its maximum speed as they ascended the second ramp towards the high-speed emergency highway. There were already a few other hovercars traveling on it.


    ¡°I know that we are getting an easy task but why traffic control? Isn''t that the police''s job?¡± asked Arron.


    ¡°Hmph! Easy my ass. There are areas that even the police won''t go to. Who do you think gets the pleasure of taking care of all the problems there? We do.¡±


    ¡°Is your visor all set up properly? It''s one of the main tools that we all rely on due to its many functions and the secure encrypted line to HQ. Using our NerViz all the time is tiring and sometimes you might need it for something else so we use the helmet¡¯s visor.¡±


    ¡°Is it that useful?¡± asked Arron as they passed several hundreds of buildings every minute as they headed towards the gateway checkpoint to enter sector ten.


    ¡°Of course! You already know the basic function of finding out a person¡¯s information, there is also the radar, heat detection, and the v2 FairyNav which can lead us to any person that has their NerViz connected to the Holonet and not tampered with. Then you have the basic hacking software. Just pull out that other extendable cable on the back of your helmet and plug it into whatever, and then wallah! It''s unlocked. Well, it only works on the regular hovercars, and basic locks. Which will cover 80% of the situations you will find yourself in on the first level. For everything else we need someone like Kat to break through.¡±


    The APC stopped at the Sector ten gateway. Several green lights began scanning the vehicle obtaining all the information of its occupants, the equipment they wore and stored inside the APC.


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    Moments later, the green light disappeared and the large gateway big enough for at least 10 APCs, opened allowing them to pass through a small tunnel and exit out into a very dull-looking zone 2 of sector 10.


    Tall gray rusty, dusty, and greasy buildings were everywhere. The air was noticeably less clean.


    It was a startling change of scene from the glowing brightly lit central sector 12.


    ¡°Welcome to sector 10, one of Neo-Tokeyo''s 4 industry sectors,¡± said Kix.


    ¡°Industry? Aren''t we supposed to be going to a civilian district?¡±


    ¡°Zone 1 and 2 are all industry, while zone three is where some of the workers of sector ten live. If I had to guess I would say that the four industry sectors 7,8,9,10, employ nearly 80% of the first level. Most of the workers choose to stay in the other sectors due to the poor living standards in the 10th sector. It has some of the worst hospitals and schools. You''ll find that the majority of people living in zone three have a D rank SCS or are C ranks who managed to claw their way out of the D rank.¡±


    ¡°That bad?¡± asked Arron, shocked.


    ¡°Sector ten''s Zone 3 is not all that bad when you compare it to other places I know. In a way, they are freer on some things but more restricted on others. It''s all about perspective, you have to do with what you have. If you only see the negatives you will go insane,¡± said Kix softly as he remembered such ''nice'' places that were far harsher than sector ten''s zone 3.


    After a while of driving through the grungy tall factories of zone 2, they reached Zone 3.


    The towering apartment buildings were just as gray and dirty as the factories, most of the walls were all covered with many advertising holo screens showing off all types of products.


    Arron was shocked to see a metal zigzagging ladder staircase on the side of each apartment building. The staircases went all the way to the 300th floor of the towering apartment buildings.


    Arron used the visor''s simple map radar to get a better look at Zone 3. Even though Zone three was considered the smallest zone of Sector 10, it was still larger than any of the large cities outside of the Mega-city Neo-Tokeyo.


    ¡°Tooth, we''ve arrived at our destination and will start patrolling,¡± said Kix.


    ¡°Right! I see you on the radar. If you need anything contact me,¡± said Toothbrush, his face appearing on both Arron and Kix''s visor. The voice was loud and clear coming out of speakers in the helmets.


    ¡°We''ll cruise around zone 3''s highway for a while and see what we find. After that, we''ll head out on foot to the shopping district. Keep your head on a swivel and scan everything,¡± said Kix.


    ANNNNNN!


    Just then, a loud blaring emergency warning sounded causing Toothbrush''s holo-call to be cut short.


    ¡°This is a test of the 1st level¡¯s emergency warning system.¡±


    A booming male voice came from the APC speakers, their helmet speakers, and even the holo-Ad screens on every building outside.


    On every screen that could be seen as well as the helmet''s visors, were two people Arron had never seen before.


    One man and one woman, both in their late 40''s or early 50''s. They were both wearing what Arron thought to be very expensive-looking custom-made flying clothes. Overall the two looked rather plain and forgettable.


    ¡°Stand by as the emergency message is sent,¡± said the middle-aged woman, in an equally loud echoing voice.


    The blaring emergency sounded three times before a message was sent to everyone''s NerViz mail.


    The message only had one word. [Test].


    Three more blaring emergency warnings sounded.


    ¡°This concludes the Emergency test system,¡± said the middle-aged woman.


    Together the two said, ¡°Remember! With Liberation, Inclusion, and Normalization. We will create a civilized world.¡±


    The ad screens on the buildings all returned to advertising their wonder cures for multiple ailments and other useless gizmos.


    ¡°Who were those two?¡± asked Arron.


    ¡°Seriously? How can you not know who they are? I know you''re from the country, but even so, you should know who they are!¡± said Kix.


    ¡°Well, I don''t,¡± said Arron.


    ¡°They.. are Mother and Father!¡±


    Before Kix could say anything more, they both received several dozen messages that popped up on each of their visors.


    The simple map of zone 3 that Arron had open, now had more than 20 red dots.


    ¡°Seriously, how could our luck be this bad? Did they wait until we got here to do this? I knew it was too much of a coincidence,¡± said Kix.


    ¡°Are you talking about the emergency system? Isn''t that a normal thing to do?¡± asked Arron.


    ¡°Do you really think they care about the emergency system? Just check the messages and you will see what I mean.¡±


    Arron opened one of the messages.


    [Warrant for Keef kutar, SCS C, 04-2-897658. Reason: Tampering with NerViz system. Instruction: Detain and wait for the Office of Reason to come and Normalize the situation.]


    Each of the several dozen messages, were warrants for those who had tampered with the NerViz system.


    The new red dots on the map were the locations of each person.


    ¡°They just use the emergency system as an excuse to randomly weed out those who are stupid enough to tamper or hack the NerViz system. Looks like your first day is going to be a busy one. Let''s go and start rounding up the idiots,¡± said Kix, speeding off towards the closest red dot.

 Chapter 31: Roundup

    ¡°Alright, looks like the nearest two targets are in the shopping district across the street. Take your Fatboy and leave the portable motorcycle inside,¡± said Kix, parking the APC at the corner of the large entrance to the street market.


    When Arron placed his hand on the dashboard in front of him, a green light flashed as it scanned his NerViz cloud-chip. With a clack the front console plopped open and a small platform extended out. On it was a well-worn Fatboy and several small metal cases of different types of ammunition.


    He grabbed the Fatboy and tapped the edge of the platform to close it.


    As he exited the APC he placed the Fatboy into the metal holster of his heavy-duty utility belt. With a click it was locked in place protecting it from the reaching hands of criminals.


    Both Kix and Arron did one last check of their equipment before they walked through the wide entrance of the packed street market.


    The air of the street market had a foul taste to it, and the food stalls that they passed were giving off an off-putting smell.


    Arron was a bit overwhelmed by all the information flowing into his visor.


    Everywhere he looked hundreds of faces were immediately scanned. Their name, SCS, government ID, criminal records along with any notes left by the Office of Reason or police, was all displayed above their heads.


    Almost everyone he saw looked worn out and were still covered in grime and dirt from just getting off of the night shift. They had all come here to buy something to eat before heading home.


    Arron could not figure out what type of work would cause them to get so dirty. Most factories should have robots to do most of the dirty jobs.


    All the scanned people were grayed out signaling that they had no active warrants. Arron saw that Kix was not lying when he said the majority of the people here had a D-rank SCS.


    As the people in the market noticed the two M1 officers in their metal armor and mirrored visors, they either stopped and watched the two like deer caught in the headlights, or they moved off of the street trying to hug the walls of buildings and small street shops to stay as far away from the two as they could.


    ¡°Why did they only send two of us to patrol the entirety of zone three?¡± asked Arron using the helmet''s secure intercoms.


    ¡°What? You think every day the whole unit needs to be mobilized in one area? It''s bad in some areas here, but not that bad. If it was sector one... then I would agree with sending the whole unit. But here the majority of the zone is handled by the patrolling security drones. All we have to do is show up and take care of any task HQ has for us. If any of the patrol bots or drones are attacked then we have to check it out. Simple, no need to overwork ourselves,¡± said Kix. He kept his head constantly on the move from side to side looking through the thousands of faces.


    ¡°Sector one, that''s where you grew up, right? Is it really that dangerous?¡± asked Arron.


    ¡°Very... deadly. It''s an open secret that the mafia, yakuza, and gangs all have their main headquarters there. The only criminal group not in sector one are the secretive separatist who tend to like living in areas like this, so they can cause major damage to the factories,¡± said Kix, pointing to the far away towering apartment buildings.


    ¡°What? Shouldn''t the Police and Mother and Father take care of such criminal organizations just as harshly as they treat the separatist?¡±


    Kix shook his head, ¡°They turn a blind eye to them due to the large yearly tax. As long as no one steps too far out of line they don''t interfere. Things can get... very bloody before they do anything. Plus they probably view it as a good thing since they can keep a close eye on them. If they were all hiding it would be harder to keep track of every group''s actions.¡±


    PING! As they were talking, Arron''s helmet visor zoomed in on a person who was outlined by a red box.


    The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.


    ¡°First target found!¡± said Arron, sending the info over to Kix.


    The two quickly made their way over to a short chubby man with a greasy mop of black hair on his head. He was sitting behind a booth selling random knick-knacks.


    When the man noticed Arron coming in from his right he stood up ready to flee but Kix was already charging in from the left and quickly grabbed onto one of the man''s arms.


    ¡°Wha... wha.. why am I being arrested? I''ve done nothing!¡±


    Arron helped Kix cuff the man with a pair of their magnetic cuffs not paying any attention to the stuttering man''s words.


    Kix looked at the second person''s profile and then back to Arron, ¡°You think you can capture the next target yourself while I take him back to the APC? They''re somewhere over there at the next street, shouldn''t be too much of a problem for you.¡±


    ¡°Isn''t that against protocol?¡±


    ¡°If you''re that worried I''ll wait here for you. Look, she''s just come to the intersection!¡±


    Arron quickly jogged through the crowd, his metal boots letting out loud thuds as he charged towards his distant target that was outlined in a red box.


    The target was a pudgy female that was eating food while mindlessly walking and watching a bootleg holovision using her NerViz.


    The loud thudding of Arron''s boots drew her attention away from the show she was watching. When she saw Arron, she dropped the food that she had been eating and started running in the opposite direction.


    Seeing the two running down the street the majority of people jumped out of Arron''s way, those who didn''t were quickly plowed through. Arron closed in on the escaping female criminal and lunged forward, tackling her from behind.


    He quickly grabbed her flabby arms and placed them behind her as he used his magnetic cuffs.


    ¡°Unhand me you barbarian! I know people!¡± shouted the pudgy woman.


    ¡°Nice, I know lots of people as well,¡± said Arron. He lifted her onto her feet and led her back towards Kix who gave him a thumbs up.


    ¡°Not bad probie.¡±


    The two led the captured targets to the back of the APC where they shoved them inside before taking off the magnetic cuffs.


    Before the pudgy woman could try and escape, Kix activated the electric barrier which let out a loud crackling zap.


    Arron and Kix hopped back into the front seats of the APC before looking at the Zone three map.


    ¡°Looks like everyone else is in the apartment district,¡± said Kix as he began driving towards the next target.


    They quickly arrived at an old towering apartment building which had several broken Holo-ad screens covering the wall not showing anything.


    The two walked up to the building where the large zigzagging ladder staircase was.


    As Arron looked at the building it turned into a blue wire 3d blueprint allowing them to see the exact position of the red dot inside.


    ¡°The targets on the tenth floor. Let''s use the side ladder. Entering through the window should be easier than getting through the door''s locks,¡± said Kix.


    ¡°What? Were not going to knock or tell them who we are?¡± asked Arron.


    ¡°If we did that, All that would happen is they would escape out the window. Then we would have to chase after them or worse case they might attack us. Plus the Office of Reason will be here soon, we need to hurry up so we don''t make them wait.¡±


    The two climbed up the creaking ladder stairs up to the correct floor.


    They quietly walked over to the window of the target¡¯s apartment. The Window was closed and the view inside was blocked by a thick curtain.


    Kix grabbed the extendable wire from the back of his helmet and plugged it into the window¡¯s simple lock mechanism.


    A few seconds passed before a soft click was heard as the window''s lock was hacked.


    Kix pulled the wire out and it snapped back into the helmet on its own. He unholstered his Fatboy and looked to Arron motioning for him to do the same.


    The window was silently pushed up with Kix entering first followed by Arron.


    They found themselves in a small bare studio apartment with loud music blaring inside.


    Their target, who was sitting in the corner trying to take a crap, was completely surprised by their entrance that his constipation was completely solved in a second.


    ¡°Gross... Arron, you go cuff him,¡± said Kix.


    ¡°You finished?¡± asked Arron, not wanting to get close just yet.


    The stunned man could only nod still in a daze.


    The rest of the morning was spent like this capturing the targets that had arrest warrants. There were only two other small surprises during the arrests. The rest were uneventful.


    One of them was when they found an elderly man in a temporary coma from the use of an unknown drug. It was quite the pain trying to carry the old man down the nearly 200 flights of stairs due to the building having no Mag-shoot.


    The second surprise was when they found one of the targets laying in a pile of their blood missing their head, which had been blown off and splattered on the metal walls of their apartment.

 Chapter 32: Above Pay-Grade

    During the several hours of hunting down the wanted criminals, Arron came to understand some of the differences in security that the 1st level had.


    In zone 3''s civilian district, the security was the worst. Most buildings only used the cheapest mechanical locks that fit the building code set by Mother and Father. But there were still some places that were even worse, they were actually using ancient metal key locks.


    ¡°This should be our last person,¡± said Kix as he looked at zone three''s holo-map.


    The two were leading a large burly man out of one of the few small rusty factories that had been allowed to be built in zone three.


    The man''s arms were completely cybernetic but it was made out of the cheapest A1 parasteel.


    Just to be safe, they had used both of their magnetic cuffs to bind his arms.


    ¡°The security for the factories and warehouses are just as poor if not worse than the apartments. How can they keep their equipment and material safe?¡±


    ¡°This is just zone three, of course, their security is not great. The industrial businesses are separated into three types each with different employment, security, and items produced as well. This goes for any type of business, not just the factories,¡± said Kix, as he shoved the burly man into the now beyond capacity holding cell in the back of the APC.


    The arrested targets were crammed in like sardines with several of them stacked three high sitting on others¡¯ laps. Anyone that could not fit on the stack of people had to stand in the center between the benches. Kix slammed the door shut and got back behind the wheel of the APC, where he continued to explain the types of factories to Arron.


    ¡°The first type is the type in zone three. The bottom tier is owned by one person, family, or small group. They can eke out a living by completing random orders for medium companies and third parties. But due to the low payment, heavy regulations, and large taxes, they have little money to invest in the company. And are unable to buy mass amounts of worker bots or high-grade security systems. The security is mainly ancient locks, fences, thick gates, as well as human security personnel and dogs, the cheap robo-dog toys for kids modified with an ai to be watchdogs. These industries and businesses can be mainly found in zone three of each of the four industry sectors, and are where the majority of D rank SCS people work. As you can guess, the work is not easy and is very tiring.¡±


    Arron nodded, he had seen many such places as they drove around Zone three picking up the troubled targets.


    ¡°The second type is the most common on the first level. The medium industry/businesses are mainly owned and controlled by the large Independent companies. It is very rare to see one not controlled by them due to the majority of smaller owners getting swallowed up by the companies. They have their own products that they make such as hover cars, tractors, and other gizmos making a modest profit. The majority of them can be found in zone two of each industry sector and employ the majority of C rank as well as having a large number of worker bots to help mass produce things. They get kickbacks from Mother and Father for employing people instead of bots, plus it''s cheaper. Their security is just shy of sector 12''s standards.¡±


    ¡°And the last group are the Megacorps that can be found in every zone of one of the industry sectors. They who have monopolies on whatever it is they produce and employ very few humans. Their factories are mainly run by worker bots. Their security, depending on which megacorp it is, is usually even better than the stuff we use in sector 12!¡±


    ¡°Megacorps... sounds like they must be making a lot of money,¡± said Arron.


    ¡°I don''t know much about them since they keep almost all of their info a secret. But when a company reaches that stage Mother and father take an interest in them. I heard a rumor that they even get partially funded by Mother and Father. Allowing them to reap even more profits and expand even faster,¡± said Kix.


    He opened up a menu on his wrist data-pad and after selecting a few options he started tapping on his holo-keypad, filling out a few forms before he pressed send.


    Immediately the 3d holographic head of Toothbrush popped up over the car''s dashboard.


    ¡°Paperwork received, I''ll finish the rest on my end. The Office of Reason has sent updated coordinates that you are to head to and wait for them.¡± With that said, the call ended.


    You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.


    Kix looked at the new destination that was just sent to them. ¡°Checkpoint between Zone 1 and Zone 3, let''s drop off our cargo. Then we can do a few more laps around zone three and call it a day.¡±


    The checkpoint between zone 1 and zone 3 had two large gatehouses on either side of the road.


    The road between the two gatehouses was currently raised to create a barricade to stop hover vehicles and random people from passing.


    Next to the guardhouse on the right side of the road was a large flat parking lot, with a Hover-heli landing pad. This was where Arron and Kix were currently waiting.


    Kix and Arron were standing outside the APC and had been waiting for nearly 30 minutes before they heard the sound of a fast-approaching hover-heli, which reached them only seconds later.


    The black military-grade heli hovered over the landing pad of the parking lot. Attached underneath the belly of the hover-heli was a large square container.


    The side door of the heli opened and two shiny black exoskeletons with large white O.R. letters stamped on their chest jumped out and slammed into the pavement. This was Arron''s first time seeing an actual full-functioning Exoskeleton.


    They looked like Ancient knight armor and stood nearly 7ft tall.


    The two exoskeletons already had their jumbo-sized guns drawn and began to scan the area for threats. They even pointed them at Arron and Kix as they scanned the two before moving on to different targets.


    ¡°Area secure begin landing procedure,¡± shouted a metallic voice from one of the exoskeleton''s external loudspeakers.


    The hovering Heli softly landed down on the landing pad, with the square container resting on the ground underneath it.


    The loud engines powered down to a lower setting, lowering the whirring noise it made to a soft murmur.


    Three gray-suited Office of Reason agents, exited from the opened side door descending a short rope ladder.


    ¡°What are the gray suits doing here? Isn''t this a task for the black suit field agents?¡± muttered Kix.


    Both Arron and Kix stood ramrod straight as they watched the three agents approach them.


    The two black exoskeletons continued to scan the area on high alert for any danger.


    As this was Arron''s first interaction with the Office of Reason he did not know if what Kix had said was true, or what the difference was.


    The three gray suits, two males and one female, stopped a few steps away from them.


    ¡°Where are the Troubled non-believers?¡± asked the man in the center of the group. There was not even the slightest hint of friendliness in his voice.


    Kix pointed to the opened back of the APC where the electric barrier was still active.


    With a quick motion of the agent''s hand, the two Black exoskeletons stomped forward with their weapons trained on the back.


    ¡°You, shut it off,¡± ordered the gray suit agent pointing to Arron.


    Arron walked over to the back and deactivated the electric barrier.


    The crammed people inside of the APC did not try to escape. They could clearly see the two large-caliber guns pointed directly at them.


    ¡°Everyone out! Line up in a single file!¡± the metallic voice boomed out a command from one of the exoskeleton''s external loudspeakers.


    The over 20 people spilled out of the holding cell and formed up into a ragged single line. Most of them were staring at the ground. Only a few dared to peek at the three gray suit agents of the Office of Reason.


    Arron could see that all of their SCS had lost 50 points from when they had been picked up earlier.


    One of the exoskeletons continued to stand guard over the Troubled non-believers, while the second exoskeleton began to scan each person.


    ¡°Team leader, all the listed Troubled non-believers are present!¡±


    ¡°Load them up!¡± shouted the male gray suit agent.


    A loud thud was heard as the rear of the square container opened and fell to the ground creating a small ramp.


    ¡°All of you, into the transport container!¡± shouted one of the black Exoskeletons as he led the way forward.


    ¡°Quit lollygagging!¡± shouted the second black exoskeleton as he kicked the leg of the pudgy woman who was at the rear of the group.


    A loud ''Crack!'' was heard as her leg snapped in two, causing her to fall flat on her face with a pained cry.


    ¡°Useless!¡± cursed the second black exoskeleton as he grabbed her arm and dragged her the rest of the way to the container and threw her inside like a rag doll.


    The gray suit agents watched in silence. Once the container''s ramp slammed shut, they climbed back into the hover-heli not even saying another word to Arron or Kix.


    The two exoskeletons jumped into the air and landed inside the opened door, causing the hover-heli to rock a bit.


    As soon as the side door was slammed shut, the hover-heli''s engines throttled back up to max and it shot up into the air flying off into the distance.


    ¡°What the hell was that?¡± asked Arron, only after they could no longer see the hover-heli.


    ¡°Don''t ask. It''s way above our pay grade,¡± said Kix.

 Chapter 33: Checkup

    As Arron and Kix started to walk back to the APC, a loud cry rang out from a nearby street.


    ¡°Save me Kix!¡± ¡°Save me too Kix!¡±


    ¡°What now?¡± asked Kix, with a loud sigh.


    Two men ran up to Kix and hid behind him.


    Kix looked at the two men cowering behind him. One was a tall lanky youth around 20 years of age while the other was a short plump bald man nearing 60 years.


    ¡°That man has gone mad!¡± said the short old man.


    ¡°What are you doing here Slappy? Shouldn''t you and Pappy be scamming people in the shopping district?¡± Kix asked the short older man.


    ¡°Kix! I''m hurt that you would call me a scammer! I run an honest business! Right Pappy?¡± said Slappy, with a poorly faked hurt expression.


    ¡±Right! The sign on the front door says so,¡± said Pappy, the young lanky youth.


    ¡°Our business is even cleaner than...¡± Seeing Kix glare at him, Slappy changed the topic. ¡°Anyways save us! That idiot is trying to kill us!¡±


    ¡°I am sure he has a good reason,¡± said Kix.


    ¡°The idiot spent all his savings on gambling and lost. Now he is trying to kill us! How is that our fault? He shouldn''t be this stupid.¡±


    A man stood across the street glaring at the two who were hiding behind Kix. He did not dare do anything after seeing Kix and Arron were M1 officers.


    All he could do was send death glares in Pappy and Slappy''s direction.


    ¡°Who are these two characters?¡± asked Arron, standing next to the opened passenger door of the APC.


    ¡°Zone 3''s biggest, small-time scammers. They run a gambling shop called treasure trove. It''s where people choose a main item they want and then play many gambling games to try and win it. Of course, they have to pay to play the games,¡± explained Kix.


    ¡°Hey, we¡¯re a legitimate business, we even pay our 60% tax to mother and father on time, every time. We also have to pay 35% to the boss which leaves us with only 5%. How can we not tighten our belts?¡± asked Slappy.


    Just when Kix was going to reply, he and Arron both received a NerViz notification message.


    The helmet''s visor screen began flashing Red with a robotic voice booming out of the speakers.


    ¡°Red alert! Code 3!¡± ¡°Red alert! Code 3!¡±


    The warring continued to blare in their helmets until they opened the message.


    Both Arron and Kix were not worried since out of codes 1, 2, and 3, Code 3 only meant that there was a minor problem in their local area and they had to take care of it.


    [The System has detected several dozen calls originating from Zone 3''s civilian district, all of them have described a major disturbance of the peace. Check with HQ for more detail.]


    ¡°Sorry Slappy, Pappy, we have work to do,¡± said Kix as he entered the APC.


    Before closing the door he looked over to the man still glaring at the two men.


    ¡°If I find out that the two somehow died, you will be detained and normalized by the Office of Reason,¡± said Kix.


    The glaring man gave up on his thoughts of killing the two after hearing those words... but there were still other methods to vent his rage.


    ¡°Kix, take us with you!¡± shouted a worried Pappy as he watched the APC drive away with its flashing lights and sirens blaring.


    Inside the APC.


    ¡°Were just going to leave them like that?¡± asked Arron.


    ¡°If we had to save those two idiots every time they got into trouble there would be no end to it. Maybe a bit of pain will wake them up and they''ll stop picking fights with people stronger than them,¡± said Kix. He tapped onto the dashboard''s holographic menu and started a call with HQ.


    ¡°Tooth, what information do you have for us on the Code three?¡± asked Kix, when the call connected.


    ¡°One second...,¡± said Toothbrush. He started accessing menus and typing in a few things in order to bring up the requested information.


    ¡°Looks like all the calls are from Zone 3''s central district Mega-partments. A note was left saying a Social worker from the Office of Reason has already been sent there. The orders state that you are to meet up with them and help them with whatever they need. I''ve just sent you all the information.¡±


    ¡°Got it. If you can, let them know we''re on our way right now,¡± said Kix before ending the call.


    Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.


    ***


    The Mega-partments got their name because the owner, when building it, had combined 4 normal 300 story apartment buildings into one. There were a total of 8 such Mega-partments in the central district all made out of cheap para-concrete.


    The two exited their vehicles and looked at the massive Mega-partments all around them. Each one of them looked ready to crumble at any moment.


    ¡°Which building do we have to meet the social worker at?¡± asked Arron.


    Kix took a quick glance at the info opened in the corner of his visor before replying to Arron, ¡°Building 4, that one over there.¡±


    The building he pointed to looked to be the one in the worst shape out of the 8 Mega-partments.


    They walked over to the entrance of the building but found no one waiting for them.


    So they waited a total of five minutes before Kix called Tooth again.


    ¡°Tooth, when will the Social worker get here?¡±


    ¡°They should already be there.¡±


    ¡°We haven''t seen them yet, we have been waiting for over 5 minutes. Can you just tell us which floor the call came from?¡± asked Kix.


    ¡°Part B, the 253rd floor.¡±


    As soon as Arron and Kix entered part B of the Mega-partments, they were surrounded by a group of thuggish brutes all wearing black synthetic leather jackets with each of their hairstyles looking outlandish.


    ¡°Who are you?¡± asked the biggest man in the group of ruffians.


    Arron just pointed to the white M1 on his chest armor.


    ¡°We control part B and we don''t allow cops inside this building,¡± said the man, puffing out his A1 parasteel plated chest.


    Kix was not in the mood to play with them and just asked, ¡°Did the Social worker from the Office of Reason already enter?¡±


    ¡°Yeah. You with her? Too bad you still can''t come in...what are you doing!¡± he shouted angrily as Kix pushed him aside.


    ¡°He pushed the leader! Block him!¡±


    The man and his underlings keep blocking them every time they tried to move forward. While doing this they were constantly shouting insults at both Arron and Kix.


    ¡°What''s your badge number and name! I''m going to make a complaint about you to your chief!¡±


    Arron tapped the small metal piece on his chest and his badge popped up.


    ¡°Okay Officer Wynterz, expect to get a complaint from me!¡± said the leader.


    ¡°Move!¡± ordered Kix glaring at the man.


    ¡°What? You think because we have D rank SCS that we''re afraid of you? We got connections with big people, we ain''t afraid. Show us your badge.¡±


    Kix tapped on his badge which shut the loudmouth up. They all had a weird look on their faces as they stepped aside allowing Arron and Kix to reach the stairs.


    ¡°Damn it, more stairs! Why can''t these damned buildings build a mag-shoot!¡± grumbled Arron as they started to climb the stairs.


    ¡°They had a choice between stairs and installing a cheap no-name brand that would kill anyone who used it. Since that would just bring them more problems than it''s was worth, they picked stairs,¡± said Kix.


    When they had reached floor 252 and were at the bottom of the stairs to the next floor they saw a worried man pacing back and forth near the top of the stairs.


    ¡°Sir, is everything alright? We received several calls about a problem here. Are you one of the callers?¡± asked Kix.


    The man stopped pacing and looked at the two standing at the bottom of the stairs.


    ¡°Yes,¡± After answering, the man muttered a few sentences they could not hear.


    ¡°Sir?¡± asked Arron.


    ¡°One second, I''ll get the person who needs your help,¡± said the man as he walked away from the top of the stairs.


    Arron looked to Kix who nodded to him before he started to walk up the stairs to the 253rd floor. Kix followed behind him only a few steps below.


    When Arron reached the top of the stairs he heard the man''s voice coming from the only apartment that had its door opened.


    ¡°Sir?¡± called out Arron.


    ¡°Is everything okay?¡± asked Kix, who was still standing on the stairs.


    A second later the man returned to the doorway...


    ¡°Sir! Put the...¡±


    Bam! Bam! Bam! Bam!


    ...and started shooting at Arron and Kix with an illegally modified stubby.


    Arron received two hits on his chest armor knocking him back into the wall behind him.


    The impact caused a large hole to appear in the weak wall.


    ¡°What the fuck!¡± shouted Aaron, as he dislodged himself from the wall and rolled to the side dodging several more bullets that landed where he had been standing just seconds before.


    Kix cursed as he ducked down back into the stairwell to dodge the hail of bullets shot at him, pinning him down and preventing him from joining Arron.


    Arron came up from his roll into a crouching position with his right leg''s AB V.3 boot protecting his lower body. A bullet flew by and grazed his exposed arm as he aimed his Fatboy and fired one shot.


    BAM!


    With that one shot, a large hole was blasted through the man''s chest immediately dropping him to the ground and stopping the shooting.


    Kix quickly rushed over to Arron, and after seeing blood on the ground, he checked to see how badly he was wounded.


    ¡°Looks like you''ll be just fine. You''ll have a few welts from those two hits to your chest, and just a small cut on your arm,¡± said Kix, as he took out a first aid bottle from his utility belt and poured some of the contents onto Arron''s bleeding arm.


    ¡°Why did he do that?¡± asked Arron, still jittery from the rush of adrenaline.


    ¡°How am I supposed to know what or how a crazy person thinks?¡± asked Kix.


    ¡°You saw he had a gun, are you one of those idiots who think they''re knights in shining armor? That''s the reason you got shot. People like you are the first to die.¡±


    Arron didn''t say anything. He didn''t even know how the person managed to have a gun which was illegal to own.


    ¡°Whoever he was talking to probably knows what was wrong with him,¡± said Kix.


    Arron was pulled up back onto his feet and he followed Kix to the open door. They both had their guns drawn ready to react to another ambush.


    Inside the apartment were two bloody bodies.


    One was a male body that had been stabbed several 100s of times while the other was a female body missing her head.


    Arron looked at the information that popped up on his visor after a quick scan.


    ¡°Well, looks like we found the social worker and her guard,¡± said Kix.

 Chapter 34: Comedy Night

    Kix had already called in one of the patrolling security drones to take over documenting the crime scene.


    ¡°Why can''t we just plug in and download the data ourselves?¡± asked Arron.


    ¡°Mother and Fathers new orders. Something like this has to be taken care of by the security drones under their control. Not sure if this new law is also for the major cases as well,¡± said Kix with a shrug.


    ¡°Just seems unnecessary,¡± said Arron.


    ¡°I don''t mind really. With this being such a shady place, who wants to plug in and give a direct connection to your NerViz allowing any type of hacker to access or even take control? You need to be careful of what you connect to or you might get a virus that can spread and hack into any other augments in your body.¡±


    Arron watched as the security drone floated up the stairs and plugged itself into the floor''s security system.


    A holographic video was projected out from the bot as it gathered all the holo-vid recreating the scene of all that had happened.


    When it was done with that it floated into the apartment and scanned the three bodies, as well as their NerViz cloudchip''s, and took samples of their blood.


    When it had gathered all that it needed it sent the information back to HQ for the paper pushers to take care of.


    ***


    Arron and Kix exited the artificial Onsen that was located on one of the underground floors of [The Roach].


    ¡°This place sure has everything doesn''t it,¡± said Arron. He was now more relaxed after soaking in the hot water for over 30 minutes.


    ¡°Don''t think you can come here every day. With the water laws the way they are, the Onsen is too expensive. I only treated you today because of how crazy everything was today,¡± said Kix.


    ¡°Captain Pointer and the others should be waiting for us at the bar. Tonight should be fun.¡±


    The two made their way to the stairs and climbed up to [The Oasis] on the 13th.


    The atmosphere was a nice breath of fresh air and calming as they entered. As they walked over to the corner where the rest of ERF 3 was once again sitting, Arron caught a few snippets of the news from the several Holo-vision screens playing on low volume.


    ¡°...in other news, a recent rare interview was allowed to air this morning. It showed a captured savage, who talked about ''fighting for the freedom of his country¡¯, has gone viral,¡± said Fela.


    ¡°All these savage countries are still experiencing the [Troubles] and yet they babble on about ''Freedom''. They need to stop acting like terrorists and stop fighting against the WHO''s army. Only then can the WHO Normalize the [Troubles] and allow them to join as a member state,¡± said Kommy.


    When Arron and Kix arrived at the corner table, they found that everyone was engrossed in listening to Old Tooth telling a story.


    ¡°Where was I?... ah yes... as I was saying... I was once a millionaire many years ago... I had over 3 million dollars.¡±


    Old man Tooth took a sip of his drink before continuing.


    ¡°I made it all from an investment. But it was all in the currency of the old country. When the WHO and Mother and Father took over... Poof! It all became worth less than 1 credit.¡±


    ¡°Hey old man...¡± Toothbrush tried to ask a question but was interrupted.


    ¡°I''m not old! I''m only 41!¡± said old Tooth.


    ¡°What!?¡± asked the entire group in shock.


    Old tooth definitely looked like an old man with his wrinkled face and white hair.


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    Grumpily old tooth stood up and walked to an empty barstool to nurse his half-empty glass of bubbling alcohol.


    ¡°I guess the stress really does wreak havoc on your body,¡± said Captain Pointer.


    ¡°Kix, Arron, nice of you to join us,¡± said Ward as he sipped a dark bubbling drink.


    ¡°Arron, You must be special. On your first day you already got your near-death cherry popped,¡± said Kat with a smile.


    ¡°You heard about it already?¡± asked Arron.


    ¡°You won''t believe all the crap we ran into today. It was hectic,¡± said Kix, shaking his head.


    Arron nodded his head in agreement.


    ¡°This is not something to joke about Kat,¡± said Priss, as she ate some of the snacks on the table.


    ¡°If you can''t laugh about it, you''ll end up insane. Just look at me,¡± said Knox Harup, pointing to his many scars.


    The other members of ERF''s Unit three continued to chat with each other while Arron looked through the table''s holo menu and decided to try one of the 100+ different coffees that [The Oasis] served.


    ''It''s probably safer than choosing an alcoholic beverage.'' Arron thought as he tapped on a brand named ''Normal Original Plain Coffee''.


    As he paid for the drink, the large balance in his account reminded him that he needed to send some money to his parents.


    He taped in 10,000 credits for the transfer, which would leave him around 2k credits for the rest of the month.


    [Processing... Transfer failed! Maximum allowed monthly transfer for Rank B SCS is 9999.]


    Arron again tried to transfer credits but this time typing in 9999.


    [Processing... Transfer success! Maximum allowed monthly transfer has been reached.]


    He noticed that his NerViz mail had several new messages from friends and family back in Novhere, all asking about a news article that was written about him.


    They were worried since the article made him sound like a bumpkin who was amazed at everything in the city and thought that the party of Mother and Father were not strict enough and needed more laws.


    Arron sighed and closed the messages when his coffee was delivered by a serving bot and placed down on the table.


    ¡°You finally see the article?¡± asked Kix with a smile. ¡°You know what they say, either you read the news and are misinformed or you don''t read it and you are uninformed.¡±


    Arron shrugged his shoulders as he took a sip and made an odd face causing the others to laugh. The coffee tasted like steaming hot and bitter synth-food.


    ¡°What did you expect? You won''t find real coffee anywhere on the 1st level unless you''re a politician of the party of Mother and Father,¡± said Kix.


    ¡°Arron today is your lucky day,¡± Bishop.


    ¡°I doubt it.¡±


    ¡°It''s Comedy Night!¡± said Kat with a grin.


    ¡°Comedy night?¡±


    ¡°Just watch and you''ll see,¡± said Kat patting him on the shoulder.


    ¡°Level one may be the poorest level of the Megacity but at least we have more entertainment than we know what to do with,¡± said Ward.


    Kix snorted, ¡°Cheaply made mass-produced garbage. All they do is recreate old versions of shows and movies every few months. It''s all done to keep idiots under control.¡±


    The already dim lights in [The Oasis] lowered even further and the small stage near the end of the bar lit up. Revealing several men and women sitting on hover chairs.


    The first man stood up and walked to a floating microphone with the golden yellow spotlight narrowing and focusing on him.


    ¡°Ahem...,¡± The man nervously cleared his throat. ¡°What do you call a man with no nose and no body? ¡­ Nobody nose.¡±


    ¡°Speeding never killed anyone... It¡¯s the sudden stop.¡±


    ...and so the jokes continued coming, with one person after the other trying to one-up the last person. Things were really heating up as the patrons that volunteered got more comfortable.


    The jokes got more wild as time passed and the strong drinks they were guzzling down started to take effect.


    Arron was enjoying how crazy things were getting, allowing him to take his mind off the day''s events.


    ¡°...what next? Will Mother and Father ban pooping while sitting down? Or regulate that you have to pee while doing a handstand?¡± said a drunk female.


    Annnnnn!


    A loud buzzer sounded as the female finished her joke. The spotlight light turned red and a security bot flew down from the ceiling.


    ¡°Violation of speech code and a breach of the peace! Begin Normalization!¡±


    Zap!


    The female was knocked out and fell to the floor, which opened up underneath her and quickly closed after she fell through.


    The security bot flew back up into the ceiling and the light returned to its golden yellow glow.


    The rest of the people telling jokes became stuttering wrecks. Those who could speak just repeated jokes they had already said as their minds blanked and ignored the other jokes they had prepared.


    The relaxed mood from before was broken and everyone started to ignore the people on the stage while they quietly talked among themselves.

 Chapter 35: Traffic Stop

    Sector 10, Zone 1.


    Several days passed since Arron''s first eventful patrol. Arron and Kix were once again in sector 10 to keep the peace and fulfill the orders issued by Mother and Father.


    Arron was standing on a raised paraconcrete square platform in the middle of the large 8-lane 4-way highway.


    The highway was the main road that connected the factories, apartments, and the marketplace of Sector 10. This meant that there were thousands of Hover-Vehicles driving past every few minutes.


    With the help of his helmet¡¯s visor, he watched as the vehicles flooded past him. He was on the lookout for any vehicles that belonged to those who had warrants out for arrests.


    ¡°Kix, how long do I have to stand here?¡± asked Arron, using the helmet''s secure one-way coms.


    ¡°The information sent to us by Tooth said the target would be off of work any time now. They should be passing through soon,¡± said Kix, his holographic head appearing in a box screen in the upper right of the helmet''s visor.


    ¡°Just be ready to help me if they try anything,¡± said Arron.


    Kix was hiding inside the dark and cramped para-concrete platform that Arron was standing on.


    He was already suited up in the P.L.E.v.2 exoskeleton and would exit to help secure the target when Arron successfully found and stopped the target. His hiding was so that he did not spook the target or any other passing wanted criminals.


    Several minutes passed before Arron''s visor alerted him by zooming in on a Hovercar and highlighting it in red.


    It was a fairly new slim blue Roarari Hovercar, a knockoff of the 2nd and 3rd levels popular Furrarie brand.


    ¡°Target found. Initiating stop,¡± said Arron.


    He raised his gloved hand and it glowed red as he pointed to the intersection where the hovercar was.


    The traffic light for that lane immediately switched to red causing all the auto-driven cars to come to a complete jerking stop. Some of the vehicles had been in the process of crossing the 8-lane 4-way and were not stopped right in the middle. The doors of the vehicles were all automatically locked, making it so no one could exit their vehicle to interfere or escape.


    Using the holographic traffic control interface, Arron selected the road in front and behind the targeted car.


    As he raised his gloved hand, the road in front and behind the blue Roarari raised boxing it in.


    ¡°Kix, it''s all ready for you,¡± said Arron.


    He stood to the side as the parasteel trapdoor opened and Kix jumped out with his fully powered exoskeleton legs.


    The P.L.E.v.2 was far smaller and slimmer than the black Exoskeletons that Arron had seen used by the Office of Reason guards. It was quite compact when compared to its predecessor.


    The parasteel armor that covered Kix''s entire body was tinted in the dark blue of M1 with the checkered white paint on its shoulders and a large M1 on its chest.


    Kix hopped down from the platform onto the highway below and started a swift clunking jog towards the target. He weaved in and out of the halted Hovercars passing several unsurprised faces as they watched Kix run by.


    ¡°Ah! The target''s door is being opened! Looks like the target Illegally hacked and modified the car!¡± warned Arron. He was now busy keeping an eye on the car while manually directing traffic away from the area.


    ¡°I see that!¡± said Kix, as he crouched down and jumped into the air, clearing a large distance.


    Crash!


    Kix landed on the hood of the blue Roarari. Crumpling the A3 Parastele and the engine inside.


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    He reached out with the armored exoskeleton and grabbed onto the half-open door... and shoved it back trapping the man that was halfway out of the car.


    ¡°OWWWW! What the fuck man! Let me go! I ain''t done nothing!¡± shouted the trapped man,


    Both of the man''s arms had been replaced with cybernetic implants and he was trying to use them to push the car door open.


    Kix pressed down harder as he stepped off the front of the ruined hood and stood in front of the door. The man''s arms, which were made from a cheap A1 parasteel, could not withstand the pressure from Kix''s exoskeleton and buckled, becoming severely dented.


    Kix did a quick scan of the man''s NerViz implant, after finding that the target had removed the cloud-chip in his hand.


    Ding!


    The man''s outline turned red and a list of the many violations he had committed started to flow above his head.


    ¡°The information was correct. It is the chicken bandit, Arresting the target. Arron, notify the police that their target has been apprehended. Give them our coordinates so they can come pick him up.¡±


    Kix opened the door and grabbed the man''s shoulder, pulling him out. The man''s two cybernetic arms hung limp next to his body. There was no way for him to escape the grip of the exoskeleton so he gave up struggling.


    ¡°How did you find me? I didn''t use my car and I don''t have a cloudchip!¡± said the chicken bandit.


    ¡°You idiot. You think driving a stolen car would make you invisible? All you did was add more crimes to your list,¡± said Kix, as he adjusted and then placed the magnetic cuffs around the man''s legs.


    There was no point in putting the cuffs on the man''s crumpled arms.


    ¡°What crimes am I being accused of! Who says I''m a criminal? I only borrow this car.¡±


    Kix looked at the long list and found who had issued the warrant.


    ¡°The Office of Reason is the one who issued the warrant on behalf of the police HQ. You''ve been on the run for quite a few days. Stupid of you to go to work.¡±


    ¡°Whatever! Who cares what they say? And screw you, you''re just an M1 goon. All you guys do is arrest and kill us C-rank SCS people!¡± said the angry man.


    Kix grabbed the man''s crumpled arm and pulled him along the highway as they walked towards the APC that was only a block away.


    ¡°Well yeah, the only people living on the first level are C and D rank soo... and those with D rank have it worse than you, so you should stop complaining. You''re already getting points docked from your score for the warrant. With the added charges of illegally modifying a vehicle, who knows, you might be lucky enough this time to become a new D rank SCS citizen. I''m rooting for you,¡± said Kix as he half dragged the stumbling man behind him.


    This caused the belligerent man to go quiet as the reality of his situation set in.


    ¡°No need to tease the man. I doubt that he will make it out of this with the same SCS rank,¡± said Arron.


    Arron raised his gloved hands which turned green and pointed at the stopped traffic, returning control to sector 10''s traffic control AI. The stopped vehicles all rose back up and continued to travel wherever they had been going before being stopped.


    Arron used the underground tunnel inside the platform to walk to an exit a block away, where the APC was waiting. When he arrived outside Kix was shoving the man into the back cell and closing the door.


    ¡°I think I''m getting the hang of this job. Other than our first day It has been rather tame,¡± said Arron.


    He entered the passenger side of the APC and started typing up a document to send out the information to the police.


    Kix exited the P.L.E.v.2 putting it back into its metal case before he hopped into the driver''s seat and slammed the door shut.


    ¡°I''m just glad we haven''t been given any deathtrap equipment to try out lately,¡± said Kix.


    Soon after sending out the message, Arron received a holocall from the Police-HQ.


    A female secretary appeared on the top-right screen of his visor.


    ¡°Our officers can''t meet you there since it''s not safe. You need to at least come to the sector 10 and 12 border checkpoint so they can pick the target up.¡±


    Arron turned to Kix and said, ¡°They want us to go to the border checkpoint so they can pick him up.¡±


    ¡°What a bunch of pussies. Tell them they can come and pick him up now or they can wait until we are finished with our shift. We''re not making the trip all the way back just because they''re scared,¡± said Kix, not lowering his voice.


    Arron saw the female''s face redden. She looked to the side at someone who was off-screen and had let out a stream of curses.


    ¡°There''s no need to tell us, we heard him loud and clear,¡± said the cursing man, his face popped into view and was tinted red with anger.


    ¡°As soon as we have enough armored cars ready, we''ll send someone over to where you''re at.¡±


    Ahnnnnnnnnnn! M1 Alarm sounded in both the vehicle and their helmets.


    The alarm interrupted the call with the Police HQ and was replaced with Toothbrush on both Kix and Arron''s helmet visor as well as the APC''s dashboard holoscreen.


    ¡°New orders! Someone in a Mechanized worker bot has started to go on a rampage in sector 10''s industrial zone 2. Your orders are to stop them!¡±


    After the transmission of their new orders, the holo-call with the police HQ resumed once again.


    ¡°Sorry, we received new orders. We''ll update you on where to come when we get to our new destination.¡±


    ¡°Where are you heading?¡±


    ¡°Zone 2!¡±


    ¡°That''s even worse! It''s farther away and more dangerous!¡± said the red-faced man.


    Arron only shrugged his shoulders, ¡°Sorry, just following orders.¡±

 Chapter 36: Factory Rampage

    The holo-call ended abruptly after a few curses were thrown at Arron.


    Arron tapped the HQ quick contact and began a call to Toothbrush.


    The person that answered was Lexa. She looked every bit like a teacher with her black hair bun and glasses.


    ¡°How can I help you two?¡± she asked in a direct no-nonsense manner.


    ¡°We''re on our way to the disturbance in sector 10 zone 2. Can you tell us where his home or any friends'' houses he might try to flee to?¡±


    ¡°His Address is sector 10 zone 3 mega-apartment 2, floor 69 room 42. Be advised that the target is considered armed and dangerous. As far as we know he has not killed anyone. You are to apprehend him and hand him over to the police who will be picking up the Chicken bandit as well.¡±


    ¡°The APC will not be able to take many hits from the Mechanized worker bot. A new prototype APC v7 has been sent ahead to your destination. There are only 2 differences from the APC v6, the v7 is made out of A9 Parasteel and doesn''t have a cell in the back. I am sending you the coordinates. Be sure to make full use of it!¡±


    ¡°Got it! We will update you when we complete the mission,¡± said Arron.


    As the call ended Arron looked over to Kix who was controlling the speeding APC.


    Several loud curses could be heard over the blaring siren, all of them coming from the back cell as they made several swerves through the crowded afternoon traffic.


    ¡°After weeks of patrols, we finally have another big mission. How are we going to handle this?¡± asked Arron.


    ¡°We''ll use the new AP prototype to go directly where the target is. If he doesn''t try to escape I''ll get out with my exoskeleton and try to deal with him. If that happens, I need you to take over driving the APC v7 and help me box him in if he tries anything,¡± said Kix.


    They shot past the zone 3 checkpoint and into zone 2 not even bothering to stop for an inspection.


    Several minutes later Kix jerked the steering wheel to the right and swerved 180 degrees coming to a complete stop behind the parked APC v7 prototype.


    Loud retching could be heard from the rear of the APC as Arron and Kix exited the vehicle.


    Arron only had his service weapon and the metal case containing the Portable motorcycle v1.


    While Kix had to grab the large case containing his exoskeleton. A loud clunk was heard when Kix closed the door and placed the APCv6 into lockdown mode.


    The dark blue APC v7 prototype was far smaller and slimmer, looking like an obtuse triangle. It seemed like all the most recent prototypes coming from the researchers were slimmed down or miniaturized versions of previous projects.


    Hovering above the new APC prototype, were two ball security drones that had been tasked with guarding the vehicle from any ruffians or hackers that might be stupid enough to try and steal government property.


    With a quick scan, the hover security bots ignored Arron and Kix. They instead moved to float over the APC v6.


    The two hopped into the new prototype which felt far more cramped.


    ¡°Let''s see what this baby can do!¡± said Kix as he pressed his foot down on the accelerator pedal. They did not bother to turn on the sirens as they wanted to make a more stealthy approach to the target.


    With a roar of its engine, they shot off at a high speed, heading towards a nearby large factory that had black smoke rising to join the gray smoke from the factories.


    ¡°This is way better than that large boat we have been using!¡± said Kix as he pressed the pedal down even harder, causing everything to become blurs as they shot forward.


    It was true, the turns and the weaving was far tighter, and Arron felt less of a drift as they made their way through the crowded streets.


    As they rounded the corner of another factory that was blocking their view, they came to a stop and scanned the area for their target.


    Ding!


    The helmet''s visor immediately found the target, zooming in on a nearly 8ft tall Mechanized worker bot, that was in a large flat parking lot in front of the factory.


    It was currently standing next to a pile of 4 hover cars that looked to have been smashed up and were now on fire, letting out the black smoke they had seen earlier.


    The Mechanized worker bot was painted a bright yellow and had far chunkier than the exoskeletons that Arron had seen before.


    As they watched from a distance It lumbered over to an undamaged hovercar and grabbed onto it. It slowly raised the hovercar and started to swing its upper torso around, slowly picking up speed as it spun around and then... released the car sending it flying into the pile of 4 burning hovercars.


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    BAM! Boom!


    The hovercar crumbled as it crashed with the others and the power source exploded sending up a bright yellow mushroom fireball.


    Arron and Kix were far enough away that the Mechanized worker bot did not notice them as it lumbered over to its 6th hovercar.


    ¡°What an inefficient use of space,¡± said Arron as he looked at the large parking lot.


    Kix quickly exited the APC and dragged the portable Exoskeleton case out of the car pressing a holographic button as he placed it on the ground.


    The four sides of the metal case all popped open and fell revealing the thinly armored exoskeleton that was crouched down in a compact and neat cube.


    Immediately the legs stood up, the arms extended out, the head raised itself to look forward, and all its other parts locked into place.


    In less than 30seconds the nearly 6-foot tall exoskeleton stood fully erect with its arms, legs, chest, and helmet open for its user to enter.


    ¡°The information said there was someone inside the Mechanized worker bot right? They''re not holed up somewhere else controlling it?¡± asked Kix as stepped into the open exoskeleton.


    As he leaned back a harness extended out from the back and went around his shoulders and waist locking him in before the thin armor closed around him.


    ¡°That''s what the info says. The fail-safe backdoor was hacked so there is no way to remotely shut it off,¡± said Arron as read the details on the AP''s dashboard.


    ¡°Alright, stay close just in case I need your help. But be far enough away so you can block him if he tries to run.¡±


    ¡°I''ll give it my all.¡±


    ¡°Moe, by order of Mother and Father, you are to stop and surrender yourself!¡± said Kix, using the P.L.E''s loudspeakers as he nimbly jogged through the thousands of parked hovercars.


    Moe, who was in mid-swing, stopped and let the hovercar fly off in an opposite direction than the pile of burning hovercars.


    He turned the lumbering Mechanized worker bot towards Kix who was rushing towards him.


    ¡°Stop? Stop what? My existence is pointless, why stop! I am going to be stuck in the same job, living in the same apartment, driving the same Hovercar, forever stuck on the 1st level due to my SCS!¡± shouted Moe in a slurred voice.


    Clearly, the man was either drunk or high on stims.


    Moe picked up another hovercar and spun once before launching the red Prontic 89'' at Kix.


    Kix used the enhanced exoskeleton legs to jump to the next aisle of cars.


    Behind him, the red Prontic crashed into the paraconcreet and ¡­


    BOOM!


    ...It exploded.


    The concussion from the explosion nearly knocked Kix over as he reoriented himself.


    He dashed forward once again heading towards Moe.


    Moe was able to pick up one more hovercar and fling it before Kix reached him. But I missed him as well.


    Kix shot past Moe and skidded to a halt behind the lumbering Mechanized worker bot that was slowly trying to turn around to bring Kix back into view.


    Kix turned his right armored exoskeleton hand into a jackknife and lunged forward to pierce the armor of the Mechanized worker bot in order to disable the engine...


    ...or that was what was supposed to happen. His armored jackknife fist skidded off the rear armor. A second later the thick armored arm of the Mechanized worker bot swung around and close lined Kix sending him flying.


    ¡°You idiot! The factory owner reinforced all his Worker bots with a layer of A6 parasteel to make sure no one could steal them! Such a puny attack won''t damage it!¡±


    ¡°What are you doing M1? I called you to stop him, not destroy my Mechanized worker bot! They are expensive to repair! Don''t damage it!¡± shouted an angry female, whose voice was echoing through the parking lot from loudspeakers in the lampposts.


    ¡°Kix, you okay?¡± asked Arron. He saw a grimacing Kix in the top right of his visor.


    ¡°Just peachy,¡± said Kix, as got back up onto his feet.


    As he did so, he muttered a few choice curses at both the female speaker and Moe. Arron only caught the last parts of it ¡°... what does she expect me to do? Throw flowers at it?¡±


    Moe once again picked up a hovercar and started to rotate, but this time he did not launch it towards Kix, he continued to swing it as he slowly moved towards Kix.


    Kix dodged out of the way several times as he tried to figure out how to take down the Mechanized worker bot.


    ¡°Screw this!¡± shouted Kix as he dived forward trying to tackle the Mechanized worker bot around its waist underneath the spinning hovercar.


    Unfortunately, he misjudged the jump and the hovercar clipped him sending him flying at least ten aisles away, crashing into a hovercar, and falling onto the paraconcrete.


    He tried to get up but there was no response from the exoskeleton.


    ¡°Fuck, the Exoskeleton¡¯s been totaled! I''m stuck inside, help me out!¡± said Kix.


    Arron, who was ready for such a situation, looked at the pedal. ¡°I think... If I just press this like Kix and it should work....?!¡±


    Arron was pressed back into the driver seat as he shot off down the aisle plowing through the hovercars in his way.


    At such a fast speed he did not have enough experience to make any steering adjustments like Kix, all he could do was keep it aimed at Moe who was also smashing through the hovercars slowly making his way towards the immobile Kix!


    CRASH!


    Arron slammed the front of the new APC prototype into the rear legs of the Mechanized worker bot, crumpling both the front of the APC and the legs into a tangled mess.


    The APC airbags activated on impact punching into Arron stopping him from flying through the reinforced armored paraglass.


    The Mechanized worker bot''s torso fell forward and continued to skid along with the APC, yellow sparks flying everywhere as the leftover speed from the impact pushed them forward in an uncontrolled spin.


    Silence...


    Arron took a few seconds to stop his swimming vision and regain the breath that had been knocked out of him.


    ¡°These damn helmets are crap, I nearly broke my nose,¡± said Arron as wiped the blood from his nose.


    He deactivated the seatbelt and pressed the button to open the door.... nothing.


    Arron grabbed onto the handle and had to manually push the door open.


    As he opened the door he found the immobile Kix right next to his open door.


    ¡°Could you not cut it so close next time? I nearly died from a heart attack!¡± complained Kix.

 Chapter 37: After Report

    As Arron got out of the crumpled APC he was forced to step out over the disabled Kix who was laying on the ground next to his door.


    He crouched down next to the Exoskeleton and stared at the several large dents, scrapes, and cave-ins.


    ¡°Stop staring at me and help me get out of this thing,¡± said an agitated Kix.


    ¡°Does this thing have an external emergency exit button or lever?¡± asked Arron as he inspected the ruined Exoskeleton.


    ¡°Why would it have something like that? If it were to be hit while I was in battle, I would be as good as dead. The only emergency ejection is inside, but it was also damaged.¡±


    ¡°Then how am I supposed to get you out?¡±


    ¡°There should be some tools in the box that held the exoskeleton. Use them to open the helmet and chest from the right side so I can shimmy out.¡±


    ¡°So no slicing through the armor to get you out?¡±


    ¡°The R&D scientists hate it when we destroy their prototype toys. So it''s best we don''t do any extra damage to it.¡±


    Arron looked at the new APC with a grimace. It looked worse than he thought.


    ¡°I guess they''ll be disappointed with both of us. Wait here and don''t move, I''ll go get the tools,¡± said Arron.


    ¡°I''m stuck inside, how can I go anywhere!?¡± shouted Kix.


    While he jogged down the lane towards the box that had the tools, a loud voice boomed out through the entire parking lot.


    ¡°Hey! You M1 agent, stop right there! Don''t even think of escaping! I''m coming out to talk to you guys,¡± shouted the female voice.


    ¡°I''m not going anywhere,¡± said Arron as he grabbed a small bag inside the parasteel box and headed back to Kix.


    Arron crouched down and took out a metal block, one of the specialized tools that was used to help with the maintenance of the portable exoskeleton.


    He ran the metal block, which was actually the manual override key, along the full right side of the chest armor. A soft click could be heard as the internal locking mechanism was manually unlocked and popped open revealing a small gap.


    The chest armor was so damaged that Arron could not open it any further. He was forced to pull out and insert a miniature auto-jack into the small gap and let it work its magic.


    The auto-jack immediately applied pressure to both the top and bottom pushing the dented armor apart.


    With a loud, Pop! The chest armor opened up revealing the harnessed Kix.


    ¡°Just a second I''ll get the helmet open,¡± said Arron.


    The helmet was the least damaged of the entire Exoskeleton and needed no extra step to pop it open.


    ¡°I swear these prototypes are going to be the death of me. Help me out of this harness,¡± said Kix.


    Arron tapped the metal block onto the metal buckle that connected the upper and lower harness, unlocking it.


    As Kix was pulling himself out of the husk of the Exoskeleton, a woman, two human guards, and several outdated first-gen hover security bots, arrived at the site of the wreckage.


    ¡°What do you two have to say for yourselves? Just look at my Mechanized worker bot! Do you know how much it''s going to cost to repair it? More than you make in a month!¡± said the angry woman, not even letting Arron or Kix reply.


    Arron looked over to the totaled Mechanized worker bot. It was still laying on its chest blocking access to the cockpit.


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    ¡°How are we supposed to get the guy out of there?¡± Arron asked Kix.


    Kix, now fully out of the exoskeleton, looked at the angry female. ¡°Ma''am, could you use your security bots to flip this?¡±


    ¡°Why should I? No, I really shouldn''t since it''s probably beyond their weight lifting capacity. Plus that''s just going to do more damage!¡±


    ¡°Look lady, the quicker we get to Moe, the quicker we can be out of your hair.¡±


    ¡°Fine. Buke, go get one of the other worker bots to come and flip this guy over.¡±


    After several minutes of waiting the Mechanized worker bot was detached from the APC.


    ¡°Gently, gently, don''t damage it anymore than it is,¡± instructed the female as it was flipped over onto its back.


    Both Arron and Kix inspected the chest armor and sighed. They were at an impasse once again. The security system was still active and they could not get through the outer layer nor could they unlock it manually.


    ¡°It''s beyond my skill,¡± said Kix.


    ¡°Ha! You''ll never be able to get me out! I am willing to die in here!¡± shouted Moe who had woken up from the impact.


    Arron used his helmet¡¯s contact list and called HQ. Moments later Tooth appeared in the top right of his visor.


    ¡°Is there something I can help you with?¡± asked Tooth.


    ¡°We need you to send Kat over to help bypass a Mechanized worker bot¡¯s hacked security system. Also, we need a pickup crew to come and get the new APC and the light exoskeleton... they both were totaled.¡±


    ¡°Finally something to do! I''ll be right there!¡± said Kat as she poked her head into view from the side.


    Another half-hour passed by painfully as Arron and Kix were forced to listen to the lady complain about them not being careful with the Mechanized worker bot and the cost of it all.


    Kat arrived along with Knox in a large flatbed hauler that would be used to bring back the APC and Exoskeleton.


    She hopped down from the passenger side and walked up to Arron and Kix with her ever-present smile. Kat inspected the two wrecks for only a second before turning to them and saying, ¡°Looks like you guys had a fun afternoon.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, real fun,¡± said Kix.


    Kat turned back to the Mechanized worker bot before pulling out a hand-sized parasteel box from her belt pouch. This was a special hacking toolkit that had its own operating system and several small compartments containing all the tools she needed. She pulled a thick wire out from one of the side compartments and plugged it into one of her NerViz slots at the base of her neck creating a secure connection to the Hacking toolkit.


    She then picked out a second wire from the toolkit, this one was super thin, she continued to pull it out until it was longer than her arm.


    Arron watched all this with great interest as Kat walked over to the Mechanized worker bot and started looking for a small opening in the armor.


    There were several due to the crash. She began to thread the thin wire inside and as she did this a holovid of the internal structure appeared on her visor relaying everything that the micro camera at the end of the wire saw.


    Once the full arm length of the wire was threaded in she accessed the holo-controls of the hacking toolkit. The wire started to move around like a snake hunting for its prey.


    When she found the information transfer wire which was connected to the security system, the thin snake-like wire coiled around its target, and moments later hundreds of spikes pierced into the information transfer wire.


    ¡°Stage one cleared. Starting stage two,¡± said Kat as she cracked her knuckles. She swiped her hand to the left, switching the controls to a holo-keypad.


    Her hands were a blur as she started to type up a storm.


    ¡°Hey! Stop that! Why can''t you just leave me alone!¡± cried Moe angrily from inside the cockpit.


    Several minutes of fierce typing passed as she broke through the multiple defenses that were put in her way trying to block her from gaining access.


    She typed in one last command and slapped the execute button. ¡°Finished.¡±


    A loud clack sounded out and the hissing of hydraulics sounded out as the cockpit opened to reveal the harnessed Moe.


    Kix walked over and slapped some Magnetic cuffs on his wrist.


    ¡°You''re under arrest.¡±


    ***


    M1 HQ.


    Arron and Kix both sat in an empty office holo-screen cubicle, one of several hundred in the information main room.


    Since they had both totaled a prototype, they needed to type up a detailed after-action report explaining what had led to the prototype''s destruction. They were also required to write down any insights that they may have had to help improve the next version of the prototype.


    The digital paperwork took forever to get through.


    Kix, who was more experienced at this, was the first to finish.


    ¡°Damn my body is sore right now. I''m going to have several big bruises from this. Moving around tomorrow is going to be a pain in the butt. I definitely need more practice in the exoskeleton if I want to do something as dumb as this again,¡± said Kix as he rubbed his neck.


    Toothbrush walked into the cubicle and asked, ¡°Have you guys finished typing up everything? I need to file everything and send it all to the proper people.¡±


    ¡°Just finished,¡± said Arron as he swiped the large batch of documents towards Toothbrush.


    ¡°The chief wanted me to let you know that it''s good that you made it back alive, but don''t get into a habit of destroying the prototypes.¡±

 Chapter 38: Disturbance Chase

    The sound of loud sirens echoed off the towering buildings as the APC sped through the streets of Industrial Sector 8''s civilian zone 3.


    Toothbrush''s head floated above the dashboard as he informed Arron and Kix of the situation.


    ¡°The reports coming in say that rioters are in the market district. They have already destroyed several stalls. It''s only time before they start to head to the nearby warehouses and try to loot them.¡±


    ¡°Why are they rioting this time? Did some politician of the Party of Mother and Father, say something to provoke them again?¡± asked Kix.


    ¡°As far as I know nothing like that happened this time,¡± said tooth.


    ¡°How big is this one?¡± asked Arron.


    ¡°Should be around 100 people. I''ll let you know if anything changes while you head there,¡± said Toothbrush before ending the call.


    ¡°This is the 4th riot we''ve been to in the last month right? Why are they allowed to keep doing this even when it is highly illegal?¡± asked Arron.


    ¡°Technically these aren''t considered riots. They all get labeled as an [Disturbance] in the paperwork. These disturbances are nothing new on the 1st level. There are several such disturbances like this happening every other day and none of them make the news. Trust me you don''t want to see a real riot. As for why they do it? The majority of Troubled that do get captured have a D-rank SCS that is far past the point of saving. They have given up on changing their life and do whatever they want.¡±


    ¡°Come to think of it, I never saw disturbances like this on the 4th level or in the news for any of the other levels,¡± said Arron.


    ¡°Because they are completely stomped out and Normalized the second something starts.¡±


    Tooth''s head appeared once again for a few seconds, ¡°We just received an update to your orders, disburse the crowd and arrest the ringleaders.¡±


    ¡°What? We''re just going to let the others go?¡± asked Arron.


    ¡°There''s over 100 of them this time. We can''t handle rounding all of them up at once, it would be a never-ending chase to track them all down. Plus it''s probably just a bunch of angry sheep being herded along by a few wolves. Mother and Father could care less about them. We just need to normalize the troublemakers that organized and are leading the disturbance. It''s a good way to weed out the Troubled that might get funny ideas and re-educate them before they do anything stupid.¡±


    The APC swerved around a parked hovercar and slid to a stop near the entrance of the Market district.


    The entrance to the Market district, which was usually teeming with thousands of people at almost every time of the day, was now empty save for the stall owners who were cleaning up their nearby destroyed stalls. They gathered what they could save and threw everything else into a large dumpster that had also been damaged by the rioters.


    Kix switched off the APC''s siren while Arron opened the passenger window and called out to one of the stall owners.


    ¡°Which way did they go?¡±


    The nearest person, an elderly man with gray hair and a face full of wrinkles, silently pointed down the main street, not bothering to speak to them.


    Kix pressed the pedal and they shot down the main street past several hundred stalls that were destroyed.


    ¡°Two security bots were just rammed and disabled by a hovercar. You have permission to use lethal force if needed to Normalize the occupants,¡± said Tooth.


    ¡°Rodger!¡± said Kix as he jerked the steering wheel to the right, causing the APC to drift around a corner of a large building.


    As they rounded the corner of the building they saw a crowd of over 100 people at the far end of the street.


    The crowd was in the act of tearing down the stalls, stomping on merchandise, and spilling half-cooked mystery food all over the ground.


    In front of the group was a red Bevy hovercar slowly creeping down the road. The owner of the car was sitting in the open window shouting and directing the people behind them.


    At the rear of the crowd was another person on a hoverbike wearing all black leather and a black helmet. They were herding the stranglers who were lagging behind the others as they were too focused on one stall.


    As Arron watched the person on the hoverbike whacked a few of the stragglers with a pipe to keep them moving.


    ¡°We found them. We will begin the Normalization of the situation,¡± said Kix.


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    He tapped a holographic button on the dashboard and the sirens once again blared out echoing back and forth from the tall buildings all down the street.


    The over 100 rioters stopped what they were doing and looked down the street at the speeding APC that was headed right towards them.


    Without a word, the crowd immediately dispersed down several side streets and into buildings as they ran away or tried to hide.


    ¡°Shit!¡± shouted the man sitting in the window.


    ¡°See ya Kal!¡± shouted the female on the Hover-bike. She turned her hoverbike around and sped off down a side street.


    ¡°Callie, you''re just going to leave me like that?¡± Kal shouted after Callie as she tried to escape.


    ¡°You go after hoverbike. I''ll take care of the guy in the hovercar,¡± said Kix as he slowed the APC down enough for Arron to hop out.


    Arron grabbed onto the portable hoverbike case and jumped out of the APC as it was still moving.


    The door was slammed shut and the APC sped off down the road after the fleeing red Bevy.


    Arron pressed the only button on the case and threw it into the air. The box began to morph and extend out to be reshaped as new parts clicked into place.


    A thin but sturdy Hoverbike appeared in front of him, its handles extending up along with a small leather seat popping into place. Instead of an ancient wheeled motorcycle, it had two flat hover skids. The smaller of the two was at the front and was used for steering while the larger one under the main body was used to keep it hovering off the ground.


    Arron hopped on the hoverbike and revved the engine making sure that everything was working as it should. The Hoverbikes speedometer appeared on the left side of his helmet¡¯s visor as he shot off down the road heading towards the side street that the black leathered Callie had escaped down.


    All this happened in only a few seconds.


    Callie looked behind her and saw Arron rounding the corner so she turned off into another alleyway trying to lose Arron.


    ¡°Tooth, do you have visuals on the female biker?¡± asked Arron, sending her ID to Tooth.


    ¡°Wait a few seconds... I''m redirecting one of the area''s security drones towards your target. Once it encounters her, it will lock on and send you the feed,¡± said Tooth in the top right of Arron''s visor.


    A minute later Arron started to receive the live footage. Tooth had also pinned a moving red dot on the Sector 3 road map showing him the exact location of the target.


    ¡°I have the feed,¡± said Arron. He did not slow down as he turned onto another narrow alleyway and shot past several shocked citizens who jumped back and hugged the building''s wall trying to get out of his way.


    The red dot on the map was doing a lot of weaving back and forth through many streets, alleys, and even did some backtracking.


    ¡°Did I lose him?¡± asked the woman as she looked over her shoulder.


    Vroom!


    Arron dropped down from a higher overpass and landed right next to the female biker. He had taken a shortcut and was able to catch up easily due to her indecisive driving.


    The startled Callie reacted by swinging the metal parsteel pipe at Arron''s head.


    Arron leaned to the left and ducked his head as he widened the distance between them. There wasn''t much room to dodge such an attack in the dark alley that they were speeding down.


    Not giving up on catching her, Arron leaned to the right and closed the distance once again.


    When the pipe swung towards his head again was ready for and grabbed onto it. The two fought over it with one hand while they used the other to keep their hoverbikes steady as they continued to speed down the alley passing several side streets which had hover cars speeding by.


    ¡°Let go!¡± shouted Callie.


    Arron tugged even harder on the pipe and leaned to the right slamming his hoverbike into hers causing her to nearly lose control as it wobbled for a few seconds before being able to stabilize the speeding hoverbike.


    After failing to ram her a second time, Arron gave up the idea of ramming and jumped off his bike tackling Callie right off her hoverbike.


    Their hoverbikes continued flying down the alley for a few seconds before losing control and crashing into a wall.


    The Arron and Callie crashed into the wall of the nearby building dampening some of their forward momentum before they fell to the ground and rolled several times before coming to a stop.


    ¡°Fuck! I think you broke my leg!¡± groaned Callie. Her helmet was cracked open from the impact and her leather jacket and pants had several tears from the impact with the wall and roll on the rough paraconcrete.


    Arron came out mostly unscathed from the tumble due to his armor and helmet dampening the impact and protecting him from any serious damage.


    He stood up and pulled a pair of magnetic cuffs off his belt. Callie was rocking back and forth on the ground as she moaned in pain.


    Arron flipped her over onto her belly and cuffed her.


    ¡°OWW! I said I have a broken leg!¡±


    ¡°If you didn''t start causing problems I wouldn''t have had to chase after you,¡± said Arron as he lifted her onto one foot.


    ¡°Shut it, you''re just Mother and Father¡¯s lapdog doing whatever they tell you to,¡± said Callie with grit teeth as she tried to ignore the pain.


    With a sigh, Arron said, ¡°I don''t get you guys. Why do this type of stuff? You are just hurting the other people who are just trying to make a living.¡±


    ¡°Screw them, let them suffer like the rest of us.¡±


    ¡°Your concerns have been recorded and will be relayed to those in charge of chatting with you later.¡±


    Arron shook his head. He did not understand these kinds of people who knew that they were breaking the law and the consequences of doing so.


    They could live a decent and worry-free life if they just followed the laws and regulations of Mother and Father, and yet there were always several rift-raft that had to start trouble.


    Two hovering security bots made their way over to Arron and Callie, their metallic hands clicking and clacking.


    ¡°Kix, target two''s situation has been Normalized how about you?¡±


    ¡°Already caught them and I''m on my way to you. I saw the feed of your chase. It was quite wild man. You''re getting good at using that Hoverbike.¡±


    ¡°I''ve taken quite the liking to it,¡± said Arron.


    ¡°Meet me at the end of the alleyway you''re currently in,¡± said Kix.


    Arron turned to Callie, ¡°You have two options, you can either hop out of here by yourself, or the bots will carry you out.¡±

 Chapter 39: Package

    In the M1''s dim locker room Arron was pulling off his chest armor and placing it in his locker with the number 3-3-2 on the door.


    Ding! His NerViz notified him of a new message.


    He opened the messages with his wrist data-pad and frowned at the name of the sender.


    ¡°Something the matter?¡± asked Kix.


    ¡°Something from the Office of Reason,¡± said Arron. He finished taking off the rest of his armor and put it in his locker before closing it.


    ¡°Who''d you piss off now?¡±


    ¡°Who knows,¡± said Arron, shrugging his shoulders as he tapped onto the blinking holographic message.


    [A package from Novhere is waiting for you at the Office of Reasons Import and Mail sorting building. Come to Sector 1 zone 3''s Import sorting facility.]


    Arron and Kix grabbed their work bag and left the locker room.


    ¡°Why do I have to go all the way to Sector 1 zone 3 to pick up a package? Can''t they just send it to me via drone delivery?¡± asked Arron.


    ¡°The Office of Reasons sorting facility? If the packages came from someplace outside Neo-Tokeyo then you have to pick them up yourself. It''s an easy way to catch those trying to smuggle things into the Megacity using the regular import system,¡± said Kix as they exited the M1 building.


    Tooth was already outside waiting for the two. Since none of them had a hovercar they all used the moving sidewalk to reach the nearby Sector 12 MagLev station that would take them back to Sector 11 zone 3 where they lived.


    When they reached the MagLev station Arron stopped.


    ¡°I won''t be going back with you guys today since I have to take another MagLev to pick up a package,¡± said Arron.


    ¡°Don''t go sticking your nose into things while you''re in Sector 1. It''s best to just ignore everything,¡± said Kix, giving his partner a friendly warning.


    ¡°Stay safe,¡± said Tooth with a short wave. Both Toothbrush and Kix got in line to board the MagLev that would take them to Sector 11 zone 3.


    Arron walked down the station''s somewhat clean para-concrete platform as he searched for the MagLev that would take him to Sector 1.


    When he found it, he was able to buy a ticket and board the MagLev with no trouble.


    Just like almost all of the MagLevs on Level 1, there were only two miniature benches attached to the cabin¡¯s two walls with the majority of space left to cram as many people in as they could.


    Arron was lucky to have picked one of the cabins that was not packed like sardines. He still had enough breathing space at the rear of the cabin where he held onto one of the ceiling handlebars.


    On the MagLev''s ceiling, KNN was playing the latest broadcast. Since he had nothing else to do he just watched the news while the MagLev headed to Sector 1.


    ¡°The regular Mother and Father approved power outages will be implemented in Sector 1 affecting all nonessential operations as the planned maintenance is conducted. The power outage should only last a day or two,¡± said Fela as she read off the news.


    ¡°Again?¡± muttered Arron.


    ¡°This isn''t anything new, there will always be maintenance happening somewhere,¡± said a nearby passenger.


    ¡°Planned my ass, they are just trying to cover their asses because the system broke and they are scrambling to fix it. How come the 4th level never has these Planned Maintenances or even any type of outages?¡± asked another.


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    ¡°Do you even have to ask?¡±


    The MagLev quickly passed through Sector 11''s border, and then Sector 1''s as well.


    It was a relief not having to constantly stop at each border to identify yourself like you had to if you were driving a hover vehicle.


    ¡°Now arriving at Sector 1 zone 3! Now arriving at Sector 1 zone 3!¡± A female voice echoed out as the MagLev came to a stop at the station.


    When the doors opened Arron stepped forward to exit the station but a Female MagLev station attendant several inches shorter than Arron stepped in front of the open door and put a white-gloved hand up stopping him.


    ¡°Halt! Only those authorized are allowed to exit the MagLev,¡± said the female attendant.


    Arron held out his hand for her to scan his Cloud-chip. He was confident that if the Office of Reason sent him the message he would be allowed off the MagLev.


    Ping!


    ¡°You may pass,¡± said the female attendant. She waved for him to hurry up and get off.


    ¡°Anyone else want to exit?¡± asked the female attendant.


    ¡°Me,¡± said a woman with tens of small black braided hair on her head.


    AHHHHHNNNNNN! The scanner let out a loud buzzer when it scanned her Cloud chip.


    At the sound of the buzzer, Arron turned around to see what would happen.


    ¡°What? Why are you not allowing me to exit? I come here all the time?¡±


    ¡°Unauthorized citizen, you are to stay on the MagLev,¡± said the female attendant, uninterested in the woman or her questions. She held up her hand to stop and push the woman away from the open doors.


    ¡°Authorize this!¡± shouted the angry woman.


    BAM!


    A fist was thrown and punched the female attendant right in the face knocking her to the ground where she hit her head on the ground hard.


    The angry woman jumped onto the station attendant and began pummeling her as the attendant was trying to roll into a ball and cover her head with her arms to protect it from the blows.


    The other passengers did not step forward to stop the angry woman. Instead, they either looked away or continued with what they were doing, not paying any attention to her.


    Arron took one step forward to stop the fight but then he remembered what Kix had told him before they had separated... and stopped moving.


    The angry woman landed nearly a hundred blows onto the female attendant¡¯s head, arms, and body.


    Weeeooo! Weeeooo!


    Several security bots with blaring alarms floated over to the area of disturbance. As they neared their arms all extended out toward the angry woman.


    ¡°Troubled citizen found! Begin Normalization!¡± said the security bots all at once.


    ¡°Screw you!¡± shouted the angry woman.


    She was not going to be captured without a fight. With both hands, she swung her large handbag which slammed into one of the Security bots and sent it flying back slamming into a crowd of people on the busy MagLev station. Several of those that were plowed over received minor injuries from the impact.


    The rest of the security bots evaded her heavy handbag and shot several needles at her. Her arms, legs, and neck were all pierced with tens of needles. The angry woman flopped to the ground unable to move or speak as the numbing toxin took immediate action.


    The security bots swooped in and dragged her out of sight.


    The MagLev station attendant lay on the dirty para-concrete moaning as blood dripped from her broken nose and a large gash on her head where it had hit the ground.


    Arron was hesitant to walk over and help as he did not know if that was considered interfering in other¡¯s business. Plus there were too many cases where someone tried to help another person and they were accused of some made-up crime by the person.


    Arron''s dilemma was solved as a red and yellow med bot slowly floated over to the station attendant and jabbed her with a needle before floating off. Whatever it was that was injected into her took effect in less than a minute.


    The female attendant stood up and wiped the dripping blood from her swollen face.


    She hobbled back to the MagLev''s door where she opened her mouth revealing several new missing teeth. In a slurred voice she shouted, ¡°Last call, step forward if you want to exit!¡±


    No one stepped forward or looked at her.


    With a wave of her hand, the MagLev doors shut. All up and down the MagLev there were hundreds of station attendants scanning the passengers that wanted to exit.


    Arron shook his head feeling helpless at all that he had witnessed. He accessed the NavGuide and typed in the [Office of Reason Import and mail sorting facility] and pressed Enter.


    Ting! The blue holographic sparkling ball let out a happy tune as it appeared in front of him ready to lead him to his destination.

 Chapter 40: Import And Mail Sorting Facility

    As Arron followed the NavGuide pixi out of the Sector 1 zone 3 MagLev station, there wasn''t much scenery to look at just several hundreds of towering rundown buildings with hundreds of people exiting and entering them.


    Every building that Arron passed, looked completely bare without any Holo-ads playing due to the planned power outage.


    This simple thing surprised Arron at how much a difference it made the city feel. The normal colorful and well-lit main streets were now only dimly lit by street lamps and the headlights of the passing Hovercars.


    This made Sector 1 zone 3 feel far darker and eerier than normal. On top of all that, the sidewalks were not working either, forcing Arron and the thousands of other people around him to have to physically walk their destinations.


    Arron looked down at the beat-up and crumbling sidewalk as he walked and was unsure if it was even functional when there was power.


    Luckily, the main Import and sorting facility was only a dozen or so blocks away from the MagLev station.


    The situation was not all that bad as it gave Arron a chance to think while he walked and looked around at the buildings.


    While passing one of the many side streets Arron could see that the walls of the buildings on the lower floors were covered in Holo-graffiti. It seemed whoever was in charge of keeping the walls clean had given up on it and now the entire lower wall was plastered in holo-graffiti.


    Arron followed the blue NavGuide pixie to a small three story stone building. The small building was attached to a large paraconcrete warehouse that had somewhere between 200-300 floors.


    Outside of the small building were two obviously fake trees standing near the entrance.


    Arron saw that there were a few groups of young teens leaning on the building''s walls chatting and eating food.


    A security bot flew out of the building and headed towards one of the groups nearest to the entrance.


    ¡°Illegal loitering! Move away or be Normalized!¡± said the security bot as it shooed away the loitering teens.


    ¡°Stupid bot!¡± shouted a few of the teens as they ran away.


    At the entrance to the building, Arron was forced to pass through a civilian-grade bio scanner that was attached to the front door before he could enter the building.


    The front lobby was a rather extravagant dome shape with the walls and floors all built with real polished white marble.


    The light from a giant crystal chandelier lit up the entire lobby making it feel extremely bright.


    On the far wall across from the entrance there were over 20 reinforced para-glass windows each with long lines of people waiting.


    Next to those windows were even more lines of people waiting to access the several dozen automated kiosks used for specialized packaging and delivery that could not be done from home.


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    The lobby was empty of any furniture or decorations other than a few Party of Mother and Father flags that lined the walls in between several doors.


    The lack of hover chairs was to make sure no one got comfortable. It was also so that they could fit as many people inside as possible during the peak hours of business.


    The voices, clacking of shoes on the polished marble floor, and the opening and closing of doors echoed off the stone surfaces of the lobby making it louder and feel more lively inside than it was.


    While Arron was waiting in one of the lines that led to a reinforced paraglass window, one of the doors on the side of the lobby slammed open.


    ¡°I''m not delivering to that place!¡± shouted an angry man.


    The man''s loud voice echoed throughout the entire domed lobby attracting everyone''s attention.


    Arron looked over to see a man standing in the middle of an open door. His head was wrapped in white bandages and his arm was in a sling.


    ¡°Bill we need...¡± said an unseen female.


    ¡°Don''t try to sweet-talk me!¡± he shouted back.


    ¡°It''s only a few hundred packages.¡±


    ¡°Look at me! This was from delivering ''Only a few Hundred packages'' yesterday!¡±


    ¡°We have to send you because the drones keep on getting attacked and the packages stolen.¡±


    ¡°So because you lost a few delivery drones you are forcing me to deliver them by hand? Those heathens in zone one and two attack if you are only a few minutes late delivering their package. I am not a drone so I can''t get around and deliver as fast as them!¡±


    ¡°Enough! You are ordered by The Office of Reason to deliver the packages to the troubled zones. Now get in here and close the door or quit!¡± said the female voice more firmly.


    The delivery man looked ready to cry from all the stress from the current dilemma he was in. He only took a few seconds to make up his mind as he slowly walked back into the room.


    ¡°You''re sending me to my death,¡± said the defeated man as the door shut behind him.


    The lobby returned to the way it was before the outburst but now it felt too quiet.


    Ten minutes later Arron reached the front of the line.


    ¡°Place your hands on the counter''s scanner and keep them there until I say so,¡± said a bored man on the other side of the reinforced Paraglass.


    Arron did as he was told and the counter quickly flashed a blue light as it scanned his Cloud chip.


    An opaque holoscreen popped up in front of the man''s face and he quickly read the information. He looked back at Arron squinting at his face and then back at the information before tapping a few holographic buttons.


    A drone dropped from the ceiling and flew through a square hole in the wall leading to the large warehouse.


    It soon returned carrying a decent-sized square box underneath its belly.


    The bored man took the package and dropped it inside a two-way locker underneath the window and closed the door on his end.


    Bzzzzzz! Click! The buzzer and click from the lock sounded before the door on Arron''s side dropped down revealing the box.


    Arron didn''t move his hands and still kept them on the counter.


    In an annoyed voice, the man said, ¡°You can take the package now. Stop making everyone wait.¡±


    Arron grabbed the package and closed the door causing it to let out another, Bzzzz! And click as the door locked and opened back up on the other side.


    He walked out of the building and once again had to walk through the Bio-scanner before he could take a closer look at the package.


    There was a small card attached to it so he tapped on it and a short holo-message appeared.


    [We decided to send you a care package from home as a thank you for the gifts and money you sent us. Mel also gave us something to put in as well. From: Your loving parents.]


    Arron was eager to see what they had sent but had to wait since he still had a bit of a ride to get back to his apartment.


    He placed the package into his bag with his dirty uniform and headed off towards the MagLev station.

 Chapter 41: Code 2

    The next day in one of the large M1 officers'' locker rooms Arron and Kix were both quietly getting ready for their shift. The room was filled with ruckus laughter and chatting between over a hundred different M1 officers.


    As Arron was putting on his armor the ceiling light turned from yellow to a red.


    Annnnnnnnh! A loud warning system started blaring throughout the building.


    ¡°Alert! Code 2! Alert! Code 2!¡±


    Everyone in each of the locker rooms, including those who were just getting off the night shift received an emergency message notification from their NerViz system and their helmet visors.


    Arron tapped on the blinking emergency message, opening it so he could read it.


    [Code 2 emergency: Class 1 terrorism. All M1 field officers are to immediately head to Sector 7 zone 1 and help with clearing and recovery operations.]


    The locker room was now quiet of all chatter as everyone looked up from their messages with serious faces. Those who had taken off their armor started to put it back on. The night shift officers all took out some synth caffeine pills and ate a few of them.


    This was Arron''s first experience with a code 2 alert. He looked over to Kix after finishing putting on his large armored boots.


    Seeing Arron''s gaze Kix shook his head and said, ¡°I don''t know anything more than you. This is only my second time receiving such a message. Something big must have happened. We''ll have to meet up with the other members of Unit 3 when we get to Sector 7. ¡±


    ¡°Hey Kix, can we hitch a ride with you to Sector 7?¡± asked Ward sporting a fresh crew cut.


    Knox stood next to him holding his helmet.


    ¡°That would be great help and a lot safer since we don''t know what we''re getting into.¡±


    ¡°We''ll suit up and meet you at garage 23,¡± Knox said with a wave before leaving the locker room.


    Arron and Kix made their way into a Mag-shoot and headed down to their garage.


    On their way down Kix called Lexa in the HQ operations office.


    ¡°Kat is heading down to your garage, you need to wait for her before you can leave,¡± said Lexa.


    ¡°Understood, we are also taking Knox and Ward along with us. Can you tell us what is going on?¡±


    ¡°Detailed information is being suppressed by The Office of Reason to not cause panic. The only thing I know right now is that there was an explosion in Sector 7 Zone 1. The coordinates suggest it was near an Office of Reason branch building. Standby as I work on something.¡±


    The Kix and Arron exited the Mag-shoot and walked into the small garage number 23 that held their APC and few other tools.


    After the auto harness buckled Arron in, he started to hear the loud thumping of heavy metallic exoskeleton footsteps.


    Both Knox and Ward entered the small garage in their dark blue Exoskeletons. Kix pressed an option on the dashboards menu and two sturdy parasteel steeping ledges folded down on both the left and right rear of the APC at the same time two thick bars extended out of the APC''s roof.


    The Exoskeletons each hopped onto one of the ledges and grabbed onto the extended bar on the roof. The extra weight caused the APC to dip down and float back up slightly as the hover mechanics adjusted to the heavy weight of the exoskeletons.


    Kat was the last to arrive by Mag-shoot and quickly hopped into the rear of the APC.


    ¡°We''re all here,¡± said Knox.


    ¡°Where is the rest of Unit 3?¡± Kix asked Lexa.


    ¡°They''re already on their way to Sector 7 zone 1. I''ll start connecting you all to a secure group call.¡±


    On the top right of each of their helmet¡¯s visors, 8 other holographic heads appeared.


    ¡°Kix, Ward, where are your units?¡± asked Captain Pointer.


    ¡°Captain, we''re all together and heading out right now,¡± said Ward, as the APC shot up the M1 exit ramp and headed out onto the emergency highway lane.


    Tens of other mismatched armored vehicles all varying in size continued to fly out of the M1 exit ramp behind the APC and each vehicle had its sirens blaring.


    Just like Knox and Ward, there were several other units of prototype Exoskeletons hitching rides on hover vehicles as they headed out to Sector 7.


    Arron watched as one of M1''s hovercopters took off from a landing pad filled with several people as well as extra equipment and ammunition. With its fast speed, it zipped through the air passing the caravan as it headed to Sector 7.


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    The loud caravan of armored vehicles with its several menacing exoskeletons, was a surprising sight to see as they sped past the civilians stuck in the busy morning rush hour traffic.


    The caravan was not hindered or held up at any of the checkpoints. As soon as they reached one they were immediately waved through.


    As they passed the Sector 7 border checkpoint and entered zone 1, Arron saw a large gray cloud of dust and smoke covering a large portion of the zone not all that far from where they were.


    As he looked around he saw that there were already 50 other Armored vehicles parked near the border checkpoint.


    Kix pulled into the border parking lot and parked next to an older model APC. Captain Pointer and the rest of their team were waiting for them next to the Vehicle.


    ¡°Captain! What are our orders?¡± asked Arron.


    ¡°We were given the task of clearing out the blast site around what used to be one of the Research facilities run by the Office of Reason. The early reports state that the Research facilities security and several people from the buildings in the surrounding area were shot when they were trying to help people wounded from the initial blast. We need to complete this task quickly so that the emergency rescue can safely put out the fires and the wounded can receive treatment,¡± said Captain Pointer.


    ¡°Just point us to where we have to go,¡± said Knox.


    With a wave of his hand Captain Pointer brought up a holographic map of zone 1 showing off the blast zone that had been divided into many districts.


    ¡°We have been given the Northwest district to clear. Unit one, find some unobstructed high ground overlooking the area and provide cover for units 2 and 3,¡± said captain pointer as he jabbed his finger at the northwest district on the map.


    ¡°On it!¡± said both Bishop and Priss as they headed out to find such a place.


    ¡°Unit 2, you are to take the scenic route cutting from the south of the northwest district. There were several reports of shots being fired around here,¡± said Captain Pointer, pointing at an area on the map. ¡°If there is anyone still there you need to draw their attention and engage them so that unit three can enter from the north unhindered.¡±


    ¡°Understood!¡± said both Knox and Ward. They turned around and started running to the southern part of the northwest district.


    ¡°Unit 3, you''ll have to skirt around the edge and enter from the north. Reports from the area''s security drones show that there are several groups of wounded around that entire area. Wait until unit 2 successfully draws the enemy¡¯s full attention. You are to head in and set up a secure area for the wounded as well as a place for the med-vacs to land.¡±


    ¡°Got it,¡± said Kix and Aaron as they hopped back into the APC and headed towards the northern part of the North-West district.


    ¡°Kat and I will stay on the outskirts and act as reinforcements for either unit 2 or 3 if a situation pops up,¡± said Captain Pointer as he continued to talk to everyone over the helmet¡¯s secure group holo-call.


    When Kix and Arron reached the northernmost part of the northwest district they could barely see in front of them due to the large amount of smoke and dust floating in the air.


    ¡°We won''t be able to take the APC in there with all the rubble blocking the road,¡± said Kix as he scanned the road in front of them.


    Both Kix and Arron cautiously exited the APC. Arron continued to scan the area while Kix went to the rear to get into his patched-up Portable Exoskeleton.


    Fwump! Pop! Pop! The sound of a muffled explosion and gunfire to the south of them erupted as the two were clearing up a large area around the APC.


    ¡°Enemy engaged!¡± shouted Ward updating them over the secure group holo-call.


    ¡°Unit 2, I see 5 targets directly in front of you hiding behind a destroyed wall. Marking targets,¡± said Bishop.


    PAA! The sound of a large caliber sniper rifle sounded out.


    ¡°Unit 2, a sixth target that was sneaking up behind you has been permanently normalized,¡± said Priss.


    ¡°Unit 3 you are green to enter and start your search for survivors,¡± said Captain Pointer.


    Kix in the P.L.E. Took point and led the way into the gray dusty cloud with Arron following behind him.


    Arron''s helmet sealed itself and started to use its filter to clear the dusty air as he entered the dusty cloud. Their viability was extremely poor so they switched over to thermal vision to help them spot the bodies of those wounded. This made the several dozen burning fires stand out even more, nearly blinding Arron as he looked at them.


    The road was filled with large chunks of para-concrete and metal chunks making it hard for them to walk forward.


    ¡°What type of explosive could cause something like this and who are we fighting?¡± asked Arron while he kicked smaller chunks of rubble to the side, clearing a path for when they would return.


    ¡°Who else would be stupid enough to attack a building controlled by the Office of Reason?¡± asked Kix as he activated his exoskeletons area scanner.


    ¡°Separatists,¡± growled Captain Pointer. His face showed a bitter hate for them as he said that one word. ¡°They''re still fighting a lost war. Utterly pointless.¡±


    The sound of distant muffled gunfire could still be heard as the gunfight to the south grew more intense. In the north Arron and Kix slowly made their way down the cluttered street fully alert while searching for the wounded.


    ¡°The five targets have been permanently normalized,¡± said Ward.


    ¡°We''re moving north, and will be entering the main building to clear out the area. We''ll meet up with unit three when it''s all clear,¡± said Knox.


    ¡°Arron to your left there''s a wounded person,¡± said Kix pointing to a body.


    Arron turned and found the person. It was an unconscious man who had two broken legs. He walked over to the man and picked him up and turned around to carry him back towards the cleared area around the APC.


    ¡°What are you doing? Just give him a short of liquid Ethylene, then put him behind one of the walls to protect him from any bullets or shrapnel, and then mark the spot on the map. We can''t drag out everyone we find right now.¡±


    Pop! Pop!


    Gunshots rang out and smacked into the ground near Arron¡¯s feet sending up dust and chunks of paraconcrete.


    Both Arron and Kix dived behind a wall of rubble dragging the wounded man with them.


    ¡°We¡¯re taking fire!¡± shouted Arron as he tried to scan the area for the shooter.


    CRACK!


    ¡°Target normalized!¡± said Priss in her cold voice.


    The two continued to cautiously search for wounded Kix stood guard while Arron moved the wounded they found out of the streets and open areas and into cover where he gave them a shot of liquid Ethylene and marked their positions onto the map.


    The farther in they went the worse the wounds were.


    ¡°I''m running out of liquid Ethylene to give them,¡± said Arron.


    ¡°I gave you all I have. I''m not a pharmacy,¡± said Kix.


    Boom!


    ¡°Shit!¡± shouted both Ward and Knox over the secure holo-call.


    ¡°What is? Are you two okay?¡± asked Captain Pointer.


    ¡°We''re fine. Just a bit surprised by the booby traps,¡± said Knox.


    ¡°Unit three, be on the lookout for booby traps,¡± ordered Captain Pointer.

 Chapter 42: Med-Vac

    In less than ten minutes both Arron and Kix were able to traverse the entire northern streets and alleys of the northwest district.


    Arron peered over a low broken wall and looked at a pile of 60 or more dead bodies scattered around in the middle of the street next to the main building where unit 2 was fighting. There were several destroyed Security drones near the pile of dead bodies scattered all over.


    ¡°The people that did this must be mental,¡± said Arron. He could see several of the dead people were security personnel from other buildings that had tried to save the wounded. They had been shot to pieces when they had reached the mass of wounded people.


    Arron made sure to place a red X marker on the holo map to mark the remains of dead people. By now his map was filled with Red X''s and nearly a hundred green circles indicating the spots that had wounded survivors who were still alive... for now.


    This map was synced up with the rest of the team who also added markers for survivors and the remains of the dead that they found as they searched and cleared out the southern part of the district.


    Unfortunately, the map was filled with more red Xs than green circles.


    Movement from a destroyed door of the research building caught both Arron and Kix''s attention. They both ducked down and gripped their weapons tightly.


    Arron took in a deep breath and looked at Kix whose armored exoskeleton head nodded back. They quickly popped up with weapons drawn and pointed at the door.


    Two exoskeletons walked out the building causing them to tense up but when Arron looked closer his visor identified them in a green outline as friendly.


    It was Knox and Ward. As they exited the building they could see that they had several wounded survivors draped over their broad exoskeleton shoulders like sacks of grain as well as several hanging from their extended arms.


    Besides the two separate groups of separatists inside the building that Unit 2 had taken care of, there were no other enemies that they could find and so they were able to meet up with Arron and Kix.


    Arron let out a long breath and lowered his weapon.


    ¡°A bit jumpy are you?¡± asked Ward.


    ¡°You could have warned us you were exiting the building,¡± said Kix.


    ¡°The northwest district has been cleared. We will begin moving the wounded survivors. The med-vacs can come and pick them up,¡± said Arron, reporting the situation to Captain Pointer.


    ¡°They have already been notified and are on their way,¡± said Captain Pointer.


    ¡°This is Priss, we will continue to provide over-watch to make sure nothing happens while you move the wounded.¡±


    ¡°Thanks,¡± said Knox as he and Ward trod down the rubble-filled street using the tight path that was cleared by Arron and Kix.


    Arron and Kix moved to the nearest marked survivors and picked up three people who had the worst wounds.


    ¡°We''ll be back for the rest of you, just sit tight,¡± said Arron, gently patting a woman''s shoulder to try and comfort her. She had several broken bones and was unable to move.


    She did not respond to his voice or his touch and only stared off into the distance at the hazy ceiling of Level 1 with a blank gaze. Arron was not sure if it was from the shock of the event or the liquid Ethylene that he had given her.


    Arron followed behind Kix and carried the heavily wounded people back towards the cleared intersection where the APC was waiting.


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    There were now around ten wounded people all propped up against a building wall next to the intersection out of the way of the landing zone. Knox and Ward had already dropped off the wounded they had carried and had disappeared into the smoke to gather more survivors.


    Arron and Kix had just completed their second trip back to the clearing when they heard the whirring sound of several flying med-vac hovercopters.


    Above their heads, three Red Hovercopters were descending towards their position.


    As soon as they touched the ground the side doors of the hovercopters slammed open. From each of the hovercopters, two full-body armored med-vac medics rushed out with their rifles ready as they scanned the area for any enemy targets.


    Inside each of the hovercopters were three stretcher bunk beds that could hold a total of 12 people.


    ¡°All clear!¡± shouted one of the armored medics. Several medic drone bots began to fly out of the hovercopters and float next to the armored medics.


    The group of medics walked over to the now nearly 20 survivors and started scanning their NerViz Cloud chips.


    ¡°This one, that one, and those three,¡± said a medic as he pointed out five of the wounded.


    The medic bots picked the five wounded people up off the ground and carried them to one of the hovercopters where they shoved them onto the cramped stretcher bunk beds.


    While the med bots were transferring the patients, the armored med-vac medic that had been doing all of the talking walked up to Arron and asked, ¡°Are these all the survivors?¡±


    ¡°There are still about a hundred that we haven''t gotten to yet,¡± said Arron as he looked at his map.


    ¡°Escort us to each of them.¡±


    ¡°Captain your orders?¡± asked Kix.


    ¡°Keep them safe. It will be hell to explain if any of them die,¡± said Captain Pointer.


    ¡°Understood.¡±


    ¡°Follow us,¡± said Kix as he and Arron led 6 of the med-vac medics into the dusty cloud that still covered the rubble-filled streets.


    The first place they stopped had two men laying on the ground. One was still somewhat conscious and only had a broken leg and several minor shrapnel wounds.


    The man next to him was in a coma, his two legs had been blown off and were still leaking blood from the makeshift tourniquet that Arron had made by using part of the man''s tattered pants to try and stop the bleeding.


    The medic scanned the two men and looked at an opaque list floating above his Wrist datapad.


    ¡°That guy.¡±


    One of the med bots flew over and grabbed onto the man with a broken leg and started flying back to the hovercopter.


    ¡°Take us to the next person,¡± said the Armored medic.


    ¡°What about him?¡± asked Arron.


    ¡°He''s not on the list.¡±


    ¡°The list?¡±


    The medic did not answer and looked to Kix.


    ¡°Arron,¡± said Kix as he shook his head to tell him to not ask questions.


    While they walked at a quick pace to the next survivor''s position. Kix used the helmet''s internal com''s to privately talk to Arron.


    ¡°There is nothing we can do about this since time and resources are limited. It''s just the difference between those paying and those that use the free health-care provided by Mother and Father.¡±


    ¡°Paying? Free?¡± asked Arron.


    ¡°There are 3 tiers of hospital treatment.


    [Tier 1] Free health care: All D rank SCS have this. They are the last priority for medics. Any field treatment they get, will be from the med bots that will do basic first aid to stop the person from dying. Surgeries are quick and dirty. The meds given are cheap mass-produced synthetics and are highly addictive and are given out freely.


    [Tier 2] Normal healthcare: Second priority, Only available to SCS C and above. This tier allows you to go to a hospital and see a doctor. Able to have surgery done by a human if you pay extra. The patient is sent home right after any treatment, no recovery rooms. Free synthetic meds as a bonus.


    [Tier 3] Premium healthcare: First priority. Available to anyone from SCS C and above with enough money to pay the massive yearly price. They can have a med-vac Hovercopter with armed medics come pick them up from wherever they are. The medics will keep them alive while they are taken to the hospital to start urgent care or surgery immediately. After treatment, they can stay in the few lush recovery rooms. No addictive medicines are used.¡±


    ¡°So we''re just going to leave that guy back there?¡±


    ¡°No, the med-bots will get to him eventually. For now, he has had enough liquid Ethylene to numb any pain and keep him out of it.¡±


    ¡°What about us if we get hurt?¡±


    ¡°Don''t worry, we have a separate plan since we have doctor Octy and his underlings. M1 can also use its Hovercopters as medical transports. You could say this is a benefit of having a job that tries to kill you every day.¡±


    They led the medics to several other people who were all passed up due to not being on the list. The majority of the people taken back were not as severely wounded as many of the others.


    ¡°This is the last survivor we haven''t been to yet,¡± said Kix talking to the armored Medic.


    The medic only nodded his head and tapped a few buttons on his wrist-datapads opaque menu.


    ¡°Begin medical treatment of the unlisted,¡± ordered the armored medic.


    The remaining Med bots flew off towards the marked positions of the wounded that had not been taken back to the Hovercopters and began administering medical aid to them.


    Medical aid was just an injection of healing serums that stopped the bleeding and began the slow process of healing their wounds.

 Chapter 43: Park Patrol

    Several days later, Arron and Kix were zipping down the highway heading towards Sector 11.


    ¡°Tooth, fill us in on the details,¡± said Kix.


    ¡°It''s fairly simple compared to yesterday''s activity,¡± said Tooth, his head floating above the APC''s dashboard. ¡°You two are to head to Sector 11 Zone 3 and patrol the large park. There has been a large uptick of violent crimes and undesirable actions happening there lately. Sector 11''s chair Representative for the party of Mother and Father personally asked the chief to send someone to clean it up. So you were picked by the chief to complete the task.¡±


    At the Sector 11 border checkpoint, Arron and Kix were quickly scanned and waved forward.


    ¡°What type of problems can we expect to encounter?¡± asked Arron.


    ¡°The usual, drugs, theft, attacks on others.¡±


    A short time later the two pulled up to a tall parking garage. When Kix NerViz cloud chip was scanned and he paid for the parking platform, the APC was given a high priority designation. The platform shot up a short distance and placed the APC near the bottom for quick access.


    ¡°Everything is so... green,¡± said Arron as they walked to the park''s entrance.


    He had grown accustomed to the black and gray of the many paraconcreet / parasteel buildings and streets that made up each Sector of level 1. The only other color came from the holo-ads... when they worked.


    The park was several city blocks wide in both directions, it stood out greatly from the towering buildings that rose up several hundred stories on all fours sides of the park. There was not a single building inside the park.


    Starting from the entrance tens of moving sidewalks branched out into many paths that moved through the many carefully placed trees and neatly trimmed bushes. The bushes were grown so that they formed a maze for people to wander while they listened to the soothing chatter of the songbirds in the trees.


    Arron turned his attention to the direct center of the park where there was a small lake with dark water. Surrounding the lake was a wide green grassy area that was filled with thousands of people who were picnicking. In some parts of the grassy field, people were playing different sports or tossing metal balls for their robotic dogs.


    ¡°This is quite amazing for something like this to be inside the city. I feel refreshed just seeing everything and listening to the birds,¡± said Arron as they reached the Parks entrance.


    ¡°It''s nothing special since it''s all fake,¡± said Kix dismissively.


    ¡°Really?¡±


    ¡°The trees, bushes, grass, all fake. The small lake was man-made. This was the first park of its kind on Level 1 and has been the testbed for all of Mother and Fathers¡¯ beatification prototype equipment and devices. The park that is being built in Sector 12 was modeled after this one. The park was made with the mindset of only needing a bare minimum of upkeep while giving people a place to feel at peace.¡±


    Two hovering security bots had been waiting for them near the park''s entrance. As soon as they picked up the M1 signal from Arron and Kix''s badges they quickly floated over to them and took a discreet position several paces behind them.


    ¡°Are these guys our backup or our nannies?¡± asked Arron.


    ¡°Both. Let''s pick a path and start patrolling,¡± said Kix, ignoring the security bot floating behind him.


    Several teens shot past Arron and Kix. All but one of them were wearing hoverboots that shot them forward down the moving sidewalks into the park. The last teen in the group was speeding along on a hoverboard, occasionally kicking the air with his left foot to keep up his speed.


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    Arron could see that there were several such groups of teens and older people wearing hoverboots or using Hoverboards to speed through the many branching paths of the park.


    ¡°It''s the only legal place to use them in Sector 11,¡± said Kix once he saw Arron staring at the passing groups.


    As they were slowly walking down one of the paths, Tooth''s head popped up in the top right of their helmet¡¯s visors.


    ¡°New orders. Just now there was an attack on one of the park''s security drones. Sending you the last moments recorded by the security drone before it was destroyed. You are to arrest this man if you see him.¡±


    Ding!


    Arron''s NerViz notified him of a new file sent to him. He tapped on the blinking icon above his wrist datapad and a video immediately started playing showing the perspective of the drone.


    ¡°Alert! Stop criminal! You are violating the law!¡± said the security drone. It was flying towards a scrawny man dressed in all black with a black hood covering his head.


    ¡°What law?¡± asked the man.


    ¡°Covering your face from facial recognition!¡± said the security drone as it reached out its metal claws to grab the man''s black hood and face mask.


    ¡°Recognize this.¡±


    Bang! The holovid stopped there when the security drone was hit with a metal crowbar.


    ¡°How are we supposed to find someone without any name or face?¡± Arron.


    ¡°There can''t be that many people wearing all black,¡± said Kix.


    ¡°The target''s last position was near the south entrance heading north,¡± said Tooth.


    As they walked down their current path looking for suspicious people a cute Brown chipmunk ran out into the middle of the sidewalk stopping in front of them. Its nose twitched a few times as it looked at Arron and Kix''s for a quick second before running over to a tree and disappearing into a small hole.


    Up in the branches of the tree, there was a blue songbird that was cheerfully chirping. Its head was slowly following Arron and Kix as they passed by.


    ¡°For some reason, I have a feeling we''re being watched,¡± said Arron.


    ¡°We are,¡± said Kix pointing to a red bird in one of the trees as they passed by.


    ¡°Like I said everything in this park is fake, that includes the animals. They''re all fitted with facial recognition cameras to catch people in the act of crimes when they think no one is looking.¡±


    ¡°Soon, the experimental beautification project will be expanded to place trees and chirping birds in every civilian zone to liven up the zones and boost the citizen¡¯s morale. This will also allow Mother and Father to discreetly strengthen the surveillance of everyone without causing many problems.¡±


    ¡°That person looks suspicious. Let''s go see what they are up to. It''s probably just a junky,¡± said Kix, pointing to a woman sitting on a wooden bench next to one of the moving paths.


    The woman was looking around nervously. Her head was jerking around from side to side as she looked from one place to another.


    ¡°Ma''am are you okay?¡± asked Arron as he stepped closer to the woman. ¡°You can''t use stims in public.¡±


    The woman jumped in fright at the sound of his voice. She shot up to her feet and stared at Arron with a wild look in her eyes. Without warning, she jumped on Arron and started cussing and spouting all kinds of words at him.


    Arron managed to hold the crazy woman away from him with one hand.


    ¡°What the...¡±


    Ding! Arron received a notification on his visor. At the same time, the security drone floating behind him flew forward claws outstretched ready to pounce.


    Both Arron''s and the security drones CantZei speech recognition programs had flagged one to the words that the crazy woman had spouted out in her mad salad of slurred words and cussing.


    ¡°You''re under arrest,¡± said Kix, pulling out a pair of magnetic cuffs.


    ¡°What for? I''ve done nothing wrong!¡±


    The security drone floated menacingly next to the jumpy woman. In a robotic voice it listed off her crime: [Charge: 250K credit fine for violating the hateful speech law #32.]


    ¡°Stand up,¡± said Kix.


    He led the woman over to one of the trees and turned the woman around so her back was facing the tree. A square hole opened and accepted the magnetic cuffs locking the woman to the tree.


    ¡°I''ll let you stay here and sober up. We''ll be back here later to pick you up.¡±


    ¡°You''re going to just leave me here? What if I have to pee?¡± asked the crazy woman. She was only now starting to realize the seriousness of her situation as the effects of the stims wore off.


    ¡°I''m sure you can figure something out,¡± said Kix with a wave of his hand. With that, both Arron and Kix walked down the pathway looking for suspicious people and their main target.


    ¡°Do we really have to arrest her for saying a word?¡± asked Arron.


    ¡°Hey don''t look at me like that. It''s not like I love doing stuff like this, but she violated one of the hateful speech codes that Mother and father have put in place to protect everyone. The violation has already been logged at both the M1 headquarters and the Office of Reason. If we don''t arrest her we''ll be in some serious trouble.¡±


    ¡°How are we supposed to remember all the illegal words?¡± asked Arron.


    ¡°That''s what the CantZei program is for. It makes our jobs easy since its database gets an update every week from the Office of Reason. It''s based on the recommended list given to them by Mother and Father.¡±


    They searched the whole park for the person who had attacked the security drone but could not find them.


    They had however arrested over ten other people for various violations. Ranging from speech code violations to attacks on other people and littering.

 Chapter 44: The Muscle

    Ding!


    Arron was woken up by his NerViz notifying him of an incoming holocall.


    With groggy eyes he fumbled with his wrist datapad and accepted the call.


    ¡°You''re still asleep? Are you really going to sleep all the way through our rare day off?¡± asked Kix.


    ¡°Wasn''t planning to, it just happened. Is there something you need?¡± asked Arron.


    As he sat up in his bed his arms stretched out and he let out a long yawn.


    ¡°All the guys in ERF 3 have agreed to go to ''The Muscle'' after breakfast. Are you up to coming with us.¡±


    ¡°Is that the gym you were talking about the other day?''¡± asked Arron as he threw off his bed covers and exited his bedroom heading towards the bathroom.


    ¡°Yeah, so can we count on you coming?¡± asked Kix.


    ¡°What about the exercise rooms at M1?¡±


    ¡°That''s for the training of new recruits. Plus that equipment is not as good as the stuff in the gym we¡¯re going to.¡±


    ¡°Let me clean up and eat. Then I''ll join you.¡±


    ***


    Half an hour later Arron and Kix arrived at their destination carrying small bags with a change of clothes.


    ''The Muscle'' was a 300 story plain looking building. The walls of the building were mostly covered with ads for a new movie.


    ¡°In a world, where a world does not exist. One man, and one non-existing world, must travel long distances and fight the powerful enemy Sir Snowfake. Will ''The Man'' be able to knock some sense into Sir Snowfake''s large head or will his brain made from stone, crumble? We seriously have no idea. So join us at the movie premier where we can all figure out what the hell is going on.¡±


    Seeing Arron''s confused expression Kix explained, ¡°This movie is actually highly anticipated by almost everyone. I heard that they already planned out 20 sequels. If they make a bit of money from them they said they will work on prequels.¡±


    Arron shook his head. He couldn''t understand the movie taste of the people living in Neo-Tokeyo.


    ¡°Which floor are the others on?¡± asked Arron.


    ¡°69,¡± said Kix as he entered the entrance of the tall building.


    A holographic sign popped up in front of Arron''s face as soon as he entered the building.


    [Floor 1-200 weights and exercise. 201-300 boxing]


    The building''s entrance had three sets of well worn stairs all going up.


    They took the first set of stairs on the right and began heading up to the 69th floor along with a few hundred other people who were all carrying gym bags with them.


    When they reached floor 69 they entered through the open parrasteel doors next to the stairs.


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    The entirety of floor 69 was wide open. It was full of several sets of different types of weights and exercise machines.


    A new upbeat metal song was playing in the background giving the place a pumped atmosphere. Arron thought he had heard something similar from one of the popular robotic bands but was not sure.


    A service bot floated up to the two before they could take another step forward, ¡°Hello citizens, are you members of ''The Muscle''?¡±


    Kix held out his right hand and the service bot scanned his cloud chip. ¡°Membership confirmed.¡±


    Arron shook his head when the service bot turned to him. ¡°I don''t have a membership, how do I sign up?¡±


    ¡°Simple. You need to have an SCS of C or higher and pay 1000 credits for the filing and registration fee,¡± said the service bot as he floated closer to Arron.


    ¡°1000 just to register? That''s a rip-off!¡± said Arron.


    ¡°My processing power is limited, so my time is at a premium due to all the tasks I must do daily. Well, that''s what my owner programmed me to say.¡±


    ¡°It''s only the upfront cost. The price to use the gym is sorta cheap,¡± said Kix.


    Arron allowed the service bot to scan his cloud chip and charge him 1000 credits.


    ¡°How long do you plan on staying?¡± asked the service bot.


    ¡°5 hours,¡± said Kix.


    ¡°That will be 50 credits.¡± The service bot quickly charged both Arron and Kix''s bank accounts.


    ¡°Enjoy your stay,¡± said the service bot as it floated away.


    ¡°The others are at 23rd set,¡± said Kix as he pointed to a spot near the outer wall on the center-right.


    As they walked to the 23rd set Arron saw hundreds of other people all sweating and working out.


    Several of them had mechanical implants that had replaced their arms or legs. Seeing them here puzzled Arron since they had no muscle to strengthen or train.


    The 23rd set had the same equipment as the other sets, the only difference was it was separated from being surrounded by other groups.


    On the wall a large holo tv with its screen split in half playing two things at once. On the left, it was quietly playing KNN and on the right, it was showing off the highlights from recent robotic sports games.


    Arron stopped for a second to watch the sports highlights.


    A large menacing humanoid robot painted in blue ran down the grassy field. The grassy field was ringed with a stadium full of holographic AI people who were cheering loudly.


    The blue robot was carrying a metal football in its arms. When a smaller red robot tried to tackle the blue robot it was run over and turned into mangled metal. This continued to happen as it ran down the green field. The red team was unable to stop him.


    ¡°The ''Crusher'' does it again! Clearing all obstacles in its way to score!¡± shouted an excited sports commentator.


    ¡°I''m sure that the team owner is externally pleased with the money spent on this new model,¡± said a calm, almost bored sounding voice that was his co-host.


    Losing interest in the replays Arron turned to the other members of ERF3 and nodded to them.


    ¡°It''s good to see everyone outside of work,¡± said Ward.


    ¡°The last few weeks have been hectic. We rarely get any time off, so it''s best to use what we do get to blow off some steam,¡± said Kix. He tossed his bag onto the ground near the other bags that were already laying there.


    ¡°Right, plus the chief highly recommends that we go to the gym and keep fit so we don''t die while on the job,¡± said Captain Pointer.


    When Arron voiced his confusion on the people with Implants coming to the gym Bishop answered him.


    ¡°It''s because they are trying to get accustomed to their new limbs to test out their new limits. It''s not like they''re going to be a master at using the implants as soon as they get them,¡± said Bishop.


    ¡°Look at these muscles,¡± said Knox, showing off his rippling muscles in his tight tank top as well as the many scars that he had received while on the job.


    ¡°We need to always be in top shape to get 100% of the power out of our Exoskeletons,¡± said Ward showing off his muscles.


    The two were like extreme bodybuilders and were definitely the strongest in the entire group.


    ¡°Kix you need to beef up if you want to be like us,¡± said Knox, slapping Kix on the back letting out a loud laugh.


    ¡°I''m not trying to be like you meatheads,¡± said Kix.


    Arron got started mindlessly lifting weights along with the others and as he did so he watched the news to catch up with current events.


    ¡°Breaking news! The savage country RSSR has finally been Normalized and will begin the process of becoming a member state of the WHO,¡± said Kommy.


    ¡°This is great news! Let''s hope that the situations in the many other savage countries are also Normalized so that they can also join the WHO,¡± said Fela.


    Arron did not know how many savage countries there were, nor did he know what the outside world looked like since such information was only for the WHO and Mother and Father.


    Since they were the experts on the subject he believed whatever they said.

 Chapter 45: Boxing

    The five hours passed by without Arron noticing it as he was lost in thoughts while he mindlessly lifted weights with the others.


    ¡°Valued members, your five hours are up! Will you be extending your time or ¡­ leaving?¡± asked the service bot from a short distance away.


    When it reached the group and started floating next to them its metallic hands click and clacked as they opened and closed several times.


    ¡°Let''s go get something to eat. I''m famished,¡± said Bishop.


    ¡°Valued members, we now have a new service on the 200th floor. There is free food for all current members as well as a paid buffet.¡±


    ¡°Ehhh... free.. should we?¡± asked Kix, knowing what that meant.


    ¡°It''s better than nothing. We can check it out and see what they have at the buffet,¡± said Knox.


    ¡°It is decided. Let''s go check out the buffet and then go do some boxing!¡± said Captain Pointer.


    The group of sweaty guys picked up their bags after wiping off their perspiration and walked out of floor 69 and headed up to floor 200.


    ¡°I hope the buffet is not expensive,¡± said Ward.


    ¡°Why? Are you already tight on money this month?¡± asked Knox.


    ¡°Yeah, I bought too many of the rare items I saw on the late night holo-tv infomercials. My last purchase was a rare set of paper books with a free dictionary... But when I got the set... it was just a paper brick glued shut.¡±


    ¡°You don''t look like a person that would buy books,¡± said Kix.


    ¡°Stop wasting your money on useless junk! You always do that and then you ask me to loan you money,¡± said Knox exasperated at his partner''s spending habits.


    The group bickered back and forth as they entered the 200th floor.


    When they entered they found several hundreds of square metallic tables with thousands of hover chairs which were almost all occupied already.


    On the side of the room were several rows of food dispensers with different types of food. As Arron looked around a few service bots were bringing out fresh containers of food replacing the empty ones.


    Near the front of the room were two large Drink dispensers.


    ¡°As expected,¡± said Kix.


    ¡°What?¡± asked Arron.


    ¡°The buffet is just synth food. The ''free'' food in the large barreled drink machines looks to be filled with synth-power-shake gloop.¡±


    ¡°|Might as well take the more nutritious gloop than the synth food,¡± said Ward, his mind already set on choosing the gloop.


    The others hesitated but followed Ward since he was right.


    Arron grabbed the smallest metal cup next to the churning synth gloop drink machines and placed it under the large spout. The ''small'' cup was as tall as half of his arm so it made it hard for him to get it positioned right.


    A cold pink substance that looked like a mixture of liquid yogurt and solid ice cream, squirted out of the nozzle and filled up the cup. He walked back to a nearby table that the others had managed to grab as another group left.


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    As Arron sat down next to Kix, he took a sip of the thick nutritious synth-goop and made a face.


    ¡°Why did they pick [Original flavor] to serve to everyone?¡± asked Arron.


    ¡°It''s cheap to buy in bulk,¡± said Kix, who also had an odd expression on his face every time he took a sip.


    ¡°You wusses, you can''t handle the best selling original flavor?¡± asked Bishop.


    As if trying to show off he took a several-second long slurp of his drink.... and then started to cough uncontrollably ejecting warm synth gloop all around him.


    ¡°Eww!¡± said both Knox and Ward who were sitting next to him. They jumped out of their seats to escape the splatter.


    ¡°Here have some Bechup, it helps mask the flavor,¡± said Captain Pointer, passing Arron a bottle of red Bechup.


    ¡°You really carry around a bottle of Bechup with you?¡± asked Arron.


    ¡°Of course! You never know when you will need some Bechup.¡±


    When the group had finished slurping down their spicy synth-gloop their tired bodies felt refreshed.


    ¡°We might as well go to the next floor to use one of the boxing rings. I really don''t like climbing stairs,¡± said Kix as he stretched his legs.


    ¡°Let''s do this! I will definitely beat my record from last time!¡± said Knox.


    Unfortunately for Kix, the boxing rings on the 201st floor to 225th were all full. When they reached the 226th floor its door was open indicating there were still boxing rings open for customers to use.


    ¡°Finally...¡± muttered Kix.


    The 226th floor had over 20 large square boxing rings crammed into the room leaving only small pathways between them. The majority of the boxing rings were already occupied with one or two people standing inside.


    In each of the rings, the people were all boxing against a programmed robotic boxer.


    Instead of holo-TVs covering the walls of the room, there were several of the same static holo posters. It was of a man pointing out with the floating words under him saying: Say no to Separatist! Fight for Mother and Father!


    Arron and the rest of the group walked up to one of the empty boxing rings.


    ¡°Is this your first time coming to the boxing hall?¡± asked Kix, when he saw Arron''s intrigued expression as he watched the other fighters in the nearby rings.


    ¡°I''ll go first to show Arron how it''s done!¡± said Captain Pointer, stepping into the ring.


    As soon as he did, the robotic boxer''s eyes lit up and it asked, ¡°Scrub, do you want to pay by the hour or by the number of rounds?¡±


    ¡°Rounds!¡± said Captain Pointer, as he picked up a pair of blue padded gloves from one of the ring''s posts.


    ¡°Beginning round 1 based on your saved membership settings!¡±


    The robotic boxer lurched forward and began swinging its fists in wide circles. Captain Pointer dodged and weaved while landing several jabs on the robot''s body.


    Boing!


    After the tenth or so hit the robot¡¯s head popped up and bobbed around like a bobblehead. The swinging arms of the robot stopped for a second before they reached up and pushed the bobbing head back down into place.


    ¡°Round 2?¡± asked the robot.


    ¡°No, I''ll let someone else go,¡± said Captain Pointer as he stepped back and took off his gloves to hand them to Arron.


    ¡°New challenger! You have no saved data. You have two choices: One, choose to start at the beginner, intermediate, or advanced setting. Two, start from scratch and work your way up!¡±


    ¡°Start from scratch!¡± said Arron.


    ¡°Setting saved!¡±


    The group in the boxing ring next to them scoffed at hearing he was a Newbie.


    ¡°Hey new guy, watch my teacher show you how it''s done!¡± said one of the teenage students next to the Boxing ring. He pointed to a plain-looking man wearing special fighting robes.


    ¡°Start master mode!¡± said the middle-aged teacher.


    ¡°Master mode start!¡± said the robotic boxer.


    The teacher gracefully dodged to the side and... received a hard jab into his stomach sending him stumbling back several steps.


    He regained his balance and breath in time to lean back and put up his gloves to block incoming the padded robotic fist... and received a hit to his head causing him to see stars.


    Bam! Whack! Thump!


    Ding!


    After ten hits to the man''s body and face, the robotic boxer stopped its attacks. The robot''s head extended up and down as if it were laughing at the teacher. The teacher''s face was now swollen and puffy from being used to block the robot''s punches.


    ¡°Right, thanks for showing me exactly what not to do,¡± said Arron, causing the ERF members to laugh.


    ¡°Are you making fun of our teacher?¡±


    ¡°You wanna fight?¡±


    The group of four students came to the edge of their ring and stood next to the large muscular ERF members. The two groups just stared at each other for several seconds.


    Before anything could go further, the service bot of the 226th floor flew over to them with flashing red lights.


    ¡°Warning! Warning! Customers, fighting between humans is illegal and highly disruptive to the cohesiveness of society. Stop immediately or the proper authorities will be called!¡±


    Arron and the rest of the ERF members turned around, ignoring the fuming teens who looked like they still wanted to fight. But after seeing the flowing electricity zapping out from the service bot''s thin arms they also returned to the other side of their boxing ring.

 Chapter 46: Chasing Rain

    It was raining once again on the first level and Arron was lucky enough to be standing out in it trying to buy lunch for both Kix and himself.


    The heavy downpour of rain seemed far worse than all the rainstorms he had encountered during his stay in the Megacity.


    When the service bot at the food stall finished preparing the food, he swiped his hand over the scanner and paid for two steaming hot synth dogs. He made sure to order it with all the extra toppings and synth fries.


    Using his full strength he rushed back to the waiting APC''s open passenger side door.


    Arron hopped into the seat holding the two disposable cartons in his hands. The door automatically closed causing the loud downpour outside to be muffled.


    Kix was watching a holo-vid that was being projected above the dashboard.


    ¡°Here you go, it has a bit of rain added to it as a free topping,¡± said Arron as he handed over one of the still steaming synth-dogs to Kix.


    ¡°Nice,¡± said Kix. He did not look away from the holo-vid and just grabbed the offered carton and took a large bite out of the steaming synth-dog.


    ¡°Ugh... I need to start making my own lunch,¡± said Kix, his gaze had been pulled away from the holo-vid to stare at his lunch.


    Arron watched the holo-vid with a bit of interest.


    ¡°I didn''t know you liked robo-motocross,¡± said Arron pointing at the video.


    ¡°I don''t, this is footage from our new case we were just put on.¡±


    Arron turned back to the holo-vid and watched quietly as ate his lunch with the loud drumming of rain on the roof of the APC.


    There were over 50 illegally modified hover-bikes of all types both brand new and old versions speeding down the cramped side streets passing through the main high trafficked streets in an unspecified industrial zone.


    The race had been recorded from several different angles by the drones flying above them.


    As he continued to watch the race a square pole popped up in the middle of the side street ahead of the hoverbikes.


    Its appearance was too sudden and caused the two leaders of the race to ram right into it.


    Their bikes were completely crumpled. The two riders were sent flying into the middle of the street where they were repeatedly hit by the passing hoverbikes and stopped moving.


    Several of the passing hoverbikes that were trying to dodge the obstacle instead slammed into the nearby paraconcrete wall, creating a large explosion that killed the rider instantly.


    A rider behind one of those who crashed was turned into a human flaming torch after he was engulfed by the explosion. The burning rider lost control and crashed into the wall creating another explosion.


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    After the rest of the racers successfully passed the obstacle there were only 40 people left.


    Arron continued to watch as the number was slowly whittled down to only 6 people who managed to finish the race.


    ¡°What is this?¡± asked Arron.


    ¡°Each of the bodies that were recovered from that site were all linked to someone who had an absurd amount of debt owed to many different companies. They were all forced to take part in the death races to pay off a portion of their debt.¡±


    ¡°Why would anyone join these races?¡±


    ¡°Because of their SCS. With such a massive debt it drops them down to D rank and It won''t improve until they can pay off. Which they can''t. People like them... their situation is far worse than the other D ranks. ¡±


    ¡°Then shouldn''t we go and talk with those companies?¡± asked Arron.


    ¡°It''s no use, they''ll all deny any wrongdoing. Even if they took responsibility they are just a front for the gangs that actually own or control them. Since the Office of Reason is too busy cracking down on separatists and non-believers this was given to us.¡±


    ¡°How long has this been going on?¡± asked Arron.


    ¡°This holo-vid is several months old and is nothing new. There have always been these types of things happening to the people down on their luck,¡± said Kix.


    He swiped left to bring up a new holo-vid. ¡°This is the reason we were given the case.¡±


    The video was short it was a compilation of several speeding hoverbikes crashing into hovercars casing large explosions killing both the racer and the occupants of the hovercar.


    ¡°The idiots recently started to have the death races in residential zones. Now, several innocent civilian lives have been lost.¡±


    ¡°How are we going to stop this with just the two of us? What information do we have?¡±


    ¡°We just have to interrupt their race and capture a few of them. We''ll leave the rest up to the interrogators back at the M1 HQ. It''s what we''re paid for and what the other government organizations are paid to ignore,¡± said Kix with a shrug. ¡°As for the information we have. The rumor going around on the underground holonet says that the next race will be sometime today in Sector 11. We''ll only be able to find out if that''s true if they start streaming. They seem to be taking a page from separatists playbook and using bootleg streaming signals to allow people to watch.¡±


    Toothbrush''s face appeared floating over the dashboard just then. ¡°The holobrodacast you asked me to keep an eye out for has just started. We are still trying to triangulate the zone they are in.¡±


    The live stream was sent to both of them and began playing.


    ¡°Welcome to all our viewers! Today we have a dangerous and challenging race in... Sector 11!¡± said a robotic voice as the drones flew up high to reveal several hoverbikes lined up in the pouring rain.


    ¡°Remember, those who win the highest bid before each designated checkpoint, will be able to decide what challenge the racers must face!¡±


    ¡°Tooth we''re in Sector 11 which zone is it?¡± asked Arron.


    ¡°It''s....zone 3 near the park!¡± said Tooth as he furiously typed on his holokeypad.


    Kix finished the last of his lunch, flipped the sirens on. The APC''S engine roared as it shot down the street, heading towards the park.


    The windshield was constantly being hit with the pouring rain making it hard to see outside as the heated windows tried to keep dry and clear.


    The hovercars in front of them all made way for them as they sped through the afternoon traffic.


    ¡°There! I see them,¡± said Arron pointing to the right.


    There were 70 or more hoverbikes with the riders all in black leather and tinted helmets covering their faces. The only color on them was the numbers on their back and helmet which were all different shades.


    On the live holo-stream, the sirens of the APC could be heard as it sped towards them. Several of the riders could be seen turning around to look behind them.


    ¡°Looks like we have one or two uninvited M1 guests,¡± said the robotic voice. ¡°Fear not! This changes nothing the show must still go on! This only adds more of an exciting touch to the race!¡±


    ¡°Let the race begin!¡±


    The hover-bikes all shot off flying down the side street near the park, water spraying everywhere.


    Kix and Arron were in close pursuit right behind them.

 Chapter 47: The Chase Is On

    ¡°Damn, I should have used my hoverbike to chase them,¡± said Arron. He was holding onto the handle above his door as Kix was wildly swerving through traffic making him feel as if he was going to lose his recently eaten lunch.


    ¡°Not in this rain,¡± said Kix.


    The large group of hover-bikes shot through the many muddy puddles as they weaved through the hovercars on the side street. They were traveling so fast that their neon tail lights looked to be tails of light trailing behind them as they sped by.


    ¡°Ah! They''re turning off into the park!¡± said Arron.


    ¡°I can see that!¡± said Kix.


    With a large tug of the wheel, they swerved off of the road. The APC flew up into the air as it hopped over the curb and sidewalk, landing on the flooded park grass.


    ¡°The M1 guests are in close pursuit! What will happen? Place your bets on the options provided in the private chat!¡± said the robotic announcer.


    ¡°They don''t seem fazed at all. They''re just using us to make more money!¡± said Arron.


    ¡°It''s probably one of the gangs or businesses in Sector 1. They are the only ones crazy enough to host something like this,¡± said Kix.


    Although the flooded park''s pathways could barely be seen, the hover-bikes were all still using them since it was easier to control the hover-bikes on the solid paraconcrete.


    Racer #66 was in the last place and was speeding at full throttle down a path trying to catch up to the others.


    Having a bright idea Racer #66 decided to try and cut corners to catch up with the others by crossing the large flooded grassy area ... but when he made a sharp turn on the grass he spun out of control and was thrown off his hover-bike.


    ¡°Should we nab him?¡± asked Arron.


    ¡°We need more than one person. If we stop to get him we''ll lose the rest. The system can grab the data from their NerViz cloud chips if we get close enough.¡±


    Racer #66 was now covered in mud as he stood back up and jumped back onto his hoverbike. Not wanting to get caught, he sped off in the opposite direction of the speeding APC only for it to pass by him and not stop.


    The rest of the racers continued to speed through the winding paths of the park not paying any attention to the approaching APC behind them.


    The rain and wind seemed to get even stronger as they got closer to the rear of the racers.


    ¡°Why is there such strong wind inside the mega-city?¡± asked Arron as he tried to see through the heavy downpour.


    ¡°It''s just how it always is this time of year. Haven''t you seen any of the weather reports before?¡±


    The wind was now strong enough to push around the speeding APC if Kix didn''t keep it under control. Of course, it was also causing hell for the riders ahead of them. A few of the riders were not lucky and were pushed off the path where they swerved out of control and crashed.


    ¡°Not yet,¡± said Kix.


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    The racers in the last place were now panicking as they kept looking behind them at the APC. Its bright floodlights blinded them if they looked too long while the loud sirens pierced through the wind and rain and only grew louder as it approached them.


    ¡°New rule! Anyone who can disable the M1 vehicle will automatically get 3rd place!¡± shouted the robotic voice in a cheerful tone.


    Only three of the racers at the rear of the race decided that this was their only chance and gave up trying to follow the others.


    Racer #32 swerved out to the left while Racer #42 went right. They both grabbed onto a metal bat with one hand and pulled it out of the holster attached to the Hover-bike''s side.


    They closed in onto the speeding APC with their bats raised to try and smash the vehicle.


    Racer #52 was still only watching the other two to see if the plan would work or not.


    ¡°Hold on,¡± said Kix.


    The APC swerved to the left slamming into racer #32.


    The impact pushed the hoverbike off of the path where it came to an abrupt stop when it slammed into a thick bush. Rider #32 was launched off of his hoverbike and sent flying through the air upside down. He came to a complete stop when his back slammed into a nearby fake tree. His body was unnaturally wrapped around the tree before it fell to the ground motionless.


    The APC swerved to the right and slammed into racer #42 who managed to hit Arron''s window with his bat.


    He was also sent spiraling off of the path and crash-landed in the lake, where he floundered in the water trying to stand back up and get out of the thrashing waters of the stormy lake.


    Racer #52 who saw the spectacular failures of the other two, decided to try a different method.


    He positioned himself right in front of the APC and... he leaped off of rolling to the side of the path. The hover-bike was sent sliding on its side back towards the APC.


    Bam! Screeecchhhh!


    With the impact, the hoverbike was caught under the belly of the APC and sent out yellow sparks as it drove forward.


    Kix cursed as he swerved back and forth trying to dislodge the hoverbike.


    ¡°I think I''m going to be sick!¡± said Arron.


    After several sharp turns, the mangled hoverbike was spat out behind the APC and they continued the chase.


    ¡°Looks like you all failed to disable the vehicle,¡± said the robotic announcer.


    ¡°Those five should be enough for the interrogators to gather the information they need,¡± said Kix, as he started to slow down and turn the APC back towards the injured and stranded racers.


    ¡°What''s this? The M1 are giving up the chase? We can''t have that, and we definitely can''t have you messing with the racers. It would be bad for business. Goodbye M1 guest,¡± said the robotic announcer.


    ¡°What the!¡± Kix cried in shock.


    The APC picked up speed and started barreling towards one of the large towing buildings surrounding the park.


    ¡°Slow down!¡± shouted Arron.


    ¡°I can''t do anything! The hover controls are not responding!¡± shouted Kix as he tried to break or turn the hovercar away from the buildings.


    Arron grabbed the cable from the back of his helmet and plugged it into the passenger side of the dashboard to see what was going on.


    All the options for the hover steering and air brakes were locked. He had no way to bypass all of the locks in such a short time so he used his hacking system to brute-force its way through one of the locks to open the APC''s emergency command system.


    He hurriedly typed in the override code and hit enter.


    [Driving mode MANUAL... Activated!]


    ¡°$%^#,¡± shouted Kix as the APC''s wheels lowered and touched the ground.


    Although the wheels gave him a bit of traction the hover drive system was still pushing them forward at full speed.


    He tried to stomp down on the breaks but with the slippery flooded grass underneath it was no use.


    They were now sliding sideways at a high speed and were still heading towards the building as Kix tried to fight the momentum and turn the APC away from the building.


    ¡°It''s toast! We need to bail out before we''re turned into pancakes!¡± shouted Arron.


    Kix gave up trying to fight with the controls and the two fumbled with the seat buckles that did not want to unlock.


    The large building¡¯s paraconcrete wall was now fully lit up by the APC''s floodlights and was growing closer at an alarming speed.


    Arron managed to tear off his seat belt but the door was locked so he was forced to desperately kick out the passenger window.


    Using all the strength he had, he jumped out the broken window of the speeding APC.


    His body slammed into the flooded muddy grass knocking the wind out of his chest. He continued to roll on the ground away from the APC dissipating a large amount of his forward momentum before he slammed into the building''s wall and lost contentiousness.

 Chapter 48: Pain

    Arron woke up to the cold rain hitting his face sending a jolt of pain through his entire body with each drop.


    His entire body was now completely soaked as he lay on the flooded ground near the base of the building he had slammed into.


    He felt the warmth of a fire nearby but could not see it.


    When he sat up his head let out a painful throb nearly causing him to fall back down.


    Arron held his head with one hand as he tried to open his eyes.


    ¡°Aggghhhh!¡± he let out a low grunt of pain. He could only see out of his left eye, his right eye wouldn''t open.


    As his blurry sight cleared he could see that the helmet''s paraglass visor had shattered and was probably the reason his right eye could not open.


    His ears were filled with a loud ringing which blocked all other sounds.


    As he took in his surroundings he found the source of the heat he was feeling. It was the APC that had slammed into the wall more than 30 yards away from him.


    The rain battled with the fire trying to extinguish it but the fire was fiercely fighting back.


    The light of the sizzling fire lit the area in a flickering glow.


    ¡°Kix!?¡± shouted Arron in a hoarse voice as he scanned his surroundings.


    He continued to call out his partner''s name even though his ears were still ringing and he could not hear anything.


    Arron used the wall for support as he stood up while still holding his throbbing head.


    He stumbled forward a few steps at a time as he tried to clear his head and search for his partner. He circled around the burning hulk of the APC.


    ¡°Kix..?¡± asked Arron as he looked around the base of the building''s wall on the left side but he did not find him there.


    He turned to the crumpled APC and looked inside but could not see any signs of a body.


    As he stood there looking around the area he saw movement in a row of thick bushes.


    He fumbled with his slippery holster and pulled out his service weapon, unsure if it was one of the racers or someone else.


    A man with a dark blue helmet and armor crawled out of the bush and stood up.


    It was Kix.


    Seeing Arron with his weapon drawn, Kix pointed at Arron and said something.


    Arron pointed to his ears and shook his head which caused him to groan in pain and hold his head once again.


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    Kix was in far better shape than Arron and had only suffered relatively minor damage.


    He walked over to Arron and helped inspect his wounds.


    Slowly the buzzing sound in Arron''s ears cleared up and he found that it was Toothbrush constantly trying to get them to answer.


    ¡°What''s going on! We lost the APC''s signal. Are you guys there?¡±


    ¡°This is Arron... We have run into a slight problem. Requesting transportation back to HQ...¡±


    ¡°Everyone is currently busy but I''ll send out the request and see if anyone can respond. Can you not drive back?¡±


    ¡°The APC is totaled,¡± said Arron.


    ¡°I''ll let the wreckage recovery team know,¡± said Tooth.


    Kix applied a first aid salve on his face and slapped Arron on the shoulder.


    ¡°You look a mess but you''re good to go for now. We''ll have to have Dr. Octy fix you up when we get back,¡± said Kix.


    Arron started walking towards the inner part of the park.


    ¡°Where are you going?¡± asked Kix.


    ¡°We still have a job to do. If the stranglers are still there, then we can drag them back to HQ.¡±


    ***


    ¡°Man you look terrible,¡± said Tooth as he handed Arron a cup of steaming hot synth coffee and a generic pain reliever from a small bottle of pills from Dr. Octy.


    Arron and Kix were still soaking wet and wearing their armor as they sat in the information room at a desk next to Tooth.


    As soon as they arrived back at M1 HQ and were patched up by Doc Octy, they were ordered to fill out a detailed report on what happened to them before doing anything else.


    ¡°Thanks,¡± said Arron.


    He quickly threw the pill into his mouth and swallowed it with the extremely bitter coffee. He had been hesitant whether or not to take the pill earlier but he now had a pounding migraine that was just too strong.


    ¡°When you finish typing that up you need to also give your assessment and suggestions for the APC.¡±


    ¡°What about the damn new helmets? That paraglass is supposed to be bulletproof but look at what it did to his face when it received a bit of blunt damage,¡± said Kix pointing to Arron''s scared face that was covered in bandages.


    ¡°It''s fine. Doc Octy was able to remove the fragments and said that everything should be back to normal after it finishes healing in a few days. I can already see blurry images again with my right eye,¡± said Arron.


    As if trying to prove his point he opened his still-healing right eye only a fraction before he quickly closed it with a pained grimace.


    ¡°The only problem is this damn migraine that won''t go away,¡± said Arron.


    ¡°It''s not OK, just think if it was a bullet. You would be dead,¡± said Kix as he furiously tapped out his report.


    ¡°You can type up one for that as well, but I doubt the researchers will read it since they are working on a new design now,¡± said Tooth.


    Several minutes passed as they racked their brains and filled the reports with all the details.


    ¡°Hey toothy, I finished the Autopsy for the APC''s systems. You can add this to their reports,¡± said the ever-smiling Kat.


    She handed Toothbrush a secure datastick and looked over to the soaked Arron and Kix.


    ¡°AH! Who wounded our cute probie?¡± asked Kat.


    ¡°It''s from the crash,¡± said Arron.


    ¡°What did you find?¡± asked Kix.


    ¡°It wasn''t a malfunction. The APC used cheap mass-produced data chips from one of the local Level 1 factories. The hacker must have known this as they used the backdoor access codes to lock all the hover-driving systems down.¡±


    ¡°Did you find the culprit?¡± asked Arron.


    ¡°Yep, I sent the info to Lexa to do a background check.¡±


    Everyone turned to Lexa who had ten different screens up in front of her as she busily typed and swiped on each one.


    Feeling everyone¡¯s gaze she looked up from her work.


    ¡°Your suspected hacker has been dead for over 2 years,¡± was all she said before returning to her typing.


    ¡°You sure?¡± asked Kix.


    Lexa tapped a few options bringing up a holovid which she swiped toward the group.


    It was a video of a man being shot several times by the Office of Reason agents during a raid.


    ¡°How could they be using the information of a dead man?¡± asked Arron.


    ¡°This is nothing new and is only getting worse. I''ve sent many requests to the Office of reason to clean up the database by removing the data and access codes for all the dead people. But party members under mother have always halted the attempts to do so,¡± said Kat.

 Chapter 49: Implant

    Arron woke up the next morning with the right side of his face still aching along with the ever-present pounding migraine that was still plaguing him.


    He stumbled into his bathroom and took a few of the generic painkillers that had been given to him by Doc Octy. From what Kix had told him, the pills were far safer than what the hospital gave out.


    Arron felt a gnawing hunger deep inside of him disappear as the pills started to take effect and he started to inspect his face in the mirror. The slightly bloody and bulky bandages that had covered his face were now removed.


    Arron tilted his head in several directions as he inspected it.


    ¡°Doc Octy really did a good job fixing me up,¡± Arron muttered to himself.


    There were no eye-catching visible scars like the chief or the other members of ERF 3. The only slightly noticeable thing was the new pink skin that had been generated to close and heal the wounds.


    Arron lightly touched his face feeling the tenderness of the new skin.


    He stopped inspecting his face and quickly took a mist vibration shower before putting on his dark M1 uniform.


    Even though one of the side effects of the pain pills was forgetting your hunger, Arron grabbed a pack of synth-energy jelly to eat as he headed out into the hallway to get onto the Mag-shoot with the other waiting early risers.


    Ding!


    When the Mag-shoot reached the 298th floor the doors opened and both Kix and Toothbrush stumbled in along with a dozen other random people.


    ¡°You look better this morning,¡± said Kix, slapping Arron on the shoulder.


    ¡°The Doc sure knows his business,¡± said Tooth as he looked at Arron''s face.


    ¡°My head still feels like crap with this damn migraine,¡± said Arron.


    ¡°Give it time, it should go away,¡± said Kix.


    And so Arron suffered through the day, and then another, weathering the pain as well as he could. But by the end of each day, the pain was only getting worse.


    ***


    ¡°Hmm... Everything is healed back to 100%. I''m not sure why you are having such problems,¡± said Doc Octy, as one of his slim metallic arms returned to his back after finishing poking and prodding Arron.


    Arron was not sure if all the ''Tests'' that Doc Octy was doing were necessary but he did not say anything about it hoping that it would help find out what was wrong.


    The Doctor''s eyes were zoomed in as they continuously took deep scans of Arron''s right eye.


    ¡°So what do I do?¡± asked Arron.


    He was holding his head with his right hand. It looked like he was trying to use his hand to push down the pain in his right eye.


    ¡°You have two options. One: nothing. Maybe the pain will stop. Two: I can make an appointment for you tomorrow with a friend I know. He can replace your eye with whatever upgrade you want. Of course, it will cost you money since M1 doesn''t have the money to pay for such things. The stingy M1 bean counters would just be throwing the entire budget into an endless pit with all the wounds and injuries you guys end up with.¡±


    ¡°Implant? Is that necessary?¡± asked Arron, hoping for some other option.


    ¡°That''s up to you. If the pain is unbearable, then get it fixed. If not, just ignore the pain.¡±


    Arron sighed, day by day the pain was getting worse. He didn''t know if he could last another week without going insane from the pain.


    ¡°..and how much would something like this cost?¡±


    ¡°Don''t worry, with your monthly salary you should be able to pay for it. That is if you are not like Ward who wastes it all on useless junk,¡± said Doc Octy, slapping Arron on the shoulder.


    ¡°Then please make an appointment for me,¡± said Arron, after several seconds of hesitation.


    Doc Octy left the operating room to talk with Nurse Neca while grumbling to himself about his choice of job.


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    ¡°He gets to do all the fun stuff, taking out and replacing parts, while I''m stuck here patching up idiots...¡±


    ***


    The next day.


    Arron sat in the well-lit front lobby of [Dr. Impleman''s Implants]. He was slightly early for his appointment so he was forced to wait.


    The lobby was filled with extremely plush hover couches and reclining armchairs. The room''s atmosphere was far posher than many, if not all, the places Arron had been to on the first level.


    Surprisingly, there was no secretary in the lobby and only two other people were waiting along with Arron. They were both wearing expensive flying suits and were busy typing up documents on their hidden holo-keypads.


    The expensive furniture and the people inside all made him feel out of place in his work clothes.


    Since he didn''t know of any other place that was a reputable implant shop, he just quietly sat there. He trusted that Doc Octys friend was good enough seeing that the business was able to stay open in the core of level one for several years and had not been shut down by Mother and Father. Unlike the hundreds of shady shops that were open one month and shut down the next.


    ''Dr. Impleman must be raking in the credits if he can afford an office in the 12th Sector,'' thought Arron as he stared at the ceiling.


    A sliding door at the end of the room slid open and two people walked out of it.


    The one to exit the room first was a young man who was wearing dark elastic shorts that revealed his well-oiled metallic legs which shined a bright gray due to the parasteel that had been used.


    ¡°Thanks for the tuneup doctor,¡± said the young man.


    ¡°With the amount of running you do, that should last you a while,¡± said the elderly doctor patting the young man on the shoulder. He was wearing a long white lab coat that was spotless and had his long black hair pulled back and tied in a tight ponytail.


    The doctor opened up a system window on his holopad and checked off a few things and typed in a few notes before he swiped the window towards the young man sending him the bill.


    When the young man paid the bill and left the office, Dr. Impleman turned his attention to the three people waiting.


    ¡°Arron?¡± he asked.


    Arron stood up and walked over to the doctor. Dr. Impleman sized him up before silently nodding.


    ¡°Right this way.¡±


    Arron followed the man through the sliding door and down a short hallway before entering a large and dimly lit operating room. The entire room smelt like it had just bathed in strong industrial cleaning chemicals.


    Along the right wall, there was nothing but rows of cabinets with various implants. On the left wall, there were hundreds of large para glass containers from ground to ceiling that were bubbling with green liquid. Inside each container were several different organs and body parts.


    ¡°Sit here,¡± said Dr. Impleman, slapping a plush reclining chair that looked out of place in the sterile operating room.


    Several metal trays were attached to the chair with an array of different sharp tools and electric instruments neatly laying on them.


    ¡°So you are one of Octy''s patients. Don''t get many of you guys here since everyone there tends to go to the ''Cheap'' places. Trust me you picked the right place. I have even operated on myself several times before.¡±


    Arron couldn''t see anything that looked like an implant on the doctor''s body.


    Dr. Impleman sat down on a hoverchair near Arron and tapped on an invisible menu to check the notes he had taken when the appointment had been scheduled.


    ¡°You''re here because your right eye is causing problems after an accident.¡±


    ¡°That is correct,¡± said Arron, not bothering to mention that what happened to him was no accident.


    Dr. Impleman scooted right up next to the reclining Arron and looked at his right eye for several seconds. He silently picked out several sharp instruments and a few tools from one of the trays and transferred them to an empty one.


    ¡°If you want, I can replace your left eye as well. I won''t charge you any extra for the work, just the basic cost for the implant,¡± said Dr. Impleman, as he finished picking the proper tools he would need.


    The trays holding the remaining tools silently retracted back into the large reclining chair.


    ¡°That''s okay. I only need the right eye to be replaced,¡± said Arron, as he eyed several of the tools that he had never seen before. He had no idea what they were used for or why so many of them were needed.


    ¡°Alright. There are three different types of implants that you can choose from. Each one fits a different price range.¡±


    ¡°Option One: Organic Implant. 10K credits per eye. It''s extra if you want the eye color to match your other eye. With the purchase, you can come back and get a free check-up, tune-up, or replacement. Option Two: Hybrid Implant. 5K per eye. This implant is a mixture of cybernetic and synthetic materials. It looks like an eye but is not the real thing. 5-year warranty. Option Three: the cheap implant. 1000 credits per eye. Made entirely from cybernetic material. You will have to come in every year for a replacement or an intensive repair checkup. No warranty. Each option is the base price without the standard tax set by Mother and Father,¡± said Dr. Impleman in a quick and well-rehearsed chant that he had repeated 1000s of times before.


    ¡°The Hybrid Implant,¡± said Arron after thinking it over for a few seconds.


    ¡°Right, is there any specific software you would like to have installed on it? If you are not too picky with what software you want, then you can use the basic software package that comes as a base package with no extra cost.¡±


    ¡°Anything that can help me with my job would be fine. I don''t need anything expensive,¡± said Arron.


    Dr. Impleman nodded before tapping a button on the armrest of his hoverchair.


    A small drone popped out from under the chair and floated over to Arron''s right eye where it started to take all the measurements it needed.


    When it was done it returned to its hidey-hole.


    Dr. Impleman pulled a clear mask down from the ceiling with the thick connected tube extending all the way out from a hole In the ceiling.


    When the mask was placed over Arron''s mouth and nose, it automatically created a suction force firmly attaching to his face before it started to pump out an unknown gas.


    ¡°Gaseous Ethylene. It will knock you out and block the pain,¡± said Dr. Impleman, patting Arron''s shoulder before he stood up and walked to the far end of the left wall passing by many of the bubbling containers.


    The last thing Arron saw before the Gaseous Ethylene knocked him out, was a blue synthetic eye looking back at him as it was being carried on a sterile tray.

 Chapter 50: Festival Rumors

    Arron, now with a thick white gauze covering his right eye, was led out of the dim operating room by Dr. Impleman and into the bright lobby room.


    ¡°The Gaseous Ethylene should wear off in a minute or two. You are welcome to sit here until it does,¡± said Dr. Impleman, waving his hand toward an empty cushioned couch, before starting typing up the bill for the implant surgery.


    Arron sat down on the couch to wait for his fuzzy head to clear up.


    ¡°Don''t remove the patch over your right eye or touch it before tomorrow morning. If you have any problems in the morning I can take a look, anything that happens after that will cost you credits,¡± said Dr. Impleman, as he swiped his hand towards Arron sending him the invoice for the operation.


    It took Arron a few seconds to react as his mind was still fuzzy. When he opened the invoice his eyes nearly popped out of his head. He had to calm himself so that there were no adverse effects to his new implant.


    With a shaky hand that was not caused by the Gaseous Ethylene, he pressed the okay option and paid the 7500 credits.


    His savings was almost completely gone with this one purchase.


    Now he would have to join Ward with pinching every credit he had for the rest of the month.


    Luckily, there was only one week left until next month''s payment would arrive.


    Once the payment was verified and the credits transferred, Dr. Impleman turned his attention to the next customer and led them back to the operating room.


    When Arron''s head cleared up he stood up and left the building. As he stepped onto the moving sidewalk that was heading to the MagLev station he opened his contact list and tapped on Kix''s name to start a call.


    ¡°Hey! You''re alive! So I guess the operation was a success?¡± said Kix as soon as the call connected and he saw Arron''s face.


    ¡°It was. The doctor said it should be fully set in the morning,¡± said Arron.


    ¡°Doctor? You went to one of the expensive places?¡± asked Kix with a whistle.


    ¡°Don''t all the implant shops have doctors?¡±


    ¡°Nope. Only the top-tier places do. You may find some washouts in the medium tier shops but their service is hit or miss, the cheap low tier shops are all manned by bots so they can complete as many operations as quickly as possible 24/7.¡±


    ¡°I didn''t know that.¡±


    ¡°It''s probably for the best that you went there. You only end up with even more problems a year later with those other places. So, how is your head feeling?¡±


    ¡°I only just got off the Gaseous Ethylene a bit ago, but my head is fine, I feel no pain.¡±


    ¡°That''s great. That new eye should really help you out now. I was going to call you later since I just heard a new rumor. Tomorrow will be the start of a planned week-long ''Festival'', so you better get all the sleep you can tonight.¡±


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    ¡°A week-long Festival?¡±


    ¡°If the rumors are true, then you only need to wait till tomorrow and you''ll find out all the details. Well, my synth tv dinner just finished cooking so I''ll see you tomorrow,¡± said Kix, before ending the call.


    Arron looked at his contact list and was debating with himself whether or not to call his parents and Mel to update them on how things were going. After some thought, he decided to put it off since his current situation would only cause them to worry.


    Instead, he opened the holonet and searched for information on the upcoming Festival... but nothing came up in the search results.


    ***


    When Arron woke up the next morning he walked to the bathroom scratching his chest. He had slept like a log. It was the best sleep he had had in almost a week.


    After taking care of his morning business he once again found himself looking into the bathroom mirror.


    As he stared at his face he started to pull off the sticky gauze cloth patch that was covering his right eye. When it was completely removed, his closed right eyelid slowly opened revealing a bright electric blue eye.


    Arron leaned in closer to the mirror and upon a closer inspection he could just make out several specs of white in the blue iris.


    When he compared it up close to his left eye he could definitely see a difference between the different shades of blue. It would probably not be that noticeable to other people, only if they took the time closely inspecting both his eyes would they notice anything.


    Arron noticed a few messages appear up in the right corner of his right eye''s vision.


    The text was all in green.


    [Software updating... Completed.]


    [Installation... Completed.]


    The messages blinked for a few seconds before slowly fading away.


    ''I wonder what software I was given...'' thought Arron as he exited the bathroom to get dressed for work.


    When he was fully dressed he went to the kitchen and opened one of the wall cupboards and stared at the rows of synth-energy jelly pouches.


    As he was deciding on which flavor to eat this morning, a white transparent line popped up from the pouch he was looking at. At the end of the extended line was a string of white text [Pickled Pickle flavor Synth-energy Jelly. Expected expiration date: Never].


    He turned his gaze to several other packs in the cupboard and each of them had the same thing happen when he looked at them for a longer period of time.


    ¡°So that''s what it is,¡± said Arron as he nodded to himself.


    As he exited his apartment and entered the Mag-shoot, he found that the white lines popped up from the other people''s heads with their names when he looked at them.


    ''So it is sort of like my helmet visor, just not as detailed,'' thought Arron.


    ***


    Arron and Kix sat in a row of hover seats near the back of the large conference room along with the other members of the ERF Unit 3.


    The room was filled with both the ERF teams as well as the normal M1 patrol officers and was full of chatter. Such a gathering was extremely rare.


    Many of them were gossiping and guessing the reason they had all been called to the conference room.


    ¡°Listen up you ruffians!¡± shouted Chief Chesty Buller, as he stormed into the conference room with the head officers of ERF, Logistics, M1 patrols, and mechanics following behind him.


    They walked up onto the short stage at the front of the room and turned to the several thousand M1 officers that were now staring back at them.


    ¡°As some of you might have guessed, Mother and Father have planned a Rage week Festival starting from today to the end of the week,¡± said chief Chesty Buller.


    Several of the officers in the rows of hover-chairs nodded their heads as if expecting this news.


    ¡°For those of you who have never experienced a Rage week festival either as a civilian or an officer. Think of the normal daily difficulties you go through each day... and times it by at least 10,¡± said chief Chesty.


    Arron thought he saw the chief''s scanning gaze stop on him as he said that last part, but I soon moved to look at the other officers.


    ¡°For this reason expect to have your workload this week doubled if not tripled, every day.¡±


    Chief Chesty let the words sink in before continuing.


    ¡°I know some of you like to flaunt the rules of not staying with your partner at all times since you believe you are safe enough. The rules are there for a reason. The Rage week Festival is not a time for you to goof off. You better be giving it your all this week, because I don''t want to have to go to your funerals because of some stupid mistake.¡±

 Chapter 51: First Day Of The Festival

    Someone in the front row raised their hand to ask a question.


    ¡°Speak,¡± said Chief Chesty.


    ¡°Who did they designate as a target this time?¡±


    There was a low mummer as the officers quietly spoke to the person next to them all guessing who or what this year''s target would be.


    Chief Chesty held up a hand to quiet the chatter.


    ¡°There''s no need to worry about protecting some big shot this time. This time the target is simple... Separatists.¡±


    ¡°Separatists?¡± ¡°Which ones?¡± ¡°This is going to be a pain.¡±


    ¡°Mother and Father did not clarify who, all they said was the target will be separatists. Rage week officially starts at 9 A.M. You have...¡± Chief Chesty looked at the holo-clock on his wrist datapad. ¡°...roughly 30 minutes until the festival starts. I suggest you get whatever you need done before it starts.¡±


    With that, the chief and the head officers left the large auditorium.


    ¡°Is this normal? How come I''ve never heard of this festival before?¡± asked Arron.


    ¡°Of course it''s normal, it happens all the time,¡± said Captain Pointer.


    ¡°The reason you haven''t heard about it, is because it''s only a festival for the citizens of the Megacity... mainly the first level,¡± said Kix.


    ¡°Alright everyone, get your gear in order. In less than 30 minutes those in the logistics rooms will be sending us on wild goose chases for the rest of the week,¡± said Captain Pointer.


    ¡°It''s not like we want to do that. But with such a wide and touchy topic as Separatist, there are going to be a lot of... Tips,¡± said Lexa.


    ¡°Ha! I''m glad I don''t have to go out and check up on everything,¡± said Tooth.


    Several of the ERF members just smiled and slapped Toothbrush on the shoulder.


    ¡°What?¡± asked Tooth as he looked at their odd smiles.


    ***


    Arron and Kix were both hopping into the new AP vehicle which they were now using since the prototype APC had been totaled.


    ¡°Let''s hope this thing holds up better than the APC,¡± said Kix.


    ¡°Aren''t the chips the same as the ones in the APC?¡±


    ¡°The mechanics from garage #1 replaced them with a different brand,¡± said Kix as the AP''s engine roared to life.


    Ding! Ding! Ding!


    Arron''s NerViz alarm that he had set a short time ago started ringing loudly in his ears.


    It was 9 am. The rage week festival had officially started.


    Along with the alarm, all forms of the KNN news started to broadcast and publish the breaking news of the start of the rage week festival.


    Ping!


    Toothbrush''s head appeared over their dashboard. In the background, Arron could hear the frantic talking of the members of the logistics along with the nonstop ringing of hundreds or even thousands of people on hold. It had only been a minute since the news had declared the start of the festival.


    ¡°We got a report that there is separatist activity in the apartment complex B of the Megapartment in zone 3 of Sector 4. You have been put in charge of handling that. I''ll keep you up to date on any other reports from that Sector and zone,¡± said Tooth in a rush, before he disconnected the call.


    ***


    After taking the fast lane to get to their destination, both Arron and Kix exited the AP vehicle. The doors automatically locked as soon as they shut them.


    ¡°This is the place?¡± asked Arron, he was not sure if they had gotten the right directions.


    He tilted his head and looked at the blinking marker that his visor was showing. The suspected Separatist activity was located on the 169th floor of the mega-apartment complex B.


    ¡°You''re right, this place is not what I would call a hotbed for separatists. If we were sent to Sectors 7, 8, 9, or 10, I wouldn''t have a second thought about it. But this...¡±


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    The two were looking at the fairly clean and fully intact large apartment complex that even had a small neat pathway garden near the entrance. It was a place where thousands of middle-class families lived.


    ¡°Even our apartments don''t have a garden like this...¡± said Arron, still inspecting their surroundings.


    ¡°It''s probably fake,¡± said Kix. He quit looking at the garden and walked to the front entrance forcing Arron to follow.


    The building''s security system opened for them when they waved their metal badges over the scanner.


    The large community waiting room they walked into had several couches, cushions, and Holo TVs playing news, Robo-sports highlights, and even the newest top hit songs all generated and sung by beautiful and handsome Ai''s.


    Everything showed the usual wear and tear of everyday use, but right now the community waiting room was empty except for the service robot that stood at the back wall near the Mag-Shoot.


    Kix walked to the Mag-shoot ignoring the service bot... only to get a metallic robot hand shoved in his face.


    ¡°Guests are to use the stairs. The Mag-shoot is for residents only,¡± said the assistant robot.


    ¡°Get lost we''re here on official work,¡± said Kix pushing the thin metal hand away and pressing on the button to call the Mag-shoot down to them.


    ¡°Error... Command not recognized. Use the stairs or the police will be called for causing a nuisance.¡±


    ¡°We are law enforcement,¡± said Arron tapping on his chest badge to show his holographic badge number.


    ¡°Error... Command not recognized. This is your last warning,¡± said the service robot. Electricity flickered from its metal hand.


    ¡°$%^&, stupid robot. Who programmed it to be such an asshole,¡± Grumbled Kix as he and Arron were climbing up the spiral staircase to the 169th floor.


    They had no other choice, if they destroyed the stubborn service robot, even if it was in defense, the owner would complain to the chief, and then they would be in some major trouble and it was not even 1 hour into the week-long festival.


    When they reached the 150th floor they started to hear a loud argument echoing through the stairwell from several floors above.


    BANG!


    Both Arron and Kix pulled out their service weapons and started running up the rest of the several hundreds of stairs toward the sound.


    When they reached the 168th floor they saw two males both around their thirties at the top of the stairs to the 169th floor.


    One of them was holding onto a metal bat.


    The two had stopped their argument when they noticed Arron and Kix slowly walking up the stairs toward them. They stood aside to let both Arron and Kix past them.


    Arron and Kix scanned the hallway for any threats before turning their attention back to the two men standing near the stairs.


    Kix scanned the two men with his visor to try and solve the problem quickly.


    ¡°You''re Pronker? The one who called in with information about the separatist activity?¡± Asked Kix.


    ¡°Yes, I am,¡± said the man with the metal bat. His chest puffed up as he talked.


    ¡°What was that loud bang just a moment ago?¡± asked Arron.


    ¡°That bang was this idiot trying to intimidate me by slamming his bat on the ground,¡± said the scholarly-looking man standing opposite the bug-eyed Pronker. He pushed his thick glasses up his nose making him look even smarter.


    ¡°He''s a Separatist!¡± said the bug-eyed man, pointing his metal bat at Mr. Glasses.


    ¡°Stop calling me a Separatist! You''re just mad that I didn''t tell you about your wife cheating on you!¡±


    ¡°You...! You~! You¡¯re definitely a separatist! Otherwise, why would you not have told me about it sooner?¡±


    ¡°Put down that bat,¡± said Arron, warning the angry bug-eyed man.


    ¡°Pronker, what''s your evidence?¡± asked Kix.


    Kix was extremely annoyed at having to climb 169 floors just for a petty squabble. But because it had to do with supposed separatist activity, he could not just brush it off. If he did that, both he and Arron could get in trouble if it later came out that the man was a separatist.


    ¡°Just check his apartment. I''m sure you can find it all in there!¡± said Bug-eye.


    ¡°Go ahead and search it, you''ll just find that this guy is just a petty man.¡±


    ¡°Is there anyone else inside?¡± asked Kix. He held his weapon at the ready as he walked towards the apartment that had been pointed out by Bug-eye.


    ¡°No, my wife and two children are staying at my parent''s house because of the rage week ''holiday''.¡±


    The neighbors that had been peeking out into the hall quickly closed their doors when Kix walked near them.


    Arron held up a hand to stop the two men as they tried to follow Kix.


    ¡°You two just wait quietly over there,¡± said Kix pointing back to the stairs that were far enough away from the door.


    ¡°Sure,¡± said Mr. Glasses as he remotely opened the door for Kix to enter and begin his search.


    Arron walked to the door to give Kix support if he needed it, but he also made sure to keep an eye on the two troublemakers.


    ¡°Your temper and pettiness is why your wife cheated and left you,¡± said Mr. Glasses.


    ¡°You... DAMN SEPARATIST!¡± shouted Bug-eye with so much hate in his voice.


    Before Arron or Mr. Glasses could do or say anything, Bug-eye swung his bat at Mr. Glasses'' head.


    The heavy blow knocked Mr. Glasses stumbling back several steps... and over the stair railing where he fell through the air.


    ¡°AHHHHhhhhh...!¡±


    Arron rushed over to the stairs to see if Mr. Glasses had managed to grab onto a ledge...


    Mr. Glasses had landed 169 floors down in a grotesque pose. His body was now laying in a growing puddle of blood and flesh.


    ¡°So, that thing about reporting separatists. How many points do I get?¡± asked Bug-eye standing next to Arron.


    ¡°Turn around, you''re under arrest,¡± said Arron, pulling out his magnetic cuffs.


    ¡°What? Why!?¡±


    ¡°You just killed someone in front of me, you idiot!¡±


    ¡°But he was a Separatist!¡±


    ¡°That''s not for you to decide if he was or wasn''t. Leave that up to the Office of Reason to investigate!¡±

 Chapter 52: Statistics And Justice

    ¡°Hey it''s cramped back here!¡± complained Bug-eye.


    ¡°We weren''t expecting to have to take someone for a ride. Maybe you shouldn''t have killed someone,¡± said Kix, who was focused on swerving in and out of the heavy traffic.


    Arron was keeping a close eye on Bug-eye who was crammed back into the storage part of the AP, chained to a rack.


    ¡°With the Rage Week Festival starting today you would think that the traffic would be far lighter but no... It looks even worse,¡± complained Kix.


    ¡°Of course, there is going to be more traffic! People are all trying to leave the main areas to join other family members,¡± said Bug-eye.


    ¡°Is that so?¡± asked Arron.


    ¡°It''s because of idiots like him that people are afraid to leave their homes or be alone during rage week,¡± said Kix, pointing at Bug-eye.


    ¡°Hey! I was only a little bit angry back then. I have calmed down and regained my senses so can you let me go?¡±


    ¡°Sure,¡± said Kix.


    ¡°You will?¡± asked both Arron and Bug-eye at the same time.


    ¡°Yeah, at the nearest police station. We''re not going to take him all the way back to HQ.¡±


    Arron smiled at that and continued to watch Bug-eye.


    ¡°Hey can you stop, I have to pee,¡± asked Bug-eye a few moments later.


    ¡°If you pee in this car, I''ll add vandalizing government property to your charges. Then I''ll make you clean it up yourself,¡± said Arron.


    ¡°UNFAIR! I''m going to complain to Mother and Father about your abuse of power!¡±


    Both Arron and Kix ignored the man''s rants until they pulled into one of the loading and unloading parking spaces in front of the small red and yellow sector 4 zone 3 police station.


    ¡°You take him in, I¡¯ll keep a watch out here for any trouble,¡± said Kix.


    So Arron dragged the stumbling and constantly complaining Bug-eye into the police station.


    A female receptionist in a red and yellow uniform sat behind the security desk watching a day drama. She looked away from the holo-tv when Arron and the noisy Bug-Eye stopped in front of her desk.


    ¡°M1? What are you doing here?¡± asked the woman after she looked at his armor.


    ¡°He killed his neighbor,¡± said Arron.


    ¡°He was a separatist!¡±


    ¡°Another one? This is going to be a long week,¡± said the receptionist with an exasperated sigh.


    She turned her attention back to the day-drama while she started to type up a document and then swiped it over to Arron.


    ¡°Fill out the rest of the details on that form for me,¡± said the receptionist, not paying any more attention to Arron or Bug-eye.


    This was Arron''s first time handing over a criminal this way so it took him a few minutes to fill out the unfamiliar form. When he had checked it over twice he sent it back to the receptionist who then absentmindedly tapped a few options to file it away.


    ¡°Take him back with the others,¡± said the receptionist, as she pressed a hidden button.


    A loud buzz sounded and a nearby thick parasteel door slid open.


    Arron dragged the reluctant Bug-eye through the open door and down the dimly lit hallway.


    At the end of the hallway was a large open holding cell that was surrounded by flowing yellow electricity. There were two security drones standing guard near the cell door.


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    ¡°Hey! Have you come to get us out?¡±


    ¡°I''m innocent! He was a separatist!¡±


    ¡°Yeah me too! I was only eating him because he was a separatist!¡±


    Several bizarre and disheveled faces appeared at the edge of the glowing electric barrier.


    ¡°Prisoner 1, 6, and 10. Step back. Or receive justice!¡± said the robotic security drone. It shoved its thin metallic hand through the electric current and snapped its metal claws shut in front of one of the prisoners'' faces.


    ¡°Prisoner?¡± asked the second security drone as it floated over to Arron and pointed at the cuffed Bug-eye.


    ¡°Prisoner,¡± said Arron as he un-cuffed Bug-eye and pushed him towards the two security bots.


    ¡°Activating new prisoner protocol....¡± said the first Security drone. ¡°Welcome prisoner 12! Stay still, or receive Justice!¡±


    A small opening in the electric barrier was created near the security bots. The prisoners inside the open cell instead of rushing towards the opening fell over themselves trying to get away from the opening.


    ¡°Move! Or receive justice!¡± said the second security bot as it poked Bug-eye in the back.


    ***


    With his task complete, Arron returned to the waiting APC.


    ¡°What took you so long?¡± asked Kix.


    ¡°Paperwork and I had to escort him to the cell. There were already 11 people there just today. All of them killed someone and were just talking about separatist this and separatist that,¡± said Arron.


    ¡°This is nothing, last time it was estimated that 200 people a day were killed due to the Rage week Festival.¡±


    ¡°200 a day?¡±


    ¡°It may not sound like much with the several tens of millions of people that live on the first floor, and that''s how the news reported it, just a statistic. But that is the wrong way of looking at it. That was 200 families torn apart every day.¡±


    Arron nodded his head in agreement.


    Ping!


    ¡°Arron, Kix. New orders! A large group of vigilantes is gathering near the shopping district! You are to head over there and help the security drones clean up the situation and stop any trouble from happening,¡± said Toothbrush as soon as his head popped into view over the dash.


    ¡°Hey, tooth. You don''t sound so chipper anymore, what happened?¡± asked Kix with a smile.


    ¡°The damn calls won''t stop coming in! I have to go or I''ll never get through them all!¡± said Tooth before hanging up.


    ¡°Heh, I bet he wishes he was out here with us now,¡± said Kix with a chuckle.


    The shopping district was not that far away from the police station so they quickly arrived at the coordinates given to them.


    When Arron and Kix stepped out of the AP there were already over 100 people milling about near the entrance of the shopping district that was being blocked by several security drones.


    ¡°Ah! Finally, a human officer has come! Tell these dumb bots to move aside!¡± shouted a female near the front of the group.


    ¡°What are you guys doing here? With it being Rage week and all shouldn''t you be with your families?¡± asked Arron.


    ¡°We''re hunting Separatists!¡± said another female.


    ¡°Hunting Separatists?¡± asked Arron. It was then that he noticed almost all of them were holding some form of a makeshift blunt weapon. His hand was now resting on his service weapon just in case the crowd turned violent.


    ¡°You all are aware that gathering in such a large group with weapons like the ones you are carrying is illegal right?¡± asked Kix, as he and Arron walked to the front of the group to stand next to the security drones.


    ¡°We''re allowed to because we''re following Mother and Father''s orders to root out separatists!¡± said the first woman who seemed to be the main speaker of the group.


    Arron made sure to log all of her information for further investigation and to keep track in case she was part of any other such disturbances during the rest of the week-long festival.


    ¡°If you are looking for separatists, why are you here? The only people I see around here are you guys,¡± said Arron.


    ¡°On Faceplant and Barker people were saying that there were several separatist shops here. So we decided to take care of the problem ourselves since no one else was going to do anything!¡±


    ¡°Wait, you''re basing all this on a few posts from some random person on the holo-net?¡± asked Kix.


    ¡°They''re not random people! One of them has over 10,000 followers and their post received 100 reposts and over 1000 likes!¡±


    ¡°..and what if this information is wrong and the people that you are accusing are innocent?¡± asked Arron.


    The woman shrugged. ¡°Can''t win them all, but I''m sure that they are separatist! I saw all the descriptions of what one looks like from the news.¡±


    ¡°Alright, you can all go play vigilante somewhere else. Leave this area,¡± said Kix waving his hand in a shooing motion.


    ¡°What! We''re not vigilantes! We''re here to bring justice to the Separatists! You can''t stop us!¡± shouted someone from the crowd.


    ¡°If you have information about a person being a suspected Separatist report it to the Office of Reason. Do not come out here looking to beat someone up just because someone said something on the holo-net,¡± said Kix, his hand now on his service weapon.


    ¡°Leave now, or we''ll show you real justice!¡± said Arron.


    As if taking this as an order the line of security drones all spoke at the same time, ¡°Respected customers, leave or receive justice!¡±

 Chapter 53: Short Straw And New Orders

    Arron watched as the security bots herded the restless crowd away from the shopping district.


    A few of the more rambunctious people tried to block the security bots.


    ¡°Receive justice!¡± chanted the security drones.


    Bzzt! Electric jolts caused them to drop like sacks of potatoes.


    ¡°Let''s check the rear entrance,¡± said Kix, waving for Arron to follow him.


    The large main street that was normally filled with many portable food stalls, stalls selling various knickknacks, and the ever-present flashy and colorful holo-signs were nowhere to be seen.


    The entire place was like a ghost town. An amazing feat with the massive population of the first level.


    ¡°So weird,¡± said Arron as he looked at each of the boarded-up buildings they passed.


    ¡°It''s because of those types of idiots out there,¡± said Kix pointing behind them. ¡°That the shops, stalls, vendors, and even other workers in almost all parts of the first level call in sick so they can stay home with family and weather the entire week. 90% of the time the only civilians on the streets are those with grievances with someone and are looking to get even.¡±


    Bam! Bam! Bam!


    The sound of someone hitting a building farther down the street reached their helmet sensor alerting the two.


    Arron and Kix drew their service weapons and ran down the street towards the banging noise.


    ¡°Hurry up your hammering you slow bot! Damn, I knew I shouldn''t have cheeped out and bought the last-gen service bot. Next month I''ll definitely get the para-steel shutters.¡±


    A short chubby man was both yelling at his service robot and talking to himself as he fretted over the slow pace while patting his sweaty brows with a dirty piece of cloth.


    ¡°Sir?... Is everything Ok?¡± asked Arron while scanning the area for anyone else.


    ¡°HEEEE!¡± the short chubby man cried in shock and swirled around to see Arron and Kix who were running towards him.


    The door to the shop opened up and an equally short and chubby woman stuck her head out, ¡°Hurry inside Bibidy!¡±


    As the scared man ran towards the door he tripped over his feet falling flat on his face. But in his fright he only cared about getting to safety and care not how he looked doing so, so instead of standing up, he rolled through the open door which immediately slammed shut behind him leaving the service bot still hammering nails into the Parawood.


    Arron looked to Kix who only shrugged and holstered his weapon.


    When they reached the rear entrance they encountered a similar situation as the front entrance but with a little elbow grease, they were able to clean up the situation with the help of the security drones.


    Arron and Kix spent the rest of the day and several hours past their normal work time chasing after the numerous reports of separatist activity.


    In between those calls they had been tasked with clearing up several massed groups of vigilantes that kept forming whenever a new report of someone being a separatist was posted to the government-approved social media.


    ***


    A refreshed Arron walked out of the M1''s mist shower room with his towel wrapped around his waist revealing his toned muscles as he walked to his locker to get a fresh change of clothes.


    Kix was already pulling on some comfortable clothes to sleep in. They along with several other M1 officers had drawn the short straw and were ordered to stay the night at the M1 barracks in case of an emergency. Arron hoped this was only for one night.


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    ¡°I''m going to have crap sleep for this whole week,¡± said Kix.


    ¡°Can''t you just take a synthsleep pill?¡± asked Arron.


    ¡°That''s not real sleep and using that junk is bad for your body.¡±


    When Arron finished getting dressed he stood up and followed Kix to the room they had been given. The room was just like the one he had shared during his time in training but there was a little more room for a table in the middle and it had a holo-tv on the wall broadcasting the news.


    ¡°...and the new information we just received a moment ago says that Buck Boomer, a member of the party of Mother and Father, particularly under the leadership of Mother, will be touring the first level tomorrow as well as joining an unknown large event,¡± said Kommy.


    ¡°This is the short statement they wanted us to read to you: ''Please come to the 3rd zone of Sector 11 to join the celebration of the unveiling of a new important building.''¡± said Fela.


    ¡°In other news, there has been a sharp rise in deaths on the first level, along with that the number of reports about Separatist activity has also skyrocketed! Our official sources are not sure why this has happened but they believe it to be the fault of Separatists. They ask that everyone do their part to rid Neo-Tokeyo of the Separatist scourge plaguing the Megacity.¡± Said Kommy, as he stared directly at the camera with a serious expression.


    Arron felt like Kommy was staring right at him which made him feel weird.


    ¡°What the crap? Why is a politician coming down here during rage week? Does he have his head screwed on straight?¡± asked Kix as he flopped down onto the lower bunk bed while Arron climbed up to the top bunk.


    ¡°It should be fine, they have their security personnel right?¡± asked Arron.


    Toothbrush entered the room with a haggard face. When he saw Arron and Kix he staggered over to them.


    ¡°You guys save me! That logistics room is hell! I can still hear the non-stop ringing in my ears, even though I''m no longer there. Let me ride with you guys!¡± pleaded Tooth.


    Ping!


    Both Arron and Kix received a holocall at the same time.


    ¡°Chief!¡± said Arron as he sat up straight and saluted chief Chesty.


    ¡°You two have been assigned to escort the party member Buck Boomer starting tomorrow. Since we don''t have anyone else to spare you will have to make do with working with their personal security and the few security bots we can send with you.¡±


    ¡°But sir! We should be out patrolling with everyone else. What is this politician thinking coming down during rage week?¡±


    ¡°It was not my decision to send someone to escort him. I was ordered by Mother herself to pick someone. You two are one of the only newer units that we can spare. Everyone else is all too busy. The information on Buck Boomer will be sent to you in the morning. Read it before you meet with him so that no misunderstandings happen.¡±


    ¡°Understood,¡± said Arron and Kix reluctantly.


    With a nod to both of them, chief Chesty ended the call.


    ¡°I knew they were building something when they tore all those shops down and kicked the people out of the area, but I didn''t think it would be unveiled at such a time like this,¡± Kix.


    ¡°Well... at least we will get a first-hand view of the event,¡± said Arron.


    ¡°You guys have all the luck in the world,¡± said Tooth with envy.


    ¡°This will be my first time meeting a true party member politician, I wonder what it will be like,¡± said Arron.


    ¡°Ha, don''t get your expectations up. They''re all the same. Corrupt to the core,¡± said Kix.


    ¡°But aren''t those under Mother supposed to be caring for those less fortunate, while those under Father are more focused on keeping the rule of law?¡±


    ¡°An egg is an egg. It doesn''t matter if it is scrambled or sunny-side up, it''s still an egg.¡±


    ¡°Arron, your descriptions of them are too simple, even I, a person who doesn''t pay much attention to politics knows that''s wrong,¡± said Toothbrush.


    ¡°While the Party members of Father do hold to tradition and law and order more strictly than the party members of Mother. They are mainly just a handbrake to slow down the more radical members under Mother to stop them from going farther and farther down the road of insanity. But they are no saints either as they have used the heavy hand of The Office of Reason to clean up the messes caused by some of Mother''s laws and regulations that backfired. This happens more often than you would think. Other than that, they don''t do anything really important.¡±


    ¡°Where do we as citizens or just as officers of M1 fit in this equation? Are the local party members friendly?¡± asked Arron.


    ¡°I can''t say much or the Office of Reason would want to pay a visit to me. Generally 90% of the party members that are supposed to represent us on the first level have a B rank social credit score and have a second home on the second level where they stay unless they need people to vote for them.¡±


    Arron let all the new information sink in.


    ¡°Just remember this one thing. Everything they say and do, is done to warp your perception and change it to what they want you to think about a subject, whatever it may be,¡± said Kix quietly.

 Chapter 54: Arrival Of Buck Boomer

    ¡°That''s right we will be sending a few drones down to the first level to live broadcast the entire event this afternoon! Unfortunately, due to certain... complications happening on the first level, we are unsure if there will be a reporter to interview the party member Buck Boomer,¡± said Kommy.


    ¡°Here is a first look of the area where the event will be held!¡± said Fela in a chipper mood. With a wave of her hand, the holo broadcast switched to a live recording of one of their many news drones that were flying in the air.


    A large white opaque privacy screen stood at least 100 stories tall and was in the shape of a square box. The faint shadows of a large building could be seen behind the massive privacy screen.


    Arron turned from the news playing above the APC''s dashboard and looked out the passenger window towards the large opaque privacy screen that rose high up into the dark sky of level 1.


    ¡°We''ve arrived,¡± said Kix as he parked the APC on an empty platform of the new parking garage. This parking garage along with two others in the area had been built to support the new traffic that was expected to clog the local area due to the new building.


    Kix and Arron got out of the APC and looked around the area not sure where to go. The platform that held the parked APC silently rose to one of its empty minor VIP spots reserved for police, M1, or special reporters.


    ¡°Tooth, who are we supposed to be meeting up with?¡± asked Arron.


    Tooth''s haggard holographic face popped up on Arron''s visor and began talking quickly.


    ¡°Buck Boomer''s assistant should be waiting for you near the building''s privacy screens. Kix you need to take your PLE with you. That''s all the information they gave me. They didn''t even tell me what they want you to do, so you will have to ask them yourselves.¡±


    With that, his screen minimized once again as he went back to dealing with the overwhelming Rage week festival calls.


    ¡°Typical politicians,¡± said Kix as he grabbed the somewhat heavy case and then started walking towards the building.


    ¡°The event is still several hours away so why is there a crowd here?¡± asked Arron.


    A crowd of nearly a hundred people was in front of the opaque privacy screens.


    ¡°Isn''t it normal for something like this?¡± asked Kix.


    ¡°I mean with the Rage week festival going on, I thought everyone would stay inside and just watch the holo-broadcast,¡± said Arron.


    ¡°You''d be surprised what people will do or say when it has to do with a politician from Mother and Father.¡±


    As they walked closer to the crowd, Arron was able to see that the people were all gathered around a small square holographic outline that had been placed on the ground.


    Floating all around and above the boxed-off area were several security drones that were watching those who stepped inside the box.


    Arron and Kix stopped to watch what was going on.


    A man in his forties with black short hair and a grubby factory work uniform stepped through the holographic divider and into the small box, as he did the box''s outline turned green. The man turned to the other waiting people and began speaking.


    ¡°Don''t trust the silver tongue of Buck boomer! He has openly stated he is a staunch supporter of creating an even more strict social credit score. The current version of the SCS is already harming many people, making them a permanent second and third-class citizen!¡±


    Click! Click! Click!


    Hundreds of clicks and flashes came from the floating security drones as they took the man''s picture and continued to record him.


    Ahnnn! A buzzer sounded and the green box outline turned Red.


    The man stepped out of the box and a woman with long frazzled brown hair and large protruding eyes stepped inside. The box once again turned green.


    ¡°If Mother and Father don''t do anything right at this moment to fix the problem... then the world will end in 12 years!¡±


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    ¡°I tell you the end is in 12 years! You all better prepare for the end!¡±


    This went on for a few minutes before another buzzer sounded and the woman stepped out of the box. The floating security drones were silent as she left the box.


    ¡°What is this?¡± asked Arron looking at the growing crowd around the box.


    ¡°It''s one of the zoned-off areas where people can get a permit from Mother and Father to legally protest about whatever they want... as long as it does not break any laws or regulations, you can say what you want inside that box. It''s a way to keep everything contained and controlled. I bet that man from before will be getting a visit from agents of the Office of Reason soon,¡± said Kix, as they watched two people enter the box and start debating with each other.


    After a few minutes of heated debating, the security Drones started clicking and recording the two as they exited the box.


    The two who had been in such a heated debate walked away as if nothing had happened.


    ¡°Where is the assistant we''re supposed to meet? Isn''t this the area?¡± asked Arron looking around as more and more people were showing up outside the building.


    ¡°Hmmm... maybe that''s the person?¡± said Kix pointing to a sharply dressed person who was standing far away from the growing crowd.


    ¡°Let''s go see,¡± said Arron.


    ¡°Excuse me sir...?¡± asked Arron politely as they walked over to the man.


    ¡°Are you the M1 stooges sent here to help with security?¡± asked the man with a sharp tongue. He looked at Arron and Kix''s armor before speaking again. ¡°You must be. What took you so long? I have been waiting here for over a minute.¡±


    ¡°Sorry, we were viewing the people talking over there,¡± said Arron, giving the man a short bow.


    ¡°Hmph! Follow me. We don''t have much time before my boss arrives.¡±


    The assistant led them across the street to a new guard building directly opposite the privacy screen.


    The several guards that were inside stood ramrod straight and saluted the assistant as he walked past them to a set of stairs that led to an underground tunnel.


    The tunnel led them back towards the new building. At the end of the underground tunnel was a set of stairs embedded into the wall and spiraled upwards with several doors embedded into the wall every so often.


    The assistant led them to the very top of the stairs where they exited the last door out onto a flat platform.


    The sky above Arron''s head was blocked by an Opaque Privacy-screen that wrapped around the entire large platform. Arron quickly realized that he was now standing on part of the roof of the new large building.


    There were ten or so other people already waiting on the roof, each of them wearing expensive flying suits that no one on the First level had access to.


    ¡°The boss should be here any moment,¡± said the assistant as he looked at the current time projected by his wrist datapad.


    One of the well-dressed people standing near Arron was watching KNN''s event broadcast with a portable holo-tv and had put the sound on speaker mode and had the widescreen projected in front of him so that everyone else was able to watch as well.


    ¡°Ah! I think Buck Boomer the Party member under Mother has arrived! Look,¡± said Fela, pointing at something the viewers could not see.


    Seconds later the view on the holo-tv changed to one of the news drones which had zoomed in to follow three red and yellow hover-copters that were now flying towards the top of the opaque privacy screen.


    The news drone flew up higher into the air to get a better view of the hover-copters as they came to a halt above the privacy screen.


    A small opening appeared in the Privacy-screen revealing the large landing pads, along with everyone that was waiting nearby for Buck Boomer''s arrival.


    ¡°Everyone, can you see it? This is a first glimpse of the new building!¡± said a hyper Fela.


    ¡°It looks like Buck Boomer will be getting a warm welcome from several dignitaries of the first Level,¡± said Kommy.


    ¡°If I''m not mistaken, it looks like they are also watching us for the coverage of this event,¡± said Fela.


    The Opaque holo-wall above the landing pad closed up as soon as the hover-copters landed, blocking the news drone''s view of what was happening.


    Arron and Kix were motioned to follow the assistant as he walked over to the loud whirring hover-copters.


    As the doors of each hover-copter opened four people in red exoskeletons hopped out of each of the hover-copters. They quickly scanned the area for any threats and then walked to the middle hover-copter with half of them standing on the right of the open door and the other half on the left creating a short path.


    Another 5 lightly armored people stepped out of the Hover-copters and joined the exoskeletons.


    ¡°What do they need us here for?¡± Arron quietly asked Kix over their secure helmet comms.


    ¡°No clue,¡± said Kix.


    The last person to exit the Hover-copters was a tall man in his 60s. His hair was combed to the side to cover a large bald spot, and the special glasses he wore were perched on the end of his nose.


    He straightened his expensive custom flying suit making sure there were no wrinkles before walking towards the waiting assistant and dignitaries.


    The red exoskeleton guards followed him making sure that he was fully protected.


    ¡°Hey Kix... isn''t that the guy from last week?¡± asked Arron.


    ¡°Huh?¡± asked Kix.


    ¡°That drunk guy we saw in the streets near that sketchy bar. He was being carried away by others while he screamed about the world ending the next day.¡±


    ¡°If you want to have a normal life after this, I suggest you don''t mention that to his face. Act like this is our first meeting,¡± said Kix.

 Chapter 55: Meeting With Buck Boomer

    Buck boomer ignored all the sharply dressed representatives that had walked over to try and greet him. He did not even look at Arron or Kix who stood behind the assistant.


    Kix continued to talk to Arron over the helmet''s secure comms, ¡°Don''t worry, he seems like your basic corrupt party member. The worst type of politicians are those that are friendly to you. That''s when you need to be on guard because they only want something from you. When they get whatever it is they will ignore you and everyone else involved.¡±


    Before Arron could reply Buck Boomer spoke.


    ¡°Azistant, what''s on the schedule for today?¡±


    ¡°We have several reporters that have requested to do interviews with you. We can do them before or after your speech. If you want we can send them away if it is too much of a bother,¡± said Azistant.


    ¡°Schedule it for after my speech, that will give them something good to talk about.¡±


    ¡°Then the scheduled is as follows: your speech for the unveiling of Everpreen college, the interviews, then you will be doing a meet and greet at Barkary collage, and to end the day there will be a special dinner party as thanks for coming to the first level.¡±


    ¡°Huuuu... So much work today,¡± said Buck Boomer. ¡°Take me to my changing room so I can get ready for my speech.¡±


    Azistant turned around and he looked directly at Arron and Kix, ¡°Stay behind us at least 5 steps.¡±


    With that, Azistant led Buck boomer, flanked by his red exoskeleton and lightly armored guards, into the large building.


    The first to enter after them was Arron and Kix followed by the first level dignitaries who didn''t know what to do since they were ignored.


    The mismatched group of people all with varying ranks and job descriptions were the first humans to have entered the main building since it had been built by the heavy construction bots.


    The bare hallway was well lit and wide enough for at least 100 people to stand side to side which boggled Arron''s mind. This showed the high expectations that Mother and Father had for the college becoming a heavily populated campus.


    The group''s footsteps echoing off the parasteel walls was the only sound the group made as they walked to a classroom that had been set up as a temporary changing room.


    Buck Boomer and his guards disappeared inside the room with the door shutting right in the face of Arron who nearly hit his helmet against the door.


    Ping!


    A holo-call appeared on both Arron and Kix''s helmet visors.


    It was Azistant.


    ¡°Guard the door and keep an eye on those people out there. No one is allowed in unless I say so.¡±


    With that, the call ended.


    Arron and Kix both turned around and looked back at the sharply dressed people who were now gathering their courage and inching closer to the door.


    Arron''s visor outlined them all in green boxes showing that they all were upstanding citizens with no criminal record.


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    Upon further reading the more detailed information scrolling above their head he found that the majority of them were low-level party members under Mother. A few of them were Mega-corp representatives.


    ¡°What are you staring at me for?¡± asked a skinny male. The information above his head listed him as a representative of one of the Mega-corps on the first level that had control over many flying car factories.


    ¡°Tell us what''s going on!¡± demanded a female party member with a bob cut.


    ¡°When can we talk to party member Buck Boomer?¡±


    ¡°Why do we have to wait out here!¡±


    ¡°Quiet!¡± shouted an annoyed Kix.


    ¡°We don''t know anything more than you do. We were just told to guard the door and not let anyone in,¡± said Arron.


    The dignitaries all looked at Arron suspiciously for a few minutes before turning their backs to him and starting to chat among themselves.


    ¡°So this place is a college? This is my first time being at a college,¡± said Arron over his helmet''s secure comms.


    ¡°You''ve never been to college right?¡± asked Kix.


    ¡°Yeah, after high school I joined the Nihon branch army. But even if I did want to go to one, they can only be found here in the Mega-city Neo-Tokeyo.¡±


    ¡°You aren''t missing anything,¡± said Kix.


    ¡°Did you go to college here?¡±


    ¡°Hah! Even if I had the money to pay for it, Mother and Father would not accept an application from someone like me.¡±


    ¡°When I first got here I was surprised that there was only one college on the whole first level. Is it like this for each level?¡± asked Arron.


    Kix shook his head, ¡°Nope. The second to fourth levels all have at least one college for each Sector. We''ve only had Barkary college on the first level ever since the beginning of the megacity. It has always been a place of study only for the people Mother and Father pick such as researchers, Office of Reason agents, and those that want to be low-level party members.¡±


    ¡°Huh, I thought it would be different from all the old media I saw about them.¡±


    ¡°All the real prestigious government colleges are on the higher levels. Barkary has always been viewed as a third-rate college. That''s why I find it odd that mother and father would construct a new college when the only other college we have, has such a bad reputation,¡± said Kix.


    ¡°Why even build a building like this? Can''t they just do holo-broadcasts for classes?¡±


    Kix shrugged, ¡°I guess it''s because Mother and Father want to make sure that everyone who comes here is properly educated. But it''s more likely so they can get them away from their family and keep a close eye on them. They will make sure they are seriously studying the government classes properly.¡±


    Ping!


    Azistant''s face once again appeared floating on their helmet''s visor. ¡°Party member Boomer will see you now.¡±


    The classroom door opened allowing Arron and Kix to enter. The dignitaries seeing this, tried to follow them but were shoved back out of the room by the lightly armored guards and had the door shut in their faces.


    Buck Boomer was sitting in a cushioned reclining chair getting makeup applied to all of his exposed skin by a female assistant.


    He opened his eyes upon hearing the door close and silently raised his hand and waved the female assistant away as he stood up. He had changed out of his expensive flying suit and was now wearing a gray industrial worker uniform that the vast majority of people on the first level wore to work every day.


    ¡°You two have never been to a college before right?¡± asked Buck Boomer. Before either Arron or Kix could reply he continued to talk. ¡°It must be hard to live a life so uninformed about how the real world works.¡±


    ¡°You are such a wise and generous boss. These two do not deserve to have you take notice of them,¡± said Azistant.


    ¡°It is as you say,¡± said Buck Boomer, nodding his head. ¡°You two are to stand on the ground level in front of the stage. I expect you to make sure that nothing gets past you to disrupt my opening ceremony speech. You do not have to worry about protecting me as my personal guards are far more suited to that task. They will stay with me on the stage.¡±


    ¡°Understood, we will...¡± said Kix, intending to reassure him but he was stopped when Buck Boomer held up a meaty hand silencing him.


    ¡°You are not to speak for the rest of the day! You had better do everything I say or I''ll make a complaint to your Chief as well as the Office of Reason.¡±


    With that, the man waved them away and the female assistant once again started to dab makeup on his face and neck.

 Chapter 56: Fiery Opening Ceremony Speech!

    Ping!


    ¡°It''s almost time for the speech! You two need to go and check on the stage to make sure everything is ready,¡± said Azistant quickly before ending the call.


    As Arron and Kix stepped away from the door the delegates all stopped talking and turned to them.


    ¡°Where are you going?¡± ¡°When can we get a meeting with Mr. Boomer?¡±


    ¡°We don''t know!¡± was all Kix said as he smiled and waved to the delegates as he passed them.


    They found a nearby Mag-shoot and headed to the ground floor and out the front door to a spacious area in front of the college where the speech would be given.


    Several worker bots were still busy hammering and screwing in the last parts of a ramp that started at the front doors and led up to a large platform. Its height would allow it to tower over all those that came to listen to the speech.


    The white opaque privacy screens were only 100 ft away from the stage and were still blocking everyone outside from seeing or hearing what was going on inside.


    As Arron and Kix stepped onto the ramp a transparent holo-screen appeared on each side of the ramp and followed them all the way to the stage where three transparent screens covered both the sides and the front of the stage.


    ¡°Taking security to the max I see,¡± said Kix.


    ¡°With these screens, he won''t be able to hear the crowd and they won''t be able to hear him without external speakers,¡± said Arron. He started looking around for the speakers and found several floating drones in the air that had large speakers embedded into their bodies.


    On the ground below the stage, there was a long line of holographic tape constantly streaming the words, [DO NOT PASS]. The holographic tape boxed off the area around the stage creating a wide kill zone.


    Ping!


    ¡°Start letting in the guests. Again, your job is to make sure they don''t pass the holo-tape,¡± said Azistant.


    A second white opaque privacy screen appeared behind the stage making sure that the entire building was covered. When it was fully erected the larger privacy screen that had been blocking everyone''s view slowly started to disappear revealing Arron and Kix standing on the stage.


    ¡°Crap,¡± said Kix. He threw down the P.L.E. Metal case and activated it.


    While Kix was equipping the light exoskeleton Arron ran down the ramp and onto the ground towards the Holo-tape.


    The small crowd that had been waiting a short time ago when they had first arrived had grown to several tens of thousands of people.


    When they saw the opaque privacy screens start to disappear they all stared at the stage for a second before a tidal wave of humans started rushing towards the now open ground around the stage.


    Everyone wanted to get a front-row spot closest to the stage! Maybe Party member Buck Boomer would look at them and remember them later!¡±


    Kix jumped off the stage now fully encased in the light exoskeleton. He joined Arron who had just arrived at the Holo-tape.


    Several tens of people had already passed the do not pass holo-tape either from being pushed forward by the wave of human bodies or of their own will.


    ¡°I''ll take the right, you take the left,¡± said Arron.


    The two went down the line and pushed the people back behind the holo-tape into the growing crowd. Sometimes they had to use extra force as words did not work with these crazed people.


    Arron got the short end of the stick with this task while Kix had an easier time.


    Several dozen hover drones that had been waiting outside the privacy screen flew forward and started recording the rowdy crowd as well as the two M1 Officers that were there to keep order.


    Arron had been listening to the KNN broadcast on a low volume to pass the time earlier and now he could hear both Kommy and Fela perk up as stuff started to happen.


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    ¡°Look at that energetic crowd. They just can''t wait to see Mr. Boomer. It looks like the crowd is full of young teens to people in their early 30s. Mr. Boomer seems to be popular with the young people,¡± said Fella.


    ¡°What''s this? It seems that the crowd is only being held back by two special M1 officers,¡± said Kommy in feigned shock.


    ¡°What is the chief of the Special M1 thinking only sending two officers! Do they even care for the safety of Mr. Boomer?¡± asked a cross Fella.


    ¡°I have no clue why they have not sent at least a dozen people to control that crowd.¡±


    ¡°Oh look! A few security drones just exited the building and look to be coming to their aid!¡±


    With a swipe of his hand, Arron ended the news broadcast on his visor to block out all other distractions.


    With the help of the security drones that zapped anyone they saw crossing the holo-tape Arron and Kix were able to stop the crowd from getting close to the stage.


    Ping!


    ¡°We are coming out now. If anyone passes the holo-tape, shoot them,¡± said Azistant.


    ¡°What?¡± asked Arron, surprised.


    ¡°This is a direct order from Mr. Boomer. You will obey his order or you will be sent to the Office of Reason to be investigated for disobeying a direct order from a party member.¡±


    The crowd that had calmed down just moments before erupted into a frenzy once again as Buck Boomer appeared on the end of the ramp and started walking towards the stage. Six of the red exoskeleton guards walked on either side of Buck Boomer with their weapons drawn, making sure that nothing could get close enough to harm him.


    The dozen or so news drones flew towards the ramp where they started to follow Buck Boomer as he walked. The news drones zoomed in on Buck Boomer making sure to crop out the menacing red exoskeletons.


    Buck Boomer in his gray factory uniform slowly walked to the edge of the stage and began waving to all the people in the crowd. He wore a large smile on his face that made him look like a friendly grandfather.


    ¡°Is that him?¡± ¡°I don''t know, never seen him before.¡± ¡°I hear he wants to give us something!¡± ¡°Really? I wonder what it is?¡± ¡°I was told that it was something expensive.¡±


    Instead of the entire crowd cheering for him, around half of the people were chatting about similar things.


    Arron paid close attention to the holo-tape but saw no one crossing the line with their entire body. A few people were reaching out with their hands but Arron slapped them back.


    Buck Boomer walked to the center of the stage and with a large smile he held up a meaty hand silently calling for the crowd to calm and quiet down.


    ¡°My fellow citizens of the First Level... Hello!¡± said Buck Boomer, still smiling and waving.


    His voice boomed out of the hovering speaker drones. It was so loud that Arron thought even a deaf man could hear it.


    ¡°Today, I bring you great news from Mother who sends her greetings to all of you!¡±


    ¡°It is a special day today. Not only because of the unveiling of a new building that will change millions of lives! But because of the special festival, we are currently celebrating!¡±


    ¡°Separatists... the scum of society. Worse than even those with SCS of a D rank. They are the enemy of Mother and Father! That is why this week was set aside to make a large effort to root out all separatists from the Megacity!¡± Buck Boomer''s smiling face had done a 180. He was now staring out at the crowd with an iron gaze filled with conviction.


    ¡°You must remember that you have to do your part as well to help Mother and Father keep everyone safe! It is not enough to not be a separatist! You must be Anti-separatist and publicly show your support for Mother and Father as well as the other member states of WHO.¡±


    ¡°With that in mind allow me to introduce the newest and maybe in the future, the greatest college on the first level...¡±


    Several murmurs exploded as he said this.


    ¡°... Everpreen college!¡± shouted Buck Boomer, his hands pointing towards the building behind him.


    Like a waterfall, the opaque privacy screen rushed down to the ground and disappeared revealing the large one hundred story paraconcrete building that covered several mega-city blocks.


    The crowd went wild! Everyone started to talk among themselves while the news drones could be heard clicking and clacking as they took thousands of holo pics trying to best capture the new building.


    ¡°With this new college, the citizens of the first level will be allowed to learn many new courses set up by Mother and Father! Of course... registration is only for those with a C rank SCS.¡±


    ¡°You can expect such classes as, [History 101: Mother and Fathers fight against Separatists]. Where you will learn about the history and dangers of separatists. You will also learn how to spot and fight back against separatism! There are also classes such as [Learn To Code 101]. A major field that is beneficial to every citizen in the megacity because of the heavy use of AI and the fast-paced advancement of technology we are all blessed to take part in.¡±


    ¡°All of this sounds great right!? But it gets even better! The standard one-year course is free!¡± said Buck Boomer looking away from the crowd and towards the news drones as he said this.


    The majority of the crowd clapped enthusiastically after hearing this.


    ¡­ and so Buck Boomer spent another hour explaining why everyone should come and register to take the FREE one-year course.


    ¡°The best thing yet, is that all of you who have come here to listen to my speech will be sent applications after this speech is over! You will be the first allowed to join!¡±


    The crowd that had been pumped up by the hour-long speech cheered wildly as they waved their hands shouting Buck Boomers'' name trying to get his attention.


    ¡°Remember! With Liberation! Inclusion! And Normalization! Nothing can stand in our way! Thank you for coming!¡± said Buck Boomer, as he waved at the crowd with a big smile.

 Chapter 57: Photoshoot

    Arron and Kix stood outside the changing room once again guarding the door but this time no dignitaries were standing in front of them, only a few reporters. One of the waiting reporters was Kellery Heaton who was staring daggers at Arron as soon as she saw his badge name.


    Ping! Azistant''s face appeared on Arron''s helmet. He did not bother with any small talk and got straight to the point. ¡°Let them in.¡± Just as abruptly as the calls started it was immediately ended.


    The door opened behind Arron and Kix as they stepped aside to allow the rabid journalist inside.


    When the last reporter had entered the room the door still did not shut. Arron looked into the room to see if something was wrong.


    ¡°Get in here!¡± said the agitated Azistant.


    Arron and Kix followed orders and took a few steps into the room to stand next to the now-closed door.


    ¡°Mr.Boomer, I am Cammy Newson, field reporter for KNN,¡± said Cammy with a deep bow. ¡°It is an honor to interview you. Is there a side you want the drones to record you from?¡±


    ¡°Any is fine,¡± said Buck Boomer waving his hand dismissively. His smile from the stage outside was gone and in its place was his regular stern scowl.


    He had already changed from his previous speech outfit and was now in more formal wear that one might see in one of the many online stores that Level 1 had access to.


    The female makeup assistant had just finished washing his face and was now busily reapplying new makeup to cover his skin that had been sweating from his long heated speech.


    Cammy Newson sat in a metal hover chair across from Buck Boomer while the other lower-rank reporters were escorted to one of the corners of the room so that they would be out of view. Arron and Kix had been given the task of standing in front of them and babysitting them to make sure they did not do anything to make Buck Boomer mad.


    A metal suitcase popped open and four drones flew up into the air. Two of the drones split from the group to hover over Cammy and Buck using their bright white lights to put the two in a brighter setting.


    A third drone began projecting a holographic countdown while the 4th got into position to capture the two while not showing anyone else. [10, 9... 5... 0..].


    With the end of the countdown, each of the news drones from all of the reporters started to record.


    ¡°Thank you viewers for your patience. I now bring you a live one-on-one interview with an important person you may have heard of before. Party member Buck Boomer!¡± said Cammy waving a hand towards Buck Boomer.


    ¡°Hello!¡± said a cheery Buck waving to each of the recording news drones, inadvertently revealing the interview was not so one on one.


    ¡°With your speech earlier you mentioned that those who came to watch your speech in person would be the first to be able to enroll. When will others be able to start enrolling?¡± said Cammy ignoring Buck''s oblivious mistake.


    ¡°I like you. You get right to the questions,¡± said Buck with a smile. ¡°On the matter of the new Everpreen college, the holonet enrollment application form should be opening up right now.¡±


    ¡°That''s wonderful! I am sure our viewers will all fill one out after watching this entire interview!¡±


    ¡°That would be the best thing they could do,¡± said Buck nodding sagely. ¡°You should be getting a relevant and importation update from Mother and Father in a few seconds.¡±


    ¡°Oh? Ah! How''d you know?¡±


    ¡°HaHaHa, simple I helped form it.¡±


    ¡°Breaking news for our viewers! Mother and Father have just passed the new [Level 1 Education and Safety Act]. Starting now, to qualify for many jobs you must go to Everpreen and graduate to be certified as a candidate for the job! Mr. Buck, would you like to tell our viewers more about this?¡±


    ¡°Of course. In order to fit our image as a leading member of the WHO we must strive for higher standards for our citizens. This will not only be good for Mother and Father but also for everyone else as well! To do this, we have put in place this new regulation to help educate our citizens and in doing so fortify their minds against the temptations of separatism which heavily plagues the first level. With this, we believe the security of level 1 should be better as everyone becomes more informed.¡±


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    ¡°Does this affect people who already have jobs?¡±


    ¡°No, it would only affect them if they wanted to leave and find a new job. There should be no worry about this as Everpreen''s main course only takes you 1 year to get a degree! For those more dedicated to learning, there is a two-year course!¡±


    ¡°You said this was all free?¡± asked Cammy.


    ¡°That''s correct. You don''t have to pay 1 credit to enter the classes,¡± said Buck scratching his neck.


    ¡°Mother and Father are truly doing a wonderful job to help lift up the citizens of the first level during such times as now.¡±


    ¡°As we should be.¡±


    ¡°Recently, there was a disagreement with you and a new party member under Father who not too long ago graduated from Barkary, a place you will be heading to later today. Some of our viewers wanted to know more about this,¡± said Cammy.


    ¡°Well... I''m not one to deal in rumors... but to me, it is sad with what caliber of people are coming out of Barkery. I told him that he needed to keep his mouth shut because he sounded like a separatist, and now that I have had more time to think about it, it would not surprise me if he or someone from his family had relations with the separatists. It must be true.¡±


    ¡°Oh? Do you have evidence to give the Office of Reason?¡±


    ¡°I have a strong feeling that it is true.¡±


    The interview went on for a few more minutes chatting about various juicy rumors before ending.


    ¡°Thank you for this opportunity Mr boomer!¡± said Cammy bowing to Buck Boomer.


    Buck Boomer only waved a hand to shoo her and the other journalist away.


    ¡°Azistant what''s next?¡±


    ¡°The meet and greet at Barkery and then the dinner party.¡±


    ¡°Let''s get it over with,¡± said Buck Boomer standing up and walking out the door with his guards.


    ¡°You two come with us,¡± said Azistant.


    As Cammy had guessed, after the interview ended there was a massive wave of applications to enroll.


    Arron and Kix followed Azistant and the other guards to the roof where they all boarded the waiting hover-copter. With the limited seats already taken, Arron and Kix had to hold onto a ceiling handhold near the door.


    This was a new exciting experience as it was both Arron and Kix''s first time riding in a hover-copter.


    A short time later the hover-copter lifted off of the roof''s landing pad and shot off towards Sector 12 where Barkery College was located.


    Because Arron was next to the door''s window he had a good view of the outside. Most of it was just a blur as they flew through the maze of buildings high above the heavy hovercar traffic that looked to be moving at a snail''s pace compared to the speedy hover-copter.


    Because Buck Boomer was a Party member there was no need to stop at any of the checkpoints and so they were able to reach their destination in record time.


    As soon as the hover-copter landed on the grassy lawn of the college, the hover-copter''s door opened automatically allowing Arron and Kix to hop out followed by the guards.


    ¡°You two will be in charge of keeping the crowd back once again, only those on the list will be allowed to pass the line and meet with Party member Buck Boomer,¡± said Azistant, as he helped Buck Boomer out of the Hover-copter.


    Arron scanned the local area for any threats and found nothing suspicious.


    The area was already blocked off by several security drones owned by the college. Unlike earlier there was no large crowd of people waiting to cheer and listen to him, maybe it was partly because of the festival.


    The only people that could be seen, was another group of 15 to 20 reporters all with recording drones waiting behind a holo-tape barrier.


    ''He sure likes interacting with the reporters,'' Thought Arron, as he and Kix took up positions on both sides of the opening of the barrier.


    Behind the holo-tape barrier was a small pre-built platform that had a large green screen projected behind it and a thick red carpet covering the walk up to the platform.


    Buck Boomer once again received a fresh coating of makeup while a hovering assistant bot used a thick bristle brush to make sure that his clothes were free of any dust, lint, grime, or dirt that would get into one''s clothes by just living on the first level.


    When the patch-up was complete, Buck Boomer''s grumpy face reverted to a sunshine smile.


    ¡°Each of you are allowed two minutes to take as many photos as you like. The final pictures you want to use must be given to the Office of Reason to be approved,¡± said Azistant, as he stood between Arron and Kix.


    ¡°You first,¡± said Azistant, pointing to the photographer from KNN.


    Over the next hour with a few breaks in between Buck Boomer cooperated with the photographers and did a bunch of photoshoots that they wanted to use for future media and news. Each person had been handpicked by Mother and Father to make sure that no unflattering pictures would be taken.


    To Arron''s shock, after the photoshoot was done, Buck Boomer walked up to the photographers and shook each of their hands.


    ¡°Thank you for your hard work. I hope to see the great pictures you took as soon as they are ready,¡± said Buck, still having a gentle smile on his face.


    ¡°It was an honor to work with you!¡± said the photographer who had stars in his eyes from being able to shake the hand of such a famous party member.


    When the photographers were herded out of sight, Buck Boomer''s face turned ugly his expression only showing disgust.


    ¡°Azistant! Where is the disinfectant!? My hand! It might be infected, hurry! One of those C-rank guys touched these clothes so we need to burn them.¡±


    Arron was once again speechless as he watched Azistant fumbling around trying to quickly clean Buck Boomer''s hands.


    Kix silently watched everything, not surprised at the odd behavior.

 Chapter 58: Dinner Party

    Flash! Click! Click!


    The sounds of the drone''s photo shutters, the flashes of their lights, and the hums of their small hover engines filled the air in every direction in front of Arron and Kix as they walked down the narrow red-carpeted path leading to a large white building.


    Several large colorful searchlights continuously flashed against the building and into the sky making it look like a wild rave party and not the high-class event that it actually was.


    The photos and videos that were being taken were not of Arron and Kix, but of Buck Boomer who was walking behind them.


    Buck Boomer had once again changed his outfit and now wore a fancy deep red flying suit with a matching red tophat.


    ¡°It''s him! He''s here!¡± several people shouted.


    ¡°Mr. Buck Boomer! What are your future plans!¡±


    ¡°Will you be here later to see the first students start their year of education?¡±


    ¡°What about education?¡±


    The vulture media reporters crowded the edge of both sides of the path. Their recording drones hovered far too close to Arron and Kix for their liking but they could do nothing about it.


    Buck Boomer ignored the reporters and ordered, ¡°Keep moving, we have to get to the dinner so we don''t make the others wait.¡±


    The reporters continued to hurl questions as they walked down the red carpet path.


    ¡°Mr. Boomer! Your new rival under Father says that you should not be throwing stones in glass houses since you have said many troubling things before!¡± shouted a female reporter on the right side of the path.


    Buck Boomer stopped and looked at the reporter with a blank face, ¡°I have no idea what you are talking about. It just sounds like he is trying to be a wise guy to try and make me look bad.¡±


    ¡°So that interview he says you gave last month never happened?¡±


    ¡°Look, I already said it never happened so it didn''t! You can search the e-newspaper archives along with the holo-news archive portal and you will not find anything out of place. I can guarantee it!¡± said an agitated Buck Boomer, his face turning slightly sour.


    As if realizing something his eyes glanced at the drone above her head and his expression immediately changed to a calm one.


    ¡°You. Follow us. It seems we need to clear up a few misunderstandings. I will give you a few minutes for an exclusive interview,¡± said Buck Boomer pointing to the female reporter.


    The reporter looked confused but followed behind them with her drones. She was not sure if this was a chance to make it big or if she had just permanently blown her reporting career off the tracks.


    When they passed the large white stone buildings entrance the large thick parasteel doors closed behind them blocking the noisy commotion from outside.


    The large open room they had just entered was covered in plush red carpet, with hundreds of red couches and armchairs that already had people sitting in them chatting among themselves.


    Unsurprisingly everyone that Arron saw was wearing nothing but red.


    Some of the people looked to be in a daze as they smoked wooden pipes that had an odd-colored misty smoke coming out from them.


    Despite how big the room seemed, it was only the waiting room outside of the ballroom where the dinner party would be held in.


    With the thick carpet and cushions everywhere the large room was surprisingly quiet even with its size and the number of people inside.


    ¡°Let''s talk over there,¡± said Buck pointing to a secluded corner.


    The people inside the large waiting room noticed his arrival but made no motion to come over to talk with him as they saw the reporter walking behind him.


    The corner walls of the waiting room were covered with a carpet-like lining making it even quieter.


    When Buck boomer positioned himself in front of the wall and turned on his charm. Azistant gave the female a thumbs up to start recording.


    ¡°Mr boomer you said you would like to clear up a few things, what might those be?¡±


    ¡°Yes, I wanted to do this short interview to allow others to know the truth!¡±


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    ¡°About what?¡±


    ¡°My new rival should know better to spout off falsehoods without proof. Barkery college should really be ashamed to have him as a former student. Their reputation will be tarnished if things keep going on like this. They should do something about this.¡±


    Azistant quickly motioned with his hand for the reporter to end the recording.


    As the female reporter was about to leave she noticed the invisible Arron and Kix for the first time.


    Seeing them gave her a light-bulb idea and quickly started recording them and asked, ¡°As citizens of the first level, how excited are you for the new college to be opening for all to have free education!?¡±


    The two stood quietly not saying anything. They only looked to Buck Boomer who was getting ready to leave.


    Upon seeing this awkward situation Buck Boomer quietly hissed with gritted teeth, ¡°Answer her.¡±


    ¡°Cool,¡± was all Kix said, his voice echoing out the speakers of his light exoskeleton.


    The drone turned to Arron.


    ¡°Hard to say... ''Such wow!'' might describe it,¡± said Arron.


    ¡°There you have it! The reaction of real authentic people on the first level!¡±


    With that, she happily left the building to start editing the gold mine of new recordings she now held.


    Azistant motioned for Arron and Kix to come over to him.


    ¡°Both of you are to stand guard outside the ballroom doors and make sure that no unwanted people or nosy reporters enter the Ballroom. This is a private event and we want to ensure the comfort of everyone inside,¡± said Azistant.


    Buck Boomer and his guards were the first to enter the ballroom. The several hundred red-clothed individuals all rushed to the doors only to be blocked by Arron and Kix.


    ¡°Hands out,¡± ordered Arron.


    They were surprised that they had to do such a base thing as have their NerViz cloud chip scanned. Did these guards even know who they were!?


    Even if they felt slighted there was nothing they could do if this was an order from a party member on the 4th level. Soon two lines had formed one in front of Arron and the other in front of Kix.


    They were quickly processed and let inside. Meeting such a large number of high-ranking people in charge of the first level was an eye-opener for Arron.


    Among such people, there were a few that had tried to alter their appearances to crash the dinner.


    The ballroom security drones were quick to normalize them.


    When all those who lined up had been processed, there were only a few people left slouching in the armchairs and couches with glazed eyes.


    The room was now quite empty.


    Arron soon became bored so he opened the news-portal to read a few articles.


    At the very top of the news-portal was the latest short interview with Buck Boomer. It had exploded and was on fire with comments pouring in.


    The majority of them were calling for Barkery college to take back or rescind the diplomas given to the recent politician who did not agree with the commenter''s ideas.


    Arron swiped to the next news article about the new applications for Everpreen.


    When he reached the end of the article there were a few sentences that were in an extremely small font which was easy to miss if you didn''t look closely.


    [...All who sign the application must agree to pay back the free loan to receive their diploma.]


    A similar thing happened in the article describing the new [Level 1 Education and Safety act].


    [¡­ a new tax has been added to the monthly living cost of all Level 1 citizens to keep the new Everpreen college running.]


    Arron closed the news-portal and let out a long sigh.


    ¡°What''s with you?¡± asked Kix.


    ¡°You''ve seen the recent news articles right?¡±


    ¡°Yeah, it''s all just a scam to get back more credits from everyone. Even if you get this new degree those who live on the 2nd - 4th level view these colleges with disdain. Compared to their prestigious government-funded colleges, the first level¡¯s two colleges are nothing but 3rd rate institutions. We are little more than barbarians to them.¡±


    Arron looked around to see if anyone had heard Kix. But there was no one that he could see and the waiting room had a suspicious lack of cameras and microphones recording. Most likely to protect the privacy of the many high-ranking people that had gathered.


    Kix just shrugged his armored shoulder and said, ¡°But that is not unexpected. Now that technology is taking care of many of our human needs and the politicians have everything anyone could ever want on the 4th level they have all turned to other made-up problems to spend their time worrying and fear-mongering about.¡±


    As Kix said that a few boisterous voices could be heard approaching the doors from inside the ballroom.


    The doors were slammed open as a small group of low-rank party members came out to have a smoke break after their meal.


    ¡°Ah, I''m so poor. I can''t afford the newest model of the WMB flying car. I might have to sell my old model to get the money.¡±


    ¡°Why buy the new one? Isn''t your model just a few months old?¡±


    ¡°Yeah, but what would people think if they saw me driving in an old model? I might have to put off buying the new limited edition flying suits from the 4th level.¡±


    ¡°You sure have it rough.¡±


    Arron connected to the secure com''s and asked, ¡°Isn''t that PuorMaen, who always puts out those ads about being the poor common man''s friend? Isn''t his motto, ''Stand with me, fight for the common man!''¡±


    ¡°Like I said before, they''re all shams,¡± said Kix with a shrug. He had seen this happen so many times that he was not fazed by it.


    Arron was still learning and experiencing how the megacity worked. He hated that people who were well off pretended to be poor just to get sympathy from others.


    In his view, such people were one of the worst types of people that he could think of. Real poor people do not advertise that they are poor as it was not a badge of pride but a thing of shame.

 Chapter 59: Killer Criminal

    The last few days for everyone who was part of M1 were extremely hectic due to all the activity during the Rage week holiday. With all that was going on Arron and Kix had been given the easy task of Patrolling Sector 11''s shop district.


    ¡°Who did you bribe to get us such an easy job today?¡± asked Arron.


    Everywhere he looked there were no humans to be seen. There wasn''t even a hint of the flying drones or shop assistant bots that normally flooded the dark sky and shop entrances.


    ¡°I didn''t do anything. It''s probably the researchers that pulled some strings since they don''t want this bad boy to end up like the last one,¡± said Kix, hitting the steering wheel of the new APC 7.2.


    They had to trade in their old APC for the newer improved armored version that had received several upgrades after the researchers had finished their inspection of the crumpled and exploded 7.0 version.


    With such a dull task given to them, Arron had half of his attention on the Live holo-news that was being broadcast above the dashboard while also keeping an eye on their dull surroundings as they drove by many buildings.


    ¡°There was a large celebration in the country of Ming. As you might remember it was only recently a savage country that fought against the freedoms given out by the WHO. We are happy to announce that the WHO was able to fully normalize the situation and eradicate the [Troubles] there. The country will soon be accepted as a member state of the WHO,¡± said Kommy.


    ¡°Today we interviewed a special guest Mr. Ran Rod, who is a Party member under Father. Here is a clip of our interview,¡± said Fela.


    ¡°You said you have strong opinions on Party member Buck Boomer''s most recent statements?¡± asked Kommy who sat at a brown wooden table with Party member Ran Rod.


    ¡°Yes, his spat with the junior party member under father is pointless and helps no one. It is taking away from the real problem,¡± said Ran Rod.


    ¡°Which is...?¡±


    Rand Rod was fired up and hurriedly blurted out his reply in one go.


    ¡°We are at an alarming free fall of people with knowledge and skill to handle hundreds of different trades that keep the city running. The majority of those people are now growing too old to work or have already died. In 10 to 20 years when another wave of the few remaining skilled workers leave the workforce or die, what will the Megacity do if we don''t train new people to fill in this opening gap? We are already heavily dependent on drones and worker bots, are we to ignore this and become even more chained to the machines? This is where I differ from Buck Boomer we need to focus on giving people actual skills in manual trades to protect the Megacity''s future.¡±


    ¡°You can''t really believe that can you?¡± asked Kommy, with his left eyebrow raising questioningly.


    ¡°What do you mean? The data is right here. Look!¡±


    ¡°Anyways... the spat between Buck Boomer and your junior party member under father... Can you give us the insider''s perspective? How did it start?¡±


    ¡°Why is it so quiet outside?¡± asked Kix as he drove the APC around their designated zone.


    ¡°Isn''t that a good thing?¡± asked Arron.


    ¡°It''s Rage week, it is never this quiet. And since it''s one of the last days it''s always the bloodiest.¡±


    ¡°Breaking news!¡±


    The interview with the party member was abruptly cut off. Both Arron and Kix turned their heads to watch the two news anchors who had serious expressions on their faces.


    ¡°A killer criminal known only as [Killer Criminal], has been live broadcasting his brutal murders on the first level holo-net for over an hour. I am told that the stream has been taken down several times by the Office of Reason but it seems he has hacked into the main system and is evading the security systems that have been put in place,¡± said Kommy, reading out the words from a holo-prompter.


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


    ¡°In his live broadcast, the [Killer Criminal] has stated that he is not murdering people. He says each of his killings are justified since he is cleaning the city of separatists,¡± said Fela.


    ¡°We just received a statement from The Party of Mother and Father: ''Although we applaud his devotion to Mother and Father... he has committed a serious crime by hacking into the holo-net system. This can not be tolerated and we will make sure to find and catch him.'' end quote,¡± said Kommy.


    ¡°Sources familiar with M1 and the first level police say that they are both unaware that this is going on.¡±


    ¡°Yes, [Killer Criminal] has stated many times on the stream that they are both useless drains on society and should be abolished.¡±


    Both Kix and Arron looked at each other.


    ¡°See, what I tell you. It was too quiet,¡± said Kix.


    ¡°How did they find out this info before us?¡± asked Arron.


    Kix shrugged his shoulders.


    Ping! Lexa appeared in the upper right of their helmet¡¯s visor, her normally neat hair was a little out of place from all the hectic work.


    ¡°I have a direct order from the chief. There have been several murders in Sector 11 zone 1. You are to do all you can to help with the evidence gathering, clean up, and stop anyone from tampering with the crime scene. The chief wants to keep this on the low down as we don''t want to start a panic. If you see anything or anyone suspicious, report it immediately.¡±


    ¡°Rodger!¡± said Kix.


    ¡°I''ve sent you the locations of the crime scenes. If there are any more I will update it as soon as I get the information.¡±


    Arron looked at the holographic map of Sector 11 zone 1 and found three flashing red dots.


    ¡°You think this has to do with the [Killer Criminal]?¡± asked Arron.


    Kix shrugged, ¡°Maybe. If it is, then all we have to do is make sure the investigation bots get the data they need to catch the guy.¡±


    The first two crime scenes were quiet and they had no trouble with helping gather evidence and clearing up the area where the victims had been killed.


    But when they arrived at the third crime scene...


    ¡°That''s right Fela, I''m here at the crime scene of one of the separatists who was killed by the [Killer Criminal]. The deceased separatist was Gran Mahmu, a 60-year-old elderly lady. As you can see there are no police or even M1 officers to be seen here. They truly have no idea what is going on... OH look! M1 has finally arrived,¡± said Cammy Newsons.


    Kix had a sour expression on his face as Cammy stormed over to them, but luckily only Arron could see his expression as his visor was blocking others from seeing his face.


    The news drones flew ahead of her and started hovering over both Arron and Kix making sure to get good angles and have the microphones ready to pick up anything they might say.


    ¡°Can you two update us on M1''s plans to catch the [Killer Criminal]? Is there any new information on the [Killer Criminal] that you can give us?¡± asked Cammy Newsons.


    Arron felt she was a little too energetic considering the topic and place she was at, she was even smiling as she asked her questions.


    Arron put up his hand to stop her from asking more questions.


    ¡°Ma''am, this is a crime scene,¡± said Arron.


    ¡°I know it is, It seems like everyone but M1 knew about it,¡± said Cammy.


    ¡°You need to leave. By order of Mother and Father anyone who interferes or tampers with an official investigation must be normalized,¡± said Kix. His voice was cold and sharp as he looked at the reporter with distaste.


    ¡°I am sorry viewers, we can not show you this area any longer. Now that M1 has finally shown up after watching our show and finding out about the crimes, we must leave so we do not interfere with their ''special'' investigations,¡± said Cammy Newsons as she walked away to a waiting hovercar.


    Kix continued to grumble about stupid news reporters as they finished up taking care of the crime scene.


    Arron called the HQ logistics room and added Kix to the call so they could report on the incident but...


    ¡°We know, everyone saw it,¡± said Toothbrush before they could say anything.


    Lexa popped into the holocall for a brief moment, ¡°The chief wanted me to pass a message to you Kix, he said to stop being an ass on live broadcasts and at least try to appear to put on a diplomatic front.¡±


    ¡°Hmph...¡± was all Kix said.


    The call ended like that since there was no need to update them.


    As soon as they returned to their APC, a new red dot appeared blinking on their map, and so they headed off to the next place.


    ¡°$%%&,¡± Kix cussed up a quiet storm as they arrived at their destination.


    ¡°As you viewers can see, this is the site of another separatist who was killed by the [Killer Criminal]...¡±

 Chapter 60: One Step Ahead

    ¡°Damn it! this is the fourth place she has beat us to!¡± said a frustrated Kix.


    The APC had just pulled up to a dark alley between several 300-story apartment buildings.


    Cammy Newsons was already near the entrance filming the dead victim of the [Killer Criminal]. Several security bots were now blocking her from going further down the alleyway.


    ¡°This is ridiculous. Why is she even out here during the height of rage week?¡± asked Arron.


    ¡°Is she getting her information from the [Killer Criminal''s] stream?¡± asked Kix.


    ¡°No, I checked it several times. The [Killer Criminal] actually has been very secretive trying to hide anything that might identify him as well as the places he goes to,¡± said Arron as he got out of the APC.


    Seeing the two walking towards her Cammy Newsons ended her stream quickly.


    Kix didn''t say anything and only pointed for her to leave. If he did open his mouth nothing nice would come out.


    ¡°You boys are late... again,¡± said Cammy Newsons with a smile as she passed them and entered her waiting hovercar.


    The two of them watched as her hovercar disappeared around a distant corner.


    ¡°Haven''t these damn investigation bots gathered enough data? What''s taking them so long to give us the identity of the [Killer Criminal]?¡± asked Kix.


    ¡°According to Tooth, the [Killer Criminal] is using some sort of spoofing tech or software similar to what the separatist use. It is helping them hack the holo-net as well as keep their NerViz data scrambled from the surveillance wherever they go,¡± said Arron.


    They watched as the investigation drones plugged into one of the local discreet surveillance systems to gather the digital data and floated around taking samples and physical evidence from the crime scene.


    ¡°Wait, isn''t he supposed to be killing separatists, but he''s using their tech to do it?¡± asked Kix.


    ¡°There is no evidence yet that they were separatists,¡± said Arron.


    Kix shrugged as he watched the drones slowly do their job.


    When everything had been documented and the sight cleared, the two walked back to the APC to find their next destination.


    ¡°I don''t like this one bit. It feels like we are just playing clean-up for the [Killer Criminal]. What is the Office of Reason doing letting this go on?¡± asked Kix.


    When they slammed the doors shut, they were both surprised to receive a high-priority call from M1 HQ.


    PING!


    ¡°You two, what the hell is going on out there?¡± asked an angry voice.


    ¡°Chief!¡± shouted both Arron and Kix as they saluted the chief who had appeared hovering over the APC''s dashboard.


    ¡°Chief, we''re doing the best we can with the information we have. But that woman keeps showing to places before us,¡± said Kix.


    ¡°You''re not giving her information are you?¡±


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    ¡°No,¡± said both Kix and Arron at the same time.


    Ping!


    A new person joined the call as Chief Chesty was staring intently at them.


    ¡°Chief, I have information... ah... about that woman on the news,¡± said Toothbrush.


    ¡°Speak.¡±


    ¡°I recently started dating her... she knows I work for M1. I think she may have hacked into my wrist-datapad and gained access to my security clearance as an M1 information specialist,¡± said Toothbrush with a sad look covering his already tired face. He was not happy at realizing that he had been used most likely only for this.


    Both Arron and Kix were surprised as they looked at the worn-out Tooth.


    Chief Chesty was silent for a moment before he spoke again.


    ¡°Wait where you are. I''m sending over M1''s Office of Reason rep, to check your wrist-datapad.¡±


    ¡°I understand chief,¡± said Toothbrush with an exhausted sigh.


    ¡°You have two choices. Quit M1 or end your relationship with her. We can not have such a liability in our information center,¡± said Chief Chesty.


    ¡°I am fully committed to M1! I will end the relationship,¡± said Tooth immediately.


    ¡°Good. You should break it off now before she does something stupid that would also pull you down with her as an accomplice to her crimes,¡± said Chief Chesty.


    With that, Toothbrush exited the call leaving only the Chief, Arron, and Kix.


    Chief Chesty looked at the two for a moment, ¡°Let this be a lesson. If you can, do not let your dates know you work for M1 otherwise this might happen to you as well.¡±


    ¡°We will take this into consideration,¡± said Kix, not worried about it.


    ¡°Go to the next destination, I''ll have Lexa immediately inform you of any new orders,¡± said Chief Chesty before ending the call.


    ¡°Never would have expected Tooth and that irritating woman to date each other,¡± said Arron.


    Kix shook his head, ¡°It was all a scam. Tooth''s big mouth probably got him into this situation by letting everyone know he worked at M1. Since you''re single you need to keep this stuff to yourself or something similar might happen,¡± said Kix as he drove the APC to the next destination.


    ¡°What about you?¡± asked Arron.


    ¡°I can handle myself. It''s you who needs to be careful since you are new to the megacities dating scene.¡±


    When they arrived at the next crime scene a new red dot appeared on their mini-map.


    Ding!


    New orders were sent to them by Lexa informing them what they had to do.


    ¡°... and I will keep you all informed of the ongoing killing spree of the [Killer criminal]. Ah...! Um... I seem to be having technical difficulties... my information is being blocked for some reason...¡± said Cammy Newsons as she tried to access several menus while she live-streamed the crime scene.


    ¡°That cheap bastard! He''s dumping me!¡± shouted an angry Cammy Newsons. ¡°He only bought me a 1000 credit ring and expected me to fall for him? Ha!¡±


    The news drones were now hovering all around Cammy Newsons, not recording the crime scene, but her as she cursed Toothbrush in various ways for being cheap.


    When she realized this her ugly and angry face was quickly hidden with a bright smile.


    ¡°Ahem... sorry for the outburst. Some personal matters came up and caught me off guard.¡±


    At that time she noticed both Kix and Arron walking toward her.


    ¡°The special M1 officers have arrived so I have to...¡±


    ¡°Cammy Newsons!¡± said Arron in a loud booming voice that was amplified by his helmet''s external speakers.


    Cammy looked over to the fast-approaching M1 officers and quickly ordered the news drones to reposition themselves to get a better view of the two officers.


    Kix grabbed onto her arms and spun her around placing her wrists into magnetic cuffs.


    The hovering news drones seemed to have lost interest in the scuffle as soon as Cammy was cuffed. They immediately flew off not bothering to continue filming or find out the reason she was being normalized.


    ¡°What are you doing! I am a reporter for KNN! I am reporting for Mother and Father!¡± shouted a panicked Cammy Newsons.


    ¡°By order of the Office of Reason you are to be normalized!¡± said Kix, not hiding his smug grin.


    ¡°Normalized!? Why are you harassing me!? Go do your job and catch the separatists!¡±


    ¡°For the crime of using separatist software to hack into Mother and Fathers government database. You are to be Normalized!¡± said Arron as he led her to the soon-to-be cramped APC.

 Chapter 61: Gruntwork Investigations

    ¡°You are to go talk to the family members of those affected by the [Killer criminal]. Your task is to see if they know of any reason why those killed were targeted. They might have information on the [Killer Criminal] that can help us find or catch our target,¡± said Lexa, her holographic head hovering over the dashboard of the APC.


    ¡°Shouldn''t that be something the [Office of Reason] takes care of?¡± asked Arron.


    ¡°They are busy tracking down the [Killer Criminal] using the Holo-stream data and the evidence gathered by the investigation drones. This is a direct order from the chief, until the Office of Reason finds the [Killer Criminal] you are to work on this task. I will update you if and when the situation changes.¡±


    With that said, the call ended.


    ¡°Might as well start here,¡± said Kix.


    Their chase to clean up after the [Killer Criminal] had led them to the industrial Sector 9 zone 3''s civilian district.


    There were far more killings here that KNN had decided not to report on due to the dangers of the area, especially now that the Rage week Festival would be ending soon.


    Arron pulled up the map of the current zone on his wrist datapad and zoomed into the nearest home of someone that was related to one of the Killer Criminals'' targets.


    ¡°The closest is only two blocks over. If we just go through this alleyway we can get there faster,¡± said Arron showing the path to Kix.


    The two exited the APC and walked to the small alleyway, which was made even more cramped with the several layered rows of boxed plants attached to the sides of both walls.


    Several purple lights hung over each of the boxes shining down on the plants as well as filling the entire alleyway with a purple glow.


    Kix grabbed Arron''s armored shoulder and stopped him from entering the alleyway.


    ¡°We should just take the long way around. If you stand in that light for long enough you will definitely start having medical problems,¡± said Kix, while he pulled Arron towards the broken down sidewalk next to the row of megapartments.


    ¡°It''s just light, can''t our helmets and armor protect us?¡±


    ¡°From most bullets, shrapnel, and fire, yes it can. It won''t protect us from the massive radiation that is being put out by those cheap UV lights. I''ll have to put in a report later asking for the research boi''s to figure out a way to solve this problem for us,¡± said Kix.


    The only reason they had to walk to their destination was that the ''Roads'' in this area of the zone were so small that they could barely be distinguished between the alleyways.


    With the road''s compact size the mode of transportation was largely made up of hover-bikes. Hundreds of cheap hover-bikes that were almost as small and flimsy as Arron''s portable hover-bike, beeped and honked at each other as they drove down the cramped road in between the broken down and crumbling sidewalks on either side which would normally be packed with hundreds of people but were empty due to the festival.


    ¡°Why do they even bother adding horns to those cheap things?¡± asked Arron as he watched the bizarre sight before him.


    Several of the hover-bikes were carrying two or three suspicious-looking people, while others had large boxes stacked up on the rear of the bike in a diamond shape towering tens of feet above everyone. The only thing that held it all together was one metal chain that looked too rusty to be safe to use.


    ¡°With the auto-driving of those cheap variants doing everything for them, what else is there for them to do but honk at each other?¡± asked Kix.


    ¡°I''m surprised with all that is going on there are still people out and about.¡±


    ¡°Some people can''t afford to take the time off, even with the festival going on.¡±


    After a short walk, they were able to reach their destination and entered a rundown mega-apartment only seeing a few people in the hallways and the stairwell as they made their way up to the 32nd floor.


    Kix pressed the faded buzzer button that was embedded in apartment #3232''s dented and scraped metal door.


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    They waited for over a minute but received no answer.


    Bam! Bam! Arron knocked on the door loudly with his gloved fists, while Kix pressed the buzzer again.


    After another minute of constant knocking and buzzer pressing, a small holo-vid popped up above the buzzer. It was a disheveled teen with long curly brown hair.


    ¡°Huuuh? ..ho... iz it?¡± asked the teen in a slurred voice.


    ¡°M1, can you open the door so we can talk with you face to face?¡± asked Kix.


    ¡°...Am I... in trouble?¡± asked the teen with a puzzled look on his face as he tried to think of a reason for why the M1 would be here.


    ¡°No, we just want to ask you a few questions,¡± said Arron in a soft but firm voice trying to reassure the teen that they were not here to cause a ruckus.


    ¡°Juz a sec...¡± The small holovid ended and only a few seconds later the parasteel metal door opened up.


    The disheveled young teen stood in the doorway swaying slightly as he tried to stand up straight. His face was pale and had a blank expression as he stared forward not really seeing Arron or Kix, his eyes were already dilated and hazy like a dead fish.


    The inside of the apartment was completely dark with only the dim light of the hallway lighting it up.


    Arron quickly glanced at the data sent to him by Lexa before talking to the teen.


    ¡°We are sorry to inform you that your father was one of the people killed by the [Killer Criminal]. We want to ask you a few questions about him,¡± said Arron. He used his helmet''s visor to inspect the teen more thoroughly but found nothing illegal on his body.


    Upon hearing about his father''s death a single teardrop formed and fell to the dirty parseteel floor with a soft splat.


    ¡°Is your mother here? We can talk to her if this is too much for you,¡± said Kix.


    The teen slowly shook his head but stopped when he almost fell over.


    ¡°My mother was... taken away... when I was young. I''m the only one left,¡± said the teen. His face was gaining color again as he started to regain his senses and his mind began to clear up.


    ¡°My father... was not a separatist even though KNN said he was. He worked hard to try and get out of this zone. But now...,¡± he did not finish his sentence and just turned around and walked to a small table where an assortment of blue candy-like pills were scattered all over.


    Grabbing a handful the teen shoved them into his mouth and sunk to his knees as they took effect almost immediately.


    ¡°Do you really have to do that right now?¡± asked Arron, upon seeing the teen eating the stims right in front of them.


    ¡°Dude, you''re being recorded. You better hope those are legal and don''t break any of mother and father''s regulations,¡± said Kix, walking over to check the blue stim candy pills.


    ¡°So what... Nothin matterz anymore...¡± was all the teen said before slumping onto the table as the stims took full effect.


    ¡°We''re just going to leave him like that?¡± asked Arron as they made their way back to the APC.


    ¡°What are we supposed to do? The stims were legal.¡±


    The next several stops they made to gather information were met with similar situations. That is if they even agreed to speak with them.


    Most of the people they tried to talk to outright refused to talk to them stating they wanted nothing to do with them.


    ¡°Leave me alone! I don''t want to talk to you otherwise people will start thinking I''m a separatist being interviewed by M1. Why can''t you and the media just leave people alone!¡±


    Similar outbursts happened at many of the apartments.


    ¡°This is the last one in the area,¡± said Kix with a grunt as they pressed the apartment''s sticky buzzer.


    ¡°I told you guys to stop bothering me!¡± shouted a female as soon as the holo-vid appeared over the Buzzer.


    ¡°Uh... sorry to bother you ma''am,¡± said Arron.


    ¡°Huh? Who are you?¡± asked the woman.


    ¡°M1. We''re here to talk about the death of your husband,¡± said Kix.


    ¡°Please wait a moment,¡± said the woman ending the holo-vid.


    When the door opened the middle-aged woman stood there. She pushed her long red hair out of her face and behind her ear before quickly wiping her face on her sleeve.


    ¡°I''m sorry for yelling at you. It''s just... all day today my neighbors have been coming to gloat about my husband''s death,¡± said the woman.


    Arron was relieved to finally find someone that seemed to be sane after the many crazy fiascoes they had to endure all day.


    ¡°Can you tell us any information on why the [Killer criminal] would target your husband or any of the others that have died?¡± asked Arron.


    ¡°I blame it all on KNN, they accused him of being a separatist for not following one of the new regulations implemented by the Party of Mother and Father. So he was normalized and lost his position as a party member under Father. Ever since he finished his reLearning, we have been getting daily death threats. I suspect something similar happened to the others.¡±


    Ping! A holo-call from M1 HQ popped up in the right corner of both of Arron and Kix''s visors.


    ¡°Kix, Arron, the Office of Reason has located the [Killer criminal] he is located inside Sectors 9''s zone 1. He is hiding inside one of the research factories. You are to head over to the zone checkpoint and meet up with the rest of ERF UNIT 3 to normalize him,¡± said Lexa ending the call immediately after saying that.


    ¡°Sorry ma''am we have to leave,¡± said Arron.


    ¡°You found him right?¡± asked the woman.


    ¡°We''ll be sure to add your statements to the report,¡± said Kix, ignoring her question.


    ¡°I hope you kill him, along with those KNN reporters.¡±

 Chapter 62: Hunting Down The Killer Criminal

    ¡°...the embassy, as well as the country of Piepan, has once again fallen. The leader who had been in talks with the WHO has been killed by separatists,¡± said Kommy.


    ¡°This is the 6th time right? It looks like the WHO''s army will have to Normalize the situation once again,¡± said Fela.


    Arron was standing next to the landing pad of Sector 9''s zone 1 checkpoint and was watching the news in case they had any new information on the killings while he and the rest of ERF U3 prepared to capture and normalize the [Killer Criminal].


    But there was no mention of their target or the killings after Cammy Newsons was arrested.


    Arron grabbed the last magazine of bullets handed to him by Kix into the last open slot on his heavy-duty belt before looking over his well-worn armor which he tried to keep in top shape. The many scratches, dents, and gouges brought back many memories of all the deadly situations he had encountered during his short time as a member of the M1.


    ¡°Is everyone ready?¡± asked Captain Pointer.


    ¡°Yes!¡± said everyone with determined faces.


    ¡°Everyone, get on. We''ll be flying in and dropping off at our destination.¡±


    Arron followed Kix, who was already suited up in the newest P.L.E.v3 and boarded the waiting hover-copter which had M1 painted on its sides.


    Bishop and Ward, both already inside their bulky exoskeletons, were the last to enter the hover-copter crouching down next to the side doors that automatically shut behind them.


    The seating was cramped with everyone inside but they would only have to deal with it for a short while. Captain Pointer tapped on the pilot''s shoulder signaling that everyone was in.


    With a loud whirring sound, the engines went from zero to full throttle and lifted into the air before shooting off towards the designated destination that appeared on everyone''s map of sector 9''s zone 1.


    Arron could only see the swift passing scenery out of the front windshield of the hover-copter. The windows on doors had been replaced with armored plates for extra protection of the rear passengers.


    The ride, although uncomfortable, was far faster than any flying car or hovercar that he had ridden in since his arrival at the first level of the megacity.


    The Hover-copter''s speed slowed down and came to a stop as it hovered in the air above a roof of a 200-story research facility that was next to their target.


    Thunk!


    The side doors slammed open and the sound of the whirring engines became even louder.


    ¡°Knox, Ward! You''re up!¡± ordered Captain Pointer over their helmet''s secure voice coms. Arron could see the faces of everyone taking part in the normalization operation in the upper right corner of his helmet''s visor as they were all connected to the same call.


    The two crouching exoskeletons next to the doors scooted forward and at the same time pulled themselves out of the open doors Knox on the right and Ward on the left.


    They dropped down nearly 30 ft onto the roof only creating a soft thud. The two exoskeletons activated their scanners to swipe the area several times for traps or anyone waiting to ambush them.


    ¡°All clear captain!¡± shouted Knox.


    ¡°Everyone out!¡± ordered Captain Pointer.


    Kix jumped out the right side not using the thick rope that was tossed out of each of the doors. Akira followed him, clipping onto the rope to quickly descend to the roof.


    As soon as the last person exited the hover-copter the ropes were automatically retracted and the side door slammed shut, allowing the hover-copter to fly off to a safer place.


    ¡°Kat, Priss, do you see anything suspicious down there?¡± asked Captain Pointer.


    ¡°Nothing out in the open,¡± said Priss.


    ¡°There could be a motion or heat sensor that activates when triggered... but I don''t see anything either,¡± said Kat, looking over the side of the roof.


    ¡°Ward, Knox, Kix,¡± was all Captain Pointer said as he pointed to the building next to them where the [Killer Criminal] was holed up inside.


    ¡°On it!¡± shouted Ward.


    Both Ward and Knox crouched down and then ¡­ jumped without hesitation launching themselves off of the roof using the full might of the mechanical legs.


    Kix looked over the edge to see what he was dealing with. After a quick estimate of the distance, he backed up several steps and started running forward jumping off of the roof, following the other two.


    ¡°Damn it! I hate this!¡± shouted Kix as he fell over 100 floors and crash-landed onto the roof of the target building. Despite three exoskeletons smashing down onto the thick roof, they had managed to hit the Hover-copter landing pad that was fully reinforced.


    ¡°Kix, are you Okay? How is the P.L.E.v3 holding up?¡± asked Captain Pointer.


    ¡°Everything feels and looks Okay. They really did use a stronger para-steel formula this time,¡± said Kix after he did a quick check of his body and the light exoskeleton.


    ¡°Captain, the roof is all clear over here. But there are two security drones hiding near the roof''s entrance,¡± said Knox.


    ¡°Bishop,¡± said Captain Pointer.


    ¡°Rodger!¡± said Bishop. He stepped up to the edge of the roof with what looked like two large bazookas, one on each shoulder.


    Poof! Poof!


    A thick para-steel rope shot out from each of the large tubes and flew down 100 floors embedding themselves into the rooftop''s hover-copter landing pad.


    Bishop slammed the rear of the right bazooka tube onto the rooftop and pressed a button causing four spikes to extend out and pierce the para-concrete securing the para-steel rope. He walked several steps to the left making sure to keep a wide enough distance before doing the same thing for the left bazooka tube.


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    ¡°Let''s GO,¡± said Captain Pointer, as he clipped his armor''s two harness hooks onto the left parasteel rope and started zip-lining down at a fast speed.


    Arron was the last one to attach his hooks onto the right-side parasteel rope.


    As he hopped off the roof and began the fast 100-floor descent he thought, ''What have I gotten myself into!''.


    Thud!


    Arron''s feet slammed into the hard Para-Concrete roof and he would have fallen forward if it were not for the thick parasteel rope still holding him up and in place.


    His feet that were encased in the gel-like AB v3s, still received a large portion of the shock causing him to let out a low groan as the force of the sudden stop hit him.


    With a quick wave of his hand, his armor''s attachments were unhooked and he joined the rest of the team who were gathering near the roof''s entrance.


    [Intruders stand back! Your NerViz cloud chips do not have the authorized codes to enter!]


    ¡°By order of the Office of Reason you are to move aside and let us in!¡± said Captain Pointer as he swiped some documents towards the security bots.


    [Receiving new Data... Implementing security protocol 2! By order of the Office of Reason all who enter and exit a research factory must be scanned!]


    With that, the two security bots floated over towards Captain Pointer and Priss.


    Zap!


    Their metallic arms shot out crackling with electricity as they reached for the two.


    BAM! CRASH! Crrrrrr!


    With swift movements, Knox and Ward punched the approaching cheap security bots. The thick fist of the exoskeletons smashed the security bots into a crumpled and crackling mess on the ground.


    [Error.. error... err...]


    Not phased in the least at this minor incident, Captain Pointer stepped forward and accessed the roof entrance''s holo-lock and entered the security code that had been sent to him by Lexa.


    A blue light rose from the ground and scanned him, when it stopped above his head it turned red.


    [UNAUTHORIZED INTRUDER DETECTED! INITIATING LOCKDOWN!] came the loud robotic voice from the door as a near-deafening siren began to blare.


    ¡°Lexa the codes didn''t work!¡± said Captain Pointer, as he jumped back and hid behind Ward and Knox for protection.


    THUD!


    A thick slab of high-grade Para-steel slammed down covering the entrance while two large turrets rose from the smooth ground.


    Before they could acquire a target, Knox and Ward rushed forward and each grabbed onto one of the turrets. After bending the weaker parts and smashing everything else with their fists a few times they managed to disable the turrets.


    ¡°That''s impossible, the code was directly given to me by an Office of Reason agent. It should definitely work,¡± said Lexa, who was sitting at her desk, ¡°I''ll contact them again and see if they changed the code or mixed it up.¡±


    ¡°Looks like it''s my turn!¡± said Kat with her usual cheerful mood.


    She took out her hacking tools from a pouch on her belt and plugged one of its wires into one of the slots on her NerViz implant and took out a second wire that had a drill at the opposite end and began to drill a hole in the thick para-steel that now covered holo-lock mechanism.


    Two minutes passed before a small hole was drilled through the metal slab.


    Kat grabbed a different thick wire and stretched it out from her tool kit and threaded it into the hole. The thick wire then split into ten smaller wires before shooting forward and piercing into the lightly armored hololock.


    Kat stood there silently with her eyes closed as she worked on navigating through the system''s inner workings to unlock the door.


    After another minute of the sirens still blaring, Captain Pointer asked, ¡°Well? What''s the problem?¡±


    ¡°Sorry captain. This isn''t a normal shoddy separatist hacking job. They have full control over everything. This is next-level stuff, almost like it''s...¡±


    ¡°...an inside job?¡± asked Captain Pointer.


    ¡°Yeah,¡± said Kat in an unusually serious voice.


    Several seconds later the blaring sirens and flashing red lights stopped and the thick parasteel slab raised back up revealing the door once again.


    With a soft hiss the rooftop door opened.


    ¡°I''m working on locking down the other exits to prevent the [Killer Criminal] from escaping. After that, I''ll try to regain control of the security drones. Until then you better be careful if you encounter them,¡± said Kat.


    ¡°Priss, Bishop stay here and protect Kat and keep an eye on the building''s exits. If you see anyone other than us exiting the building shoot first and ask questions later,¡± commanded Captain Pointer.


    ¡°The rest of you follow me!¡±


    Arron followed Kix down the steps into the research facility and came out onto a sturdy overhang platform that was hanging high above a large open room filled with loud active machines and other gadgets that almost covered the entire floor.


    Captain Pointer looked at the basic 3d holographic blueprints of the building for a second before speaking again.


    ¡°Kix, Arron, you two need to head down to the third floor and search the first three floors. They are filled with nothing but cramped offices. Ward and Knox won''t be able to move there so they will work their way down starting from here. I will stay with them to support them.¡±


    ¡°Understood!¡± said both Kix and Arron.


    Ward and Knox jumped down from the platform and began their slow inspection of the nooks and crannies between the machines while Arron and Kix climbed down the metal rung ladder and found a mag-shoot that looked to be working.


    Arron pressed the up button but was stopped by Kix.


    ¡°Like hell I''m going to get on that death trap,¡± said Kix. He walked over to a locked parasteel door and kicked it open revealing a stairwell.


    Inside the stairwell was pitch black except for the lights coming from Kix''s exoskeleton headlights. The stairs were covered in a layer of dust showing that no one ever used them.


    With their weapons drawn they descended to the third floor to begin their search. All the while listening to the updates coming in from the other team members.


    The third floor was completely silent with all the lights turned off.


    ¡°Hey aren''t these research facilities normally running 24/7?¡± asked Arron, as he kicked open a door and scanned the area with his Bigboy ready to shoot any moving target.


    ¡°Yeah they''re supposed to be...¡± said Kix, who was walking in front of Arron as a sort of shield to intercept and block any attack.


    ¡°Captain 3rd floors clear!¡± said Kix after they had walked through the entire place.


    ¡­ ¡°Second floor is clear!¡±


    As they entered the first floor a low muttering voice reached their ears. Kix held up his metallic hand and put one of the fingers to the metal helmet motioning for them to be quiet.


    They tried to listen to the muffled voice to find where it was coming from. When they ascertained its direction, Kix continued to lead the way.


    ¡°...I Did it all for Mother...¡±


    As they rounded the corner of an office Kix''s headlights lit up an adult male''s sweaty back.


    The man was sitting on the ground rocking back and forth as he muttered in a shaky voice. His body was shaking uncontrollably as he continued to rock.


    Judging by the man''s voice and his odd body actions, Arron could tell the man was most likely having withdrawal symptoms from a large dose of Stims, it was all too similar to the many other cases he had seen before.


    For some reason, Arron''s helmet visor was unable to scan and show the man''s information.


    ¡°Identify yourself!¡± shouted Kix using his exoskeleton''s external speakers.


    ¡°...I did nothing wrong... I did everything as I was told... all separatists must be normalized...¡±


    ¡°Hey, are you listening? I said identify yourself,¡± said Kix as he slowly walked towards the sweaty man.


    ¡°What''s wrong!?¡± asked Captain Pointer upon hearing Kix shout.


    ¡°Captain, we may have found the target!¡± said Arron as he cautiously walked closer to the man using desks as cover while his weapon was pointing at the man''s back.


    The man ignored both of them and the bright light that was now lighting up the area. Kix and Arron carefully walked around the man so they could let their helmet''s facial recognition software tell them who he was.


    ¡­ but that was not needed.


    ¡°Hey isn''t that...?¡± asked Arron trailing off as he looked at the shivering and sweaty face of the man before him.


    ¡°Yeah, It''s Buck Boomers Assistant,¡± said Kix.

 Chapter 63: Transportation Of Troubled Suspects

    And so Arron''s first rage week festival ended with a bang.


    The next morning in Chief Chesty''s office.


    ¡°With your previous work before the festival and all of your help with several big cases during the rage week festival you have proven that you have what it takes to be part of M1. Your probation ends today. Since you two are not specialized in anything major I''ll see about putting you on the next big project that is coming down the line,¡± said Chief Chesty.


    ¡°Sir, has it already been decided?¡± asked Kix.


    ¡°It has. The researchers are still putting the last touches on it. I can''t say anything other than it will change the way we do things here. For the better, I hope.¡±


    ¡°Chief, the junk in the ERF storage room. What will be done with it?¡± asked Arron.


    ¡°Mainly just collect dust or we''ll use them for spare parts in other projects. Why? Is there something that caught your attention?¡±


    ¡°The broken prototype Hover-cycle v.8.¡±


    ¡°I''ll have to contact the researchers first and get back to you on that. If they are done with that line of prototypes then I can draw up a document of sale for you,¡± said Chief Chesty.


    ¡°Thank you sir!¡±


    ¡°You two shouldn''t relax just because the rage week festival is over. Right now the police are overwhelmed with work from the week''s large uptick in crimes. You have been put on transportation duty to help lessen the strain.¡±


    ¡°Transportation duty?¡± asked Arron.


    ¡°You will be taking several troubled suspects to the Office of Reason''s main court of justice in Sector 12.¡±


    With their orders given, they left the office and headed to the garage where they had to pick up a new prototype armored hover-van that was dark blue and had the usual M1 markings on its side.


    ¡°This thing looks awful,¡± said Kix. He walked up to the armored van¡¯s driver door and entered the armored van only after a quick inspection of the boxy outer appearance.


    Arron got into the passenger seat and slammed the door shut. ¡°I don''t think the researchers were worried about its looks when they created it,¡± said Arron.


    ¡°They should have...¡±


    ¡°So are we supposed to go pick up our passengers at any of the police stations?¡± asked Arron.


    ¡°No, we''re lucky that the police at least had the decency to drop the first batch off here already. We just have to escort them to the court and keep an eye on them until they receive their judgment,¡± said Kix while tapping on the van''s holographic menu.


    After a few options had been pressed a holovid with several angles of the back of the armored hover-vans cargo area showed over 20 people crammed inside.


    ¡°We''ll probably have to pick up another batch when this lot is dealt with,¡± said Kix as he continued to mess with the Armored hover-van''s options to set it up the way he liked.


    ***


    Arron stood at the back of the Armored hover-van, his weapon pulled out as the troubled suspects exited the opened back doors.


    As they exited his visor scanned them for any contraband and listed the major crime above their head that had led to them being arrested and put in the back of the hover-van.


    [Stealing, Bribe, Littering, Repeated speech code violation, Scamming, Suspected Separatist, Class one terrorist, Class two terrorist.]


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    ¡°Kix what''s with this? Apart from a few of these guys they''re all petty crimes. Did we really have to transport these guys to the Main Office of Reason court?¡± asked Arron over their helmets'' secure comms.


    Kix didn''t answer, he only elbowed Arron in the side with his armored arm and nodded his head towards someone that was just exiting the hover-van.


    ¡°Oh... so they are just camouflage,¡± said Arron.


    The man in question had both his arms and legs cuffed with magnetic cuffs. He wore a generic first-level work outfit as well as a large visor that hid his face. Even with all the steps taken to hide his identity, Arron could see through it all.


    It was Azistant, who they had captured the other day.


    ¡°Let''s get moving!¡± ordered Kix when the last of the troubled suspects stepped out of the van.


    Kix walked on the left side of the group while Arron was on the right as they escorted the troubled to the front entrance.


    Arron glanced at each of the troubled they were escorting and found that most of them were all looking down at the ground with dazed expressions.


    Only Azistant was stealthily looking around to see if anyone noticed him.


    As they neared the court''s entrance Arron gave the command, ¡°Stop!¡±


    ¡°What is that big crowd doing in front of the entrance?¡± asked Kix.


    ¡°Shouldn''t we be taking these guys in through a side door?¡± asked Arron.


    ¡°There is no side door. That is the only entrance.¡±


    ¡°Look! A group of Troubled have arrived! Could one of them be the [Killer Criminal]?¡± shouted a female reporter who had just noticed the group of troubled being escorted by Kix and Arron.


    Kix cursed as the rest of the milling media mob all looked over at them. With hungry looks deep in their eyes they all began manipulating their news drones to fly towards the group to get close-ups of the troubled.


    One of the drones flew so low that it hit the top of Arron''s helmet and spun out of control for a moment before regaining its stability.


    While Arron and Kix dealt with the news drones, a smaller group of only two people had arrived at the court and approached the gathering of media reporters that were hovering around the entrance.


    Only a few reporters paid any attention to them as they reached the doors. As the two stepped on a large padded platform in front of the door a purple light slowly rose from the ground and scanned their entire bodies checking for any weapons, illegal cybernetics, and also making sure that the NerViz was up to date and not tampered with.


    Halfway through the scan, a hovering bot appeared from within the crowd of reporters and charged at the two people.


    BZZTTTT!


    Its sharp claws slashed out with yellow electricity crackling all around it.


    A large gash appeared on one of the men''s chest, spurting out a gush of blood before it was cauterized by the high voltage.


    The man fell to the ground as his body twitched and frothed at the mouth from the effects of the high voltage.


    Arron did not know what was going on but decided it was better to take action and ask questions later.


    Bam!


    One shot from his BigBoy service pistol tore a large hole in the floating bot sending it crashing into a nearby wall before it could attack the second man.


    Everything happened so fast that the reporters only now realized something was wrong after seeing Arron raise his gun and shoot towards them.


    The panicked reporters all ducked down several seconds too late expecting Arron to keep firing toward them. But no more shots were fired.


    The reporters sheepishly stood back up and they all turned to the two men on the padded scanner. The man who had escaped harm was shaking the unconscious man on the ground trying to wake him up.


    ¡°Are they separatists?¡± asked a reporter.


    ¡°Did you guys see that? I caught it live! A bot appeared out of nowhere and attacked two men. Why? I have no clue. Let me go ask them for you all!¡±


    It seemed the other reporters had similar intentions as they all stormed forward blocking the entrance to the court as they had their news drones fly in close to capture the scene in all its glory. A flood of questions slammed into the two men.


    ¡°Are you separatists!¡±


    ¡°Who wants to kill you!¡±


    ¡°Why did you piss someone off enough to make them want to kill you?¡±


    ¡°What crime did you commit?¡±


    The man who was bombarded with dozens of questions stared at the many news drones hovering all around him like a deer caught in the headlights for several seconds before regaining his senses.


    ¡°We''re not separatists! We just came here to testify in a court case!¡±


    As soon as the reporters heard this they immediately turned away from the two, ignoring them as if they did not exist. Instead, they returned their focus to Kix and Arron who had reached them and were now pushing their way through the crowd of reporters to reach the padded scanner so their group of troubled could get inside.


    Both Arron and Kix had to push the nosy reporters aside making sure that no one got close to the troubled that they were in charge of.


    They ignored all questions hurled at them as they herded the troubled over the now cleared padded scanner and into the courthouse.

 Chapter 64: Judgment

    Inside the court was far quieter and solemn than the hyper atmosphere outside.


    Arron sat on a hovering parasteel plank bench that was chained to the hallway''s wall keeping in immobile. This was an entirely new experience for him as he had never been to a courthouse before and this was no small-time courthouse, it was where all the major cases that did not have to go to the 4th level were tried.


    The troubled suspects that he had escorted into the court had been searched a second time by several white-suited Office of Reason agents and were now lined up next to the wall waiting to be called into the main courtroom.


    On the opposite wall of the hallway, a holo-tv was broadcasting KNN.


    ¡°As you saw just moments before, a large group of suspicious people entered the building. Volture, Could one of them be the suspected [Killer criminal]?¡± asked Fela.


    ¡°That''s right Fela. They sure were suspicious, let''s go over each person and see if they fit the details. Who knows we might even find a separatist,¡± said Volture, a female field reporter for KNN.


    ¡°Hmm, this guy wearing a visor and basic work outfit looks like a nobody, next person...¡±


    KNN completely ignored Azistant or his ties to the party of Mother and Father. They instead spent the rest of their time going over every detail they knew about the other petty criminals.


    ¡°Hey Kix, earlier I saw some of the people labeled with class one and class two terrorism what is that all about?¡±


    ¡°This,¡± said Kix, swiping a document over to Arron.


    Arron opened the new document sent to his wrist-datapad and began reading the information.


    [Class 1 terrorism(first degree): Explosions, Killing, High target assassination, etc. Punishment: Death.]


    [Class 2 terrorism(second degree): Using a hacked NerViz. Using alternate means to access the holonet not sanctioned by Mother and Father. Posting or viewing content using alternate means that are not sanctioned by Mother and Father. Posting information that is negative of Mother, Father, WHO, or any information that makes mentioned parties look bad. Punishment: Relearning camp or Death.]


    Hssss...


    Arron looked up from the document to see the thick parasteel door for courtroom 001 had opened. Three sweaty-looking white-suited Office of Reason agents exited the room.


    ¡°Officer Upreme, Officer Wynterz, you may escort the Troubled inside,¡± said a female agent motioning for them to enter.


    Arron stood up and walked to the open door, before he could pass through he was stopped by a hand on his shoulder.


    ¡°You two will be required to give a testimony for today''s main case,¡± said a male agent, his sweaty face still without any expression.


    ¡°...? Okay...?¡± said Arron. Only after agreeing, was the agent''s hand removed from his shoulder.


    Arron stepped into courtroom 001 which was lit up by an uncomfortably bright white light that was made even worse by the white parasteel floor, walls, and ceiling.


    He stepped to the right side of the door to let the other troubled file inside. Kix came in last and stood to the left of the door.


    Unlike the hallway that was a normal temperature, courtroom 001 was sweltering hot, to the point that Arron could almost see a heatwave obscuring the opposite wall of the medium-sized courtroom.


    Fortunately, Arron and Kix''s armor had temperature regulation so they were able to weather such an irregular temperature. But the troubled, and by the looks of the sweaty agents, all had to bear with the full brunt of the room''s heatwave.


    At the front of the courtroom stood a humanoid Service bot that was painted to look like he wore a white suit of the Office of Reason.


    Next to the Service bot stood a human male. There was nothing special about the man. He had short-cut hair and wore an expensive flying suit that showed off his wealth. He was currently muttering quietly to himself as he whipped the sweat from his forehead with a handkerchief.


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    When everyone was inside, the three Office or Reason agents split up, one standing in front of the door that had shut and one agent standing next to Kix on the left and Arron on the right.


    At that moment a white box rose out of the floor and floated into the air. With a bright flash, a large white light exploded out and formed a large holographic head.


    ¡°It is time for judgment!¡± said the large head in a robotic voice.


    ¡°Case #3720066315 Meyka, step forward!¡± ordered the Ai judge.


    A young female walked up to stand next to the white-suited service robot.


    ¡°Mother and father have issued you a free lawyer. For the crime of stealing regulated food, how does the troubled plead?¡± asked the Ai judge.


    ¡°I bought it with credits! I didn''t steal. How was I supposed to know they were selling me regulated food...¡± the protesting Meyka was interrupted by the white-suited service bot next to her.


    ¡°The troubled pleads... Guilty!¡± said the robotic lawyer.


    ¡°What? No I don''t!¡±


    ¡°Gathering information... Completed. In the case of #3720066315, you are sentenced to 1 year in the relearning camp #3.¡±


    With the verdict passed down a door opened on the right wall next to the Office of Reason female agent. The female agent grabbed Meyka and shoved her through the open door which quickly shut behind her.


    ¡°Case #3720066316 Ines, step forward!¡± ordered the Ai judge.


    Another female, this one in her mid 30''s, walked up confidently to stand next to the sweating man.


    ¡°You have paid for the service of a private lawyer. For the crime of murder how does the Troubled plead?¡± asked the Ai judge.


    ¡°She fit one of the criteria for being a Separatist!¡± said Ines.


    ¡°My client has never gotten in trouble before and is a role model to everyone she knows. What she did was for Mother and Father! She pleads not guilty!¡± said the sweating human lawyer.


    ¡°Evidence?¡± asked the Ai judge.


    ¡°This,¡± said the lawyer as he tapped on his wrist-datapad searching for something, and then swiped a document towards the floating white box.


    ¡°Analyzing data... Completed. In the case of #3720066316... it is determined that you are an outstanding citizen. Not guilty.¡±


    Hearing this verdict, Arron saw Azistant''s worried face become calm. It looked as if a smile would appear on his face at any moment. Their cases were similar so...


    Ines was allowed to exit the courtroom no longer being restrained by the magnetic cuffs.


    ¡°Case #3720066317 Lupe, step forward!¡± ordered the Ai judge.


    An adult teen male walked up to stand next to the male lawyer. But to his shock, the lawyer walked away and exited the room.


    ¡°Mother and father have issued you a free lawyer. For the crime of posting false news on the government social media Barker, how does the troubled plead?¡± asked the Ai Judge.


    ¡°Hey! I already paid for a lawyer!¡±


    ¡°The troubled pleads... Guilty!¡± said the robotic lawyer.


    ¡°Gathering information... Completed. In the case of #3720066317, you are sentenced to 10 years of hard relearning in camp #13.¡±


    The female agent walked forward and dragged Lupe to the open door on the right wall and shoved him inside.


    Such similar things happened to each troubled person. They were all represented by the robotic lawyer and found guilty of their crimes, each being sentenced to a certain amount of years at one of the many relearning camps.


    ¡°Special Case #3720066339 Azistant, step forward!¡± ordered the AI judge.


    Azistant was the last troubled to be judged. He was looking around as if searching for the human lawyer by only saw the robotic Lawyer. Even without a human lawyer to represent him, Azistant was not all that worried due to his belief in his connections.


    When Azistant reached the front of the room, the robotic lawyer who had stayed still the entire time surprised Azistant by stepping aside next to the wall.


    In place of the robotic lawyer, the three Office of Reason agents surrounded Azistant.


    ¡°The Office of Reason has decided to represent you.¡±


    Hearing this Azistant''s calm face cracked.


    ¡°This Special Case involves the troubled killer known as the [Killer criminal]. We have brought the two who captured him to attest that this man is the [Killer Criminal],¡± said a male Office of Reason agent.


    ¡°Proceed...¡± said the AI judge.


    Both Arron and Kix were waved forward by the female agent that stood behind Azistant.


    ¡°Is this troubled man the [Killer Criminal] you captured?¡± asked the female agent.


    ¡°He is,¡± said Arron.


    ¡°Yes,¡± said Kix with an unhappy expression on his face.


    ¡°Gathering information... Complete! For the crimes of hacking into the Holo-net, using separatist software, trespassing, and hacking into a secure research facility¡­ Recalculating¡­ Due to the numerous class 2 terrorism violations, Special Case #3720066339 is sentenced with permanent Normalization.¡±


    Azistant''s legs lost all strength and he fell to the ground.


    The three Office of Reason agents grabbed him and dragged him to the now open door on the left and disappeared along with him.


    Seeing all this happen in front of him, all Arron could think about was the one thing that was missing in the sentencing.


    ''What about all the people he killed?''

 Chapter 65: Broken Love

    ¡°Why did you buy that piece of junk?¡± asked Kix. Looking at the prototype hovercycle v8.


    Arron and Kix were exiting the M1 HQ employee entrance at the back of the building after finishing the day''s grueling patrol.


    ¡°I think it would be a great help with getting around the city, and if the chief allows it I might be able to use it on patrols with you. Plus, fixing it up will give me something to do and allow me to take my mind off everything,¡± said Arron.


    The two made their way to Sector 12''s main MagLev station and silently rode in one of the packed carriages to Sector 11''s station.


    ¡°You''re not going to go home?¡± asked Kix, seeing that Arron turned to walk down a different street.


    ¡°I have a lot of things on my mind I need to decompress,¡± said Arron.


    ¡°Don''t go to any of the shady places around here. I won''t come and save you if you get in trouble,¡± said Kix with a smile. He punched Arron in the shoulder and waved goodbye before disappearing into the bustling night foot traffic.


    Arron did not go to any of the usual places at the Roach, instead, he walked until he found a dark alley with a single holo sign [RedLight] glowing above a sturdy door that led to an underground bar.


    He had discovered this place with Kix during one of their patrols of Sector 11.


    No service bot or drone came to welcome him as he entered, nor were there any ads popping up trying to sell him useless items.


    The underground bar had a light haze of smoke drifting around through the dim red lights that lit up the entire place. The worn-out air purifiers in the ceiling were humming as they failed to make a dent in the smoky haze.


    Although there were hundreds of people sitting at the tables and the long bar, no one was talking. Nor were there hundreds of holo-tv''s all playing different things at a loud volume. There was only one Holotv and it was situated above the long bar.


    Somewhere in the back corner of the bar, there was soft music being played at a low enough volume that you could ignore it if you wanted.


    The mood was quiet and somber as the patrons of the underground bar quietly mulled over their life problems and drained down different drinks depending on how wasted they wanted to get.


    This mood fit Arron''s current feelings and after searching for a few seconds he found a hover stool open at the far end of the long bar.


    His seat was next to a large stage which to his surprise held a human band and a female singer. The background music was in fact from an actual human and not the AI singers who were controlled by the Party of Mother and Father who dictated which music was generated and allowed to be sung.


    ¡°This next song is one of our newer songs in the new City pop genre that is taking the underground singers by storm,¡± said the female singer in a soft soothing voice.


    She was using an old silver hover microphone that matched her glittering silver gloves and silver dress that made her look like a young cheerful princess with her long black hair held in place by a headband that looked like a silver tiara.


    ¡°The name of the song is ''Broken love'',¡± said the female singer.


    When she finished talking the band started playing a tune that hit Arron in the heart.


    The female singer started to sway back and forth as she got in rhythm with the music.


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    As her soft voice began singing the words to the song they pierced through Arron as he remembered his reason for coming here.


    He used his wrist datapad to open one of his most recent messages that he had received today near the end of his work shift from Mel.


    [Cam and I have gotten married ...] the message contained many other details but apparently, this was several months old news and he was just now receiving it.


    ¡°What can I get you?¡± asked the old man behind the bar in a quiet voice.


    Arron looked at his total credit balance and saw that he only had 100 credits left for the rest of the month. This was mainly due to his recent purchase of the totaled prototype hovercycle that had eaten almost all his savings. It did not help that he had also recently sent a large portion of his hazard pay to his parents so that they could keep making the monthly payments on the lease of the farmland which the Party of Mother and Father could take back at any second.


    ¡°Synth-beer,¡± said Arron in a hoarse voice.


    The bartender solemnly nodded his head and walked over to the hundred-plus spouts to get Arron his drink.


    When Arron was handed a large glass of brown synth beer, 1 credit was automatically deducted from his account with just a swipe of his cloud chip over the counter¡¯s built-in scanner.


    Arron took a sip and grimaced.


    It was very bitter, which was to be expected of anything having to do with synth food and drinks. Although the taste was not particularly good and it was the cheapest thing on the bar¡¯s holo-menu, it was still one of the strongest drinks they had.


    Arron felt a slight warm buzz feeling already flowing through his body with only a few sips.


    As he sipped his drink and listened to the soft voice of the female singer he contemplated the complex feelings that he now felt after receiving and reading such a message.


    He was happy for them but... he felt a sadness that he did not know would be there.


    ¡°I wake up from my dream and realize reality,¡± softly sang the female singer.


    Arron took a deep gulp from his glass and felt an even stronger wave of warmth washing over him.


    As he brewed over his emotions and drank he turned his attention to the large silent 2-d holo-tv on the wall above the bar. It was currently showing a live match of Grav-ball, the anti-gravity sport. The current match was between the two robotic teams the Rubber Dooks and the Floaty Boots.


    Two hours later Arron, who was a little tipsy, left the bar.


    While walking back to his apartment he was stopped by a rough man who looked to be in his early 20s.


    ¡°Pay me some credits or I''ll have M1 arrest you!¡±


    ¡°M1?¡± asked Arron, a bit confused.


    ¡°Yeah, I have connections on M1 who can arrest you!¡±


    ¡°Oh really?¡± asked Arron as he showed his M1 holo badge used for work.


    The man''s mouth fell open as he saw the badge. He tried to turn and run but Arron tackled him from behind and cuffed him with a pair of magnetic cuffs.


    Arron sat him down and started to scold him.


    ¡°You know you shouldn''t do stuff like this...¡±


    But it soon turned into a nice long drunken chat with his captive listener.


    ¡°...and now she is getting married,¡± said Arron ending his long speech.


    ¡°Times are tough right now even without love problems added in,¡± said the cuffed man.


    ¡°That''s right,¡± said Arron, nodding his head.


    ¡°Um... can you not call the police?¡± asked the man.


    ¡°Why? You don''t want to be arrested?¡± asked Arron.


    ¡°No, it''s not that. If I get arrested my wife will know where I am at... I can''t face her ever since I lost my job due to the bubble burst... so this is what I have become...¡± said the man ashamed of his current self.


    Arron felt better after his long chat patted the man on the shoulder and removed the cuffs helping the young man stand back up.


    ¡°You really should spend your time more productively searching for a new job. Even if it is a crap job you need to bear with it so that you can support your family. Who knows there may be a promotion down the line or a new job opportunity that you can transfer to. Don''t give up!¡± said Arron.


    With a swipe of his hand, he sent over 20 credits to the man.


    ¡°Use this to get back home to your wife,¡± said Arron as he patted the man on the shoulder one last time and walked away.


    The young man with tears in his eyes accessed his contact list and tapped on a name to start a holo call.


    ¡°Honey, I''m sorry. I''m coming home...¡±

 Chapter 66: Its Their Job

    Arron and Kix exited the M1 HQ garage and got onto the fast lane to head to their designated sector and zone they would be patrolling today when their helmet visors and the dashboard of the APC started flashing a red warning message.


    [Red Alert! Code 2! Red Alert! Code 2!]


    ¡°What is it now? We just started and something big happens?¡± asked Kix as he sipped on a pouch of Synth-energy jelly, using the long straw that was attached to the pouch.


    Seconds later the [M1 OFFICERS DOWN!]


    Ping!


    Toothbrush''s head appeared in the upper right corner of both Arron and Kix''s helmet visor.


    ¡°Sector 6, zone 3 which the two of you are heading to, is where the M1 officers were shot. You are to proceed with caution as the troubled suspect is armed and dangerous. Another unit will be arriving later to help you as well as the local patrolling drones,¡± said Tooth.


    ¡°What''s the status of the two officers?¡± asked Arron.


    ¡°Dead. I''m sending you a clip showing the last recorded footage from their helmets. The person shown in it is the Troubled suspect you are in charge of normalizing if necessary,¡± said Tooth as he tapped a few options and sent the short clip to them. ¡°If you have the stomach for it, I can send the full recording.¡±


    Ping! Arron''s NerViz notified him of the new message.


    He tapped onto the blinking notification and swiped the Holovid towards the dashboard of the APC where the short clip of just 2 seconds continued to loop. It clearly showed the troubled target''s face and the modified gun that he was pointing directly at one of the M1 officers.


    Arron''s heart fell when he saw the two officers who were killed. He had met them several times in the locker room as they prepared for their patrols.


    ¡°Send me the full video,¡± said Kix.


    ¡°Alright,¡± said Tooth with a shrug.


    Kix swiped the file towards the dashboards replacing the silent looping clip.


    [Were getting reports someone has been sitting inside a hovercar for the past 8 hrs staring at people as they pass. You are to normalize the situation. The address is ...]


    [We''re close by so we''ll take care of it before heading back.]


    The video fast-forwarded to the two officers pulling up behind the hovercar and stepping out of their vehicle.


    Everything was going fine as the first officer asked in a friendly tone [Step out of the car and come talk with us.]


    Unlike the report stated there were two people in the hovercar. The passenger stepped out with his hands up and slowly walked towards them.


    While the driver slowly stepped out his right side was hidden from view.


    [Stop stalling and get over here.]


    The driver hesitated for only a second before turning around and slowly walking towards them a few paces before his right arm rose...


    [Oh shit...]


    Pop, pop, pop.


    Eleven shots were fired quickly at such a close distance leaving no time to dodge. The view from the recording changed as the officer was hit several times and fell to the ground moaning.


    Soft footsteps were heard as the troubled suspect walked up to the two officers unhurriedly.


    BANG!


    A few more light steps were heard before the blank unemotional face of the troubled target appeared standing over the second officer with his modified gun pointing at the helmet.


    BANG!


    The recording ended there.


    ¡°How did something like this happen?¡± asked Kix.


    ¡°They were careless,¡± said Tooth with a shrug.


    ¡°No not that. The information sent to them was completely wrong.¡±


    ¡°Let''s see... ah, I see. The Office of Reason is the one that sent in the request for M1 to normalize the target. Not sure why they didn''t do it themselves... no mention of the target being armed or dangerous... Anyways, the Office of Reason wants you to take him in alive.¡±


    Kix mumbled a few choice words after Tooth ended the holo-call.


    With their quick speed, they soon reached the spot where the shooting had taken place.


    A large portion of the area was currently under heavy construction. New apartment buildings were being erected in place of the old ones that had been recently torn down. The information on the area stated that the new building would have nearly double the apartments while still using the same space as before... meaning the apartments would all be smaller than the old ones.


    Kix stopped the APC behind the armored vehicle the other two M1 officers had been using and the two cautiously exited the APC.


    Arron stood behind the door and held his sidearm at the ready as scanned the area for any immediate sign of the trouble suspect.


    With nothing popping out and attacking them he turned to look at the two vehicles ahead of them where a patrol drone was hovering and projecting a small boxed-off area using holo-tape with the scrolling words [Crimescene do not pass].


    The sight in front of him was not pleasant. On the ground a short distance in front of the armored car and behind the red hovercar of the troubled suspect...


    ¡­ were the two bodies of the m1 officers who still lay in pools of their blood where they had been left out in the open. The Troubled suspect did not even try to hide the bodies or clean up the scene.


    Arron looked up from the deceased M1 officers over to an apartment building across the street which was the only fully built building in the local area.


    The door to the building was opened just a crack and had two eyes peeking out at Arron and Kix.


    ¡°Kix, a possible target,¡± said Arron using his helmet''s secure com''s as he immediately turned and pointed his service weapon towards the door.


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    The door to the building shut as soon as they saw Arron and Kix moving quickly towards the door.


    Arron slammed the door open and barged into the building with Kix covering him as they scanned the area for any hostile targets.


    The only person they found was an elderly lady standing in the hallway.


    She had a sour look on her face as she watched the two barge in and sweep the area with their drawn weapons.


    ¡°We''re looking for the person who killed the two M1 officers, did you see anything?¡± asked Arron.


    ¡°I saw the whole thing.¡±


    The old lady explained all that had happened before the officers had arrived and what had happened after they were killed. The information matched what they already learned.


    ¡°You''re saying he went into that building?¡± asked Kix.


    ¡°Yes, why would I lie about something like that? Good grief, what is Mother and Father doing allowing such violent people to have weapons? They should have passed a law banning such things long ago! They are just too dangerous for normal people to have.¡±


    Kix snorted at this.


    ¡°Ma''am there are already several laws put in place banning both the purchase and ownership of any type of weapon. We would be out of a job if the Troubled and Separatists actually followed these laws,¡± said Kix.


    Arron and Kix only spent a few more seconds listening to the neverending complaints from the old woman before they left her talking to herself in the hallway.


    The two walked over to the large building across the street which was still under construction.


    There was no one guarding the place and the gate surrounding the work area was wide open.


    ¡°Whoever is in charge of this area is going to be lucky if they only get fined for all these violations,¡± said Kix as he looked around.


    Arron stepped over the cheap destroyed security bot that had been shot several times.


    The building lacked any security that one would expect for such a large-scale building project.


    The 300-story skeletal building structure was quiet, and with no walls or floors built yet they were able to look through each floor.


    Arron turned on the heat detection of his visor and scanned the entire 300 floors... but found nothing.


    ¡°Wow look at these metric tools,¡± said Arron.


    Scattered all over the ground were several tools that looked ancient, each using a measuring system no longer in use for many generations.


    ¡°How odd...it looks like these builders are not using the standard Imperial system. Only the barbaric and backward people long ago used the metric system. It is surprising to see such tools still in use.¡±


    Several minutes passed as the two continued to search and scan the area.


    ¡°Arron, over here,¡± said Kix notifying Arron of his discovery over their secure coms.


    Arron walked over to a large pile of junk material next to where Kix was squatting down. In front of him was a large hole that led into the sewer system under the city.


    ¡°Don''t tell me... we have to go in there?¡± asked Arron.


    ¡°Shouldn''t be too bad... your armor boots should be able to keep out the waste and your helmet can filter the air. I did a scan of the area and didn''t find anyone hiding around the hole''s opening. He probably already made his way to another hideout using the sewers.¡±


    ¡°Let''s just get this done and over with,¡± said Arron as he jumped into the hole.


    Splat! Squelch!


    ¡°*&^%^,¡± Arron cursed as the moving sludge reached his upper thigh.


    Splash! Kix landed next to Arron, splattering him with more gunk.


    Arron activated his helmet''s external lights and looked around the massive parasteel pipe that was wide enough to hold 4 semi-hover trucks side by side and was even taller than that.


    The pipes had to be this big to be able to handle all the crap that they took.


    Arron''s armored boots were having a hard time getting a solid lock onto the metal pipe whenever he moved, causing him to nearly slip several times.


    The flowing sludge helped push them forward as they continued down the path looking for any sign that the target had passed by.


    Nothing stood out from the ordinary as they continued walking for half an hour. Arron was starting to think that they had jumped into the sewers for nothing until a large yellow light coming from the ceiling shone down from an open manhole. There was a set of metal rungs going up the wall covered in fresh sludge.


    After climbing out of the sewer Arron pulled up the information on where they were.


    [Retirement housing building #902].


    The building in front of them was not very good-looking. It had bars on every window making it look like a jail.


    On the ground, there were fresh tracks of sludge that led into one of the old folks'' homes.


    ¡°Fitting for a killer to hide out here,¡± said Kix.


    ¡°How so?¡± asked Arron.


    ¡°These ''homes'' are where old people with no family go to die. Several rumors have been swirling around about Mother and Father like turning a blind eye to the mistreatment and sometimes murderous ''care workers'' that work at each of the buildings. These ''care workers'' are always finding ways clear out and open up the rooms so even more old people can pass through the revolving doors earning them a lot of money.¡±


    ¡°But what would they get out of all this?¡±


    ¡°Other than some money... The main benefit is the reduction of the megacity''s aging population of retired old people who they view as nothing more than a drain on the megacity''s resources,¡± said Kix.


    Arron and Kix walked up to the door where the tracks stopped and on the count of three, Arron kicked the door open and used his helmet¡¯s light to illuminate the dark apartment.


    The room had a deep stench of the sewers as this room had no windows to let fresh air in.


    ¡°M1 PUT YOUR HANDS UP!¡± Shouted Arron as his light stopped on an old man sitting on an empty bed. Half of his sewer-covered body was hidden under a thin blanket.


    The man looked over to Arron with eyes that looked murky and glazed over.


    ¡°Show me your hands!¡± said Arron.


    ¡°It is better to die in one''s own bed normally than to die unnaturally in a cold bed controlled by Mother and Father,¡± said the zoned-out man.


    ¡°What?¡± asked Arron as he cautiously stepped into the room with his service weapon pointed at the man.


    ¡°For the murder of two M1 officers we will be sending you to the office of reason who will decide what to do with you,¡± said Kix, pulling out his magnetic cuffs as he walked over to the old man.


    ¡°It is better to die naturally by one''s own hand than by Mother and Father!¡±


    Bam!


    The man''s hidden hand had pulled the trigger and sent a shot tearing through the blanket and his brains.


    ¡°Was he really the killer? He seemed to be on some type of drug,¡± asked Arron.


    ¡°I don''t know, something didn''t feel right about him. But with the recording we saw... everything points to him being the killer, we''ll have to take the gun back and let them test it to see if it matches the one that was used to kill the officers.¡±


    ***


    Arron, Kix, and the rest of the M1 officers not on duty had taken time out of their day to attend the joint funeral that was held for the two dead officers.


    They were all here to pay their respects to the fallen and their family.


    Arron and Kix were now solemnly standing to the side watching as the two grieving widows and their families met with several of the officers one by one.


    ¡°First time?¡± asked Chief chesty, walking up to Arron. ¡°It never gets any easier.¡±


    ¡°It... is something I hope I don''t have to do often,¡± said Arron.


    ¡°Puller? Is that you?¡±


    Arron and chief chesty turned to a middle-aged man standing nearby.


    ¡°Old man, what are you doing here?¡± asked Chief chesty his mood visibly changing as a smile crept onto his face.


    ¡°One of your officers who was killed was the son of my friend. So I could not miss the funeral,¡± said the middle-aged man. ¡°Who are these two youngins?¡±


    ¡°This is Arron, and this is Kix. They are a few of the newer generation of officers that have recently joined the M1,¡± Chief Chesty.


    ¡°Is that so? Be sure to keep your head on a swivel and make sure you stay alive,¡± said the man as he held out his hand for Arron and then Kix to shake.


    ¡°We''ll do our best to stay alive,¡± said Arron.


    ¡°If you ever need any spare parts or other hard-to-find items no longer in production call me up! I just might have it!¡± said the man swiping a holocard to both Arron and Kix.


    As Arron and Kix exited the funeral they noticed a few news drones hovering near the entrance along with a random no-name reporter.


    Arron switched on the broadcast to see what was being said.


    ¡°As you can see there is nothing special about this funeral as there are so many things happening that it is not worth reporting on,¡± said the no-name reporter.


    ¡°I mean it''s their job. They knew they would die someday. No need to go out of our way to cover it in great detail,¡± said Kommy.


    ¡°You are correct, the number of M1 officer funerals is like talking about water being wet,¡± said Fela.

 Chapter 67: CEO Trouble

    ¡°...that''s right Kommy. Mr. Watopod, the rich CEO of the largest factory of wrist datapads in the Mega-city was found dead in this alley late last night. He was a major supporter of helping push Mother and Fathers views into reality.¡±


    Thud!


    Arron slammed the APC''s door shut, drowning out the news playing on the dashboard.


    ¡°Look over there! The M1 has decided to show up as well. Late as usual,¡± said the female reporter that both Arron and Kix had been watching just moments before.


    ¡°We got here the fastest we could. What does she expect us to do, teleport?¡± muttered Kix.


    ¡°It seems like the chief is always giving us these odd-end missions. What was so urgent we had to deviate from our planned patrol today?¡± asked Arron as they walked to the alleyway.


    The female news reporter, along with several drones hovering around her, stood outside the alleyway trying to see inside but both her vision and the drone''s cameras were blocked by the opaque and sound-deadening holo screens covering the entire alleyway.


    ¡°M1! Can you update us on the investigation? Who killed Mr. Datopod? What was their motive?¡±


    ¡°No comment,¡± said Kix, sidestepping the noisy reporter.


    The news drones swirled above their heads taking close-up shots of them. Arron was extremely glad that their helmets had mirrored visors which were currently blocking the cameras from catching a glimpse of their faces.


    ¡°How should we know something like that when we just got here?¡± asked Kix over the helmet''s secure comms.


    ¡°What are they doing here?¡± asked Arron as they reached the alleyway entrance.


    Three Office of Reason Agents stepped out from inside the alleyway passing through the screen to meet Arron and Kix.


    ¡°Tooth?¡± asked Arron.


    ¡°The orders for all of this seem to be coming from the very top. Mother and Father are putting pressure on everyone to find the culprit. It has already exploded in the news and on all the approved social media,¡± said Toothbrush in the top right corner of the helmet''s visor screen.


    The office of reason agent walked up to Arron and Kix and stopped them.


    ¡°You were the only people sent here?¡± asked a large black suit-wearing male. His large head was bald and his eyes were covered by a black visor.


    ¡°Yes, due to the short notice everyone else was busy,¡± said Kix.


    The large agent shrugged his shoulders and motioned them to follow him into the alleyway.


    They passed through the water-like screen which did not allow for any gap to appear as they passed through so the news drones were still unable to see what was on the other side.


    On the ground were two white leather tarps placed over two bodies.


    The large black suit agent pointed to the bodies, ¡°You can take over the scene and do the rest of the investigation. We have more important things to do.¡±


    With that, the three Office of Reason walked out the rear entrance of the alleyway.


    ¡°That''s it? They aren''t going to help?¡± asked Arron. ¡°With the funding they have, we could complete this far faster...¡±


    ¡°The Office of Reason just sent us the information that the inspection drones have gathered so far. I''ll send it to you now¡± said Tooth.


    Ping!


    Arron''s NerViz notified him of a new file received.


    He tapped on the blinking notification and opened the file letting it flow on the lower right side of his visor so he could quickly read it while also scanning the surrounding area.


    [Mr. Zrist Watopod, male, 43. SCS: B, CEO of Watopod wrist-datapads. Cause of death: Gunshot to the back of the head.]


    [Ms. Selkry Tariy, female, 30. SCS: C, assistant to Mr. Watopod. Cause of death: Stabbing.]


    [Mr. Watopod was reported missing at 12:21 a.m. by his wife when he failed to return home from work. She was the first person to find him.]


    ¡°What''s with this bare-bones report? Is this it?¡± asked Kix.


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    ¡°This was all that was transferred to us.¡±


    Arron walked to the two dead bodies and lifted the leather tarp to inspect them with his own eyes.


    The gruesome wounds looked to be as the short report stated, a gunshot wound to Mr.Watopod''s head, close to his neck.


    Ms. Tariy''s body was nearly drained of all blood from all of the stab wounds on her body. Her face had also been carved up and stabbed as well.


    Each of the deceased''s NerViz system had been damaged and the cloud chips had been dug out of their hands.


    Arron used his helmet¡¯s facial scanner and made sure to double-check that they were actually the two victims listed in the report as it was hard to tell by just looking.


    ¡°What kind of psychotic person did this?¡± asked Kix, while he crouched down next to Arron and inspected the mutilated bodies.


    When the scan came back as a positive match, Arron let the leather tarp fall back down to cover the dead bodies and the large pool of blood.


    ¡°To me, it looks like an affair gone wrong,¡± said Arron.


    ¡°It says here that the wife was the one to report him missing, so maybe we should have a chat with her. Where can we find her Tooth?¡± Kix asked Tooth.


    ¡°The local sector 8 police are comforting her right now and are keeping the media away from her. She is not that far from the two of you. Just go around the corner and you will see the Watopod main office building down the street.¡±


    Arron and Kix exited the Alleyway to see that four Sector 8 police officers had arrived and taken up position outside the screen to block the several reporters and the dozens of flying news drones that had started to show up.


    ¡°Keep them out of the alley until the coroners remove the bodies,¡± ordered Kix.


    The officers scoffed and ignored Kix not wanting to acknowledge him or Arron.


    The reporters standing nearby all swarmed towards Arron and Kix, their news drones flying in trying to get a good position which caused several mid-air collisions sending them spinning out of control.


    The reporters paid the news drones no attention and were focused on asking thousands of similar questions just worded differently, all trying to get a scarp of news or gossip.


    Arron and Kix pushed through the small crowd and escaped the area in the APC.


    The ride to the main office was short as they only had to drive to the end of the street to reach the main entrance to the Watopod office building which was attached to one of their large factories.


    The reporters started to flood down the sidewalks like lemmings as they chased after them hoping to get lucky.


    Arron and Kix showed their identification before walking past the police officers blocking off the entrance to the building.


    The chattering lemmings quickly arrived and were stopped from following Arron and Kix inside. Several loud outraged chatter and cries were heard before the doors closed behind them.


    ¡°She''s on the 69th floor,¡± said a police officer inside the lobby guarding the magshoot.


    After saying that he ignored the two.


    The two entered the magshoot and typed in 69 on the holographic number pad that popped up and then pressed enter.


    ¡°Did we do something to piss them off? I''m getting the feeling they don''t really like us,¡± said Arron.


    ¡°Don''t pay them any attention, just a bunch of old grumps,¡± said Kix.


    ¡°I''m impressed they actually have a magshoot in the office,¡± said Arron as they shot up towards the 69th floor.


    ¡°Of course, there would be one, he''s rich! Why would he even think of having a set of stairs in his office building?¡± asked Kix.


    Ping!


    The magshoot stopped at the 69th floor and opened its doors.


    The two stepped out of the magshoot directly into the office that took up the entire 69th floor.


    The office was wide enough to hold a party of over 1000 people but was fairly empty. Its walls were bare except for several painting holders that seemed to have held paintings at one time in the past.


    The bright lights shining down from the ceiling were reflected off of the glossy red stone floor which was bare of any carpet.


    The only furniture in the room was an old wooden desk, several filing cabinets embedded into the wall behind the desk, and a tattered white couch that a distraught woman and two police officers were sitting on.


    ¡°This... was not what I was expecting,¡± said Kix over their helmet''s secure coms.


    ¡°Yeah when someone says rich CEO, I thought this place would be filled with expensive junk. Seems he likes living frugally?¡± said Arron.


    Kix shrugged and said, ¡°Maybe that''s how he was able to become so rich?¡±


    The two picked up their pace and walked over to the couch to introduce themselves.


    ¡°Hello, Madam Watopod. I am M1 officer Upreeme, and this is my partner officer Wynterz.¡±


    The slumped-over and distraught Ms. Watopod was draped in a blanket that had been on the couch and was using it like a shield as she rocked back and forth.


    Hearing her name she looked up to see Arron and Kix standing only a few paces away from her. Her eyes were puffy red from crying and had dark rings from lack of sleep and stress.


    She just stared at them in a daze not saying anything.


    After standing there in awkward silence for over a minute, Arron decided to break the ice and try to ask a question.


    ¡°Madam, we were sent here by Mother and Father to help you find your husband''s killer. Can you tell us who might want to harm him and his assistant?¡±


    Arron and Kix waited silently for her response.


    She opened her mouth to speak but nothing came out for over a minute.


    ¡°...ret,¡± she mumbled quietly.


    ¡°What?¡± asked Kix.


    Ms. Watopod cleared her throat and then looked to Kix.


    ¡°Despite the image he presents on the news and the company ads... he has a deep secret...¡± she said in a quiet voice that was still hard to hear.


    ¡°Do you mean he was having an affair?¡± asked Kix.


    Ms. Watopod shook her head no.


    ¡°... he was a heavy drug user.¡±

 Chapter 68: CEOs Secret

    ¡°Heavy drug user?¡± asked Kix.


    ¡°Are you saying he was using illegal drugs?¡± asked Arron.


    Ms. Watopod nodded her head.


    ¡°So this was a drug deal gone wrong?¡± asked Kix, who was using his helmet camera to record the entire interview. It would be sent to Tooth as evidence to help them find the drug dealer or dealers.


    ¡°I believe so,¡± said Ms.Watopod.


    ¡°So this was why Mother and Father wanted us to quickly take care of the case,¡± said Arron over the secure comms.


    ¡°They must have had some idea that something was wrong,¡± said Kix.


    ¡°Madam, is there any other information that you can give us?¡± asked Arron.


    ¡°He was a heavy drug user and there were many attempts to go to drug rehabs. After the last meltdown, he was fine for nearly a year...¡±


    Arron and Kix silently waited for the woman to collect herself as she wiped new tears from her eyes.


    ¡°It was only recently that I found out that his wedding ring was missing... he sold it for drugs.¡±


    ¡°What caused him to relapse?¡± asked Arron hoping she knew something about it.


    ¡°... he and the company are both heavily in debt...¡±


    Upon hearing this Arron saw Kix nodding his head as if he understood the situation. Seeing Arron looking at him Kix explained.


    ¡°I''ve seen similar stuff like this happen to others. The rehabs cost an extreme amount of money. Due to the mega-city''s massive population, most rehabs have a limit on how many days the recovering addicts can stay. When their time has run out and the rehab has sucked them of all the money they can get, they refer the recovering addict to one or more other rehabs. The process continues to repeat as the rehabs continue passing them around preying on those trying to get clean.¡±


    Ms.Watopod nodded her head in full agreement.


    Arron was appalled at hearing all this. He couldn''t comment on it at the moment while they were in the middle of an interview so he put his questions about it on the back burner for now.


    ¡°You were the one that found your husband and the secretary correct?¡± asked Arron as he looked at the scrolling case information that was being updated live by Tooth as he listened on the other end of the holocall.


    ¡°Yes.¡±


    ¡°Was there anyone else that may have seen the bodies before you? Do you know if your building or any local security drones were recording that area during the time of the murder?¡± asked Kix.


    ¡°The security footage from the building only has recordings for the front entrance and inside the building. If that will help you, then you can take the footage. The only other footage I know that might have caught anything is the building''s security bots. I don''t know anything about sector 8''s patrolling security drones.¡±


    ¡°Where can we look at this footage?¡± asked Arron.


    Ms.Watopod pointed to the many file cabinets embedded in the wall.


    Both Arron and Kix walked over to file cabinets that had no handles. When Arron touched one, a holographic menu popped up but was immediately replaced with a red warning message that locked down all functions.


    [By order of Office of Reason all information stored in this database is under the Protection of Office of Reason. Only authorized personnel may access the database.]


    ¡°Tooth, we need the Office of Reason to give us clearance to view the security footage,¡± said Arron.


    ¡°...on it. Just wait a few minutes while I take care of this...¡± said Tooth as he started to fiercely type on the holo-keypad in front of him.


    Arron and Kix stood around in silence waiting in front of the cabinets that housed the data banks while Ms.Watopod was sniffling in the background. It was quite awkward.


    ¡°You should now have access to the files for ten minutes. Make sure to get as much info as you can,¡± said Tooth.


    As he said that the over 50 file cabinets gave several clicks and extended out revealing several hundred brick data servers that stored the security footage for the building.


    ¡°Only Ten minutes?¡± asked Arron in horror as he looked at everything in front of him.


    Kix cursed under his breath before saying, ¡°No point in complaining. I''ll begin searching the building''s recordings. You look at all the security bots footage.¡±


    Kix pulled the attached wires from the back of his helmet and plugged them into one of the brick data servers and began his search.


    Arron followed suit after wasting a minute trying to find the servers for the security bots.


    When he plugged into one of the main servers a 3d hologram screen popped up and started streaming several dozen live video feeds that expanded to cover the entire wall.


    Arron ignored the live video and searched for the menu. When he found the option he was looking for he used the holo-keypad and typed in the exact time when Ms.Watopod had called in the murders.


    Arron closed the video screens of the security bots that were nowhere near the areas that Mr.Watopod would have most likely been.


    That left over 20 different security bots that were active during the night patrol. With so many screens Arron was forced to quickly skim over all the footage as fast as he could to get through all of them in the less than ten minutes that had left.


    ¡°Jackpot!¡± said Arron when he reached the data from the 17th security bot.


    Kix looked up from the swamp of overflowing data and asked, ¡°You found something?¡±


    ¡°Downloading it now. Tooth, Inform that Office of Reason that I have made a copy of the last 24 hrs of recorded footage from security bot #17.¡±


    ¡°Will do,¡± said Toothbrush.


    Copying such a large file was done in only a few seconds using the direct-wired connection. In the past, such a large file would have taken at least a day to transfer.


    Without commenting on what he found he transferred the footage to both Kix and Tooth for them to watch.


    He was still rushing to scan through the rest of the video recordings with the remaining few minutes they had.


    Beep! Kacha! Clunk!


    At exactly ten minutes the video streams for both Arron and Kix''s screens went blank and their wires were automatically spat out allowing the servers to shut and lock down once again.


    Kix let out a long sigh. He had been unable to find anything suspicious so he opened the video that had been sent to him and watched it at 4x speed.


    ¡°This is it?¡± asked Kix as he re-watched it at a slower speed.


    ¡°That''s all I could find. We''re lucky we could find this.¡±


    Kix was squinting at the video trying to make out what was being played.


    ¡°I can''t see anyone else entering until the wife finds them, what about you?¡± asked Arron.


    Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel.


    Kix shook his head, ¡°It''s too grainy and dark. I can barely make out the two people entering the alley.¡±


    ¡°I''m working on cleaning the video to try and make it clearer,¡± said Toothbrush.


    ¡°We might as well check on the other leads while that is being worked on,¡± said Kix.


    Arron and Kix walked back over to the couch.


    ¡°Ms. Watopod, do you have the names for the last couple of rehab''s that your husband went to?¡±


    Ms. Watopod was quiet for a moment as she thought and then she started tapping through her Wrist datapad''s menu before swiping several digital business cards over to both Arron and Kix.


    Arron opened them and read the titles on each of the cards.


    [Hugs and Kisses rehab], [Smile brightly Rehab], [Happy thoughts Rehab].


    ¡°What''s with these names?¡± asked Arron.


    Kix shrugged, ¡°Ma''am, if you have any new information please do not hesitate to contact us,¡± said Kix swiping a holo-card over to Ms. Watopod.


    As Arron and Kix exited the building a large double-decker hoverbus passed by. The entire outside body of the bus was filled with flickering 2-d holograms of the most wanted troubled suspects and separatists.


    This was Arron''s first time seeing such a vehicle in the mega-city.


    ¡°Odd seeing those here, they are normally only used in the civilian sectors. They are insufferable during the election time, always playing ads for Mother and Father,¡± said Kix as he opened the door to the APC.


    The first two rehabs they stopped by were low-tier cheap rehabs that looked awful.


    When they asked for any records they may have on Mr. Watopod.


    ¡°Um, I can''t find anything... but I remember seeing him here before.¡± said the front desk receptionist for [Hugs and Kisses rehab].


    ¡°Sorry that data was probably deleted,¡± said the receptionist for [Smile brightly Rehab].


    ¡°WHAT?¡± asked Arron.


    ¡°Look sir, there is no law stating we have to keep it after a year so we clean the servers to make space. Even if we did have it we are not going to give out that information.¡±


    After striking out at the first two rehabs Arron and Kix were now standing at the front desk of [Happy thoughts Rehab].


    The front desk attendants were behind thick parasteel glass and bars separating them from anyone on the other side.


    The place looked more like a jail than a high-class rehab that was supposed to be raking in big money.


    ¡°The name you gave me did not match with anyone we have on record. But the bank account did match with someone that stayed here several times,¡± said the bored voice of the female as she looked at the scrolling data in front of her.


    ¡°Who was it?¡±


    ¡°The person who paid was... a Mr. W.D.40.¡±


    ¡°What kind of name is that?¡±


    ¡°Hey! Don''t look at me like that! I''m not in charge of intake or gathering the data. All Mother and Father require is that you keep the name and bank account in your records for a year so they can gather information and know how much tax we owe them. They don''t care about the fake names since they can tell who they are by looking at the bank account,¡± said the female receptionist when she saw Arron looking at her.


    The doors on the lobby''s left wall opened and a man with his upper body in a half-straight jacket walked into the lobby with two guards escorting him.


    The man was looking all over the place in a jittery fashion. He stopped walking and looked up at the new bright lights from the ceiling mumbling incoherently before receiving a kick in the back of the knee knocking him to the ground.


    ¡°Keep moving!¡± said the guard on the right.


    The drugged-out man lay on the floor for several seconds before letting out an ear-shattering howl.


    ¡°eeeehhhhhhhhhhhhaaaayyyyyyyy!¡±


    He jumped to his feet before getting kicked again by the guard. With inhuman strength, he ripped the restraining straitjacket in half freeing his arms.


    With a quick uppercut, the guard that had kicked him was knocked out while the second guard grabbed for his stun stick and swung it at the crazed man.


    ¡°AHHHHH!¡± Screamed the man as he grabbed the crackling stun stick with his left hand while a high voltage entered his body.


    Even with the numbing pain, he swung with his right fist connecting to the guard''s stomach knocking the wind out of him.


    As the guard bent over from the pain, the drug addict''s knee slammed into the guard''s face, breaking his nose and sending blood everywhere as he crumpled to the ground.


    This happened in only a few seconds, the crazed man now holding a stun stick turned around and saw Arron and Kix who were nearest to him and he jumped towards them wildly swinging the stun stick and his fist at them.


    Arron stepped forward and blocked the stun stick with his arm and felt the blow of the right fist slamming into his insulated armor. A soft crack was heard as the drug addict broke his hand against Arron''s heavy chest armor.


    Both attacks did nothing but jostle Arron a bit, but the drugged-up man continued to whack him all over with the stun stick several more times before Arron was able to grab his arms and drag him to the ground.


    Arron struggled to restrain the drugged-out man who kept pushing Arron off even with all his extra weight from his armor.


    As Arron became stuck under the man, Kix appeared behind the drug addict and pistol-whipped his neck on both sides stunning him.


    Arron rolled out from under the stunned man and Kix stepped on the stunned man''s back keeping him pinned down while Arron grabbed his magnetic cuffs and hogtied the man with two pairs of cuffs.


    The guards were still moaning in pain on the ground.


    Breathing heavily, Arron stood up and looked to kix, ¡°Why''d you wait so long to step in and help me?¡±


    ¡°It looked like you had it under control,¡± said Kix with a smile.


    ¡°Who is this guy?¡±Arron asked the lady who had watched everything with a blank face not even fazed by the event.


    ¡°A regular,¡± was all she said.


    ¡°The person that was connected to the bank account, did they have a roommate here?¡±


    The female let out a loud sigh and pointed to the drugged-out man laying on the ground.


    Kix squatted down and flipped the man over before doing several medical checks on him.


    ¡°Damn it, can''t we get at least one lead that doesn''t dry up?¡± grumbled Kix.


    ¡°What''s wrong?¡± asked Arron.


    ¡°He''s toast, whatever he took fried his brain. He''s just a vegetable now,¡± said Kix pointing to the white foam coming from the man''s mouth.


    ¡°Do you know of anyone that the payee was close to here other than veggie man?¡± asked Arron as he turned back to the receptionist.


    ¡°How should I know? We don''t record such information.¡±


    Ping! Arron received a silent notification that an unknown number was trying to call him.


    He looked to see that it was Ms.Watopod and immediately answered the holo-call.


    ¡°Ms. Watopod, have you remembered anything else?¡± asked Arron as he silently motioned to Kix to join the call.


    ¡°I just found a message on my husband''s personal datapad. It looks to be a blackmail letter,¡± said Ms. Watopod.


    ¡°Finally!¡± said Kix.


    ¡°Where is his datapad?¡± asked Arron.


    ¡°At home.¡±


    ¡°Okay we''re coming there to pick it up, can you send the digital information to this number first while we come over?¡±


    The number Arron had sent to her was Toothbrush''s number at the M1 HQ information center.


    ¡°Yeah, anything to help.¡±


    While Kix and Arron were on their way to the Watopods home.


    Toothbrush sent them the cleaned-up and enhanced surveillance video.


    ¡°That should help you guys in finding the culprit.¡±


    Arron watched the enhanced video and then said, ¡°Thanks tooth, with this video and after verifying the blackmail letter on the datapad we will have a better chance at figuring out who killed Mr. Watopod.¡±


    When they arrived at the home, it was an actual house and not an apartment. They were immediately let in and led to the study room by a butler service bot.


    ¡°This is the datapad that I found the blackmail letter on,¡± said Ms. Watapod pointing to the datapad on the desk.


    Kix walked over to the desk with Arron and asked, ¡°May I access it?¡±


    Ms.Watapod nodded her head.


    Kix quickly plugged into the datapad and sent the file to Tooth before reading it.


    [... if you don''t, your secret will be released and it will ruin your reputation. So you need to pay the agreed-upon money or...]


    Arron nodded his head as he read the blackmail letter.


    ¡°Thanks. With this, I am 99% sure that we will catch the troubled suspect that killed your husband,¡± said Arron confidently.


    ¡°That''s great!¡± said a happy Ms. Watopod.


    ¡°Put your hands behind your back,¡± said Kix.


    ¡°What?¡± asked Ms. Watopod.


    ¡°You were the drug addict, not your husband,¡± said Arron.


    He used his wrist datapad to start playing the new cleaned-up surveillance video so that Ms. Watopod could watch it.


    A dark-robed female figure was slowly walking down a side street using dark shadow to try and hide her entering the alleyway just minutes after Mr. Watopod and his aid entered.


    Several minutes later the same hooded person left the alleyway her clothes were messed up with long dark hair escaping the cover of the hood. The killer continued to wipe their bloody hands on the dark hood as they blended back into the dark shadows.


    The video skipped to a later time when Ms. Watopod showed up from a different direction in different clothes but the same shoes as the hooded person.


    The recording footage managed to catch her cold expressionless face for a second before she entered the bright light and it warped into a ''shocked'' expression to try and fool any cameras that were recording in the area.


    ¡°You were the drug addict, not your husband and you killed your husband and his assistant, after your failed blackmail attempt,¡± said Arron.


    ¡°You are the one who sold your wedding ring, and went to the many rehabs,¡± said Kix.


    ¡°So what if I am? That still doesn''t give Selkry the right to brainwash my husband into denying me money!¡± screamed Ms. Watopod was escorted out of the study room by Arron.


    ¡°Your drug habit was bankrupting your husband and was now affecting the company. Sooner or later Mother and Father were going to find out if he didn''t say no. Yet you selfishly decided to kill him and his assistant for standing firm against your addiction,¡± said Arron.


    ¡°You could have escaped their notice if you stopped but you just didn''t know when to stop,¡± said Kix.

 Chapter 69: Protection Duty

    Inside the APC Arron bit into his soggy synthdog. A large stream of grease squirted out the rear causing his greasy hands to become even more slippery.


    ¡°Let''s not go to that stall again,¡± said Arron after swallowing the last bite of his lunch.


    ¡°Why? The food is almost the exact thing at the other stalls around here,¡± said Kix, with a mouth full of food.


    ¡°We could at least try to eat a little healthier,¡± said Arron as he wiped his hands on a grimy rag.


    ¡°The synth-dogs have all the nutrients and calories you need for a meal. What could be more healthy?¡±


    Zoom!


    Creeeeak!


    A low-flying red convertible Poorzha shot by at a high speed nearly clipping the roof of the APC that was parked near the entrance of Sector 5, Zone 3''s main food street.


    ¡°What the...!?¡±


    Kix dropped his half-eaten synth-dog into his lap and grabbed the steering wheel with his greasy hands as he pressed the pedal to the max. The APC shot off down the street following the speeding flying car.


    Arron tapped a holographic button on the dashboard and activated the sirens and flashing lights on top of the APC. As they shot down the street he opened a menu on his helmet''s visor and activated the scanning function targeting the flying car. The helmet''s tracking followed the flying car as it weaved in and out of the afternoon lunch rush hour traffic trying to lose the pursuers.


    ¡°Who is it?¡± asked Kix.


    ¡°There''s no match for this flying car in the first level''s database,¡± said Arron. He continued to scan through the large amount of streaming information that was flowing on his visor screen trying to figure out who was inside the erratic flying car.


    The speeding Poorzha continued to bob up and down above the hovercar''s nearly crashing half a dozen times.


    ¡°I''ll try to get closer, see if you can get access to its control system and send the abort command,¡± said Kix as he pressed his foot down harder on the pedal, increasing their already dangerous speed to an even faster one.


    Arron continued to use his holokeypad to type up a storm as he tried to stop the speeding car using the special program given to both police and M1. It was a fairly simple program that allowed them to access both the auto-driving AI and command systems of all types of vehicles.


    [Error unknown...] [Error...]


    Repeated error messages kept popping up whenever he tried sending the abort command. After several failures, he tried to send other commands to gain access to the flying control system, emergency breaks, and the flying cars AI drive system.


    ¡°Nothing''s working... I think it''s an illegally modified vehicle,¡± said Arron as he continued to try and gain access.


    ¡°Where are the traffic drones? They should have noticed this already,¡± said Kix.


    ¡°Maybe there was another incident somewhere else that has drawn all of their attention,¡± said Arron.


    After another dozen failed attempts, Arron gave up trying to gain control of the drive system and took out one of the extendable connecting wires from his helmet and plugged it into the APC''s dashboard. New options appeared on the dashboard menu, Arron slapped his hand on the loudspeaker option.


    ¡°Driver in the red convertible Poorzha. This is M1 Officer Wynterz. Under the authority of Mother and Father I order you to stop speeding!¡± said Arron. His voice boomed out of the APC''s loudspeaker using his helmet''s com-system.


    The driver of the flying car ignored Arron''s repeated commands for several more minutes.


    When the speeding Poorzha finally started to slow down and land, it did so by landing on top of the rear and front of two different parked hover cars at an intersection of a major street.


    The weight of the flying car flattened the front and rear half of the two cheap hover-cars trapping the occupants inside their wrecked vehicles.


    If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.


    ¡°What''s wrong with this driver?¡± asked Arron.


    ¡°This is going to cause more complaints to flood in and reports to be sent to the chief,¡± said Kix.


    Arron unplugged his helmet''s wire from the dashboard and hopped out of the APC as soon as Kix slowed down next to the parked Red Poorzha.


    He cautiously walked up to the side of the flying car which had black tinted windows that could not be seen through.


    ¡°Driver, step out of the car and keep your hands where I can see them,¡± said Arron as he pulled on the door to try and open it.


    The door was not locked so it opened allowing Arron to see the troubled suspect that was creating such a fuss.


    ¡°Kid, what are you doing driving an illegal car at such a high speed?¡± asked Kix as he joined Arron next to the opened door.


    ¡°I''m not a kid! I''m 14. You can let me go and I will give you your fee,¡± said the kid.


    Hearing this Arron did not wait for the kid to continue talking and reached in pulling him out and immediately cuffed him.


    ¡°Hey! I said I would pay your fee! So let me go!¡±


    ¡°Put him in the back, and we can drop him off at one of the holding cells in HQ while we fill out the paperwork,¡± said Kix.


    ¡°What? Why?¡± asked the young kid completely clueless as to why he was being arrested.


    ***


    Both Arron and Kix were sitting inside the APC filling out the digital paperwork that would be sent to the Office of Reason. They also included the video recording of the chase and damage done so that they could come and deal with the kid.


    Arron pressed the send button and ¡­


    Tap! Tap!


    He was slightly startled as a middle-aged man lightly tapped on the passenger window to get his attention.


    Arron rolled down the window a few inches to allow his voice to reach the well-dressed black-suited man.


    ¡°Is there something I can do for you?¡± asked Arron, unsure who the man was and why he was here.


    Kix looked up from his own report and over to the well-dressed man as well.


    The man yanked someone out from behind him and dragged him up to the window.


    It was the kid that they had dropped off at one of M1 HQ''s holding cells nearly ten minutes ago.


    ¡°My son made a foolish mistake. Can you drop charges against him?¡± asked the well-dressed man.


    ¡°Huh?¡± Arron asked, confused.


    ¡°Your son is being charged with driving an illegally modified car and attempting to bribe a government official,¡± said Kix.


    The man turned to his son and said, ¡°Jepp, how many times have I told you? Keep a low profile so that you are not caught? Don''t do stupid stuff like openly bribe someone. Apologize to them for wasting their time with your mistake.¡±


    ¡°But you... sorry,¡± Jepp was going to say something else but the glare from his father silenced it.


    ¡°Are we good here? He apologized,¡± said the Man.


    ¡°What?¡± asked Arron, still not knowing what else to say to the odd turn in the conversation.


    ¡°Sir, we don''t have any say in this. The Office of Reason will decide what to do with him. If you have any complaints please talk to them,¡± said Kix.


    ¡°That''s going to harm my son''s SCS.¡±


    ¡°He should have thought about that before he caused such a commotion.¡±


    ¡°Would it help if I told you my wife is Premella? ... so can you do that for me?¡±


    ¡°Who?¡± asked Arron.


    ¡°How can you not know who she is?¡± asked the man as if he was greatly offended.


    Arron looked to Kix who had a smile on his face, he seemed to now recognize the man standing outside the window.


    ¡°She''s a porn star,¡± said Kix.


    ¡°Not anymore! She is now a big-time actress on the 4th level! You really don''t know her?¡±


    ¡°What about her?¡± asked Arron.


    ¡°She is married to me! So you should know who I am.¡±


    ¡°Okay... but I don''t know her so how can I know you?¡±


    ¡°GAH! What are you? Some sort of country bumpkin? I''m Jood, a party member under Mother.¡±


    ¡°Oh, I see,¡± said Arron, not caring who he was.


    Kix was trying to keep his laughter in as he watched the conversation.


    Ping!


    Toothbrush''s head popped up above the dashboard interrupting the deep philosophical conversation that Jood and Arron were having.


    ¡°Kix, Arron, the chief has pulled you off patrol duty at the request of the Office of Reason. You have been put on protection duty for a high-class murder case.¡±


    ¡°Who?¡± asked Kix.


    ¡°I''m sending you the information.¡±


    The man outside the window received a hollo-call and immediately accepted it using the privacy functions.


    Ping! Arron''s NerViz notified him of new files sent over. He tapped on the blinking notification on his wrist-datapad, opening the file.


    Arron looked at the slowly rotating hologram of the target to memorize what they looked like.


    ¡­ his head slowly turned from the rotating hologram to the window where Jepp was standing. After a few more glances between the hologram and Jepp Arron was able to piece everything together.


    Jepp had not been joy riding... he was trying to escape from the crime scene of a local girl''s murder.

 Chapter 70: Angry Loss

    The silent holo-call ended with Jood''s face completely ashen. It appeared he had just received similar news or maybe even new orders.


    ¡°Father? You look ill... what is bothering you?¡± asked Jepp.


    ¡°I have to go to the Office of Reason to fix something,¡± said Jood, as he straightened his slick medium-length black hair with a comb.


    ¡°What about me?¡±


    ¡°These two... gentlemen, will make sure to keep you safe while I take care of a few things,¡± said Jood. He turned and walked off to a waiting black flying car that had the official seal of the Party of Mother and Father on its side.


    ¡°Father...?¡± asked Jepp, while he watched the car fly off, leaving him on the sidewalk next to the APC he had only left a short time ago.


    ¡°Tooth, what exactly are we supposed to do?¡± asked Arron.


    ¡°Is this a temporary thing as in a few hours or are we stuck with him for more than a day?¡± asked Kix.


    Lexa''s face appeared over the dashboard instead of Tooth, ¡°Due to the touchy political situation of the Troubled suspect, this could last for several days or even a week. We have already taken everything into consideration. The two of you are to take the Troubled target to the private Mother and Father prep school MaFaGov in sector 11. A large private room has been cleaned up in one of the dorms for the three of you to stay in while things are settled.¡±


    ¡°That''s it?¡± asked Kix.


    ¡°Yes. Until we get further orders from the Office of Reason you are to escort him to classes and keep the nosy reporters away from him.¡±


    ¡°Kid, get in,¡± said Arron as he opened the door to the APC.


    Jepp hesitated for a moment, but after letting out a long sigh, he got into the APC this time without cuffs on his wrists.


    ¡°Now that you know who my father is I expect you to not act like barbarians,¡± said Jepp.


    ¡°Quiet kid. We aren''t your father''s lackeys that you can order around as you please. If you try to do anything illegal I''ll be sure to add it to the long list of crimes you are already facing,¡± said Kix, verbally slapping Jepp down, not allowing him to assert his power over them.


    ¡°We are only staying with you to keep an eye on you until the Office of Reason decides what to do,¡± said Arron.


    VROOOM! CHA-CHUNK!


    The sound of a loud poorly maintained engine roared and coughed behind them as an older generic hovercar came to a halt behind the APC.


    Kix looked at the rear camera on the dashboard and saw a 40-year-old man in a gray factory work suit covered by oil and grease.


    The man had a large frown on his face as he stomped forward towards the left side of the APC where Kix sat.


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    ¡°What now!?¡± asked Kix, throwing his hands up in the air in exasperation. He rolled down the window slightly so he could communicate with the approaching man.


    ¡°Are you M1?¡± asked the frowning man.


    ¡°Yes,¡± said Kix not bothering to tell him off for asking a stupid question when the APC clearly had M1 plastered all over it.


    ¡°Do you know who captured a murder that happened a short time ago?¡± asked the frowning man as he stared intently at both Kix and Arron for a second before looking to Jepp who sat behind them in the cramped space.


    Jepp did dare look at the older man and instead looked out the right side window intently studying the dirt on the sidewalk.


    ¡°Sir we can''t tell you anything about any ongoing case. If you have any complaints or have information on a murder please head over there and give a report to the officers inside,¡± said Kix with a sigh as he pointed to the HQ building.


    The frowning man''s face turned beet red as his hand shot out and was shoved into the crack of the window trying to reach for Jepp to strangle him.


    ¡°You bastard! You''re the one that killed my daughter aren''t you!¡±


    ¡°Sir! Remove your arm!¡± shouted Kix as he raised the window to stop the man''s arm from reaching toward Jepp.


    The angry man ignored Kix and continued to try and reach for Jepp even though his arm was now pinned against the top of the door.


    ¡°Sir, calm down! What you are trying to do will not help you or your daughter''s case!¡± said Kix.


    ¡°Shut up! You don''t know what it''s like to lose your precious daughter!¡±


    ¡°I may not have lost a daughter but I have lost many family members...,¡± said Kix, his voice turning into a more stern tone.


    ¡°If you continue on like this we''ll have to put you in a cell until you calm down,¡± said Arron.


    The angered father stopped his struggle and only glared at Jepp.


    ¡°I''m going to release your arm... You need to either make a report with the investigation officers or get back in your hover car and leave,¡± said Kix.


    Kix slowly loosened the windows hold on the man''s arm. When it was again free from the pressure he pulled his arm out a few inches and then lunged forward again.


    Kix had enough and grabbed the man''s arm with the new prototype T.E. Gloves. Visible yellow electricity snaked it''s way up the angry father''s arm and into his body immediately causing him to go limp and fall to the ground where he frothed at the mouth.


    ¡°Help me take care of this guy,¡± said Kix as he let go of the man''s arm and opened his door, pushing the stunned man out of the way with the door.


    Arron got out of the APC and walked over to the father who was still dazed.


    ¡°Grab his feet,¡± said Kix as he grabbed the man under his armpits.


    The two of them carried him to his hover car and shoved him inside slamming the door shut.


    ¡°We''re just going to leave him here?¡± asked Arron.


    ¡°Tooth you saw everything right? Be sure to let the Office of Reason know that the father of the murdered girl has a temper,¡± said Kix.


    ¡°Yep, I saw it all. I''ll clip it up nicely and send it to the Office of Reason so they can decide what to do,¡± said Tooth, as he began typing up a new report.


    The two hopped back into the APC and looked at Jepp who looked fairly shaken from the experience. Arron thought it was odd that Jepp was more affected by this small event than the murder and other minor crimes he had committed.


    ¡°Looks like you need us more than you thought huh?¡± said Kix as he started the APC and began to drive to the coordinates that Lexa had sent him.


    Jepp did not answer them and continued to look at the floor.


    Kix looked at his half-eaten lunch that was laying on top of the dashboard and sighed.


    Before it was barely edible, but now... it was just a cold greasy mush.


    ¡°Jepp, are you hungry?¡± asked Kix.


    Jepp perked up, ¡°Yes! Are we going to a restaurant? Which one?¡±


    Kix grabbed the half-eaten synth-dog and passed it to Jepp.


    ¡°Here you go, enjoy the finest synth-dog in this sector.¡±

 Chapter 71: Prep School Life

    The KNN news that had been muted and minimized was now playing above the dashboard once again as Kix drove the APC to the Private government Prep school.


    With nothing to talk about, everyone inside the APC was quiet and just listened to the news.


    ¡°Breaking news! We have just learned that the son of Jood, a party member under Mother, has been taken into custody by M1!¡± said an excited Fela.


    ¡°That''s right Fela it appears that he has been temporarily labeled as a Troubled suspect. I am sure that Mother and Father along with the Office of Reason are on top of this matter and will make sure that no stone is left unturned as they search for the truth. Only time will tell if he will be made an example of what not to do.¡±


    ¡°In other news, the W.H.O with all its might has started to normalize the situation in the savage county [Antes].¡±


    Kix swiped his hand over the news, shutting it off as he pulled the APC up to the large para-steel gates that encompassed the entire prep school.


    ¡°We better be getting overtime for babysitting this kid,¡± said Kix in a low grumble.


    Two security drones detached themselves from the gates and scanned the APC and the occupants before a blinking green light flashed for several seconds giving the signal to open the gates.


    The security drones sent a quick message to each occupant inside the APC.


    [By order of the Office of Reason you are to follow us.]


    The two security drones flew in front of the APC and only moved at a slow speed as they flew down the narrow road leading the way to their destination.


    As the APC passed through the gates, the drab and dreary paraconcrete and parasteel city scenery was replaced by a brightly lit green park that was on each side of the narrow road. Several trees and small ponds with many wooden benches were placed throughout the park.


    ¡°Is this really a school?¡± asked Arron, surprised at the drastic change of scenery.


    ¡°Hmph! This backwater school is not even close to reaching the prestige of my school on the 4th level!¡± said Jepp, his voice full of disdain.


    Arron and Kix ignored the mutterings of Jepp and scanned the area as they drove to a large cluster of dorm buildings which all varied in size and colors.


    The security drones stopped in front of a small bland gray building that was only one story tall. It was situated at one of the farthest corners away from the many other dorm buildings to provide maximum privacy for special guests.


    Kix once again started to mutter curses as he parked the APC in front of the building where the Dean of the prep school stood. He was not alone, several reporters were standing along with him. Obviously, they had spent a large amount of credits or favors to be allowed to enter such a high-class and high-security school.


    As Kix got out of the APC he looked back to Jepp and said, ¡°Don''t leave trash in my vehicle. Take that with you.¡±


    ¡°This trash is the lunch you tried to kill me with!¡± said Jepp, as he grabbed the soggy Synth-dog.


    ¡°You won''t be getting anything else until dinner time,¡± said Arron as he stepped out and looked over at the reporters standing behind the Dean.


    As soon as Jepp stepped out of the APC he hid behind Kix while they walked up to the waiting Dean and reporters.


    Arron was forced to swat away several of the news drones that were getting too close to them, sending them spinning away. The reporters did not take this quietly and voiced curses at him.


    ¡°Why are you guys here? Don''t you have anything better to do?¡± asks a familiar female voice.


    Arron turned his head to see it was Cammy Newsons, the same reporter that had tried to interview them some time ago during rage week.


    ¡°I should be asking you that question,¡± said Kix.


    ¡°It''s not our fault that we are still waiting for the Office or Reason researchers to finish working on our next prototype test,¡± mumbled Arron.


    Kix cleared his throat and then glared at the gathered reporters.


    ¡°Keep your drones out of our bubble. We can''t have anything happening to the Troubled suspect until the Office of Reason can decide how to Normalize this situation. You know better than to mess with one of the Office of Reasons Troubled suspects.¡±


    The reporters took the silent threat seriously and made sure to stay behind the dean and have their drones hover a safe distance away with the cameras zoomed in to the max.


    ¡°Dean?¡± asked Arron.


    ¡°aaa... Welcome to the MaFaGov preparatory school, the most esteemed school in all 11 sectors of the first level. We have made sure to fully clean up and prepare bedding for the three of you in this exclusive building. No other guests are living here so you will not have to worry about any troublemakers,¡± said the Dean, sweating heavily. He was hastily trying to smooth out the tense situation that had been caused by him allowing all of the reporters to ambush them.


    ¡°We hope that will be the case until our job is finished. We don''t need nosy people causing problems for us,¡± said Kix as he looked at the nearby reporters.


    The dean nodded his head furiously, ¡°Yes, Yes, Yes, of course. No one will bother you. Uh... unfortunately there might be a slight problem... the food that we serve here, although it is high class, it is all served at the large cafeteria hall. It might...¡±


    ¡°No problem, we will just order takeout,¡± said Arron.


    ¡°Takeout?¡± asked the dean confused.


    ¡°Just be sure to allow the drones delivering food to pass through the front gate,¡± said Kix.


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    ¡°Ah... Yes... I will be uh... sure to do that. If there is anything else you need, please don''t hesitate to contact me,¡± said the Dean as he flicked his holo-card to Kix.


    ***


    ¡°What is this?¡± asked Jepp as he looked at the three steaming disposable bowls laying on the table.


    The three of them were now sitting around a small wooden table in one of the only two rooms of the building, the other room was the bedroom that had three beds crammed inside.


    ¡°Synth-noods,¡± said Kix, as he removed the lid of one of the bowls and passed it over to Jepp.


    Jepp looked at the tan noodles that swam in a brown oily broth.


    ¡°This is torture! I really will complain to my father,¡± complained Jepp.


    ¡°I don''t want to hear any complaints, kid. You''re lucky that the chief gave us an allowance to pay for meals, otherwise, you would be eating Energy-jelly for each meal,¡± said Kix.


    ¡°And it would only be the original flavor, not the newest Pickled Pickle flavor,¡± said Arron.


    Jepp silently scooped up a spoonful of noodles and broth and looked at it for a long time inspecting for anything that should not be in his soup. He closed his eyes and shoved the spoon into his mouth and quickly swallowed the noodles and broth without chewing.


    ¡°Gahh! Cough! Cough!¡± Jepp went into a coughing fit as the food went down his throat.


    Arron slapped Jepp''s back a few times to try and help the food go down, then he returned to eating his bowl of Synth-noods.


    ¡°How can you guys eat this stuff?¡± asked Jepp as he looked at Arron and Kix.


    They both shrugged and didn''t answer as they continued to eat. Jepp watched as Arron poured a bit of red sauce from a bottle into his bowl before once again slurping up large amounts of noodles and broth.


    ¡°What''s that?¡±


    ¡°Huh? This? It''s Bechup,¡± said Arron.


    ¡°Ca... can I have some of that?¡± asked Jepp somewhat timidly.


    Arron shrugged and dumped a large helping into Jepp''s bowl.


    ¡°Be sure to stir it in real good, it''s quite strong on its own,¡± said Kix.


    Jep stirred until the brown oily broth took a red tint same as the bechup. Taking a small scoop of the broth he tested the new flavor.


    ¡°Hot! Hot!¡± Jepp fanned his mouth as he tried to douse the fire with water.


    ¡°Yeah... to be honest, I am not that big of a fan of spicy things either. But... it is what it is,¡± said Arron as he finished eating his dinner.


    ¡°You''ll get used to it I''m sure,¡± said Kix.


    ***


    In the morning Arron and Kix dragged the groggy Jepp out of the dorm building to head to his first classes for the day.


    ¡°Why do I have to get out of bed? Can''t I just attend class from my bed?¡± asked Jepp grumpily.


    ¡°Why aren''t we eating breakfast?¡±


    ¡°Here,¡± said Arron, passing a neon green package to Jepp.


    Jepp fumbled with the nozzle of the package as they walked. Arron and Kix were well aware of the ever-present vulture reporters that stood at the far corners of buildings trying to hide from their view as they recorded Jepp. They all wanted to capture enough footage so that they could spice it up in whatever gossip rag or news segment they were working for.


    The half-asleep Jepp started to slurp up the green Synth-Energy-Jelly in the pouch... and immediately started to cough uncontrollably.


    ¡°What is this flavor? You guys are really trying to torture me!¡±


    ¡°Hey! You''re lucky I gave you one of my Pickled Pickle flavored EnergyJellys! This stuff might be a rare limited collectors edition in the future! Who knows how long they will be manufacturing this flavor!¡± said Arron.


    Arron was actually quite excited to see how the Prep school was different from what he had experienced in his small town school.


    The students in Jepp''s first class did not look at them as they entered the classroom which was filled with over a hundred hover chairs, each having a fold-able desk attached.


    Sadly Arron''s expectations were shattered.


    ¡°Stand,¡± commanded the robotic teacher at the front of the room.


    Every student stood up and faced the front of the room.


    ¡°Repeat after me:


    Liberation: Mother, Father, and W.H.O will liberate the world.


    Inclusion: Mother and Father will always be with you.


    Normalization: Normalize all that is wrong.¡±


    After the chant, the robotic teacher spent a few minutes giving a speech on why the Party of Mother and Father was so great.


    This was nothing like Arron''s experience when he had been growing up, not even during the hellish last years of the [Troubles].


    The entire day was fairly boring for both Arron and Kix. Each student they met made sure to give them a wide space as they walked from class to class. In each classroom, the desks around Jepp were all empty.


    The reporters and their drones did not give up one second and continued to stalk them all day.


    Later that night.


    ¡°What the hell is this?¡± asked Kix, as he skimmed through central news portals many articles to get caught up on all the news they had missed.


    Arron looked at the titles that were displayed on Kix''s opened e-newspaper.


    [The hardships of Jepp under the iron grips of M1.]


    [At what point should we consider feeding someone torture.]


    [Jepp faces loneliness that we can not even come to understand.]


    Arron shook his head and continued to eat his dinner.


    On the second day, Jepp was able to make friends with some of the more unruly students of the school who dared to talk to him.


    Each student had already had a thorough background check by Tooth. Even though they were only teens Arron and Kix did not want to underestimate them and end up in a bad situation.


    On the third day, Jepp started to skip class with his newfound friends.


    Arron and Kix didn''t bother to drag him to his classes, as they had only been assigned to watch him.


    ¡°I got to use the bathroom. Let''s go to that place you were talking about later,¡± said Jepp.


    ¡°You sure you''ll be allowed to with your nannies hovering over your shoulder?¡± asked Brue, a large brute of a boy that had more muscle than brain.


    Jepp looked at Arron and Kix for a moment, ¡°They won''t care as long as I don''t leave the campus.¡±


    Arron and Kix followed Jepp to the bathroom. He stopped and held up his hand.


    ¡°You''re not following me in here, I''m only going to be a moment it''s not like I can go anywhere with this place built like a prison!¡±


    Jepp was right, there were no real windows in this part of the building. So there was no way for anyone to enter or escape. All the windows on the walls were virtual screens broadcasting serene scenes to make everyone calm. It was also done to give the school and the students the utmost privacy on what happened inside.


    ¡°Hurry up,¡± said Kix after he scanned the bathroom and found no one else inside.


    Several minutes passed by but Jepp did not come out.


    Arron looked to Kix who let out a sigh and slammed the door open.


    ¡°Kid, quit playing around, it doesn''t take that long to take a crap!¡± said Kix.


    The bathroom was silent.


    Arron scanned the room but to his horror, there was no life signals inside any of the stalls.


    They ran to each stall and kicked them open searching for Jepp. They were all empty... but as they reached the far end of the bathroom where the stalls ended they found a brown parasteel door that was slightly ajar with a fresh bloody hand-print on the door.


    On the door above the bloody hand-print were the words [Maintenance only].


    ¡°SHIT!¡± shouted Kix.


    ¡°Tooth, this is an emergency! Our target has been kidnapped!¡± shouted Arron in a call back to the Hq information center.

 Chapter 72: Own Hands

    ¡°What? Did you just say you lost your target!?¡± asked a surprised Toothbrush, spitting out his half-eaten food from his mouth.


    Lexa joined the call, her face appearing next to Tooth''s on Arron''s helmet visor.


    ¡°I have just sent out orders for the nearby patrolling security drones to be on the lookout for the Troubled suspect. Are you able to follow the target on foot?¡± asked Lexa.


    ¡°On it!¡± said Kix. He kicked open the maintenance door and jumped into a tight tunnel dropping nearly 10 feet into an underground maintenance tunnel ignoring the short metal ladder embedded in the wall.


    Arron was about to follow him but before he jumped he remembered something.


    ¡°Our stalkers will notice that something is going on. Is there any way you can stall them?¡± asked Arron.


    ¡°We can''t. It''s up to you to make sure they do not follow you or interfere,¡± said Lexa.


    Arron closed the maintenance door behind him. A small click and a buzz was heard as the locking mechanism engaged. He took out his service weapon and shot the electronic lock''s processor.


    ¡°Finished. If anyone tries to follow us they''ll have to brute force their way through,¡± said Arron as he jumped down and landed next to an impatient Kix.


    ¡°They went this way,¡± said Kix pointing to what looked like drag marks on the dirty stone tunnel floor.


    ¡°I just got permission to access the tunnel system network, sending you the maps now,¡± said Tooth.


    ¡°So can you hack into the tunnel''s network and figure out where the Troubled suspect is?¡± asked Kix as they started to run down the tunnel with the lights on their helmets lighting up the dark path ahead of them, allowing the two to scan the ground as they went.


    ¡°Not possible, this part of the network is an unimportant side tunnel so there are no drones or sensors built into its system,¡± said Tooth.


    Ping!


    Arron received a notification from his NerViz and immediately opened the new files, sending them to his helmet''s visor screen.


    The underground tunnel system map popped up in the top left of the visor''s screen. The 3-d map model grabbed Arron''s coordinates and zoomed in on the two new green dots that represented Arron and Kix.


    ¡°We have received the tunnel maps,¡± said Kix.


    ¡°The office of reason wanted me to remind you that you are not to be sticking your heads into places that are off limits,¡± said Tooth.


    Arron saw that several parts of the 3-d tunnel map were all fuzzy with a gray static noise covering them.


    [Compatible data found... Data downloading... Tunnel maps saved!]


    The green blinking text appeared in Arron''s upper right vision. The text was not part of the helmet''s operating system but was from his new eye implant. This was not a function that had been listed to him before but apparently, there were more functions than just labeling things. He did not know how large its storage capacity was.


    ¡°... and if the target goes into those areas?¡± asked Arron.


    ¡°The security measures put in place will make sure that they don''t... or at least that they won''t survive it,¡± said Tooth.


    As Arron and Kix ran down the tunnels hot on the trail of the Troubled suspect, the small group of stalkers hovering outside the main building of the school grew restless as they waited for their target to reappear.


    One of the stalkers'' patience broke and he stepped forward to get information from a passing group of ruffian students.


    ¡°What is it?¡± asked a muscular student.


    Several of the other ruffian students were fully alert ready to fight in case the suspicious stalkers that had gathered around them tried anything funny.


    ¡°Where did Jepp go? When will he be back?¡± asked the stalker.


    ¡°The bathroom. Why do you want to know?¡±


    ¡°Shouldn''t he be back by now?¡±


    ¡°How should I know? He might have had something to do so he probably already left,¡± said the annoyed student before retreating back into the school building with the other students slamming the door shut in the stalker''s face.


    The several journalists all looked at each other in horror. Their golden gossip goose had disappeared.


    ¡°Where did he go!¡±


    ***


    ¡°All traces point to the troubled suspect being dragged into the tunnel system below us,¡± said Kix.


    ¡°Are you sure?¡± asked Tooth.


    ¡°There are no other traces past this trap door,¡± said Arron.


    Both Arron and Kix grabbed onto the metal trapdoor that weighed several hundreds of pounds.


    Their muscles groaned as they lifted the trapdoor and let it slam down on the ground.


    ¡°This will be troublesome...¡± said Tooth.


    ¡°Why?¡± asked Arron.


    Kix leaned over and stared into the large tunnel below.


    ¡°Because of that,¡± said Kix.


    Arron looked down and saw thousands of drones flying in an orderly fashion up and down the large tunnel with a few parting away to fly into different branching paths.


    ¡°That tunnel is a main hub for the delivery drones and is also used by mechanized worker bots to get around without tearing up the roads or damaging buildings,¡± said Tooth.


    ¡°So you''re saying there''s a chance we''ll have to face off against a mechanized worker bot?¡± asked Kix.


    ¡°Don''t worry, I already had one of our drones pick up your P.L.E. It is following you from above and will meet you at whatever exit you come out,¡± said Tooth.


    ¡°Fat good amount of help that will be if we have to face it in the tunnel,¡± said Kix.


    Arron and Kix un-clipped a sturdy magnetic clamp from their heavy work belts and attached them to the open trapdoor, and then pulled out a sturdy wire rope that was connected to their armors built-in harness and connected it to the Magnetic clamps.


    Arron looked at the long drop below them and asked, ¡°Do we have enough rope to get down there?¡±


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    ¡°Probably not, didn''t expect we would be needing anything more than 50 ft,¡± said Kix as he readied himself above the hole.


    Arron watched the flowing drones below them unsure how they would be able to get past them.


    ¡°No use in worrying about stuff we can''t change. We''ll have to just wing it,¡± said Kix as he jumped through the hole and began descending towards the main tunnel''s floor.


    Arron followed suit and hopped down into the tunnel where he swung back and forth on the small but strong wire rope.


    As he descended at a quick pace he reached the flood of passing drones nearly hitting them. The drones'' collision software kicked in and created a gap in the flowing flight path to avoid the two bodies descending from the ceiling.


    When they reached the end of the wired rope they were still around 20ft off the ground.


    Kix fearlessly deactivated his magnetic clamp. He fell the rest of the way as he spread his feet out and landed properly. The wire rope continued to fall as it started to wind back up on his Heavy work belt.


    Arron took a deep breath and did the same.


    Thunk! He successfully landed on the metal ground, his magnetic boots grabbing onto the ground to help him stay on his feet while the inner jell cushions softened the impact as much as they could.


    ¡°Could have been worse,¡± said Kix as he winced from the pain he felt in his legs.


    Arron''s falling wire rope continued to whir loudly as it was wound back up.


    Crack!


    Looking up, Arron saw that the magnetic clamps at the end of the wire rope hit one of the flying drones sending it out of control and crashing into a nearby wall, where the metal box it was carrying was dislodged and someone''s ordered food was sent flying all over the metal floor below.


    ¡°Whoops.¡±


    ¡°Tooth I have a feeling the person that kidnapped the troubled suspect is somehow linked to a factory. Are there any nearby factories connected to this tunnel?¡±


    ¡°I know who you''re thinking about, unfortunately, there are none around where you are. The only thing I can see are several warehouses,¡± said Tooth.


    ¡°Let''s try the nearest one. Can you send a few security drones to scout out the warehouses connected to this tunnel?¡±


    ¡°Already on it. If I find anything I will let you know.¡±


    Arron and Kix were stuck on where to go as they could find no traces on the worn and well-trodden metal tunnel floor.


    Ping!


    ¡°Found the troubled target!¡± said Tooth. ¡°Head north and take the 3rd right path exit. I have the warehouse they are hiding in marked on your map. You need to hurry up and take care of this problem now!¡±


    ¡°What happened?¡± asked Arron.


    ¡°I just found out that the news drones are out on the prowl searching for you and the Troubled suspect!¡±


    ¡°Damn stalkers!¡± shouted Kix.


    They ran down the tunnel with loud clangs ringing out with each step they took. At the third right path exit, they started to run up the rising path until they reached a broken fence barricade that had been torn down.


    ¡°They definitely passed through here,¡± said Kix.


    As they exited the underground tunnel a security drone flew down to Kix and dropped off his P.L.E right in front of him.


    Arron checked the ammo in his gun as well as his armor to make sure everything was okay. Even though such actions wouldn''t do much to help him fight a mechanized worker bot. He would have to leave the main fight to Kix.


    The map of the tunnels were deleted from his helmet''s database and quickly replaced with the standard city navigation map. But surprisingly Arron was still able to access the tunnel maps which had been downloaded to his implant.


    He wasn''t too sure if this was legal but decided not to say anything about it to Kix lest they get into trouble.


    ¡°Backup is on the way. All you need to do is stall the kidnapper until they arrive to help disable the mechanized worker bot,¡± said Tooth.


    ¡°How long?¡± asked Kix.


    ¡°Ten minutes... maybe more.¡±


    With Kix leading the way, Arron and a dozen security drones followed behind him as they ran to the side of the warehouse where a small side door was.


    They did not want to enter the warehouse through the large half-open garage doors where several dozen drones were entering and leaving the warehouse all carrying wooden or metal boxes, it looked fine but one or more traps might have been set up to handle any pursuers.


    One of the security drones flew up to the door and plugged into the door unlocking it. Kix and Arron did not enter first and allowed the security drones to enter first.


    No lights were on inside the warehouse. The only light came from the open garage doors but it only lit up the front portion of the warehouse leaving the middle and rear area nearly pitch-black.


    Arron could see hundreds of rows of tall shelves that rose several stories high each packed with store supplies, various boxes, and metal junk all of which disappeared into the darkness the further they walked into the warehouse.


    Arron and Kix silently moved forward without using their helmet lights to stay undetected.


    The soft hum of the many drones passing by above their heads was the only sound that they heard.


    With his vision gone Arron was forced to switch his helmet''s vision to heat detection. The dark warehouse all around him turned into a dark and dull gray outlining all the rows of cold objects. High above them, bright white heat signatures outlined the flying drones as they passed by.


    Several minutes passed as they walked deeper into the large cavernous warehouse, Arron made sure to keep a sharp look out for their target as they passed each row.


    Creeeak!


    ¡°Look out!¡± shouted Arron using the helmet''s secure-coms as he jumped back.


    A towering metal shelf was pushed over and crashed into the area they had been standing. Although Kix with his augmented legs of the PLE was able to react quickly, Arron was not as lucky and his legs were buried under several of the boxes that fell from the shelves.


    The security drones started to shoot their riot control munition towards a large white glowing machine that stood near the toppled metal shelf. But It was useless, their attacks just bounced off its metal exterior.


    ¡°You idiots stop shooting me! I''m the victim here!¡± shouted a middle-aged man from inside the mechanized worker bot.


    As Arron tried to free himself from the many boxes he scanned the mechanized worker bot that was in a standoff with Kix.


    Beep! Troubled suspect found!


    In the large metal clamp-like hands was Jepp who was struggling trying to escape.


    ¡°Mr. Saad, If you stop this foolishness we will put in a good word for you asking the Office of Reason to be lenient with you,¡± said Kix using his external speakers.


    ¡°What? You''re gonna send me to a re-learning camp while this shit only gets a slap on the wrist and returns to the 4th level to hide for a while?¡± asked Saad angrily.


    ¡°That is not up to us to decide.¡±


    ¡°He should die. He killed my daughter!¡±


    ¡°It was an accident!¡± shouted Jepp.


    ¡°Shut your mouth! The way you left her body and the many wounds all over is enough to disprove your lies.¡±


    Arron managed to squirm out from under the many boxes and rolled to one of the rows out of the reach of the mechanized worker bot. He checked his ammo belt for a second and then slammed in a magazine full of armor-piercing bullets.


    ¡°I''m going to kill him,¡± said Saad.


    ¡°Wait!¡± said Kix holding up his armored arm, ¡°If you do that the office of reason will definitely bring down the hammer on you. Think of your other family members, they will also be affected by this.¡±


    ¡°There is no one else! My daughter was the only one I had left! I''m going to kill him!¡±


    ¡°Wait!¡±


    This back and forth continued for nearly ten minutes and only stopped when bright spotlights shined into the warehouse as four M1 ERF exoskeletons marched down the rows all headed towards the mechanized worker bot.


    Saad turned his attention to the newcomers and held out Jepp as a human shield.


    ¡°Don''t come any closer or I''ll kill him!¡±


    ¡°If you do not surrender we will shoot you. If that does not work we will cut your arm off and free him that way,¡± said Ward, his voice coming out of the external speakers of the exoskeleton''s helmet.


    ¡°Give up,¡± said Knox.


    Saad looked back and forth between Kix and the four exoskeletons in front of him trying to decide what to do.


    With a deep sigh full of helpless resentment Saad said, ¡°I wish I had more courage to fully avenge my daughter''s death. I surrender.¡±


    ¡°Let the trouble target go,¡± said one of the exoskeletons.


    ¡°No! You''re going to shoot me if I do!¡±


    ¡°Fine, walk forward slowly,¡± said Ward.


    ¡°If you make any funny movements we will shoot,¡± said Knox.


    The mechanized worker bot lowered its arm and stepped forward toward the four exoskeletons.


    As it took a second step the junk now under both of its large feet caused Saad to lose his footing and fall forward.


    Saad instinctively stretched out the mechanized worker bot''s arms to try and stop the fall...


    Everyone gasped in horror at what they saw. It was not from the gruesome sight they had just seen but from the large can of worms that had just been opened!


    There was no way to recover the troubled suspect anymore. Arron had seen it all with his own eyes.


    As the Mechanized worker bot fell, Jepp had been severed in half by the metal clamp hands and then was crushed under the several tons of the Mechanized worker bot''s large body.

 Chapter 73: OoR Interrogation

    A pounding headache tormented Arron as he sat in an uncomfortable parasteel hover-chair.


    The magnetic cuffs that bound his legs and arms to the Parasteel chair made it so he could not get comfortable.


    The blinding white light along with the white walls and table did nothing to lessen his discomfort.


    He closed his eyes and breathed in deeply to try and calm himself down while also trying to take his mind off of his body which ached everywhere.


    Arron now understood that this was one of the special rooms which were soundproofed to the point that no sound from outside the room was able to reach him.


    The absolute silence was enough to drive anyone mad and Arron had already been waiting inside the room for over an hour all alone.


    As if the blinding white light and the absolute silence was not enough there was also a problem with the air inside the room.


    It was far too dry, to the point that Arron''s lips and mouth had already become parched and chapped.


    BZZZZT!


    The sound of the smooth white parasteel door unlocking startled Arron out of his muddled thoughts.


    He opened his dry eyes to see four people entering the room. The first three to enter the room were all wearing white suits with white reflective visors covering their eyes.


    The fourth and last person to enter the room was a middle-aged man wearing a well-worn black suit with an M1 badge on his left chest with the floating holographic words [Officer Riol, Legal department] underneath it. He carried a black parasteel briefcase that was just as worn as his suit.


    The black-suited Officer Riol walked over to Arron and did a quick inspection and grimaced after fully taking in Arron''s horrendous condition.


    ¡°Did you guys do this?¡± asked Officer Riol.


    The three white suit agents looked at the two with disdain on their faces.


    ¡°We''re not barbarians. We wouldn''t stoop to such a level as beating up a potentially Troubled suspect,¡± said a small female agent standing in-between two large towering muscled men.


    Officer Riol snorted at the bald-faced lie. He knew they would do whatever they needed to do to normalize a situation. He turned back to Arron who was still gathering his wits after what felt like a decade of silence. The muffled voices inside the soundproofed room sounded wrong to Arron''s ears.


    ¡°It took me a while longer to get access to this interrogation as the Office of Reason didn''t want to listen to the Chief''s request at first,¡± said Officer Riol.


    ¡°It''s fine,¡± said Arron in a hoarse voice.


    ¡°Ah! Have you not had dinner? You seem like you could use something to clear out your parched throat.¡±


    Officer Riol placed his briefcase on the table and pressed two holo buttons on each end popping the lid open revealing a change of clothes along with several secure datapads and a dozen synth-jelly energy pouches. Unfortunately, they were all original flavor.


    ¡°Ahem... It is not proper to be giving a potentially troubled suspect food or drink during an interrogation,¡± said the irritated female agent.


    Officer Riol ignored her and gave Arron one of the pouches which he gladly began drinking even if it was extremely bitter and not one bit as tasty as the Pickled Pickle flavor.


    The female agent sat down right across from the cuffed Arron in the only other hover chair in the white room.


    She placed a Secure datapad in the middle of the white table and tapped a few options on her own wrist datapad before she flicked several files to the secure datapad.


    Immediately a 3-d holographic video popped up and started playing.


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    A disheveled M1 officer pulled his service weapon out from his concealed holster and pointed it at a man in a busy food market street.


    ¡°He''s got a gun!¡± shouted a female voice coming from the person recording the video. She was only a short distance away from a man that the gun was now pointed at.


    BANG! The man dropped to the ground dead.


    ¡°AH!!!! HE KILLED HIM!¡±


    The officer turned his gun onto another man and again... BANG! Killed the man.


    The hysterical screaming woman had dived to the ground and kept shouting ¡°HE''S GOING TO KILL US ALL!!¡± as she continued to record the M1 officer from the ground.


    The short clip ended with the officer continually sweeping the area looking for more targets to shoot.


    A second clip this time from the news started playing. In the background was the first video of the killing repeatedly looping while the news anchors and a guest Mother and Father Party member talked.


    ¡°As I have been saying since the start, the ''Special'' unit M1 is filled with nothing but murders,¡± said the guest full of confidence in his words.


    ¡°I have to agree with you, just look at him. Everything about him screams maniac bloodthirsty killer,¡± said Fela.


    ¡°I have been just informed by the producer that a wave of bans on all government-approved social media has been started by the Office of Reason to combat the extremist non-believers who are posting support for such a brutal killer,¡± said Kommy.


    ¡°I don''t see how anyone can support such thuggery. To me they are no better than Separatists!¡± growled the guest party member.


    ¡°You don''t have to worry, the Office of Reason has already apprehended the Troubled suspect. They will no doubt be swift with normalizing the situation,¡± said Fela.


    ¡°They must be firm! Show no lenience to such a thug! Set an example.¡±


    The video slowly disappeared as the female agent swiped down, shutting it off.


    ¡°Explain,¡± was all the female agent said as she and the three other agents stared at Arron.


    ¡°I was attacked,¡± said Arron, not saying anything else.


    The female agent raised an eyebrow in doubt.


    ¡°None of the videos we have gathered from the various social media or cameras from the local street shops showed any attack.¡±


    ¡°Look at him! He clearly was attacked with all the wounds and bruises on his body,¡± said Officer Riol pointing towards the many such areas on Arron''s exposed skin.


    ¡°He could have done that to himself,¡± said the female agent with a smile.


    ¡°Don''t. I know you have a large backing in Mother and Father allowing you to cross and bend the rules but you''re not the only one with backing. I advise you not to make false accusations like that.¡±


    The female''s smile turned to a frown as she was reminded of how Officer Riol was able to butt in on her interrogation.


    Compared to the Office of Reasons'' large support from the majority of party members, those supporting M1 were just a fringe group that had originated from the 1st level. Even though they were a small group they could still cause problems for the Office of Reason.


    She turned away from the two M1 officers and began a silent conversation with the two other office or Reason agents using their visor''s secure communications.


    The conversation lasted for nearly five minutes before they turned back to stare at the two M1 officers once again with their faces blank.


    ¡°What you have said does not fit with what we have gathered,¡± said the female agent.


    ¡°Officer Arron was able to record the whole affair,¡± said Officer Riol.


    Hearing this the two male agents frowned for a second but the female did not show any reaction.


    ¡°Holovideos can be doctored, and his records show he has several minor speech code violations that have lowered his SCS by several points,¡± said the female agent.


    ¡°I can say the same about your own videos you are using as evidence,¡± said officer Riol.


    ¡°Send us the file,¡± said the irritated female agent.


    ¡°This is just a copy. We have the original back at the M1 HQ,¡± said officer Riol.


    He grabbed one of the secure datapads in his open briefcase and began tapping in several codes to unlock it. Seconds later he swiped over the full recording of the event.


    ¡°Are you going to watch it right now?¡± asked officer Riol.


    ¡°No need. We want to hear from officer Arron in his own words EXACTLY what happened. We will cross reference his claims from all the video evidence and investigations we are conducting.¡±


    The female agent turned to stare at Arron and said, ¡°Start from the beginning.¡±


    Arron cleared his throat and tried to sit up straight but was hindered by the cuffs.


    ¡°I had just got off of work on my first day back after receiving a fine and a week of suspension...¡±


    The female agent held up her hand stopping him.


    ¡°Why were you suspended and fined?¡±


    ¡°You know why. You have already read his files,¡± said Officer Riol.


    The female agent looked at some flowing text on her wrist datapad and with mock shock, she looked back at Arron.


    ¡°I see, so you were one of the idiots that let party member Jood''s son die.¡±


    The room was silent for several minutes before the female agent coughed and waved her hand saying ¡°Continue.¡±


    Arron grit his teeth and once again started to explain what had happened, ¡°As I was saying, I had just got off of work...¡±

 Chapter 74: Rumble In The Market

    ¡°...like I was before, I don''t know why we had to be suspended for a week. I would have thought they would want to keep us working without pay,¡± said Arron.


    Arron turned onto sector 11''s main food market street and slowly made his way through the night crowd made up of tens of thousands of workers who had just gotten off of work.


    ¡°I''m happy that we actually got a week off of work. With all that was going on it was best for us to lay low for some time to let everything cool down,¡± said Kix.


    The two had just finished their first shift back on the job and were talking over a holo-call catching up on everything that happened to them after their suspension.


    It was only recently that Arron had discovered a new setting while fiddling with his wrist-datapads menus. The setting was for securely rerouting all calls to compatible devices and even implants. This feature was highly regulated by the office of reason for fear of misuse. Surprisingly his new eye implant was one of such models that was supported.


    Now whenever he received a call no matter what the device was, a screen would pop up on the right in front of his face showing the caller. Although it was only in 2-d, the call felt far sharper than the calls when viewed from his wrist-datapad, the APC dashboard, and even his helmet.


    Arron had to guess that it had to do with the eye implant having some sort of solid connection to the NerViz system that the other systems did not have.


    The best part of using his implant to accept calls was only he was able to see the other person. This was a huge step up from the cheap wrist-datapads that only had a flimsy privacy-screen that obscured the view from nearby people.


    The only downside to this was that it made Arron look like a crazy person who was talking to himself.


    ¡°You never did say what you did with your week off,¡± said Arron.


    ¡°Not much, just stuff. You know, with that 10k fine we all had to pay, there isn''t much we can do for a while. The hardest hit by this fine were Knox and Ward,¡± said Kix.


    ¡°Luckily I saved up enough that I was still able to pay it off without having to rely on loans. But now the credits in my account are almost dried up. Looks like I won''t be able to hang out at The Roach till next month,¡± said Arron as he continued to weave his way through the large crowd.


    ¡°Is that why you''re out there looking for ''Food''?¡± asked Kix.


    ¡°As much as I love my energy jelly pouches, if that is all I eat for a month I will go crazy. I need to spice it up a bit even if it is not as healthy,¡± said Arron as he squeezed past a group of old ladies who had stopped walking and were gossiping in the middle of the road.


    ¡°Either way, I say our first day back was successful. I have a few errands to take care of so I''ll have to cut this call short.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, I''ll see you tomorrow.¡±


    ¡°Arron! Behind you!¡± shouted Kix suddenly. Because Arron had chosen the default zoom Kix was able to see the surroundings behind Arron.


    Thunk!


    Even with the warning, it was too late. Arron felt a heavy blow to the back of his head. The blow knocked him off his feet and onto the para-concrete street.


    He pushed himself up off the ground and onto his hands and knees while trying to regain focus and block out the immense pain he was feeling.


    His vision was swimming around him with multiples of the same thing all in different colors. This added to his blurred vision and made him want to puke from dizziness. His ears were ringing loudly causing all nearby sounds to become a muffled white noise.


    Arron could see multiples of Kix each with their mouths moving but heard no words.


    With his dazed mind unable to properly think his military training kicked in as his instincts told him to move.


    As he rolled to the right, he received another glancing blow to his left rib cage from the attacker who had been aiming to break his back with the attack.


    The sudden fight breaking out in the middle of the street was treated as nothing big by those nearby. They just created a wide path around them, staying away and not wanting to be a part of it.


    Arron used the momentum of his roll to spin himself into a low crouch and raised his metallic Thermal gloved fists into a boxing pose to guard his head as he faced his attacker.


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    The thermal gloves had become a main part of the ERF''s uniform and was not as expensive or high-tech that they had to leave them in their lockers back at the HQ like their armor and helmets. So they were allowed to wear them even off duty.


    Even so, every time they were activated the data it collected was sent to the information room''s database at the M1 HQ.


    This was part of a compromise with the Party of Mother and Father that was put in place during the bloody beginning of the mega-city.


    Back then the law enforcement was unarmed both on and off of duty and were hunted down by the criminal gangs who wanted to eliminate law enforcement from their territory.


    Now that they were allowed to use their ancient sidearms and low-tech equipment to protect themselves, the death rate for most agencies had dropped with only M1 still having a high percentage of deaths.


    Arron''s attacker was a middle-aged man with an unshaven face and highly dilated pupils. He was wearing a common black one-piece work suit. In his right hand, he held a rusted metal pipe that was raised in the air ready to attack again.


    As the pipe swung down Arron''s left hand shot out and grabbed onto it. The glove let out a groan as the force of the attack caused a large dent to appear on the main components causing him to receive several error messages.


    Arron pulled the pipe closer to him causing the man to stumble closer to him allowing Arron to grab onto his left arm.


    The undamaged Thermal Glove activated sending a full-powered shock into the man''s arm...


    ...but the result he was expecting to happen did not occur.


    ¡°Hahahaha!¡± the man laughed in a crazed manner. ¡°I knew my insulated arm implant would come in handy!¡±


    Even though Arron could not understand what was being said he knew that something was preventing his Thermal glove from taking effect. So he was forced to struggle with the man trying to keep his hold on the man''s left arm while trying to pull the pipe away from his right hand so that he wouldn''t get clobbered again.


    THUNK!


    Arron was again blindsided and attacked in the back knocking him off his feet and on top of the crazed man who managed to wrestle free of Arron''s grasp and sent several punches, elbows blows, and kicks into Arron''s body before managing to separate from him.


    Arron rolled away from both his attackers and stood up ready to fight the two attackers.


    The second attacker was another crazed man who was in his late teens. The two attackers had dropped their metal pipes and activated hidden implanted weapons. in both of their wrists.


    They both had a thin dagger pop out of each of their wrists which they hid from the crowd by cupping the palms of their hands.


    They had given up trying to bludgeon Arron to death and decided to go with a bloodier option jabbing their hands toward Arron.


    Arron did the only thing he could think of. He grabbed his concealed service weapon and...


    BANG!


    ...shot the older crazed man before swiveling to the second man and normalizing him as well.


    As he scanned the surrounding crowd of people with his gun drawn the sound around him was finally becoming clearer.


    ¡°HE''S GOING TO KILL US ALL!¡± a hysterical woman was screaming as she lay on the ground while still pointing her Wrist-datapad at Arron to record him.


    Now that gunshots had rang out, the crowd that had ignored the melee fight, were scrambling and screaming as they tried to push each other out of the way to get even farther away from the shooter.


    ¡°Where the fuck are the security drones?¡± asked Kix who had watched the entire quick but brutal fight.


    ¡°Arron, this is pretty bad. I already contacted Captain Pointer. He just told me that the Office of Reason agents are already headed your way. Just cooperate with them for now until we figure out what to do.¡±


    [Troubled suspect! Put down your weapon or receive justice!] said the robotic voice of a security drone that started flying towards Arron.


    ¡°Of course, now they come after everything is over!¡± said Kix angrily.


    Arron complied with the security drone as several more started to appear from every alleyway.


    [Troubled suspect! The Office of Reason will pick you up soon. Stay where you are or receive justice!] ordered the security drone that now floated next to Arron with its metallic claws extended.


    While Arron waited to be picked up the news drones started to flood in after being tipped off about the commotion. They made sure to get the best shots of him being cuffed and herded into a black hovercar by three black-suited Office of Reason agents.


    ***


    ¡°... and you know the rest of what happened after you brought me here,¡± said Arron.


    ¡°...¡± the three Office of Reason agents silently stared at Arron for over a minute.


    ¡°What I am having a hard time wrapping my head around is what or how would they benefit from attacking you? Why would they attack you in such a way? Are you connected to some shady dealings that fell apart?¡± asked the female agent.


    ¡°He was wearing his uniform so of course, it might lead some nut jobs to attack him due to their anger issues. The two that attacked him were from the Patula family. A low-time crime family based in sector 7,¡± said officer Riol.


    The Female agent only raised her eyebrow not really considering his words.


    ¡°Are we done here?¡± asked Officer Riol.


    ¡°Not quite.¡±


    ¡°What now?¡±


    ¡°We need to make sure that his wounds are recent and not old wounds or self-inflicted wounds. To do that we will be sending him to one of our local partner hospitals to do the checkup,¡± said the female agent.


    ¡°I''ll be accompanying Officer Winterz for this ''Checkup'',¡± said Officer Riol.


    ¡°Of course. You can be a Peeping Tom all you want. Just don''t interfere with our investigation.¡±

 Chapter 75: Checkup

    The metal cuffs detached themselves from the parsteel chair when the two male Office of Reason agents grabbed Arron by the arms. They drag him out of the room and down a long bright and sterile metal hallway until they reached an underground parking garage that housed several armored flying vehicles with the Office of Reason seals stamped on each side.


    The white-suited agents handed Arron off to a new trio of black-suited field agents. They unceremoniously shoved Arron into the back seat of a waiting armored car and glared at Officer Riol, who shoved his way past the three agents and sat down next to Arron.


    The two groups of Office of Reason agents silently talked to each other using their visors secure communications explaining their task and how to handle the nosy M1 lawyer.


    When the three black suit agents entered the flying car and sat down on the seats across from Arron, they continued to stare at him making sure he did not do anything.


    The leader of the group used his wrist datapad to tap in a destination and pressed enter.


    The garage ceiling above their heads opened revealing a honeycomb of tunnels. As the flying car started to lift off the ground, the windows of the flying car turned completely black blocking Arron from seeing anything outside.


    ¡°The checkup should be simple and quick if they don''t try anything funny. So there is no need to brood about anything,¡± said Officer Riol loud enough for both Arron and the three agents to hear.


    The agents showed no sign of having heard him, their faces remaining blank of any expression.


    Arron only nodded as he felt the Flying car continuously rising for several minutes until it straightened out. They flew in a straight line for a good ten minutes not stopping at any checkpoints or any of the traffic lights which all changed automatically allowing them to pass unhindered.


    The flying car went into a sudden deep dive causing Arron''s stomach to lurch and settle down as it came to a complete halt.


    The three agents exited the flying car first pulling out their weapons and began to use their visors to scan the hospital''s large and brightly lit landing pad for any hostile targets that might try to free the troubled suspect in their custody.


    ¡°Get out,¡± ordered the leader of the black suit agents.


    Two of the agents grabbed Arron''s arms as he was exiting the car and roughly pulled him out onto the windy landing pad and started to drag him towards the large entrance of the hospital. The third agent stayed behind the two to keep an eye on officer Riol.


    As they passed through the entrance the doors silently shut behind them blocking the bright lights that had nearly half blinded Arron, as well as the howling wind. It took several seconds for Arron''s left eye to adjust to the new dim light of the hospital''s short hallway. His right eye had no problem adjusting to the light differences.


    A pair of bored guards were leaning against the wall chatting until they saw who the new arrivals were.


    They immediately stood ramrod straight and moved to the side before tapping in the security code on the holo-lock to allow the agents to enter the main building. They did not dare stop the agents to try and scan them for fear of receiving backlash from the Office of Reason.


    The secure para-steel doors screeched open slowly revealing the lack of maintenance that they had received.


    As Arron shuffled through the doors, he wondered what else the hospital was not kept fully up to date and maintained.


    The room they had entered was a large waiting room that had over 1000 well-worn hover-chairs with 90% of them being occupied by people who had varying medical problems ranging from severe injuries and sickness to those with simple unseen problems.


    There was no front desk or nurses to talk to. There were only a dozen security bots that floated around on set paths making their way around the large waiting room for the millionth time.


    Arron slowed down as he looked around the large room and soon saw a floating ball drone drop down from a hole in the ceiling and float over to a man who had a large bleeding gash on each of his arms and legs.


    [Patient #42069. You have just paid the medical fee so follow me and the Robo-doc will decide how to fix you,] ordered the bot.


    The patient with murky eyes tried to stand up but due to the pain and weakness from loss of blood fell back onto his chair. The bot seeing this, swooped down and a needle pierced the back of the man''s neck injecting him with an unknown substance.


    The murky eyes of the patient slowly cleared up and his irises became pinpoints. When he tried to stand up again he had no trouble walking behind the bot leaving a trail of blood on the grimy metal floor as he was led to a side door.


    ¡°Stop trying to stall your inspection,¡± said one of the agents as he pulled Arron forward to the same door the patient had just entered.


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    As they neared the door someone stood up and walked over to them.


    ¡°So the chief sent you,¡± said Officer Riol.


    ¡°You know as well as I do that this hospital only has Robodocs, guards, and mechanics. If you want something done right a human is better,¡± said Doc Octy.


    ¡°We were not told that anyone else would be joining us,¡± said the leader of the three agents.


    ¡°Well, I am here. If you have a problem with it, take it up with the chief.¡±


    The three agents turned their backs to them and started to talk among themselves to decide what to do.


    ¡°Is this your first time in one of the mega hospitals?¡± asked Doc Octy as he watched Arron looking around curiously.


    ¡°Yeah,¡± was all Arron said.


    ¡°There are tens more floors just like this one filled with patients. Although the lower levels are less... pleasant. You''re lucky that the chief intervened otherwise we would be meeting on one of the lower levels.¡±


    Arron didn''t know how much worse it could get from what he was seeing right now.


    Seeing Arron''s doubt Doc Octy explained in greater detail, ¡°The entire lower floors are all one large waiting room that can hold tens of thousands of patients. The Robo-Docs perform the ''Medical treatments'' right there in the waiting room. Seeing such things can be quite scarring for some.¡±


    Arron looked at Doc Octy with horror. ¡°What about privacy?¡±


    ¡°Too troublesome with the number of patients they need to take care of. I have to admit that the Robo-Docs are good at what they do when it comes to taking care of the mass waves of patients. They only take a few seconds to diagnose the problems, and a few minutes to take care of the problem before sending them a document with a prescription, booting them out the building, and quickly moving to the next patient.¡±


    ¡°Don''t they need to stay to get their prescription filled?¡± asked Arron.


    ¡°No, hospitals like this do not carry such... medicine. Only the Robo-Docs and the floating bots carry liquid Ethylene or ''other'' things to numb the pain. The prescription buildings are controlled by the Office of Reason to stop the gangs and drug addicts from robbing the hospitals,¡± said Doc Octy, making sure he didn''t say anything that would agitate the nearby agents.


    The three agents turned to Doc Octy interrupting the conversation, ¡°You can follow behind us and stay next to Officer Riol.¡±


    With that, they continued to drag Arron through a side door into a hallway that had several other cheap paper-thin metal doors.


    As they walked down the hall Arron could hear the conversations inside each of the rooms that they passed.


    [Your government medical plan does not cover the operation. We''ll have to cut it off,] said a robotic voice.


    ¡°But.. but... I paid...¡± the man''s voice was drowned out as the loud whirring of an electric bone saw was turned on.


    [You only paid to be seen by me privately. Now stay still, this won''t hurt.]


    BZZZZZZ!


    ¡°AHHH!!!¡±


    Some of the doors that they passed were silent, but they were few and far between.


    [You have been diagnosed with Sluggish Schizophrenia. Take this dose of medicine and wait here for the Office of Reason to pick you up to cure your ailment.]


    ¡°What? I only complained about working so hard only for inflation to make everything cost even more!¡±


    [Quit resisting Normalization!]


    Similar things could be heard as they walked down the long hallway.


    When they reached the room that the agents were looking for, Arron''s face had lost all color from the many horrors he had heard.


    They entered the small room that only had a small para-steel operating bed and a white para-steel pillar that hung from the ceiling.


    As Arron was dragged forward, an optical lens on the white pillar swiveled around and looked at the room''s new occupants.


    [Patient?] asked the Robo-Doc.


    The leader of the three agents was silent and only tapped on a few options on his Wrist-datapad, sending over documents, videos, and detailed orders from the Office of Reason. The Robo-Doc took a few seconds to sort through the new data.


    ¡°Looks like it''s fully functioning and not going to malfunction like some of those horror stories you hear on the news,¡± said Doc Octy after inspecting the Robo-Doc.


    This did not help calm Arron down as he was now remembering all the horror stories he had heard on the news.


    [Orders received. Initiating mental and physical evaluation protocols,] said the Robo-Doc as the white pillar moved forward and stopped right in front of Arron.


    Several medical scanners and tools popped out of the pillar and began to take detailed scans of both his inner and outer body as the pillar slowly rotated around Arron.


    While the scanning was taking place Arron was forced to answer several questions while his brain waves, breathing, heart rate, and sweat glands were monitored.


    Ten minutes of poking, prodding, and questioning finally ended. The Robo-Doc moved away from Arron and stayed silent for several seconds.


    [Analyst complete.]


    ¡°What are the results?¡± asked the lead Office of Reason agent.


    ¡°The troubled patient suffers no mental ailments. The wounds both internal and external are non-life threatening and were inflicted by blunt force that is impossible for someone to do to themselves. Warning! Trouble patients NerViz has been severely damaged! Suggested that immediate surgery take place to repair damage and stop any adverse effects from happening!]


    ¡°How sure are you?¡± asked the agent.


    [99%.]


    ¡°What is the 1%?¡±


    [The troubled patient lied about his height.]


    ¡°How damaged is his NerViz implant?¡±


    [80%. Its main functions should still work but everything else is questionable.]


    The three agents looked at Arron with interest and then quietly started a call with the Office of Reason HQ.


    A minute passed by before the agent asked Arron, ¡°What Special M1 unit did you say you are from?¡±


    Arron looked to Officer Riol who nodded to him.


    ¡°ERF unit 3.¡±


    ¡°That''s perfect! The research branch has been looking for someone to test out the newest NerViz prototype!¡±


    With a flick of his hand, he sent new orders to the Robo-Doc.


    [Orders received! Waiting for new materials to begin surgery!]

 Chapter 76: Drone And Bot Trouble

    Arron opened his eyes and found that he was laying in his bed. If the projected date and time on the ceiling of the room was correct, he had been knocked out for over two days.


    The time on the ceiling was 3:23 A.M. His body and head were no longer aching since all his bruises, bumps, and cuts had been taken care of by Doc Octy before the Robo-Doc had performed the implant surgery to replace his damaged NerViz with a new NerViz prototype.


    Arron was wholeheartedly against having the surgery but the Office of Reason had other plans for him and had already cut through the red tape and put everything into motion.


    The only good thing to come out of all of this was the Office of Reason offering to drop all the charges against him if he agreed to the surgery.


    Arron had tried to get a second opinion from Officer Riol but there was nothing that he or M1 could do. If Arron declined the offer he would most likely be forced into the surgery and then shipped off to a re-learning camp.


    Normally with his old NerViz, he felt a slight itch on his neck every so often but now both his neck and mind had a continuous itch that he could not scratch. His right hand was spared any discomfort as the new cloud chip that replaced the old one was very similar and did not have any active functions to cause discomfort.


    According to the gloating Office of Reason agents, the prototype was supposed to connect to his brain with a deeper, stronger, and more secure connection. He was unsure if that was true or if any other nasty surprises were waiting for him as they did not give him any other information on the prototype that he was now stuck with.


    One thing he did notice was the normal hazy feeling he had with his right eye implant was now far easier to connect to the several functions. Before it was like trying to push his hand through a layer of thick rubbery slime. Now it was more like pushing through a thin layer of mud. He had not noticed the difficulty before as he had thought it was normal but now there was no doubt in his mind.


    Using his Implants remote access to his wrist-datapad he checked up on any calls or messages he had missed.


    There were only 3 blinking messages. 1 from his parents asking questions about his recent news appearance, 1 from Kix wishing him a fast recovery, and 1 from M1 HQ ordering him to return to work as soon as he woke up.


    Arron sighed and began to think deeply about how to explain everything to his parents. He spent several minutes typing up reply messages before getting out of bed to sort himself out so that he was in proper shape to start work in a few hours.


    ***


    ¡°...you probably don''t have to worry too much. From what Doc Octy told me the Office of Reason always tests these kinds of things on other... subjects before starting tests like yours. Are you still feeling any pain?¡± asked Kix.


    ¡°Nothing from the attacks, just a bit of discomfort from the new NerViz implant. I don''t need any of those prescription drugs that they were trying to push on me. I''ll just bear with it,¡± said Arron.


    ANNNNN! The buzzer on the large metal desk the two were sitting behind lit up before a 2-D holographic projection appeared above the desk. It was Mishka from the front desk and she was chewing on her usual pink synth bubblegum.


    ¡°I just sent over your last appointments for the morning. This time it''s two people, they seem kinda shifty so keep your guard up,¡± said Mishka.


    ¡°We''ll keep a close eye on them,¡± said Arron.


    Due to all the recent commotion that the two had been a part of, the chief had put them on office duty where they had to accept clients who paid a fee for M1 to take care of certain small issues or personally investigate something that was normally out of their normal tasks.


    Mother and Father did not care about such deals as it was a way for M1 to fund itself. As long as M1 was not participating in illegal activity and the more M1 was able to fund itself, the happier Mother and Father would be as it lessened the burden on the Mega-city''s massive budget.


    So far the day''s tasks had been simple, hacking into certain digital accounts or objects, physically unlocking things, and tracking down people or objects.


    The door to the office room opened and a middle-aged man with short brown hair entered the room followed by a similarly aged female.


    The man scanned the room with his synthetic implant eyes making sure that no hostile enemies were lurking in the corners before he looked at Arron and Kix who were sitting in the middle of the room.


    Arron raised an eyebrow to Kix who only silently shrugged.


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    The couple sat down in the only two hover chairs positioned in front of the large desk.


    Arron looked at the notes sent to him by Mishka and then used his right eye implant to see if the couple were who they said they were.


    ¡°Uhh... Mr. Synmi?¡± asked Arron.


    ¡°Yes that''s me,¡± said the agitated man, he seemed to have a nervous tick that caused him to scan his surroundings every few seconds.


    ¡°How can we help you today?¡± asked a curious Kix.


    ¡°Someone or something is trying to kill me!¡± shouted the frantic man.


    ¡°Okay... can you give us more detail?¡± asked Arron.


    ¡°Every time I go outside I get beat up and chased by bots, drones, and even store assistant bots!¡±


    That answer didn''t clear up much of Arron and Kix''s confusion. They looked at the man''s face and the rest of his body trying to see if there were any severe wounds or bruises. There were a few minor bruises but for the most part, he looked fully intact and unharmed.


    ¡°Do you know who would want to harm you?¡± asked Kix.


    ¡°Why would they target you in the first place?¡± asked Arron.


    ¡°It all started when I received the contract to produce the new limited Pickled Pickle flavored Synth-energy jelly(With 2x the pickle flavor!)...¡±


    ¡°Wait! You''re the manufacturer of the new flavor!?¡± Asked Arron interrupting Synmi.


    ¡°Yes...? Well technically only for sectors 11 and 12. The other sectors, as well as the levels 2-4, have different manufacturers,¡± said Synmi, uncertain why Arron was asking such a question.


    ¡°I love the new flavor you are producing! My apartment''s food storage is full of Pickled Pickle synth-energy jelly [2x the pickle flavor!]!¡± said Arron.


    Seeing Arron was a true fan of the product he was manufacturing, Synmi seemed to calm down a bit and confidently say, ¡°I am glad you have taken such a liking to the new flavor! My company strives to use the best materials that Mother and Father provide to us.¡±


    ¡°How long will the limited-time flavor be in production?¡±


    ¡°Uhh... I can''t say. You know, because of the manufacturing contract I signed.¡±


    ¡°Sure, sure, I understand. Do you know when or what the next flavor will be?¡±


    ¡°...that. I don''t know either. But... I think they will only release it after we finish manufacturing the Pickled Pickle flavor.¡±


    ¡°Ahem...¡± Kix loudly cleared his throat while bumping his shoulder into Arron.


    ¡°Right... please continue where you left off,¡± said Arron remembering where he was.


    ¡°At first I only received death threats and ignored them since that is nothing unusual. But when the details in the messages started to get more personal I decided to hire a bodyguard. That''s when the attacks started. The first guard died from an attack and two others have been severely maimed due to the increased attacks. It has gotten to the point that no security firm will take up the job of protecting me no matter the amount of credits I offer!¡±


    ¡°Everything he is saying is true. We are constantly having to run and escape from places we normally thought were safe! It is becoming nearly impossible to live a normal life!¡± said Shysha while she hung onto Synmi''s arm.


    ¡°Do you have any data to back this up?¡± asked Kix.


    Synmi nodded his head and quickly tapped a few options on his Wrist-datapad that was the latest module and swiped a large compressed data pack to both Arron and Kix.


    ¡°I have included both the messages as well as videos of several of the attacks that I have managed to get hold of from the store owners.¡±


    Arron and Kix quickly skimmed through the messages and videos, so far it appeared he was telling the truth.


    ¡°We''ll send this information to our data sleuths and hopefully they will find something,¡± said Kix.


    ¡°That''s it?¡± asked a deflated Synmi.


    ¡°That depends on you. How busy are you from this morning to around 3 pm?¡± asked Arron.


    ¡°I''m completely free! Can you help me?!¡± asked the desperate Synmi.


    ¡°Yes, but we need you to walk to all of your normal places you go to. We''ll follow at a distance and intervene if anything happens. If something happens we can hack into the attacking bot or drone and try to trace it back to the culprits.¡±


    ¡°Thank you!¡±


    ***


    Unfortunately for Synmi after being trailed for the rest of the morning until 3 pm nothing happened.


    ¡°I don''t know why nothing has tried to attack us! This morning we had to escape two attacking drones just to get to the M1 headquarters!¡± said a distraught Synmi.


    ¡°We are sorry that we are unable to clear up your situation. You can get a half refund if you call the front desk. The information sleuths will continue to work on the messages for now.¡±


    ¡°Can''t you stay a bit longer?¡± asked Synmi.


    Arron shook his head, ¡°We just got a message from HQ. Our chief has called us back since some big-shot has shown up and is demanding someone take his case. We were given the case.¡±


    Synmi''s shoulders dropped and said, ¡°At least you took the time to try and help me unlike everyone else.¡±


    Kix slapped the man''s shoulder, ¡°If we find anything out from the data you sent us we''ll call you immediately.¡±


    ¡°Thanks...¡±


    ***


    Ping!


    Arron and Kix were changing their clothes after finishing their long shift when he received a loud notification from his NerViz.


    He was still trying to get used to the volume that was far louder than his old NerViz.


    The notification was a personalized alert he had set up earlier to notify him if anything new on the Synmi case happened. him to freeze what he was doing and looked at the alert.


    He stopped what he was doing and read the notification. After reading it once he had to reread it several times to make sure he understood it correctly.


    Kix saw his odd behavior and asked, ¡°What''s up?¡±


    ¡°Synmi was attacked. This time it looks pretty bad. He is currently in the hospital receiving treatment for life-threatening wounds.¡±

 Chapter 77: Hospital Stay

    Kix looked conflicted upon hearing the news. ¡°Although tomorrow is our day off I have important plans I can not put off. If you still plan on tackling this task, I can help you check out the crime scene right now while it is still hot.¡±


    ¡°Let''s do that,¡± said Arron.


    Since the two were now off of work they were unable to use the M1 vehicles and were forced to walk to the location where the attack had taken place. Luckily it was still in Sector 12 and did not require them to take the MagLev.


    The two stopped at a dark corner of a long street. On each side of the street were several hundreds of mid-tier businesses that were crammed together using every bit of space.


    Even with such a large amount of businesses in the area, the street and sidewalks only had a few hundred people using them. The majority of the traffic in the area was from the flying drones that flew in and out of the buildings.


    Both the humans and drones ignored Arron and Kix who were scanning the area for any physical clues.


    ¡°Nothing,¡± said Arron.


    ¡°We''ll just have to check the local security recordings and see what they caught,¡± said Kix as he walked towards a large black pillar that stood out like a sore thumb.


    As he and Arron stepped closer two security bots popped out from the top of the pillar and floated down to block their paths.


    [Unauthorized targets step back or receive justice!]


    Kix silently held out his left hand, the one that was not cybernetic. One of the floating security bots shot a harmless light towards his hand and scanned his cloud chip.


    [Identity confirmed! Enter the correct passcode or receive Justice!]


    A small holographic window popped up in front of the black pillar. Kix stepped forward and started typing in the string of letters and numbers.


    [Confirmed. M1 limited access granted.]


    A new window appeared with several options. Kix quickly tapped on one of the options causing the security bots to fly into the air and position themselves over the street and sidewalk. With another button press, they started to project the 3-d holographic recording on the street and sidewalks.


    The few humans that saw this stopped in their tracks and hurriedly turned around not wanting to get involved with whatever was going on. They definitely did not want to be stopped and questioned.


    The ghostly projections of humans, hover cars, and drones all flew backward at inhuman speed as Kix rewound the recording, trying to find the exact moment that the attack had happened.


    ¡°There! That''s him!¡± said Arron.


    Kix continued to rewind until he reached the first appearance of Synmi in the recordings and then let it play back at normal speed.


    Arron watched as the ghostly form of Synmi came into view and walked towards the corner of the street with his girlfriend.


    With no warning, a service bot jumped out from the dark hidden corner and launched an attack with a metal pipe targeting the couple.


    Synmi pushed his girlfriend to safety while he received a heavy blow to his right arm which broke and became limp.


    He tried to dodge the next attacks but was unable to and received several blows to his other limbs.


    It all happened in less than a minute. The service bot escaped back around the corner as fast as it had appeared leaving Synmi groaning on the ground with both of his arms and legs broken.


    The attack was quick and brutal and if the recording was anything to go by, there was a suspicious lack of any other humans around the area during the attack.


    ¡°Rewind it again,¡± said Arron.


    The two of them watched the recording several times making sure to inspect every angle of the recording.


    ¡°Stop!¡± said Arron. ¡°Look over there.¡±


    Kix paused the recording and looked over to the hidden corner of the street where Arron had started to walk to.


    Arron stopped right next to a ghostly figure that was hidden in the shadows. He tried to get a good look at the hidden person but could not make out anything from the grainy 3-d holographic image.


    ¡°Looks like there was someone after him,¡± said Kix.


    The two of them rounded the corner and found it only led to a short dead-end alleyway.


    ¡°Where did the service bot come from and escape to? Did you find it anywhere else in the recordings?¡± asked Arron.


    ¡°I found nothing. I have no idea why but this short alleyway is not monitored.¡±


    Arron walked along the walls of the alleyway and tapped on them as he used his right eye¡¯s superior eyesight to look for even the smallest hairline fracture that might reveal a hidden door in the para-steel wall.


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    When he finished his inspection he shook his head disappointing Kix who had hoped that Arron could find some sort of lead.


    Arron looked up at the tall walls that boxed in the small alleyway.


    ¡°It would be easy for the dark shadow to get away if they wore expensive flying suits from the higher levels, but how could such a heavy service bot escape.¡±


    ¡°We should check out the local service bots in the nearby businesses to see if any fit the attacker,¡± said Kix as he exited out of the black pillars security system.


    The two security bots returned to floating next to the black pillar guarding it against anyone getting too close. They only returned to their hidey-hole when Arron and Kix walked away and started their search inside each of the local shops.


    Ping!


    As they were investigating the local service bots Arron''s Nerviz notified him of an incoming call.


    He accepted it to find Toothbrush who was still in the main information office.


    ¡°The chief has ordered me to call you two and tell you to stop fooling around while you are off duty. The Office of Reason is still looking for any wrong step you make so that they can get back at you,¡± said Tooth.


    ¡°We''re not doing anything illegal,¡± said Arron.


    ¡°I''m just passing along the message, also it''s going to be some time before Kat has any info for you.¡±


    With that said the call ended.


    Their inspection of the local shops came up empty and their attempts to gather information from locals came up short as no one wanted to talk to them. The few that did talk only said they saw nothing, so Arron and Kix decided to do the next best thing.


    Talk to the victim.


    ***


    ¡°...and that is how I ended up like this,¡± said Synmi, who was now laying in a white bed with his arms and legs all in temporary casts. Several medical tubes were attached to his body and an expensive medical serum slowly entered his body as it worked on repairing his wounds and quickening his bones healing.


    Synmi had spent a large chunk of credits to be able to stay in one of the hospital''s few recovery rooms.


    In Arron''s opinion, the price Synmi had paid for such a small room that only had a holo-tv, bed, and a cheap desk with two hover chairs, was a complete ripoff.


    It did have one thing going for it. A cheap artificial flower in a vase was placed on top of the desk to try and liven up the drab room...


    ¡°It was horrible! How could someone keep attacking us like this? I am afraid I will be next!¡± said Shysha. She was sitting on the hover-chair next to Synmi and had been trying to comfort him.


    ¡°Don''t worry Ma''am, I''ll be making sure that does not happen!¡± said Arron.


    ¡°What? Are you guys really going to help me? What about the cost?¡± asked Synmi.


    ¡°Don''t worry about it, I have the day off tomorrow. During that time I can protect you while I try to get the chief to assign us to this case,¡± said Arron.


    ¡°I can''t help tomorrow as I have other plans, but after that, I will be here to help. I''ll ask some of the other ERF members that are off work tomorrow to help,¡± said Kix.


    ¡°Thank you!¡± said a blubbering Synmi. He broke down crying as a wave of relief washed over him.


    ¡°I''ll start calling the others and see who is free,¡± said Kix.


    ***


    ¡°Why am I the only other person that you invited?¡± asked Tooth after he arrived at the small recovery room. He was forced to sit on the hard parasteel desk since Arron and Synmi''s girlfriend had already taken over the only hover chairs.


    ¡°Everyone else was busy tonight and tomorrow,¡± said Arron. ¡°This is Toothbrush, he will be helping me with your problem.¡±


    ¡°I would shake your hand but...¡± said Synmi who was still laying on the bed with his four limbs all in casts while being supported by small hovering bots.


    ¡°I really do want to stay here until you are fully healed, but you know that if I don''t return and take care of the business, things will start going wrong and the workers will start to slack off,¡± said Shysha.


    ¡°Is it wise to leave while there is still an attacker out on the loose?¡± asked Arron.


    ¡°It''s fine, our house is built like a fort. No attacking bot can harm her if she stays there, she will be far safer there than here. I have already called an armored taxi to take her back,¡± said Synmi.


    ¡°Still... I think it would be best if I escorted her there,¡± said Arron.


    ¡°What about me?¡± asked Toothbrush.


    ¡°You stay here and protect him,¡± said Arron pointing to Synmi.


    ¡°But I am not a field agent! I only work in the office, what can I do?¡±


    ¡°You brought what I told you to right?¡±


    ¡°Yeah. But still...¡±


    ¡°If this type of service bot or any other suspicious bots enters the room, shoot them...,¡± said Arron as he transferred several images all at different angles showing off the type of service bot that had attacked Synmi.


    Tooth looked at Arron with a gaze full of doubt wondering what he got himself into.


    ¡°You had the same training as me, so you should be able to handle babysitting him.¡±


    ¡°That was a long time ago!¡±


    ¡°Don''t let the chief hear you say that or you''ll be sent back to basic training. Miss Shysha, let''s go and meet your taxi.¡±


    Arron led Shysha to the large multi-floor flat garage that had many parking spots for flying cars.


    It was not the normal towering storage system as that was too low class for the patients that paid for a recovery room.


    This hospital was far different from the one he was taken to, it was the only one that had a few thousand expensive recovery rooms on the first level. With such a high cost to rent one of the rooms, the hospital was able to actually hire humans to take charge of monitoring the patients as well as a large force of human guards to protect the floors that were full of patients recovering.


    The hospital''s garage had a small curving road that led from the hospital''s doors to the exit to allow flying cars to pick up and drop off patients quickly and easily.


    This was where Arron found a thick red armored flying taxi that was already waiting for Shysha.


    As the taxi departed the hospital Arron began to type up the paperwork needed to ask the chief to be officially transferred to this case.


    Shysha was quiet the entire time and did not say one word to Arron.


    Arron was the first to exit the armored taxi when it stopped outside a large black parasteel building that was indeed built like a fort.


    He quickly scanned the area before escorting Shysha to the front door of the large building, only to have the door slammed in his face without a word of thanks.


    When he returned to the waiting armored taxi Arron was forced to pay for the return trip which pained him as he looked at the receipt for the one-way ride.


    It was at least 3x more expensive than a normal two-way ride from a regular taxi which was not cheap in the first place!

 Chapter 78: Hospital Stakeout

    ¡°Anything happen while I was gone?¡± asked Arron, when he returned to the small recovery room.


    ¡°Luckily nothing happened,¡± said Tooth, only looking away from the holo-tv for a second before turning back to watching a rerun of the newest movie [Adventures of Brainless man: Fire Hurts.].


    He was rather relaxed as he sat next to the bed with his back leaning against the wall and sipped on a synth-energy jelly pouch.


    ¡°Shh... the best part is coming up!¡± said Synmi, his eyes glued to the Holotv.


    BAM!


    The room¡¯s parasteel door slammed open!


    Tooth fell off of his hover chair from shock and fumbled with pulling out his service weapon as he crouched behind the bed and sloppily tried to raise his weapon towards the intruder.


    ¡°Don''t use me as cover!¡± cried Synmi who was unable to move.


    Arron was faster in reacting to the situation and pulled his service weapon out while jumping in between the bed and the open door as two people burst into the room.


    A tense stand-off lasted for several seconds as both sides pointed their weapons at each other playing a deadly game of chicken while they inspected each other.


    ¡°Why is hospital security paying us a visit?¡± asked Arron, still holding his weapon at the ready.


    The two lightly armored security guards removed their helmets and looked at Arron and Tooth with undisguised contempt plastered all over their faces. Arron could have sworn he heard one of them mutter under their breath ''M1'' as if it was a curse word.


    ¡°There have been an alarming amount of reports all starting from late this afternoon about female clothes being stolen on this floor,¡± said one of the security guards.


    ¡°What does that have to do with us?¡± asked Synmi.


    The guards continued to search the room for any signs of women''s clothing.


    Arron understood what they were implying.


    ¡°Wait... are you... look at me. I can''t move!¡± said Synmi finally realizing what was going on after he saw the guards staring at each of them intently as they looked up and down their bodies searching for any hidden clothing.


    The security guard in charge looked Arron right in the eyes and said ¡°If there are any more problems everyone but the patient will be kicked out.¡±


    With that said, the security guards left the room leaving the door wide open.


    Arron closed the door and made sure that the holo-lock was activated. Even though it would do nothing to stop the hospital security guards from barging in again, it would at least stall other troublemakers.


    ¡°What was that all about?¡± asked Synmi.


    ¡°Don''t know,¡± said Arron.


    That night both Arron and Tooth agreed on swapping the nighttime watch every 4 hours.


    Early the next morning Arron received a ping alerting him to an incoming call.


    ¡°Lexa, how can I help you?¡± asked Arron.


    ¡°The request you sent has been stalled as the information you sent can not be verified,¡± said Lexa.


    ¡°What? The security recordings should prove that there are rouge service bots or at least ones being controlled by someone to attack people,¡± said Arron.


    His conversation with Lexa woke up Tooth and Synmi who began to listen intently to the half of the conversation that they could hear.


    ¡°There was no recording of the incident at the time you specified.¡±


    ¡°What? It was there yesterday, ask Kix... so the matter about being transferred?¡±


    Lexa shook her head, ¡°Not going to happen unless you provide solid evidence. We have too much work to be wasting time on wild goose chases.¡±


    ¡°Alright, I understand,¡± said Arron before ending the call.


    ¡°Wh... what is going on?¡± asked a nervous Synmi.


    ¡°Ehhh, just a slight hiccup. Nothing to worry about,¡± said Arron as he scratched his head.


    ¡°That didn''t sound like a small problem,¡± said Tooth.


    ¡°Hey, you guys just need to trust the plan we talked about last night. I''m sure everything will work out...¡±


    Synmi looked at Arron growing more and more doubtful and nervous than before.


    ¡°Why am I wasting my day off doing this,¡± said Tooth with a sigh.


    ¡°Stop complaining all you have been doing is watching movies with Synmi,¡± said Arron.


    The rest of Arron and Tooth''s day off was spent inside the small recovery room trying to track down the solid evidence that was needed so that Arron and Kix could be placed on the case.


    Unfortunately, the only thing they were able to gather was just hearsay.


    ¡°I''m sorry It did not work out,¡± said Arron as he stood up. It was near midnight.


    ¡°This is how it always happens!¡± said a distraught and hopeless Synmi.


    ¡°I will continue requesting that someone take up your problem but we have to return so we can get to work on time tomorrow,¡± said Arron as he pushed the food hovercart, which still had the leftovers of their dinner on top, out of the room.


    The hover cart slowly floated down the hall to join several others that were all headed towards the kitchen where the leftovers would be recycled, reprocessed, and packaged for the lower tired rooms.


    ¡°Is it okay to leave him like that?¡± asked a worried Tooth.


    ¡°Don''t worry, he should be fine with hospital security here... I think...¡± said Arron as the two walked down the hallway heading towards the hospital''s garage to return to their apartments.


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    ***


    The holo-lock of a certain recovery room silently turned green as it was unlocked. The door was slowly pushed forward just enough for a dark-robed figure to dart into the dark recovery room.


    With the dim light of the hallway lighting up the room, the dark figure pulled out a sharp object from the sleeves of his robe and tiptoed over to the bed where a patient slept silently.


    The sharp object was raised high into the air above the sleeping patient, its sharp metal tip glinting in the dim hallway light as it rose as high as it could.


    With one sharp movement, the sharp object shot down and stabbed deep into the patient''s body! Once, twice, three times! Blood started to seep out staining the white bed sheets.


    The attacker let out a sigh of relief and muttered, ¡°Finally, it is done.¡±


    The room''s lights turned on right then startling the female attacker as she was lit up along with the ''patient'' that lay in bed. It was just a cheap blowup doll that had been filled with synth energy jelly which was now leaking out all over the bed.


    ¡°A trap!¡± she shouted as she tried to turn and run, but two arms reached out from under the floating bed and grabbed her ankles causing her to trip and fall face first into the hard floor.


    The sound of escaping footsteps could be heard from the hallway.


    ¡°Cuff her legs and arms and then come back me up!¡± shouted Arron as he jumped out from underneath the desk and threw an extra pair of magnetic cuffs to Tooth.


    ¡°What! Help me first!¡± shouted Tooth as he struggled to keep the female attacker on the ground with one hand while grabbing for the new pair of Mag-cuffs.


    Arron only stomped on the female''s hand and kicked the dropped knife away before running out into the hallway.


    ¡°The targets heading in the direction of the hospital''s garage!¡± said Arron as he started a holo-call with Toothbrush and ran down the hallway that was suspiciously empty of any hospital security.


    ¡°Got it, I''ll join you soon!¡± grunted tooth as he wrestled with the female attacker.


    Arron pulled out his service weapon as he ran to the floor¡¯s sliding exit doors that would open up to the large garage. He felt naked without wearing his usual helmet and armor but he pressed on and hugged the right wall as he slid up to the right corner next to the sliding doors.


    Unsurprisingly, the security guards that were supposed to be guarding the exit were nowhere to be found.


    Arron slowly peeked out far enough to look through the para-glass of the sliding doors and into the brightly lit garage. The sliding doors motion detectors picked up Arron''s movement and started to open up to allow him to exit.


    BANG!


    A high-powered gunshot rang out and a bullet slammed into the sliding door where Arron''s head was.


    Glass shards of the para-glass exploded out everywhere.


    Arron immediately reacted by retreating into the corner out of the garage''s line of vision. His right cheek was throbbing with pain as it now had several shards of glass embedded in his face.


    A second shot rang out shattering the other para-steel widow in the left sliding glass door.


    Arron slammed his fist on the alarm button that was inside nearby the guard station. The entire hospital went into lockdown mode with red alarm lights blaring. This included the garage which had thick para-steel shutters slide down to block the exits.


    ¡°The target is hiding in the garage and is armed with an illegal high caliber gun,¡± said Arron, updating Tooth on what was going on.


    ¡°Got it, I''m on my way to you,¡± said Tooth.


    A minute later a disheveled and out of breath Toothbrush slid up along the left wall to the sliding doors on the opposite side of Arron.


    ¡°Where is the target?¡± asked Tooth.


    ¡°They were behind that red car in the middle, but he probably moved. On the count of three, cover me so I can get in there and take them down,¡± shouted Arron louder than was necessary for Tooth who was only a short distance away.


    ¡°One, Two, Three!¡± Arron played a deadly game of peekaboo with the shooter before quickly retreating into the corner. With his insane stunt, he managed to draw out the shooter who once again fired at him and revealed their position.


    Toothbrush immediately opened up fire on the target suppressing them and surprisingly even managed to hit them once with his poorly aimed shots.


    Arron crouched down and dived through the remaining mangled metal parts of the sliding doors that were still blocking the exit.


    While Toothbrush was still shooting at the target Arron rolled into a crouch and scurried up to a parked car near the end of the row making sure to hide behind the front where the thick engine was.


    ¡°Reloading!¡± shouted Toothbrush.


    Arron popped up from his hiding spot and started slamming shots into the flying cars around the last area the shooter had been hiding at.


    But he received return fire from another direction causing him to duck down before Toothbrush started shooting again suppressing the shooter once more.


    Arron ran towards the last known position that was being suppressed by Tooth and rounded the corner with his gun blazing.


    But no one was there.


    VROOOM!


    A short distance away from him a flying car came to life and shot off towards the shuttered para-steel exits.


    ¡°He''s making a run for it!¡±


    Seconds before the flying car reached the shuttered exit the shooter jumped out of the flying car and rolled on the ground escaping the car as it continued flying forward.


    Both Arron and Tooth opened fire on the shooter as he rolled out of sight and behind a row of parked cars.


    BAM!


    The speeding flying car slammed into the para-steel shutters instantly crumpling and only managed to make a slight dent in the thick armor.


    KABOOM!


    The damaged energy source of the car exploded sending shrapnel everywhere. The force of the explosion was enough to punch several holes into the shutter. A blazing fire continued to burn after the explosion died down, the fire was trying to melt everything around it.


    Arron cautiously scooted up to the corner where a large trail of blood was pooled. The area that the shooter had rolled to was a dead end. The only way out was to jump over the cars and be shot at by Tooth or run through the path that Arron was guarding.


    ¡°There''s no way out. Surrender now!¡± shouted Arron.


    ¡°...¡± there was no response from the shooter.


    Arron picked up a large piece of a metal bumper near him and held it out using it as a mirror to look down the row.


    He found the shooter slumped against a hover-car with his gun on the ground several feet away from him.


    Arron watched for another minute before peeking out to get a better look.


    ¡°Tooth, the target is down,¡± said Arron as he saw the large pool of blood leaking out of the male shooter who no longer showed any signs of life.


    ¡°Should we go grab Synmi before something happens to him?¡± asked Toothbrush.


    ¡°Yeah,¡± said Arron. He looked around and took in all of the damage that the gunfight had caused. He could tell some people were going to be pissed with the new ventilation holes in their flying cars.


    The two rushed back down the hallways and headed towards the kitchen where several rows of hover food carts were lined up ready to dump their food into the reprocessor.


    Arron and Tooth started to tear off the table cloth that covered the shelves underneath the carts. After tearing off the fifth tablecloth Arron found Synmi who crammed underneath.


    ¡°What took you so long? Do you know how uncomfortable it is to be crammed inside that thing with these casts? Were those gunshots and that explosion from you guys?¡± asked Synmi as Arron and Tooth pulled him out.


    ¡°Yeah, we were forced into a gunfight with one of the culprits. That part of the situation has been normalized... for now,¡± said Arron.


    ¡°The other target is cuffed back in your room,¡± said Tooth.


    ¡°Who were they?¡± asked Synmi.


    ¡°The guy we got into a gunfight with is not a native of Nippon and looks to be from one of the other member states of the WHO,¡± said Arron.


    ¡°... and the other culprit that was behind everything... was your girlfriend,¡± said Tooth.


    ¡°...¡± Synmi was silent for several seconds as he was carried down the hall back to his room.


    ¡°I''m definitely writing a bad review for this hospital''s recovery room service,¡± said Synmi after processing all that they two had told him.


    ¡°Someone dropped the ball or was helping them,¡± said Arron.


    ¡°Ah your face!¡± said Synmi as he looked at Arron''s face which was still dripping blood from the glass shards that were embedded in the right side of his face.


    ¡°It''s fine, I''ll just need to go and see M1''s doctor, and then I''ll be fine within a day or two.¡±


    ¡°I don''t know how I can thank you for helping me... AH, I KNOW! I will send you and the rest of your unit a package of never before produced synth energy jelly with 5x the pickled pickle flavor! If you want I can also sell you the last batch of the limited edition pickled pickle flavor(With 2x the pickle flavor!) when it ends!¡±


    ¡°Ah... that''s... kind of you...¡± said Tooth.

 Chapter 79: Troubling Deaths

    ¡°In other news, a wave of mysterious deaths has popped up in sector 3 of the first level.¡±


    The broadcast of the morning news could be heard coming from the nearby APC that had its door opened. The voices echoed off the grimy dark walls of an alleyway behind a large middle-class apartment building.


    Unlike many other alleyways that Arron constantly found himself in, this one was actually properly lit up, allowing him and anyone else that walked down the paved pathway to see the dirt, grease, and grime that had been gathering since the buildings were first built.


    Failing to find what he was looking for, Arron finished his search of the surrounding area and walked over to Kix who was crouched down next to a dead body, looking at several holographic screens of flowing data.


    ¡°Find anything useful?¡± asked Arron.


    Kix finished skimming through the data that had been gathered by the investigation drones before answering.


    ¡°Nothing. The body is too clean. He has no belongings or other identifying items on his body other than his NerViz implant,¡± said Kix while he stood up.


    ¡°Tooth? Lexa? Is there anything you can piece together from this?¡± asked Arron.


    Lexa''s face appeared on both Arron and Kix''s helmet visors in the upper right corner as she joined the call.


    ¡°The dead man was no one special. Just a local factory worker. He had no criminal record or any sign that he was related to any known gangs or separatists,¡± said Lexa.


    ¡°Any connections to the other victims?¡± asked Kix.


    ¡°None, they live in different zones and have never met before. Each of the other victims'' ages varies widely from young teens to people with an age of 90+ years, both male and female. The serial killer seems to just be killing random people.¡±


    ¡°You''d think with all the crime that happens on the first level, they would make sure that the surveillance was kept up to date and properly maintained,¡± said Arron as he looked at the local dented black surveillance pillar that was out of order due to disrepair or worse, malicious tampering.


    Kix rolled his eyes hearing this.


    ¡°Come on, you know how things are. Plus rumors are circulating that one of the local party members has a lover who lives nearby. They probably did something to the system to make sure they were not watched. It''s either that or they took the credits and used them for their own pleasure. Things will be easier to take care of when the new modernization and beautification of every sector on level one starts. But right now they are focused on sector 12,¡± said Kix.


    ¡°So if we want any more information on this we have to do this the old way? Lexa, we''ll let you get back to investigating the other cases while we check with the local population to see if they have any rumors or tips they can tell us,¡± said Arron ending the call.


    Arron and Kix turned to the distant holo-tape that had blocked the entrance of the alleyway. There were several hundred blank-faced civilians who were passing by the crime scene paying it no attention as they had places to be. They could not be bothered to care about or waste their time on some nobody that had been murdered.


    Arron''s wandering gaze found three maybe four high school-aged teens in the crowd who were not moving along with the flow of the crowd and were staring at the blocked-off crime scene.


    ¡°Kix, look,¡± said Arron using the helmet''s secure coms to point out the teens.


    They both slowly walked to the entrance of the alleyway not looking at the teens until they were close enough.


    When Arron and Kix passed the holo-tape and took a few steps toward the teens, they were startled out of their dazed staring and turned to flee into the crowd.


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    ¡°Halt!¡± Ordered Kix through his helmet''s speakers.


    The crowd of busy people standing on the moving sidewalk did not want to be tangled up in whatever was going on so they moved to the side allowing Kix and Arron to chase after the escaping teens.


    Arron and Kix pounced forward, each tackling one of the teens. Unfortunately, the other two managed to escape into the crowd, and since they did not have any drone support or permission to access the local surveillance system, which was a new policy that had been put in place after the fiasco that was the Synmi case.


    The two teens that had been caught were pulled up into a sitting position next to each other.


    One was a boy and the other was a girl who was shivering from fright. The crowd of morning travelers continued on as they had before making sure to keep a large distance between themselves and two M1 officers.


    ¡°What are you guys doing here? Shouldn''t you be in school?¡± asked Kix.


    ¡°We didn''t do nothing!¡± shouted the frightened boy.


    ¡°I.. bu.. w...¡±


    The girl continued to stutter so badly that she could not get even one word out.


    ¡°Calm down, we just want to ask you a few questions since you seemed interested in the crime scene. I''m sure by now that you have heard the news about the many new deaths in sector 3?¡± said Arron slowly, trying to not sound intimidating.


    At the mention of the deaths, the girl stopped trying to say anything and started to shiver uncontrollably, looking like she was having a seizure.


    Kix pulled out a small metal tube from his work belt and uncapped it before waving it under the girl''s nose several times.


    The girl''s convulsing limbs and shaking body calmed down almost immediately. Kix looked at the boy and found he was fine so he placed the cap back on the tube and inserted it back into the slot on his belt.


    The young girl may have calmed down but her eyes were still filled with terror as they flickered back and forth searching for some invisible horror.


    The unusual actions caught both Arron and Kix''s full attention.


    ¡°Tooth you got any detailed info on these two?¡± asked Arron, as he sent their basic NerViz information to Toothbrush.


    ¡°Give me a minute to check,¡± said Tooth as his face popped up onto their visors.


    Kix crouched down next to the boy who was staring at the ground.


    ¡°What do you know about that old man over there?¡± asked Kix.


    ¡°We don''t want any trouble,¡± was all the boy said.


    No matter what Kix asked, this was the only reply he received so he turned to the now calmed down girl.


    ¡°We don''t want any trouble...¡± said the frightened girl.


    Kix sighed, ready to give up, but the girl continued to speak after the long pause. Her terror-filled eyes stared deep into Arron''s own eyes making him feel uncomfortable.


    ¡°...we don''t want to die! Leave us alone! We don''t want any trouble. Why won''t you let us live in peace!¡±


    With that outburst both the boy and girl became mute and stopped talking. The only way to get information out of them now was to let the Office of Reason agents have a chat with them.


    Just as Arron and Kix were at a loss of what to do, Tooth spoke, ¡°They''re clean. No criminal history or connections with the suspects. Probably just some teens that let curiosity get a hold of them.¡±


    With that said Arron and Kix could not hold the teens any longer as they were not Office of Reason agents that randomly grabbed people off the streets for chats.


    If the Office of Reason wanted to question the two teens they would only need to gather the information from their report on this matter.


    Kix shook his head as he watched the two teens scurry off like frightened rabbits into the large crowd where they blended in and could not be seen anymore.


    Arron and Kix spent the rest of the day patrolling the area and asking everyone they passed if they had any information on the recent murder or any of the other growing number of murders.


    Many of the people coldly brushed them off, angry at being stopped when they were busy.


    There were a few cases where upon seeing Kix and Arron the people turned around and escaped into the crowd before they could be asked questions.


    ¡°Probably the local street gang hoodlums,¡± said Kix, not paying any attention to them.


    ¡°Makes sense they wouldn''t want to be caught committing crimes,¡± said Arron.


    They spent the rest of the day on their unfruitful questioning gaining nothing for all the effort they put in.


    Just as Arron and Kix had returned to the M1 HQ they received a priority call from Lexa.


    ¡°ERF unit 3 has been picked to participate in a raid on a [Den of evil people]. You are to go and meet with the other unit members at the M1 officer barracks.¡±


    ¡°What? We just got done with 9 hours of patrolling! We''re already on a major case right now,¡± said Kix, unhappy with the news.


    ¡°Orders from the Chief. Your case will be transferred to someone else, so don''t worry about that. The raid won''t be happening for another 8 hours so you have time to freshen up, eat, and get a few hours of rest before the raid,¡± said Lexa before ending the call.

 Chapter 80: Raid Force Gathers

    Arron and Kix showered before walking to the officer''s barracks feeling somewhat refreshed from the long day of patrolling the grimy streets and alleyways.


    Every field agent from ERF 3 was already resting inside the common room which was connected to the cramped bunk rooms on either side.


    ¡°Yo!¡± said Kat with a grin. ¡°You guys finally arrived.¡±


    ¡°I was starting to think you guys had been captured by a loan shark or were in hiding,¡± said Ward.


    ¡°The only person here that would have that happen to them is you,¡± said Knox, shooting a glare at Ward.


    ¡°Get something to eat and then I can start explaining everything I know right now,¡± said Captain Pointer while pointing to a nearby worn parasteel cupboard.


    Unsurprisingly the only thing for them to eat were several dozen pouches of synth-energy jelly.


    Since Arron actually wanted to sleep a few hours to be ready for whatever it was they had to face later tonight, he sorted through the many packs until he found the decaffeinated pouches and grabbed one for himself and Kix.


    When they sat down on empty parasteel hover chairs and started sipping on their simple dinner, Captain Pointer began to talk.


    ¡°The information given to me by Chief Chesty was not much. But what I did find out was that this will not be a small-time raid. We are to go fully armed, equipped, and ready to fight a full-fledged battle.¡±


    The last sentence, especially the word battle, made Arron feel weird.


    He was supposed to be just a regular civilian police officer but in his time as an M1 officer, he had seen and participated in more combat situations than his entire time in the military. The fact that Captain Pointer used the term showed how volatile the situation on the first level could get.


    ¡°We will be joining up with a larger force to provide the heavy manpower needed for this raid. Since this is the case, I will not be in charge and our usual partnering might be disrupted based on the raid leader''s whim. I''m sure all of you can handle something simple as a mix-up between partners,¡± said Captain Pointer.


    Everyone nodded in agreement.


    ¡°That''s about it, make sure you get some rest as we will have a major role in the raid and can not mess up in front of the other forces that will be there.¡±


    The team split up with the girls heading to the room on the left while the guys went to the room on the right.


    Arron and Kix quickly finished their dinner before following the others to the bunk room and plopping down on a random bunk bed and quickly dozing off.


    ***


    A little past Midnight.


    The entire ERF 3 units field agents were waiting at the front entrance of M1''s main parking lot.


    ¡°Who do you think it will be that we are teaming up with?¡± asked Arron while he tightened his Electro-Shock gloves. He and Kix were standing next to their APC ready to greet the main raid force which was on its way to join them.


    ¡°Probably the usual suspects who have the power to force the Chief to send his people over to them...¡± said Kix as he inspected the system readouts from his light-exoskeleton case.


    Ward and Knox were already inside their Exoskeletons and were letting them idle in low-power mode. They were standing next to a new large boxy APC variant which the rest of the team would be riding in.


    In the distance, the almost empty road was now filled with flashing lights of six speeding red and yellow armored hover-vans which quickly made their way down the street only stopping directly in front of M1 HQ''s front entrance.


    The door of the first hover-van opened and a first-level police officer hopped out. He was wearing one of the more modern and expensive red body armor that covered his body from his feet up to his neck. He held his helmet in his left arm as he walked toward the waiting ERF 3 M1 officers.


    Seeing the yellow holographic badge on his chest, Arron understood that his man was a captain.


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    ¡°Captain Fealzit,¡± said Captain Pointer as he stepped forward with his hand outstretched to greet the man.


    ¡°Good to see you again Pointer,¡± said Captain Fealzit, grabbing the offered hand and vigorously shaking it.


    ¡°Are you guys going to be in command of this raid?¡± asked Captain Pointer.


    ¡°Nope, I thought it was you,¡± said Captain Fealzit, shaking his head.


    ¡°Then my guess was right. It''s ''them'' who are behind this gathering.¡±


    The two shared silent knowing glances.


    Seconds later, as if to confirm their speculations, three hover-copters could be seen making their way toward the M1 HQ.


    The three hover-copters expertly landed on the open landing pads behind the waiting ERF 3 and Armored police vehicles.


    The hover-copters did not turn off their engines and kept them at low power as this was only a quick pit stop.


    The door of one of the hover-copters slammed open. A single gray-suited male with a gray visor covering his face stepped out and walked over to the combined raid force that was waiting near the entrance.


    Captain Pointer and Fealzit stepped forward to greet the gray-suited agent but did not bother to offer a hand to shake as it would be ignored.


    ¡°These are your coordinates. We expect you to get there on time. As for your orders, you will receive them when you arrive at the destination,¡± said the gray-suited agent in a cold voice.


    As expected he ignored the greetings of both the captains and only flicked the needed information over to their wrist-datapads before turning around and returning to the waiting hover-copters.


    When the door was slammed shut the three hover-copters took off towards the new coordinates.


    ¡°As expected. It''s the gray suits from the Office of Reason,¡± said Captain Fealzit.


    ¡°Everyone! Let''s move out! We can''t make them wait for us,¡± shouted Captain Pointer.


    Arron and Kix entered their APC while the others entered the boxy variant. Both Knox and Ward stepped onto the side platforms on the left and right of the new APC and grabbed onto the large handholds built for exoskeleton hands.


    Captain Fealzit and his six armored vans led the way to the destination while the two M1 APCs followed behind.


    The small caravan of hover-vehicles did not travel with their sirens or lights flashing, seeing as such a racket would alert their targets if they were to show up anywhere near them.


    When they reached the coordinates given to them by the Office of Reason agents. Arron saw it was a small park in sector three that they had passed by earlier in the day.


    The three hover-copters had already landed with 9 young gray-suited male and female Office of Reason agents impatiently waiting near them.


    Standing guard around the agents and the hover-copters were six blood-red exoskeletons. On each of their metallic chests was a gray badge with the black words [Office of reason: G.A.].


    The police and ERF 3 Officers all exited their vehicles and gathered in front of the young Office of Reason agents.


    There were a total of 60 police officers, each wearing the expensive and modern full body armor with regular bulletproof helmets. In comparison to them, the ERF 3 were a poor sight to be seen with each of them wearing a mismatch of prototype equipment, most of it being old models and precursors to the modern equipment the police officers wore.


    With his several encounters with the Office of Reason Arron felt that these 9 gray suit agents were some of the youngest he had ever seen, far younger than any of the white and black suit agents.


    The 9 agents ignored the gathered police and ERF officers and turned around to watch as the last young gray-suited agent stepped out from inside the center hover-copter.


    Everyone was quiet as they instinctively knew that this person was the leader of the gathered raid force.


    ¡°I won''t waste everyone''s time and I''ll get straight to the point. I have called all of you here to help with crushing a DEN OF EVIL AND VILE people that are cancerous to the Megacity Neo-Tokeyo and all who live here,¡± said the young agent, strongly emphasizing a few of his words.


    With a flick of his hand, he sent out the information on the Den of Evil doers to everyone gathered in front of him.


    The target was a small ten-story building with no roof access. It was only a few blocks away from this small park.


    ¡°Alright! Time to give out your individual orders. You, you, and you will lead the charge into the building through the front entrance,¡± said the commanding agent pointing at Ward, Knox, and Kix who all had regular and light exoskeleton prototypes.


    ¡°You, you, and you will cover them.¡± Arron, Captain Pointer, and Bishop were pointed out.


    ¡°Captain Fealzit chose 10 of your men to support them. You and the rest of your men will surround the building and make sure no one can escape from any type of exit. And You will help them,¡± said the commanding agent pointing at Priss, who was holding a metal case that held her sniper rifle.


    Captain Fealzit quickly picked out ten police officers and sent them to stand next to Arron.


    ¡°Who''s your hacker?¡± asked the commanding agent.


    Captain Pointer pointed to Kat who did not have her usual grin on her face.


    ¡°I give you permission to hack into all of the building''s systems and take control of it,¡± said the commanding agent with a wave of his hand.


    Kat only nodded letting him know she understood her new orders.


    ¡°Remember, this is not a game or one of your fake training missions. If there are any issues you may inform me of them when they pop up. We expect you to obey and fulfill every order given to you without any comments. In short, do your duty for Mother and Father.¡±


    While saying the last sentence the young commanding agent looked at both Arron and Kix who the Office of Reason had several recent encounters with. It seemed the Office of Reason agents did not forget them and would be keeping a close eye on them.


    ¡°Move out and get into position!¡±

 Chapter 81: Go!

    The old gray ten-story building stood out due to its short height compared to the two buildings it was sandwiched in between which were 300 stories tall. The target building was quietly being surrounded by the combined raid force late at night when there was little legal activity happening.


    Every road leading to the city block that the building was part of was shut down with the use of the traffic control AI system. This included both hover cars and flying cars which would now automatically be rerouted to take different routes.


    Captain Fealzit and the men under his command quickly placed holo-tape blocking the streets, sidewalks, and alleyways near the target building to stop any late-night wanderers or drunkards from nearing the raid zone and interfering with the raid.


    Kat was standing next to the building''s main entrance and had already taken out her hacking equipment so that she could start working her magic. After drilling a small hole and plugging into the building''s system she started typing up a storm on the holographic keyboard that popped up in front of her at waist height.


    She watched the stream of information pass by quickly on her helmet''s visor and adjusted her fast typing to go with what she saw. The flow of data was quick enough to make any normal person without augments feel dizzy to the point of wanting to throw up.


    Ward, Knox, and Kix, each wearing an exoskeleton, were standing a few steps away from the main entrance and were ready to breach the front door when the order was given.


    The raid team normally did not need to fear being discovered as the civilian security systems that were used in the area were all provided by a mega-corp under the control of Mother and Father, or at least that is what the rumors said.


    What Kat was currently hacking into was not under the Mega-corp''s control as it was a personalized security system that was supposed to be decentralized, but knowing the Office of Reason and Mother and Father there would always be a backdoor in the security system.


    Kat was frowning as the flood of data constantly showed errors and revealed that the backdoor had been illegally tampered with in an attempt to block someone like her from gaining access to the building''s full systems. This required brute force to get in quickly or time to slowly chip away at the altered systems.


    Arron stood behind the exoskeletons along with Captain Pointer, Bishop, and ten other police officers. They all had their weapons drawn and were ready to start a gunfight if the troubled targets found out they were here.


    Looking at the building from the outside Arron could see no lights or hear any sound coming from the building. It was dead silent causing him to wonder if this was the correct building.


    ¡°The area is secure,¡± said captain Fealzit over the agreed-upon comm frequency.


    ¡°Take up your positions around the building. Sniper what''s your situation?¡± asked the young commanding gray suit agent.


    ¡°I am in place and can see everything below,¡± said Priss in a cold voice.


    Captain Fealzit quickly ordered his men into position around the building covering the doors, windows, and the rusty emergency ladders. All that was left for him to do was wait for the action to start.


    Arron looked behind him and saw the gray-suited office of reason agents were all standing in the shadows of another building across the road away from anyone else in the raiding force. They seemed to want to command everyone from the safety of the shadows in the rear.


    ¡°I have control of the building''s main security systems! If you give me more time I can gain control of everything else,¡± said Kat.


    Everyone gathered in front of the main entrance, tensed up as they waited for the order to breach the front door.


    ¡°No need for that. Just block anyone that tries to initiate a lockdown. There are new orders for those of you entering the building. You are to... normalize any threat you find inside. As for any other person or group that you may find you are to subdue them. When in doubt, shoot first and I will decide if questions are needed afterward.¡±


    Arron gripped his Bigboy gun with both hands and checked the ammo readout one last time.


    ¡°GO!¡±


    A loud buzz and click was heard as Kat unlocked the doors.


    Bam!


    Ward kicked the door open and the three exoskeletons rushed into the building''s hallway followed by Arron, Captain Pointer, Bishop, and the ten police officers.


    ¡°Ward, me, and you three will take the first four floors. Knox, Bishop, and you three have the 5th -7th floor. Kix, Arron, and you four will take care of the 8th-10th floor,¡± said Captain Pointer, quickly issuing orders to the ERF members and police officers while rushing to the first rooms of the first floor.


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    The raiding force split into three groups and did as they were commanded.


    Both Knox and Kix led their groups to the stairs not wanting to risk using the building''s MagShoot as they might be booby-trapped.


    Arron could hear the sound of scuffles from behind them as they began rushing up the flight of stairs.


    Knox parted ways with Kix''s group when they reached the 5th floor only giving them a silent wave and a thumbs up for good luck.


    As Arron and the others arrived at the 8th floor captain Pointer''s voice came over the coms updating his situation.


    ¡°First floor cleared only light resistance. Most of the rooms were empty.¡±


    ¡°Disarm them and gather everyone you found into one room. Leave someone behind to watch them. This order is for all of you on each floor,¡± said the commanding agent.


    ¡°5th floor is clear. No one on this floor,¡± said Knox giving a quick update.


    Kix led the way down the hallway acting as the metal meat shield for Arron and the rest of the police officers.


    The entire 8th floor was silent with no lights on or windows to allow the outside light in. Arron was only a few steps behind Kix and was using his visor''s night vision mode.


    Bam!


    Kix kicked a door open and everyone rushed in after him with weapons ready.


    ¡°Clear!¡±


    This process continued for the whole 8th floor.


    ¡°8th floor is clear. No one was found on this floor.¡±


    ¡°2nd floor clear...¡± ¡°6th floor clear...¡± ¡°3rd floor clear...¡± ¡°9th floor clear...¡± ¡°7th floor clear. Heading up to support clearing the 10th floor.¡±


    Arron followed Kix up to the 10th floor ready for another empty floor.


    As soon as they entered the hallway of the tenth floor they immediately noticed a difference. There was only one door that was at the end of the short hallway.


    With the help of his helmet''s sensors, he could hear the muffled sounds of several voices coming from behind the door even though the walls and door seemed to have some sort of cheap soundproofing.


    Kix held up his metallic exoskeleton hand stopping the group. He pointed at the door and then chopped his hand down.


    Arron and the police officers all quietly nodded their heads. Their fingers were now on the trigger of their weapons ready to shoot any threat.


    Instead of kicking in the door, Kix tried to silently open it so they could rush in and take the people inside by surprise. He looked to the others behind him and shook his head. The door for some reason was still locked.


    Without any other option, Kix readied his exoskeleton''s right leg and...


    Bam! Kicked a hole in the door where the cheap locking mechanism was located.


    Without missing a beat he pushed the now broken door open with full force and charged inside.


    Arron was right behind him as he ran into the room. His weapon was out and swiveling as he searched the large dimly lit room for any hostile enemies. As he scanned the room he noticed the muffled sound from before had been the singing of the large group of people that were gathered inside the room.


    The large room was bare of any furniture besides a podium at the front of the room, a large metal table that stood next to the podium.


    The podium held a large ancient-looking book while the table held several different symbols and trinkets. The gathered people were all sitting or kneeling on cushions laid out on the floor in a semi-circle in front of the podium.


    The music and singing abruptly stopped as the gathered people who had not heard the kicking in of the door, definitely noticed the group of fully armored and gun-wielding officers charging in.


    ¡°Ahh!¡± ¡°What''s going on!?¡± ¡°They have weapons!¡±


    All hell broke loose as the terrified cries and shouts of several hundred people rang out.


    The majority of the gathered people began crawling or sprinting towards the front of the room. While the rest sat still like deer caught in the headlights, terror covering their faces unable to move.


    Arron quickly scanned each person while pointing his service weapon at them and then moving to the next person as he scanned them for weapons.


    Those that had the weapon pointed at them immediately stopped moving not wanting to get shot. Sweat poured down their foreheads as some were caught in difficult positions while crawling or sprinting away having their arm or leg half raised in the air.


    ¡°I see no weapons,¡± said Arron.


    ¡°I don''t either,¡± said Kix.


    ¡°Same,¡± said each of the 4 police officers.


    Even so, they still held their weapons ready as the large group could still have hidden augmented weapons or at the very least they could mob their small group before Knox and the others could come and support them.


    ¡°Calm down everyone! I''m sure there is an explanation for this!¡± shouted an elderly man with glasses who was standing behind the podium.


    The gathered people including the raiding force all looked to the man who had spoken.


    ¡°Are you the leader of this gathering?¡± asked Kix through the exoskeleton''s external speakers.


    ¡°I am. What is M1 and the police doing barging into our building? No crime is happening here.¡±


    Arron, Kix, and the four police officers were silent and did not answer the man''s question because, to be honest, they did not really know why they were here either.


    ¡°This is Kix, we have found a group of over 200 people on the tenth floor. From our external scans they all seem to be unarmed,¡± said Kix using the secure coms to report their finds to the commanding gray suit agent.


    ¡°That would be the Den of Evil that we are looking for. Secure the area and make sure no one tries to escape. Everyone else head to the tenth floor. We will be up there to join you in a moment,¡± ordered the commanding agent.

 Chapter 82: Dirty Work

    Arron, Kix, and the other ERF Members and police officers stood near the entrance of the room, their guns still held at the ready.


    The group of Troubled suspects huddled together at the front of the room behind the podium where the elderly man still stood. Some were still crying while others'' faces were pale-faced and stared blankly at the floor.


    No one talked.


    The old man had stopped asking questions as he saw that the M1 and police officers were all waiting for someone. Whoever was coming up right now would most likely be able to answer his questions.


    Arron again looked through the crowd and to his surprise he found several familiar faces that he had seen or talked with yesterday, including the frightened teens that they had stopped and questioned.


    The sound of multiple heavy footsteps could be heard from the open door causing everyone still in control of their senses to look at the open entrance.


    The young commanding Office of Reason agent entered the room with the 9 other young agents behind him.


    He only took a few seconds to inspect the table and podium before turning his attention to the gathered whimpering people.


    ¡°Be quiet and do not move. You all are suspected of being Non-believers,¡± said the commanding agent with a calm and cold indifference. There was no emotion on his face or in his voice.


    Under such a harsh order the crying and whimpering people were forced to stifle and quiet their sorrow.


    ¡°I have not yet decided whether or not you all are separatist... but fear not! If you are not a separatist you will be given a free ride to one of the several relearning camps.¡±


    The old man stepped out from behind the podium and held up a hand, ¡°Sir, please wait! We have done nothing w...¡±


    Bang!


    The man''s head exploded with brain matter, blood, and bone bits splattering all over the gathered non-believers behind him. His body fell to the floor limp with blood pooling onto the floor under it.


    The commanding agent lowered his gun which was still smoking from the high-powered shot.


    ¡°He was a separatist.¡±


    Even though the non-believers were frightened beyond belief and were now covered in the bio-matter of a dead person, they still stayed silent.


    Arron only stared at the young commanding Office of Reason agent in stunned silence.


    ¡°Sort them,¡± said the commanding agent, waving his hand for his fellow agents to begin their main duty.


    The commanding agent turned to the 10 police officers and said ¡°Nine of you, I don''t care who, need to go and help the other agents sort the Non-believers.¡±


    He then looked at the remaining ERF members that were gathered nearby, ¡°Just stay there ready in case I need your firepower.¡±


    Arron silently watched as the young gray-suit agents, helped by the police officers, started to search and sort the people into two groups.


    ¡°Let me go!¡± shouted a father as he struggled against a police officer who was trying to separate him from his child.


    An emotionless office of reason agent stepped up behind him and used a high-voltage stun baton against the back of his legs sending the father to the ground.


    Zap! A second jab of the stun baton to the man''s back knocked him out, ending the fight.


    The huffing police officer stood back up and dragged the father to the right side where a small group of people, both unconscious and conscious, were gathered.


    ¡°Risa I love you!¡± ¡°I love you too!¡±


    As a young couple was being separated they reached their hands out toward each other trying to grab each other''s hand one last time as they were dragged apart and thrown into separate groups.


    Many of the couples and families being split up fought back against the police officers but were all subdued by the stun batons of the Gray-suit agents.


    The room was once again filled with the sobs and wailing of the Non-believers.


    When the group of over 200 non-believers was completely separated, the commanding agent looked at the two sorted groups and nodded his head.


    The group on the right was smaller, only having a third of the non-believers gathered. It was mainly made up of adults, the elderly, and a few teens.


    The group on the left which held the rest of the non-believers was largely made up of children, teens, and a few adults.


    Several drones entered the room carrying large metal cases. They all floated over to the Office of Reason agents and police officers.


    ¡°Bag and cuff them,¡± said the young officer pointing to the left side group of non-believers.


    The hovering metal boxes popped open and the police officers began to pull several sets of magnetic cuffs before using them to secure each of the left group non-believers'' arms.


    Once they were cuffed, black synth-cloth bags were pulled out of the boxes and placed over each of the non-believer''s heads. Once placed over their head, the black bags automatically tightened around their necks to an uncomfortable degree while still allowing them to breathe.


    Each of the cuffed and now blinded non-believers was kicked and prodded to stand up.


    ¡°You guys, escort them to the waiting vehicles below and then return here quickly,¡± ordered the young commanding agent while pointing at the waiting ERF agents.


    Arron was placed at the rear of the group and was put in charge of keeping the stragglers moving forward. It was a pain trying to get the large group of cuffed and blinded people down ten floors of stairs.


    Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.


    Behind him were three of the gray-suited agents who were following them to make sure that nothing went wrong. They were there to make sure that every non-believer made it into the waiting hover-vans. They did not trust the ERF members to do this without supervision.


    When they reached the ground floor they had to start shoving the non-believers into the hover-vans that were quickly becoming packed like a can of synth-beans.


    One of the supervising Gray-suited agents randomly pulled a small teen non-believer out of the group to question him.


    ¡°Where can we find other non-believers like you?¡± asked the agent.


    When the agent received no answer he punched the teen in the gut. The physical questioning continued until the teen collapsed from the repeated blows to the head with blood now soaking the black cloth still covering his head.


    ¡°Ha ha ha, Dood, all you got was a sore hand and no answers,¡± laughed one of the agents.


    ¡°You think you could do better?¡± grumbled an angry Dood.


    ¡°I can, watch me!¡±


    Dood ignored the other agent and turned to Arron who was nearby.


    ¡°You, put him inside the vehicle.¡±


    The physical questioning happened a few more times but each time they received no new information, only sore fists.


    As the last Non-believer was shoved inside, Arron slammed the door shut on the prisoner transport.


    ¡°Alright everyone back up to the tenth floor!¡± ordered Dood.


    As Arron walked into the building and up the stairs once again he quietly used the secure coms to ask Kix, ¡°Hey... what''s going on?¡±


    Kix did not answer his question and so they continued to climb the stairs and reached the main room on the tenth floor.


    The remaining Non-believers that had been knocked out were now awake. They were all kneeling in an orderly line with their arms cuffed behind them. A thick piece of gray cloth had been tied around their eyes to block their vision.


    The first-level police officers were spread out facing the neat line of non-believers.


    ¡°Join them,¡± ordered the young office of reason agent.


    Arron and the rest of the ERF officers stepped up next to the police officers.


    ¡°Aim!¡± shouted the young commanding Office of Reason agent.


    Immediately Arron understood what was going on. With the Office of Reason agents watching them like hawks there was nothing they could do.


    Silently, Arron raised his service weapon and pointed it toward the row of Non-believers.


    ¡°Fire!¡±


    Arron closed his eyes and as he pulled the trigger he slightly jerked his gun to the right hoping that he would miss.


    The sound of several different caliber guns rang out along with the cries of pain from the Non-believers.


    ¡°Aim!... Fire!¡±


    Over and over the orders were given until there was no more movement or sound from the kneeling non-believers who were now all slumped in pools of blood and guts.


    Seeing the sight before him Arron retched a few times almost puking inside his helmet. Only a few others had a similar reaction to the sight.


    He didn''t know what had caused this reaction as he had seen worse while on the job as an M1 officer, but he was having a hard time keeping his late-night meal down.


    As the young commanding gray-suit agent looked at the mass of dead bodies he nodded his head in approval and said, ¡°This is true Normalization.¡±


    Upon hearing this Arron who was able to slightly regain control of his stomach turned to the commanding agent.


    Before Kix could stop him he asked, ¡°Why did we have to kill them?¡±


    ¡°Are you questioning the Office of Reason''s decisions? You''re not a sympathizer of the separatist are you?¡±


    ¡°No, I am not a separatist supporter. But I was under the impression that we were here to capture everyone so that you could interrogate them. If we kill them along with the leader of the group won''t it be hard to know all of the details?¡±


    The young agent ignored the question and started reciting off an Office of Reason talking point you would hear on the news, ¡°This Den of Evil was corrupting the innocent citizens of Mother and Father with unsanctioned doctrines. Such materials are the tools of Separatists. There is no place in the Mega-City for such things and it MUST be stomped out when found.¡±


    ¡°The bots will take care of the dead bodies. Your next task is to search this entire building for any of these items,¡± said the commanding agent.


    With a flick of his hand, he sent a list of items all with a name and a holographic picture.


    ¡°Go and gather everything you can find and throw it in a pile outside.¡±


    While saying this the Office of Reason agents began collecting the items on the table and the podium along with the confiscated items from the dead separatist.


    Arron and Kix were both put on the 9th floor to look for the contraband.


    ¡°Arron, what were you thinking asking them such a question,¡± asked Kix when they were alone in a separate room. Although they were never truly alone since Mother and Father could always monitor them if and whenever they wanted to.


    ¡°I have no idea what''s going on so I just asked,¡± said Arron with a shrug.


    ¡°You know curiosity killed the cat,¡± said Kix.


    ¡°Help me out here Kix. I know that you know who or what those people were.¡±


    Kix was quiet for over a minute as the two of them tossed and searched the room.


    ¡°...they were probably a secret gathering of different religious groups,¡± said Kix in a near whisper over the secure comms.


    ¡°You should already know that all religious groups are banned in all member states of the WHO. They believe it is a bunch of superstitious nonsense which causes too many problems. The ban was put in place to keep the world''s peace, or so they say,¡± said Kix.


    ¡°So... all of this is... normal?¡± asked Arron.


    ¡°I guess... This is my first time doing this as well. From what I have heard, those who are caught are lucky if they are sent for re-education. After they finish their education(if they survive), they receive a permanent black mark on their SCS that shows up when they need to get a job, buy an apartment, open a bank account or do anything else. Their SCS will be locked at D rank until they die.¡±


    Hearing all of this, Arron thought for a while before asking, ¡°Why can''t the Office of Reason take care of this? With their 6 exoskeletons and the ten agents, they could have easily handled the task. Why make us do the dirty work? Isn''t that what they are supposed to do?¡±


    ¡°It is exactly because it is dirty work. Everyone they gathered for this raid has probably been put on a watch list by the Office of Reason to keep us under their control. Also with us doing all the work, they don''t have to look like the bad guys while we take the heat if any information is leaked. They can just say they were only watching us to make sure we didn''t go overboard.¡±


    ¡°But they are the ones controlling everything. If...¡±


    ¡°Arron, stop it. You''re going to get the both of us in trouble,¡± said Kix with a firm voice. With such a touchy subject there was only so much they could say before they themselves became targets of the Office of Reason.


    The entire building was stripped of all religious symbols, pictures, beads, and books. The contraband was thrown into a pile outside the building and onto the street.


    The walls that once held the religious symbols and pictures, now had new holo-posters of mother and father placed all through the building.


    As Arron threw the last of the items into the large pile there were signs of the mega-city starting to wake up and growing more active as the early morning hours arrived.


    One of the Office of Reason agents motioned Arron to walk over to him. Arron sighed and walked over to the agent where he spent several minutes having various scanners search him to make sure he was not hiding any of the illegal contraband.


    ¡°Hurry up and light up everything that can easily be burned. Everything else will go to the local industrial incinerators.¡±


    A large bonfire was started in the middle of the road as large amounts of flammable items were heaped together. The smoke rose high into the sky catching the attention of nearby civilians as they walked past the blocked-off streets.


    Several hovering drones recorded the destruction of the contraband as proof of the task faithfully being executed.


    ¡°Listen up!¡± shouted the commanding agent.


    The police officers and ERF members all turned to look at him.


    ¡°You all have diligently and faithfully completed your tasks given to you. Mother and Father will be pleased to hear this. Your tasks here are finished and you may return to your headquarters to resume your regular jobs.¡±

 Chapter 83: One Of Those Days

    Arron stepped out of the locker room''s large mist shower room with only a towel around his waist.


    He had stayed inside for over a half hour and had been trying to get his thoughts straight while inside.


    Everyone else, including Kix, had already left the showers. The night shift officers were getting dressed into civilian clothes, while the morning shift officers were finishing putting on their uniforms and gear.


    Arron and Kix had the unlucky schedule that required them to work the day shift, even though they had been up since midnight.


    The whirring air-filtration vents on the ceiling of the locker room tried to work as fast as they could to clean the air and keep the moisture low in the room to prevent problems inside as it was an important area where many m1 officers gathered.


    Arron walked to his locker where Kix was also sitting on a hover-bench putting on his Armored boots.


    As he opened his locker a loud BEEEEEE~ came from the left locker room wall where a muted holo-tv was playing KNN''s morning news. Everyone''s attention was drawn to the holo-tv.


    After the loud noise stopped the previously muted Holo-tv automatically switched to maximum volume.


    ¡°Breaking news! Late last night and into the early morning, there was a large raid on a Den of Evil people. I have been told that it was a large gathering of despicable people that was caught red-handed in their act of debauchery,¡± said Kommy.


    ¡°That''s correct! For all our viewers we have a special guest here to explain things further. Please welcome Office of Reason agent Yung Dod who was the leader of the raid,¡± said Fella as she waved her hand to a hover-couch where a young gray suit Office of Reason agent sat.


    ¡°You flatter me by saying I and the Office of Reason were the leaders of the raid. As much as I would love to take credit, the true heroes last night were the special M1 officers and the first-level police officers who did the raid. I was just there to keep everything civil.¡±


    Several loud curses inside the locker room could be heard and a few shoes were thrown at the holo-tv only to fly through the image and bounce off the wall leaving no damage.


    ¡°I see. Can you tell us more about the raid that the special M1 force and police officers participated in last night?¡± asked a completely serious Fela as she leaned forward to closely listen to every word.


    ¡°It is as you said before. Last night a Den of Evil was raided. In that raid, the Special M1 and police officers managed to capture over 200 Non-believers.¡±


    ¡°200!? There were so many in one place?¡± asked a shocked Fela.


    ¡°For a Den of Evil like this, the number captured last night is rather low,¡± said Yung Dod, with a shrug of his shoulders.


    ¡°With such a large group of Non-believers, the special M1 and First-level Police asked the Office of Reason for help in sorting everyone out. With our help, they were able to successfully normalize a large number of separatists. The rest of the brainwashed Non-believers along with those diagnosed with Sluggish schizophrenia have been sent for Re-Education to clear their minds so they can return to living as normal citizens.¡±


    ¡°Separatist? Can you tell us how many you caught last night?¡± asked a curious Kommy.


    ¡°Unfortunately the number is classified, but I can tell you it was not a small thing to make light of. All of this was thanks to M1 and the first-level police officers.¡±


    ¡°There was also some other big news you wanted to let the viewers know. Can you share it with everyone now?¡± asked Fela.


    Yung Dod nodded his head, ¡°The Office of Reason is in the last stage of gathering evidence on those who aided the Den of Evil by knowingly selling them items and raw materials. A live stream of their trials will be held later today for all who wish to watch.¡±


    ¡°Thank you for sparing a few moments out of your busy day to do this interview with us,¡± said Kommy holding out a hand for Yung Dod to shake.


    The extended hand was ignored as Yung Dod stood up and left without another word.


    Arron shook his head as he turned back to putting on a clean uniform and then his battered armor.


    ¡°See, what I tell you. They left us holding the bag for the entire thing,¡± said Kix, not even bothering to be mad at something out of their control.


    There was still a half hour left before their shift started, so Arron and Kix sipped on a synth-energy jelly pouch while they swiped through the news portal looking for interesting things to read.


    Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.


    Before Arron closed the news portal the page refreshed and a large portion of the page was now taken up with large bold red letters:


    [Small gathering of troubled arrested outside of Office of reason: A Small group of troubled claiming to be family of those raided the night before. They claim to be protesting the Normalization of their family members...]


    A second later the article disappeared and reappeared at the bottom of the page in a small unnoticeable font.


    Arron did not click on it as his shift was about to start, so he closed the news portal and headed down to the garage with Kix.


    When he closed the APC''s door as if on cue, Tooth''s head popped up above the APC''s dashboard.


    ¡°What''s up Tooth?¡± asked Kix.


    ¡°All of M1 HQ''s exits have been blocked by a large gathering of people. Apparently, there are a few gathered at the local police station as well,¡± said tooth.


    ¡°Okay...?¡± said Arron.


    ¡°The Chief has ordered everyone that is not already out on patrol to handle the situation,¡± said Tooth.


    ¡°How?¡± asked Kix. ¡°We are not the Office of Reason. We don''t have the authorization to be heavy-handed like them.¡±


    ¡°Since the two of you have not left yet, you have been picked to go out and see what they want. Let me know the details when you find out. While you''re at it try to get them to leave, if the situation changes, the chief will give you and the other M1 officers updated orders on how to handle them.¡±


    The call abruptly ended leaving Kix to quietly grumble, ¡°Today''s going to be one of those days.¡±


    The APC drove up the ramp and out of the HQ building only stopping near the exit checkpoint which was now blocked off by a decent size of people gathered outside the gates.


    As Arron watched more people seemed to be streaming in to join them, and this was just one of the exits to the building.


    ¡°Let''s go see what these idiots are doing,¡± said Kix as he lowered his helmet''s visor.


    Arron had to admit it was a stupid thing to gather around M1 like this as the likely outcome was Normalization.


    Both Arron and Kix walked up to the checkpoint and stopped dead center where the crowd could all see them.


    Arron could hear the doors of other armored patrol vehicles being slammed behind him as more M1 officers arrived to help handle the growing crowd.


    When another 20 patrol officers joined them Kix used the helmet''s external speakers to get the crowd''s attention.


    ¡°This is an unauthorized gathering. Those that wish to report something may speak to me or one of the other officers next to me. If you have nothing to report, leave immediately.¡±


    The crowd did not move and silently stared at the M1 officers for several seconds.


    ¡°What gives you the right to raid citizens who did nothing wrong?¡± shouted an old man with a white beard.


    ¡°Mother and Father along with the Office of Reason gave the orders for the raid,¡± said Kix.


    ¡°That''s not what I heard on the news! Are you calling the Office of Reason liars?¡± shouted a woman.


    ¡°This is an unlawful gathering. Leave now if you have nothing to report,¡± boomed Arron.


    ¡°Or what? Are you going to kill us like you did to my husband?¡± shouted an angry elderly woman.


    ¡°... my Daughter.¡± ¡°... my son.¡± ¡°... my mother.¡± ¡°... my father.¡±


    Several angry voices shouted out the names of those that had been permanently Normalized the night before.


    No matter what the M1 officers said, the crowd was having none of it and kept angrily shouting retorts back at them.


    While all this was going on news drones appeared at the rear of the crowd along with several on-the-field reporters.


    Their appearance caught the attention of some of the gathered people who decided to rush over and try to tell the reporters their story to try and get some justice for their loved ones.


    The reporters did not say no and with blank faces let dozens of people rant about all sorts of things into the cameras of the news drones.


    As this was happening a larger force of M1 officers ran over from the side exit to join the 20+ officers already near the checkpoint.


    Ping!


    The chief''s head appeared on the right corner of Arron''s helmet visor as a new secure group call was initiated.


    ¡°This farce has gone on long enough. I have just received Orders from the Office of Reason. You are to Normalize everyone that has gathered. You are to immediately stop those who are leaking sensitive information to the reporters.¡±


    The call was ended, those last words still ringing in each of the officer''s ears.


    Curses could be heard all around him as the other officers reacted to the chief''s call.


    ¡°They set us up!¡± shouted an angry M1 officer behind Arron.


    ¡°We''re just being used as a lightning rod for all the people''s anger...¡± muttered another.


    ¡°ENOUGH!¡± shouted Kix. ¡°We were given an order from the Office of Reason. We have no control over what they want us to do. But if we ignore the order we will be normalized by the Office of Reason as well.¡±


    Everyone hated being used like this, but they could do nothing about it¡­ and so the large group of M1 officers along with several security drones that popped out of the checkpoint booth rushed forward and boxed in the gathered Troubled suspects.


    Several fights broke out as the M1 officers tackled people who tried to run away.


    The security drones shot out an almost non-stop stream of neutralizing needles piercing the skin of the Troubled suspects at the rear who almost escaped the corralling of the M1 officers.


    Terrified cries of horror and crying wails of the troubled suspects rang out from those who were still conscious as they were all cuffed and rounded up.


    All of this was captured live by the hovering news drones that were controlled by the on-the-ground reporters who all had gleaming eyes and ugly smirks on their faces.

 Chapter 84: Drinking And Dancing Sorrows Away

    Inside the red-lit bar, Arron sat at his small booth that only had room for two people to sit comfortably. His back was resting against the cushioned wall that now led to the new large luxurious corner booth that was on a slightly raised platform behind him.


    With a deep sigh, he looked at the open bar room where he had been coming to drink away his sorrows and clear his mind. It was almost unrecognizable.


    The previous [RedLight] bar had been shut down by the Office of Reason for several major violations including unregulated singing, gambling, and comedy to name a few.


    The new owner had renovated the old bar and had also bought the floor above the underground bar.


    The solemn smokey atmosphere no longer existed as it once was, the new renovations also included updating the air filtration system which kept the air clear of any smoke or any unpleasant smell.


    The normal dark corner booths had been switched out for well-lit round booths placed on raised platforms that could view the entire first floor. It was an expensive spot for large groups of high-paying guests.


    Arron looked up at the ceiling or what was left of it. A third of the ceiling had been torn out allowing those on the lower floor to see and hear the disco dance floor above. Two short sets of stairs now connected the basement floor and the disco dance floor above.


    Even with all the changes, there were still some things that they had over their competition. There was still only one large holo-tv behind the long bar. Besides the 4 corner booths, the rest of the booths were dimly lit by red lamps. The last and most surprising one was that there was still a stage that was used by human singers, even though such a thing had brought trouble for the previous owner.


    It seemed the new owner wanted to keep the old clientele while updating and bringing in a younger age group with the addition of the disco floor and new booths.


    A red-headed girl in her 20''s wearing a simple red dress uniform walked to Arron''s booth carrying a tray that had two large glasses of synth-beer.


    With a smile, she placed the tray on the booth''s table and said, ¡°Here are your drinks.¡±


    Behind her, another waitress led a small group of three, one woman and two men, to the large booth behind Arron. He paid no attention to them as he did not care who they were as he was in his own world trying to deal with his troubles.


    With a grim face, Arron nodded to the waitress standing next to him and held out his right hand for her to scan.


    [Checkinging status¡­ Beep! Transaction successfully completed!]


    ¡°Customer if you need anything just press the red button and I or another worker will get to you as soon as we can.¡± With that said the smiling waitress left his booth to deliver drinks to another booth.


    That was another thing Arron liked about this bar. No bots were flying everywhere or hovering over you and recording everything you did. Arron was not a fool and he knew that there were likely hidden cameras and mics all over in order to stay up to regulation. But at least this gave the customers a sense of privacy instead of blatant out-in-the-open monitoring.


    Arron took a sip of the cheap and bitter synth-beer that was enough to wake the dead. Although it was made with the lowest tier of ingredients that they could get away with, and you could tell by the taste of it, it still had one of the highest alcoholic percentages on the list of drinks the bar offered.


    Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.


    He closed his eyes and held his breath while taking a large gulp of the bitter drink. As the drink started to take effect, his thoughts mulled over all the recent events he had been through the night before and during the equally exhausting day¡¯s shift.


    The news was gleefully nonstop playing the recording of the large brawl that M1 and the police officers had gotten into when they were ordered to normalize the gathered crowds. Once again M1 officers were labeled brutish thugs that only knew how to fight, kill, and die.


    Arron absentmindedly drained the first glass quickly with several large gulps and large sighs in between.


    As he stared at the bubbling synth-beer in the second glass deep in thought, someone plopped down onto the boot seat opposite of him startling him out of his morose daze.


    With a slight scowl, Arron looked at the person who had intruded into his space and interrupted his thoughts.


    ¡°What''s with you sighing so much handsome?¡± asked a similarly aged woman that now sat across from Arron.


    ¡°...¡± Arron only silently stared at her in his buzzed state trying to figure out who she was.


    She was wearing a sparkling blue dress and matching gloves. Her long black hair was tied into a bun on top of her head and held into place by a large four-pronged white stone hairpin. Her skin was like ivory.


    Either she did not see the scowl on his face or was ignoring it completely.


    ¡°I haven''t seen you around here before. Your first time?¡± asked the woman staring deep into Arron''s eyes.


    Being stared at so intently like this was uncomfortable even for the buzzed Arron.


    With a frown, he said, ¡°I could say the same thing to you. I used to come here before it was shut down and bought by the new owner.¡±


    The woman raised an eyebrow at this and only said, ¡°Is that so?¡±


    Several seconds passed with the woman not saying anything only staring at Arron.


    ¡°...I''m sorry but do I know you? or...¡± asked Arron.


    ¡°Nope,¡± said the woman with a large smile on her face.


    ¡°Then why...¡±


    ¡°Why did I come to bother you? You seemed like an interesting person and you kept sighing. Care to share your thoughts?¡±


    ¡°I can''t.¡±


    ¡°Can''t or won''t?¡±


    Arron did not say anything and only stared back at the woman silently.


    ¡°You sure know how to pick your drinks,¡± said the woman pointing at the second glass of cheap synth-beer that was still bubbling.


    ¡°I''m sorry my choice of drink does not fit the standards of your rich taste buds. I''m a bit short on money right now,¡± said Arron with a frown.


    ''Is this woman here just to insult me?''


    ¡°Oh? Is your bite as sharp as your bark?¡± asked the woman while biting her lip seductively.


    Arron was at a loss for what to do or say. He only stared at the woman with a bewildered look. All his troubled thoughts had dissipated from his head as he tried to figure out what was going on and why he was being targeted.


    She stood up suddenly and said, ¡°I have decided!¡±


    ¡°About what?¡±


    The woman grabbed his arm with her blue gloved hand, ¡°We''re going to dance!¡±


    Arron was pulled from his seat as she tried to drag him to the dance floor.


    ¡°...wait my drink!¡± said Arron as he struggled to halt his movement and grabbed his last glass of synth-beer.


    ¡°Don''t worry about it! I can buy you thousands of top-tier drinks here! Let''s dance!¡±


    Arron hurriedly chugged down the glass of Synth-beer and placed it onto the long bar counter as they passed by heading towards the stairs leading to the dance floor.


    ''What is going on?'' thought Arron as he was dragged onto the dance floor that was filled with flashing squares of light that all changed color along with the beat of the fast-paced music being played.


    With the new flood of liquid courage flowing through Arron''s body, he gave up trying to understand and went with the flow dancing late into the night with the interesting woman.

 Chapter 85: You Did What?

    ¡°You did what?¡± asked Kix. He was so astonished at what he had just heard that he looked away from the road they were driving down, and stared at Arron.


    ¡°Watch where you''re driving!¡± said Arron pointing to the several self-driving hover cars that were trying to move out of the way of the APC that was traveling at a high speed down the road.


    ¡°Why is it such a shock to you that I met a beautiful woman last night at the new and improved [Red light] bar?¡± asked Arron.


    ¡°Who is she? What does she do? Describe her,¡± said Kix as he returned his attention to the road.


    ¡°Uhhh, my mind is kinda hazy. I can''t remember much since I drank quite a lot of the high-end drinks in between dancing. Last night is just all a blur other than the fact that I remember meeting her.¡±


    ¡°I thought you were tight on money? Wait... did you make her pay for your drinks?¡±


    ¡°...¡±


    ¡°Do you at least remember her name?¡±


    ¡°...¡±


    ¡°I''m surprised that you of all people managed to get up the nerve to do something like this,¡± said Kix, sending glances of suspicion at Arron.


    ¡°I know what you''re thinking! It was not a dream. I am sure of it! As to how it happened ¡­ I can''t remember.¡±


    ¡°Then are you going back to the bar tonight? If you do, you might be able to meet her again and I can see if the person is real and not one of your drunken dreams. As your partner, I also don''t want you ending up like Toothbrush and his last relationship that he still hasn''t gotten over.¡±


    Arron thought about it for a short time then said, ¡°Why not! How bout we ask everyone else from the team and see if they want to come?¡±


    ¡°Not gonna happen. They already have plans for tonight. Do you know of anyone else that might want to join us? It doesn''t matter if you can''t find anyone else, it can just be the two of us.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, I know a few. I''ll send them a message right now.¡±


    Arron quickly typed out two messages using a holographic keyboard and sent the messages. He did not want to call them right now as they were probably busy with work.


    ¡°Kix, about that serial killer case we were on the other day before the raid. Did they ever find out what was going on?¡±


    Kix''s grip on the steering wheel tightened, and his face was hard without letting anyone see any emotion as he said in a low calm voice, ¡°The case was closed since the dead were all separatist and troubled non-believers.¡±


    ¡°Oh...¡± said Arron, taking the hint and not talking about it any further. He did not want to get himself or Kix into any more heat than they already were with the Office of Reason who would love to catch them violating the speech code so they could dock some more points from their SCS.


    Arron quietly watched the KNN news broadcast playing above the dashboard ignoring the awkward silence.


    ¡°... various false allegations were flying around yesterday that we, the Office of Reason, rounded up and disappeared several people. That is false! It was the M1 and police officers that arrested the troubled suspects and sent them to us for interrogation. That is all,¡± said Rando Poyson, a White suited agent from the Office of Reason that had been sent to do an interview for the news.


    ¡°We will be right back after a word from this news segment''s sponsor!¡± said Fella with a smile.


    ¡°Hello, I am Dr. Kerboinken from one of the many exceptional Mother and Father first-level hospitals. We have just recently received a large influx of donated organs, so those in need of a transplant should drop on by your local hospital. No installment payments are allowed, the full cost must be paid upfront. First come first serve. The usual regulations and restrictions apply. D rank SCS disqualifies you from this service.¡±


    ***


    The waitress led Arron, Kix, Iboi, and Temid to the same table that Arron had sat at the night before.


    Arron looked at the occupants of the surrounding tables and saw they were all filled with sullen men that had come to the bar right after work to drink their sorrows and worries away with cheap synth-beer.


    The corner platform booth was occupied by two muscular men in silk suits who scowled at anyone who came near their table. Their table was already filled with empty glasses.


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    ¡°This is... quite the atmosphere,¡± said Iboi as he looked at the depressing first-floor atmosphere with his cybernetic eyes zooming in and out to inspect everything while he listened to the sad music being sung by an actual human female.


    ¡°Uh... are you sure this is a good place to go for a drink? Is this place even legal?¡± asked a nervous Temid, sitting down next to Iboi on the cramped seat.


    ¡°Quit your griping and loosen up you two. You''re cramping my style,¡± said Kix as he sat down next to Arron.


    Each of the four quickly ordered two glasses of the cheapest synth-beer allowing the waitress to leave with the new orders. But before she did she went to the platform table and gathered the many empty glasses.


    Arron continued to scan the entire floor looking for the woman that he had met the night before.


    Their drinks came without Arron being able to find the woman.


    ¡°This is the place you met her?¡± asked Kix with a raised eyebrow.


    ¡°It was not a dream!¡± said Arron.


    With a straight face and an even tone, Kix said, ¡°I believe you... I wonder if these drinks have any hallucinogens in them.¡±


    Spuffffff!


    Both Iboi and Temid spat out their drink and began coughing at the awkward exchange.


    They quickly moved their gaze away from Arron''s accusing look.


    The four of them silently drank their synth-beer as they looked around the first floor searching for the mysterious beauty.


    After 40 minutes had passed and they had finished their drinks the others were ready to leave as there was no sign of the woman.


    Arron stood up and said, ¡°Wait a few more minutes, I''ll go check the other floor. If she''s not there we can leave.¡±


    Out of secondhand embarrassment, Iboi and Temid continued to not look at the slightly desperate Arron who was still trying to prove he was not dreaming.


    Kix did not say anything and only raised an eyebrow.


    ¡°Looking for me?¡± asked a flirtatious voice behind Arron.


    Arron turned around and saw the woman from the night before and pointed, ¡°It''s you!¡±


    ¡°It is me, and you are Mr. Troubled Handsome man from the night before,¡± said the woman. She was wearing a fluttering silky blue dress that matched the other colorful silk dresses of several other girls standing next to her.


    ¡°See! I told you I wasn''t dreaming!¡± said Arron.


    ¡°My my my. Have I been on your mind all this time? It¡¯s true that we danced all last night. You were quite the dancer even with all that you drank and you''re such a smooth talker. The things you said and did while dancing... it makes me want to blush remembering it all...¡±


    Arron and the other three all froze at the bold statements that kept flooding out of her mouth. Arron''s mind was a complete blank on what he might have said and was starting to fear what he had said. His face was growing beet red while Kix and the others glanced between the two.


    ¡°Don''t worry, I quite like you, and I''m glad I was able to meet you again. Why don''t you and your friends join my group? We were just getting ready to go to the new VIP section of the bar and use one of their private rooms for some drinking and other fun activities.¡±


    ¡°You? Me?¡± asked Arron pointing at her and then himself.


    The woman nodded.


    Kix stood up and elbowed Arron in the side and said in a whisper, ¡°Her name. Ask for her name.¡±


    ¡°I''m Arron! May I have the pleasure of knowing your name?¡±


    ¡°Yumi. So are you up to join us for some fun?¡±


    Arron looked at the others and they each nodded.


    ¡°Great! Then let''s go!¡± said Yumi grabbed Arron''s hand and dragged him towards a slightly hidden door.


    Before Kix, Iboi, and Temid could join Arron and the girls, the two large muscular men with big scowls made sure to cut in front of them and walk between the group as they eyed the three men behind them.


    ¡°What the?¡± mumbled the trio.


    Arron was led to a private room and closed the door leaving only the two of them inside.


    He nervously looked around and found two floating microphones above the small table next to plush hover couches.


    On the wall was a holo-tv with a flowing large menu of songs.


    ¡°Sit down! I''ll go first and choose one of the newest top hits to thaw your nervousness with my amazing voice!¡± said Yumi, lightly pushing Arron onto one of the hover couches.


    As Arron watched her sing his nervousness did lessen slightly.


    When the song was finished she silently looked to Arron for his opinion.


    ¡°You did good, but I like the older music better,¡± said Arron.


    ¡°You just like complaining too much. You need to get with the times. Ai singers are where it''s at! Everyone else likes it! In my opinion, you are the weird one for not liking the Ai generated music pumped out by Mother and Father.¡±


    As she said this she sat down next to Arron and looked deep into his eyes.


    ¡°Hmm, your right eye looks a little different.¡±


    ¡°I had an accident which caused me to lose my eye. Just so you know I''m not one of those upgrade junkies that are always looking to replace body parts with the newest cybernetics.¡±


    Yumi was still too close to Arron for comfort but he did not want to be rude and move away.


    Without warning her head darted forward and pecked his lips with a kiss before Arron even knew what happened.


    With a slap on his back, the bemused Yumi said, ¡°Your turn to sing.¡±


    Arron stumbled through the song that he had picked.


    The two continued to switch back and forth. It seemed each time it was Arron''s turn Yumi would do something to try and fluster Arron.


    Their night out ended with the two of them singing a duo before it was time to leave.


    ¡°I had fun!¡± said Yumi, giving a quick peck on Arron''s cheek when they exited the bar.


    She quickly tapped on several menus of her expensive-looking wrist-datapad and swiped something over to Arron.


    ¡°Let''s meet up again tomorrow!¡± said Yumi as she waved goodbye and joined her waiting friends and the two rough-looking grumpy guards.

 Chapter 86: New Prototype Testing

    Arron was in a happy mood and had come to work early so that he could work on his pet project, the broken-down prototype Hover-cycle.


    The hover-cycle was taking up precious space in one of the corners of the cramped garage in which their APC was parked.


    With all the work he had done in his spare time it was now getting to the point where all the minor problems that could be fixed with his limited set of tools and parts had already been finished. All that was left was to find a place that sold spare parts to replace all the broken parts that were beyond saving. When that was done he would have to go through the torture of updating the software of the hover-cycle and all its vulnerable components to stop any random hacker from causing him more problems.


    This prototype was used as a test model for the current top-of-the-line model that had become a popular brand on the 4th level. Since it was like this he was having a hard time finding spare parts, not only was it hard to find the specific parts he needed but it also cost a lot of credits. So all he could do during the time he had owned it so far was work on the small issues and polish it until it shined brightly.


    It also did not help that he had to go through several hoops and other requirements to buy the heavily controlled high oil and premium gas which the Hover-cycle used. Even after being given the okay to purchase a limited amount, he had to scan his face and cloud chip before being allowed to pay for it.


    This was all to combat the violent crimes of the Separatists who made firebombs and other explosives with it.


    Arron wiped his hands on a rag as he inspected his handiwork. The white hover-cycle was far larger, heavier, and more armored than his small portable hover-bike.


    Comparing every part between the two was like looking at a tree trunk and a twig. He really wanted to test it out on patrols in the future.


    Arron looked at the time projected on the garage wall and decided it was time to head back to the locker room to clean up for the day''s shift.


    When Kix met up with a cleaned-up Arron he looked at Arron with a weird expression.


    ¡°What are you staring at me for? I already took a shower so I shouldn''t have anything on my face.¡±


    ¡°Last night was... interesting.¡±


    ¡°What was so interesting? Yumi and I are dating now, that''s not anything crazy,¡± said Arron with a shrug.


    ¡°I''m just surprised you managed to catch her eye and start dating. What high-tech wizardry did you use? She seems far out of our league and we don''t even know who she really is or what she does for a living.¡±


    ¡°And I tend to leave it like that for now. We both have decided it is better to not talk about work or other personal stuff for now.¡±


    Kix raised his eyebrow at that.


    Ding! Both of their NerViz systems notified them of a new message.


    ¡°What''s this?¡± asked Kix as he read the message.


    [Go to the Chief''s office immediately!]


    ¡°Did the Chief find out about your new girlfriend and when he did a background check to find out who she was it turned out she is a secret separatist queen that is controlling everything from the background?¡± asked Kix in one go.


    ¡°Stop joking around, how could it be something like that? We only started dating last night and why would the chief even know or care about this?¡± said Arron as they walked to the Mag-shoot.


    The two straightened their uniform and wiped down their body armor to look as presentable as they could before stepping onto the mag-shoot that was connected to the chief''s office.


    Arron held his helmet in one hand as he combed his wild hair with the other.


    When they stepped out of the mag-shoot the secretary just pointed to the closed door and said, ¡°He''s waiting for you.¡±


    Arron and Kix nodded their heads and walked to the armored door that slid open as soon as they walked forward.


    Chief Chesty Puller was not the only one inside the office waiting for them.


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    A group of three men and one woman, all in white lab coats, stood to the side near the front of the office next to two large square metal crates.


    ¡°Good. You two troublemakers are here,¡± said Chief Chesty.


    Both Arron and Kix wanted to protest, but the chief put up his hand stopping them.


    ¡°With all that has been going on you haven''t been given a major project to test out yet. You have only been testing the regular equipment that all ERF units are testing. I had planned to put you on a major project that the research department¡¯s [A team] is working on, but they have had some major delays. So I am now putting you in charge of testing [D teams] new prototypes for now.¡±


    ¡°Thank you Chief Puller for choosing our team''s prototype to test! With this testing, we might be able to receive more funding! We are sure that it will help not only the M1 but also the police in their daily jobs!¡± said the female researcher.


    ¡°Please explain to them what your prototype is and what you need them to test to get it into a final product ready for mass production,¡± said Chief Chesty.


    ¡°Our team''s prototype is on the cutting edge in almost all aspects! We made it in the hope that it can act like a third member of any team. The latest scanners for both x-rays and Odor sensing will allow you to easily find illegal contraband and illegal cybernetics without having to take the subject to some place to use the large cumbersome full body scans or other tools. With the updated odor detector we have added an experimental function that can allow you to lock onto a scent and track it. If it works as well as our lab test then it will definitely be a game changer when chasing down the Troubled suspects. And best of all, it is not weak in fights. It can easily protect itself as well as its partner. There is also a new learning function programmed into it.¡±


    ¡°Has the research department fixed the problem of using parts that can cause problems for its users?¡±


    ¡°Chief, we assure you we are not like the [B team] that used those cheap mass-produced data chips! Our project is so advanced that several of the research teams have stalled as they are waiting to see the results from our two prototypes to see if it is worth scrapping parts of their projects and updating to the new material. You could say that we are one of the main reasons that [A team] has been stalled.¡±


    A male researcher held out two secure Data-pads and turned them on revealing two different floating prototypes.


    ¡°Allow me to introduce you to our project, the Digital Operating Genius Experiment. You will be testing out the D.O.G.E. prototype #1 code name Spike and #2 code name Chewy. They are both made out of our new B rank parasteel armor formula!¡± said the haughty woman pointing at the floating holographic images.


    When the female researcher saw Kix and Arron look at their armor and back to the prototypes she smiled and said, ¡°Yes they are far sturdier than all of the equipment you are currently wearing! If the formula truly works then even the standard full armor that the police use will become second-hand goods that even m1 can afford to buy and not have to resort to using such outdated prototype armor.¡±


    ¡°Toy robo-dogs?¡± said Kix.


    ¡°Don''t speak such nonsense! Our prototypes are nothing like those cheap imitations that only know how to bark and play fetch! Our prototypes have their own personality!¡± said a heated male researcher.


    ¡°Since we were unsure what type of personality would be best for the prototype, we created two versions. Spike has been given a more aggressive personality and will need someone with firm control, while Chewy is quite tame in comparison to Spike. You could say she is comparable to a regular dog. Each prototype has the benefit of not having the hassles that come with a biological dog. Along with their basic personality we added in the latest prototype learning A.I. Currently the two prototypes can be described as puppies,¡± said the female researcher full of pride.


    ¡°We didn''t want to pre-train them in tactics and other things as we know that M1, the police, and the office of reason all have different tasks and require different needs. With this new function we hope that we can create a blank slate that allows you to train them into whatever fits your organization''s need at the current moment,¡± said the heated male researcher.


    ¡°And what do you need them to test?¡± asked Chief Chesty.


    ¡°We need a massive amount of data on the prototype training A.I. So that is one of the main functions they should be testing. All this data will be recorded and sent back to us to further develop the learning A.I. They need to take it on their patrols and test out all its new functions in different circumstances. They will have to keep watch of the prototypes all day to monitor them for any software or mechanical malfunctions or errors that may show up so they can be fixed in the next version. If it is a software issue we can easily send out a patch every weekend to hot-fix any issue. The only major maintenance or upkeep they require is energy. With its wireless charging, it will be able to charge up during the night. The new system should be fully charged and ready for the next day even if you used 100% of its energy the day before! If by some chance it is damaged you must send it back to us to repair. You are not allowed to mess with it as most of the internals are currently classified.¡±


    Chief Chesty looked at the two floating holographic projections for some time as he thought about the new prototypes.


    ¡°Kix, you will take charge of prototype #1. Arron, you''ll take prototype #2. Both of you will be in charge of taking care of the prototypes. You have 1 hour to familiarize yourself with the prototypes. After that you are to follow these new orders for your daily patrols,¡± said Chief Chesty as he swiped a document with their new orders to their wrist-datapads.


    ¡°... and how long will this assignment last?¡± asked Kix.


    ¡°Until the researchers are happy with the results or the project is canceled,¡± said Chief Chesty.


    The researcher holding the two secure data-pads with the classified details of each prototype handed them over to Kix and Arron.


    ¡°Treat them like you would a regular police dog,¡± said the female researcher.


    Chief Chesty pushed a button on his desk and two large drones appeared each with four claws that reached out to grab onto the four handholds on each side of the large metal boxes.


    ¡°You''re dismissed, take them with you,¡± said Chief Chesty, tapping in a few commands to make the drones carry the boxes behind Arron and Kix.

 Chapter 87: Spike And Chewy

    Arron and Kix sat inside the small garage that was now even more cramped with the two large metal boxes.


    They were quietly skimming over the thousands of pages of research data that had not been redacted, trying to get familiar with their new prototypes.


    ¡°When the chief said they had something for us to test out, this was definitely not what I expected,¡± said Arron as he finished scrolling through the information on the secure data-pad.


    ¡°Let me see yours, I want to see if the information is similar for both prototypes,¡± said Kix looking back and forth between the two long scrolling documents comparing the information.


    ¡°For the most part, they look similar. The only differences are their personalities and a few different built-in functions.¡±


    ¡°Should we open the boxes up and check them out?¡± asked Arron.


    Kix looked at his helmet''s clock overlay in the corner of his visor.


    ¡°We have half an hour left so we better get them set up for the patrol,¡± said Kix while they walked over to the two boxes.


    Using the digital keys included with the secure data-pads the two metal boxes released their locks with a whirring hiss. The top of each box retracted and the four metal walls flopped open revealing the prototypes inside.


    ¡°I thought they said these were supposed to be like puppies?¡± said Arron as he looked at prototype #2 Chewy.


    ¡°I think they were talking about their personalities, not their size,¡± said Kix.


    Both prototypes were immobile sitting on their hind legs. Their height when standing on all four legs would be able to easily be around Arron''s hip.


    Arron looked between the two prototypes and noticed significant differences in their appearances.


    Chewy''s metallic body was a light blue with black lettering M1 on both of its sides. Spike''s body was all black with white lettering M1 on its sides.


    While Chewy''s body was smooth with nothing standing out. Spike was different, having a large spike on its forehead as well as a metal dog collar that had several spikes protruding from it.


    ¡°So this is the new B-rank para-steel formula?¡± said Arron as he walked around Chewy and used his knuckle to tap on the armored body a few times.


    ¡°Hmm, no reaction... looks like they are in sleep mode.¡±


    ¡°Before we take them out of sleep mode we need to pair them up with our NerViz implant so that we can give them commands and keep them under control,¡± said Kix, glancing between the instructions on the secure data-pad and the dormant Spike in front of him.


    ¡°Right... the chief would not be happy if we activated them and they caused trouble,¡± said Arron while scrolling down to the instructions on how to link up to the prototype.


    ¡°Right... just flip this open... ah the security code,¡± Arron reached out and felt around the back of Chewy''s metal dog collar. At the back of the neck, he found a small latch that popped open only after he entered the security code.


    A small blue button was revealed once the latch popped open.


    Arron continued to follow the detailed instructions.


    ¡°Press and hold for 30 seconds to add a new partner...¡±


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    When thirty seconds passed the blank digital eyes of Chewy lit up with a golden light coming from each eye.


    ¡°Place your hand that contains your NerViz cloud-chip onto the prototype''s head as if petting it...¡±


    Arron felt a slight static buzz come from Chewy''s head when he placed his hand flat atop the metallic head.


    As he did so the golden digital eyes of Chewy squinted while it received Arron''s data and created a link.


    3 seconds later the static buzzing disappeared and the golden light from the eyes disappeared.


    The latch at the back of Chewy''s head automatically closed with a click and the linking process was complete.


    Arron looked over to Kix and saw that the light that was slowly disappearing from Spike''s digital eyes was a deep red.


    Both Arron and Kix kept their hands atop the prototype robo-dogs head and nodded to each other.


    ¡°Chewy, activate!¡± ¡°Spike, activate!¡±


    Chewy''s yellow digital eyes once again lit up and were squinting in pleasure at being patted by Arron, its tail began to wag side to side as it sat there.


    Arron stepped back to inspect the now-activated Chewy and see what it would do.


    Curiously, Chewy''s head looked around the cramped garage with much energy. Audible robotic sniffing sounds could be heard as the scanners in Chewy''s nose began to scan and identify everything around it.


    Unlike the energetic Chewy, Spike sat straight and looked directly at Kix.


    ¡°GRRR,¡± he let out a low robotic growl acknowledging Kix before he slowly looked around the garage room taking in his surroundings.


    Chewy stood up and began following a scent that had caught its attention. Arron watched to see what it would do. The scent led him to the corner of the garage where his hover-cycle and tools were.


    Without warning, Chewy opened its mouth and bit into a tool that was laying on top of the toolbox.


    ¡°No! Chewy don''t do that! Bad... uh... dog?¡± said Arron as he rushed over to Chewy and snatched the expensive second-hand tool out of Chewy''s mouth.


    Arron inspected the tool for a second and let out a sigh of relief. Although there were several new dents it still looked like it was usable.


    ¡°Chewy, you can''t chew on my tools!¡± said Arron in a firm voice while pointing to the tool in his hand and the toolbox, while shaking his head.


    Chewy looked at the tool in Arron''s hand and the toolbox before looking back at Arron.


    ¡°Arf!¡± said Chewy in acknowledgment. Then turn its attention to the Hover-cycle.


    ¡°No! You definitely can not chew on that!¡± said Arron, quickly stepping between Chewy and his Hover-cycle with his arms held out to block the robo-dog from getting closer.


    Chewy''s head and robotic ears drooped and its wagging tail stopped as it fell limp to the floor.


    A low robotic sad whimper came from Chewy as it was denied again.


    ¡°What''s wrong with my prototype?¡± asked Arron as he looked between the pouting Chewy and Spike who was sitting ramrod straight.


    Spike only glanced at the pouting Chewy and let out a disdainful ''GRR'' before returning his gaze forward toward Kix.


    Kix had a large smile on his face while he tried to stifle a laugh.


    ¡°I thought they said your prototype was the troublesome one but what is this...¡± said Arron in exasperation as he tried to skim through the Chewy''s data once again to see if there was any information on this that he had missed before.


    ¡°Well, at least we know why it got the name Chewy,¡± said Kix.


    A couple of minutes of skimming through the data passed before Arron found what he was looking for.


    [...for some reason, there is a bug that we have been unable to troubleshoot or fix no matter how many times we try to patch in new solutions. We believe it has to do with the core personality of the new AI. Since it would require us to start from scratch with a slim chance to fix this bug, we have decided to use the limited funds in other areas while leaving this harmless bug in as a feature of prototype #2...]


    Arron let out a long sigh feeling defeated.


    ¡°What is it?¡± asked Kix.


    ¡°The researchers claim that there is nothing wrong, it is just a feature of Chewy''s personality.¡±


    With those words, Kix could not hold back his laughter any longer and had a good chuckle.


    Arron reached over to a pile of scrap and picked out a piece of metal pipe.


    ¡°Chewy, you can bite on this. Just not my tools or my hover-cycle,¡± said Arron holding out the scrap pipe.


    The pouting Chewy perked up at hearing this.


    ¡°Arf!¡± without needing any further nudging, its mouth opened and bit the pipe before turning and walking back to the box with its tail wagging happily.


    Chewy laid down on the box and began to contently chew on the new toy, letting out loud metallic scrapes and scratches as the metal teeth chomped on the pipe.

 Chapter 88: Special Skill

    Thud!


    With APC''s doors slammed shut, both Arron and Kix were feeling a bit more cramped than usual.


    [Arf!] [Grr.]


    Both Spike and Chewy were too big to fit in the small space behind their seats... so their lower half was sitting on the floor between Arron and Kix¡¯s legs while the upper half was laying on their new partner''s lap.


    ¡°Spike move your head to the side, you''re poking me in the stomach,¡± said Kix.


    With the collar spikes pressing into his armored chest and legs Kix was having a hard time holding onto the steering wheel to control the speeding APC as it shot down different roads.


    Spike turned his head to look out the window while trying to keep out of Kix''s way.


    Arron had no problem with pokey parts on Chewy as the energetic robo-dog was still noisily chewing on the scrap pipe while its head was swinging back and forth trying to capture every sight outside the window that flew past them.


    ¡°So this is ERF''s real purpose, babysitting prototypes,¡± said Arron.


    ¡°It could be worse... we could have been the ones that had to test the first generation prototypes years ago,¡± said Kix.


    Crunch! Pa Ta.


    Arron looked down and saw that a large portion of the parasteel pipe had fallen to the floor while Chewy continued to energetically chew on the small piece still left in its metallic mouth. By the sounds coming from Chewy''s mouth, the parasteel was getting pulverized into small bits.


    To Arron''s surprise. Chewy swallowed the small bits.


    ¡°Ah crap! Chewy, open your mouth!¡±


    Chewy looked at Arron, its head cocked to the side in confusion.


    Arron just reached forward and opened Chewy''s mouth and took a look inside. All he saw was a black hole at the back.


    ¡°Why is there something like this included? Did we just break it not even an hour into the test?¡±


    ¡°What did you do now?¡± asked Kix.


    Arron quickly turned his attention away from the confused Chewy and began to search the documentation on Chewy to search for any information on this matter.


    ¡°...weird. I thought they said that the only upkeep was wireless charging.¡±


    ¡°What''s wrong?¡±


    ¡°It says that if the situation calls for it, you can feed them other treats if you want. It has a built-in experimental energy converter that can refill its used power if there is no available connection to a power source.¡±


    ¡°Impressive is that only for Chewy or do you think Spike has one as well?¡±


    ¡°Probably.¡±


    ¡°These prototypes are getting more and more interesting. If this works out, it could change the way the police, M1, and even the military go about certain things.¡±


    ¡°I''m more interested in the new armor they were talking about. If we could get several sets of it we would be far safer.¡±


    ¡°Don''t hold your breath. If we''re lucky we''ll get to test one or two sets out. But by the time we are finished with the live tests, they will be put through the wringer to see how much they can withstand. We''ll be lucky if they allow us to keep the scrap,¡± said Kix.


    A low robotic whining caused Arron to look away from the scrolling document and focus on Chewy.


    ¡°What''s wrong?¡± asked Arron.


    Chewy looked directly into Arron''s eyes and whined a few more times before looking at the chunk of parasteel pipe on the ground.


    ¡°What?...¡±


    [Arf,] Again Chewy looked at him and then at the chunk of scrap pipe on the ground.


    ¡°...wait. You pick it up yourself you spoiled brat, it''s right next to you.¡±


    Chewy continued its robotic whining, its electric golden eyes pleading with Arron.


    ¡°Why are you arguing with a robot dog?¡± asked Kix. ¡°Just pick it up and give it to him.¡±


    With a sigh, Arron did just that. Chewy stopped its whining and bit down on the scarp pipe and continued chewing while watching the passing scenery.


    ¡°Where are we going today?¡± asked Arron.


    ¡°We were given several missions involving searching for suspected Separatists and several wanted troubled SCS D ranks. I picked what looked like an easy one for our first test. One or two Separatists are hiding in a local warehouse so we have to sniff them out.¡±


    ¡°Why do they always go to the warehouses? Don''t they know it is one of the first places we go to?¡±


    ¡°Where else can they go? Every other place is teaming with thousands of people. Unless they bribe the locals or have one of the underground organizations hide them, they have little hope of hiding from us anywhere else.¡±


    Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.


    As he finished talking they pulled up to the side of the warehouse that was 24 or 25 stories high and came to a complete stop.


    ¡°Tooth, you got the information on this warehouse?¡± asked Arron.


    ¡°The warehouse is a major part supplier for several of the manufacturing factories in the other sectors, so there is a lot of expensive material there. I''m Sending the building''s blueprints to you right now.¡±


    Ding!


    A moment later Arron activated the new file and a 3-d holographic wire blueprint of the building overlapped the building showing them all exits, entrances, and other important places.


    For such a large building there was still only one exit and one entrance. A large cargo door at the front of the building for hover-semis, and large drones to transfer products, and at the rear of the building, there was a set of metal ladders and zigzagging stairs that led to a door connected to a catwalk and a small office high above the large open warehouse.


    Kix looked to Arron and asked, ¡°You want to take the ladders and stairs or guard the entrance.¡±


    ¡°You sure we should be splitting up?¡±


    ¡°How else are we going to be able to test the prototypes? They are supposed to be a second partner that will help lessen the strain on the lack of manpower needed to patrol the entire first level.¡±


    Arron looked at Chewy and then said ¡°It would probably be better to take the stairs, no telling what will happen if Chewy sees all those parts up close.¡±


    Tooth''s head popped back up on the top corner of their helmet¡¯s visor, ¡°New orders from Chief. If you encounter the separatist target you are to let your prototypes take them down. Only use your weapons if your life is in danger.¡±


    ¡°We understand,¡± said Arron as he led Chewy toward the rear of the small warehouse while Kix headed to the front entrance with Spike.


    When Arron reached his destination he sighed as he looked at the ladder that hung down from the set of metal stairs.


    He looked to Chewy who cocked its head at Arron wondering what they were doing here.


    ¡°Don''t move too much,¡± said Arron as he bent over and picked up Chewy with both arms.


    ¡°Hmm, you''re lighter than I expected...¡± Although Chewy was still over 100 pounds and not light at all, he was light enough for Arron to carry in one arm while he climbed the ladder to the metal stairs above them.


    Chewy did not like being held with one arm and hanging in the air without any footholds and began kicking trying to find something to stand on.


    ¡°Stay still! The faster I get up the ladder the faster I can set you back down!¡±


    It took longer than it should have to get up the ladder.


    ¡°You okay back there? What''s taking you so long?¡± asked Kix. ¡°Sounds like you''re having a fun time.¡±


    ¡°You try carrying several hundred pounds in one arm that is wiggling while also trying to climb a ladder then tell me how fun it is,¡± said Arron.


    ¡°The front entrance is already open with several drones entering and exiting. So far I don''t see any movement or heat signatures of the target. Be careful the target is probably in your direction.¡±


    As Arron quickly ran up the steps with the energetic Chewy, he pulled up the picture of the separatist on his wrist data-pad and showed it to Chewy.


    ¡°If you see this man,¡± said Arron pointing to the hologram. ¡°You can bite him to stop him from getting away.¡±


    [Arf!] said Chewy energetically.


    ¡°We have reached the back entrance. Tooth, did you get the warehouse owner to unlock the doors?¡±


    ¡°Should be,¡± said tooth.


    Since there was no handle on the door and only a holo-lock Arron lightly pushed on the door to open it as quietly as possible.


    ...but it only opened an inch or so before stopping.


    ¡°Somethings blocking the door. The target barricaded the exit. I doubt I''ll be able to get in quietly. What do you want me to do Kix?¡±


    ¡°Go for plan B. Flush him out of his hiding spot and Spike and I will catch him.¡±


    ¡°Alright. Chewy help me open this door!¡± said Arron as he slammed his armored shoulder into the door.


    BAM!


    The loud noise definitely would alert anyone inside but Arron did not stop. With the help of Chewy, he was able to slowly push the door forward opening the gap inch by inch.


    It only took a minute to get the door open wide enough for him and Chewy to squeeze through.


    As they stepped onto the overhang walkway hanging high above the open warehouse Arron heard Kix shout over the Secure comms.


    ¡°Get him Spike!¡±


    Arron turned his attention toward the front of the warehouse and started running toward the noise. Due to not being obstructed by the towering rows of shelves holding parts he and Chewy were able to reach the stairs leading to the ground floor.


    ¡°Owww! You pierced my arm!¡± shouted a man.


    ¡°OWWWW! Get your dog off of me! He''s going to rip my arm off!¡±


    ¡°Spike, good job! You can let go now.¡±


    As Arron descended the steps to the ground floor he kept his hand on Chewy''s collar to hold it back from chewing on any of the nearby parts that it was staring at with longing.


    ¡°No Chewy,¡± said Arron. He manually turned Chewy''s head away from the parts toward the separatist suspect that was on the ground crying in pain.


    Spike was still biting down on the arm of the separatist and shaking his head back and forth, roughly dragging the separatist from one side to another.


    As Arron watched Spike''s tail which looked normal changed as the tip expanded into a small ball with several Spikes. It swung forward and slammed into the separatist''s body repeatedly.


    ¡°OWWW!¡±


    ¡°Spike let go! You already caught him,¡± said Kix, as he grabbed onto Spike and forcefully pulled him off of the separatist.


    ¡°GRR,¡± Spike let out a menacing growl clearly threatening the howling separatist.


    The separatist managed to sit up and angrily turned towards Kix while holding his bleeding arm. ¡°What are you crazy people doing attacking me!?¡±


    As his face turned around Chewy clearly saw it and bolted forward dashing towards the separatist man who was now halfway standing up and...


    ¡°OWWW~!¡±


    ¡­ bit him in the butt!


    ¡°Chewy no! Don''t bite him he''s already caught!¡± said Arron as he rushed forward to pull Chewy off of the moaning separatists.


    ¡°Arf!¡± said Chewy, looking to Arron for praise after successfully biting the target like he was ordered to.


    ¡°You guys are crazy! This is brutality! You will be hearing from my AI lawyer for the damages you have caused me! Look, you totaled my mechanical arm! It''s ruined!¡±


    Arron looked at the man''s arm and saw it was indeed in tatters almost all the way torn off his shoulder.


    ¡°A ruined mechanical arm is going to be the least of your worries,¡± said Kix.


    ¡°What?¡±


    ¡°Under the order of the Office of Reason, you have been deemed to be a Separatist.¡±


    ¡°I''m not a Separatist!¡±


    ¡°Yeah, that''s what they all say.¡±


    ¡°Save your sob story for the Office of Reason agents. I''m sure they will love to chat with you.¡±


    Arron turned his attention to Spike who still had his spiked club tail out wagging back and forth.


    ¡°That''s a cool special skill Spike has... Chewy, what is your special skill?¡± asked Arron as he turned to Chewy who was sitting next to him...


    ¡­ or was supposed to be.


    ¡°Chewy! Stop chewing on those parts!¡±

 Chapter 89: Sleep

    The garage door shut as Arron and Kix got out of the APC with Chewy and Spike.


    The day''s work of searching for people was not anything overly exhaustive in itself, but by adding the new prototypes to the mix they had their hands full trying to keep an eye on them to keep them out of trouble.


    Arron already had to promise to compensate the business owners that had several things chewed into unrecognizable junk pieces by Chewy. While Kix was having to deal with the over-aggressive Spike during each capture.


    ¡°We''re going to have to fill out so much paperwork... let''s go meet up with Tooth and Lexa in the main information hub,¡± said Arron with a sigh. Even though they had finished their patrol duties for the day they still had a mountain of paperwork waiting for them.


    ¡°Before that, we should find an empty room and keep these two in there so they don''t cause any trouble,¡± said Kix as he looked at Spike and Chewy.


    They used the mag-shoot to move to the main floor where many people in the hallways stopped what they were doing and stared at the robotic dogs that were walking next to Arron and Kix.


    ¡°Look, Megane! I want a dog like that!¡± said Misha pointing to the two dogs standing next to Arron and Kix as they stopped in front of the front desk.


    ¡°Can we leave these two in the interview room over there?¡± asked Kix.


    ¡°It''s empty for today. So I don''t see any problem,¡± Megane.


    ¡°Do you need us to keep an eye on them?¡± asked Misha with starry eyes.


    ¡°Uh... just make sure no one goes into the room and disturbs them,¡± said Kix as he and Arron led the two dogs into the empty interview room.


    Arron placed his hand on Chewy''s head and said in a firm tone, ¡°Chewy sleep.¡±


    With this command, Chewy lay down on the ground and the energetic yellow eyes winked out as power-save mode was activated.


    Kix did the same for Spike and then exited the room with Arron.


    ¡°We''ll only be gone for an hour or so,¡± said Kix, waving to the two girls at the front desk before getting back onto the mag-shoot.


    ¡°What a day,¡± said Arron.


    ***


    Thump! Two thick secure data-pads were tossed onto the table that Arron and Kix were now sitting at.


    ¡°Fill out every question as detailed as you possibly can,¡± said Lexa before leaving their opaque walled cubical.


    Ping!


    Arron''s NerViz alerted him to a call waiting from his wrist data-pad. [KEMY].


    ¡°Who is Kemy?¡± asked Kix.


    ¡°You got a call from them as well?¡±


    ¡°Just ignore it, we have a lot of paperwork to get through if we want to leave before dinner,¡± said Kix.


    The two of them declined the call and continued filling out the digital paperwork.


    Several seconds later a new notification appeared for a call waiting from the same person.


    After three more times of declining the call, they decided to pick it up. The call was a conference call linking the three together.


    ¡°We are in the middle of work. Please stop calling us or we will block you,¡± said Kix.


    ¡°That won''t work,¡± said the female whose head popped up as soon as the call started.


    You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.


    ¡°You''re that researcher from this morning! How did you get our personal numbers?¡± asked Arron.


    ¡°Ha! It was easy. Since you are my test subjects... I mean prototype testers. It is only natural I call you for a daily checkup and report,¡± said Kemy.


    Arron and Kix looked at each other with knowing looks.


    ¡°Quit stalling and spill the beans. How did they perform on your patrol? Did you test out all their functions yet? Were there any malfunctions? You didn''t break them, did you? If you do, I will send some agents to cause you trouble every day!¡± said Kemy, spitting out all her questions in one breath.


    ¡°Whoa whoa whoa! Slow down!¡± said Arron.


    ¡°We didn''t break the prototypes, if anything they broke a lot of people and other things,¡± said Kix.


    ¡°Oh? How is Spike doing?¡±


    ¡°As far as I can tell with only one day of observation, his actions are not different from what was stated in the documents,¡± said Kix.


    ¡°Have you had any problems with him obeying commands?¡±


    ¡°Not really... Most of the time he is well-behaved and does not cause any problems. It is just when he catches a target... then it becomes a bit troublesome. I have to manually pull him off and stop him from tearing the troubled target to shreds. He might be a bit too aggressive.¡±


    ¡°Ehhh... sounds like he is doing his job as programmed.¡±


    ¡°Is there a way to have voice communication for easier interaction and understanding?


    ¡°No! That would ruin them! Dogs do not talk!¡± said the female researcher.


    She turned her full attention to Arron and asked, ¡°How is my cutie Chewy doing?¡±


    ¡°Umm... Chewy for the most part listens to orders without having too many problems like Spike. The only troublesome thing is the part about him chewing on everything.¡±


    ¡°Stop! What did you just say?¡±


    ¡°... he chews on everything?¡±


    ¡°Chewy is not a guy! Chewy is a cute girl doggie!¡±


    ¡°But it''s a robot... how can you tell?¡±


    ¡°Because I am the main creator! How could we create two male prototypes? Of course, we made one female and the other male it is only natural!¡± said Kemy matter-of-factly.


    ¡°Ehem... well, I know you wrote that Chewy has a special ''feature'', but it really is troublesome having her chew on everything.¡±


    ¡°Nothing we can do about it now since we are so far into the project. Just make sure to give her plenty of toys to chew on and you won''t have any problems. Well, if you don''t have anything important to report then I will end the call for today. Expect my call at the same time tomorrow!¡±


    With that, the call ended.


    ¡°What a troublesome person,¡± said Kix with a shake of his head.


    The two of them spent another half hour filling out the documents before they were allowed to leave the cubical and head back down to the front lobby to pick up the prototypes.


    ¡°Did anyone enter the room or disturb them?¡± asked Arron when they reached the front desk again.


    ¡°Nope. We made sure that no one messed with them! Everything should be as you left it,¡± said Misha.


    The door slid open revealing a terrible sight. Tens of hover-chairs were laying all over the ground chewed to scrap pieces or having large bites taken out of them. Chewy was sitting in a corner gnawing on the leg of the sturdy table.


    Both Arron and Kix stood there stunned at the sight for a few seconds.


    ¡°Chewy no! Stop chewing on the table!¡± said Arron as he rushed over to Chewy and pulled her away from the table.


    Chewy let out a low robotic whimper at not being allowed to finish gnawing through the thick table leg.


    Arron looked to Spike who was still lying in sleep mode and then went back to Chewy.


    ¡°How did you get out of Sleep mode?¡±


    Chewy only cocked her head to the side confused at the question.


    ¡°Sigh... let me get cleaned up and we can head home.¡±


    ¡°Look''s like you''ll be having your hands full with your prototype,¡± said Kix with a smile.


    ***


    ¡°Time for bed Chewy,¡± said Arron.


    He had just finished his nightly cleanup and used the restroom before walking to his room.


    Chewy only looked up from the piece of metal pipe she was chewing on for a second to say [Arf.] acknowledging Arron.


    ¡°Come on, you''re coming with me to my room. I can''t let you stay out here tearing up everything.¡±


    Chewy stood up with her metal pipe in her mouth and walked into the small room laying down near the side of the bed.


    Sitting on the side of the bed Arron placed his hand on her head and said, ¡°Chewy sleep.¡±


    Chewy lowered her head and her eyes went dark as she went into power-save mode.


    The tired Arron flopped down on his bed and pulled his covers up over his body and fell asleep.


    Crunch, Crunch, Crunch...


    Arron woke up and looked at the clock on the ceiling.


    It had only been a half hour since he had fallen asleep.


    He reached out his hand and placed it on Chewy''s head and in a groggy voice said, ¡°Chewy sleep.¡±


    Silence¡­


    ...


    Crunch, Crunch, Crunch.

 Chapter 90: Firebug

    Several days passed allowing Arron and Kix to grow accustomed to having Spike and Chewy with them every second of the day.


    Their relationship grew more friendly with the prototype robo-dogs. Even though they knew they were just robotic AIs, they felt far different from any robot or drone that they had interacted with before. Their close attachment to the two was far from what they had expected at the beginning of the project.


    Sector 7, Zone 1.


    Arron and Kix stood on the main street that was now blocked off by large opaque holo-screens.


    The automated AI traffic control rerouted the morning''s heavy traffic down a smaller side street causing even worse congestion than normal for both vehicles and foot traffic.


    Arron watched as Chewy continued to sniff the area around the burnt-out hovercar that lay in the middle of the road.


    The usual investigation drones were not present at the crime scene as Arron and Kix had been put on the case and ordered to take the two prototypes with them to test their capability in gathering information and tracking down the troubled suspect.


    ¡°Are you still having problems with Chewy waking up at night?¡± asked Kix as he watched Spike sniffing the burnt-out hovercar.


    ¡°It is not as bad as the first few days. I found out that if I feed her some synth energy jelly she is less likely to keep waking up. But...she does not like the pickled pickle flavor,¡± said Arron as he remembered the mess made after feeding her the sour food.


    ¡°Weird, Spike doesn''t eat anything. He only charges up each night and that''s it.¡±


    ¡°Chewy likes treats I guess. It''s the only way to get her to calm down.¡±


    ¡°How many fires does this one make?¡± asked Kix pointing to the burnt-out hover car.


    ¡°The 9th or 10th one. What I''m interested in is how it ended up here,¡± said Arron.


    ¡°From what I''ve gathered from the local surveillance system and security drones, the vehicle was on fire while driving on autopilot down several streets. The last bit of information that was uploaded before the hovercar''s black box was melted, found nothing wrong and also stated that there were no occupants inside,¡± said Tooth who was speaking in the corner of their helmets'' visor.


    ¡°So someone hacked into the hovercar''s AI and messed with the software functions,¡± said Kix.


    ¡°With such an out-in-the-open crime happening how come we have no leads yet?¡± asked Arron.


    ¡°The firebug has not slipped up to reveal themselves on any surveillance systems or leave behind any damning evidence to trace them. They have only gotten more extreme as time has gone on, the first few cases linked to them were small trash fires that had been put out by passing people or drones. Now the fires are getting closer to buildings and stores. So far no one has been harmed as far as we can tell. But at this rate, it is only a matter of when, not if someone will die. Let''s hope you can take care of everything before that happens,¡± said Toothbrush.


    Arron looked at the stream of data flowing by on the left of his helmet''s visor. It was the detailed information from the scans that Chewy was doing. There was data on all the scents that could be traced as well as visual scans of the remains. All of this was used to try and find what chemical or chemicals had been used.


    A large list of chemicals were showing up with a percentage next to their name giving them a probability of how likely it was the cause of the fire. All the information was being streamed back to Tooth as well in the M1 HQ''s information office.


    With the new information gathered from this crime scene, Chewy and Spike could use it to compare to any past or future information. If they were lucky it could be used to sniff out a culprit if they showed up at or near the location of the crime.


    ¡°I spoke too soon. This just got really bad. Turn on the news!¡± said Toothbrush.


    Arron and Kix rushed back to the APC to check on the muted news that was playing above the dashboard.


    Spike and Chewy noticed the high tension in both Arron and Kix, so they stopped nosing around in the wreckage and darted over to their partner full of energy and ready for action.


    ¡°... the 69th floor has completely caught on fire. What you are seeing right now is tens of security drones flying to the building to try and limit the fire spreading to other floors and nearby buildings. They will do this until the firefighters arrive and can put it out,¡± said Fela.


    ¡°If I am not mistaken this is one of the ten Mega-partments that mother and father pledged to build in less than a year to help with the housing shortage in sector 10. We reported on this great feat just a few ¡­¡± Kommy paused as he looked to the side toward someone off-screen.


    ¡°Excuse me, I misspoke. Mother and Father did not build this one, they only funded the project allowing a contractor to build just this one,¡± his face as expressionless as before.


    ¡°I see. That explains why such cheap material was used allowing for a fire to easily burn through the entire floor,¡± said Fela.


    ¡°Right,¡± said Kommy, nodding his head. ¡°Mother and Father would never try to cut corners as they care too much for everyone no matter what level of the Megacity they live on!¡±


    ¡°From what we can see right now, the 68th to 70th floor have both caught fire and are now completely burned out. Currently, the death toll is estimated around the low number of 1200 dead give or take 100 or more. ¡±


    ¡°Overall that is quite a small number if I have to say so myself.¡±


    Ping!


    ¡°Kix, Arron, you are to head to the new M&F Mega-partments in sector 10 zone 1 and help the firefighter investigations. We need you to see if you can match this with the other firebug crimes,¡± said Lexa as she popped up on their visors with a pinging notification ringing in their ears.


    ¡°Got it, Spike in,¡± said Kix.


    ¡°Chewy, come on,¡± said Arron.


    ***


    Get to the building.


    Kix was forced to park the car a block away as the whole block around the burning building was shut down due to the danger of falling debris, some of it still burning.


    Several dozen news drones were flying in the air capturing every angle they could of the now huge gaping hole in the building where the three floors had been burnt out with a large black plume of smoke rolling out of the gap. All that was left was the main skeleton structure of the building that was still holding firm even with the weight of several hundred floors above the empty gap.


    A hover-copter that held a huge water tank underneath nudged its way in past the buzzing news drones as it continued to spray the last of its water on the smoldering fire sending up large plumes of steam into the air blocking the view of the large gap for a few seconds until the fire was put out.


    ¡°Look at all that water going to waste,¡± said Kix as they watched the steam disappear.


    The hover-copter descended from the 69th floor and landed near a waterspout that was manned by firefighters who began to fill up the tank once more for one last pass of the entire building to make sure the fire was out for good.


    Arron and Kix took this moment to walk over to the firefighters as they worked the pump and wrangled the squirming water hose.


    ¡°What''s M1 doing here?¡± asked one of the firefighters when they saw Arron and Kix show up.


    ¡°Orders to help investigate the fire, it may be related to another case,¡± said Kix.


    Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel.


    ¡°My name''s Fiah, we''re more than happy to allow you to do the grunt work. But you''ll have to wait here while we make sure the fire is out and the building is not going to collapse. If everything is fine I can take you up to the 68th floor in the hover-copter,¡± said Fiah as he held out his hand for Kix to shake.


    Kix shook it with a firm grip while Arron spoke up, ¡°Why do you need to take us up by hover-copter?¡±


    ¡°The stairs for several of the floors have been completely burned out. No way to access many of the floors. The only way to investigate is by entering through the side of the large burnt-out gap.¡±


    ¡°What''s going to happen to all the people on floors 72 to 300?¡±


    ¡°I''m sure they''ll figure out something.¡±


    Arron and Kix were once again forced to watch as the Hover-copter ascended to the gaping hole and sent up a smaller plume of mist for a few seconds as the area was completely cooled down.


    When the hover-copter landed once again the water tank was detached from underneath its belly and the pilot inside waved Arron and Kix toward the doors that had just been opened by the co-pilot.


    They rushed forward and hopped inside along with Spike and Chewy.


    ¡°Interesting companions you have there,¡± shouted the Co-pilot trying to be heard over the whirring of the engines as he slammed the side door shut.


    The loud noise was muffled allowing Arron to only have to speak a little louder than normal.


    ¡°Classified Office of Reason prototypes,¡± was all Arron said.


    ¡°I see,¡± said the co-pilot, nodding his head, not saying or asking anything more lest he get himself in trouble.


    As the Hover-copter rose from the ground Arron had to frantically pull on Chewy''s collar stopping her from biting several importation-looking metal parts attached to the inside of the Hover-copter


    ¡°Chewy no biting! That''s dangerous!¡±


    The hover-copter smooth ascent stopped as soon as it reached the 68th floor where it hovered a few feet away from the large gap.


    The co-pilot opened the door for them allowing smoke and steam to enter the cabin, with a silent motion of one hand chopping forward the co-pilot gave them the okay to exit.


    Arron gulped as he looked out although they were hovering almost right next to the building there was still a gap of a few feet of empty air between them and the burnt floor of the building.


    The news drones sensing something new was happening swooped in to get a better view and managed to capture both Kix and Arron jumping from the Hover-copter and landing on the burned-out 68th floor.


    Both Spike and Chewy jumped out after them landing gracefully next to their human handlers who were still trying to catch their balance in all the rubble.


    ¡°What''s this? Tell them to Zoom in a bit more,¡± said Kommy. ¡°It appears... that the firefighters are not the ones inspecting the damage but instead¡­ M1 has arrived with some new toys.¡±


    ¡°Odd, what are they doing playing around here? This is no place for that,¡± said Fela.


    Arron and Kix were not connected to the news stream right now so they could not hear the comments and jabs being made at them as they did an initial scan of the burned-out floors with their helmets cameras. Their helmets filtered out the worst of the smoke smell allowing them to concentrate on their investigation.


    Just by looking up, they could see through several floors all the way up to the bottom of the scorched 72nd floor.


    ¡°Chewy scan the area for any matches from the other cases.¡±


    Spike also joined Chewy in the search for evidence.


    Arron made sure to stay close to Chewy as he was constantly having to pull her away from melted chunks of Para-steel that she wanted to eat.


    The data was flowing in and several beeps started to appear as several of the chemical names were highlighted on their visor as a match.


    ¡°Arf!¡± said chewy notifying Arron of an important scent match! She was pawing at a burnt item that did not look like It belonged to the building.


    Arron looked at the streaming data and found that there was still a faint human scent on the item that matched several of the random scents from the other cases.


    ¡°Kix, we got something over here,¡± said Arron as he squatted down and scanned the item more thoroughly with his helmet''s camera.


    While Akira and Kix were both looking at the data several voices reached their ears from above.


    ¡°Cough.. cough... Hello!? Cough... Can you hear me?¡±


    Arron looked up toward where he heard the voice and saw there were several people gathered around a hole where the 72nd-floor stairs had once been connected to the floors below.


    ¡°Cough... we need help! There are too many to count dying up here from smoke inhalation and severe steam burns! We need medical help!¡±


    Arron stood up as he scratched his neck unsure how to handle this. They were not equipped to handle such a major problem.


    After a brief discussion with Kix, they decided on a solution.


    The two took out their rope wire that was connected to a heavy-duty hook and loaded it into their service weapons barrel.


    ¡°Stand clear!¡± shouted Kix.


    The heads of the people staring at them quickly disappeared frightened at the hooks being pointed at them.


    Poof! Poof! The two hooks shot up through the air and flew through the hole In the 72nd floor embedding themselves deep into the 73rd floor which was relatively undamaged.


    Just to be sure that it was safe enough they used stakes to secure the rope into the 68th floor making it taunt and with no possibility of swaying around. There was still plenty of rope hanging down into the next floor below.


    They quickly attached a belaying system with a few straps to the ropes and pressed the option for them to rise following the rope line.


    ¡°You guys will have to use this to get down from there! Don''t panic and stay calm!¡± shouted Arron.


    ¡°Only two people can safely come down at once! If there really are people in trouble you should go gather them and let the others know that if they want to escape to come down here in an orderly manner,¡± shouted Kix.


    A female''s head popped back into view and looked at Arron and Kix below them.


    ¡°What? That''s it?¡± shouted a female who was in a hysteric panic.


    ¡°Tooth how long until the rescue team arrives to help the trapped people?¡± asked Arron.


    Tooth popped back up on his visor and answered, ¡°Uhh... just a sec let me check. The notes I have say they are gathering right now. They are still in the process of gathering all the equipment they need. Should be there within the hour.¡±


    Arron looked back at the lady and said, ¡°This is the best we can do right now. We were only sent here to investigate! We don''t have the means to do anything else,¡± said Arron.


    ¡°We have people dying up here!¡±


    ¡°Look lady, we have done all we can, what else do you expect the two of us to do? You can stay up there and wait for the rescue team that may be here in an hour or you can use the ropes to get to the stairs below and exit the building yourselves,¡± said Kix.


    Several curses were sent toward Arron and Kix. Even though they had no control over the situation they found themselves in, they became the target of the enraged survivors as they lashed out in anger.


    ¡°Hey! You two! Are you finished?¡± shouted the co-pilot over the hover-copters external speakers.


    ¡°Just a second!¡± shouted Arron.


    He waited to see what the people would do not wanting to leave just yet.


    It didn''t take long before two of the civilians attached the straps to their legs and grabbed the belaying device.


    When they reached the 68th floor Arron could see that their exposed skin was all puffy pink and red from steam burns.


    They looked like they had been half-cooked inside a steamer.


    Even with the helmet''s filtration set to low, they were able to catch a whiff of cooked flesh which was not a pleasant smell but not unfamiliar due to the nature of their line of work.


    After making sure that the rope was able to handle what it needed to, Arron and Kix along with Spike and Chewy jumped through the air into the waiting hover-copter.


    ***


    Chewy and Spike were hot on the tail of the troubled suspect whose scent they had gathered at several of the crime scenes.


    Arron and Kix followed them as they ran toward an industrial building.


    They were able to see someone escape inside the building.


    Slam! The sound of a large door could be heard from inside the building.


    When Arron and Kix arrived inside they found that there was only a large vault that was now shut. Red alarm lights were flashing above the vault door.


    ¡°This vault, is it what I think it is?¡± asked Arron.


    ¡°It is,¡± said Kix.


    Several running footsteps were heard behind them.


    ¡°Hey, you criminals get away from the vault! This area is restricted due to the sensitive material we store here!¡±


    Arron and Kix turned around and silently tapped on their badges which projected their identification.


    ¡°M1? What are you doing here?¡±


    ¡°We don''t have time for useless chatter. Are you the manager?¡± asked Kix.


    ¡°Yes.¡±


    ¡°Then open the vault, a troubled suspect entered and closed the door,¡± said Kix.


    ¡°In there?¡± asked the manager pointing to the vault.


    ¡°Yes. Now hurry and open it up!¡±


    ¡°...¡±


    ¡°Why are you stalling? Are you in league with the person?¡±


    ¡°I''m not, I''m not!¡± said the manager.


    After going through the many security locks, the thick vault door opened once again.


    Kix sighed and shook his head.


    The troubled target way laying on the ground clutching his neck with his face blue from lack of oxygen.


    ¡°Chewy, is this the troubled suspect?¡± asked Arron.


    ¡°Arf!¡± said chewy after taking a quick sniff of the dead man.


    ¡°Looks like we have our target,¡± said Arron as he looked at the flowing data.


    ¡°Separatist?¡± asked Kix.


    Shook his head. ¡°His records are clean, no address.¡±


    ¡°So he''s just some homeless person. You would be surprised at how many cases end like this,¡± said Kix.

 Chapter 91: Who?

    Sector 7, zone 2.


    Arron walked down the cramped streets filled with large warehouses, garages, and mechanic shops, there was little to no human traffic or even hovercars passing through the area.


    Even though right now in many other sectors and zones of the first level the roads were clogged with the evening rush hour, his only company on this street was the hundreds of flying drones carrying metal boxes, a large presence of patrolling security drones, and Chewy.


    Chewy was sniffing the ground leading the way to Arron''s target for this outing. He had decided that instead of using the well-tested NavGuide he would test out Chewy''s new navigation system.


    He really couldn''t tell a difference between the two other than one was a light pixie and one was a robotic dog. Although he did not know why the researchers had programmed Chewy''s navigation mode to make her sniff the ground while she led him to the desired destination. It made him look like he was a hunter that was hunting some big game inside the city.


    Chewy stopped and sat down in front of a decent-sized Garage. She turned her head and looked back at Arron proudly, ¡°Arf.¡±


    ¡°This is the place?¡± asked Arron, looking at the holo-card he had been given some time ago, and then back up at the sign on the garage.


    ¡°Huh, it was quite easy getting here,¡± said Arron, as he looked at the open door to the building where a lot of loud mechanical noises were coming from.


    ¡°Should we go in?¡± he asked Chewy.


    ¡°Arf!¡±


    Arron walked to the open door but before he could enter, two well-worn cleaning bots popped out from the side of the entrance and blocked his way with a thick metal mop and a broom which they waved threateningly at Arron.


    Chewy let out low electric growls at the bots ready to pounce and tear the old bots into garbage.


    ¡°Chewy sit,¡± said Arron putting his hand on Chewy''s back. ¡°Hello? Anyone here?¡±


    The loud whirs and thuds continued just as loud as before.


    Arron waited for a minute before getting ready to shout again but he was stopped as he heard a pair of footsteps making their way toward him.


    Two females appeared out from between rows of towering sturdy shelves filled with parts. They were rather young appearing to be in their early to mid-twenties, not exactly who he was expecting to see in such a rundown part of town.


    Arron stared at the older of the two girls who was wearing glasses and had a stern look in her eyes as she took a solid stance in front of him.


    She looked at Arron''s uniform that he was still wearing and then quickly inspected Chewy with a great interest for a few seconds. When she looked back at Arron she saw that he was still staring at her.


    ¡°Yes, I am Jena,¡± said Jena in a tired voice.


    ¡°Who?¡± asked a confused Arron.


    ¡°Jena,¡± she said confidently. Before she could decline to give him an autograph...


    ¡°Am I supposed to know you?¡± asked Arron, a bit confused.


    Chewy looked between Jena and Arron just as confused as he was.


    Jena blinked a few times and was quite shocked at hearing this.


    ¡°Are you a caveman? How could you not know who Jena is?¡± asked the younger girl standing near Jena.


    ¡°I guess you could say that. I was in the military until some time ago, so I am still getting up to date on a lot of things. With all my work I don''t keep up on local politics unless it affects my job.¡±


    ¡°What? Jena is not a politician! She''s the best actress in all of my favorite movies and Tv shows!¡±


    ¡°Oh?¡± asked Arron his eyebrow-raising in doubt.


    ¡°That''s enough Julia,¡± said Jena holding up her hand to stop the heated Julia from blowing a gasket. ¡°Sir, may I ask why you have come to our garage?¡±


    Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.


    Arron accessed the Holo-card and let it float visibly above his hand.


    ¡°An old man who is friends with Chief Chesty told me to come here if I ever needed parts.¡±


    Hearing this the two perked up. Although they were not losing money like before it was still a struggle to keep above water with the bubble burst still affecting the market as well as new regulations always popping up.


    ¡°Ah! You have indeed come to the right place. We have many rare and hard-to-find parts here! And if we do not have it we can find it for you for a low fee,¡± said Jena ready to pounce. A new fire was lit in her eyes as she looked at Arron like he was a luxurious full meal course.


    Chewy stepped in front of Arron and let out warning growls letting Jena know she was not allowed to eat her butler/personal attendant.


    ¡°What a strange robo-dog toy. I haven''t seen one like it before. Is it one of the newest models on the 4th level?¡± asked Jena.


    ¡°A research Prototype,¡± said Arron as he grabbed onto the harness he had made to keep Chewy under control.


    ¡°Ah! Where are my manners? Please come right this way to my office where we can discuss what parts you need and see if we can help you with anything else,¡± said Jena.


    Arron held Chewy''s harness tightly, stopping her from jumping at several parts on the lower shelves as they passed through the rows of thousands of random parts.


    Arron entered a small office that only had a desk, two hover chairs, and a few data-bank server cabinets.


    ¡°If you have a list of the parts you need, I can do a quick search of our inventory and get the items to you quickly if we do have them,¡± said Jena sitting behind the metal desk.


    Arron accessed the files on his wrist-datapad and then swiped the recently created list toward Jena.


    The list opened up hovering over the desk on the right side while she tapped onto a holo-keypad and opened another window to start her search for the parts.


    ¡°Looks like we have everything you need,¡± said Jena a few moments later as she tapped a few more options on a menu. ¡°The service drones will gather the parts shortly.¡±


    Arron was quite pleased with the quick and efficient process. These parts were hard to get as they were more advanced than the normal parts seen on level 1 of the mega-city.


    Seeing Arron still staring at her she politely asked, ¡°Is there something else I can help you with?¡±


    ¡°I was just wondering... Why do you still wear glasses?¡±


    ¡°Uhh...¡± Jena was thrown for a loop at the question.


    Ping! Bleep!


    Several opaque blinking notifications popped up over her desk causing Jena to frown after reading them.


    She pressed a button on her desk and a third screen popped up over her desk as the internal call connected to a second office.


    A familiar face of the old man he met before popped up over the desk.


    ¡°How can I help you, my beautiful niece? Wait... shouldn''t you already be off work for today?¡±


    Her uncle saw her accusing gaze and tried to flatter her to try and soothe her anger, even though he had no idea what he did this time.


    ¡°How many times do I have to tell you to stop moving parts from their designated spot?¡±


    ¡°I was just polishing them,¡± said the old man while he scratched his head. ¡°What''s this all about?¡±


    ¡°We have a customer waiting for parts, but the service drones can not find a few of them because of your ''Polishing'' habits.¡±


    ¡°Oh? I''ll be right over!¡±


    ¡°Bring the...¡± the call cut off before she could finish her sentence.


    A few seconds later the door opened.


    ¡°Ah! It''s the new officer under the chief! I knew It was the right idea to give you my business card. What brings you here?¡± asked the old man as he walked over to the desk and looked at the list.


    ¡°Hmm, hmm, yes... I see why you came here. Follow me, I can get the parts you need!¡±


    ¡°You wouldn''t have to get it yourself if the parts were in their proper place!¡± said an exasperated Jena.


    As the old man walked to the door he noticed Chewy standing next to Arron.


    ¡°Oh! Is this the new prototype I heard about from the chief?¡± asked the old man, forgetting all about the hunt for parts, and walked over to Chewy to begin a thorough inspection.


    Chewy''s ears flattened back as she leaned away from Jena''s uncle and moved closer to Arron while letting out a few quiet electric whines pleading for Arron to save her from the crazy man.


    ¡°Ahem,¡± Arron cleared his throat loud enough to bring the old man back to his senses.


    ¡°Oh right, the parts. Right, this way!¡±


    Arron followed right behind the old man and Jena while Chewy stayed as close to Arron as she could, almost tripping him a few times.


    As they made their way to the wayward parts Arron found an old model 1967 Phord Zelby ZT500 hover-car. His eyes grew large as he inspected it. Unfortunately, it was not in the best shape and was missing many parts.


    ¡°You have a good eye for old hovercars, she''s a beauty right?¡±


    ¡°Definitely I would love to have one myself!¡± said Arron.


    ¡°I keep telling Jean that this is a special car all the time but she is always so grouchy. It is my passion project.¡±


    ¡°It''s taking up space that could be used for other things!¡± said Jena as she picked up the missing parts and then taped up a receipt for Arron.


    ¡°This will be the final price of everything. If you are satisfied with it we can ring up everything in the office and make the payment there.¡±


    Arron grimaced when he looked at the cost but he needed the parts and there were few to no shops that could be really trusted so he only nodded his head.


    ¡°Great! You are helping us out big time by buying these. If you ever need other parts, come to us first! We also do mechanical odd jobs.¡± said Jena, full of smiles. After fishing up such a large sale her anger from before was non-existent.

 Chapter 92: Dinner Date

    Several days later.


    Arron stepped out of his apartment''s Mag-shoot and into the 300th-floor hallway.


    Unlike his normal routine, he had not returned with Kix and Tooth after work.


    Instead, he had gone to sector 12''s MagLev and waited a half hour for an important person.


    ¡°Riding on the MagLev has been on the to-do list for a while, so I decided to check it off today instead of my normal mode of transportation to come and see you. I have also been wanting to see what normal apartments look like,¡± said Yumi.


    ¡°Where are your usual guards?¡± asked Arron. This was something that was bothering him for some time.


    ¡°I snuck out of my room without them noticing! Tehee~,¡± said Yumi as she made a cute victory pose and stuck the tip of her tongue out while winking at Arron.


    Arron decided not to comment on her odd pose as he did not know if this pose was a new fad in her social group or just her own weird personal quirk.


    ¡°That won''t cause any problems for us will it?¡± asked Arron.


    ¡°I left my father a note. It should be fine.¡±


    Arron quickly unlocked the door to his apartment with his odd hand movements.


    ¡°Please after you,¡± said Arron stepping to the side of the open door.


    ¡°Thank you.¡±


    Before Yumi could walk into the apartment, Chewy slid in front of her and slowly sauntered into the room first.


    Yumi looked at Arron who only shrugged.


    The door closed silently behind them as the lights in the room turned on.


    Not much had changed inside his apartment over the many months that he had been living here. There were only two new additions to the living/dining area. A second-hand poofy couch and an old 2d holo-tv hanging on the wall, it was several generations behind the newest models on the market and was almost as old as him.


    ¡°How quaint,¡± said Yumi as she looked around at the almost bare apartment. ¡°Did you just move in?¡±


    ¡°No, I''ve been living here ever since I moved here and got a job,¡± said Arron as he walked over to his small refrigerator which was rarely used. ¡°Feel free to make yourself comfortable while I prepare dinner for the both of us.¡±


    Arron accessed a few options on his Wrist-datapad and connected to the holo-tv, turning it on for Yumi to watch while he was busy cooking.


    ¡°I don''t pay for any of the extra shows so there are only the free news channels. I hope that is okay,¡± said Arron as he started to take out fresh ingredients from the refrigerator.


    ¡°You like watching the news?¡± asked Yumi curiously.


    ¡°I wouldn''t say I like it, but with all that is going I have to keep up to date on everything so I''m not left behind,¡± said Arron as he started preparing the fresh ingredients for cooking.


    ¡°I''m surprised that you know how to cook real food! Most people I know on the first level just eat synth energy-jelly or use a synth-processor to create different meals. Do you cook often?¡± asked Yumi, looking at Arron''s well-worn synth processor in the corner.


    ¡°Well... as a proper host, how could I offer you such a simple meal that was made from a synth processor,¡± said Arron. He was sweating a bit as he quickly decided not to open any of his few cabinets that were filled with nothing but synth energy-jelly and synth pouches for the processor.


    He had spent a large chunk of his monthly rations all to get the items for this fancy dinner.


    An awkward silence filled the air as the two did not know what else to talk about. The sound of Arron chopping, mincing and mashing the ingredients along with the low murmur of the news filled the silence.


    ¡°... the current 5-year plan set by the members under Mother and Father is on track to reach the goal well before the originally expected time frame ends,¡± said Kommy.


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    ¡°That''s right Kommy, the current 5-year plan to limit births by offering a healthy reward to all women who receive sterilization has been a major success on every floor but the first level,¡± said Fela shaking her head in exasperation.


    ¡°They are only causing themselves more problems. I heard that those who did receive the large rewards and benefits have already seen their reputation rise and many others in their local community are jealous of all the benefits they have received.¡±


    ¡°In other news...¡±


    Yumi turned to Arron and asked, ¡°What do you think about the new 5-year plan for the Megacity?¡±


    Arron was stumped for a second while he tried to find an answer that would not get him in trouble.


    ¡°It''s a bit odd. But they have their reasons for doing it I guess,¡± said Arron with a shrug.


    ¡°That''s all? You don''t have an opinion or find it anything more than ''odd''.¡±


    ¡°I have seen and have to deal with more strange things every day so yeah...¡± said Arron, as the silence returned to the room once again.


    Kommy''s voice continued to drone on as the two were quiet, ¡°... Mother and Father have asked The Office of Reason to crack down on the new scammers who are creating fake college certificates for low-tier job interviews. They have stated that the majority of these certificates are easy to spot so you will be caught. To date, several thousands of troubled criminals have already been normalized by The Office of Reason.¡±


    Arron finished cooking the food and placed it on a temperature plate. Which could keep the food hot or cold for as long as the food stayed on it. He grabbed two temperature glasses with one hand and grabbed a bottle of expensive wine, which he had to spend an even larger chunk of his food rations on. It was the price he had to pay just to get a rare wine that was not created with synth material.


    While walking out from the small kitchen area, he accessed the couch''s menu and activated its main function.


    The couch split into two chairs and moved several feet apart before turning 90* to face the other chair. From the base of where the two hovering couch chairs were previously, a white table rose and came to an average chest height between the two hover chairs.


    Arron placed the glasses and wine on the table and then grabbed the piping hot food from the counter and slid them onto the table.


    ¡°Let''s eat!¡± said Arron as he popped the cork and began to pour Yumi a glass of the expensive wine.


    They spent a pleasant half hour chatting about this and that while getting to know each other in more detail than their wild dates allowed before.


    Still, they did not go too deep as neither of them wanted to nose into the other''s private life, mainly their job.


    Arron was quick to clean up the plates, utensils, and glasses before putting them in the auto-washer and tapping on the couch menu to return it to its normal mode.


    He plopped down next to Yumi so that he could watch the news with her and continue their chat.


    ¡°AH!¡± said Yumi, when a jealous Chewy hopped onto the couch shoving her metal body in between Arron and Yumi.


    ¡°Chewy, what are you doing?¡± asked Arron.


    ¡°Arf,¡± said Chewy nonchalantly.


    ¡°What an odd robo-dog. Where did you get it?¡±


    ¡°Uh... well it''s... I''m testing it out for a friend... they like creating things,¡± said Arron as he tried to say something believable but did not connect him to his real job. ¡°And Chewy is a girl according to them.¡±


    ¡°How interesting... Anyways, how about we watch a movie! I know of several good ones that we can watch,¡± said Yumi.


    ¡°Sure,¡± said Arron.


    Yumi opened up the movie catalog on her newest model wrist datapad and started sorting through several million movies. While she did that Arron turned his attention back to the news.


    ¡°...the best hospital on the first level is severely short on human doctors and is looking to hire over a thousand to fill in the gap of those who have recently... passed away. For those interested, you must finish the first free year of college and take an additional second year of classes to learn the necessary skills for hacking into the mind and limbs of mechanical and biological implants. Programming classes are also an absolute must.¡±


    ¡°Speaking of that hospital, the new cremation reactor has been built to replace the decade-old reactor that was constantly breaking down. Its specs are said to be at least triple that of the previous generation''s cremation reactor,¡± said Kommy.


    ¡°That''s great news for everyone on the first level! With such a new reactor there should be fewer scheduled power outage maintenance in that sector. If the other hospitals can do the same then they can help power the power-hungry first level.¡±


    ¡°Mother and Father are sure wise in finding such a solution,¡± said Kommy.


    ¡°In other news, a new soap and fertilizer factory will be built soon to process the rising stockpile of ashes produced by the new reactors...¡±


    Arron''s jaw nearly fell to the floor upon hearing all this. He had never thought about it too deeply before but not that it was mentioned he realized there were no graveyards in all of the mega-city. If you looked hard enough he was sure you could find a few small plots on the land that the politicians and rich people leased from Mother and Father, but for the average citizen...


    ¡°Ah! I found the right movie!¡± said Yumi as she flicked the movie file toward the old Holo-tv.


    Arron''s NerViz notified him of a waiting notification.


    [Play holo-movie from user Yumi?] Arron tapped on yes.


    The news was immediately replaced with the title screen used for the promotion of the movie as it was quickly loaded.


    ¡°This movie is one of my favorites!¡± said Yumi, happy to have Arron watch it with her.


    Arron let out a small gasp when he saw the female lead actress.


    ¡°What? Have you seen it before?¡±


    ¡°No, I was meaning to watch it,¡± said Arron, looking away from the screen.


    ¡°Are you sure you wanted to watch it or just stare at the former actress Jena?¡± asked Yumi, her eyes squinting as she stared at Arron.

 Chapter 93: Sanctioned And Unsanctioned

    Sector 11, zone  2, near Everpreen college.


    Arron and Kix hopped out of the APC and onto the sidewalk in front of a shabby-looking mega-apartment complex.


    Both Chewy and Spike had been sent back to the Office of Reason research lab to undergo a thorough inspection, manual maintenance, and several software updates that were too sensitive to do over the holo-net.


    ¡°Kix, are you sure this is the new building near the new Everpreen college that was talked about in the report?¡±


    ¡°It''s the only building at the address Tooth gave us,¡± said Kix. Just to be sure he rechecked the details of their mission one more time.


    ¡°Why are they sending us to a simple domestic dispute? What are the police doing that they can''t handle this?¡±


    ¡°Do you need to even ask? The notes say it was the Office of Reason who sent the request that someone in M1 normalize the situation quickly.¡±


    The building''s security was rather lax and the two were able to enter easily so they could start their daily workout by running up several hundreds of stairs.


    ¡°...why is the mag-shoot of a new building already broken...¡± grumbled Arron as he ran up the stairs beside Kix.


    As they stepped onto floor 75, shouting could be heard coming from a room at the end of the hall through an open door.


    Clothes, broken dishes, and other knick-knacks were scattered all over the hallway in front of the apartment''s door.


    As Arron cautiously stepped over the items and got ready to look inside... Swoosh! Crash!


    A whole freaking synth-food processor flew over his head nearly smashing into his helmet.


    ¡°What the...¡± said Arron as he cursed under his breath and jumped to the right side of the door while Kix posted up on the left side.


    ¡°Occupants of apartment 30, this is M1 Officer Kix, come out with your hands up!¡± Kix used the external speaker on his helmet in order to make sure that the fighting couple would hear him over their shouts and the destruction of personal items.


    The fighting stopped and a young man and woman both in their late teens exited the apartment.


    ¡°What took you so long!? She''s gone crazy!¡± said the young man holding a piece of cloth to his nose to stop the bleeding. Other than a bleeding nose, he had a black eye, and his clothes were torn as if he had just escaped a wild animal attack.


    ¡°How so?¡± asked Arron as he scanned the two to bring up their identity.


    ¡°I let her stay here last night, but this morning when I was ready to go to my part-time job, I asked her to leave so I could lock the apartment. She went mental and started attacking me and destroying my stuff!¡±


    Arron looked at the young woman who was still holding a broken armrest of a hover chair. ¡°Do your jobs you mutts,¡± said the young woman glaring at them.


    Arron was taken aback by her cold and aggressive voice. He frowned as he looked at the two teens in front of him and then looked to Kix for confirmation.


    Kix only nodded his head entirely unfazed at the wild scene in front of them.


    Arron stepped forward taking out his mag-cuffs, ¡°You are to be normalized by order of the Office of Reason.¡±


    ¡°Wha..? Why me?¡± asked the shocked young male teen as Arron cuffed him.


    ¡°Sir, don''t worry. It will only be for a few days until both of you as well as this... predicament can cool off,¡± said Kix.


    ¡°What are you talking about? Look at me! I have bruises everywhere, my belongings are being broken and this is my apartment!¡±


    ¡°Ma''am we hope there are no other disturbances that will cause us to have to come back here,¡± said Arron.


    This narrative has been purloined without the author''s approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.


    ¡°Hmph...¡± the young female did not even say another word. She just turned around and slammed the door in both Arron''s and Kix''s faces.


    ***


    Office of reason building.


    In a brightly lit white room, three white-suit agents sat at a white table with visors covering half of their faces as they silently read a stream of new information scrolling up from one of the secure datapads.


    ¡°The situation has been normalized and the informant has sent us all the data gathered so far,¡± said the male white-suit agent sitting in-between two female white-suit agents.


    ¡°Very interesting...¡± said the female agent on the left as she read the information.


    ¡°Should we invite our ''guest'' to talk to us now?¡± asked the female agent on the right.


    The male agent tapped a few options on his wrist-datapad and sent off a message to those outside the room.


    A few seconds later the door opened and a female in her mid 20''s with black hair and a disheveled skirt and blouse was shoved inside.


    She stood there frozen from shock as she stared at the three agents.


    ¡°Take a seat,¡± commanded the male agent in a deep voice.


    The female absentmindedly nodded and sat down across from them. When she did, the chair automatically locked her legs and arms down so she could not cause any trouble.


    ¡°Professor Shepherd? You are one of the new professors at Everpreen?¡± asked the male agent.


    ¡°Y...yes,¡± said Shepherd in a small stuttering voice.


    ¡°Do you know why you are here?¡±


    ¡°No.¡±


    ¡°You are accused of presenting unsanctioned information to your students. To be specific the information posted during your block 1 class [The Heroes of the Troubles],¡± said the female agent on the left.


    ¡°What is wrong with having a debate about that?¡±


    ¡°...,¡± the three agents looked at each other for a few seconds silently chatting between themselves before turning back to Shepherd.


    ¡°This is basically debating whether or not Mother and Father are wrong. It is showing your disdain for them. I assure you Mother and Father are never wrong. This material is not acceptable in the type of learning environment we are trying to create. Do you see how this subject is not and can not be intellectually neutral?¡±


    ¡°But it is up for debate.¡±


    ¡°Ah... but, I mean you''re perfectly welcome to your thoughts when you keep them in your head. But when you bring this into the classroom that can become problematic. That... it creates an unsafe learning environment for students.¡±


    ¡°...but when they leave the university they are going to be exposed to these ideas. So I don''t see how I am doing a disservice to the class by exposing them to ideas already out there... and I''m sorry... I''m crying. I''m stressed out because, this to me, is so wrong,¡± said Shepherd, while tears spilled out of her eyes and fell onto her lap.


    It was hard for her to see clearly now and she could not wipe the tears away with her arms since they were locked to the armrest of the hover-chair.


    The three Office of reason continued to stare at her unfazed by her tears.


    Even with her tears, she seemed to have found the courage in her belief and kept talking, ¡°The thing is, can you shield them from those ideas? Am I supposed to comfort them and make sure they are isolated away from this? Is that what the point of this is? Because to me that is so against what a university is about. I was not advocating for anything, I was just presenting both sides of the information.¡±


    There was a short silence before one of the female agents spoke.


    ¡°So the thing is... if you''re presenting something like this you have to think about the type of teaching climate that you are creating. This is counter to everything that Mother and Father as well as the Office of Reason stand for. Even if you had gotten permission, you must present it in a way to let the students know that it is a wrong idea and must be avoided.¡±


    ¡°But that''s taking sides,¡± said Shepherd.


    The three agents once again silently talked among themselves using secure comms.


    ¡°Originally this was only going to be a serious warning but...¡± said the female agent on the left.


    ¡°This is indeed a more serious situation than the gathered information led us to believe,¡± said the female agent on the right.


    ¡°We''ll have to relieve you of your teaching degree,¡± said the male agent.


    ¡°But I spent 4 years learning to be a professor and I still have a debt of 100k credits!¡±


    ¡°Don''t worry! This is your first offense and from all the background checks and monitoring we have done, we decided to be lenient with you. You don''t have to worry about cleaning your stuff up, the cleaning bots are already disposing of all of your items in your old office and classroom.¡±


    ¡°What am I supposed to do for work then!?¡± asked a distraught Shepherd.


    ¡°You need to keep looking forward! There is no point in looking back at your major errors, you can not erase them now that we have all of them recorded. You will need to do your part to keep the city running.¡±


    ¡°I hear the new soap factories, fertilizer factories, and other random factories are always hiring,¡± said the female agent on the left.


    ¡°Well, she can apply for a job there after she finishes her re-education,¡± said the male Office of Reason agent.


    ¡°What? I thought you said you were going to be lenient?¡± asked Shepherd.


    ¡°Of course we are, you committed a class 2 act of terrorism. Instead of 30 years of re-education or death, we are letting you off with only having to be re-educated for 5 years.¡±

 Chapter 94: Mr. Melos Speech

    ¡°... That''s right Fela, the major news portals have been in an uproar with the amount of readers and commenters on the viral news article. The news article we are talking about is the leaked information that claims to list things being taught or not allowed to be taught at the free colleges on the first floor. The leaked information has been deemed to be fake by the Office of Reason. They say that it is just a tactic that the separatists are using to try and sow discord with the citizens of the first level and the party of Mother and Father,¡± said a female reporter who was standing just outside one of Everpreen college''s new buildings that had replaced several nearby old buildings.


    ¡°That''s good news to hear. I am sure that the Office of Reason is currently hard at work making sure that none of the fake news articles and past holo-vids exist to spread false information and harm the citizens,¡± said Fela sitting on a hover chair next to Kommy in their news studio.


    ¡°Even though this information has been deemed false there are still several conspiracy theorists that believe it. One of the main believers, Mr. Melo, has picked tonight to give a speech about the disproved and completely false leaked material. He says that the information was given to him by a professor with first-hand knowledge. The professor he is talking about was recently found to be a separatist and was normalized,¡± said Kommy.


    ¡°Tifa, what is the situation like down there right now?¡± asked Fela.


    ¡°So far it seems quite festival, with a lot of people gathering in the nearby city blocks just to see the speaker. The numbers are skyrocketing into the thousands.¡±


    ¡°And how is the security?¡±


    ¡°I have only seen a dozen or so M1 special officers and another dozen or so security drones. M1 is being lazy as usual,¡± said Tifa, not bothering to hide her disdain for the M1 officers.


    Arron muted the news and let out an unhappy grunt before asking, ¡°Why are they even allowing such a person to speak if this is considered harmful misinformation?¡±


    Kix, who was standing next to him, only shrugged and did not say anything. They continued to patrol a small portion of the event area in front of the college, where a decent-sized stage had been erected to host the speech.


    ¡°Don''t think too hard about it,¡± said Captain Pointer over their helmet''s secure comms.


    Unit 3 of the ERF had been called out to join another patrol unit in the area due to the several death threats that the speaker had received.


    ¡°Some of those people are just mental and not right in the head. They''re openly threatening to murder this guy as well as threatening all of his supporters...¡± said Arron.


    As Arron patrolled the area with Kix, he kept an eye on the growing crowds that were mingling in several different large groups while they waited for the speech to start.


    He had already scanned hundreds of people looking for any troubled people or wanted separatists that might cause problems. The gathering was indeed a big target that was ripe for a separatist attack.


    Despite what the news said there were several other fast-response M1 units hiding in the nearby buildings and underground passages, all waiting for an order to spring out and stop any separatist attack. Even without them, there were over one hundred security drones flying high above the area keeping an eye on the situation.


    As he was scanning a new batch of people, an older man with white hair stepped away from the crowd and walked toward Arron and Kix.


    Arron quickly scanned the man. [Yure Bee SCS: permanent C, (suspected separatist, but no evidence found yet)]


    ¡°The event won''t be starting for another hour,¡± said Arron holding his gloved hand up to stop the man from walking closer.


    ¡°I know,¡± said Yure.


    ¡°Can we help you with something?¡± asked Kix.


    ¡°I was a professor before Mother and Father came to power. I only came to listen to the speech today but...¡± he looked back at the large gathering crowds with sad eyes. ¡°I am too old for this stuff so I will head back home. I just wanted to wish you luck on tonight''s event and let you know that you should really think for yourselves. Are the orders you receive the best thing for everyone?¡±


    Yure Bee turned around and walked back into one of the crowds and disappeared from their view.


    This book''s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.


    Every M1 officer either patrolling or hiding in the nearby buildings could hear and see what had just happened as everyone was connected to a group holo-call.


    ¡°What the heck?¡± ¡°Who was that guy?¡± ¡°Information says he is a suspected separatist.¡± ¡°Why has he not been normalized then?¡± ¡°Rumors say that he has several connections under Father and in the military. So...¡±


    A heated discussion was started over the matter with everyone agreeing that the man''s words were a bit out there.


    Around a half hour before the speech was going to start, the thousands of citizens and young students started moving toward the boxed-off area where the speech was going to be held.


    This caused every M1 officer to be on edge as they redoubled their search for any trouble. The security drones flew down closer to the ground as they hovered over the crowd and also began scanning for any signs of trouble.


    The news drones were being just as nosey as usual, while the reporters interviewed several of the students about the speaker and their thoughts about the content that would be in the speech. Most of them were interested to see what he had to say while the rest were vehemently against it but still wanted to see what he was going to say.


    As Arron passed several students he listened to snippets of their conversations to gauge the mood of the crowd.


    ¡°Damn! The rich people on levels 2-4 have is so nice...¡±


    ¡°...I wish I was rich. I now have a large debt I owe to Mother and Father because I chose to get the advanced 2 years of college...¡±


    ¡°I heard from my bro that it''s a waste of credits. He said that all he is doing is taking useless classes that are not going to help him in real life.¡±


    ¡°... well at least he can learn to code.¡±


    Ten more minutes passed. That was when Arron noticed a group of 100 or so students all wearing red marching out from a nearby street. Several of them were carrying projector batons normally used for portable holo-signs and banners. They were not activated right now.


    ¡°Everyone, possible separatists have shown up,¡± said Kix, alerting everyone to the suspicious group. The rest of the M1 officers looked at the holo-feed from Arron and Kix''s helmets to see what they were dealing with.


    ¡°Everyone! Keep an eye on them, but don''t stop looking for others in the crowd that might cause trouble,¡± said Chief Pointer.


    Arron watched as the group of people, who were all wearing red hoods and bandanas to cover their faces, pushed their way through the gathering crowd to try and get to the front where the supporters of Mr. Melo and the people most interested in hearing what he had to say were waiting.


    The people that were shoved to the side all gave the group weird looks as they moved forward.


    The reporters sensing something interesting was going on, swooped in to get a good view of the red-clad group.


    Arron, Kix, and the other ERF officers near the stage were forced to move closer to the stage as the time started ticking down and the crowd kept pushing forward.


    ¡°Remember, we are not to act without orders from HQ. The news is just waiting for someone to slip up so they can talk smack about us for the next month,¡± said Captain Pointer, reminding everyone of their duty.


    When the time came for the event to start, the holo-screen blocking the stage turned off revealing a man in his late 40''s walking toward the stage.


    Arron could hear a wave of cheering erupt as several shouts of support came from the front rows of the crowd.


    ¡°Melo, I support you!¡±


    ¡°Mr. Melo! Hurry up and tell us the information you have!¡±


    ¡°I respect you for taking a stance and sticking to it!¡±


    When Mr. Melo was halfway up the long ramp to the stage, the projector batons held by the red-clad students activated. They held them high above their heads for all to see the large red 2-d holographic banners that were now lighting up the area along with the flowing yellow block letters that made up several different messages.


    [SAY NO TO SEPARATISTS.] [MELO IS A SEPARATIST.] [PUNCH A SEPARATIST!] [DEAD SEPARATIST ARE THE ONLY GOOD SEPARATIST!][THIS IS WAR!][...] [¡­] were just a few of the more tame messages that were floating in the air for everyone to see.


    ¡°What a bunch of smart young students, I''ll try to get an interview!¡± shouted Tifa as she focused the news drones on the newcomers.


    All of the news reporters and news drones went into a gleeful frenzy as they stumbled over themselves to try and spit out coherent words as they rushed toward the red-clad students to try and get an exclusive interview with one of them. It was proving troublesome with how packed the crowd was in front of the stage.


    The cheering and shouts of support toward Mr. Melo were replaced by a wave of murmurs sweeping through the entire crowd after they read several of the holographic messages.


    The people nearest to the red-clad group had split apart creating a small circular opening in the several thousands of people that were cramped near the stage.


    The crowd and the news drones had all forgotten all about Mr. Melo and had turned their full attention to the red-clad students.


    Seeing that they had drawn everyone''s attention, the hundred or so red-clad students each stomped a foot on the ground letting out a loud thumping noise similar to a hundred drum beats.


    The beat picked up pace growing faster while they still held the banners and signs high above their heads.


    When the speed seemed to have reached the fastest it could be, one last loud ''THUMP!'' of over a hundred feet stomped on the ground. There was complete silence for several seconds as everyone stared at them. A moment later the group of red-clad students took in a deep breath and bellowed out in a loud voice.


    ¡°A~! ANTI~! ANTI-SEPARATISTA!¡±


    With that shout, all hell broke loose as they charged at the people nearest to them and started attacking them.

 Chapter 95: Peaceful But Bloody Brawl

    ¡°Uhhh... it looks like the students have gotten a bit excited. I''ll try to find another person to interview,¡± said Tifa as she stopped moving forward, and directed her news drones away from the brutal brawl that had just broken out.


    The other reporters that had all been scrambling toward the red-clad students along with her also stopped and retreated back to the outer edge of the crowd and positioned their news drones away from the crowd and toward the stage where Mr. Melo was now standing.


    ¡°Tifa, what''s going on down there?¡± asked Fela.


    ¡°The crowd is too packed right now, we will have to get the interview later after the speech is finished,¡± said Tifa.


    In the background of their conversation, the sounds of frightened and pained screams pierced through the air along with the loud ''CRACKS!'' as the parasteel batons made contact with bone and para-concrete


    ¡°Fela can you hear me? We seem to be having a connection issue. I''ll be right back, I have to reboot the streaming system,¡± said Tifa as she quickly used her wrist-datapad and tapped in the command to cut the stream off.


    Almost all of the field reporters immediately terminated their own streams due to technical issues, those that did not, used an ai to constantly loop previously recorded footage. None of them tried to fix and restart the live streaming.


    Instead, they only stood around chatting and laughing with one another as they watched the scuffle unfold before them.


    A few of the more proactive reporters captured a few scenes from the fight that could be edited later just in case the producers wanted to use it for something.


    The red-clad students were attacking those that were standing nearest to the stage using the holo-batons, mechanical fists, and legs to pummel all of them.


    They quickly began to spread out causing more mayhem as they attacked randomly. Several of the red-clad students stopped to light small round objects before throwing them into the crowd behind them.


    BOOM! BOOM!


    The loud mortar fireworks exploded as they landed inside the cramped gathered crowd. The explosion sent out red and yellow sparks high into the air with some of the sparks causing a few of the nearest people''s clothes to catch on fire and burn others.


    In their attempt to escape the mortar fireworks and the approaching red-clad students, the crowd of people all turned and ran for the side streets or to the nearby buildings trying to enter them, only to find them locked.


    In the mass confusion, several dozens of people were knocked down and trampled on. Those that were knocked unconscious, were attacked by red-clad students as they lay on the ground unable to defend themselves.


    With a large portion of the crowd able to escape, those that were trapped at the front between the red-clad students, the stage, the fencing, and the buildings, bore the full brunt of their vicious attacks.


    Several more mortar fireworks were thrown at them blocking their escape as they were pounced on by the red-clad students.


    ¡°Stop this violence!¡± shouted Mr. Melo, trying to calm the situation down, but the red-clad students did not pay him any attention and continued their attacks. A few of the red-clad students tried to approach Mr. Melo but were pushed off the stage by his privately hired security.


    Near the outer edge of the crowd that had now been thinned out was where the more daring journalist stood as they were interviewing a female about her reasons for coming here.


    ¡°... I like to get all sides of any subject before I...¡±


    Bam!


    A mechanical fist slammed into her face.


    ¡°Filthy separatist! Get out of here!¡± shouted the red-clad man who had just punched her in the face knocking her into a nearby wall.


    ¡°Go die you filthy separatist!¡± shouted a screeching female in a high-pitched voice, as she darted forward and sprayed some sort of chemical in the stunned female''s face.


    The reporter cut the interview short and immediately ran away, not looking back at the female as she was blinded and fell to the ground only to be stomped on by the two red-clad students.


    All of this was happening so fast that Arron and the rest of the M1 officers positioned to keep the order were slow to react as they had to wait for their orders from HQ on what to do.


    Captain Pointer had muted everyone when the Chief had joined the call only to be interrupted by a priority call from the higher-ups.


    The situation continued to deteriorate around them as they waited for their new orders. The security drones did nothing either as they just lazily hovered in the air above the chaos on the ground. They continued to record the events taking in the information of each person in the crowd.


    Finally, after several minutes of waiting the Chief finished his call and gave them their new orders.


    ¡°What? You gotta be kidding me!¡± said Captain Pointer when he heard what the Chief said.


    ¡°This is not a time to joke around Pointer. It is a direct order from the Office of Reason. You are not allowed to interfere with the red-clad students,¡± said a stern Chief Chesty.


    ¡°But they are...¡±


    ¡°Just make sure they don''t kill anyone. Lexa will send you more detailed information on a few things that the Office of Reason wants you to do for them,¡± said chief Chesty, cutting off Captain Pointer''s attempts to protest.


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    The call with the chief ended just like that, with the rest of the M1 officers looking to captain Pointer still waiting for details of what they needed to do.


    ¡°Our orders are to not interfere and standby for now. Only if you see someone about to die can you interfere with the red-clad students and stop the attack. In a short while new tasks will be given out to everyone,¡± said captain Pointer trying to keep his anger in check.


    The M1 officers stood still stunned at their orders as they watched the attacks continue all around them.


    Arron watched as a chubby man who had been punched in the face and now had blood coming out from his eye and nose, managed to escape his attackers.


    Right next to him was another man who had a large gash on the side of his forehead that was bleeding heavily covering his face in blood and was dripping everywhere. He had one of his hands pressing down on the wound trying to stop the bleeding while the other hand was holding onto a cheap fast food takeout box.


    ¡°Why are you attacking me? I was just getting food from a place nearby!¡± the man shouted over his shoulder as he continued to run away from the red-clad students that were still chasing the two of them.


    The two were scanning for an escape when they saw the nearby Arron and Kix standing behind the physical fencing that had been torn down. They rushed forward with a burst of strength only to collapse on the ground when they were behind the two. They were letting out loud pained gasps for air but felt great relief now that they were safe.


    Arron looked over to Kix questioningly. Kix was not showing any emotion on the holo-call and his body, which was equipped with the light exoskeleton, did not move from where he stood.


    Before the red-clad students reached them Arron put his hand up and said, ¡°Stop! You are not to pass this line.¡±


    The students only slowed their pace to a walk as they looked at the holo-tape that Arron was pointing to.


    ¡°Why are you protecting them? Are you a separatist as well?¡± asked a cocky female student whose face was covered by a red silk face mask.


    She, along with several others, continued to slowly walk forward not caring one bit about Arron''s orders for them to stop.


    ¡°This is your last warning! If you continue to interfere with our orders we will be forced to normalize the situation!¡± said Arron using his helmet''s loudspeaker so that his voice could be heard over the fighting and explosions of mortar fireworks.


    ¡°Yeah? And what orders are those?¡± asked the cocky red-clad female as she stopped right in front of Arron with her arms placed on her hips and her head cocked to the side.


    A small crowd of red-clad students gathered behind her. All of them glared at Arron who was fully armored and Kix who was wearing the light exoskeleton.


    ¡°To stop you from killing any civilians,¡± was all Arron said.


    ¡°What rubbish! You really are just trying to protect separatists!¡± shouted the female as she stabbed her finger at Arron''s helmet and jabbed the mirrored-tempered para-glass a few times in anger.


    Arron stood still and did nothing as he stared back at the angry mob.


    ¡°Everyone, ignore them! They can''t stop us!¡± said the female as she stepped to the side in a move to bypass Arron.


    As she took a step past Arron a loud buzzing sound filled the air and she fell to the ground unconscious.


    Arron removed his gloved hand from her shoulder, electricity still flickering between the gloved fingers.


    ¡°If you pass this line you will be normalized!¡± shouted Arron.


    The gathered red-clad students grew more agitated at seeing the female leader of the small cluster get knocked out.


    ¡°You.. you! You attacked her! You''re all separatists!¡± shouted one of the males in the crowd.


    Even though they were shouting angrily, none of them dared to cross the line.


    The civilians that were being chased and attacked, heard everything and decided to use the last of their strength to reach the holo-tape where several different M1 officers stood like statues and did not move out to help due to their orders. The wounded civilians limped, crawled, and even rolled past the line that offered safety.


    All along the holo-tape line, the red-clad students were stopped from chasing after those who had managed to pass the line. The M1 officers used the same excuse of stopping them from killing civilians.


    ¡°I''ve gained control of the college''s med-bots! Medical treatment will begin in order to make sure no civilian dies!¡± said Kat as she continued to type out commands on her holo-keypad.


    Several med-bots flew out of the building behind them and started to administer minor medical aid to stop the bleeding and administer injections of liquid Ethylene to numb their pain.


    Seeing their attack targets escape them the red-clad students milled around at the front of the holo-tape angrily glaring at the M1 officers while hurling curses at them.


    Several of the red-clad students turned their attention back to Mr. Melo who was still trying to calm the situation down, but as several mortar fireworks started to rain down on the stage where he stood, he was forced to retreat as his guards grabbed him and pulled him back down the stage and back into the building.


    Ping!


    Arron''s NerViz received a notification that a new high-priority file had just been sent to him.


    [Office of Reason orders to be taken care of immediately!]


    Upon opening the file, nearly a hundred miniature floating holographic heads appeared.


    [These are the suspected separatist that you are to normalize for the crime of harmful and violent speech against Mother and Father.]


    Arron recognized the majority of the people listed... they were all of the people who had just escaped from the attacks of the red-clad students.


    The ones he could not find were quickly located behind the milling group of red-clad students. They were laying flat on the ground not moving. Their bodies were mangled and in odd positions with their broken legs and arms sticking out this and that way.


    Arron let out a long sigh and with the rest of the M1 officers, they turned their backs on the angry red-clad students and began cuffing the severely wounded suspected separatist.


    The red-clad students seeing this started to cheer loudly as they watched the M1 officers drag off the suspected separatist to the waiting armored hover-transports.


    At this moment the reporters once again began live streaming. The news drones captured the cheering red-clad students, and the M1 officers as they were carrying and dragging the suspected separatist into the armored transports.


    ¡°Sorry for the interruption!¡±


    ¡°Tifa, it looks like a lot happened while you were fixing the connection. Can you tell us what is going on?¡± asked Kommy.


    ¡°Right now the young students are cheering as the separatists are being normalized by the M1 officers who were protecting them only moments before!¡±


    ¡°What? The M1 officers were protecting separatists?!¡± asked Fela, shocked at this news.


    ¡°That''s right! I ...¡± Tifa was cut off as a loud chant rang through the air.


    ¡°A~! ANTI~! ANTI-SEPARATISTA!¡±


    ¡°It looks like the young students are heading to the stage! Maybe they have something they want to tell us?!¡± said Tifa.


    She, along with all the other reporters re-positioned their news drones to capture the stage in the best position as the red-clad students climbed up onto the empty stage. Several of their batons still had wet red stains on them.


    As their chants died down the reporters and the hovering drones waited for them to speak.


    A female student stepped forward out of the group and stood with her right hand on her hip and her left thumb pointing at her chest.


    ¡°We. Are. Anti-Separatists!¡± she shouted out for all the news drones to hear.


    The red-clad students behind her repeated her words loudly for the tens of millions of viewers to hear.

 Chapter 96: Evil Symbols Must Be Normalized

    The news drones hovered over the stage no longer paying attention to the mangled bodies of the suspected separatist that were still being scraped up off the ground, cuffed, and shoved into the transport vehicles.


    ¡°We are Anti-Separatist and we will fight against any filthy separatists trying to spread their message of hate and division!¡± said the red-clad female with great conviction.


    ¡°What''s your name!¡± shouted one of the reporters.


    ¡°We don''t use names! That only brings trouble for everyone.¡±


    Although Arron and the other M1 officers were able to scan the anti-separatist NerViz systems and gather their information, the people they had already attacked as well as the people watching the live streams could not see who they were because of their disguises. They could walk down the street in disguise and no one other than M1 and the Office of Reason would know who they were.


    ¡°The previous speaker Mr. Melo, who was supposed to speak here today, along with his supporters, are exactly the type of filthy separatists that we will always fight against!¡±


    ¡°Instead of allowing filthy separatists to speak, we have arranged for a few respected guest speakers to replace this separatist event. In half an hour the event will start. All of you who are not separatist and wish to join our cause, please come out and listen and be sure to wear all Red!¡±


    The red-clad students walked off the stage and entered the building behind the stage leaving the news reporters to talk nonsense as they tried to explain what had just happened to their audience.


    ¡°Who could be the guest?¡±


    ¡°The young generation is truly growing strong!¡±


    ¡°Is this the result of all that they have learned from their free education at the new Everpreen college?¡±


    Arron and the other M1 officers finished cuffing and cramming the 100 or so suspected separatists into the waiting armored transport vehicles and watched them drive off to the nearest Office of Reason building.


    Even though the original purpose of the event had changed they were told to stay on guard as the event was not over.


    ¡°We just got new orders... we are to shoot anyone who tries to cause any disturbance to the guest speakers,¡± said Captain Pointer over their secure comms.


    In the first fifteen minutes before the guest speaker was going to appear little to no one gathered near the stage. There was only a few dozen citizens who now mingled near the side streets and buildings warily looking at the stage and surrounding area that had been in chaos moments before.


    When there were only 5 minutes left Arron was shocked to see tens of large double-decker hover-buses, each filled with hundreds of people, arrive near the stage along with a large stream of hovercars behind them.


    The people that were pouring out of the buses and cars showed no hesitation and swarmed forward toward the stage. The area was now even more crowded than the previous crowd that had been chased away earlier, and it was still growing.


    When the time for the speech arrived, the college doors opened. The red-clad Anti-sep students stepped outside along with a sharply dressed young man and an elderly man who had graying hair. Together they walked to the center of the stage.


    The hovering news drones that had been flying over the large crowd were now flying over to get the best position to capture their speech.


    The Anti-sep students didn''t waste any time and began speaking ¡°Welcome everyone! Please repeat after me!¡± said the female student as she stared into the crowd.


    ¡°Anti-separatism... Is the only way! Separatists must be... Permanently Normalized!¡±


    When the echoing chants finished, the elderly man stepped forward.


    ¡°Hello, citizens of the first level! I am Hurni, one of the head professors at Everpreen college. It is an honor to be able to teach the current and future generations of young adults about the greatness of the party of Mother and Father and their achievements. We must not allow our city to devolve into such an evil government as those who ruled over Nippon in the past! This is why I fully support the young students gathering and forming groups to normalize all separatists from our society! Today we have a special young guest from the 4th level! His name is Mr. A. Slicer, and he is one of the youngest party members under mother! With young people like him taking charge of the future, there will be no way for separatists to take hold of the city!¡±


    With that, he stepped aside allowing party-member Slicer to step forward. The crowd went wild with cheers and even a few people tried to rush forward with outstretched hands but they were immediately sedated by the hovering security drones.


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    The fanatic people around them paid them no attention with many of them stepping or standing on the limp bodies.


    ¡°Thank you for the warm welcome! I wholeheartedly agree with the creation of the Anti-Sep movement! I am glad that you have all taken the words of my fellow party member Buck Boomer to heart and created this group.¡±


    ¡°His words were not just something you can say and forget! You must live by it every day! History will show that we are on the right side!¡±


    The crowd burst into cheers again.


    ¡°Why do I mention history? Because we are surrounded by evil symbols of the past all through the mega-city. These evil symbols are corrupting many of the weak-willed or unlearned civilians into having thoughts that they should not be thinking! Those dangerous thoughts are what lead people to become separatists! This is why we have been having such a hard time stamping out the separatist scourge that infects the Mega-city!¡± said Slicer. He paused for a minute to let his words sink in.


    The people in the crowd all quietly talked among themselves trying to figure out what and where the evil symbols of the past were. They didn''t have to wait for long.


    ¡°Those evil symbols of the past that are corrupting civilians, are the statues and monuments all throughout the Mega-city! We must not allow this to continue! We must take action! Those who put up such evil symbols need to be brought to justice!¡±


    Out of the corner of Arron''s eyes, he could see Kix''s face frowning while he muttered, ¡°What nonsense, his father is the one that put up the majority of these statues...¡±


    ¡°They''ve already paved over and torn down all the old buildings from the past. Now they want to tear down the statues of history?¡±


    ¡°To quote a great speech from before that you might remember, ''It''s not enough to not be a separatist, you need to be anti-separatists and show your support for WHO and mother and father!¡±


    ¡°Are you willing to join me and the young Anti-sep members in liberating ourselves and the future generations from the corrupting history and symbols all throughout the mega-city?¡±


    ¡°Yeah!¡±


    With that, party member Slicer stepped aside and the female anti-sep leader moved to the front of the stage once again.


    ¡°Let us go forth together, and tear down the evil symbols!¡±


    With that said the core anti-separatist on the stage jumped to the ground and walked through the gathered crowd that parted for them creating a path to reach the street behind them.


    They held up the holo-batons that had dried blood on them and activated them as they marched forward, the several thousands of people that had come to listen to the speech followed behind them.


    As they marched the large crowd began to grow rowdy and a few windows of business and parked hover-cars were destroyed as they passed by.


    When the large crowd reached the nearest statue, they all gathered around it and with their bare hands began to try to push and pull it down!


    ¡°It doesn''t matter who or what these statues were put up for! They must all be torn down!¡±


    When the statue was pulled down the cheers were loud enough to deafen anyone nearby. Not satisfied with taking down just this statue, they again began marching to the next destination.


    The M1 officers were given new orders that they were to ensure that the Anti-sep were not attacked or harmed by any separatist so they were forced to follow behind the group as they prowled the streets.


    One after another statues were torn down.


    Arron and Kix were one of the few that had been sent ahead of the massive group to try and clear out the streets and sidewalks before the crowd arrived.


    The people who did not listen to their warnings or tried to move toward the crowd were attacked by the crowd. Passing Hover-cars on the street had their windows smashed and chemicals sprayed inside.


    There was little the occupants could do as the hover-cars were all on auto-drive. They could only try to swat away hands that were reaching inside until the hover-car was able to drive out of range of the massive crowd of Anti-sep.


    Arron saw such things happen several times.


    During one of these attacks on random citizens, another man tried to stop the attacks but was soon forced to run away with a small crowd of anti-sep chasing after him.


    The man saw the M1 officers up ahead and tried to run to them but in his haste, he tripped over his feet and fell to the ground.


    The anti-separatist brutally beat him with their blunt batons, feet, and fists.


    After all that happened this night, Arron finally reached his limit and could not let this happen in front of him, so he moved forward with Kix reluctantly following behind him.


    They both drew their weapons as they walked up to the crowd who were attacking the man.


    ¡°Step away from the civilian!¡± shouted Arron as he roughly pushed the anti-separatist off the man and grabbed a fist full of the man''s torn and bloody clothes. Just from one look at the man''s broken arms and legs that were now sticking out in a grotesque position, there was no way he was going to be able to walk.


    ¡°You''re going to have to bear with the pain for now sir. We''ll get you to a med-bot as soon as we can,¡± said Arron.


    The crowd of Anti-sep that had been attacking were shocked that they had been stopped and were a bit skittish as they looked at the weapons pointed at them.


    Kix covered for Arron as he dragged the man back to the original forward line where the other M1 officers were urging people to escape while they could.


    Other anti-separatist noticed the brief scuffle and started to swell forward toward the area.


    The crowd''s fury was instantly turned against Kix and Arron since their target was taken away from them.


    They started marching after both Kix and Arron shouting curses at them.


    The other M1 officers both from the front and rear could see that Kix and Arron were in a tight situation and so they all pushed through the crowd and joined together to stand against the mob blocking them.


    ¡°Chief, we need backup! Things are getting out of hand here!¡± said Captain Pointer as the M1 officers lined up with their Riot shields and electric batons.


    ¡°Why are you in riot gear!? We don''t see no riot here!¡± chanted the angry crowd of anti-sep who were once again blocked from attacking their new target.

 Chapter 97: Party-Member Normalization

    [Party member Nuck: Everpreen college''s Hivemind Problem and the rise of violence.]


    A small opinion piece written by a small-time party member under Father popped up on the front page of the holo-news portal catching Arron''s attention as he sat on a hover bench in the locker room waiting for Kix to finish dressing for the day''s shift.


    Along with this opinion piece, there was one written by a party member under Mother and posted at the same time.


    [Party member Mara Gray: The sight of Nippon¡¯s flag is disturbing. We are a member state of the WHO, not a savage country so why keep it?].


    Arron quickly scanned through the first article getting the gist of what it was about. When he scrolled back up to the top of the article the news portal automatically refreshed the page and disappeared, leaving only the opinion piece by Mara Gray.


    Arron frowned at this and closed the news portal.


    ¡°So, how was your first actual riot? This one was pretty small so...,¡± said Kix as he put on his armored boots.


    ¡°You call last night''s action small?¡± asked Arron.


    ¡°Of course only those there saw everything clearly, no one else saw it, and the news portals are not exploding with articles about it so it is just a small thing.¡±


    On the wall, the old holo-tv was playing the KNN morning news set to a low volume.


    ¡°...last night a small scuffle broke out between a group of young students calling themselves Anti-Separatists and a brazen gathering of several hundred separatists near the new Everpreen college. Due to the violent rhetoric of the separatist, the anti-separatists were forced to respond. In doing so there have been reports of minor damage to one or two windows that were broken by the separatists,¡± said Kommy in a neutral and matter-of-fact voice.


    ¡°That''s not all! Reports flooded in that the M1 officers were actually protecting these separatists using violence!¡± said Fela in a cheerful and gossipy voice.


    Kix let out a snort and said, ¡°See? Didn''t I call it?¡±


    ¡°In other news, the sports team Nippon Samurais and several other companies will soon be changing their names to comply with the new naming law that was passed this week. The new law bans a new set of certain words that have been deemed to support or lean toward separatism,¡± said Kommy blank-faced as usual.


    ¡°Ah! Breaking news!¡± said Fela, nearly jumping out of her seat as she seemed to be absent-minded for a second while listening to a producer in her ear.


    ¡°Just moments ago a party member under Father posted a scandalous opinion piece that the normal writers objected to. They were planning to quit in protest and called the Office of Reason''s attention to the matter. Even though the article was taken down, we have just been informed that the Office of Reason has sent agents to the news portal¡¯s main office to investigate the matter,¡± said Fela with a grin.


    ¡°In order to do everything properly and get to the bottom of this issue the Office of Reason has put the majority of its agents onto the case. They want to normalize the situation as fast as possible. Since they are short on manpower and time right now, they have sent a request to the M1 HQ for officers to help pick up and escort the party member to the main Office of Reason HQ in sector 12.¡±


    ¡°Is that wise with the recent reports of them protecting the separatists last night?¡± asked Fela.


    ¡°For some reason, the entire police force seems to be swamped with taking in reports of damage caused by random separatists attacks last night and they are busy taking care of all of that. So the Office of Reason has no other choice. Maybe this is another way to test the M1?¡± said Kommy with a shrug.


    ¡°If anyone is interested, Mr. Nuck should arrive at the Office of Reason''s main Hq in a half hour to an hour,¡± said Fella. She was looking straight into the news drone''s camera making Arron feel as if she was staring right at him.


    Ping!


    ¡°Kix, Arron, your prototype robo-dogs have returned from their tests and updates and are waiting for you in the garage. Your previously scheduled patrol has been canceled and you have been picked to escort party member Nuck to the Office of Reason. You are to stay with him until the Office of Reason no longer needs your help. This is a time-sensitive matter and the office of reason wants it finished now,¡± growled chief chesty before ending the call.


    Kix grumbled to himself as he and Arron made their way down to their garage and entered to find two large metal crates inside the cramped garage room.


    They quickly activated the two prototypes and checked to see if everything was working properly.


    Chewy was energetic as usual and was rubbing her metallic head against Arron''s leg as she greeted him. While Spike sat straight as an elite-trained sentinel next to Kix.


    ¡°Everything checks out,¡± said Arron as he scanned the internal systems test data as it scrolled by finishing only seconds later.


    ¡°Let''s go! We can''t give the Office of Reason any more ammunition to hate us even more by being late,¡± said Kix as he opened the door and shoved Spike inside.


    ¡°What? I thought they already hated our guts. How much worse could it be?¡± asked Arron as he and Chewy got in on the passenger side.


    ¡°No matter how bad it is, things can always get worse,¡± said Kix.


    ***


    The APC was parked outside a small fifty-story penthouse building. This was one of the several special housing for party members. Each party member had a whole floor to themselves. The majority of party members living here were newer members who did not have the funds to buy a house in the richest district where the more financially secure members and mega-corps CEOs lived.


    Both Arron and Kix were currently being thoroughly scanned by four different security drones while another dozen security drones floated nearby ready to normalize the situation and protect the party members inside the building if anything suspicious was found on their bodies.


    Three gray-suit agents were standing near the front entrance with their hands on their weapons as they watched the two getting scanned.


    ¡°Why did we have to come if those guys are already here?¡± asked Arron.


    ¡°Do you need to even ask? They don''t want to face the other party member''s scorn and appear to be taking sides. So they tossed the hot potato to us,¡± said Kix.


    When they were cleared, they were escorted to the front door but were stopped by the three offices of reason agents. ¡°Wait here. You are not allowed to enter this building. We''ll bring the troubled suspect out.¡±


    A minute later a disheveled middle-aged man with black hair and thin glasses was dragged out of the front doors in magnetic cuffs. Even though he was in such a troublesome situation, his eyes were still sharp and his shoulders were held high and straight.


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    ¡°You are not allowed to take any items with you. Do you need to give your family any personal items right now?¡± asked Kix.


    Party member Nuck slowly shook his head. ¡°They live on the second level. So there is no need.¡±


    They led Nuck to the APC and had him sit in the cramped compartment behind their seats after locking his arms and legs to the ground.


    The three agents that had followed them to the APC, looked like they wanted to get in as well.


    ¡°Sorry guys, you can''t join us. You''ll have to catch a different ride,¡± said Kix after he noticed the agents hovering next to his open door.


    ¡°We have to stay with the troubled suspect!¡± said the male gray suit agent in charge.


    ¡°There''s no room! Look, we''re already cramped as it is,¡± said Kix pointing to the two robo-dogs on the floor.


    Although Arron could not see the agent''s full faces due to the reflective visors covering half of their faces, he could still see the deep frowns on their faces as the APC pulled away from the building and headed to the Office of Reasons main HQ.


    ¡°We''re screwed,¡± said Kix as he began driving at high speed.


    ¡°Lexa, can you inform the Chief that there might be someone from the Office of Reason calling him,¡± said Arron, as he called into mission control.


    ¡°What did you two do this time!?¡± asked Lexa.


    ¡°It wasn''t our fault honestly!¡±


    ***


    Unlike what Arron had been suspecting there were no crowds or news drones outside the Office of Reason when they reached the HQ.


    Everyone inside the APC let out a deep sigh when seeing this.


    When Arron and Kix escorted Mr. Nuck to the main entrance door they were greeted by three white suit agents.


    ¡°You can not come inside. Wait out here for further orders,¡± said one of the agents before dragging party member Nuck inside the HQ.


    Five hours passed with Arron and Kix standing around with Chewy and Spike just doing nothing the entire time. They were forced to eat their emergency rations of synth-energy jelly as their lunch when their request to go eat out or order food for delivery was denied.


    Nearing the 6th hour the HQ''s doors finally opened and a group of ten white-suit agents exited the building.


    Right then, as if a mass teleportation happened, hundreds of red-clad people appeared out of nowhere and swarmed outside nearby buildings, and massed in front of the Office of Reasons HQ. There were also several dozen news drones now hovering in the air recording everything.


    The Office of Reason agents stood only a few steps away from Arron and Kix but paid them no attention. They stood tall and looked out towards the crowd that had just formed.


    When the crowd''s size had started to slow its growth, an elderly Office of Reason agent coughed once drawing everyone''s attention. Behind him, the HQ''s main doors opened up and three agents led a white-faced Nuck out of the building. The sharp look and sturdy posture from before was all gone.


    ¡°In the case of the troubled suspect Nuck, we have unearthed all that there is to find on the matter. Nuck did not know what he was saying, and greatly regrets it. But that is not enough. Punishment must be handed out to those who violate the law.¡±


    The crowd began shouting wildly. They were demanding blood!


    The elderly agent held up his hand to calm the red-clad crowd down.


    ¡°Due to his previous service to Mother and Father, we have been fair in normalizing the situation. From this moment forward party member Nuck is stripped of his position and all privileges granted to current and former party members. His Social credit score has also been lowered to the lowest SCS of rank D!¡±


    Roars of applause and cheers erupted from the crowd. The elderly agent waited for the crowd to simmer down before once again speaking.


    ¡°All this was decided after we were able to diagnose Nuck with Sluggish schizophrenia. With such a mental disease, it is only natural that we take such an action. As for the rumors that he is a separatist... we were unable to find any evidence to prove that he is not one... but also no evidence to prove he is one.¡±


    At this last statement, the cuffed Nuck struggled to free himself from the three agents and shouted to the crowd frantically. He wanted everyone to hear him.


    ¡°I am not a separatist! Judge me on my character, not my Social credit score. I did nothing wrong! It is all of you who are turning kids into separatists and terrorists with your teaching of critical separatist theory.¡±


    Upon hearing this the red-clad crowd grew angry.


    ¡°We''re not a hive mind.¡±


    ¡°You are just thinking wrong!¡±


    ¡°It seems like you need to relearn the greatness of Mother and Father!¡±


    With this, the impromptu press conference was finished.


    The old office of reason agent waved for Kix and Arron to escort Nuck out of the area. He and the other agents returned inside the HQ, not bothering to stay outside any longer with such a large boiling crowd that had been riled up.


    ¡°Those damn b...¡± Kix stopped himself from cursing them lest the Office of Reason use it as ammunition to further screw with them.


    Arron and Kix both checked their electric gloves and ammo inside their sidearms.


    ¡°I''ll take the front, you cover the rear,¡± said Kix as he looked out over the crowd that had not left and was still staring at Nuck.


    ¡°Alright,¡± said Arron, agreeing.


    ¡°Spike, stick to the left of him and don''t let anyone get close,¡± said Kix as he pointed to Nuck.


    ¡°Chewy you stay on the right and keep everyone away. Only one bite per person for anyone that gets too close! There''s too many of them for you to chew on for a long time!¡± said Arron, having to give her more detailed orders.


    ¡°BARK!¡± said Chewy, so happy that she could bite so many new toys!


    ¡°Let''s do this,¡± said Kix as he grabbed Nuck''s right arm and started leading him forward with his service weapon drawn.


    ¡°Get back!¡± shouted Arron who was following close behind them.


    The Crowd hesitated for a second but then parted for them with only glares sent their way.


    When they were halfway through the crowd they stopped moving out of the way and began closing the gap around them.


    ¡°MOVE!¡± shouted Kix.


    They did not listen and continued to close in on them.


    ¡°Fine, have it your way, but you were warned!¡±


    Kix holstered his sidearm and charged forward pulling Nuck behind him. With his free hand, he used his electro-glove to swat at anyone who stood in front of him, sending several people to the ground after they were shocked.


    Spike and Chewy were letting out loud growls and were also shoving people away from Arron and Kix while also biting the arms and legs of those that got too close.


    Even with all this Nuck was still getting attacked by sucker punches that managed to snake their way past them, as well as several things that were thrown at them.


    Nuck was bloody and bruised when they managed to slam the doors of the APC shut.


    ***


    Days later.


    The Office of Reason ramped up its monitoring of the approved government social media. They were mainly focusing on removing content and banning anyone that posted or said anything which put the former party member Nuck in a positive light.


    Arron continued to watch both the live news and read the new articles searching for information about the former party member Nuck.


    ¡°... and so the Office of Reason has decided to implement a new labeling system. The new system will label all social media content by how much disinformation is in it. You will receive negative SCS points if it is deemed to be above a certain percentage. But you will also be able to receive points for posting important truths that Mother and Father support,¡± said Fela who was sitting next to Kommy and another guest.


    ¡°I was told that Mother and Father will be providing us information on what good and bad posts look like. Do you have any more details on this matter Mr. Rando Poyson?¡± asked Kommy.


    ¡°All I know right now is that a press conference will happen sometime next week. But a large portion of the first level do not have to worry about any of this,¡± said Rando with a soft smile as he spoke with the two reporters like he was with long-time friends.


    ¡°Oh? Who could that possibly be?¡± asked Fela.


    ¡°Why of course it''s those with D rank SCS. They can not use the government social media, so of course they are exempt from the new way of earning or losing SCS points.¡±


    ¡°AH! How could I have forgotten about those people,¡± said Fela with a cute smile. ¡°Speaking of D rank SCS whatever happened to Nuck the former party member?¡±


    Hearing Nuck''s name, Rando''s calm face flickered to that of anger for a second before returning to his calm smile.


    ¡°He has... disappeared for the moment. It is nothing surprising for someone to fall off the face of the world when their SCS is reduced to D rank. Now we are still cleaning up the mess he left behind. Luckily we were contacted by a small group of concerned citizens that call themselves Anti-separatists. They have provided us with a list of names and faces of suspected separatists that were at a recent unsanctioned speech and also support the former member Nuck. We will be releasing this information soon as well. Their neighbors and everyone around them need to know what type of person they really are.¡±

 Chapter 98: Fiery Fun At The Parks Grand Opening.

    Vrooom!


    Arron shot down the main highway of sector 12 in the light night traffic. He was enjoying a ride on his completely repaired and modified Hover-cycle now that the after-work rush hour had thinned out hours ago.


    Luckily, with a few words from the chief, the paperwork had gone through with the Office of Reason allowing him to register the modified prototype as a legal street vehicle.


    As he shot down the night street at a high speed, the backlight on his hover-cycle gave off a bright neon glow making it look as if he had a long blurry neon tail shooting out behind him for anyone that cared to look at him passing by.


    The feeling of the wind crashing into him as he sped down the highway, and seeing the rough para-concrete below him rushing by in a blur, it was all a wild rush that he had never felt before as he continued to weave in and out of the light traffic. This speed and power was something that the portable hover-bike would never be able to achieve.


    ¡°Arf!¡± Chewy gave a happy robotic bark. She was sitting on the back of the hover-bike strapped down with several metal belts and clamps.


    To add to the wild feeling of driving on the highway, his helmet was blasting new underground city-pop songs which were all sung by humans. The music touched him at a deeper level than any of the robotic or AI singers that were popular right now. So he did not think twice when he had been offered the chance to buy a secure data-chip containing the new songs when he was out on another date at the [Red Light] bar.


    Buying such things was really in the gray area and Yumi seemed to not mind that he bought potentially illegal material that could get the both of them in trouble with the Office of Reason.


    Unfortunately Arron was not driving alone, he was following a large force of M1 officers who were all heading to their temporary new assignment which was partly a result of the recent rise of separatist violence.


    Ahead of him, Kix was driving the APC behind other M1 officers. In the sky, several new prototypes of small one-man hover-copters swiftly flew through the air escorting them. This was their first official flight and unlike the large hover-copters, these were very small and only allowed for one m1 officer to stand up and hold onto the controls.


    The standing pilots were encased in a lightly armored shell which offered high mobility and speed that the normal hover-copters could not even come close to due to its size. They were small enough to fit at least four into the same spot that a regular hover copter would take up. Its small size also allowed it to do insane maneuvers that were impossible for a regular-sized hover-copter.


    The armaments that each of the one-man hover-copter carried were two mini-guns and a grenade launcher which was enough to take on most targets, even Mechanized worker bots if needed, although its ammo was limited.


    The only downside, if you could call it that, was the light armor, its lack of sustained or heavy firepower, and the fact that there was no way [yet] to transport people or materials. If the current tests went well they would soon become a staple in the M1''s force. It would be one of its core fast reaction units for both supporting M1 officers on the ground as well as reaching hot areas first to try and stop ongoing crime.


    Far ahead of Arron the night sky was lit up with various bright neon spotlights dancing in the sky high above a large round man-made lake. This lake was the main attraction of the newly finished park that had been constructed as part of the initiative to make the first level more lively.


    Along with the flashing and strobing lights, there was a large holo-projection of a popular rock AI singer.


    The new mission that Arron and the M1 officers had been given was to help the local police keep the park''s opening celebration concert under control.


    The small M1 convoy slowed down and then turned off the main highway near the park''s main entrance, where they were forced to pass through a quick check to enter the small security parking lot that was wide open next to the large lake.


    The six one-man hover-copters all landed in the designated hover-copter zones next to the parking lot and exited them to join everyone who was gathering to receive their orders from captain pointer, who was put in charge of the rag-tag team made up of several spare units.


    The loud music was echoing across the lake and could be heard clearly where they were.


    ¡°You two, join the police officers at the rear. You two join the 20 officers at the front entrance,¡± said captain pointer as he pointed to various officers. He then turned to the 6 officers who had flown to the park in the one-man hover-copters. ¡°You 6 need to stay in the nearby guardhouse until we need your help supporting any position. The rest of you will patrol the park to make sure that nothing sketchy is happening. Everyone needs to stay connected to the comms to receive new orders if there is a need for them.¡±


    With their new orders given out, everyone split up.


    Arron and Kix split off from the others, with Spike and Chewy walking beside them. They randomly picked a path to patrol and started walking down it.


    Everywhere Arron looked the park was filled with young rebellious kids and teens that looked to be in middle school and high school. They were all wearing wild looking clothes, tight jeans, leather pants, tight tank tops, and t-shirts with cut off sleeves. Many of them had long hair that poofed out with some sort of hair spray to hold it, and almost everyone had a headband or bandanna.


    ¡°It''s the new rock style that younger kids have started using,¡± said Kix as he saw Arron gazing at the bizarre clothes and poofy hair.


    ¡°I wasn''t expecting to see such a style in the 12th sector, seeing as it is the most well-to-do sector of the first level where everyone dresses so properly,¡± said Arron.


    ¡°The majority of these teens are using this concert as their last time to mess around and have fun before they enter into their dull and dreary adult lives. All that waits for them is a year of mandatory college, some choosing to pay to extend their learning in hopes to get a better nonexistent job in these hard times with inflation so high. Everyone else will be forced to look for harsh and dirty jobs that they will have for the rest of their lives.¡±


    ¡°That sounds rather... bleak,¡± said Arron.


    ¡°They are far better off than those with D rank SCS. At least they will have a permanent job.¡±


    Arron kept scanning his surroundings and was able to spot several of the discrete monitoring systems that filled the park which was at least double the size of the park in sector 11.


    As they walked down one of the dimly lit paths, loud rustling sounds could be heard behind an artificial bush that was almost perfectly trimmed into the appearance of a large adult-sized square.


    Both Arron, Kix, and the two robo-dogs turned their attention to the noise. Arron turned on his helmet''s floodlights, lighting up the area around the bush with a bright white light.


    The bright light revealed two entangled teens that had been ''wrestling'' in the dark. But now with the bright light illuminating them, they were like deer caught in the headlights as they stared back at the officers and robot dogs that were looking at them.


    ¡°...¡±


    ¡°Ehem... You are violating Mother and Fathers [Decency Act],¡± said Kix as he began typing up a document on his wrist datapad. ¡°You must pay the fine for this ticket in 10 days. If you do not, the police will come to the both of your residences to receive the payment with an added tax.¡±


    With a flick of his hand, he sent out two copies of the ticket, one to each of the teens, and then he just walked off as if nothing had happened.


    ¡°That''s it?¡± asked Arron as he followed Kix.


    ¡°What can I say? Mother and Father view certain crimes more important,¡± said Kix.


    As they made their way down the dim path they met over 20 couples that were ''wrestling'' behind bushes, benches, and trees, all having similar reactions to the first couple.


    ¡°Are we lucky or something?¡± asked Arron. ¡°What''s with so many people picking this path to do their extracurricular activity?¡±


    ¡°I wouldn''t call it luck,¡± said Kix as they reached the end of the path. ¡°Let''s check out the center where everyone is gathered. We should be able to see a lot more action.¡±


    ¡°How long is this celebration going to last?¡± asked Arron.


    ¡°About a week. Why? Are you planning on bringing your girlfriend here?¡±


    Arron shrugged.


    ¡°Arf!¡± said Chewy unhappily.


    As they made their way through the crowded area toward the center of the park, the music grew louder and louder. It was to the point Arron wondered how others without noise-canceling earbuds or helmets were protecting their ears.


    ¡°The music here is really pumping,¡± said Kix as he did some weird dance moves next to Arron. The dance moves definitely stood out as they did not match the feeling and actions of the others all around them who were head-banging along with the music with their fists held high in the air.


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    As they made their way through the crowd they passed through several violent mosh pits with people rushing into each other and falling into massive brawls that the hovering security drones only watched from above.


    The current AI singer was a dark-clothed man with a deep guttural voice that Arron could hardly tell if it was speaking words or just gibberish disguised as words. Those rocking out to it did not care and just lost themselves into the mood that swept through the massive crowd.


    Ping!


    ¡°We need backup at the front gate!¡± shouted one of the M1 officers that was helping the police.


    ¡°What''s wrong?¡± asked Captain Pointer.


    ¡°A growing group of red-clad Anti-sep has shown up. They are refusing to move away from the entrance. They are claiming that they are blocking the area to stop separatists from enjoying the celebration.¡±


    ¡°Kix, Arron, take your robo-dogs and help support the front gate. If there is anyone else near the entrance you can join them.¡±


    Immediately Arron and Kix turned around exiting the massive crowd and headed toward the front entrance.


    As they were running down the sidewalk Kix was still flinging out tickets to those he found ''wrestling'' causing several squeals and surprised yelps as they received notification from their NerViz implants interrupting their activities.


    ¡°We have managed to push them back and are holding them off about a block away. The police are still in charge of scanning everyone else. If you don''t hurry we''ll be over-run.¡±


    ¡°Almost there, we can see the front entrance right now,¡± said Arron.


    BOOM!


    A large yellow mushroom fireball exploded at the front entrance of the park, engulfing the police and hundreds of citizens who were lined up waiting to enter.


    The force of the explosion shook the ground like an earthquake and knocked both Arron and Kix off their feet.


    ¡°What the...¡± said Arron as he tried to stand back up.


    BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!


    Several more large explosions ripped through the loud rock music concert and the cheerful celebration, only to be replaced with cries of horror and pain.


    The dark park that had only been lit up by the strobing neon spotlights and the holographic AI singers floating in the sky, was now lit up by several furiously burning fireball craters.


    Hundreds of flying security drones began flooding into the park from the surrounding areas. Dozens of spotlights beamed out of their metal bodies as they flew over the dark paths lighting them up while recording everything as they searched for suspicious people in the mass craziness that had erupted inside the park.


    While the security bots flew through the park their speakers repeatedly broadcasted the same message.


    [Citizens, remain calm! Everything is under control!]


    BOOM!


    Another bomb exploded in the distance rocking the area while also lighting up the dark sky.


    The floating holographic A.I. singer that was still singing, flickered for a second before it faded away along with the neon spotlights abruptly blinking out and going dark.


    Arron''s head was spinning as he tried to stand up but continuously fell to his knees from dizziness. Although his ears were slightly ringing from being so close to the entrance explosion. His helmet had done its job and protected him better than the civilians that had been knocked out and were bleeding from their ears and nose because of the impact of the explosion.


    ¡°What the hell is going on? Rock, get back here, get up in the air with your men, and give us a view of the park!¡± shouted Captain Pointer using the secure comms.


    ¡°Cap... we''re on it captain!¡± said Rock reluctantly. He and the other nearby M1 officers had joined in helping push the anti-separatist back from the entrance. They had already chased them several blocks away after the explosions started.


    ¡°Everyone report your status!¡±


    Almost everyone answered the call but at least four people were silent, whether they had been knocked out or were dead they could not know right at this moment.


    ¡°Arron, Kix, what''s the status of the entrance?¡±


    Arron, who had managed to stand back up, did not answer immediately and just turned his helmet''s camera on and allowed the others to see everything he saw.


    Nothing remained of the park''s front gates. There was now only a large crater that was still burning brightly as the bodies of the civilians that had stood near the outer edges continued to burn.


    There were no traces of the bodies of the 20 police officers and several hundreds of citizens that had been crammed together near the gates. Everything had been blasted to smithereens and burned into ash from the initial blast.


    As Arron was broadcasting the gruesome scene, the six one-man hover-copters launched into the sky and began broadcasting the other areas that had experienced explosions as they moved toward the affected zones to search the area for any suspicious people or for signs of more bombs.


    The bombed areas all looked similar to the front entrance each having large craters that were still burning. But these craters were far too gruesome to look at as there were still several hundreds of people at the edge dying from the fire that had engulfed them, slowly turning them into charred husks.


    Their video streams also showed the chaos of tens of thousands of people running away from the sites of the explosions, doing their best to escape the park, many of them had bloody and burnt clothes. In the chaos, an uncountable number of people of all ages, both male and female, were trampled by the crowd. It was hard to look for suspicious people with all this chaos happening. They would likely have to spend long hours pouring over the recorded footage later.


    While Rock, who was closest to Arron and Kix''s position, was flying over a darker path with large bushes, Arron saw something flash on the live stream for a second.


    ¡°Rock! Turn around, there''s a suspicious person hiding in those bushes! Kix, hold down the fort here with Spike,¡± shouted Arron as he began running down the dark path toward the spot he had seen.


    [Arf!] said Chewy as she ran next to Arron not wanting to be left behind.


    Rock who had been flying at a high speed slowed down and did a quick pivot, turning 180* and headed back toward the spot Arron had pointed out. He turned the hover-copters'' floodlights all the way up to their highest setting, lighting up the area and leaving no darkness for anyone to hide.


    On his second pass of the area, he stopped and hovered in the air as he found the target Arron had seen.


    A man covered in red clothing and a face mask was revealed to be laying on the ground behind a bush struggling to pull something out of a large duffel bag.


    ¡°Troubled suspect! Halt what you are doing! I repeat, remove your hands from that bag!¡± shouted Rock using the hover-copters'' external speakers.


    The red-clad target froze for a second like a deer in the headlights of a hover-car. But this only lasted for a few seconds.


    The troubled target stopped trying to mess with the bag and instead dived for a small tube-like pipe next to him. He brought it up to his shoulder and pointed it at the one-man hover-copter.


    Before Rock could react, a flash of fire exploded from the rear of the pipe and a projectile shot through the air and slammed into the left rotor of the hover-copter and exploded destroying the rotor!


    ¡°I''M HIT!¡± shouted Rock as he tried to control the spiraling hover-copter that now only had one rotor which was making the spiraling worse.


    Arron watched as the out-of-control hover-copter crashed into several nearby artificial trees, snapping them in half and further smashing up the hover-copter as it slammed into the ground.


    ¡°Chewy chase that target!¡± shouted Arron as he ran toward the wrecked Hover-copter to try and rescue Rock before anything else happened to him.


    [Arf!] Chewy let out a robotic bark of understanding and shot off toward the escaping troubled suspect.


    Arron stumbled over the debris of the snapped hollow artificial trees and fell on top of the mangled hover-copter.


    ¡°What are you doing?¡± asked Rock in a pained voice as he heard a loud thump on the damaged armor.


    ¡°Sorry I tripped. Give me a second, I''m trying to open it up for you... but all the emergency switches are jammed or twisted into scrap,¡± said Arron.


    He pulled out an emergency small blow torch which had enough power to cut open thick metal plates several times before running out of juice. He carried it just in case he ever got into a situation where he was stuck inside something after experiencing several close calls.


    ¡°Ow! That''s fooking hot! What are you doing!¡±


    ¡°Calm down! Just move your body away from the edge while I cut away the mangle parts so I can open up the hatch for you!¡±


    ¡°I''m crammed in here like a sardine! There''s no place for me to pull back!¡±


    Rock continued to curse Arron the entire time until he was pulled out. He only had a few minor burns but had shallow cuts and large bruises covering his entire body.


    ¡°What the fook! These damn Office of Reason researchers are always trying to kill us with these crappy experimental death traps! The least they could have done is add decent armor to it! Don''t they have that new wonder formula? Why are we stuck still using the old stuff?¡± moaned Rock, as he was carried a short distance away from the wreck and gently placed on the ground so that Arron could properly give him some emergency first aid.


    Arron was too preoccupied to shush Rock''s slanderous speech that could get him in trouble.


    With a closer look at Rock''s body, Arron could see that his right arm and left leg were broken. It was surprising that Rock was still conscious and able to cuss and talk as much as he was with how severe his wounds were.


    Arron placed a small capsule onto Rock''s right arm and pressed a button on the top immediately injecting a combination of a pain reliever and medicine designed to speed up the blood clotting to stop the bleeding.


    ¡°Not here! We need to get away! There''s a bomb over there!¡± said Rock, his voice slurring a bit as the drugs hit him like a truck.


    ¡°Why didn''t you tell me sooner!¡± said Arron as he scooped Rock up with one arm onto his shoulder. He used his other arm to grab a small disk device on his work belt and pressed the only button on it activating it before tossing it toward the bush that rock had pointed to.


    His comms and the live streams from the others became full of static and garbled noise as he frantically carried Rock out of the blast area.


    Rock, who was slumped over his shoulder, continued to moan from the pain of jostling his broken arm and leg as they ran away from the bomb.


    While he was escaping Chewy ran up to him with her head held down and her usual wagging tail was drooping. There was a dark liquid still on her sharp metal teeth.


    ¡°Did you catch them?¡± asked Arron.


    [Arf...] said Chewy, shaking her head.


    ¡°Ar...com... rep...¡± garbled messages continued to ring in his ear until he ran out of the range of the small portable jammer.


    ¡°Arron! Report your situation! What is going on!¡± shouted Captain Pointer.


    ¡°Rock and I are alive! We''re lucky captain, we have a possible gold mine to find out who these bombers were! There is a live and unexploded bomb behind me! I activated a jammer to block any signals from reaching it. The bombers will not be able to activate it remotely. All we need is a bomb squad from HQ to come and deactivate it, then we can comb it over for clues!¡±


    ¡°Great work! I''ll send in the request right now!¡±


    ¡°That won''t be necessary,¡± said Chief Chesty, his face popping up on the visors of every officer at the park.


    ¡°What? Why? If we don''t take care of it now it might go off later,¡± said Captain Pointer.


    ¡°The Office of Reason has ordered all police and M1 officers to stand down and head to the exits of the park. You are to provide security and block anyone from entering. They will be taking over everything else from here, including deactivating and investigating the bomb that was found. You are to provide whatever help they request.¡±

 Chapter 99: Engulfed

    ¡°Breaking news there has been a major separatist terrorist attack during the opening of the new park in sector 12!¡± said Kommy with a blank expression as he stared into the floating news drone.


    ¡°Preliminary reports are coming in and it looks bad. What the hell are the police and Special M1 officers doing allowing such an event to happen? Right now the civilian death count is over 1000.¡±


    ¡°That''s right, they really dropped the ball on this one. But that''s to be expected of the special M1 officers. This situation is so bad that the Office of Reason has decided to step in and take over the investigation.¡±


    The two continued to comment on the matter while not mentioning that the police officers and M1 officers were also caught in the explosions and many had died. Nor was there any mention of the large gathering of Anti-Sep that had caused a commotion at the front gates before the bombs went off.


    Arron was jolted out of his focus on the news by a hard slap to the back of his helmet which knocked his head all the way forward.


    ¡°What are you doing dazing out like that?¡± asked the Office of Reason agent that was put in charge of watching over both Kix and himself. ¡°Keep your eyes to the front and on a swivel. You are supposed to be watching for anyone trying to enter the park!¡±


    Chewy angrily snapped her metal jaw shut as she stared at the agent. Her metal teeth still had a blackish-dried substance covering them.


    With the warning from Chewy, the gray suit agent quickly pulled his hand back not wanting to get bit.


    Arron did not voice his complaint about being smacked or the fact that no one in their right mind would be coming here. There were now over a thousand police and M1 officers patrolling the outer edge of the park. In the air, there was also an equally large presence of flying security drones. The inside of the park was filled with several hundred black-suit Office of Reason field agents that were swarming all over searching for clues.


    Unlike what the news was reporting, the person he had encountered was not a separatist type. Arron''s gut feeling told him that the escaped red-clad bomber was far more similar to a recent group that had popped up.


    After a long period of silence Arron worked up his courage to say something while being glared at by the red face of the gray-suit agent. ¡°Sir, I have information on this matter that I think your higher-ups would like to know about!¡±


    ¡°Oh, and what could you know that everyone else has no idea about?¡±


    ¡°I encountered one of the troubled suspect bombers. From all that I saw, I have a strong feeling that the people that planted the bombs were not separatists. They were very likely A...¡±


    ¡°Stop!¡± said the agent, holding his hand up in front of Arron''s face. If his helmet was not there to block the hand the agent may have placed it over his mouth. ¡°You don''t know what you saw.¡±


    ¡°But I have a recording of the person that I can send you!¡±


    ¡°Keep your mouth shut and stop spewing conspiracies like a lowly D-rank non-believer. I will have to dock a few points off of your SCS for such talk. If you keep it up you''ll be taking another ride to the Office of Reasons HQ for a chat.¡±


    With that the agent left Arron and Kix to stand silently at the farthest outskirts of the park, doing nothing for over a half hour while the Office of Reason agents took their time investigating the park.


    ¡°You two! I have new orders for you!¡± shouted the agent sometime later as he walked up to them. With a flick of his hand, he sent a map with several highlighted streets.


    ¡°You are to walk down these streets and search for anything suspicious. Do not leave anything unturned in your search. If you see anyone question them as to what they are doing. If I have anything else I need from you, I will contact you via a holo-call. Get going.¡±


    The agent stood there and watched as Arron, Kix, Chewy, and Spike all walked off down the highlighted streets they had been assigned to.


    Every other pair of police and M1 officers were given a separate area to search, and so the start of a massive manhunt began.


    ¡°What are we supposed to find?¡± asked Arron. ¡°They had us waiting near the park for nearly 50 minutes!¡±


    ¡°The culprits are probably long gone by now. It will be hard to gather any new information,¡± said Kix as he scanned the dead-silent street they were walking on. There were 0 vehicles or foot traffic to be seen in the area.


    ¡°Ah! But there is something!¡± said Arron as an idea came to him now that he thought of it.


    He took out a digital swab from one of his work-belt pouches.


    ¡°Chewy, come over here,¡± said Arron. Chewy was curious at what Arron held in his hand and walked up to him with her head cocked to the side.


    Arron rubbed her head to calm her down before moving the swab toward the dried black substance on her teeth.


    ¡°Whoa hold up! Chewy, don''t bite! It''s not a treat!¡± said Arron as he jerked his hand away to not get bit.


    Kix watched in amusement not sure what Arron was trying to do.


    ¡°Hold still,¡± said Arron as he tried a second time. This time he used his left arm to hold her mouth shut while he swabbed her teeth thoroughly. Chewy was unhappy with this and continued to let out robotic whining.


    The digital swab immediately digitized the information that it had gathered, allowing Arron to easily create a file that could be sent to anyone through the mailing system.


    He started a call which was picked up only a second later, ¡°How can I help you?¡± asked a tired-looking Lexa.


    ¡°I have what I think is a possible blood sample. If I send it to you can you test it and let me know who it belongs to?¡±


    ¡°That''s easy, as long as the person is a citizen of Nippon, we should be able to match it in no time at all.¡±


    Arron sent her the information as he continued to walk down the street with Kix.


    As soon as Lexa received the data and put the information into the database and hit the holographic enter key, Arron heard a loud ''Ping!'' Coming from her side.


    ¡°That was fast,¡± said Arron.


    ¡°Too fast,¡± said a frowning Lexa. She leaned in closer to the floating screen and read the notification that had popped up in front of her.


    ¡°How important is it for you to figure out who this blood belongs to?¡± asked Lexa.


    This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author''s work.


    ¡°It''s a sample from one of the bombers at the park that Chewy managed to bite. But she was unable to gather any other information or capture them. Their NerViz was hacked not allowing me to gather any other information.¡±


    ¡°I''ll send this information to the Chief along with your words, It''s up to him on what he wants to do about it,¡± said Lexa with a grim expression.


    ***


    In a white interrogation room, four people sat at a table. Three white suit agents on one side and a disheveled middle-aged man on the other side.


    ¡°Why did you do it?¡± asked the lead agent.


    ¡°I told you! I was nowhere near the park when the bombs went off!¡±


    ¡°That''s not what multiple anonymous informants have told us.¡±


    ¡°They''re lying! I have many enemies that would do that, and I know who reported these lies to you! It''s all because they don''t like that I don''t think the same way as them!¡±


    ¡°They are upstanding citizens... So you''re saying you''re a separatist?¡±


    ¡°No, I never said that!¡±


    ¡°Why are you trying to backtrack? You are acting like you didn''t just say that? This just makes you look even more guilty,¡± said the lead agent.


    The middle-aged man had been dragged here roughly ten minutes after the Office of Reason took over the case at the park. This chat had been going on for over an hour and a half now. The middle-aged man was looking worse and worse as the minutes went by.


    After another ten minutes of intense interrogation, the middle-aged man had a mental breakdown and could not handle it anymore.


    ¡°Alright, I admit it! You''re right!¡± he cried with glazed bloodshot eyes and a crazed expression on his face.


    The three agents only nodded as if they had known this all along.


    ¡°Why did you do it?¡± asked the lead agent.


    ¡°Why? Uh... because I''m a separatist?¡± asked the man looking for confirmation from the three agents.


    They continued to nod at him while the lead agent pushed a secure data-pad to the center of the table and tapped a button turning the projection on which showed a dozen holographic floating heads of both men and women of all ages.


    ¡°These are your accomplices in the bombing, correct?¡±


    ¡°No, I have never seen...¡± the man stopped mid-sentence as he saw the deep scowls of the three agents.


    ¡°Uh... if I turn my head to the side they uh... look familiar?¡±


    The agent''s scowl once again turned to a blank expression as they nodded. Like this, the office of reason continued to chat and gather information on the dastardly separatists who had plotted and enacted the park bombing.


    ***


    Sector 10, zone 1, warehouse district.


    While the Office of Reason was interrogating their separatist. The M1 officers, by order directly from Chief Chesty, had been mobilized under an emergency code 2 alert.


    The entire ERF was currently surrounding a large mega-complex of small rental garage-sized warehouses. There were over a hundred such garages on each of the 300 floors.


    They had come here after further investigation of the information that Arron had sent as well as the information that was linked to it. Before Chief Chesty could gather detailed information on the troubled suspect. The information disappeared from the database.


    Fortunately, they had the name and location of his local hangouts. From the brief summary of the suspect that Arron and the others had received the troubled suspect was a fanatic news junkie that posted nonstop walls of text bashing the M1 and calling for its abolishment. But even this information was slowly disappearing.


    The rest of the M1 officers were now a block or two away from the several mega-warehouse complexes and were blocking each street off to make sure no one interfered with their operation.


    Since it was still early in the morning there was no big commotion yet, as no one had noticed them. This was also partly helped out by the fact that everyone''s attention was on the live broadcast of the park''s bombing situation.


    Arron, Kix, the robo-dogs, and several dozen other M1 officers had taken up positions at the rear of the building to stop anyone from escaping this way. Kix had also donned his light exoskeleton to help provide support for the ground officers at the rear.


    In the sky, the remaining five one-maned hover-copters continuously flew around the building with their floodlights lighting up the building as they patrolled the area keeping an eye open to see if the target might show up somewhere else and try escaping.


    There was a normal hover-copter hovering in the air above the ERF units both at the front and rear of the building. They each had a full unit of M1 officers ready to chase after the target if they tried to escape using a fast vehicle or even a hover-copter.


    At the front of the building, a unit made up entirely of ERF''s exoskeleton force was huddled near a large garage door that was on the first floor.


    The closed metal door was currently lit up by several spotlights.


    ¡°Yagsdom. We know you''re inside! The M1 has solid evidence that you were part of tonight''s bombing!¡± shouted Captain Pointer using his helmet''s loudspeaker.


    No reply or sound could be heard inside the troubled suspects'' rented warehouse.


    Captain Pointer tried to get a response from the troubled suspect for several minutes but failed.


    ¡°Do it,¡± was all Captain Pointer said after giving up on calling the troubled suspect out.


    The exoskeletons slowly stomped up to the metal garage door while hiding behind large slabs of metal that they were carrying and had been converted into makeshift shields on last-minute notice.


    ¡°It''s locked,¡± said Knox as he tried to open the garage door.


    ¡°Use whatever force is necessary to open it,¡± said Captain Pointer, now was not the time to worry about a broken door.


    An exoskeleton stepped forward and pulled a torch nozzle from its back and switched it on causing a large white stream of fire to shoot out. The nozzle was adjusted so that it was just a small stream of fire that started to cut through the metal locking systems and the handles holding it shut. There was no time to play around with hacking their way in to minimize damage.


    Ward reached down and grabbed the still glowing hole in the metal door and shoved it up above his head where he stood holding it in place allowing the others to flood into the small garage.


    ¡°It''s empty! The target has escaped!¡±


    ¡°He was here! There is fresh blood on the ground! And the tools needed for manufacturing are here!¡±


    ¡°Scans of all the materials on the counters indicate that they are all materials used for creating bombs!¡±


    ¡°There is no place for them to hide, keep looking! Everyone else be alert, the target has escaped his garage and may pop up anywhere!¡± said Captain Pointer.


    As he was saying that Arron and the rest of the M1 officers at the rear noticed movement from a window at the rear of the building on the second floor.


    ¡°Target found at the rear of the building on the second floor!¡± shouted Arron into the coms as he watched the dark-clad figure fall out of the window and land face-first into a pile of junk that was on the ground underneath the window.


    Arron could see a tear and a dark wet area on the man''s rear, Chewy''s favorite place to bite. It really was the person that had gotten away several hours ago.


    The red-clothed man struggled to get up but froze when he saw that he was surrounded by M1 officers as well as a hover-copter that was now shining a bright spotlight on him.


    ¡°DAMN IT! I KNEW I SHOULDN''T HAVE TRUSTED THOSE DAMN PEOPLE!¡±


    ¡°Troubled suspect, stay where you are! You are to be normalized for your crime of killing thousands of civilians. You will cooperate with us and ...¡±


    ¡°Screw you! I may not have destroyed the separatist or the M1 tonight, but I can still kill some of you!¡±


    ¡°Run!¡± ¡°Spread out!¡± ¡°Shoot him!¡±


    Several different orders were shouted over the comms confusing some of the officers who followed one of the different orders.


    Arron stood his ground and opened fire on the man hitting him several times but he kept moving right at them, even though there were large gaping holes in his body that would drop normal people due to the pain and blood loss.


    Two of the one-man hover-copters rounded the corner of the mega-warehouse complex and immediately opened fire with their mini-guns.


    The bullets hit the ground sending up a trail of sparks and dust as the aim was adjusted on the move and steadily headed toward the target that was rushing toward the M1 officers on the ground.


    Even with their speed and fast firing rate...


    BOOOM!


    A large explosion, much larger than those from earlier in the night, covered a large portion of the rear of the building melting the outer walls into a cherry-red glow while shooting out fire and shrapnel everywhere in front of the bomber.


    Arron was one of the closest to the target when the bomb exploded and was knocked off his feet by the explosion''s shock-wave before he could escape.


    As he tried to stand up, a massive fireball expanded outwards and completely engulfed him.

 [Part 2: The Gang Wars] Chapter 100: Recovery And New Assignment

    ¡°Ahhhhh! It burns!¡± Arron''s scream rang out throughout the sterile room.


    He woke up in a cold sweat, his muscles cramping from his recurring nightmare where relived the experience of being burned alive by the large explosion.


    It had been over a week since the explosion and in that week he had been operated on several times by Doc-Octy and his minions.


    He, and several of the other officers caught in the explosion, had been airlifted out and rushed back to the M1 HQ to get immediate care. Some of the M1 officers gasped their last breaths on the flight back, unable to keep going no matter how much Liquid Ethylene and other medicines were pumped into them.


    They were each a gruesome sight to see, all of their exposed skin had been charred black. Their uniforms and armor had burnt and melted together with their skin. It was quite troublesome to have to surgically remove the melted armor that had bonded with their bodies.


    After the armor had been separated from their bodies the shrapnel inside their bodies was located and removed. The charred skin was removed only after they patched up all the internal wounds.


    Those who had managed to survive this long process were placed in vats of high-concentration cell regeneration pools where they were fully emerged. Their jaws had been clamped shut and only had oxygen tubes shoved up their noses to allow them to breathe.


    Arron had only been pulled out of his vat yesterday and was still hooked up to several medical-ivs that were pumping nutrients into his body to help with his recovery.


    Looking at him now with his rosy pink skin which was as smooth as a newborn''s, you would never think that only a short time ago it had been charred into an unrecognizable mess.


    His face had been reconstructed by Doc-Octy as best as he could. But there was still a noticeable difference from before.


    All of this was a minor issue, and with time, it could be fixed. The real issue...


    Arron tried to use his right arm to push himself up into a sitting position. But nothing happened.


    ¡°Ah... that''s right... it''s gone,¡± muttered Arron.


    Even though his mind was playing tricks on him causing him to still feel a phantom arm, there was no arm, not even a stump left to respond to its commands.


    [Arf!] said a worried Chewy who was laying on the ground near Arron keeping a close watch on him.


    ¡°I''m fine,¡± said Arron as he reached out with his left hand and pat Chewy.


    Chewy''s body showed visible signs of scorch marks. According to what Kix said it was thanks to her that he was alive. She had blocked the brunt of the blast that hit him by using her body and had also dragged him out of the burning crater so that he could be MedEvac.


    Looking up from Chewy Arron saw a snoring Doc-Octy who was sitting in a cushioned hover-chair in front of a holo-tv that was set to a low volume.


    ¡°It has been a week since the special M1 officers blew up a large section of rental warehouses causing a low estimated 10-15 million credits in damage, not including the cost of the loss of items,¡± said Kommy as he robotically read the words off of the floating teleprompter.


    ¡°Not only did they cause such a mess, but they are also still refusing to take responsibility and fix the issue. They are trying to push all the blame onto someone else,¡± said Fela.


    Arron''s already sour mood worsened as he listened to the two reporters who did not mention anything about the bomber, the reason they had gone there in the first place, or the M1 officers who had been severely wounded or killed in the explosion.


    ¡°Urghth!¡± Doc-Octy let out an odd grunt and woke up.


    As he yawned and scratched his head, he noticed both Chewy and Arron staring at him.


    ¡°Ah, you''re awake,¡± said Doc Octy between several yawns. ¡°Good, now we can get on with fixing you up the rest of the way and shipping you out in no time!¡±


    The way that was worded made Arron feel like a factory item that was to be packed up and sent away.


    ¡°I already took your measurements for your right arm and gathered a few options for you to choose from. Obviously, I left out the more unreasonable options.¡±


    ¡°Such as?¡±


    ¡°Biologically regrown limbs. I know your budget and you can''t afford to spend 100k credits on growing and surgically attaching it to your shoulder.¡±


    ¡°What, I have to pay for this?¡±


    ¡°Well, I do have a free option for you but...¡± Doc Octy looked away before saying. ¡°It''s just a basic civilian model D mechanical implant.¡±


    Arron''s forehead scrunched in unhappiness at hearing that. The civilian model D implant was the worst mechanical implant that even the poorest SCS D rank civilian would turn their nose up at. It was an outdated mass-produced model made out of scrap parts from factories and old recycled para-steel. It had gained its infamy near the tail end of the Troubles and a few years after as those who had lost hands, feet, or limbs were in the several tens of thousands and were quickly equipped with it.


    The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.


    The model D was beyond flimsy and could barely pick up, hold, or push anything without getting damaged.


    ¡°And the other options?¡±


    ¡°For 5k the model C,¡± said Doc-Octy pointing to a floating metal tray that held a bionic implant that looked similar to the model d but was slightly bulkier and made out of fresh para-steel. There was no metal covering over the mechanical parts allowing Arron to see the inner parts.


    ¡°For 30k the Model B,¡± a large brutish and bulky metal arm that looked like it belonged to a large muscled bodybuilder. Part of its bulkiness was due to the metal that encased the entire arm.


    ¡°...and this for 10k,¡± said Doc-Octy pointing to a third tray where a slim bionic arm was fully encased with a smooth and shiny silver para-steel. Out of the four options it looked to be the one that resembled an actual arm and could go unnoticed underneath clothing.


    Arron was amazed at the advancements of bionic implants through several generations that were right in front of him, and this did not include the new Model A implants or even the military-grade versions which were far more advanced than any civilian version.


    ¡°Why is the last one so cheap?¡± asked Arron. ¡°By the looks of it, it should be far more expensive.¡±


    ¡°It''s a new-ish prototype, it has had a few issues and a few minor mishaps, but they have all been ironed out through rigorous testing. You are looking at the 23rd iteration. The best version so far. If it passes live testing it will be modified with special weapon add-ons based on what the Nippon military orders. Of course, this one is bare-bones and does not have any such add-ons,¡± said Doc-Octy. He had emphasized the two words ''live testing'' while directly staring into Arron''s eyes.


    ¡°I see, so that''s why it''s cheaper than the other models,¡± said Arron.


    ¡°The office of reason researchers would not give the prototype out for free even to M1''s ERF units to test. The only reason it is this cheap is they need someone to test it and there are not enough people with a missing arm that are qualified to do the testing. Since there are already a few experimental parts attached to you and you are also a member of the ERF, you fit all the requirements.¡±


    Before Arron could say anything Doc-Octy held up a hand. ¡°Don''t worry about the cost! I know you are probably tight on credits right now, but the Chief has already talked with the bean counters and set aside 1000 credits from your next ten months of hazard pay.¡±


    Arron let out a sigh as his ¡°Choice¡± between the several models had already been made for him.


    Seeing that Arron did not offer up any protests Doc-Octy continued his sales pitch, ¡°If you would like, you can get a synthetic skin to cover the arm. It will cost maybe 5-6k extra since the office of reason will be the one to do it, because only they are allowed to modify the active prototype.¡±


    ¡°Pass,¡± was all Arron said.


    ¡°Alright, let me do a few last-minute tune-ups. Then we can get it fit, programmed, and linked to your NerViz,¡± said Doc-Octy as he kicked the ground causing the hover chair to float over to Arron where he began to retake several measurements just to make sure that everything was correct.


    The metal tray that had the prototype laying on it floated over to Doc-Octy, who turned around and extended one of his 8 thin metal arms from his back and plugged it into a small socket of the prototype.


    A stream of data was transferred to the prototype causing a holographic window to pop up with the message: [Are you sure about these measurements? The restructuring process can only be performed once and will be unable to revert the changes.]


    Doc-octy''s hand slammed the holographic [Accept] button and the mechanical arm began to visibly change as it shifted and transformed into the right size to fit Arron.


    While the changes were happening to the mechanical implant, Doc-Octy pulled a large metal socket off the tray and placed the cushioned portion over Arron''s empty right shoulder. Several of Doc-octy''s thin mechanical arms extended out of his back and began to tighten the socket while he held it in place. Arron could feel the pressure on his shoulder as it got tighter and tighter.


    ¡°This won''t be the most secure as we are only using a socket,¡± said Doc-Octy as he grabbed the prototype and began fitting and securing it to the socket. ¡°In the future, if you want we can do a more permanent surgery to firmly attach it to your shoulder. I suggest you wait a few months as your body needs time to rest and recuperate from all the damage it went through and the multiple surgeries.¡±


    Doc-Octy spent a few more minutes making sure the bionic implant was secure and the connection to Arron''s NerViz had no errors.


    ¡°When the office of reason heard that you lost your old NerViz Cloud chip along with your right arm they decided to put a new experimental NerViz Cloud chip inside at no extra cost. To be honest they were a bit too happy to do it...¡±


    Doc-Octy manually moved Arron''s new right arm making sure that there were no mechanical issues before slapping Arron on the shoulder and saying, ¡°Sit up and test it out.¡±


    Arron did as he was told, and to his surprise when his mind told his arm to move, it did. It was a far smoother process than what he had read about for the other models. Usually, they had a minor lag time between the mind''s command and enacting the command.


    ¡°Good,¡± was all doc Octy said as his eyes zoomed in and out while inspecting the arm as Arron moved it in every way possible. His movements looked as if it was his real arm.


    ¡°You are all set to go. If you have any problems let me know as I will be in charge of maintenance during the prototype testing,¡± said Doc-Octy, his multiple thin metal arms once again folding into his back.


    Arron nodded his understanding to Doc-Octy who was still watching him. He felt that he was in no shape to leave right now, but he could not stay here forever, so he stood up and left the room with Chewy.


    As he was walking down the small hallway of the HQ''s medical wing, several moans and roars could be heard coming from those that were still recovering.


    Arron tried blocking the disturbing noises out by checking the messages he had missed while recovering.


    There were a few from his parents and one from Kix that read [Urgent- Call me as soon as you can.]


    With such a message being left he did not hesitate and called Kix who immediately picked up and began talking.


    ¡°I know you probably just woke up, but a lot has changed over the last week due to the large number of casualties we took. Both of us have been temporarily taken off of our main responsibility in the ERF and placed on a secret mission that is under the control of The Office of Reason. You should take care of everything you need as we will be unable to leave or contact anyone outside of the mission. I''m already stuck here.¡±


    ¡°Where?¡±


    ¡°Sector one. I can only explain everything in person when you get here. The field agent from the Office of Reason is not too happy having to wait for you, so I would not take too long as he probably already has word that you are up and about.¡±


    ¡°What''s going on? All of this is just... to out there. I just got tuned up and released from the medical wing. I don''t even feel 75% healed.¡±


    ¡°Like I said, I can only tell you everything when we are face to face. You better take care of everything quickly before the Office of Reason decides to send some people to pick you up and escort you here.¡±

 Chapter 101: Sector One

    In the entire Mega-city other than the people Arron worked with on a daily basis, he only had one other person that he talked with regularly, Yumi.


    Currently, he was sitting on a plush couch in her apartment which was part of a new building that had recently popped up in sector 12. This was his first time actually being invited over to her place, every time they had hung out before, they had either been at the [The Red light] bar or his apartment. This was a first for their relationship.


    ¡°You said you have something important to tell me?¡± asked Yumi, who was behind a curved opaque holoscreen that only covered her from the shoulders to the ground.


    She was holding her arms up as a large suction force pulled an expensive red dress off of her body. Seconds later a reverse suction force shot a different outfit down fitting to her body without her needing to do anything.


    The number of new gadgets in her apartment amazed Arron. He had never seen or heard of many of the things he was looking at right now. Some of them look like they were limited gold editions.


    ¡°Yeah, it''s about work,¡± said Arron.


    Yumi, now wearing a new set of clothes, deactivated the opaque screen letting it disappear. She slinked over to Arron and sat down next to him with a seductive smile.


    ¡°Oh? Are we going to start talking about our personal life?¡± asked Yumi. Now that she was right next to him she squinted her eyes and began scanning his unshaven face. ¡°Did you do something to your face? I can''t put my finger on it but... you look a little different.¡±


    She placed her hand on his right shoulder to lean on him and get a closer look but when she did, she immediately noticed the hard metal underneath her hand instead of soft skin. Without a word, she pulled his long shirt sleeve up all the way to reveal his new metal arm. She raised an eyebrow as she looked at Arron and said, ¡°I didn''t know you were one to dabble with replacing your body parts with mechanical implants.¡±


    ¡°It''s not like that! The reason I wasn''t able to contact you for a while was because I had a severe crash on my hover-cycle. In the crash, I unfortunately lost my arm. It really isn''t much to think about,¡± said Arron as he gave her a quick kiss on the forehead, trying to brush it off as a minor thing.


    ¡°Alright. So what did you need to tell me?¡±


    ¡°Due to work. I''ll be on an extended business trip where I will be unable to meet or contact you for some time,¡± said Arron.


    ¡°For how long are you going to be gone?¡±


    ¡°I really don''t know. I don''t even know what they are sending me out to do. I just didn''t want you to think that I had blocked you or was ignoring your calls. As soon as I get the chance I will call you.¡±


    ¡°Ooo, sounds mysterious. Like a secret agent in the movies,¡± said Yumi, teasing him.


    ¡°Haha, yeah... I wish. It''s probably some grueling desk job that some higher-level person didn''t want to take care of,¡± said Arron nervously, almost breaking into a heavy sweat as she was hitting close to his actual job.


    ***


    ¡°All I can say is, it has to do with some big-shots in sector one. When you get here don''t mess around. Sector one is not like the other sectors. Things can get really messy here over little things so be careful. Unfortunately, I can''t meet you right away as our new babysitter from the Office of Reason has me running several errands for him,¡± said Kix who looked to be walking down a dark alley with little to no humans around.


    ¡°Hey, I''m not an idiot! I know not to mess with those types of people,¡± said Arron quietly as he walked to the Mag-Lev station that would take him to sector 1.


    ¡°I''ve got to end the call. I''ll meet you in a few hours,¡± said Kix in a whisper, immediately cutting the call as he spoke the last words.


    The ride to sector 1, although uncomfortable due to being crammed into the carriage like sardines, was uneventful and Arron was able to get off at the secondary station that Kix had recommended. It was not a normal main station near the large city entrance/exit where the raw material, mail, and other goods from outside the mega-city were shipped in and out of.


    The security at that station was on a whole other level and would be a pain to deal with if he had decided to depart there.


    Arron stood on the station''s platform and watched as over a dozen Mag-levs filled with passengers and raw materials shot off, all heading to separate sectors while weaving in between the many towering buildings. This was only the secondary station but still had such a large number of tracks that went to different zones on the first level.


    According to Kix, the main station was at least double this size since it needed to handle all the freight Mag-levs that arrived from all over Nippon.


    There were only one or two tracks dedicated to passenger Mag-levs as those allowed to leave the mega-city would rarely ever use the first level¡¯s Mag-lev system which was highly regulated and watched over. Mother and father had these measures in place to make sure none of the criminal organizations including the separatist could smuggle items, information, and even people in or out of the city.


    Smuggling was a large booming business for the criminal groups that had taken up residence in Sector 1.


    Arron had only come to Sector 1 a few times on errands that were never for pleasure, so he had never explored its three zones or paid much attention to the attractions it had to offer. But now that he left the station and was walking down different streets he was noticing a lot of odd things. Mainly many groups of young and middle-aged men hanging out around buildings all wearing similar clothes or hairstyles. Many of them were quite funny looking but the scowls on the men''s faces were enough to stop anyone from laughing at them. And if that wasn''t enough, then their fists would do it.


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    Arron did not know how long he would be staying in sector one, but in case it would be for a while he was ready to start searching for a cheap place to stay by browsing the holo-net. When he had picked a few decent places that fit his criteria he plugged in their locations to the navi-guide and began walking to the first one that was only a couple blocks away.


    The first target building was worn but well-kept, which gave Arron hope that their rooms would not be terrible.


    As he walked up to the building''s door a voice came out of a speaker in the wall nearby. A metal shutter raised up to reveal a thick bulletproof paraglass window. Behind it was a security guard who was half paying attention to him and half attention to an adult video.


    ¡°How many nights do you want?¡± asked the security guard.


    ¡°A week? I''m not sure. Can I extend my stay whenever I need to?¡± asked Arron.


    ¡°As long as you have the credits and don''t cause any problems you can stay here forever. Place your hand on the scanner,¡± said the guard, lazily waving his hand toward a large black block embedded in the wall.


    Arron followed his instructions placing his new metal hand on the scanner only for the black block to immediately turn red and send a blaring alarm inside the guard room startling the guard.


    For the first time, he turned and looked at Arron with his full attention.


    ¡°What are you? Some sort of idiot? Are you trying to get me in trouble with the Office of Reason? If you don''t have the proper documentation to stay in sector one then why are you trying to sneak around here? Get lost before I call the police!¡± shouted the angry guard.


    In his anger, his face had turned beet red and spit was flying out splattering all over the para-glass. The metal para-steel shutters slammed shut ending their conversation.


    Arron took a few steps back, shocked at what had just happened. He had not been told that there was documentation needed just to stay here.


    ¡°I sure hope this is just a small hiccup and they have everything settled for me. Otherwise, where am I going to sleep?¡± muttered Arron.


    Now with his plans shattered, he just walked around in the large crowds in no particular direction, just following the crowd wherever they were going.


    As he stepped onto a large side street something caught his attention.


    A large burlap awning hung from the side of the building''s wall covering three old reclining chairs. Each chair was already occupied by men each a different age and wearing different clothes, a t-shirt, suit, and one with no shirt at all, only showing his bare upper body that was full of tattoos and two grade B civilian mechanical implants for his left and right arm.


    This was a street-side barbershop. This was not all that shocking, what caught his attention was the ones doing the cutting and shaving.


    There were three actual humans diligently working, and not service bots, who were the norm all throughout the mega-city.


    Even the barbershop he went to in sector 11 was run by service bots that were super quick and efficient in their actions. It only took a few minutes before you were charged credits for the cut or shave and then kicked back out of the barbershop.


    Arron watched as the human barbers moved around using their scissors and razor-sharp blades with skilled hands working their magic of a rare and almost lost trade. They were in no rush and made sure that the haircut, trims, and shaves were done to perfection that a service bot could not achieve.


    When they finished the shave or haircut, some paid extra credits and received a rough face, neck, and shoulder massage by the large muscular barbers.


    Arron scratched his scraggly unshaven neck as he looked at the holo-sign that showed the prices for their services.


    [Cuts: 10 credits, Shaves: 10 credits, Massages: 5 credits, Cracking: 5 credits, Aftercare: 5 credits, Special full package: 25 credits.]


    Arron was surprised at how cheap it all was compared to the far pricier conveyor belt service he had gotten used to since he started living in the mega-city.


    The barber at the first chair pulled the cape off of the young man he had just finished working on and snapped the cape in the air sending the hair to the para-concrete ground.


    ¡°You''re good to go,¡± said the barber, slapping the young man''s shoulder who had almost dozed off from the entire experience. The young man hopped up out of the chair and after paying, walked off with a smile.


    ¡°Next!¡±


    Arron realized the rough man was looking right at him. He quickly thought it over and finally decided, ''Why don''t I give it a try.''


    It was cheap enough that it was not going to eat up the little savings that he had right now.


    The rough man grabbed Arron''s left arm and dragged him to the chair shoving him into it while asking, ¡°What do ya want?¡±


    ¡°Everything,¡± said Arron holding out his right metallic hand over the portable scanner the muscular man held.


    Ping!


    [Payment allowed! Credits have been transferred!]


    With a slap to Arron''s right shoulder the rough man said, ¡°Alright, I''ll get you cleaned up proper!¡±


    He turned to a beat-up metal box and opened the small door allowing steam to escape as he pulled out a fresh steaming towel.


    He snapped it a few times in the air letting the steam and excess moisture rise into the air while also cooling the towel a bit before he turned to Arron and expertly wrapped it over his face.


    Arron fought the urge to tear it off as he was still sensitive to anything remotely warm touching his skin, not from pain, but from the trauma of nearly being burned to death.


    After a short time of warming up his face, opening the pores, and softening up the facial hair, the towel was taken off and immediately a warm lather was brushed onto his face before he grabbed onto a large shaving blade that he had just put in a new disposable blade.


    He squirted a strong-smelling disinfectant onto the blade and then lit it with a small lighter letting it burn for a second before shaking the blade to put out the fire.


    The warm blade cut through the shaving cream and rough facial hair like butter and the barber used his hands to feel if there were any spots missed before going on to the next step. The next step was using large metal scissors that were also disinfected by fire before Arron''s newly grown rough hair was combed and cut.


    While this was all taking place a light drizzle was pouring down making a pitter-patter noise as it hit the thick cloth awning above keeping Arron and the barbers dry.


    Special aftercare creams and lotions were rubbed into his now smooth cheeks and neck as well as an ointment for his hair.


    ¡°Your shoulders and muscles are quite stiff,¡± said the barber as he began working on rubbing, tugging, and bopping Arron''s head and shoulders.


    With the rough but comfortable massage and the background noise of the drizzling rain, passing chatter, and moving hover cars Arron began to relax and the sounds began to dim as he zoned out from the experience only to come back when his neck, left arm, and fingers were individually cracked.


    This was a very welcome experience that Arron decided to try out more often.

 Chapter 102: The Blood Wars

    ¡°There you are,¡± said Kix, over the secure comms as he spotted Arron in the large flowing crowd of civilians.


    Arron was leaning against the wall of a semi-clean building at the spot that they had agreed upon earlier. He was still completely relaxed from the full shave and aftercare that he had received a while ago.


    ¡°What''s with you?¡± asked Kix, seeing Arron''s extremely relaxed posture.


    ¡°Nothing much, just enjoyed some of the local sights and experiences of sector 1,¡± said Arron.


    Kix gave Arron an odd look before he looked around at the rundown buildings sidewalks and tens of shabbily dressed people passing by.


    ¡°What''s there to see? It''s almost exactly like every other sector, the only difference is the people who live here are more violent and scheming,¡± said Kix dismissively.


    As Kix stopped in front of Arron he looked at his smooth face. With how long he had been working with Arron he was able to notice that his face was only slightly different from before the burns.


    ¡°Doc-Octy sure is good at what he does. You were one smelly charred mess before. Not even a year on the job and you are already missing an arm and an eye.¡±


    ¡°I''m just glad I didn''t have to go to the government hospital... Let''s not talk about all of this. Can you tell me what we are doing here in sector one?¡±


    Kix shook his head and in a whisper said, ¡°Not here. Wait till later when we arrive at the main operations building. All I can say is we have been taken off active patrol and put on an undercover mission. The Office of Reason chose us partly as punishment and also because the danger is extremely high. If we fail, we fail. Or I should say, if you are discovered you will have to fight your way out of the situation.¡±


    ¡°Great what have we gotten ourselves into this time?¡± asked Arron as he followed Kix down the broken sidewalk turned into a jam-packed street that had more people walking on it than hover vehicles. ¡°Where are we going?¡±


    ¡°My apartment. Since you have no authorization to live in sector one, you''ll be staying with me while we work on this mission. These are the orders directly from the Office of Reason agent overseeing this entire mission. So there is no need to worry about informing them that you are living here temporarily.¡±


    ¡°You have to notify them about something like that? Wait! You have an apartment here?¡±


    ¡°Of course you have to notify them if you are staying at another person''s home for more than a visit. Especially if you have a D rank SCS, things can get ugly if they don''t report this to their social worker at the Office of Reason, and why is my having an apartment here a shock to you? I grew up here, of course, I''ll have a place to stay.¡±


    ¡°It''s just no matter how much I learn, it seems like there is always new information that pops up and surprises me,¡± said Arron as he squeezed past two burly men that were glaring at each other in the middle of the street and were ready to fight each other.


    ¡°That''s nothing surprising since most of the people living in the Mega-city never leave the sector or the level of the city they were born in,¡± said Kix.


    As they continued down several different streets Arron couldn''t help but notice several things that stood out and continued to repeatedly catch his attention while they were walking.


    ¡°Kix... aren''t those banned by Mother and Father?¡± said Arron pointing at one of the sidearms that were openly being displayed by rough-looking men that were standing at corners of streets and in front of several different buildings.


    Now that he was aware of the weapons, he was able to see them almost everywhere.


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    ¡°Yes, they are, for law-abiding citizens at least.¡±


    ¡°I never knew it was this lawless here, so brazen to openly show them like this. With them being armed like this, what are the rest of the civilians supposed to do?¡±


    ¡°I don''t get why you''re so surprised. It''s not all that bad since the citizens have us to help if there is ever a serious problem!¡±


    ¡°You know how long it takes us to get to just one call. We can''t save everyone, so why isn''t there a crackdown on such open illegal activity? What are the police and Office of Reason doing?¡±


    ¡°You are right, we can''t save everyone. That''s why a lot of people living here like living in the factories and business dorms that are not run by people like those guys. The factory and business security bots are a good enough deterrent to stop the low-level thugs from causing any problems.¡±


    Kix was silent for several seconds as they walked down a different dark street.


    ¡°As for why there are no crackdowns on illegal activity... well you wouldn''t know that since you lived out in the countryside. It may seem calm here and like any other sector, but it has only been this calm for about two years now. Before...¡± Kix just shook his head.


    ¡°How bad could it have been? Even in the old city everyone was far more protected by that city wall than we were in the countryside. When I was growing up we had to deal with several famines where thousands of people died from hunger while we sent the food to the capital. Then there were the constant natural disasters killing and tearing up the land as well as the explosions from the battles happening so close to our town that you could feel the ground shake. We could always hear loud explosions off in the distance no matter what time of day it was,¡± said Arron.


    Kix was silent for a moment as he was lost in thought reliving the past events of his childhood before snapping out of his daze and looking back at Arron.


    ¡°Arron, here''s a tip for you. Don''t ever say such a thing like that to anyone that lives here. Especially to the older generation. Many of those distant explosions you heard were happening where we lived both inside and outside of the city walls. After the war was over and the first level was built by Mother and Father, many of us thought things would change...¡±


    ¡°It didn''t? There was nothing about this on the news that I have read or watched,¡± said Arron, feeling that the hardships he had grown up with were not something that Kix or anyone from the mega-city could just brush off as nothing.


    ¡°Of course there wasn''t any change. Back then Mother and Father were not as strong or fully in control. They were having trouble taking care of everything so many mistakes were made all leading to many minor rebellions. The Office of Reason was created to help them handle all of the major problems and many minor rebellions that popped up. All of this was focused on sector one.¡±


    ¡°What was so special about this place?¡± asked Arron as he looked around at the grimy walls, crumbling sidewalks, and cracked streets.


    ¡°Nothing. It was the people that were living here. Rumor had it that several of the old government leaders and their families were living here in hiding under different identities. There were also hundreds of former officers and tens of thousands of soldiers from the old army that were living here.¡±


    ¡°Separatists!?¡± said Arron, surprised.


    ¡°Allegedly! Mother and Father could not tell who was and who was not due to all the previous personnel information being destroyed in the destruction of the old city. Not that such a thing would stop them from doing whatever they wanted either way. For those that they were sure were from the old government or military, they labeled them as enemies of the new Party of Mother and Father and issued orders for their capture,¡± said Kix, falling silent for several seconds before speaking again.


    ¡°There were many bloody and hard-fought battles just to capture each of the alleged separatists ending up with many casualties. Because this sector had a high population of former government and military members, they decided to band together to protect each other from such raids. That is how most of the different underground organizations started out and later branched out to do other things. They have been constantly battling with Mother and Father''s agents ever since. Starting from the completion of the first levels of Sector 1, all the way to just a few years ago. This short time is known locally as [The Blood Wars]. From everything I experienced growing up, these were the bloodiest years I can remember. Sector 1 has been a constant thorn in Mother and Father''s side and that is why there is so much illegal activity happening here.¡±


    ¡°So that''s why you''re such an odd person. Is this why you have a chip on your shoulder when it comes to the subject of Mother and Father?¡± asked Arron.


    ¡°Let''s not get into that, shall we? We can just say I learned a healthy lesson that the party members of Mother and Father may smile and say nice words, but they are no one''s friend, and should not be trusted when they do things for your ''Safety''.¡±


    Kix stopped in front of a decent older 300-story building that was all black.


    ¡°This is the place where you will be staying for a while,¡± said Kix as he held his hand over a scanner near the entrance unlocking the door for the two of them to step inside.

 Chapter 103: Try Not To Be Surprised

    Ting!


    The mag-shoot''s doors opened onto the 299th floor.


    Instead of them walking to one of the doors in the well-lit hallway, Kix led Arron to the end of the hall where the stairs were and placed his right metal hand over the scanner of a black door that was blocking the stairs to the 300th floor.


    With a loud electric buzz, several locks could be heard clicking as they automatically unlocked, allowing the thick black door to slide open revealing a short set of stairs leading to the 300th floor.


    ¡°Quite the fancy place you''re staying at. It has more security than our apartments in sector 11,¡± said Arron.


    ¡°It better be. I''m paying a lot of credits every month for a place here,¡± said Kix.


    They walked up to a metal door with the number 11 on it and Kix began entering the hand code for the holo-lock.


    ¡°Try not to be too surprised,¡± said Kix as the door opened.


    Kix stepped into the small entryway and took off his shoes, placing them on a shoe rack that had two other pairs of shoes each of different sizes.


    ¡°I''m home,¡± said Kix as he walked into the combined living/kitchen room.


    At the sound of his voice, one of the three doors at the end of the room slammed open and a small boy with pitch-black hair rushed out and jumped at Kix latching onto his leg.


    ¡°Have you been a good boy for your mother?¡± asked Kix as he reached down and used his left arm to pick up the young boy who was now sucking on his thumb.


    The young boy thought for a second before nodding his head.


    ¡°Don''t let him fool you. He''s been a little brat as usual,¡± said a female voice from inside another room.


    ¡°You have a son and a wife?¡± asked Arron, shocked. ¡°It all makes sense now. No wonder you never want to hang out when we have our days off.¡±


    The young boy, still sucking his thumb, looked at Arron for a second then asked Kix, ¡°Is he one of grandpa''s men?¡±


    ¡°Naru, you rude little bugger, is that how you''re supposed to talk to your father''s partner?¡± asked Kix.


    A woman of similar age to Kix, walked out of the room allowing Arron to see her long flowing black hair that reached her waist.


    With a smile, she said, ¡°If you had told me that you would be bringing someone home with you I would have prepared food and drink for them.¡±


    ¡°There''s no need for such a hassle. Arron is just my partner from work,¡± said Kix, poking Arron in the side with his free elbow.


    ¡°Hello, I''m Kumi. Kix''s wife,¡± said Kumi, holding her hand out for Arron.


    ¡°I''m your husband''s partner in crime at the M1,¡± said Arron, bowing slightly to her before taking her hand and lightly shaking it.


    ¡°I hope you have been keeping him in line and out of trouble,¡± said Kumi.


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    Kix snorted at that. ¡°It''s me that''s been doing that for him. He''s a handful! He only recently recovered from that blast that was on the news.¡±


    Kumi''s facial expression turned solemn and said, ¡°So you were one of the officers caught in that explosion? It''s good that I made it out alive and still in one piece.¡±


    ¡°Yeah... it was something,¡± said Arron nervously rubbing his neck with his bionic arm.


    Kumi turned to Kix and scooped up Naru while saying, ¡°Your brothers have been calling every day asking to speak with you when you return to Sector 1.¡±


    Kix scowled as he heard this and said, ¡°Why? I already broke all ties with the Family when I officially joined M1. I don''t want the three of us to get dragged into whatever schemes they are plotting.¡±


    ¡°It''s a request from your father. It is important enough that he has been having them call every day. If you keep ignoring him, sooner or later they will just come and find you.¡±


    Kix was silent for a while before saying, ¡°I need to think about it. Arron and I will be discussing some work-related stuff in my office so we won''t be out until dinner is ready.¡±


    ¡°How long will he be visiting?¡± asked Kumi.


    ¡°Not too sure... several days, weeks, or even a few months?¡±


    Kumi gave him a hard look as he turned around.


    ¡°Hey don''t look at me like that, it was an order from the Office of Reason! Just look at the bright side, I will be able to come home every night for the foreseeable future because of all of this,¡± said Kix defensively as he looked over his shoulder and sent his wife a smile. He hurried his footsteps and escaped with Arron into a third room that was being used as his office.


    Arron looked at Kix with a raised eyebrow as the door of the small office closed. The office was quite cramped having little room for the desk, chairs, and a small drop-down cot attached to the wall.


    ¡°There''s nothing to worry about since it''s all in the past. I chose this new path in life so that my son and wife would not have to experience the hardships I had to go through during my childhood and teen life,¡± said Kix.


    Arron did not press any further on the matter and asked, ¡°So what exactly is this secretive mission that the Office of Reason has put us on?¡±


    Kix held up a hand for a second stopping Arron. He pressed the holographic button on a large air purifier in the room turning it on to its highest setting which made a constant loud white noise to block and muffle their voices for anyone that was trying to listen to the conversation.


    ¡°You will be infiltrating one of the major Yakuza families of Sector 1,¡± said Kix, his face completely serious no longer carrying his slight smile from before.


    ¡°What? Why is the Office of Reason not doing this with their own agents?¡±


    ¡°The Office of Reason has many Moles inside its organization. Some of them belong to the many Yakuza Families of Sector 1. Since it is too hard to clean them all out, they have decided to use outside muscle with no information linking them to the Office of Reason or Mother and Father. That''s you. This way the moles will not be able to learn who the pawn is or any of the future plans of this operation,¡± said Kix as he pulled out a bottle of alcohol from his desk and two clean glasses.


    ¡°This is also supposed to be a good thing for you as well. Since you are a nobody, just someone that has only recently come to stay in the Mega-city, there is little information for them to dig up on you that would out you as the pawn of the Office of Reason. There is also the fact that they recently installed that new prototype NerViz system for you right? With that, they believe that your information will not be able to be hacked while also allowing the office of reason to keep a close eye on you. Or so they hope. This will also be a live test for that prototype and all its functions for future operations. We can only hope that the new identity they create for you is enough to fool both the yakuza families and the gangs who have Moles everywhere so that they can sniff out infiltrators,¡± said Kix as he handed over a half-filled glass of dark alcohol.


    ¡°Why do I feel like they are just playing with my life here? This is a seriously deadly game to be playing around with untested prototypes. What happens if it can be hacked? Even if it is not hacked anyone can search for me on the holo-web and find all the articles and videos they want of me and you. We aren''t exactly low-profile people.¡±


    ¡°We''ll have to bring that up with the agent overseeing this mission when we see him tomorrow,¡± said Kix, taking a sip of his drink.


    ¡°So I have no say in this? Wait, you said I would be infiltrating one of the Yakuza Families, but what about you?¡±


    ¡°I will be helping you out from the darkness. Because of my past¡­ and the certain connections I have with a few people. I can not be the one to do the infiltration or join you in person. But with my knowledge and connections, I can still be a great help to you! I will be with you through the secure comms the whole time, hopefully, to help you navigate the tricky Yakuza family system.¡±

 Chapter 104: Agent A.S. And A Makeover

    ¡°Is this the place?¡± asked Arron.


    ¡°It''s what the directions say,¡± said Kix as they stared at a greasy and crumbling building with the holographic sign [GW Bar] floating above the front doors.


    ¡°Let''s hope these disguises work,¡± said Arron, who was wearing a flimsy mask and baggy hoodie to cover his face.


    When Arron and Kix crossed the street and were only a few steps away from the door...


    ¡°Stop right there,¡± said a rough-looking man holding up a metal hand in front of Arron''s face. The man had two oversized model B bionic arms that made him look exactly like a muscular ape standing on two feet.


    ¡°This is Greasy Weasel''s territory. Only members are allowed to enter,¡± said a second equally ape-man who stepped up to block Kix who also wore a similar disguise as Arron. Their masks would do little to stop the Office of Reason or the police from figuring out who they were with all the technology they could use to scan their NerViz. But this was not a place that had such government-controlled tech.


    The two apes pulled part of their black trench coats to the side to reveal guns resting on their hips.


    It was a clear message to Arron and Kix. If they wanted to fight, the two apes were ready.


    ¡°AS told us to come here and meet him,¡± said Kix ignoring the two Ape''s hostile glares and the hands that were resting on the pistol grips.


    The first ape frowned at hearing this. While the second ape hurriedly said in a hushed voice. ¡°Shhhh! Don''t say his name out loud in front of everyone! Are you trying to get us in trouble with the other yakuza families and gangs?¡±


    The two apes began scanning the surrounding area for any eavesdroppers but when they saw no one paying attention they let out a sigh of relief.


    They then pulled out a pair of cheap scanners and ran them over Arron and Kix to check for the most basic weapons and found none on them.


    ¡°Hurry up and get inside. Don''t start causing trouble inside or the guards will take care of you,¡± said Ape 1 before stepping aside and waving the two inside the building.


    Arron had several questions buzzing in his head but could ask Kix for clarification now that there were four apes surrounding them as they were escorted toward an elevated platform near the rear of the building''s first-floor bar.


    The large room which was painted green, was nearly empty due to it being so early in the morning. The only people that were here, were silent save for a few guards whispering with each other.


    The four apes stopped at the base of the steps that led up to the platform. They did not say anything and only stared at Kix and Arron. They understood the meaning and climbed up the short set of stairs to the top of the platform which had several plush couches and a large floating para-steel table at the center.


    A man, dressed head to toe in black leather with not even a sliver of skin showing, was sitting on one of the couches sipping on a straw that was stuck in a bubbling green drink. Inside the glass, there were two floating scoops of what looked like vanilla ice cream.


    Arron looked around searching for the other two Office of Reason field agents but saw no one else. This was odd since they always came in threes.


    ¡°You''re late,¡± said the man in a robotic voice that was not his own.


    ¡°We were held up at the entrance,¡± said Kix.


    The man ignored Kix''s excuse and pressed a button on the armrest of the couch. An opaque privacy shield shot up and encased the entire platform in a dome blocking all sight and sound from those outside the dome.


    Arron was impressed with the setup that this place had. It was not the normal cheap civilian privacy shields but the type used by mega-corps, Mother and Father party members, and the Office of Reason. It was extremely expensive and not just anyone could get their hands on such systems even if they had the money.


    ¡°So you''re Arron?¡± asked the man who was now staring at Arron assessing him. ¡°I am A.S. I am the agent in charge of this undercover mission. You will be getting your orders on what to do directly from me. You are to treat these orders as if they are directly from Mother and Father. You must complete the tasks given to you without hesitation. If you do not, a few points being docked from your SCS will be the least of your worries. Do you understand?¡±


    There was no room for Arron to disagree, so he just shrugged and said, ¡°Yes.¡±


    ¡°Good, do you have any questions or concerns?¡±


    ¡°I''m not sure if you know this, but both Kix and I have been in the news several times. How am I supposed to be an undercover agent if anyone can search for me and find out I work at M1?¡±


    ¡°Already taken care of. Everything about you since you entered the Mega-city has been wiped. You do not exist here. In theory, with your prototype NerViz, we can hide your personal data with a temporary spoof identity. A new update has already been sent to your NerViz. Don''t worry you don''t need to do anything as it will silently and atomically update itself. This way we can keep any unauthorized people from snooping and allows us to keep your involvement with the Office of Reason safe. With this update, you are now [Ark Fune], a country bumpkin who was just recently smuggled into Sector one. Even if you are exposed, it helps that your face has had a few minor changes from your recent minor mishap.¡±


    Arron did not think barely surviving a near point-blank explosion in which he lost an arm, was just a ''minor mishap''.


    ¡°To be sure that your new identity is flawless, a specialist will be arriving to help alter your appearance further. They will make sure that you look at the part you will be playing tomorrow,¡± said A.S.


    ¡°What? So soon?¡± asked Arron.


    ¡°It can''t be helped. We had to rush this operation plan as our target has changed their schedule. We need to strike while the para-steel is still hot. If you miss this chance then we will have to wait at least another month. If you did miss it, don''t think I would allow you to do anything during that time. I''m sure the Office of Reason could find several chores for you to do.¡±


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    ¡°We can only hope that this prototype is more successful than the failed robo-dog that was your partner.¡±


    This was Arron''s first time hearing that the Office of Reason was not satisfied with the D.O.G.E. prototypes.


    ¡°You two need to stay here until you''re fully fixed up. If you have no other questions then I will take my leave as I have stuff to do,¡± said A.S. as he stood up with his drink still in hand.


    ¡°Wait, which yakuza family am I supposed to be infiltrating? And where are they based?¡± asked Arron.


    A.S quickly scrolled through some menus on his wrist-datapad and then flicked a file toward Arron before leaving the enclosed platform.


    ¡°My head is spinning. Everything is happening too quickly,¡± said Arron as he flopped onto one of the couches.


    ¡°So who is the target?¡± asked Kix sitting down on a couch opposite the slouching Arron.


    Arron opened the new blinking file, ¡°Umm... the Ryu Family?¡±


    Upon hearing the name Kix''s face was not as calm as before.


    ¡°What is the Office of Reason thinking?¡± asked Kix.


    ¡°Is this a really notorious Yakuza Family?¡± asked Arron.


    ¡°I know they said it was one of the main yakuza families, but I thought they meant someone in the upper mid-tier... Instead, they have decided to go straight to the top and challenge the number one family.¡±


    ¡°So will this be harder than normal?¡±


    ¡°Of course! They are not the simple poor thugs like these Greasy Weasels. The Ryu family is really the ruler of the yakuza families in sector one. If anyone messes up big time or tries to start a major fight with another yakuza family, they will first have to deal with the Ryu family.¡±


    ¡°Speaking of the Greasy Weasels, what are we doing here in one of their bases?¡±


    Kix gave a loud huff and said, ¡°Although the Yakuza families on level one are viewed as lawless brutes, they have an honor code where they will help another group out if the enemy is being targeted by Mother and Father. In the past, a few of these families betrayed the cause and teamed up with Mother and Father forming discrete gangs of lawless hoodlums that did not fit in with the Yakuza system. Of course, they were wiped out alongside the agents and families they worked for. Now these dishonorable gangs and their yakuza family backers who are in the pockets of the Office of Reason, do not openly state their position. This allows them to stay alive and also gather information, grow in power, and take control of major businesses including several mega-corps. This is one of the ways Mother and Father can claim plausible deniability when accused of acquiring and controlling all the mega-corps openly.¡±


    ¡°And the Greasy weasels are one of these Rogue families?¡± asked Arron.


    ¡°It was only a rumor that a few people muttered about, but no real evidence was ever found.¡±


    ¡°Until now. So what are you going to do about it? Keep the info or spread it?¡± asked Arron.


    ¡°I''m not stupid! The Office of Reason will immediately look at the two of us if suddenly their important pawn is uprooted after staying hidden for so long.¡±


    Their discussion was cut short when a female, also covered from head to toe in black leather, stepped onto the platform followed by four hover suitcases.


    ¡°Which one of you is my project?¡± asked the robotic female voice.


    Kix pointed to Arron.


    She pulled the hover cases over to the table at the spot closest to Arron and started unloading the first two cases. There were many tools and chemical vials now neatly lined up on top of the table.


    The woman turned to a third suitcase which had a black metallic ball and began to tap and pressed a few invisible menu options. The ball floated up out of the suitcase and flew over to Arron where it started scanning him with a flat yellow holographic light gathering detailed information about his body''s build type.


    When it finished the needed scans, it flew back and chirped a few electronic messages to the leather female. She silently read the flowing data before turning to the vials on the table. Her hand grabbed a few vials before concocting a mixture of the chemicals into a metal box.


    She worked fast without a word spoken and quickly finished creating the needed mixture. She turned to another thin sheet of special metal that was laying on the table and began to input the gathered measurements allowing the special metal to slowly change from a flat, into the shape of a metallic face.


    This metallic face was gently placed inside the metal box that held the chemical mixture. With this task finished, she turned to Arron and picked up an odd tool that looked like a pair of scissors, but on one side there was a large razor blade while on the other there was a metal comb.


    Snip! Snip! Snip!


    She opened and closed the odd scissors a few times before grabbing a palm-sized square metal container. With a click of a button on the side, a flame popped out of the end. Arron''s eyes squinted at this as was now more sensitive and aware of fire after his most recent experience.


    Now with the cutting tool in one hand and a small flame in the other hand, she walked over to a nervous Arron whose eyes were locked onto the flame. The leather female did pay his nervousness any attention and started to alter his hairstyle by roughly combing his hair until it was as she wanted it.


    With skilled hands, she used the razor and flame to cut and burn away any stubble that was on his face, while also altering his newly cut hair into a different style. When she was satisfied with the results she placed the tools back onto the table and dunked a white rag into a bottle of strong chemical disinfectant before rubbing it all over Arron''s face.


    Arron was sweating all over from the experience that felt like torture as he tried to keep calm. His recently regenerated skin was now a shade of red and stung as if thousands of insects were crawling all over his face as the chemical disinfectant also ate away at the stubble''s hidden roots.


    The chemical smell was strong enough to make his eyes water and his nose sting as well.


    With the chemical cleaning finished she reached into the metal box that was now letting off a cold mist and pulled out the newly created mask. She did one last inspection before typing in a few commands on an invisible menu.


    When she was finished with the setup she turned and placed the mask on Arron''s red face.


    The mask immediately activated a suction force as it began to finish conforming to his face and locked itself onto his head by sending several skin bands to latch onto and adhere to his face, neck, and ears securing it to his face.


    With a few more commands the mask began to tighten and the skin color began to slowly meld with his own making it unable to be discerned from his real skin as it thinned out to be even more unnoticeable.


    The leather female ran her hand over the mask and the new skin bands before nodding her head as she inspected her work. Just to be sure she added fake earning clamps on each ear to make sure the mask stayed on.


    With this done, she opened the last hover case and took out a large round device that took up the entire space, and tossed it onto the ground.


    She turned to Arron and silently motioned for him to step onto it. Arron was unsure what it was but decided that it was probably nothing dangerous, so he did as she wanted.


    As soon as he did, several holographic outfits appeared on his body allowing the leather female to sort through the several thousands of outfits to decide on which ones to use for Arron''s new look.


    She continued to swipe through the outfits mixing and matching certain parts before pressing enter on a few of the options.


    Minutes later several delivery drones flew to the platform and dropped off the outfits that she had picked out.


    ¡°This is the best I can do with the limited funds I was given as well as your body type. The mask is made from the latest stealth alloy and synthetic skin produced by the researchers of the Office of Reason. I doubt anyone will be able to notice a difference or see through it even if they somehow gain access to an old military-grade scanner,¡± said the female robotic voice.


    ¡°With if they have a current military-grade scanner?¡± asked Kix.


    ¡°Then you have the worst luck because they have all been programmed to recognize such material. Just in case separatists somehow receive the material. We can not allow them to use it to hide their identity and skirt the laws set down by Mother and Father!¡±

 Chapter 105: First Contact With The Ryu Family

    The next day.


    Arron was silently going over all that he had learned the day before in Kix''s crash course on what to do and what not to do. There was a lot to take in so that he could stay alive as well as how to act like a meathead thug that would be accepted into any of the yakuza families.


    He was currently standing in a long line with at least 30 other violent-looking people in front of him. There were even more people behind him.


    Everyone was gathered here for one reason.


    The Ryu family had sent out information that they would be doing a recruitment drive for new lower-tier members. The sorting of candidates had already been going on for over an hour before Arron had arrived.


    According to Kix, the Ryu yakuza family was very strict in who they allowed to join, but to Arron''s surprise, the line was flowing along at a fast pace that Arron wasn''t too sure what to expect.


    He was not too worried about being found out at this stage. Just looking at his fashion and his muscular body screamed wealthy country bumpkin gang member. He had no other choice but to trust in the Office of Reasons'' new tech that was now attached to his face. It felt like real skin and did not hinder his facial expressions as it was very flexible.


    When the line was shortened to the point that there was only one person in front of Arron, he watched both the guards'' interaction with the new candidate intently one last time trying to glean as much information as he could on what to do or not to do. to see if there was anything he should person in front of him to be inspected he was immediately disqualified as soon as his hand was placed on a scanner


    As soon as the male candidate placed his hand on the large portable scanner that was placed in front of the two muscular guards...


    BEEEEEP! A red holographic caution sign kept blinking as it let out a constant alarm.


    The two yakuza members pulled out their weapons and pointed them at the man''s head.


    ¡°Leave,¡± said the first guard.


    ¡°Guys, what''s wrong? I just want to join the Ryu family!¡±


    ¡°If you don''t leave now the Office of Reason can come and take you back in a body bag,¡± said the second guard.


    ¡°Waa~?¡± The man''s complaints were cut short as the two guns were shoved only an inch away from his face.


    Arron''s attention was not on the man that was creating a yellow puddle but on the exposed skin of the guard''s arms.


    They were completely covered in tattoos.


    In his daily patrols, he had seen thousands of odd tattoos and was immune from being surprised by the owner''s art taste. These tattoos, however, were not normal in any way, they were 2D holographic images that shimmered and moved as if they were alive with even the slightest movement.


    When the office of reason pawn had fled the area, the two guards looked at Arron and saw him staring at their tattoos with fascination.


    ¡°You won''t be getting any of these Izumi inkings until you become a full member,¡± said the second guard with a smile.


    ¡°I''m...¡± Arron wasn''t allowed to finish his introduction as the first guard glared at him.


    Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.


    ¡°Don''t talk unless we ask you a question. Place your hand with the NerViz cloud chip onto the scanner,¡± said the scowling guard.


    Arron silently placed his new metal hand onto the scanner.


    The two members raised eyebrows at seeing the expensive slim alloy hand as a yellow light flashed several times doing several different probing scans on different settings.


    The two were now not looking at Arron but at the streaming data that was being spat out by the scanner.


    No beeps or other flashing lights showed up causing Arron to not be sure if that was a good thing or bad. He didn''t have to wait long as he soon got his answer.


    ¡°It all checks out, Ark Fune from Nise city. Recently smuggled into sector one.¡±


    ¡°Am I in? That easy?¡± asked Arron.


    ¡°Whoa, hold your horses. Do you really think it is that easy to join us?¡±


    ¡°We aren''t like the low-level gangs who take in anyone immediately. Just now you only passed the sorting stage. Come back in three days and you can receive your test along with everyone else for a chance to become a probationary member.¡±


    ¡°If you have the money, you can stay here for the next three days. If not, go find some other place to stay,¡± said the first yakuza guard pointing to a holo-sign with the prices of rooms listed by the day.


    ¡°There is no need to worry about the Huoko laws since you are already here, we can give you a good price and make sure that you are not hassled by the local police or Office of Reason kicking in your door for illegally living in the Mega-city,¡± said the second guard.


    ¡°That will be unnecessary. I guess I''ll come back in three days to take your test,¡± said Arron.


    ¡°Move along then. We have others to sort!¡± said the first guard with a blank expression now that Arron had refused to pay for the housing arrangements.


    As Arron left the area he did not look behind him or act in a suspicious way just in case he was secretly being monitored by the Ryu family.


    ***


    ¡°Good, everything is going as planned,¡± said A.S. over the Secure group holo-call inside Kix''s office.


    ¡°I saw someone that they thought was from the Office of Reason being chased off. Did you hear anything about that?¡± asked Arron.


    ¡°Sure did. I even told those guys that such an old-fashioned attempt would not get them inside a large gang like the Ryu family. Such tactics may work on the small fries but not on them. Did they tell you what type of test you will be taking?¡±


    ¡°No, just that there will be others there as well.¡±


    ¡°Just in case, you better prepare for every possible situation in the next few days. If you mess this up it won''t be me complaining or having to deal with the consequences of failure. So do what you want if you can live with the consequences.¡±


    With that A.S. ended the call.


    ¡°For someone that''s supposed to be overseeing this undercover mission, he sure is not helping out with anything. How am I supposed to complete this mission successfully without knowing anything other than what you''ve told me?¡± asked Arron, unhappy with the mess he found himself in.


    ¡°You''re expecting too much from the Office of Reason. If either of us is found out to be working with them this won''t end well.¡±


    ¡°I felt naked when standing in front of them as I was being scanned, but somehow I managed to pass. I doubt I will be able to pass whatever test they have or go under their radar as an outer city gang member with what little information I know about them.¡±


    ¡°That''s a positive thing in my opinion,¡± said Kix. ¡°It means that you don''t have any major hurdles to relearn or have to mask your knowledge and hatred of the yakuza families like the Office of Reason agents. There are always people in the families that can read body language, which is one of the simplest but deadly ways to fish for Office of Reason agents is how they talk to and treat yakuza and gang members when they think no one is watching.¡±


    Arron nodded his head, he understood how it could be hard for the Office of Reason agents to get over their extreme hatred of their enemies to try and infiltrate them.


    ¡°The yakuza families value their honor and the honor code that they all share. If anyone steps over the line things can get bloody, so don''t do anything stupid like that and you can keep your head. Lucky for you, even though A.S. is a useless person I can cram your head full of all the knowledge you need to not get yourself killed on the first day.¡±


    ¡°We don''t have enough time!¡±


    ¡°We have three days! This is better than nothing. When I''m done with you, you will be a proper bumpkin thug,¡± said Kix, slapping Arron on the back.


    ¡°You say that as if it''s something to be proud of for being such a thug...¡±

 Chapter 106: Sorry

    Three days later Arron once again arrived in front of the Ryu yakuza family''s building where the initial screening had taken place several days ago. Every person that had passed the first screening was standing around Arron.


    Just like the last time he was here, several people were hovering around the area all at the far ends of the street or in front of local businesses as they pretended to do other things while they watched the gathering crowd.


    Arron did not know who all of the people were working for, but by the actions of a few of them, it was clear to spot the agents from the Office of Reason. The others were most likely from rival gangs and other yakuza families.


    There was no Office of Reason security drones flying around the area and that was because they were constantly getting damaged and or mysteriously going missing. This was not just a problem in this area but also in large portions of the entire sector 1 where the yakuza and gangs held more power than the local low-level party members of Mother and Father. Being watched by so many people made Arron feel very uncomfortable.


    After a half hour of waiting, the crowd now numbered around 100 or more candidates who had passed the initial screening. It was at this time when the building''s solid metal doors slid open and the two guards from the other day stepped out and did a quick scan over the people who had gathered.


    They did not pay attention to the obvious gawkers from afar who had given up the pretenses of doing something else and were now just starting to see what was going to happen.


    ¡°Everyone inside! No questions!¡± roared the guard that was standing on the right.


    ¡°We can talk more freely inside away from prying eyes,¡± said the second guard on the left.


    Four security drones floated out from a hole in the building''s wall and hovered over the recruit candidates scanning them as they entered the building one by one. Inside the building, there were several more muscular men and another six floating security drones waiting for them. The drones blocked the hallway path while lightly zapping a few people who got out of line. Arron was one of the last to enter the building after everyone was scanned the large metal door slid shut behind them causing everyone to lose their sight as the hallway lost all the light from outside.


    A few low flickering lights lit up on the bodies of the floating security drones as they started to herd the crowd down the dark hallway.


    ZAP! Every other second random a bright flash lit up the hallway as someone in the rear was zapped for walking too slowly.


    ¡°No talking!¡± shouted a guard when one of the people that had been zapped tried to complain.


    While they walked down the dark hallway which was now slanting down leading them underground, Arron could feel several more rapid-fire hidden scans being done to make sure that they were supposed to be there.


    At the end of the long hall, there was a large open room that was only lit by a blank gray static holo-projection which was covering 90% of the room''s rear wall.


    Over twenty other rough-looking gang members were waiting inside the room, and each of them watched the potential recruits like hawks. They were treating it as a game trying to spot anyone that had somehow slipped through the initial scanning.


    There was a lot of low nervous chatter from the potential recruits as they were herded toward the center of the room where they were surrounded by the Ryu yakuza members who displayed their weapons on their hips openly as if daring someone to do something stupid.


    A hidden door in the back wall of the room slid open and an elderly man in his 50s or 60s walked out and stood in front of the gray holo-projection.


    Unlike several of the yakuza members in the room, Arron''s right eye was unable to identify the old man as there was no name in its database.


    ¡°Welcome. You all can call me Old Man if you survive the sorting. I have other things to do so let''s not waste each other''s time,¡± said Old Man. He held out his right hand and began taping a few options on his wrist data-pad. The gray static projection behind him lit up with a hundred or so floating 3-d faces.


    Ping! At the same time, Arron and the rest of the potential recruits received a notification that a new document had been sent to each of them.


    ¡°You have all been randomly assigned to one of these targets,¡± said Old Man pointing toward the floating heads. ¡°Your assignment is to teach them a lesson however you see fit. You can team up with others or go solo. The only thing that matters is that you complete the task given to you. If you don''t have the guts to do this simple task you can leave now.¡±


    In Arron''s opinion, the potential recruits standing in the room all looked to be hardened criminals that had experienced many hardships. They were not afraid of such a simple task. Many of the people standing around Arron gave out sighs of relief after hearing something so simple. They had all been expecting something more extreme.


    This task felt a little too simple to Arron, so he started to use his right eye to covertly scan and take pictures of the floating heads so he could send them to Kix and A.S later. With just a quick scan of the target''s faces, he could see that although many of them looked to be rival yakuza or gang members there was still a large portion who looked to be everyday average civilians.


    Arron once again looked at the document that had been sent to him and slightly frowned after reading the details. He quickly returned his face to its neutral expression not wanting to draw attention to himself.


    He was not sure if the targets were really picked at random, there was still a possibility that they were suspicious of him and gave him this target as a hidden test. But if this really was random then he had to have the worst luck of all time.


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    The target he had been assigned to take care of... was one of the Office of Reason spies that had failed to pass the first screening several days ago.


    ¡°You have one day to complete this task. If you can not find your target...you fail. If you find your target but do not teach them a lesson... you fail,¡± said the Old Man. He did not stay any longer and left the room that was now buzzing with low chatter from the potential recruits.


    ***


    Arron was leisurely walking down an alleyway while quietly muttering to himself, or at least that was what it looked like to the yakuza''s hovering security drone that was monitoring him from a distance. He was actually using his modified NerViz implant''s connection to access a secure communication line that had been set up by A.S just for this mission.


    ¡°They want you to do what?¡± asked Kix.


    ¡°Teach the target a lesson. I sent you the file, you should have seen the other targets as well right?¡± asked Arron. He was trying to move his mouth as little as possible to prevent the monitoring drone from using an AI program to read his lips and eavesdrop on his conversation.


    ¡°Yes, we received the several pictures you took. They should be able to help us with our investigation into the rival members of the other yakuza families and low-tier gangs,¡± said Kix.


    ¡°So what am I supposed to do about this situation?¡± asked Arron.


    ¡°That''s a dumb question,¡± said A.S. His head popped up in the call along with Kix. ¡°You are to complete the assignment that was given to you. Don''t go soft and pull your punches as they will know if you are faking it or not.¡±


    ¡°But he works for the Office of Reason! He is one of your colleagues!¡±


    ¡°He''s just some low-level agent. The mission comes first!¡±


    ¡°Then can you at least let the local police and M1 officers in the area know that I am doing this for the Office of Reason? I don''t want to be chased and hunted through the entire sector 1 just because of this.¡±


    ¡°Can''t do that. It would jeopardize the entire mission if I did. We don''t know who is being paid off by the Ryu yakuza family so we can not let either of them know about this.¡±


    ¡°Then what am I to do if they get called or show up during my...?¡±


    ¡°Run.¡±


    With that, the call abruptly ended.


    Arron silently cursed A.S. He was getting himself deeper and deeper into danger which was something he did not want. If it were not for the fact that Chief Chesty directly gave the OK for the temporary reassignment of both him and Kix, he would believe that this was all a scheme to get him in trouble with every government agency.


    ¡°You punk! Who''s going to teach me a lesson?¡± shouted an angry voice from another side street.


    As Arron was passing the side street in question, he saw three skinny thugs kicking and stomping on a person that he had seen a short time ago back in the meeting room. The drone that was following that person was hovering high in the sky out of sight of the thugs as it recorded everything.


    Arron hesitated for a moment trying to decide whether or not to help the man.


    Bam!


    The door to a nearby dirty building slammed open and another ten skinny thugs all wearing the same spiked leather clothing and dark sunglasses exited the building.


    Arron looked away not wanting to draw any attention to himself and continued toward the location that A.S had sent to him.


    ''Himitsu Spion'', was a seedy bar that had no affiliation to any of the yakuza families or low-level gangs and was rumored to be a hotbed for rats.


    Arron made sure to go on a roundabout way towards the bar while pretending to search for the target as he walked into several buildings and scanned the people inside. All this was done to make his act more believable while wasting time to make sure he did not draw unneeded attention to himself.


    When he reached the ''Himitsu Spion'' bar, he was deep in the lawless slums that were not under the control of any one faction.


    He stood a good distance away from the bar and monitored it for some time. It seemed rather empty as there was no one entering or exiting which was to be expected since it was still late morning when most people were already at work.


    But that didn''t mean much around here with many bars being occupied 24/7 by the local gangs as a hang-out area.


    He waited several more minutes trying to gain the courage to enter.


    Smack!


    Arron slapped his cheeks with both of his hands and muttered, ¡°Just do it! No point in dragging it out any longer and risking something changing for the worse.¡±


    The longer he waited, the more likely the target''s allies would end up entering the building and they would definitely not let him do as he pleased.


    As he walked across the empty street his mind was buzzing with hundreds of plans on how to quickly teach a ''lesson'' to the target and then escape. The drone that was following him stopped at the entrance of the building and did not enter with him.


    ¡°Good, one less thing to worry about,¡± muttered Arron.


    The inside of the ''Himitsu Spion'' was rather small. It only had ten tables on the right side while there were several hovering stools in front of a long counter on the left side of the room.


    There were only three people inside the bar. An old scarred man who was nursing his beer, one of many empty glasses covering his table. The bartender. And Arron''s target, the low-level Office of Reason agent ''Hakmon'', who was sitting at the long bar.


    The scarred old man and bartender payed Arron no attention after only a glance when he entered.


    Hakmon felt someone staring at him and turned towards the entrance of the bar where he saw Arron who had just entered.


    ¡°Do I know you?¡± asked Hakmon with a frown as Arron slowly walked over to the bar.


    ¡°Sorry,¡± was all Arron said.


    Sensing something was wrong Hakmon tried to stutter out something to stop Arron, ¡°Wait! I wo...ughhh!¡±


    Arron''s metallic right arm slammed into Hakmon''s stomach with force great enough to crack several of his ribs and sent him flying off of the hover stool. His body slammed into the wall that was only a few feet behind him.


    Arron silently grabbed the glass mug that was still filled to the brim with a bubbling black tar-like drink and slammed it onto Hakmon''s head dumping the bubbling drink all over his head in the process.


    Wack! Thump! CRACK! Arron continued to hit Hakmon with the mug until it broke.


    Unlike in the holo-movies, the glass did not break as easily as one would expect, so Hakmon was now covered in bruises, cuts, and blood long before the glass mug broke.


    Arron tossed the broken handle aside and turned to the door.


    ¡°You gonna pay for that?¡± asked the bartender, unafraid of Arron who had just brutally beaten a man in front of him.


    Arron silently walked to the bar and swiped his bloody metal hand over the scanner before exiting the bar without even looking at the cost.


    The last of his meager amount of credits that the Office of Reason added to this account was wiped out with that one transaction.

 Chapter 107: Pass Or Fail

    Sometime later Arron returned to the Ryu yakuza''s building Using the dark alleys and less trafficked areas to avoid any police or other patrolling rival yakuza or gang members, Arron managed to return to the underground room inside the Ryu family''s building.


    He was surprised to see that several other candidates had finished their ''Test'' faster than him.


    Most of the people waiting in the room had faces full of new bruises. Several of them had small wounds that they were only now bandaging.


    Of the people gathered so far there were only a few who looked to be unscathed from their fights.


    Since Arron''s completion seemed to be on the quicker side with it only taking him a handful of hours to complete, he and the rest of the candidates in the room had to sit here and wait for the 24-hour time limit to pass.


    They were not allowed to order food or leave the room once they arrived. The only food provided were several boxes of synth-energy jelly on a nearby table.


    As boredom set in, several conversations between the candidates started up as they bragged about their fights to try and pass the time and relieve some of their stress.


    With every hour that passed by more candidates returned. The majority of them were also wounded.


    Arron stayed up all night partly due to the stress he was feeling and also all the caffeine that was pumping through him after eating the synth-energy jelly for the day''s meals.


    As soon as the 24-hour time limit ended the room''s open doors slid shut blocking anyone from entering or leaving.


    Hiss...


    A hidden sliding wall door opened and the ''Old man'' from the day before entered the room followed by two muscular guards.


    The old man silently looked at each of the candidates that had returned. There were less than 50 of the initial candidates. Over half of those who had stood here a day ago were nowhere to be seen.


    With a silent nod of his head, the Old man''s hands flew into motion as he began tapping on several invisible menus and flicked several files onto the gray holographic projection that was covering the back wall.


    ¡°Let''s begin,¡± said the Old man tapping one of the floating files.


    A 3-d holo-video expanded to cover the entire wall and began to play at an extremely fast speed showing every detail of the person''s hunt for their target. When the video reached the fight, it only slowed down for a few minutes as the elderly man nodded while watching the candidate get cut several dozen times by his target but still had a smile as he fought and eventually finished off the target.


    ¡°[M], you pass,¡± said the Old man.


    ¡°My name is not M,¡± said M with a frown.


    The Old man did not reply to the rude M, instead, it was one of the guards that spoke.


    ¡°If he says your name is M then your name is now M!¡±


    With a swipe of the Old man''s hand, the holo-vid was minimized and thrown away.


    In the next holo-video, the candidate who was really skinny found his target, a rival gang member. He fearlessly rushed forward and engaged in battle with the target... but the recording was quite hard to watch after that as several other gang members teamed up and brutally beat him into a twitching mess.


    ¡°[Twig], you PASS. When you fully recover you can join the others and begin training,¡± said the Old man not looking at the man who was covered in bloody bandages and dazed out of his mind from the concoction that had been given to him to combat his pain.


    Like this ten more holo-vids were reviewed with each person passing and receiving their new ''Name''.


    With everyone passing with such ease, Arron started to think something was wrong as the current pass rate was 100%.


    The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.


    As he looked at the dwindling files still floating on the wall he finally realized something and started to sweat, his anxiety skyrocketing.


    A few others seemed to notice what was going on as well. They were also antsy as they looked back and forth between the current playing holo-vid and the remaining files that were floating on the wall.


    When there were only three floating files left on the wall Arron let out a long sigh of relief when he saw his face appear and watched the sped-up recording which only slowed down at the end when the view of the video switched to show Arron apologizing with a blank face before he beat his target bloody and walked out of the bar without another word.


    Arron frowned at seeing the high-quality recording of the fight. He was sure that the drone that was following him had stayed outside.


    Now after seeing this, it seemed that the [Himitsu Spion''s] bad reputation with the yakuza families and gangs was all a sham to lure unsuspecting targets and have them lower their guard to the point they might let important information slip out their mouths.


    ¡°''[Sorry], you pass,¡± said the Old man as he looked Arron straight in the eyes.


    Arron only silently nodded his head.


    A short time later the last holo-vid on the wall was reviewed.


    For several more seconds, the Old man silently stared at everyone.


    ¡°Those of you not mentioned have failed. You may leave now,¡± said the Old man as the door leading out of the room unlocked and slid open.


    ¡°What?¡± asked a man who had finished his task and had already been in the room when Arron had returned.


    ¡°Why are they allowed to join and I am not!?¡± asked another man who was one of the few without any wounds. He was pointing at the dazed and bloody Twig whose face was so swollen it did not look anything like his original photo.


    Another man stood up angrily and pointed at the old man and shouted, ¡°You made me attack Croud who is a member of one of the large Families! What am I supposed to do now!¡±


    The Old man''s calm face finally frowned as the man''s finger was pointed at him and angry words were spat out in his direction.


    ¡°I did not force you to do this. You may leave now. If you still want to join the Ryu family you can wait until the next recruitment drive and try again,¡± said the old man with a sharp tone.


    Another angry man stood up next to the first man and said, ¡°My target was an informant for Mother and Father! Because of you, I''m dead now if I get caught!¡±


    The guards, seeing the situation was getting out of control, stepped forward as they drew their weapons, ¡°If you do not want to leave or are having trouble moving your legs, we can help you.¡±


    Several other guards from the hallway entered the room with their weapons drawn. They were all pointed at those who had failed and were no longer welcome.


    Seeing this show of force the majority of those who failed meekly hurried out of the room while a few of them stomped out angrily.


    When the old man was sure that the failures had all left the building, he turned back to the small group that remained.


    They were a mixed bag of people, some of them were heavily wounded and were barely able to stay awake and sit up straight, while others had no visible wounds.


    ¡°Each of you has been chosen by me to be a probationary member. But before you can officially join as a probationary member there are still a few things that need to be taken care of.¡±


    Several groans were heard.


    ¡°Fear not, there are no more tests that you need to pass right now. The matters I speak of are rather trivial. Despite all the floating gossip and what Mother and Father would want you to believe, we do have our own honor and standards for how we do things, unlike some of the newer and stupid thuggish gangs that are constantly popping up and have no honor,¡± said the Old man with his hand held up to try and assure them that the tests were over.


    ¡°Since this is the case, you will not be able to do as you please, like in those loose gangs. You must live by the code that everyone in each of the Yakuza families lives by along with the house rules of our Ryu family,¡± said the Old man as he tapped a few options on his wrist datapad and flicked another file forward sending it to each of the probationary members.


    ¡°These are the rules you must learn by heart! And this...¡± said the Old man as he flicked another file forward. ¡°Is a list of tasks you must complete before you are to start your first day as a probationary member. If the list is not completed you will forfeit your right to join the Ryu family and will be barred from future recruitment drives.¡±


    ¡°For those of you with family, you will need to explain to them that you will be away for some time due to work. You will be living here during the entire time you are in probationary hell. Although you will not receive any pay during this time, those of you that need credits to support your family can come and see me later and I can work out a loan for you.¡±


    A few who were looking worried slowly nodded their heads fully relaxing upon hearing this.


    With a wave of his hand, the Old man motioned the guards forward.


    The guards took out two small wooden boxes and began handing out flimsy metallic badges to each of them.


    ¡°This is a temporary identification badge that will help you take care of tasks given to you. Don''t think you can abuse this as it is nothing more than a piece of metal that proves you are related to us. Your permanent probationary identification will be handed to you tomorrow if everything is completed to my satisfaction.¡±


    With that said, the Old man left the room.

 Chapter 108: Completing Errands

    Arron stood inside a small dark safe room that was full of the latest sound-blocking technology from the Office of Reasons research lab. This small room was picked as the covert base of operations for the three during the duration of this mission and would be in operation as long as it was not discovered.


    Arron was currently typing up a final report and adding all the photos and film he had gathered from the first two days of the test after this report it would be near impossible to make such a detailed report or even contact Kix or A.S. from the inside the Ryu family''s own building with all the monitoring gadgets they had. Although they may not be able to intercept and decrypt the data they would still be able to detect the flow of data being transferred.


    Even if he was followed to this place he had no fear of being discovered due to the room as well as the building''s disguise. There was also the fact that he was the only one here at the moment. It would not do him any good to have an Office of Reason agent show up right now if there was indeed someone following him.


    When he finished sending the report through the secure connection he let out a discontent sigh. A.S. had not shown up to any of their meetings at the operations base since their first meeting he always claimed he was doing something more important and so he could not monitor them all the time or provide support.


    Ping! His NerViz notified him that an incoming call was waiting for him to pick up. Arron knew who it was without looking and accepted the call.


    ¡°What am I supposed to do with the credits I receive from the Ryu family or the credits I need to pay for things while on the job?¡± asked Arron looking at A.S.''s holographic head that popped up in front of him.


    ¡°Any credits gained as payment from the yakuza will be confiscated by Mother and Father after the mission is completed. You are not allowed to use 1 credit from these payments which will all be monitored and counted daily. These funds will be used for more important stuff later. As for the credits you need while on the job... for now, you will have to figure out how to pay for it yourself. If you spend your own credits, you will be reimbursed with the amount you spent while on the job, but this does not include the taxes which Mother and Father will keep.¡±


    ¡°This all happened so quickly so I never got to ask you directly but is the Office of Reason going to pay me for this undercover mission? If not then won''t I be losing money due to a large chunk of it being lost to taxes?¡±


    ¡°Watch your tone. You sound like a separatist complaining about Mother and Fathers'' reasonable regulations and taxes. As I said already, your payment for this mission will be the reimbursement of the money you spend. If you are thinking of receiving anything else, stop dreaming. You''re lucky that the Office of Reason is generous enough to repay you.¡±


    The call ended there causing Arron to furrow his brows unhappy with the conversation. Things seemed to be getting worse and worse for him the deeper he got into this mess.


    Arron crouched down and crawled through the small door in the wall and ended up in a rundown studio apartment.


    He stood back up and dusted the dirt and grime off of his clothes before tapping a few options on a holographic menu on the wall that had been hidden underneath a metal plaque.


    The solid para-steel bed slid back into place hiding and blocking the hidden door.


    ¡°Time to get on with the other tasks,¡± said Arron as he stepped out of the rundown apartment and locked it up.


    Despite the apartment''s shabby look, it was jam-packed with several of the newest defense systems courtesy of the Office of Reason''s research department. Of course, they were all prototypes so there was no telling if they would actually work. He was again acting as a guinea pig for them.


    Arron tapped on a few menus of his wrist-datapad and brought up the first address he had been given and began following the nav-guide''s instructions.


    After a half hour of walking through the many backstreets, he finally arrived at his destination, a well-lit backstreet shop that had a large holographic sign above the door [Harrie''s Cuts].


    Arron did not hesitate and pushed the door open entering a shiny clean room that seemed extra bright due to the white tiles on both the floor and walls which gave him uncomfortable flashbacks to the Office of Reason interrogation room.


    ¡°Huh,¡± said Arron. He really had been expecting the standard Robotic haircutters to be crammed into the barbershop but found nothing of the sort. There were only muscular humans standing near each of the half-dozen empty chairs. Two of the shop''s chairs were currently occupied by equally muscular men who were getting shaves and haircuts.


    Each of the muscular men had the same haircut and were all sharply dressed in black dress pants, a stylish white t-shirt, and a black vest with a leather apron tied around their waist. Attached to each of their leather aprons were many loops and pockets for different-sized scissors, razors, combs, and tweezers.


    Arron walked up to a counter where a sharply dressed man with a pair of small square glasses was working on some paperwork. He looked up when Arron presented his temporary identification.


    ¡°You''re Sorry?¡± asked the man as he looked between the temporary identification and Arron''s face.


    ¡°Yes.¡±


    ¡°Well I''m not,¡± said the man with a large smile at his own joke.


    This was the third time Arron had heard such a joke and he had a feeling it was not going to be the last time.


    ¡°Harry #2 you take care of Sorry,¡± said Mr. Glasses as he waved for one of the sharply dressed barber''s attention.


    Arron''s shoulder was grabbed by Harry #2 and was dragged over to an empty hover reclining chair and shoved down onto it. In the chair next to him was one of the other probationary members that he had seen earlier in the day. They had both picked the same time to get this task done.


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    Harry #2 looked at Arron''s face and head for several seconds deciding on how to tackle the mission put in front of him.


    ¡°Your hair is out of regulations and is unable to be cut to the proper standard. I''ll have to cut it all off and you can grow It back while we keep it in check with weekly checkups,¡± said Harry #2 as he grabbed a small electric clipper from the nearby counter.


    Arron was cursing inside, he did not want to be bald!


    He did not have a choice as the clippers quickly buzzed off all of the remaining newly regenerated hair on his head.


    Harry #2 was quick and efficient with the clippers and put them back onto the counter and picked up a small handheld vacuum to suck up all the loose hair before turning back to look at Arron''s face to inspect it in more detail.


    Arron started to sweat as this was getting too close for comfort! He nearly lost it when Harry #2 used his hands to feel the synthetic hair that had grown out of the mask''s synthetic skin. It was another prototype that the Office of Reasons research lab had high hopes for. If all went well with the current test they could use it in a future main project that was still only in the planning stages.


    ¡°Your skin and facial hair are quite stiff... have you had any medical procedures done lately?¡± asked Harry #2 calmly.


    Arron''s mind was whirring trying to think up an excuse to cover the fact that he was wearing a mask. He knew this conversation could and probably was being recorded but his brain was shorting out and he could only blurt out the first thing that came to mind.


    ¡°I was caught in an attack by a rival gang where my face was severely burned. My father spent a large sum of credits to repair the damage done to my face. Otherwise, you would be looking at a very ugly burnt and scarred face,¡± said Arron in a calm voice.


    Harry #2 grimaced as he listened, ¡°That explains it all. I''ve seen many people with such burns. It is surprisingly not at all uncommon in our line of work. Must have been painful.¡±


    ¡°I still have nightmares about it...¡± said Arron truthfully, his face turning dark as he remembered the fire engulfing his entire body as it ate away at his skin.


    Harry #2 didn''t say anything more and began lathering up Arron''s face before grabbing an extra sharp razor and slicing through all of the synthetic hair giving him a clean cut. The synthetic skin held up surprisingly well against the sharp blade and did not tear or reveal the mask he was wearing.


    ¡°You''re all finished for now,¡± said Harry #2 patting Arron on the shoulder.


    Arron stood up and walked over to the counter ready to pay for the cut and shave.


    ¡°No need for that, the cost has already been taken out of your future paycheck. The Ryu family expects you to keep yourself presentable so you are to come here every week for a checkup. You do not have to worry about paying as it will automatically be taken out of your salary so don''t be shy and come back often,¡± said Mr. Glasses, waving Arron''s hand away.


    With his task done here, Arron left the shop and headed for the next destination, a men''s suit shop.


    The interior of the suit shop was made out of similar white tiles and had only a few old sharply dressed men inside. The walls of the shop were full of finished suits that all looked amazing.


    Upon seeing Arron''s temporary identification the old men nodded and one of them left the counter to inspect Arron, while the other old man focused on his current task of manually sewing a delicate part of an expensive suit.


    ¡°Hmm... your clothes will just not do at all. We can not have you looking shabby and unpresentable if you are to be joining the family,¡± said the old man, as he whipped out a cloth measuring tape from a hidden pocket and began to manually measure Arron''s body, not using any robots or scanners for the task.


    When he was finished with the measurements he wrote them down on his datapad and walked to the counter that had several stacks of cloth samples that all looked the same to Arron.


    ¡°Come over here,¡± ordered the old man.


    Arron stepped in front of the counter and stood still while the old man spent over ten minutes trying to decide between the different cloth samples as he placed different ones on Arron''s body before stepping back and looking at it for a moment from different angles.


    The old man nodded his head when he finally decided on the set of cloth to use in his suit.


    ¡°You will receive the first full suit set in a few days and the second full set in no more than two weeks. Each set includes a jacket, pants, and a matching white undershirt,¡± said the old man as he wrote down a few more notes on his clunky datapad.


    Hearing all of this Arron was dreading the cost since he had seen the price tag on the expensive cloth samples.


    Just for one suit, the cost was more than all of the clothes he had ever owned. He was afraid this mission was going to cause him to go into major debt!


    ¡°You don''t need to worry about the payment right now as it will all be paid for by your future salary!¡± said the old man seeing Arron''s expression.


    ¡°Of course...¡± said Arron. He now knew he would not be getting any paycheck from the Ryu family for a long time as the costs of everything he had to pay for in the future were ramping up and he still had two more places to go!


    ¡°Take this to old Shu at the shoe shop so he knows what material to use to match your suit,¡± said the old man, flicking a business card that had all the details of his new suit set.


    The old man waved goodbye to Arron as he left the shop and walked to the custom shoe shop that was right next to the suit shop.


    When old Shu saw Arron''s shoes he let out a loud huff as if he was offended at the old and worn-out shoes he was wearing.


    ¡°Yes you definitely need a good pair of shoes to replace those trash mass-produced shoes,¡± said old Shu. ¡°Come over here and take off those shoes so I can get your measurements.¡±


    Upon seeing Arron''s socks which had holes in the soles and a few toes poking out he was even more offended. It was as if Arron had killed his dog, even though Arron had never killed a dog before, that was the Office of Reasons hobby.


    Old Shu used a touch stylus to trace Arron''s foot measurements, one while he was sitting and one standing. The platform sent the traced image to a holo-datapad next to old Shu. It also gathered the pressure areas of his feet while he was standing to give Old Shu a better understanding of the type of posture Arron had.


    ¡°In the next few days, I will send you your first set of new shoes with a pair of custom matching socks. Your second set will be 2 two three weeks depending on how much work I have,¡± said old Shu as he scribbled down a few notes.


    ¡°It is truly a crime to be wearing mismatching socks,¡± Muttered Old Shu.


    Arron felt that comment was directly aimed at him. He did not even bother offering to pay as he knew it was already going to be taken out of his nonexistent future salary.


    The last stop that he needed to go to so he could complete the tasks that the Old man had given them was a custom wrist-datapad shop.


    He was in and out quickly as there wasn''t much to it, he just needed to get an approved custom version from a shop run by the Ryu family.


    It was the most basic version you could find. There was not much you could do with it and it was definitely programmed to allow the Ryu family to monitor his activities while he used the wrist-datapad which included tracking which files if any he accesses.


    Arron was not unfamiliar with this type of wrist-datapad since it was similar to what he had used in the military, the only difference was with this version he was still able to be connected to the news portal and holo-net.

 Chapter 109: Job Assignment

    A few days later Arron and the probationary members were once again gathered at the meeting room once again.


    Everyone was now sharply dressed wearing similar suits, shoes, haircuts, and the dumbed-down version of wrist-datapad.


    The Old man had already been waiting for them, so when the last person entered the room the meeting started.


    ¡°Hand over your temporary identifications,¡± said the Old man holding out his hand. One of the guards walked forward and took the badges from everyone, before returning to the old man''s side and handing him the stack of badges.


    With a swift swipe of his hand, a small data-stick appeared and pressed down on the badges one by one wiping out the information on them. As he did this a security drone floated from the ceiling and one by one scanned their entire face and body before sending the information to the Old man.


    When the information on the badges was all wiped the old man pressed another button on the data-stick and filled it with the badges with the new data that had been gathered. When he finished this task the data-stick disappeared into his pocket.


    The hidden door behind the Old man slid open at this time and a group of grizzled yakuza members, all showing signs of scars from past battles, entered the room.


    The hidden door stayed open allowing Arron to see a pitch-black hallway but nothing else.


    The Old man did not pay any attention to the grizzled yakuza members that had lined up behind him and looked at each of the new probationary members.


    ¡°Some of you are skin and bones and not fit to fight, while others are buff meat heads built for nothing but fighting. But this does not matter much when weapons are involved. You can be dumb and useless in your daily life, but as long as you have the resolve, honor, and courage needed, you will be able to pass your probationary training and be accepted into the family.¡±


    The old man paused to let his words sink in as he stared at them for a few seconds.


    ¡°Some of you have brains and graduated from Barkary College. You are not the first nor will you be the last to join. In the Ryu family, there is a job for everyone. No matter what your status is, you all must earn money for the Ryu family. If and when you do join the family you will go through the ceremony as every member does, and receive your Izumi inking,¡± said the Old man.


    Several of the other probationary members'' faces lit up upon hearing about the Izumi inking causing Arron to scratch his head silently unsure if it really was such a great thing or not. He was still unclear about what to do about this troublesome issue.


    ¡°Now that you have become probationary members you are now loosely connected to the Ryu family. This means your actions will cause us to look good or bad. Thus you must follow the rules set forth. You are now stuck with us. If for some reason you want to leave there are only three ways to do this: #1. Using a knife, you are to personally chop off a number of fingers based on your rank in the family. Since you are the lowest rank, fewer fingers will be needed. You are not allowed to regenerate the cut fingers or else... #2. Pay a large sum of credits to buy your freedom depending on your status in the family. #3. ''Fly away'', the coward''s way of ghosting the family and its members while fleeing to another area to hide. When we find you, and I do mean when, not if. We will drag you back to the head of the family where he will give a verdict. If you are lucky you will only have to chop off a few body parts. If you are unlucky... death.¡±


    Several loud gulps could be heard from some of the probationary members near Arron.


    Just thinking about these rules caused a few beads of sweat to run down his back as he thought about being found out that he was working with the Office of Reason. There was no need for the Old man to explain what would happen to people like him.


    ¡°Based on your recorded test, biological data scans, and information that we have gathered on each of you over the last few weeks, we have picked out the proper jobs that you will have during your time with the Ryu family. You will have these jobs until you are either promoted to a new position or you die. When I call you forward, take your new probationary badges and leave with your new mentor,¡± said the Old man pointing to the group of grizzled veterans.


    ¡°Twig.¡±


    The skinny man who had been beaten badly and was still wearing casts and bandages from his wounds hurriedly hobbled forward and awkwardly used his bandaged arm to take the badge.


    ¡°Although your fighting skills are not that great, your dedication and perseverance have not gone unnoticed. You will help Bug-eyes with housekeeping and planning.¡±


    An equally skinny man with thick glasses that made his eyes look several sizes too large stepped out of the group of veterans and looked over the wounded probationary members with a sharp glint in his eyes.


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    ¡°Come on, we have a lot of work to do,¡± was all he said before turning and disappearing into the dark hallway.


    One after another the probationary members received their new jobs and left the room. The jobs were all varied and wide-ranging, housekeeping and planning, enforcer, guard, accountant, and special manager. The old man did not explain what the jobs entailed so it left Arron and everyone else guessing and judging them by their names.


    So far only two people had been given the [housekeeping and planning job], while [Guard] and [accountant] each had 1 person. The majority of probationary members were given the [Enforcer] job.


    Seeing all this Arron thought of his test results and tried to guess which task he would be given... When everything was said and done it was not hard to figure out which one it would be.


    Arron was sweating more as each of the members left the room one by one until he was the only one left in the room with the Old man, a dozen or so guards, and the last grizzled veteran. He discreetly wiped his sweaty hands on his pants.


    ¡°Sorry.¡±


    Arron stepped forward and nervously took the badge with his sweaty hands.


    ¡°Your test results and our research has shown personality to be a cold no-nonsense, get the job done quickly without a fuss. The soft but hard approach you have shown has landed you the [Special manager] job under Ox.¡±


    The large muscular man built like an Ox stepped forward and extended his hand.


    Arron grabbed it only to grimace as his hand felt like it was being crushed. Even though Ox had graying hair that revealed his age, his strength was still nothing to laugh at.


    ¡°I hear you''re from a village outside the mega-city. If you have any questions about how things work here you can ask me. Of course, I will also be in charge of guiding you in the daily tasks of our job,¡± only after saying this did he let go of Arron''s now throbbing hand and enter the dark hallway.


    Arron did not hesitate and followed him into the dark hallway as well. As soon as he stepped into the dark hallway the wall behind him slid shut. The hallway was now completely pitch black even with Arron''s bionic eye he was unable to see more than a few inches in front of him and could only follow the sound of Ox''s footsteps.


    He shivered as he felt he was being stared at by a wild beast that wanted to tear him apart. But he could not hear or see anything around him to verify these feelings.


    The hallway started to slope down quickly heading deep underground.


    Finally, after what seemed ages, a gray light coming from a room could be seen at the end of the tunnel, but oddly enough this light was still unable to pierce through the darkness of the hallway.


    The dull gray light was blinding compared to the pitch-black darkness of the hallway making Arron blink for a few seconds as he regained his vision.


    On the walls of the room, there were several stairwells each going back up toward the ground level. Above each of the stairwells, there was a carved sign on the stone wall.


    Ox led Arron to the stairwell that said [Special management].


    After being quiet for the entire walk so far, Arron finally got up the courage to ask Ox a question.


    ¡°Um... what exactly is the [Special management] job?¡±


    ¡°That depends. Most of us have different tasks. You and I are in charge of all the gambling activities and specialty shops in one of the many subsections of the family''s territory. It is our job to make sure things are working as they should be. If things get out of control, not only will the lower rank members get into deep trouble, but so will we if we neglect our duty.¡±


    ¡°Gambling?¡±


    ¡°Cards, slots, dice, and other games of chance. For the most part, our main places are all above board. They are not like the small-time gangs who all create different types of fringe gambling games. Right now their most popular shops are the different variations of shops that promote gambling for random unknown items.¡±


    ¡°How can it be all above board if it is illegal? Isn''t that why all the shady shops have been showing up to try and work in the gray areas?¡± asked Arron.


    Ox looked over his shoulder and grinned at Arron and his bumpkin-like question.


    ¡°It may be banned on the 2nd to 4th level but not here,¡± said Ox, not saying much else.


    ''No it definitely is banned on the first level as well,'' thought Arron as he remembered his encounter with a few scammers that Kix knew.


    ¡°If a special situation pops up, we will also be called to help out the family to take care of it,¡± said Ox. They exited the stairwell and entered a large stone office room that had several cubicles separated by holo-privacy walls.


    It looked just like any other normal office that you could find in any business. It was just as busy with members chatting on conference calls with several other floating holographic heads, writing up reports, while a few of them were threatening and screaming at someone on the other side of the holo-call until they were red in the face.


    The members inside the cubicles did not pay them any attention nor did Ox disturb them. They did not stop at any of the open cubicles and instead headed toward one of the hallways that led away from the noisy office.


    On each side of the hallway, there were smooth metal doors each with a number and a name. Ox led Arron down many twists and turns in the stone tunnel until they reached a dead end.


    At the very end of this dead-end hallway was room #6932 which had no name yet.


    ¡°This is where you will be staying,¡± said Ox. With a swipe of his hand over the door''s primitive holo-lock, the door opened.


    Arron looked inside and found the room was very basic. A bed, desk, chair, and a small bathroom. That was it.


    The room was carved out of stone and looked to be sturdy enough to withstand a large explosion or attack from the outside. Or to put it more accurately, keep someone locked inside if needed.

 Chapter 110: Touring The Ryu Family Businesses

    ¡°If you have any belongings on you right now, leave them here,¡± said Ox as he looked at Arron for a second.


    Arron had not brought any bag or other items with him fearing that bringing anything more than necessary could cause trouble or reveal his identity.


    Seeing there was no extra baggage, Ox nodded and said, ¡°Hurry up and link your identification badge to the room. When you''re done we will begin the tour of our work zone.¡±


    Arron did not delay his movements and tapped the identification badge to the holo-lock which let out a soft beep before changing the empty holographic nameplate to show his new undercover name: Ark Fune.


    Ox then led Arron back to the cubicle farm that was just as busy as before and down another hallway that led them back up several hundred steps. They were stopped at two different thick blast doors and thoroughly scanned before they were allowed to pass and enter a small cozy self-serve bar room that only had plush couches with no tables in the room other than the bar.


    The room was filled with laughter and clinking of glasses as several men surrounded by women on each side hooted and hollered at a story that one of the men had just finished.


    The atmosphere here was carefree and lacked any seriousness that the busy office below had.


    One of the men seeing Ox arrive, raised his glass filled with black bubbling liquid that was giving off a cold mist and said, ¡°Chief.¡±


    ¡°I''m heading out to show the newbie the ropes. Hold down the fort while I''m gone,¡± said Ox.


    ¡°We''ll make sure nothing happens while you''re out!¡± said the others altogether.


    Ox only nodded before walking to a mag-shoot and tapping in a few codes unlocking the blast door that was blocking its entrance.


    Arron followed behind him and shot up toward the ground floor.


    When the Mag-shoot doors opened again, they had arrived inside a private garage where a black armored flying car was already waiting. Although the armor was a custom job done by the family''s mechanics, it reminded him of his own patrol car which shocked him slightly.


    When the two were seated in the back across from each other and the car had taken off, Ox looked at Arron who was deep in thought.


    ¡°What''s on your mind?¡±


    ¡°Those people before, are they my seniors?¡± asked Arron.


    ¡°They are. Are you wondering why they are partying in the middle of the day while others are working?¡±


    Arron nodded his head.


    ¡°It''s simple, they have already cleared their monthly quotas allowing them to do as they please until the next month. This rule is the same in each branch of the family.¡±


    ¡°About the other branches... just what exactly do they do?¡± asked Arron as he watched the outside blur from the fast speed of the flying armored car.


    ¡°The name of most of the branches are really self-explanatory for the most part, the only ones with a bit of mystery are the [Housekeeping and Planning] and our [Special management]. [Housekeeping and planning] is for members that are not good money-makers when using their muscles. They are given the job of keeping everyone on point such as waking everyone up on time, getting food for everyone, and making sure that everyone remembers to get to meetings and appointments on time. That''s how they earn their pay each month.¡±


    ¡°As for us, you''ll see when you get to the Businesses. A bit of a warning, we have been given the honor of doing this job, so the boss expects us to work with no nonsense or playing around when on the clock. Everything is recorded so when you are caught misbehaving there will be punishment.¡±


    Several more silent minutes passed before the armored flying car descended from its high altitude and landed on a small fenced-off private pad at the rear of a tall building that had shimmering ads plastered all over the building for gambling and other illicit deals. With all the brazen advertising covering the building, it was hard to find the building''s name. After a few frantic seconds of scanning the building''s walls Arron was able to find the small inconspicuous sign [Dragon''s den] hidden under many other ads.


    As the two of them exited the armored car Ox pulled out a hidden handgun from under his suit and checked the ammunition in a new magazine before slamming it into place. The handgun let out a small beep and the digital readout of the ammo count changed from 0 to 40.


    Arron was able to catch a glimpse of over ten other small magazines attached to his inner vest.


    ¡°Always good to be prepared, just in case,¡± said Ox, when he saw Arron looking at him. ¡°You won''t get your own Chaka unless you prove yourself and become a true family member.¡±


    As the two were walking across the small landing pad toward the thick armored back door, it swung open suddenly and a middle-aged man similarly dressed as Arron, although a bit messy, rushed out.


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    ¡°Chief Ox! If~ if you had called ahead I would have been out here waiting for your arrival. I only received the information moments ago,¡± said the middle-aged man with a slurred voice as his foggy eyes were slowly clearing up from some intoxicant that was quickly leaving his system.


    Chief Ox only snorted at seeing the building''s manager in such a messy state. Seeing Chief Ox''s stern expression the middle-aged man knew he was in trouble and sweat began to fall from his forehead.


    ¡°I expect more from you and the other managers. You''re lucky I am too busy taking this probationary member on a tour and have no time to deal with you. I''ll just send a report to the office and have them issue a fine for your actions,¡± said Ox.


    ¡°Thank you chief!¡± said the middle-aged man, who was now repeatedly bowing, nearly falling down from dizziness as the intoxicant had not fully worn off causing him to still be wobbly on his feet.


    The building manager turned to Arron and with a large smile, he held out a hand and said, ¡°Senior it is a pleasure meeting you. I hope we will get along well in the future as we work together!¡±


    Arron took the man''s sweaty hand and shook it lightly as Ox spoke again, ¡°His name is Sorry.¡±


    Arron was exasperated and wondered why he was forced to come up with a fake name if it was never going to be used. The way things were going he was more likely to forget it now that everyone only ever called him ''Sorry''.


    ¡°Sorry? Eh... that''s a nice name...¡± said the manager while taking a side glance at Arron.


    ¡°The old man gave it to him. During his test, he was slick as ice when he walked up to his target and apologized before beating the crap out of them with a glass mug.¡±


    The building''s manager who was still holding Arron''s hand quickly let go as if he had been burned and looked at Arron''s expressionless face in horror as if he was seeing a monster even more terrifying than Ox.


    ''How can there be two of them!'' the manager cursed in his mind which was now jolted fully awake as his body sensed danger.


    ¡°Sorry, did I hurt you?¡± asked a concerned Arron with a blank face.


    ¡°No! No! No!¡± said the manager. He held both his hands up in front of him while he repeatedly shook his head no as he trembled fiercely upon hearing the word ''Sorry''.


    ¡°Enough chatter, take us to the security room,¡± said Ox.


    ¡°Of course right this way!¡±


    They walked through the back door and down a small hallway that was heavily guarded by floating bots and entered into a large room that had several square tables each one having around 4-12 people sitting around them.


    Many low-level grunt enforcers were strutting around the room looking for any disturbance or cheaters. Each of them was using shaded glasses that helped spot suspicious activity.


    Arron''s tour of the room was cut short as they passed through a guarded stairway that led down to the basement. Only after the three of them had passed each of the identification measures were they allowed to enter the security room which housed all the controls and cameras for the entire building.


    There were only a few other humans inside the room. They did not pay any attention to the arrival of the three as they were surrounded by thousands of flashing holographic videos from all the cameras on the many floors.


    Each of the workers inside the room had cybernetic eyes that allowed them to quickly scan and take in all that was happening in any of the live-stream videos before moving to the next camera view.


    Watching the blur of videos flashing by every other second made Arron''s head dizzy.


    ¡°Our main job is making sure everything is running smoothly, security is good, and that nothing is happening in the building that would jeopardize the family''s safety or income. As part of this mission, we oversee the transfer of monthly income to the family''s main account to make sure no skimming is happening. If we see anything suspicious we can notify the main office and they can send an enforcement team or a team of accountants to deal with it depending on the severity of the issue,¡± Ox said this out loud not caring that the manager and the other workers could hear him.


    Arron could see the manager and workers flinching and shivering when they heard this.


    ¡°We also have to make sure to keep the building managers on task or they will try to get away with every single little thing,¡± said Ox pointing to the shivering manager standing behind them. ¡°They are allowed to have side hustles to fund certain habits, drugs, food, or perverse carnal desires, as long as they do not interfere with the main business of our Ryu family. Don''t be surprised by their hobbies, some of them are just plain sick.¡±


    As Ox said this he pointed to a video of people using drugs that they had bought before and were openly using them as they gambled at one of the card tables.


    ¡°If something does happen, or the building managers and enforcers can not handle a situation, it is our job to take care of it as quickly as possible so business is not affected.¡±


    After spending a few more minutes discussing a handful of minor details and other tips they exited the gambling building. The manager was exhausted and sweating heavily as he waved the two off only to collapse against the armored door clutching his beating heart when they had flown off in the armored car.


    When Arron was led into the second large building, the noise inside was almost deafening.


    Cha~Ching! Clank! Clack! Cha~Ching!


    The entire building was filled with machines that had a similar resemblance to the ancient slot machines of long ago.


    There were several holographic images that once a lever was pulled, they would turn into a blur as they spun and only came to a stop after a button was pressed for each of the images. If the images matched or had a certain pattern the user would win. There were several different difficulties one could choose from, starting with the low payouts mode of only two spinning images up to over 12 images all at once that would give a massive payout if you won.


    With the short tour over they once again left and headed to a third building. This building was more discreet than the previous ones they had visited. It was quite dim and had many people exiting who were either in a happy intoxicated daze or in a deep depression as they left with empty pockets.


    When they entered the main floor a worker noticed Ox and walked over to him quickly.


    ¡°Chief! Welcome, do you want the usual?¡± asked the worker.


    ¡°I''m only here for work,¡± said Ox as he waved the man away.


    Ox turned to Arron and said, ¡°I come here sometimes after work to blow off some steam. It is a nice place to hang out and meet new people.¡±


    As he said that he pointed to a few tables where games of dice were being played.


    At a few of these tables were actual police officers still in their uniform! These officers were not paying any attention to the illegal activity happening all around them as they focused on the game of dice in front of them.

 Chapter 111: Tests

    Over the next few days, Arron was able to learn the basics of his new ''job'' by touring the several buildings that were under the supervision of Ox and the Ryu family. In doing so, he was able to learn of the many different operations that the family ran.


    His eyes were opened to many new things that he had never known or thought about. With his new position, he had the perfect bird eye view of one of, if not the largest, yakuza family. With all this access he was able to gather large amounts of information that would make any of the Office of Reason Agents drool.


    Unfortunately, he was never left alone. There was always either Ox or a drone monitoring him, so he was unable to contact Kix or A.S. Overall this was not really anything to worry about since the less he talked with A.S., the better he felt. Even if he did try to contact him he would do little to help him.


    Today Arron was once again touring different buildings with Ox. As they were leaving the security room ready to leave the building, a person called out to Ox.


    ¡°Chief Ox! It''s good to see you! Can I talk with you for a moment now that we have had the rare fortune to meet?¡± asked a man who was sitting at a table that had a curved couch around it instead of chairs.


    Arron''s eyes nearly popped out of his head when he saw the man who had called out to them.


    He was a uniformed zone one Police officer!


    ¡°I can spare a few minutes,¡± said Ox, walking over to the table.


    The other people sitting at the table all stood up and left allowing the two to have more privacy. Of course, Arron was standing next to Ox.


    A small domed privacy shield was turned on covering the three men and blocking all sound and the view of those outside.


    ¡°I have some...¡± the officer''s voice trailed off as he looked at Arron suspiciously.


    ¡°It''s all right he is a probationary member under my command,¡± said Ox.


    ¡°Alright... I have some... chaka that are looking to be lost for the right price.¡±


    ¡°We would love to find them. Is the usual fine with you?¡±


    The police officer nodded his head with a greedy look in his eyes.


    Arron had to bite his tongue to stop himself from cussing out the officer. These sorts of corrupt deals the officer was making were one of the main reasons that his job as an M1 officer was so dangerous.


    ¡°Is that all?¡± asked Ox.


    ¡°No, no. I was going to look for someone to tell this to later today, but luckily I met you. Just yesterday we were given orders to prepare for raids on several illegal businesses tomorrow. Two of these raids should be on businesses your family controls. I am only telling you this since we are friends,¡± said the officer as he swiped a file from his wrist datapad over to Ox.


    ¡°I, along with the rest of the Ryu family, are grateful for your warning. If that is all we must leave to take care of a few things that you have just told us about,¡± said Ox after glancing at the new information he had received.


    ¡°But of course!¡± said the officer waving to Ox.


    When Arron was once again sitting in the armored flying car and it was speeding through the air, he watched Ox for a short time in confusion before asking, ¡°Aren''t you going to call the family and let them know about this?¡±


    ¡°Why would I? The Office of Reason, as well as Mother and Father, would slobber all over themselves to catch us doing something so stupid when they are clearly monitoring our communications right now. The best thing we can do right now is take care of everything in person so that no rats are listening in on our conversations. That way only the two of us know about this.¡±


    Arron gulped and said, ¡°I see. That is smart. But don''t you normally use the holo-calls even if they are monitored?¡±


    ¡°We only show them what we want them to see and listen to. If we didn''t give them a few bread crumbs then they would start causing more trouble. It is best to keep them happy with the mixed truths that we leak through our conversations.¡±


    The first destination they arrived at was a rundown shop deep in the slums. It was near the border of several other yakuza families'' territories. A blinking holo-sign hung over a thick metal door that was shut tightly. [Second Best Cybernetics: We guarantee everything was used once before!].


    Both the name and the slogan were exactly something that screamed ''Scam!'' to Arron. If he was in the hunt for new parts he would definitely not want to come here.


    ¡°Don''t let its small size fool you. Besides the main warehouse underground, there are several operating rooms inside. This place is one of our main money makers. Almost all of the low-ranking members get their work done here. Even a few of the members from other families and gangs come here because we offer the best deals.¡±


    Arron still doubted its legitimacy, ¡°But why the name and the slogan? Isn''t brand new cybernetics far better than secondhand items?¡±


    Ox shook his head, ¡°You are not a native to the mega-city so you wouldn''t know. Almost every shop on the first level that sells new parts can barely make a living while secondhand shops are always raking in the money.¡±


    This confused Arron. ¡°Why?¡±


    ¡°Because there is a 90% chance that the ''new'' parts are counterfeits or defective parts that were sold in bulk by the factory trying to get rid of them, meaning that they are more than likely to cause you harm. To add insult to injury they try to charge double the cost of a second-hand unit that is far superior to the junk they are selling. Our shop only sells real parts, although many of them are from older generations and cost the original owner an arm and a leg when they were first launched, we are able to sell them at a reasonable price. Because most of the second-hand parts we have collected were given to us as payment or taken from the dead, we have the best of the best implants.¡±


    The last sentence made Arron shiver as he thought of the people who had their implants, limbs, and other parts pulled or extracted as payments for debts that they owed the family.


    ¡°You just stay out here and block anyone from coming in or bothering me while I take care of the situation inside,¡± said Ox.


    Arron was forced to just stand outside as an hour passed by without incident. The street that the shop was on was rather empty and no one had even shown interest in entering the building, making Arron feel that business was not good today.


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    The door behind Arron opened and Ox came out clapping his hands.


    ¡°I have placed the order for the parts you wanted. Everything should be ready by tomorrow,¡± said Ox.


    ¡°Ahh... I see. Thanks,¡± said Arron, confused at what Ox was talking about.


    ¡°Anyone try to cause trouble?¡± asked Ox as they jumped back into the Armored car.


    ¡°Not particularly, but there definitely is someone watching the shop. I saw the same three people pass by more than three times while you were inside.¡±


    Ox looked at Arron with praise as he nodded his head, ¡°Good eyes. I''ll send the building''s surveillance recordings to the office minions to comb through and find out who they are.¡±


    With this task cleared up the armored car flew them deeper into the Ryu family''s territory toward a nicer area where the buildings were not as run down and were well taken care and the parking garages and moving sidewalks actually worked unlike the areas controlled by the party of Mother and Father.


    The flying car gently landed on a VIP parking spot that was next to a small restaurant that only had 30 floors.


    Arron stayed silent as he read the flashy holo sign that was plastered on all four of the building''s walls. [Food Ration: The best-rationed meals in sector 1! The menu changes monthly!]


    ''What''s with these horrible names? Do they have to pick the worst or weirdest name for their business?'' was the first thought that popped up in Arron''s head. Now that he had spent several days going from place to place he had seen that most places in sector one all seemed to be in battle with each other to see who had the worst naming sense in the entire first level.


    ¡°Come on, we''ll be staying here for a while,¡± said Ox.


    ¡°Is this one of the places to be raided?¡± asked Arron.


    ¡°No, I was just hungry so we''re stopping here for some lunch.¡±


    ¡°...¡±


    Arron was unable to see much of anything inside the building. As soon as they entered the side door they were escorted to a VIP mag-shoot that shot them up to the top of the building and opened up to a private room that only had floor cushions for the guest to sit on and a low table to eat at while they relaxed. The entire room had a light red glow to it.


    ¡°Hmm what should we eat,¡± said Ox as he plopped down on one of the cushions and began to tap on the holographic menu that was floating above the table.


    Arron caught a glimpse of some of the meals'' cost and almost had a heart attack! He could have at least a month''s worth of synth-energy jelly for the cost of one meal!


    To Arron''s horror, Ox tapped on the most expensive meal twice. They only had to wait a short while in silence before the center of the table parted to the side showing a miniature mag-shoot that had gently pushed a tray all the way up from the kitchens far below them.


    Ox grabbed one of the large bowls and several of the side dishes before heartily digging in.


    ¡°Hurry up and eat before it gets cold,¡± ordered Ox when he saw Arron hesitating.


    With no other choice, Arron grabbed the bowl and took a bite of the food.


    ¡°Not bad...¡±


    ¡°Of course, it''s not bad! Otherwise, why would I come here when the food costs so much?¡± asked Ox.


    The two continued to eat their large meal in silence. Ox with his wild eating was the first to finish his meal.


    ¡°I''ll use that bathroom to clean up. No need for you to rush your eating,¡± said Ox as he pointed to the only door on the room''s wall other than the Mag-shoot.


    ''What a Fancy place, it has its own bathroom attached to it,'' thought Arron as he continued to savor the flavor and texture of the expensive food.


    15 minutes passed and Ox had still not exited the bathroom causing Arron to worry that something had happened. He stood up and walked over to the door with his hand raised.


    But before he could knock to ask if Ox was okay... the doors automatically opened for him.


    Arron stopped in his tracks as he looked through the doors in confusion.


    ¡°Wait... where''s the bathroom?¡± asked Arron as he looked to the left and right of a long empty hallway.


    As he was looking to his left 4 security bots and two muscled enforcers were walking his way looking right at him.


    Arron was quickly surrounded by the security bots and the two muscled enforcers.


    ¡°Valued guest, are you ready to leave? Please pay the bill,¡± said one of the buff men holding out a portable payment scanner.


    ¡°What? No, umm... the person I am with is paying. He just went to the bathroom and will be back soon.¡±


    ¡°We met that person already and he told us that you would be paying,¡± said the frowning man as he shoved the scanner in front of Arron''s face.


    Zap, zap. [Valued customer please pay. Or...] said the four security drones all at the same time causing their robotic voice to echo off the walls of the hallway.


    Arron couldn''t help but sigh, he was only human and could not fight against such an overwhelming force without any armor or weapons.


    He reluctantly held out his right hand which had his NerViz cloud chip and allowed it to be scanned.


    [Error! Payment denied!]


    Arron quietly cursed inside as he remembered that his new identity had 0 credits to his name. He could not access his own account now that he was undercover.


    ¡°What? Did you come here to eat without any money?!¡± asked one of the enforcers who leaned in closer to look Arron right in the eyes.


    ¡°Are you trying to make a fool of us? Are you a low life that dines and runs away?¡±


    The two burly men were now almost touching him as their faces were screaming only an inch away with spit spattering his face.


    ¡°How are you going to pay this off? Do we need to send you off to get a diet plan surgery to pay off your bill!?¡±


    ¡°No of course not!¡± said Arron hurriedly after hearing the threat of being given a diet surgery. ¡°I can pay! Just let me call someone and everything will be fixed!¡±


    Arron turned around and quickly tapped a few options and called Kix on one of the pre-planned throwaway accounts set up by A.S. It was a cheap connection plan even the poorest of D-rank citizens would not be willing to use as all it offered was voice communication and nothing else.


    ¡°Friend we have a problem,¡± was all Arron said.


    ¡°What?¡± asked a confused Kix.


    ¡°I''m short on a few credits. Can you send me some?¡±


    ¡°Sure how much do you need?¡±


    Arron quietly muttered the number that was on the bill which was being shoved in his face.


    ¡°WHAT!?¡± shouted Kix when he heard the number.


    ¡°I''ll pay you back, but right now I am in a tight bind.¡±


    ¡°Just wait ten minutes. I have to go see if I can gather the credits. You know money is tight this month so...¡±


    The call was cut short leaving Arron standing for over ten minutes with the enforcers breathing down his neck and the security drones constantly zapping their metal claws in the air.


    Ting! Arron looked at the message notification and found that some unknown person had transferred the exact amount of credits into his fake bank account.


    Arron held out his hand once again and the enforcer with the scanner swiped it over Arron''s hand.


    [Payment authorized! Credits have been transferred!]


    Clap! Clap! Clap!


    Ox stepped out into the hallway a short way away from Arron. As soon as he did the enforcers and security drones stepped back away from Arron.


    ¡°Congratulations, You passed the test,¡± said Ox as he clapped his large hands.


    ¡°Huh? The test?¡± asked Arron.


    ¡°What? Did you think that because you passed that simple filtering test earlier that you were done being tested? It is not that easy to join the Ryu family. Like the old man says all the time, not just anyone can join.¡±


    Yes, Arron did think that the test had been over with all the secret inside stuff he had been shown.


    ¡°This is only the beginning. There will be more to come until either I break you or I decide that you really are not a spy. In this way, I will be able to fish out more details on who you really are. Now come help me take care of the food rations stocked here. We have to get everything moved before tomorrow.¡±

 Chapter 112: Moving Special Hot Items

    Several days later.


    Arron and Ox were now walking through the halls of the main underground base at a quick pace. They had a big day ahead of them so there was a lot on Arron''s mind.


    When they reached the main common room where everyone was playing cards as usual, one of the men in the group waved to get their attention.


    ¡°Hey Ox, Sorry, do you want to join us for a quick game?¡± asked the man pointing to the half-holographic and half-solid cards that they were playing with.


    Arron did not know what game it was but he had heard these types of cards were used everywhere in sector one as they stopped people coming in with their own counterfeit cards to try and cheat. Some people still tried to hack the cards to get the upper hand, but those that were caught were lucky to only be beaten bloody. As with everything in sector one, it only mattered if you got caught.


    ¡°You know I can''t play with you guys. Even if I did, we can''t be fooling around with everything happening right now,¡± said Ox, waving off the offer as he entered the codes for the blast door and walked through them forcing Arron to follow quickly behind him before the doors slam shut.


    ¡°Does the family have a rule against gambling or is it that you hate such things?¡± asked Arron.


    ¡°There is no such rule, I love cards just as much as the next person. But anyone with at least two brain cells knows you don''t take money from those that work under you. That is only asking for trouble,¡± said Ox as he led Arron to the waiting armored flying car.


    When Arron hopped inside the flying car and the door slammed shut, Ox turned to him with a serious face.


    ¡°Today won''t be fun and games touring around the businesses. We have serious work to do.¡±


    Arron sat up straight, ¡°What''s the problem?¡±


    Ox looked at Arron for a long time sizing him up and down in silence for several minutes as they flew through the air. Arron was getting really uncomfortable from his sharp gaze.


    ¡°An informant has tipped us off that the office of reason plans to be making large-scale unannounced ''inspections'' which will happen at the earliest tonight and the latest tomorrow. We have to get everything in order before they visit us.¡±


    ¡°What? Didn''t the police just do a raid the other day? So now the Office of Reason wants to do a raid as well?¡± asked Arron slightly surprised. He had not heard anything about this from A.S. or Kix.


    ¡°Something like that. On top of that, we were also given a task by the local police to take care of them. If we don''t finish it soon they will start causing real problems for us.¡±


    ¡°There''s something they want us to do? I don''t see why they would come to the family for help...¡±


    ¡°That''s how things work here in sector one. There are some things that the police can not do whether it''s legal or not. Some things need unanimity so that no heat lands on them. That is why they ask us to do certain tasks which we are happy to take care of so that they stay off our backs. The moment they stop talking to you and asking for favors is when you need to worry and start shoring up your defenses. Got any other questions?¡± asked Ox, looking at a long flowing list of business names along with the items and credit amount that they needed to help disappear.


    ¡°Why does the family have so many small and medium-sized businesses of the same or similar type? Wouldn''t a mega-corp be better suited for the family and easier to manage instead of several dozen smaller ones?¡± asked Arron as he looked at the list and recalled all the places he had been to so far with Ox.


    ¡°It doesn''t work like that,¡± said Ox looking up from the list. ¡°What, do you think the mega-corps are run by the owners, a board, or a CEO?¡±


    ¡°Isn''t that how it works?¡±


    ¡°Not even close. When a company grows to a certain size, Mother and Father take control of it. From the outside, it may look like the mega-corps are all rich and powerful and run by even more rich and powerful people. But that is all a lie. Since they are owned by Mother and Father the people in charge are told what, how, and when to do something. If their orders are not completed to the satisfaction of Mother and Father then the ''Head'' of the company is changed.¡±


    ¡°What about the media always talking about the charity, loans, grants, and bailouts that are given out to the mega-corps? From what they say it''s all free, but just with extra benefits,¡± said Arron trying to wrap his head around this new bombshell he had just learned.


    This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.


    ¡°Of course, Mother and Father want to fund the business under their control. They can''t have them failing, it shouldn''t be a surprise to you. Trust me, no one in their right mind wants to become a mega-corp. Everyone is trying to stay at the medium or small company size otherwise they will be swallowed.¡±


    The flying car started to slow down and descend to their first destination. It was the [Food ration] restaurant where Arron had been given his first ''Test'' by Ox.


    Unlike before the rear entrance, sidewalk, and streets all around this portion of the building were blocked off. Several grunt-looking yakuza enforcers were patrolling the perimeter.


    At least ten unmarked and beat-up Hover-vans were parked near the building''s rear doors which were propped open. Dozens of workers were entering and exiting the building carrying boxes of what looked like food and were putting them into the back of the parked vans.


    ¡°Hurry up! We need to get everything finished before the noon lunch rush!¡± shouted the manager that Arron had seen the last time he and Ox had eaten here.


    As the manager was shouting and running around like a chicken with his head chopped off, he saw Ox and Arron walking towards him.


    ¡°Chief! You''re just in time! We are almost finished with getting all the ''special'' stuff out of here,¡± said the manager as he ran over to them.


    ¡°Did you already receive your orders on what to do with it?¡± asked Ox.


    ¡°No,¡± said the manager, shaking his head. ¡°They said you would be here to tell us in person.¡±


    Ox nodded and looked around for a few seconds taking everything in.


    ¡°You should ''Donate'' it to the usual places. Make sure you spread it out to several places, not just a few. We can''t have them getting into trouble as we may still need their help in the future. As for any ''tips'' they may give you, make sure it is all counted for and added to next week''s pickup.¡±


    ¡°I will make sure that not even one credit goes missing!¡±


    Arron was surprised at how much food was stored inside the restaurant. Just by inspecting a few of the boxes, Arron saw that almost all of the ''special'' product was fresh food that was currently on a monthly ration limit set by Mother and Father. If the Office of Reason caught them with all of this, there would definitely be some hard-to-answer questions asked.


    Arron and Ox oversaw the final minutes of the packing and made sure to look over the financial records for over a half hour just to make sure everything was in order.


    Only when the last of the freezer hover-vans left for their new destinations, along with their discreet escorts who rode hover-bikes, did Arron and Ox get back into their flying car and head to the next destination?


    ¡°I know you want to ask, so I''ll just tell you. Not only does the [Food ration] sell good food. It also resells rationed fresh food to those with large pockets. There are always those who want more of a certain item that has been restricted by Mother and Father. You would be surprised at how much money someone will pay for the fresh food. It is a big money maker as we just have several grunts buy the food cheaply from the shops so that we can resell it. The black market is particularly booming for those that have a D rank SCS since most of the food is something they can''t get even when it is not rationed. We''ll lose a bit of money by selling the food back to the shops, but it''s better to get rid of it before the raids happen.¡±


    ¡°I didn''t think this was such a big thing...¡± said Arron.


    ¡°This is nothing compared to the low-level gang''s food ration chip scams. They can make huge amounts of money quickly.¡±


    ¡°Does the family do this?¡± asked Arron.


    ¡°No, too risky. Although you could make huge amounts of money, the way they have to do it is too eye-catching. They either steal, buy cheap, or scam people out of their food rations and then sell them to other people at a high price. Some even like scamming the buyers with fake ration chips. As I am sure you are well aware Mother and Father do not take kindly to these sorts of scams and crack down hard. Even so, the majority of the low-level gangs still keep doing it in hopes of a big payday.¡±


    Their next destination was a medium-sized second-hand cybernetic shop.


    When Arron and Ox entered the well-guarded underground garage contrary to his expectations there were no boxes of cybernetics being loaded into vans. Instead, there were several large freezer hover-vans with coolers full of human organs being loaded into them.


    Seeing Arron''s eyes nearly popped out of his head.


    Seeing his reaction Ox spoke up, ¡°Hey don''t get the wrong ideas! We''re not Mother and Father or the Office of Reason who harvest ''Donated'' organs from those in need of re-education. Unlike those unlucky guys, the people actually come to us to receive cybernetic replacements for whatever it is. These organs are just the leftovers.¡±


    Arron just looked at him with a blank face.


    ¡°Of course, we sell them at a decent profit for those in need of such organs.¡±


    The manager of the building rushed over to them bowing repeatedly.


    ¡°I did not notice that you had arrived! My deepest apologies!¡±


    Ox raised a hand to stop him.


    ¡°Since these are now a hot item you need to send them to the various safe houses until they cool off.¡±


    The manager nodded his head like a chicken pecking at the ground for worms or bugs.


    ¡°If there were any planned sales for today or the rest of the week they will have to be put on hold  until later notice. I will leave it to you to notify the buyers about this matter.¡±


    Again more head bobbing up and down from the manager.


    Arron and Ox only stayed long enough to see that the stock of hot items was properly being transported away and that the accounts were in order before they left for the next destination.


    Similar things kept happening at each site that they stopped at making Arron speechless at all of the odd things he had seen.

 Chapter 113: Past and Present Family Matters

    ¡°The Office of Reason has begun an unplanned widespread crackdown on criminal activity in sector one since late last night,¡± said a stern Fella, as she reported on the breaking news that was given to her and Kommy by the Office of Reason.


    ¡°Sector one has been a thorn in the side of Mother and Father for the longest time, mainly due to its ties with the criminal underground and the fact that it is a breeding ground for those sympathetic to separatists,¡± said Kommy.


    ¡°With this first day of raids, the Office of Reason¡¯s plan to gather enough information to possibly start a major campaign in the future that would clean up the sector if things get out of control...¡±


    Arron was watching the news with the other probationary members as well as the regular family members. Because of the current raids going on, everyone''s job was on hold.  Almost everyone was safely hiding inside their main bases since going outside right now was too risky for the well-known members.


    ¡°Why are they openly telling everyone their plans?¡± asked one of the probationary members.


    ¡°It''s a challenge. They are letting us know that we can''t do anything even if we know ahead of time,¡± said Fro.


    ¡°I heard from a friend in the Oni family that they got hit hard last night. It was as if they knew where everything was at their main business. Must have had an informant leaking the details.¡±


    Arron was sweating, that building was one of the businesses he had put in his report to AS. There were several others that he reported on so far and when he checked with various people who were connected to these places, he found that most of them had already been raided.


    The Office of Reason was definitely using the information he was sending them to start a clean-up of the families.


    As the day wore on one thing became clear, the only targets in these raids were the yakuza families both big and small. Not a single gang was raided or shaken down. Arron was sure that he had provided more damning information about the various gang''s illegal activities than any of the small tidbits about the families. It was not hard to learn all about the gang''s misdeeds as Ox had a great hatred for them and talked about them nonstop.


    Ping! Arron''s NerViz system interrupted his thoughts as it notified him of a high-priority encrypted message waiting for him to accept. Such a thing only meant one thing, either A.S. or Kix was trying to contact him.


    Arron silently stood up and went to the bathroom where he activated the privacy mode and read the message before its timed deletion was triggered. With all that was going on, he worried that this was a message warning him that his cover had been blown.


    Despite all his worrying, Arron was able to let out a sigh when he read the message.


    [From Kix: Arron I need to meet you. It is important. Let''s have lunch.]


    If it was any other day Arron would not be able to leave due to his daily work alongside Ox. Even now with everyone holed up in their rooms, Arron was unsure if he was allowed to leave the building because of the raids.


    ¡°Well, there''s only one way to find out!¡± said Arron.


    When he left the bathroom he started to tap on several of his Wrist-datapads holographic menu buttons bringing up his contact list that only had a few names. He tapped on one of the new entries and began a call.


    A few seconds later the call was answered showing the stern face of Ox who was staring back at Arron. His strong piercing gaze made Arron shiver and feel as if he could see through everything Arron was thinking.


    ¡°What is it? We don''t have work today, so why are you contacting me?¡± asked Ox.


    ¡°Ah... that''s why I was calling...my friend that helped me out before wanted to meet with me for lunch. I am not sure what it is but he would not call me if it was something simple. Is it possible that I can leave for a short time and meet up with him?¡±


    ¡°You''re not going to meet up with a Mother and Father agent or someone from the Office of Reason are you?¡± joked Ox as he continued to stare at Arron with a smile.


    Arron fought hard to keep his face from twitching at the joke. It was not far off from the truth.


    ¡°He is just a friend I know and has nothing to do with them,¡± said Arron slowly as he tried to keep his voice calm.


    ¡°You know it''s too dangerous for us to be outside with the current raids going on. But if you insist I can ask the old man for you and see what he has to say,¡± said Ox, not bothering to question who he was going to meet.


    ¡°Please do,¡± was all Arron said.


    The call ended leaving Arron to wait several minutes and watch the news with everyone as more details of the new targets being raided was broadcasted.


    Fella continued to talk in a cheery and upbeat way as if she was a cat that had just caught several rats that had been evading her for a long time.


    Arron quickly accepted the call when he saw Ox''s name pop up. He was restlessly waiting for Ox to give him the old man''s decision.


    ¡°You can go meet your friend. But, this is not a free pass to do what you want while outside. Remember that there is a large presence of Office of Reason agents outside. If you get caught we will not help you and deny ever meeting with you and we will also deny any information you may give them in an interrogation.¡±


    ¡°It''s just a meal, I doubt something like that would happen...¡± said Arron.


    ¡°It''s just the way things are,¡± said Ox before ending the call.


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    There was nothing for Arron to prepare so he said a few words to the others in the room and left the building to meet up with Kix.


    ***


    ¡°Has he left?¡± asked the old man.


    ¡°He has,¡± said Ox.


    ¡°Follow him. With the current state of affairs, it is best to be overcautious.¡±


    ¡°I will do as you say. With the Office of Reason out in full force right now, if anyone else were to go out, they would draw too much attention to themselves. I will make sure to take measures that hide my identity.¡±


    ***


    Arron followed the directions given to him by Kix and soon met up with him at a slightly expensive restaurant.


    There were many meeting rooms inside the building as well as large tables for large celebrations.


    Arron looked around and felt a little out of place as he stared at the large synthetic diamond crystal chandeliers hanging from the high ceiling.


    At the center of each large table, there was a large flat piece of metal that could be used for cooking meat next to it was a cold temperature plate with several raw synthetic pieces of meat.


    Kix was sitting across from Arron as they both silently stared at the meat but did not touch it. They had been sitting like this for over 20 minutes.


    Ox, who was monitoring them from nearby, was unsure what they were doing or why they were not eating when the food was right in front of them.


    ¡°Who is he?¡± asked the Old man who was watching everything that was happening thanks to the  hidden camera in Ox''s sunglasses.


    ¡°No one that I know of... the search of our database on the current known moles working for Office of Reason and Mother and Father has come up with a blank. He may be a new agent or pawn,¡± said Ox.


    Ox was sitting across the large restaurant room wearing a large heavy hooded leather coat that looked rather suspicious on his large muscled body. The large hat to cover his face did not help his image but it was all done to stop the Office of Reason from finding him so easily.


    The people that passed by him every so often kept giving him weird looks and many of the restaurant''s guests that arrived after him purposely avoided the several tables around him. With all the commotion this was causing, the restaurant''s security drones seemed to be taking a liking to him and continuously passed by his table making sure there were no issues.


    Ox was unaware of all of this as he was focused on his undercover mission.


    ¡°Ah! Two others have arrived. Huh... I know them. They are from the small Upreme family,¡± said Ox when he saw two middle-aged men arrive and sit down at Kix and Arron''s table.


    ¡°So he, or his friend, has a connection to the Upreme family. Keep monitoring his Wrist-datapad to make sure that he is not leaking any information or receiving secret orders. We can ask him about his relationship with them when he returns,¡± said the Old man.


    As he was saying this, a privacy shield popped up around the table blocking the sound and view of what was going on inside.


    There was little Ox could do without drawing attention to himself, so he could only wait to catch any conversation that they may have as they left the building.


    ***


    ¡°Don''t look, but a creepy homeless guy is staring at us from across the room...¡± said one of the middle-aged men when he sat down across from Arron and Kix who were now sitting next to each other.


    ¡°Let''s activate the privacy shield so we don''t have to worry too many prying eyes and ears,¡± said the second man as he accessed the table¡¯s holo-menu and tapped on a few options to activate the blue privacy shield which popped up around their table and its occupants.


    Arron looked at the two men then back at Kix and then asked, ¡°Are these guys the people we have been waiting for over half an hour?¡±


    Kix nodded his head.


    ¡°And they are?¡± asked Arron inspecting them. They gave off the rough feeling he was growing used to when around the other members of the Ryu family.


    ¡°My older brothers.¡±


    ¡°....¡± Arron could only stare back and forth between the two men and then Kix.


    ¡°I''m Krux and this is Kronk,¡± said Krux.


    ¡°Sorry for making you wait. We had a hard time getting here with all the raids going on,¡± said Kronk.


    ¡°Ah... so were you hit by the raids as well?¡± asked Arron trying to confirm his suspicion.


    They shook their heads, ¡°No, we were lucky to escape so far,¡± said Kronk.


    ¡°Kix, you still haven''t told me why I had to come here to help you,¡± said Arron.


    Kix only looked at his older brothers and said, ¡°Ask them.¡±


    ¡°Can he be trusted?¡± asked Krux.


    ¡°He is my partner. We have been in several life-and-death situations and come out alive together. There is no doubt about his trustworthiness.¡±


    Kronk nodded at this but was still a bit wary of Arron.


    ¡°The reason we have come here is to tell you that Father is planning on retiring,¡± said Kronk.


    ¡°Father wants you to return, or at least not cut off your relationship with him and the rest of the family anymore,¡± said Krux, as he stared directly into Kix''s eyes.


    ¡°Which family?¡± asked Kix coldly.


    ¡°You know which one,¡± said Kronk.


    ¡°We have also heard some unfaltering rumors that say you are working with the Office of Reason on an undercover case,¡± said Krux angrily.


    ¡°Who is spreading such a rumor?¡± asked Kix as he sat up straight and stared right back at his brother.


    ¡°Father.¡±


    ¡°... I am not able to comment on my work as an M1 officer, you know that. But what I can say is, I would not do anything that would get me involved with the family. I am trying to keep my wife and son safe. I don''t want them to have to experience what we did when we were growing up. That is why I left the family,¡± said Kix coldly.


    ¡°Working as an M1 officer is far more dangerous than staying with the family! Things have changed since we were kids!¡± said Kronk.


    ¡°The danger from the family and the M1 are entirely different. As an M1 officer, I can help people each day I go out. But if I were to stay in the family I would be the one causing problems along with you. I will choose a different path so that my son does not end up like this,¡± said Kix as he held up his metal hand.


    His brother''s faces showed a slight sadness as they saw his hand and remembered a past event.


    ¡°Kix... trust me as your older brother. We are now high-ranking officers under Father. The past events won''t happen again. Father has made sure that no one disrespects us like back then,¡± said Kronk.


    Kix, seeing Arron''s confusion, explained in greater detail what they were talking about.


    ¡°When I was 8 years old, a rival gang killed my bodyguards who were escorting me to school and then they kidnapped me. They continued to tell me that they were going to kill me if my father did not respond the correct way... and to make sure that he did, they cut my hand off and sent it to my father as a threat.¡±


    Kix paused for a few seconds as he looked at his metal hand.


    ¡°My father was enraged and personally came to wipe out the entire gang. I, his youngest son, was drenched in the blood of my kidnappers that had tried to use me as a shield. Looking back on all that happened, I was rather lucky to have only lost my hand with such a chaotic fight happening all around me. This is why I decided to leave my ''family'' and join the M1.¡±


    In the end, Kix''s brothers were unable to convince him to come back. They completely ignored Arron''s attempts to back up Kix and instead left the restaurant angry.

 Chapter 114: Random meetings

    ¡°With the successful raids over the last week, the Office of Reason has captured many high-priority targets accused of crimes ranging from spreading harmful misinformation about mother and father, sympathizing with separatists, and even a few old separatists from the times of the troubles have been caught,¡± said Fella with a smile as she read the morning news highlights of the past week.


    ¡°Each of these cases has been swiftly and permanently normalized so that order can return to the sector once again,¡± said Kommy with a stern look at the floating drone camera, making the viewers feel a deep sense of righteousness.


    ¡°That''s right! But there is still a long way to go until such a thing happens...¡±


    Arron was watching the news in a small restaurant booth with no connections to any of the yakuza families as he waited for Kix to meet him with new orders from AS.


    He was not happy constantly having to do this sort of stuff out in the open with the family constantly watching him. It only increased the likelihood that he would be caught and then nothing good would happen after that.


    With a grunt and a huff as a greeting to Arron, Kix sat down next to him and silently opened the restaurant''s holographic menu and ordered a cheap drink before looking at Arron who raised his eyebrows questioningly.


    The table''s privacy shields activated allowing them to talk a little more freely, but not to the point of carelessness as this was not a completely safe place.


    ¡°I don''t like it any more than you, I am being used as a mule for A.S. and I''m in just as much danger as you are if not more when you consider my family connections.¡±


    ¡°And the new task I''m supposed to do is...?¡± asked Arron.


    ¡°So nothing can leak A.S. decided to do a face-to-face call using me as the middle man,¡± said Kix as he tapped on a menu of a small metallic disc that was placed on the table.


    Arron could see the table''s holo-menu flicker for several seconds before regaining its solid state.


    Seeing that everything was set he accessed his contact list and began a call.


    ¡°What took you so long?¡± asked AS.


    ¡°You didn''t give me any credits, so I had to walk here,¡± said Kix.


    ¡°Stop giving excuses. Anyway, Arron, nice work. With the information you sent me in your reports, I was able to get a nice promotion. You might not know this, but it is hell to try and climb the ranks as an agent of the Office of Reason.¡±


    Hearing this made Arron grow a bit agitated as all A.S. was doing, was reading the reports while Arron risked his life and Kix also took on dangerous errands as well. The only one who was benefiting from all of this was A.S.


    ¡°And what about us?¡± asked Arron.


    ¡°Don''t worry! I already told you I would have the main office pay back all money you spend when the mission is over,¡± said AS waving his hand dismissively.


    ¡°...¡± Both Arron and Kix looked at each other with knowing looks. It really did appear that the Office of Reason had no intention to reward or pay them for any dangerous work they were currently doing.


    ¡°I''ll keep this short as my time is too important to be chatting with you for more time than is necessary. With the successful capture of so many small fish, the higher-ups want to take someone big down to help kick-start what they have planned.¡±


    ¡°... and what do they have planned?¡± asked Arron.


    ¡°That''s for me to know and for you to keep your mouth shut and just do as you are told. Your target is Krok who is also from the Ryu family you are currently part of. He has been supplying weapons to several groups that pop up to cause problems for Mother and Father. Some of the weapons have ended up in the hands of separatists. Since he is openly flaunting the ban on illegal weapons Mother and Father want him taken down. But whenever they try to move he always manages to escape.¡±


    If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it.


    ¡°I''ve never heard of him before. Are you sure he is in the same family as me?¡± asked Arron.


    ¡°That''s because he is the chief of the outer branch.¡±


    This was the first time Arron heard of the family having an outer branch. ¡°Then how am I supposed to meet with him? I have never heard of him before nor did I know anything about an outer branch.¡±


    ¡°I don''t care how you do it, but you will gather the information we need or you will be deemed as helping the separatists. As for where you can find him. That''s easy, Kix can give you a list of the buildings he runs. But since we already know all of this there is little chance you could meet him randomly at any of them. If that were the case I would not be talking to you right now. Enough questions, I have talked long enough with you. You have your new task so you better gather the needed information so that we can capture him.¡±


    With that, the call ended.


    Kix quickly downed the rest of his drink and traded a few words of encouragement to Arron before leaving.


    Arron had no clue how he is supposed to meet or gather information on Krok since he is stuck under Ox''s watchful eyes.


    ***


    ¡°With all that has been happening recently, we have been unable to keep in touch with everyone that is part of the family. Because of this, we will be meeting with several important people today to trade news and information so that everyone is up to date on everything. You are only coming along with me since you may have to do this in the future as well and you''ll need the experience. Just stay quiet and watch from the side,¡± said Ox.


    The two were using a flying armored car to travel to someplace that Arron had never been to before. It was supposed to be at the farthest reach of the family''s territory where the conflict with other families and gangs was constantly erupting.


    Arron was only half listening to Ox as he was trying to figure out how to worm his way into the outer branch so that he could complete the mission he was given.


    When the flying armored car silently landed on a spacious landing pad on top of a tall building, Arron absentmindedly got out along with Ox and walked through to the opened rooftop doors into a large comfortable waiting room that had many plush armchairs and a thick red carpet that your feet sank into.


    When he looked up from his musings, he stopped in his tracks as he saw a large holographic painting covering the wall in front of him. It was a lively picture of several dozen colorful underwater fish swimming around on the wall. It all looked so life-like as if it was a pool inside the wall. It really was such a cool-looking painting.


    On both of the side walls, there were also two other lifelike holographic paintings.


    He walked over to the left wall to get a better look at the painting which was of various farm animals that were moving around and peacefully eating grass, grain, or bugs.


    When his feet took him to the right wall painting he thought it could not be any more different from the other two. It was an emotional holographic painting of a fierce gunfight in what looked like the rubble of a destroyed city. Arron bent over and looked down at the short description underneath the painting to better read it.


    [Created during the tail end of the Troubles when the struggle between the different powers was at its Bloodiest.]


    ¡°Oh? An art connoisseur? Ox I am completely shocked! I did not know such a meathead like you hung out with such a cultured person,¡± said a voice coming from the open doors of a secure Mag-shoot that had just opened.


    ¡°Krok, your insults are as bad as ever. When will you get rid of such childish talk?¡± said Ox.


    Arron half jumped and turned around to stare at the newcomer when he heard his name come out of Ox''s mouth.


    He silently sighed when he saw it truly was Krok the target that he was now in charge of gathering information on. His worry was slightly washed away as he focused on Krok and began inspecting him for every detail he could find.


    ¡°Who is the greenhorn?¡± asked Krok looking at Arron who was now staring at him silently. Several other people exited the Mag-shoot behind Krok.


    ¡°A new probationary member I am in charge of. You can just ignore his quirks as he is a country bumpkin. It''s a pain trying to explain everything to him,¡± said Ox.


    ¡°Oh? Well, you were the last person we were waiting for. Before we talk business I offered to show everyone a good time to help us all relax from the stress we have been under lately. Are you interested in joining us?¡±


    ¡°That''s fine with me but the old man wants everything set in order in the next few days. We can not waste too much time.¡±


    ¡°No need to worry. You can join us or stay here and wait. Of course, your sidekick is also welcome to come along.¡±


    ¡°Alright, Let''s go Krok.¡±


    Arron had no objections to this turn of events as this was a perfect situation for him to be in. He silently followed the group of chiefs into a waiting armored black flying limo.


    When everyone had sat down, the armored limo took off and began flying to an unknown destination.

 Chapter 115: Blood, Stims, and Snacks

    The flying limo and several flying cars that had escorted them, all landed on a flat parking space that was blocked off from the surrounding area by a large flowing electric fence that was constantly letting out loud zaps.


    Arron quietly exited the vehicle with the others and was stunned when he looked up at the building in front of them.


    On each wall of the building, there was a large holographic sign of a different scantily clad woman with a finger stretched out and beckoning the people walking by trying to lure them through the large doors of the building.


    After being immersed in and learning all about the culture of the yakuza family''s business vs the laws that were put in place by Mother and Father, he no longer voiced his questions of why such a thing was possible.


    Even so, Krok, who was straightening his expensive flying suit, saw the odd expression on his face and quickly said, ¡°It''s only one of the businesses inside. The main money maker is our special stim drugs. It''s easier to show you around instead of standing out here and talking. Is everyone ready for some fun?¡±


    ¡°Let''s hurry up and finish this so that we can get down to business,¡± said Ox, who was a little antsy. He looked over to Arron before saying, ¡°And you better not go overboard. You are still a probationary member and need to uphold the image of the Ryu family.¡±


    ¡°Come on Ox, a little fun behind closed doors will not harm the family''s image. Lighten up a bit,¡± said Krok putting his arm over Ox''s shoulder and pulling him towards the building''s VIP side door. Ox did not resist and silently went along with him only giving Krok a sharp glare which was ignored.


    Everyone else followed the two into the building. Instead of a lobby, the VIP door opened up to a hallway deep inside the building with several closed doors on each side of the hallway. This was probably a measure taken for the privacy of the VIP guest that came here.


    Krok looked back at Arron who was respectfully following everyone at the rear. He waved his hand calling Arron up to him.


    Arron hurried his pace and joined Krok and Ox at the front as they walked down the hallway.


    Krok silently tapped on a few menu options on his wrist datapad and then flicked something over to Arron.


    A 2D live stream popped up showing the inside of a room that looked rather comfortable. It had several plush couches and armchairs and even a cot in the corner.


    On one of the armchairs, a calm man sat silently with glazed eyes and a large smile as he stared off into the distance.


    As they passed through the hallway the live stream changed showing the inside of each room. The next room had a man with a blank expressionless face as he silently sat still with tears pouring out of his glazed eyes.


    In another room, a middle-aged woman was curled up on a couch rocking back and forth as she ate something and slowly started to calm down.


    Seeing all sorts of strange actions inside the rooms Arron looked over to Krok and asked, ¡°What''s wrong with them?¡±


    ¡°Who knows? It could be debt issues, love problems, trouble with Mother and Father, or something to do with The Office of Reason. You can never tell with these types of people,¡± said Krok shaking his head.


    ¡°No, I mean why are they acting like that,¡± said Arron pointing at a crazed person that was ranting inside the room as he walked back and forth with a crazed expression.


    ¡°That''s just the stims working. Every customer has a slightly different experience when using stims. As I was saying before, this is our main money maker here. We offer the customer a wide variety of legal stims at a decent cost, of course, the use of the room is also added to the price.¡±


    ¡°Why would anyone pay extra for such a thing?¡±


    ¡°The total package may cost more, but this is a relatively safer place to use the stims without having to worry about being scammed. The families that run such businesses pride ourselves on offering clean and pure stims that have no shady additives which some low-level thugs use to try and stretch out their limited supplies,¡± said Krok with a look of disdain at the thought. ¡°This is a business after all and the more satisfied customers we have, the more of them will come back for another fun time. Plus these places are great for people who want privacy to use stims. By coming here they don''t have to do it at home or work risking their family or co-workers finding out about their vice. Thus this is one of the main reasons why business is booming. Sure there are some of the small-time gangs who are short-sighted and sometimes only think of quick gains and offer stims that were tampered with or types of less clean stims. But only the most desperate of people go to these places.¡±


    ¡°Even several of the members in the family come here for stim holidays,¡± said Ox.


    ¡°Stim holidays?¡±


    ¡°It is where someone uses stims to get drugged out for several days at a time to forget all their worries. No work, no chores or errands, just stims and entertainment all day. It is a way for them to decompress. For normal citizens, they have to ask the Office of Reason liaison agent at their workplace for permission to take time off and enjoy a Stim holiday. The workplace has no say in this judgment. If the Office of Reason agent allows the worker''s request to go through, the workplace can not fire the requester and has to find someone else to take over their shifts during the stim holiday,¡± said Krok.


    ¡°It''s a way for Mother and Father to keep the workers in their lane and make sure they don''t cause problems from mentally breaking down or refusing to work. This is why they secretly help fund our business by sending people here. In this way the factories and other labor intensive businesses that keep the mega-city running are never interrupted and always run smoothly,¡± said Ox. ¡°But there are always some people that try to abuse the system so Mother and Father make sure to send them to be re-educated where they can go through withdrawals and detox while also relearning how to be a proper citizen.¡±


    The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.


    ¡°Our entertainment is not on this floor, we have to go up several floors to reach our destination.¡±


    They all entered a Mag-shoot and shot up a few hundred floors before the doors opened and once again Arron was shocked by what he saw.


    The majority of the floor they had just arrived at, was wide open with beds, couches, and armchairs all over.


    ¡°AH!¡± ¡°MORE!¡± ¡°YES LIKE THAT!¡±


    On the left side of the open room, were several small groups all having loud and wild sex with no walls or privacy shields blocking their activity. On the right side of the room, there were several people watching the orgy on the other side of the room while the rest sat in front of several terminals that had all kinds of holographic porn playing for the customers who also had glazed eyes as they used stims to heighten their enjoyment of the entertainment.


    Krok and Ox did not say anything as they were unfazed by the noise and sight of everything. They just continued walking through the room to a locked door that was being guarded by both humans and security drones.


    As Arron walked alongside them, it was startling how many famous people were here. There were many people that he had seen on the news, in movies, local sector one party members, and even sector one police officers!


    Arron made sure to add everyone he recognized to his mental list so that he could give the information to Kix. He would let Kix decide what to do with the information about corrupt officers and low-level party members that were not officially members of the Party of Mother and Father but were still the lackeys of the party and kept everything under their control.


    With a wave of Krok''s hand, the guards stepped aside. The locks beeped and clanked for a few seconds before the door opened revealing another mag-shoot.


    They only shot up a few more levels before entering a bright plush room that was equipped with several armchairs all facing a large thick two-way para-glass that covered the entire wall in front of them.


    On the other side of the glass was an arena where a bloody fight was taking place.


    Arron watched as two fighters of equal height and weight fought each other with random weapons that had been given to them. The fight lasted a few more minutes before one of them was stabbed through the heart.


    The bloody victor chopped the defeated opponent''s head off and roared like a wild animal as he held the dripping head up in victory.


    The bloody arena floor slowly descended and moments later a clean and undamaged floor replaced it. Two doors with blinding lights on either side of the arena opened and another two fighters stepped out.


    This was an illegal underground fight club and was not like normal arenas. This arena had no robots fighters which were popular with most of the mega-city and was legally streamed over the holo-net on every level.


    ¡°What do you think? This is some good entertainment right?¡± asked Krok.


    ¡°Indeed,¡± said Ox as he and the others all sat down in one of the armchairs.


    With a snap of his fingers, a hidden door opened and several thinly clothed females walked in carrying trays with various alcohols, stims, and snacks.


    ¡°Probie, come over here and try this out,¡± said Krok as he grabbed a long pipe that had bubbling smoke inside a large metal container.


    Arron was still standing behind the armchairs and hesitated not wanting to use any type of stim as he did not want to become a zombie like those he had seen earlier.


    Seeing his hesitation Krok smiled and said, ¡°You don''t need to be shy, this will only give you a light buzz. It''s nothing like what the hardcore customers were using on the lower floors. Those guys were taking the stims raw. Some of the more crazy customers can down multiple raw stims all at a single time and even on an empty stomach.¡±


    With everyone staring at him intently Arron could not refuse the offer and so he walked over to where Ox and Krok were sitting.


    ¡°Take a seat and enjoy the entertainment. We''re all family here so there is no need to abstain while the rest of us are having fun,¡± said Krok pointing to a nearby empty armchair.


    Arron''s mind was racing as he was trying to find a way out of this. He was completely against using any sort of stimulant even if they were legal. But there was nothing he could do, so he took the metallic tube and followed the other''s example by breathing in the stim smoke from the tube...


    Cough! Cough! Cough!


    ...and immediately started coughing as it irritated his throat and nose. With each cough large puffs of smoke were leaking out of both his nose and mouth.


    Everyone in the room let out loud hearty laughs seeing this.


    ¡°Hit it a few more times. This time slowly. You will be able to feel the effects after a few more times,¡± ordered Krok with a smile.


    ¡°Don''t forget to eat a snack as it has a stronger effect on you if you have an empty stomach,¡± said Ox, who was not paying attention to Arron and was watching the bloody fight.


    A short time later Arron''s mind started to feel fuzzy and his movements slowed.


    He stopped inhaling the smoke when everyone''s gaze was no longer on him.


    But a moment later he nearly jumped out of his skin as two pairs of hands grabbed his shoulders and arms.


    He jerked his head around to see two of the female servants standing next to him.


    They were smiling at him and said nothing as they silently gave him a massage. Each of the other members inside the room was also getting a massage as they watched the bloody fight and enjoyed the stims and snacks.


    ¡°Krok, you sure are going all out by bringing the top girls from the family''s massage palace here,¡± said Ox.


    ¡°Only the best for everyone here!¡± said Krok. He turned his head to Arron and innocently asked, ¡°So Ark Fune, I hear you are from the countryside. Where are you from?¡±


    Everyone in the room seemed to be immune to the stims but not Arron.


    Arron''s muddled head was slow to respond as a completely calm and carefree feeling swept over his body alarming him inside as he tried with all his might to fight the feeling and keep control of his mouth so that he could spit out the correct words that fit with his undercover identity.


    ¡°And your family is? Do they control a large part of your home city?¡±


    ¡°They are only a small-sized family compared to everyone here in sector one. Smaller than even some of the low-level gangs here.¡±


    The questions continued to flow out of both Krok and Ox.


    Although Arron realized what was happening, there was nothing he could do but hope that he did not say something that would get him killed while in this dazed and muddied state.


    In one second his worry and dread of being found out shot through the roof only to be smashed the next second by the calming effects of the stim that was washing away his emotions.


    He spent the next few hours in this state of torture of highs and lows while trying to answer all the questions correctly.


    The other members were all enjoying the fight, not paying his struggle any attention.

 Chapter 116: Reward

    Sector one. Zone three. Midnight.


    A sharply dressed young man was running for his life down a narrow side alley. As he saw the end of the alley opening up into a larger street, he picked up his speed and darted across the deserted street and pulled himself up and over a chest-high para-concrete barrier landing onto an empty balcony of a more well-to-do megapartment.


    ¡°Huff... huff...¡± he hugged the back of the para-concrete barrier and stayed in the darkness trying to catch his breath.


    Seconds later several floating drones swooped down from the sky and began scanning the local area.


    ¡°Have the drones found him?¡± asked a heavily breathing man in a red police uniform.


    ¡°There''s nothing coming up on the scanners...¡± said a second police officer while he looked at a flowing readout of the data being sent to him by the drones.


    ¡°The tracker showed he was here just moments before, he could not have gone that far. Re-scan the entire block, lock everything down!¡±


    The young man let out the breath that he had been holding when the drones and police officers left the area.


    ¡°Young man, what are you doing out on my balcony?¡± asked an old woman. The young man jumped in fright and whirled around to see who had snuck up on him.


    ¡°Who are you!¡± asked the young man.


    The old woman ignored his question and said, ¡°It''s cold out here. Why don''t you come inside and warm up.¡±


    The young man didn''t care about the cool temperature much but after thinking over the offer for a few seconds, he agreed as it would allow him to hide from the officers and patrolling drones. If he was any slower earlier he would have been caught for sure.


    ¡°Thanks,¡± said the young man nodding to her and accepting the offer to go inside.


    The thick metal door connected to the apartment was already open allowing them to enter quickly and it slid shut quietly blocking all sound from outside. The inside of the apartment was as bare as most apartments he had seen on the first level.


    ¡°You poor thing. Here, this should warm you up,¡± said the kind old lady as she poured a drink from a steaming kettle.


    The young man took the drink gratefully and took several gulps to ease the pain in his dry throat. After several more sips, his alert eyes started to grow sleepy and he quickly fell asleep with the half-empty glass falling to the ground with a thud and a splash.


    The kind old lady ignored the mess and opened a menu on her wrist-datapad and started a call.


    ¡°This is Sector 1, Zone 3''s police department. Why are you calling?¡±


    ¡°Hello officer. I have captured a wanted criminal that was being chased by the police a little while ago. I want to turn him in!¡±


    ¡°Show me who you got...¡± said the officer disinterestedly as he wanted to get back to his holo-drama show.


    The kind old lady changed the view of the call and showed the sleeping young man sitting in a chair.


    ¡°You''re at the ''Weltudo'' Megapartments right?¡± asked the officer sitting up straight as he looked away from his holo-drama and began to tap in some information on an unseen holo-screen.


    ¡°That''s correct... and about the reward?¡±


    ¡°You will get what you are due and nothing more. I''ll send someone over there in 5 or 10 minutes to pick him up,¡± said the officer before ending the call.


    Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings.


    ***


    Slap!


    ¡°Wake up!¡± shouted a gruff voice as his hand repeatedly slapped a sleeping young man that had been shoved into the back seat of his patrol car.


    The young man sat up with a groggy face, his eyes were half open as he started to look around while holding his cheek that had been hit several times.


    ¡°Huh? Where am I?¡±


    ¡°Tell Ox he owes me at least a week of free services for this. I injected you with a bit of a custom pick-me-up so you should be back to normal in a bit,¡± said the police officer.


    Arron''s fuzzy thoughts started to clear as he realized where he was. He was caught!


    But by the sound of the officer''s voice and the words he said, he didn''t need to worry about it.


    ¡°Wait, why am I here?¡± asked Arron.


    ¡°Ox must have his hands full trying to train a rookie like you. You fell for the oldest trick in the book. That kind old lady drugged you with sleeping pills and handed you over to me for a measly 10 social credit points.¡±


    ¡°What! That kind old lady sold me out?¡±


    ¡°You shouldn''t be surprised at this. It happens too often to count. Close friends, co-workers, or family turning in wanted people for an easy boost to their SCS happens every day and is a no-brainer for most people. With the Office of Reason and Mother and Father offering such a lucrative reward there is no safe place to hide with others as they will always turn you in and take the reward.¡±


    ¡°So what happens now?¡± asked Arron as he rubbed his face, his body was starting to grow hot as whatever he was injected with started to spread through his body.


    ¡°I can drop you off wherever you want, as long as it is not a known yakuza hot spot. I''m on duty right now.¡±


    ¡°What about those officers and the security drones that were chasing me?¡±


    ¡°I took care of that and altered the data for you. There is nothing to link you to the crime. Now that I have ''caught'' the suspect there won''t be anyone after you.¡±


    ¡°But that old lady saw my face.¡±


    ¡°She won''t be talking anymore. A robbery gone wrong,¡± said the officer nonchalantly.


    Arron was slightly startled at hearing this but he kept his mouth shut.


    After several minutes of quiet driving the patrol car stopped at the back of an expensive 24/7 restaurant.


    ¡°Don''t forget to tell Ox he owes me. I already sent him a message, all I need is for you to confirm it. Don''t think about trying to flake on me as I know who you are,¡± said the officer before slamming the door shut and driving off.


    Arron felt more and more jittery and hot from whatever had been injected with.


    He did a few stretches and breathing exercises to try and calm down before entering a nearby cafe where he sipped on a single cup of the cheapest and most bitter synth-coffee. The synthetic caffeine did not help his jitters as he scanned the outside crowd and people around him for over a half hour. He had to do this just to make sure no one was following or paying close attention to him.


    When he was sure that no one was tailing him, he left the cafe and disappeared into the early morning crowd of night shift workers who were just getting off of work.


    After taking another half hour that was full of detours and backtracking several times, he finally entered one of the Ryu family''s safe houses to meet up with Ox.


    It had been a week since he had met Krok and had been interrogated by him while under the influence of Stims. Since that day Arron vowed not to touch stims as the feeling they gave was too addictive and muddled his thoughts making it hard to think clearly.


    Luckily he had managed to complete his task given to him by AS and had taken some sneaky pictures and holo-vids of the others. He was able to capture each of the main heads of the family on holo-vid as well as the illegal activities they were engaged in. The Office of Reason already knew about these activities and had done nothing about them so Arron did not expect anything to happen with the information.


    Over the past week, Ox and Arron did not talk about the events that happened that day, and since Arron was still alive and breathing, he guessed he had passed their test.


    ¡°You''re late. Did you finish the job?¡± asked Ox with a blank face.


    ¡°It''s done. But I almost got caught by the police as soon as the trade was completed. They must have had some informant tip them off,¡± said Arron.


    Ox smiled at him and said ¡°Yes, I heard about that. My old pal Suguru says you got duped by an old lady and you were bailed out by him. Just so you know, I''m not paying for his free week of service. It will be taken out of your paycheck.¡±


    ¡°What! I still haven''t gotten a paycheck yet. Cut me some slack, with this I''m going to be even deeper in debt than before!¡±


    ¡°Don''t get caught next time,¡± said Ox with a smile. He opened some menus on his wrist-datapad and flicked a few files over to Arron.


    ¡°The family has a new job for you to take care of.¡±


    ¡°I just got done with a job,¡± said Arron.


    ¡°This one is important. For both the family and your probation status.¡±

 Chapter 117: Justice is Served

    Arron tapped on the new file he had received and a holo-vid opened up and was streamed in front of his face through his cybernetic eye''s connection.


    From a quick glance, he could see that the holo-vid was security footage of one of the few random goods shops that still allowed people to enter in person and browse the goods that were for sale. They were growing rare these days. Drone delivery service shops were now the norm for almost all shops in the Mega-city.


    The holo-vid was in black and white revealing that it came from one of the cheapest security cameras on the market.


    With a light tap on the holo-vid, it started to play.


    A young man in his twenties entered the shop and pulled up a hood over his head to try and cover his face. It was a pointless attempt as the cameras had already captured his face.


    He walked up to the counter where an actual human store clerk stood. The clerk, who was slightly skinny and had glasses, was cleaning up the scanner that had a sticky drink spilled on it by another customer several minutes before.


    The scanner was important to the shop as it was required to scan the items from the shop as well as allow customers to transfer credits.


    ¡°Is there an item you are looking for? Or are you looking to sell something?¡± asked the clerk as he looked up and pushed his glasses up his nose while inspecting the man in front of him.


    The young man pulled his hand out of his hooded jacket and pointed an old modified gun in the clerk''s face before he could react.


    ¡°Put your hands up where I can see them! Don''t do anything stupid like alert anyone or I''ll kill you!¡±


    ¡°Sir why are you doing this?¡± asked the frightened clerk who held his hands up.


    ¡°Shut up! Don''t talk!¡± shouted the man as he jumped up onto the counter before hopping down next to the clerk and pushing the gun into his back.


    ¡°Transfer all the credits in the store''s account to this account,¡± said the robber as he swiped over a digital number to the clerk.


    With the cold metal of the gun pushing into his back the trembling clerk had no choice but to transfer several tens of thousands of credits out of the store''s accounts under the watchful gaze of the robber.


    With the transaction finished, the robber began patting down the clerk taking various valuables from him and also random things on the counter and shelves around him all while still pointing the gun at the clerk.


    Now with his pockets full of loot, the robber jumped up onto the counter. ¡°Get on your knees!¡±


    The clerk did as he was told while still holding his hands up in the air. The robber jumped down to the opposite side of the counter and began scanning the entire shop as well as the outside of the shop to make sure the coast was clear.


    Everything was quiet with no commotion inside or outside of the shop. The robber looked back at the kneeling clerk and...


    BANG!


    ...shot him in the head, before walking out of the shop calmly.


    The clerk''s body slowly slumped back as blood pooled out of the gaping wound in his head.


    Arron looked up from the holo-vid with a troubled expression.


    ¡°It may not look like it, but this shop is one of our major money makers and allows us to sell off hot items easily. Your new task is to take a small group of enforcers and hunt this man down. The old man wants you to capture him alive and bring him back to the family''s HQ,¡± said Ox as he watched Arron''s face for any suspicious expressions.


    ¡°Where were the enforcers that were supposed to be protecting the shop?¡± asked Arron.


    ¡°They have gone into hiding, which means they were definitely working with the robber. If you find them there is no need to keep them alive. If not, we will find them sooner or later.¡±


    ¡°...¡±


    ¡°As I said, this is an important matter not only for the family but your future as well. This task was personally assigned to you by the old man. If you fuck up this mission or do not complete it for some reason... a simple apology will not save you and it would be better for you to disappear like the robber and wait until we find you.¡±


    Arron shivered, partly from the threat, but also the fact that he was being given command of a small group of enforcers for the first time!


    His entire time with the Ryu family had been following behind Ox or other members as he learned the tricks of the trade and was constantly being monitored by them.


    ¡°If you don''t have any questions, then the grunts are waiting for you in the next room.¡±


    ¡°What information can you tell me about this man?¡± asked Arron.


    ¡°I will not be helping you with this task nor will anyone else. You have to prove that you can handle something like this if you want to become a member of the Ryu family. You have all the data you need to begin the hunt.¡±


    Arron was at a loss for words upon hearing this. But there was nothing he could do about it so he silently walked to the side room that Ox was pointing to.


    The feeling of Ox''s sharp gaze piercing his back only disappeared when he entered the room and the door closed behind him.


    Inside the room, there were five middle-aged veteran enforcers who were leaning against the wall waiting for him.


    They did not move to greet Arron when he entered and only looked at him waiting for him to make the first move.


    Although they were technically on the lower rung of the family structure, far below Ox and Arron''s position, they were official members while Arron was only a probationary member. So their attitudes did not bother Arron much.


    ¡°Two of you go canvas the local businesses and gather the surveillance footage of the outside during this time and at this place,¡± said Arron as he swiped over a text document to the enforcers.


    ¡°The rest of you need to go and talk to the local informants that normally hang out around there.¡±


    ¡°Can''t do that,¡± said one of the enforcers.


    ¡°Why?¡±


    ¡°Orders from the old man. Two of us have to stay with you to protect you.¡±


    Arron sighed when he heard this. His ''command'' of this unit seemed to be in name only. It seemed that two of the enforcers were going to babysit him and keep a close eye on him to make sure he did not fool around. With such an audience it would not be easy to contact Kix or A.S. and ask for help in finding who the robber was.


    ¡°Alright, one of you go gather the surveillance footage while the other two go talk to the informants,¡± said Arron.


    Three of the enforcers silently pushed off from the wall and walked out of the room not saying a word.


    Arron was forced to wait in the side room for over an hour while the three gathered the needed information.


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    When the three enforcers returned they handed over all the data they had gathered without saying a word.


    Arron began scanning through the gathered data, pulling out the needed information from the surveillance footage and the tips gathered from the informants. He had to separate the plausible tips from the complete drunk nonsense that had also been gathered.


    This was also a part of the test that was put in front of him to see if he could pinpoint the proper information among all the noise.


    With all his work as an M1 officer, this task was not hard at all as he was used to similar situations. Most of the time Tooth and Lexa were the ones that did the heavy work like this so that he and Kix could focus on capturing the suspects.


    Arron stared at the short list of information that remained. It contained the man''s name, including aliases, the names of several places he was known to hang out at, as well as any hideouts he liked to use.


    ¡°Before we head out I have to say this. Unless the business is actually harboring Kebu, we will not cause problems for them. Something like that could blow up in our faces and start a blood feud with the Ryu family,¡± said Arron.


    The five enforcers all nodded. They did not want to lose face for the Ryu family or be the cause of a blood feud starting.


    Arron left the building with the five grunts behind him as they went to their first destination, a chop shop that also offered services to jailbreak and override the AI control of the hover vehicles.


    The shop was owned by another family so when they heard that a group from the Ryu family had come to ask questions the foreman of the shop personally met with Arron.


    ¡°How can I help the Ryu family? Do you need our services?¡± asked the puzzled foreman, not sure why they were at his small shop.


    Arron pulled out a datapad and tapped on the power button allowing the captured holographic picture of Kebu''s head to float above the datapad.


    ¡°Do you know this man?¡± asked Arron as watched the foreman''s face for any telltale signs.


    ¡°He''s not an acquaintance of mine... but he does look a little familiar, maybe a past customer of ours? Who is he? Is the Ryu family looking for him?¡± asked the foreman.


    ¡°His name is Kebu. May we check your shop to see if he is hiding here?¡±


    Upon hearing this the foreman''s forehead showed signs of sweat. ¡°We of course would not be hiding someone that you are after. To prove our innocence I will of course not block you from looking for him.¡±


    ¡°We thank you for your cooperation,¡± said Arron as he made a hand gesture for the enforcers to spread out and sweep through the shop blocking the exits first before checking the entire shop.


    They did not find Kebu so they left after thanking the foreman who was sighing in relief that no idiot worker under him had done something as stupid as hide a fugitive in his shop.


    Arron and the grunts went to each of the businesses on the list one by one, but at each place, they did not find Kebu.


    It was now past dinner time when they arrived at the last place that Arron thought was plausible.


    [Blues gambling pit] was under the control of a small-time gang that was suspected to be a front for one of the medium families. The gang was also rumored to have questionable ties with people who were linked closely to or talked with known Office of Reason agents.


    This was exactly not what he wanted to happen.


    He was unable to contact Kix or A.S. to ask what he should do. His actions could have a high possibility of uncovering one of the Office of Reason''s undercover assets. He hoped that the target was not here since it would save him the trouble of facing the fallout if he was the one to expose the Office of Reason''s hidden hand.


    Arron and the five enforcers entered the building and walked down the stairs to the lower floor that was sunken down like a pit.


    There were over 30 tables each with a handful of people standing or sitting around them. Each table had a different type of gambling game active.


    On the left wall was a long metallic counter with shelves full of alcoholic bottles and kegs.


    Several service drones were busy mixing and preparing drinks for the guests that were at the counter as well as those who were spending money at the various tables.


    BANG!


    A loud gunshot was heard from above them. Arron looked up at the second floor that was suspended above the pit and had no walls allowing everyone to see the people above them.


    From Arron''s new knowledge of how such gambling dens worked, the floor above them was where the VIPs and big spenders met. Nobody in the pit seemed to be paying much attention to the gunshot as if it was a normal thing.


    Arron was able to see the man who had shot the gun since the man was standing at a table near the edge of the second floor. The only other person that had been at the table was now dead.


    A woman with a hovering news drone and mic now stood next to the man and started to interview him, ¡°Why did you kill him?¡±


    ¡°He was a cheating scum! He got what he deserved!¡±


    The enforcers next to Arron all tensed when they realized who the man was. It was Kebu, their target!


    But they quickly calmed down when Arron held up a hand stopping them from causing a scene.


    The man was surrounded by a dozen or so thuggish guards as well as news drones that were interviewing him for several underground news portals. Arron recognized a few of the guards as those that were supposed to have been guarding the shop.


    Instead of rushing over to capture the target, Arron led the group to the long metal counter and ordered the cheapest drink for the 6 of them.


    The enforcers did not decline the drinks, but they also did not drink much of it either, only taking sips to make it look like they were enjoying the atmosphere as they watched the target out of the corner of their eyes.


    They waited for over four hours until their drunk target, with the help of two guards, walked out of the gambling den.


    Not wanting to draw attention to themselves, Arron and the enforcers waited a few seconds before placing down their drinks and also exited the building.


    When they arrived on the poorly lit street, they saw their stumbling target was being shoved into a hovercar by the guards who were still having trouble getting the drunk man to stay inside the vehicle.


    Arron quickly pointed to them and sliced his hand down ordering the enforcers to take action along with him. If he stood back and only allowed them to take care of this, he would be viewed as a coward trying to keep his hands clean.


    So he led the charge towards the hover car. The only people armed with guns were the enforcers, Arron only had his bare hands.


    Bang! Bang! Bang!


    Gunshots rang out killing the two guards that were standing outside the car.


    At the sound of gunshots, the jail-broken hover-car shot off with Kebu''s legs still hanging out of the open door.


    Bam! Bam! Bam!


    A hail of bullets rained down on the escaping hover-car all aimed at the area where the driver was.


    A few of the bullets managed to hit the driver causing the hover-car to go out of control and swerve to the left crashing into a wall of a large building and crumpling the front of the car.


    Arron ran over to the car worried that they had failed their task.


    ¡°Uuuuhhhh...,¡± The moan of Kebu could be heard when he reached the open back door.


    Arron let out a sigh when he saw that Kebu was still alive. He was just a little banged up but that was no problem.


    He pulled the dazed Kebu out of the wreck and handed him over to the enforcers.


    ¡°Let''s get out of here before reinforcements or the police arrive!¡± shouted Arron before running into a side street and through several winding alleys.


    They continued to run for several minutes before arriving at a waiting hover-car that they had ''borrowed'' from some random stranger earlier.


    ***


    Ryu family''s HQ meeting room.


    Arron and the 5 other enforcers silently stood behind the old man, Arron had never heard his actual name. Ox had told him once that he really had no name. It was this way so that the office of reason could not use it against him as the head of the Ryu family.


    Arron watched as the old man was softly talking to a young woman who had been crying recently. Beside her was an elderly man and woman who had their hands on her shoulders to offer her comfort.


    Behind the trio was Kebu, who had been gagged and cuffed to a metal chair. As an added measure of security, two muscular enforcers held him down so that he had no chance to escape.


    ¡°These 6 men are the ones that managed to hunt down and capture your husband, son''s killer,¡± said the old man as he pointed to Arron and the 5 proud enforcers.


    ¡°You are entitled to justice however you want it. Just let me know and it will be done.¡±


    ¡°Uuuu!!¡± shouted a muffled Kebu as he tried to cry for help.


    One of the enforcers clobbered him in the back of the head, dazing him and silencing his muffled cries.


    ¡°I... I want to do it,¡± said the young woman who Arron guessed was the store clerk''s widowed wife.


    The old man nodded and motioned for one of the enforcers beside Kebu.


    The enforcer stepped forward and unholstered his gun, handing it over to the young widow. Both of the muscular enforcers stepped well out of range allowing Kebu to desperately struggle against the cuffs that chained him to the chair.


    Bang!


    ¡°UUUUU!¡± Kebu cried out in pain as the shot missed his head and priced his shoulder.


    ¡°Calm down. Take a few deep breaths and take aim again,¡± said the old man in a soothing voice.


    ¡°R...Right,¡± said the widow as her hands shook from jitters. She took over a minute to calm down by taking deep breaths, all the while Kebu continued to cry in pain as blood leaked out of the bullet wound.


    BANG!


    The pained cries of Kebu went silent as his head exploded.


    ¡°With this, Justice has been served,¡± said the old man lightly taking the gun from the widows shaking hands.

 Chapter 118: Inked Irezumi

    The next day.


    Arron stood in the main meeting room far underground with other probationary members. There were people of all ages and from all different recruitment batches, not just those that had been recruited when Arron had joined.


    The bright light inside the room revealed the nervous looks on everyone''s face as they quietly chatted among themselves.


    There were already around 80 people standing in the room while even more probationary members continued to arrive from wherever they had been stationed for their daily jobs.


    There were no chairs or even a table in the meeting room so Arron and the probationary members had to stand while they waited for everyone to arrive.


    As Arron looked around he could only guess that something big was going to happen today with how many probationary members had been called here. They had not been told what to expect, only that they had to come or they would be hunted down.


    When the number of people entering the room had passed over the 100 count by a dozen or more, the thick metal door to the meeting room slid shut blocking the hallway and all sound.


    The lights in the room dimmed to the point that everyone in the room became an undefined dark blur. With the dimming of the lights, the sound of a metal door sliding open and several dozen footsteps echoed off the walls as they entered the room and walked to the front of the room.


    Flash!


    The bright lights once again returned to normal blinding everyone for a few seconds. After blinking  a dozen or so times Arron was able to regain his vision to see the ''Old man'', the head of the Family, standing at the front of the room.


    Surrounding him were the heads and sub-leaders of each of the family''s departments and businesses. Ox stood on the right along with Bruets, the head of the enforcers.


    The Old man took several seconds to look at each person individually that had gathered in the room.


    ¡°Congratulations. You have all survived and not been killed off by your mentors,¡± said the old man in a strong but slow voice.


    The room which had been a little restless quickly chilled and calmed down upon hearing these words.


    ¡°You may have already guessed why we have called you all here. It is the final step you need to take to become a true member of the Ryu family. Some of you have been waiting for this longer than others. I could apologize for the long wait, but you can never be too cautious with how treacherous things are in the world outside of the Family.¡±


    There were several people nodding as well as many fiery gazes as they heard this. They were all ready to become official members of the family!


    ¡°But first we must take out the trash that is trying to pollute and tear down the family from the inside.¡±


    Each of the probationary members let out a shocked breath. This meant there were still spies among them!


    ¡°So far, out of your recruitment batches, there have been 5 spies, all coming from either the Office of Reason or a rival gang. They all passed the initial stage of investigation but in the end, were found out and permanently normalized. Today a 6th person will be added to that number. We held back taking care of this issue just for today to remind everyone about where your loyalties should stand.¡±


    As the old man said this a floating metal plate descended from the ceiling and stopped in front of the old man. On top of it was an ancient gun from the troubled times.


    Everyone in the room became restless as they looked at those around them. It was as if they thought they could find the spy by just looking around.


    The old man silently grabbed the gun and unceremoniously raised it, his arm moving slowly stopping as it pointed towards Arron.


    Bang!


    Blood and brain matter splattered all over Arron as the man standing next to him had his head burst like a watermelon.


    ¡°Remember this. If you try to betray the family... we have ways to find out about it and we will do everything we can to normalize the situation. There is no hiding from the families as we have our special ways to fish out those who do not belong!¡±


    With a wave of his hand, several 2D holographic images blinked on and began floating behind him for everyone to see.


    Each of the floating images was one of the 6 spies that had been normalized. Each picture had a red X across their faces while detailed information flowed next to their picture. The information included their real name, government identification code, the faction they were aligned with, and several other details which included information about their blood relatives and close friends.


    Arron felt a cold shiver flow through his body as he saw this and let out a long breath that he only realized he had been holding for some time now.


    ¡°Again I want to congratulate everyone. You have worked hard to get here. Please follow Ox to finish your induction into the family.¡±


    Ox stepped forward and glared at everyone, his gaze paused on Arron for a second before continuing down the line. ¡°Listen up you grunts! Although you are going to become an official member, that does not mean you can slack off or abuse your status like some low-tier gangster trash! Becoming an official member of the Ryu family still requires you to follow all the same rules as well as always keeping the family''s honor in mind whenever you take action. Anyone who crosses the line will receive the family''s justice.¡±


    With that, he turned around and walked out of the room into a dark hallway.


    The remaining probationary members followed him but made sure to keep a good distance behind him. They had all recovered from the excitement of being granted the privilege of joining the family and were now happily chatting with each other guessing what the last step they needed to take was.


    The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.


    Out of the millions of people in sector one, 99.99% of them could only dream about joining such a large Family where they would be set for life and not need to worry about where they would live or when they could buy their next meal.


    Ox led them into another large room similar to the last one but this one had three large colorful doors, one on each wall not including the door they had just entered through.


    Standing next to each of the doors was a gathering of two or three men of varying ages. They all had one thing in common... Their entire body was covered with tattoos, and not just any normal tattoos, but the holographic Irezumi that the families were known for.


    ¡°When your name is called, follow that person inside and you will be able to officially finalize your initiation into the family!¡± said Ox.


    Immediately several names were called out. Those that were called did not hesitate and walked through the doors with one of the people leading them down a hallway.


    Everyone that had not been called let out a sigh of resignation as they realized they would be waiting here for a long time. They all sat down on the floor and either continued their conversations from before or entertained themselves with downloaded content on their wrist datapads. All communication with the holo-net was cut off inside this room so there was little one could do.


    When lunchtime arrived a basic and bland meal was served to everyone. Around this time the artist from before exited the room alone and once again called the second batch of names.


    When dinner time arrived the third batch was called.


    As Arron was eating his bland dinner he heard a muffled ''Bang!'' come from one of the rooms.


    The loud noise startled everyone. The sound was not clear enough for them to tell what had made the sound but it did not sound all that pleasant. They all looked at the door that was now opening.


    ¡°Lop, it''s your turn.¡±


    The person who was called hesitated for a second before gathering his courage to follow the artist as he still did not know what had happened.


    And so it was like this over the next few days at every meal a new batch of people were called into the rooms. Every day 1 or 2 muffled bangs were coming from inside the rooms causing those outside to worry and wonder what was happening inside.


    No one returned to the room so it was slowly becoming more and more empty until there were only a handful of people left including Arron.


    Arron paid no attention to the door opening for the hundredth time and kept his eyes closed.


    ¡°Sorry! Hurry up, it''s your turn,¡± said a young bald artist that was around Arron''s age.


    Arron silently got up from the ground and followed the man past the colorful door on the right and walked into a small hallway that had three other doors. He could hear the buzzing and whirring sound of the tattoo guns at work behind each of the doors.


    They walked into the only empty room at the end of the hallway. The room was quite bare and it smelled like a surgical room. There were only a few hovering trays that held several chemicals laid out as well as the tools needed. The only furniture was a large reclining hover chair and a floating stool for the artist to sit on.


    Arron did not have to be told to sit down and hopped onto the plush hover chair still not sure what to expect.


    The young artist tapped on a secure datapad pulling up a list of designs. He began taping on several of the designs before locking the system after completing his selections.


    He took one last glance before handing the secure datapad over to Arron and only said, ¡°Pick one.¡±


    Arron''s hand did not hesitate as he swiped through the holographic images. He had given up trying to resist such things as the Office of Reason had given their word (not that he fully trusted them) that he would not be prosecuted for actions taken while working undercover for them. That is... if he did not get caught.


    All of the holographic pictures floating above the datapad were half-sleeve tattoos for the lower or upper arm. There were various flower combinations, tigers, lions, and birds that all looked alive as he swiped through them.


    He sighed after seeing the designs one of his worries was wiped away. He had been worried that the Irezumi would be unable to be hidden. But from the look of these designs if he just picked an upper sleeve he would be fine.


    As he reached the last option his hand stopped and all thoughts from before flew out the window as he stared at the holographic image in front of him. It was not a half-sleeve like the rest but looked to be a full-sleeve Irezumi tattoo.


    Arron felt a certain calling from this image of the coiling blue dragon that was staring back at him with its mouth open as if it was angrily roaring at him with blue flames escaping its nostrils and mouth.


    He stared at the holographic image for over a minute only to be interrupted by a light cough from the artist.


    Arron, who was jolted out of his daze, immediately pointed at the holographic image and said, ¡°This one.¡±


    The artist''s blank face turned into a pleasant smile as soon as Arron picked it.


    He slapped the chair and said, ¡°Good thing you actually picked something otherwise I would have had to shoot you.¡±


    Arron shivered slightly at hearing this.


    ¡°My name''s Enk. You are also quite lucky as normally you would not be allowed to pick this rare design. Only close family members and those that have done a great deed for the family are allowed to pick this. If my memory is correct... in the history of our family there have only been three others who have picked this as a reward... each of them have already passed on due to the bloody fights of years passed.¡±


    Arron looked at the artist confused, not understanding why he was offered and allowed to pick such a rare Irezumi.


    ¡°It seems ol'' Ox asked the Old man to give you a few additional choices as a reward for completing a big mission, or so the rumor goes. Normally new members are only allowed half sleeves and are very limited in what they can get. While more seasoned members are allowed to update and add more to their bodies as they move up in the ranks of the Family. The higher the rank, the more intricate and larger the Irezumi are. With a higher rank you are also given more options on where the Irezumi can be placed on arms, legs, chest, and back,¡± said Enk as he started to gather the different floating trays and prepared several empty containers.


    For the next few minutes, he silently went about mixing various concoctions of colorful inks and chemicals that he needed for this job.


    When he was ready, he tapped a few options on his wrist datapad and a drone flew out of the ceiling and stopped right next to a worried Arron who saw a large needle popping out of the drone.


    ¡°You can be at ease. It is just a sedative to calm you down and numb the pain,¡± said Enk after wiping Arron''s arm down with a strong chemical cleaner.


    ¡°Do I really need it? Isn''t it just a tattoo?¡± asked Arron.


    ¡°This one is more troublesome than the normal Irezumi inkings and has more active chemicals. With this design, there is a need for greater detail to fully bring out all of its potential. Even the strongest person out there would cry like a baby and try to run away if they didn''t get this shot. It would also make my job harder as I can''t work on a subject that won''t stay still.¡±


    As he said that metal clamps extended out of the chair securely clamping his legs, body, and right arm to the chair not allowing him to move anymore.


    The drone shot forward and the thin needle stabbed Arron in several places on his arm as well as in the shoulder and chest for some reason.


    The numbing feeling was quick acting and he had a sense of deja-vu as he felt the calming feeling of something similar to the stims he had a while ago.


    Enk picked up his tools and turned them on making an electric buzz as he gathered the needed inks and chemicals for the first part.


    He turned to Arron who was slowly losing consciousness and smiled, ¡°You can rest assured that even though I have not done this one before, I have done over a thousand other designs. This will take longer than normal due to all the different layers but you won''t have to worry about that as you won''t feel anything.¡±


    ...and with that said, he began to work on creating a masterpiece.


    The last thought in Arron''s muddled head as he lost consciousness was...


    ''You liar this hurts like hell!''

 Chapter 119: Extra

    Slap!


    Arron''s face was smacked hard, waking him from his drugged stupor.


    ¡°Huh?¡± he looked around trying to figure out where he was and who had just slapped him in the face.


    ¡°You were not waking up so I had to take matters into my own hands, no pun intended. But damn, is your face made of metal?¡± asked Enk as he shook his hand that was still stinging from the hard slap.


    The last sentence entered Arron''s ears and woke him up faster than anything else as the fear of being found out that he was wearing a mask was far too close to comfort!


    With his mind clearing up the numbing pain announced itself to Arron with wave after wave of throbbing pain attacking his chest, arm, and back.


    The throbbing pain in both his chest, arm, and back was all from the chemicals and inks that had been used in the inking. It felt as if his skin was being eaten away by those chemicals.


    Enk continued to inspect the Irezumi for a minute or so as Arron was silently screaming inside due to the pain, but he only grit his teeth and endured the pain not showing any weakness to Enk. To try and take his mind off the pain he also turned his head to look at the new permanent addition to his body.


    Enk finished his inspection and said, ¡°It is indeed a great work of art! ¡­ ''cough''... I may have gone overboard a bit... but I think it was worth it.¡±


    ¡°Overboard? Is that why it feels like the chemicals are trying to kill me?¡±


    ¡°No, that''s normal. You just need to suck it up and deal with it,¡± said Enk as he grabbed a black bottle from the hovering metal plate and held it out for Arron to take.


    Arron tried to move his left arm to grab it but it did not want to listen to him as the raw feeling in his arm and chest interfered with all his senses causing the left arm to be limp and unresponsive.


    He had to use his metallic right hand to grab the bottle and pocket it.


    ¡°Those should help you for the next few days. Only take a maximum of two in a 24-hour period. Or you could die. These are far stronger than anything you can get from the hospitals.¡±


    Arron did not plan on using them but... it never hurt to have something just in case.


    ¡°Stand up so you can see the full wonder of my masterpiece. Then we can finish this process of inking.¡±


    Enk grabbed Arron''s left arm and helped yank him up causing him to feel a great jolt of pain through his body.


    ¡°Ah, sorry about that... wrong arm,¡± said Enk.


    A holographic three-way mirror rose up from the ground and reflected Arron''s upper body and left arm revealing the new Irezumi inking in all of its glory.


    His skin all around the area that had been inked up was a raw red and shiny from the moisturizer that had been added to his skin.


    The Irezumi inking started with a Blue dragon tail on his lower palm which wrapped around his wrist and coiled around his lower left arm all the way up to his upper arm where the rest of the dragon''s body extended out over his shoulder and left chest. The dragon''s head on his chest was roaring with blue flames spurting out of its mouth and nostrils. Arron turned a bit and looked at the back of his left shoulder. There was a pair of blue wings that were also connected to the Irezumi on his arm and chest.


    With the slightest movement from Arron, the holographic dragon came to life and moved about roaring at him and causing the flame to shimmer and move.


    With different angles and lighting, Arron could see the dragon doing different things. It was truly a mesmerizing thing that he almost lost himself in thought only to be brought back to reality.


    ''Cough''


    ¡°I know it is a great masterpiece... but you still have work to do today, so you can''t stay here forever,¡± said Enk.


    ¡°Work? What about this?¡± asked Arron pointing to his limp left arm.


    ¡°Normally everyone gets a day or so to recover but this took longer than expected,¡± said Enk looking away from Arron''s gaze.


    Internally Arron was silently screaming to himself, ''What have you done!''. Now that his mind was completely clear, the realization of the full ramifications of both his decision and Enk''s extra detail now came crashing down on him.


    This was permanent! There was no way to remove such a thing unless you tore your skin off. Since this was the case he would forever be marked as a member in the Ryu yakuza family and be part of the yakuza system. Each family had different designs they allowed and some had only one or two that they used and were like a trademark that those in the know could use to know where someone was from. But the Ryu family did not restrict its members too much in order to help keep the members anonymous if they were ever caught by the Office of Reason agents.


    Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings.


    In a rare weak moment, he had done something so stupid and let his feelings get the better of him. Now he would definitely be added to the Office of Reasons database after this mission was finished. This would be one more thing they would use against him even though it was done under their orders.


    As Arron was deep in thought a drone dropped from a hole in the ceiling and had a roll of thin clear filament pop out. It quickly began wrapping Arron''s arm, upper chest, and back. When it was complete a hot air gun popped out from inside the drone and it began to slowly shrink the loose filament and cause it to form to his body.


    ¡°This should last you a week. Which is enough for everything to have set properly,¡± said Enk as he tapped on his wrist-datapad.


    A low hiss was heard as a hidden door at the end of the room opened up and revealed a dark hallway. The Ryu family sure loved its hidden doors but this was to be expected with the constant battles that they, along with the other families, had with the Office of Reason and its infiltrating agents.


    Without further explanation needed Arron walked through the doorway and down the hallway. As he looked around he noticed several recently dried bloody footprints on the ground which he could only guess how they appeared here.


    When he reached the end of the hallway a thick metal door was blocking his path. A red sensor blinked into existence and quickly scanned his entire body, spending a second or so longer as it scanned his arm, chest, and back which was still throbbing in pain.


    [Member Sorry.... profile updated! Welcome to the family!] chimed a robotic voice as the metal door hissed open.


    As he stepped through the door several gazes all zeroed in on him. They all looked at his face to see who he was and then at his arm.


    The room was filled with Mentors of the recently graduated members who were waiting for their mentees to pass through the door.


    When they all saw his Irezumi tattoo there was shock on many of their faces as they turned to Ox who only shrugged.


    Ox walled up to Arron and extended his left hand out to Arron, who was embarrassed at being unable to grab it with his own left hand and instead had to use his right hand causing Ox to smile and switch to his right hand as well shaking Arron''s metal arm vigorously.


    ¡°Congratulations. I no longer have to babysit you everyday.¡±


    ¡°Thanks?¡± said Arron, not sure how to reply to that.


    ¡°We should head to a different room so that we can discuss some important things in private.¡±


    Arron nodded his head and followed Ox out of the room and into another winding tunnel until they reached an empty stone room.


    ¡°You have the pills in the black bottle?¡± was the first thing OX asked when the door shut.


    ¡°Yes...¡± said Arron.


    ¡°You better take one of them so that you can use your arm again. There has been an important matter that just sprung up on us and you only having the use of one arm will bring unwanted attention to yourself and the family.¡±


    ¡°Is this why I have to work today?¡±


    ¡°It is. You are actually late, they have been waiting for a few hours now.¡±


    ¡°Who?¡±


    ¡°Black-suit agents from the Office of Reason.¡±


    ¡°The Office of Reason? What are they doing here?¡± asked Arron his voice nearly cracking in worry that they were either here for him. Would they be able to find out about him being an undercover agent for another Office of Reason agent?


    ¡°Calm down. It''s not a raid or anything. Mother and Father just passed new regulations and the Office of Reason has been going around to every business to make sure that they are following them. This is just a routine thing,¡± said Ox as he tapped on his wrist-datapad and swiped a file over to Arron.


    ¡°What does this have to do with me?¡± asked Arron after reading it.


    ¡°Since you are now a member and part of the special management branch. You will be taking over the territory previously run by a former member. You should be familiar with it as we have been looking over most of it together during your probationary stage. You need to remember that you are just a normal young business owner. For your safety, and the safety of the family stick to that story. You are not allowed to reveal your connections with the family to the black suits. Otherwise, you will end up like your predecessor. ¡±


    ¡°What happened to him? And isn''t it already an open secret that the families own these businesses?¡±


    ¡°From the rumors I heard, he was tortured for over a month as they tried to gain information out of him. He went insane from the torture and only then did they permanently normalize him. So you need to keep your mouth shut even if you think they know who you really are. They won''t do anything as long as you keep your mouth shut on the matter and don''t give them any reason to normalize you. I''m sure they don''t want to start another blood war just like the families don''t want one either.¡±


    ¡°This makes no sense, the Office of Reason''s...¡± said Arron.


    Ox held up his hand, ¡°It''s politics. Of course, it makes no sense. Take your pill and use the Mag-shoot to reach the first floor. The agents should be waiting in room #23. When dealing with the agents you are not Ark Fune or Sorry anymore. Your name will be Al and you are an eccentric rich mogul that has struck it rich after selling a factory to a megacorp.¡±


    Arron''s mind was slowly breaking down trying to remember all his aliases. He was disguised as a nonexistent man to fool the Ryu family and now on top of that, he had to play the role of another man so that he could fool the Office of Reason agents.


    ''Despite what Ox and the other families believe... the Office of Reason definitely is trying to stir the pot,'' thought Arron.


    While on the Mag-shoot he swallowed one of the pills without using any liquids to wash it down.


    Enk had not lied when he said it was strong. He could feel it taking effect as he stepped off the mag-shoot and walked down the hallways to room #23.


    When he reached the room he took a deep breath and let it out slowly as he tried to calm himself down and to get his head straight on the new role he had to play.


    When he had calmed down enough he knocked on the door and then entered the room.

 Chapter 120: Office of Reason Inspection

    When Arron entered the room he saw three black-suit Office of Reason agents sitting on three old hover chairs which were the only furniture in the room. Their private discussion stopped immediately as they turned to inspect him.


    ¡°You are quite young to own so many businesses,¡± said a skinny agent as he stood up and held out his left hand for Arron to take.


    Arron had just barely regained control of his left arm and was already being forced to fight through the pain he still felt as he took the agent''s hand to shake it.


    ¡°I recently sold a factory for a decent amount of money. That''s...ah!¡±


    Without warning the agent''s loose grip squeezed like a metal vice as he shook Arron''s hand roughly up and down making him grimace as pain shot up through his entire arm and chest.


    ¡°You have quite a weak grasp. Is there something wrong with your arm?¡± asked the agent as his mouth turned into a grin.


    Arron was unable to see the agent''s eyes due to the visor that covered them but he was sure they were similarly shining in enjoyment at his pain.


    ¡°Just a...¡± Arron stopped his explanation as he realized that saying something careless like an accident could lead the agents to ask more questions and dig deeper or get a wrong idea in their heads, which was not what he wanted. ¡°Just some cramps. I slept on my arm the wrong way and now it has been causing me pain for a few days.¡±


    ¡°As you are probably aware by now, the Party of Mother and Father has passed new regulations and we are here to make sure that all your businesses are following them. You have kept us waiting long enough so let''s get this finished as we have other places to be,¡± said a female agent as she stood up.


    ¡°Of course. Do you need me to provide transportation for you?¡± said Arron politely.


    ¡°We already have our own transportation and you will be riding with us so that we can make sure you don''t try any funny business by trying to cover up any unsavory things before we get to the businesses,¡± said the second male agent who was at least 6''5'''' and had a body built with nothing but muscles.


    Arron was surrounded by the three agents and escorted out of the building towards a waiting armored black flying limo.


    The muscled agent squeezed in first then motioned for Arron to sit next to him, followed by the skinny man who sat on his right and the female agent who sat on the front seat that was facing Arron allowing her to stare at Arron as much as she wanted. Which she did...


    Luckily Arron had already pulled up the information on the new business he was now in charge of, and was now using his right eye''s connection to his NerViz to access the files and secretly skim over the data.


    ¡°We will be going to each of your businesses in no particular order so that you will not be able to send out last-minute orders to them,¡± said the skinny black-suit agent.


    ¡°I wonder what ''Surprises'' we will find today,¡± said the female agent as she smiled at Arron.


    ''Your guess is as good as mine. I have no clue!'' thought Arron. He had only been to some of these places once, others on this list were entirely new to him as they had been looked after by someone else.


    An unsettling silence wrapped around them as they flew to their first destination. Each of the agents were staring at him making sure that he did not access his wrist data-pad or pick up any calls.


    Arron tried to ignore their gazes by continuing his crash course on all the important information he needed in order to not look like a fool in front of the Agents.


    One thing that was in the back of his mind was the question ''Why have they not scanned or tried to identify who I really am?''.


    He could only think that it really was like what Ox had said. If he didn''t do something stupid, they would leave him alone. This was too out of the norm for Arron, as he had plenty of experiences with the Office of Reason getting bent out of shape over the littlest thing where they would be normalizing people left and right.


    As the Armored limo slowed down and began its descent to a private parking spot near a large building, Arron looked out the window to see a large holographic blue sign [Relaxation Palace].


    This was one of the places he had not been to before. So he had to quickly scroll through the business information until he found it and skimmed over it.


    The business was a massage and ear-cleaning parlor. He let out a soft sigh in his heart after reading over the finer details and was relieved it was not one of ''those'' types of places that were very popular with some people. No funny business was allowed here.


    ¡°Let''s see what we have going on here,¡± said the female agent as she hopped out of the armored limo first and began walking to the front entrance.


    Arron and the other two agents followed behind her and entered the building. He had to silence his gasp of amazement when he saw the front lobbies'' four walls were all made out of large see-through fish tanks that had hundreds of exotic fish and other aquatic life inside them. This was not a cheap holographic painting but the real deal and probably costs a fortune to keep up.


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    ¡°Ah! Boss you''re here! Are these the guests you mentioned earlier?¡± asked a short 5ft or so young female with thick glasses.


    ''Cough!'' ¡°Ah... yes. These three are agents from the Office of Reason,¡± said Arron trying to hide the awkward vibes he was getting from the overly cute way she was talking. Plus this was his first time even meeting her. Her acting was a little too good and might give the agents a few wrong ideas!


    ¡°Amazing I have not met any Office of Reason agents before!¡± said the young female.


    The three agents looked at each other for a moment and nodded, some of their doubts about him being the owner of this business were cleared up after seeing this interaction.


    ¡°Are you the manager of this place?¡± asked the female agent, her lips pursed tightly into a frown.


    ¡°I am, my name is Rose. If you need anything I can provide it to you at a discount,¡± said Rose with a small bow.


    ¡°We''re not here for pleasure. We will begin our inspection now. You two will follow behind us and only speak when we talk to you,¡± said the female agent ignoring Rose.


    Arron and Rose did not exchange any greetings or speak to each other as they followed behind the agents who began a very detailed inspection of the business.


    Despite what Ox had said they were not here just to check that they were following the new regulations. It was a full-blown inspection.


    A few minutes into the inspection one of the agents pointed to a bottle on one of the counters of the massage room.


    ¡°Why are you using this chemical? The purchase of this chemical was banned last year.¡±


    ¡°Ah... I''m sorry. This is leftover supplies from before the ban. We did not buy it after the ban so I thought we were allowed to use the rest of it. Do we need to get rid of it?¡± asked Arron with a blank face, but on the inside, he was trying to think as quickly as he could about how to minimize this violation.


    ¡°No need, we will just add this to the tax fine that you will have to pay for the next year,¡± said the muscular agent. ¡°Minus 2 points from the company''s business score.¡±


    ¡°If your C.B.S. is reduced under the minimum allowed score, there will be problems,¡± said the skinny agent.


    This was somewhat puzzling to Arron but he only shrugged and followed them throughout the building. The agents did not care that there were customers in private rooms and barged in to inspect them.


    Each time the agents found something wrong they would mention it but did not require him to fix it as they said they would just add it to the fine tax and subtract points from their C.B.S.


    Arron made a mental note to definitely fix everything after this visit as he did not want to be grilled by the family head on why they were losing so much money.


    ''Wait a second. Get a hold of yourself Arron! This is not your real job! So why am I getting so into this...?'' thought Arron as he realized his thoughts were more and more in tune with how the family and its members acted.


    By the end of the inspection, Arron''s face was a shade paler. The amount of yearly tax fines that had been added to the business costs was not small!


    ¡°Thank you for your visit! Please come again!¡± said Rose in a cute voice as she bowed and waved them off at the front entrance.


    The three agents only grunted, not bothering to say anything as they entered the armored limo.


    Arron was only able to silently mouth a ''Sorry'' to Rose for causing such a disruption to the day''s daily business. She only shrugged to him as he was shoved into the armored limo which lifted off the ground and once again began flying to the next destination.


    When they reached the next business Arron frowned when he saw the name [Pleasure Palace] and read its details. He groaned inside, this was exactly the opposite of the previous business.


    It was a brothel, which offered all types of degenerates the chance to have different exotic experiences that they never tried before. From the short details he read, all types of debauchery could be found here for people with all types of tastes...


    ¡°So you''re the owner of such a place,¡± said the skinny man as he exited the armored limo.


    ¡°As expected of a young man,¡± said the muscular man as he slapped Arron on the upper left shoulder on his back sending a wave of pain through his body. He could clearly feel it even with the numbing power of the pill he took.


    The female agent had a frown as she stared daggers at Arron.


    ''Hey, I didn''t ask for these businesses! Why did Ox give me all these!'' Arron silently screamed inside. He had finished looking at the rest of the businesses under his wing and the majority of them were all similar places like this! The [Relaxation Palace] was the odd one out of all of them.


    He knew why. Ox specialized in the gambling scene, with a few other side businesses and restaurants.


    Arron just felt lucky that he was given all the legal businesses that had nothing to do with illegal activities or with anything to do with drugs. This way it was far easier to handle the Office of Reasons questions.


    Despite the agents'' claim that they had to do other things after this inspection they spent the whole day dragging Arron around happily pointing out violations.


    The same process happened at each business. Arron managed to rack up several fines for each place on his very first day on the job. Which must have been a record. It was not something he wanted to be remembered for.


    During entire later portions of the escort, the pills numbing effect wore off and his arm started to hurt more and more.


    When the agents were finished with him they left him at the last [Pleasure Palace] branch not bothering to give him a ride back to where they had first met.


    Arron opened his contact list and tapped on Ox''s name to start a call.


    ¡°Have you finished your inspection tours? How did it go? I''m guessing it was fine since you are still in one piece,¡± said Ox immediately as his holographic head popped up.


    Arron hesitated for a few seconds before saying, ¡°Each place received multiple violations and a hefty fine tax.¡±


    Ox only nodded at this. Which was not what Arron had expected. He had been waiting for him to blow his top at Arron''s lack of ability to stop the companies from losing a large portion of their revenue.


    ¡°Why are you so surprised? This is only natural, the party of Mother and Father does this every so often as a way to extort more money out of the families without them being able to do much about it. These above-board businesses may suffer a bit this year but our other businesses can make up the difference.¡±


    ¡°Umm... can someone come and pick me up? I was just left here by the Office of Reason agents.¡±


    ¡°Can''t do that right now. Everyone is busy. You can either pay for a ride or you can sleep in your new office at any of the [Pleasure Palaces]. Just make sure that you don''t mess around. You are the boss, not a customer.¡±

 Chapter 121: Plum and her sisters

    Arron was still deep in debt with the Ryu family due to the cost of his new clothes, accessories, and the weekly shaves and haircuts that had been added to his tab.


    Since this was his first day on the job, it would be a while before he could even be paid. Even if he was paid, the credits would not reach him as it would all go toward the black hole that was his debt.


    So, with a sigh, he turned around and walked back inside the [Pleasure Palace].


    ¡°Ah! Boss is there something you need?¡± asked Lily the perky bubblegum pink-haired manager of the building.


    ¡°''Cough'' ¡­ Where is my office?¡± asked Arron, his face a slight pink in embarrassment as he asked this.


    ¡°Do you need help with some paperwork or...?¡± asked Lily as her eyes squinted as she inspected him in more detail this time.


    ¡°No, no! It''s nothing like that! I... don''t have the credits to get a ride back to my place.... so I need to stay the night in the office until the family can send someone to pick me up,¡± said Arron a bit embarrassed as he waved his hand back and forth in front of him to deny the unsaid words.


    Hearing this, her expression softened and a slight smile appeared as she nodded in understanding. With a few taps on her own wrist datapad she flicked a file containing a map over to Arron. ¡°Follow that path and you will reach the office. I''ll send someone to give you the items you''ll need to help you sleep.¡±


    ¡°Thanks,¡± said Arron with a nod before following the directions on the holographic map.


    While walking through the hallways he tried to ignore the wild and sometimes exotic sounds of humans, AI, and even... animals, coming from the various rooms.


    His office was in one of the basement floor levels so he did not need to use a mag-shoot to reach it. Instead, many security checkpoints scanned his face, NerViz cloud chip, and even his Irezumi tattoo to make sure he was supposed to be there.


    As he passed through the last checkpoint he entered a large underground office that was even larger than his own apartment in Sector 11. The only furniture in the entire office was a desk, a hover chair, and several file servers built into the walls.


    On each of the walls, there were large holographic windows that depicted a calm rural grassland outside.


    Arron was silent as he watched the simulated moonlight shine down on the grassland which was moving like waves in a sea as the wind swept through it. This entire scene was something completely different than the chaotic reality outside the building above the office.


    In the corner of the large open office was a walled-off bathroom that contained a shower as well as a toilet. There was everything he would need here so he would not have to use the facilities alongside the customers.


    ¡°AAAANNNNNN!¡±


    His internal thoughts were interrupted several minutes later when a buzzer echoed throughout the room and a holovid popped up over the desk.


    ¡°Um... boss? Manager Lily sent me to deliver your sleeping items,¡± said a young female worker who was in uniform.


    ¡°Ah, just one second let me find the button...¡± said Arron as he hastened his steps and walked over to the desk, his hand hovering over the many holographic buttons on a menu for several seconds before finding what he needed. A few taps later the female worker was allowed to pass through the security checkpoints.


    With a hiss, the office''s door opened and the young girl entered the office carrying a box containing several items and a hovering cot that was floating behind her.


    Arron was a little apprehensive with what type of ''Items'' the manager had sent to ''help'' him sleep as this place was ¡­ yeah.


    Seeing Arron''s troubled expression the young lady spoke up to ease his worries, ¡°I made sure that everything was freshly cleaned!¡±


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    ¡°Ah... yes. Thanks for doing that...¡± Arron''s mind was now in a whirlwind as her words brought up ideas that had not been there before but now that she mentioned it... the things here could get quite messy. Just thinking about the reason why they needed to be cleaned made him feel unconformable.


    ¡°''cough''... you can leave that by the desk,¡± said Arron pointing at the box and hovering cot.


    ¡°The Manager instructed me to set it up for you. If I don''t follow her orders I will get in trouble...¡±


    ¡°Then... you can just set it up wherever...¡± said Arron. As he watched her go about pulling out items to set up the cot so that he could use it to sleep, he realized that she was rather young, a little too young to be in such a place like this.


    ¡°Um...¡±


    ¡°My name is Plum.¡±


    ¡°Plum, how old are you?¡±


    ¡°14.¡±


    ¡°14? Why are you working here? You''re not a ...¡±


    ¡°No, I am not one of those types of workers. I am forever grateful to the manager for taking me in and allowing me to work here! I and my other sisters work here cleaning the rooms, laundry, cooking for the older sisters, and other odd jobs needed to keep the place running.¡±


    ¡°Sisters? Do you have other family members who work here?¡±


    Plum shook her head as she continued to make the cot, ¡°No, we call each other sisters. We were all in similar situations before the manager saved us from our problems. Many of my sisters were sold off by their parents to traffickers to pay off debts or in return for cash so that they could continue to live on since they were unable to feed them. Most of us were smuggled into the mega-city. I was lucky enough that my parents were able to use a large portion of their life savings to get me into the city so that I could live a better life and be able to send back money to help them. Most of my sisters were not so lucky, they were sold off, used, and abused in many horrible ways.¡±


    ¡°How is this place any different?¡± asked a confused Arron.


    ¡°It is completely different! Here we are paid for our work! I know that as someone new to this business it may sound like this place is vile. Trust me, from the stories I have heard from my other sisters, the activities in other places would get a normal person normalized immediately but the guests that frequent them are all high-level party members or Office of Reason agents. This place is nowhere near as crazy as the places we came from. Here most of the exotic things we provide are holographic and virtual simulated experiences as well as those sisters that have decided to continue in that type of work, as well as some masochist and sadist play. With the opportunity given to us by the manager, we can not break her trust in us and the second chance she has given us!¡±


    ¡°Some of the sisters were offered jobs in the city but when they got here they were trapped, unable to leave and were sold off to various party members, rich people, gangs, and red-light districts.¡±


    Hearing all this was like a brick being thrown at Arron''s head.


    ¡°Has it really gotten that bad outside the mega-city?¡± asked Arron.


    ¡°It has. The bubble burst may not be as noticeable here in the mega-city but everyone that is not living here, are the ones facing the brunt of the economy crashing down all to make it so that the city has little to no problems. Even though Mother and Father act as if everything is okay, the people are barely able to pay for the monthly costs of living. Why do you ask? Do you have someone you know outside the city?¡±


    ¡°My parents...¡± was all Arron said. He cut himself off as he was still undercover and revealing too much unnecessary information would only harm him.


    ¡°I see. So we are the same,¡± said Plum as she smiled at Arron in a friendly manner.


    ¡°Well... I guess you could say that,¡± Arron felt a slight pain in his heart at having her smile at him.


    Their circumstances were completely different. From what she had said, she and her sisters had it far worse than he did. Even with the Office of Reason constantly hounding him and meddling with his life he was still living a far better life than many of the people with D rank SCS and even better than some of the C ranks.


    ¡°There, I have completed my task! Is there anything else that you need me to get for you?¡± asked Plum standing back up straight and looking at Arron.


    ¡°No. This is fine. I''ll be sure to let Lily know that you did an excellent job,¡± said Arron. He wanted to do something for her but this was all he could do.


    ¡°Thanks!¡± said Plum happily before bowing and leaving the room.


    Arron''s mind was filled with turmoil as he took a quick shower.


    With all that he had learned just now these places all took on a new meaning for him as he now saw it in a new light. There was no denying that this place was not filled with rainbows and sunshine as there were some sick and unsavory perverted things happening everyday, but it did give him a different perspective.


    As he finished his shower he put on the synthetic silk robe that had been laid out for him and hopped onto the hovering cot after taking one of the pills from the black bottle.


    With such an eventful day both his body and mind were exhausted and even though there was much on his mind, with the help of the pill, his pain and hectic thoughts began to fade away allowing him to drift off to sleep in his new cold and barren office.

 Chapter 122: Blurring Identities

    For the next two weeks, Arron lost himself in work as he bounced between the offices of each of the businesses he was in charge of. During this time there was very little to report to A.S. or Kix.


    Arron received a holo-call while at his desk typing up a document for the week''s report that he had to send to the family.


    ¡°Ox, why are you calling? Aren''t you busy with the opening of that new building?¡± asked Arron, when the familiar holographic head popped up above his desk.


    ¡°Just calling to give you props for working so hard. The old man has seen your hard work ethic and approves,¡± said Ox.


    ¡°Uh... thanks. Did you need anything from me?¡± asked Arron.


    ¡°No, I was just calling to congratulate you. Keep up that hard work and you will be promoted in the future.¡±


    ¡°I''ll keep that in mind,¡± said Arron, his thoughts all on the large debt he still owed. In a few more months he would have it paid off.


    ¡°As you said before, I am busy. So I''ll leave it at that and let you get back to work,¡± said Ox before disconnecting the call.


    For a few moments after the call, Arron felt a bit of happiness at the compliments... ''Smack''.


    Arron slapped his face.


    ¡°Get a hold of yourself!¡± muttered Arron.


    This was a constant struggle for Arron as this was his first major undercover job which had already lasted so long. Over the past few weeks, Arron was constantly losing himself. The lines of his real self and his undercover self were blurring and it was getting harder and harder to keep his identities separate.


    Ping! Arron''s thoughts were interrupted by another waiting call.


    As soon as he tapped on the hovering accept button the worried face of Lily popped up.


    ¡°What''s wrong?¡± asked Arron.


    ¡°It''s bad! Really bad. You need to come here quickly!¡± was all Lily said before ending the call.


    Arron tapped in the last few words on his report and sent it on its way before standing up and walking through the several security locks up to the first-floor lobby where Lily was waiting.


    When he arrived there was already a large gathering of several hundred of the girls that work in the building. Many of them were holding each other as they cried.


    Arron frowned at seeing this. Whatever had happened was not good.


    He pushed his way through the crowd and found Lily who was talking to a few of the building''s enforcers.


    ¡°Lily, what is going on?¡±


    Lily turned to Arron and with a grim face said, ¡°It''s best you see for yourself first. Then you have a better understanding.¡±


    With that said, she led Arron and the enforcers out of the crowd and only a few steps out of the building''s front door.


    There was a large presence of Enforcers blocking off both the road and sidewalk near the building.


    On the sidewalk right in front of Arron, there was a large tarp covering a large portion of the ground.


    ¡°Take a look,¡± was all Lily said.


    Arron crouched down and picked up a corner of the tarp. As he saw what was underneath his frown deepened. Behind him sounds of gagging could be heard from a few of the enforcers as they caught a glimpse of the mush underneath the tarp.


    ¡°Who was it?¡± asked Arron as he dropped the tarp corner and stood back up.


    ¡°Dandelion. She has been with us for a little over a year now,¡± said Lily.


    Arron''s head tilted back as he looked up along the tall buildings several hundred floors searching for anything out of place.


    ¡°Did she have anything that was stressing her out? Any overzealous debt collectors calling for credits?¡±


    ¡°She had no debts. Only a few days ago we had a small party for her as she had saved up enough money and sent it back to her family in the countryside to help pay for the rest of her younger brother''s schooling so that he could get a higher paying job and help the family more. With that taken care of she was planning on saving up for her own future plans.¡±Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.


    ¡°Any surveillance footage?¡±


    ¡°None... at the time it happened everything was cut out and there''s only static. The only footage we have is of her falling past the front doors and ...¡±


    Arron nodded and said, ¡°Then this was not a suicide.¡±


    ¡°There have been some rumors of similar things happening at the palaces from other families as well... I have heard that a few other girls died in similar ways. It was all a rumor but now...¡±


    ¡°For everyone''s safety, we will be closing today while I take care of this... If someone has any issues with this just send them my way and I''ll set them straight.¡±


    Arron switched to his M1 officer investigation mode and turned to the enforcers that were blocking off the road and the sidewalks.


    ¡°I want you guys to wear hazmat suits and clean up this mess before a large crowd or the police notice what is going on.¡±


    The enforcers, many of them new members with less than a year under their belts, all had green faces as they nodded their heads and tried not to barf while thinking about the task ahead of them.


    Arron turned to Lily, ¡°I need you to send me all of the security footage from before and after the incident. I''ll see if I can find anyone suspicious.¡±


    ¡°That''s not going to be easy as many of our customers come here hiding their identity not wanting to be recognized by the news drones.¡±


    ¡°Just do it. We need to start somewhere. When you''re done with that, send Dandelion''s remaining credits and her last paycheck to her parents. It''s the least we can do.¡±


    When Arron returned to his office he received a large batch of security footage from every room in the building before and after the incident.


    He tapped on each of the files and swiped them onto his office walls that were really just a large holo-tv. This was all so he could enlarge the video to see everything more clearly and not have to squint at the small screen on his wrist datapad.


    Since there was no point in searching through all the dead footage by himself he began tapping in a few commands for the AI search program and then tapped the [Run command] button.


    After a few minutes of processing all the security footage the AI discarded all the dead footage that did not have a human in it. This was a large help as it turned a massive mountain into a small hill he still had to look through.


    Arron spent the next half hour looking at the thousands of customers that had entered the building and was thoroughly sickened at some of the hobbies they chose to engage in with the holograms and simulations.


    He was starting to get agitated as the more he looked the more lily''s words were becoming clearer that it was near impossible to find the culprit as the majority of their customers did wear baggy hooded jackets or sweatshirts. Some wore extremely expensive brands, others cheap ones.


    As he was letting out a long yawn and stretching something caught his attention. One of the people on the many recordings looked directly at the cameras each time they passed one. Their face was covered with a red silk face mask underneath their black baggy hoodie that hid their body.


    Arron sat up straight and enlarged the holovid trying to see through the disguise before giving up and pulling up all of the other clips that had this person in them. He watched the suspicious person walk through the entire building.


    He was able to confirm that the target was on the same floor as Dandelion before the cameras cut out.


    ¡°Found you,¡± said Arron as fast-forward to the last bit of footage that had caught the target escaping after the deed.


    The building had its own basic scanners for keeping track of customers and their payments.


    Using this data Arron was able to get an NerViz ID number. But since his resources for investigating such a thing were limited he secretly sent it to Kix using a secure message asking him to check out who the person was.


    While Kix was handling that task, Arron called up the manager of the Rock family''s pleasure palace.


    ¡°... the rumors? They are not rumors, we had two of our girls die from accidents last week. Or so we thought, but now... Why are you asking? Did something happen to you as well?¡± asked the manager.


    ¡°Yeah, a little while ago. I''ll call you back if I find out more about the issue. I have a lead but I am still trying to nail it down,¡± said Arron.


    ¡°Hopefully you capture whoever it is that is causing us such problems!¡±


    Ping! An incoming call notification popped up as soon as he ended the call. He tapped on the noise cancellation function for his office before accepting the call.


    ¡°Kix what do you have for me?¡± asked Arron as he connected to the secure line.


    ¡°Naz is their name,¡± said Kix as he looked at the data he gathered.


    ¡°Great, can you tell me any other information? Where do they live and work?¡± asked Arron.


    ¡°They died several years ago.¡±


    ¡°What? But they were just here hours ago. Are you sure they died and it''s not just someone who went into hiding?¡±


    ¡°I''m sure. He was a soldier who fought in the army against Mother and Father. He, along with the remaining members of his squad, were permanently normalized for the crime of killing several officers of Mother and Father''s army during the last days of the war. Toothbrush pulled up some videos of his permanent normalization that were in the records. Why are you so interested in him?¡±


    ¡°There is a serial killer on the loose. The person with that Nerviz ID was just here earlier and killed one of my workers,¡± said Arron.


    ¡°Don''t waste time on this fruitless hunt as they are using a fake ID set up by an identity broker. Depending on how much you pay there are some people who can move from the first level to live on the second level. It is not a 100% guarantee but most of the time it works. Sounds like a low-level cheap broker sold that ID to the killer.¡±


    ¡°Great. That should be helpful in finding them. Then I can take care of this problem for everyone here,¡± said Arron.


    Hearing this Kix looked at Arron with a frown appearing on his face, ¡°Arron, I know you are undercover, but you''re going too far. Just listen to yourself. You need to let this be handled by the local police. Send them the information and be done with it before you get yourself into a situation you regret later. Remember you are not a member of the Ryu family but an undercover M1 officer working for the Office of Reason...¡±


    Arron glared back at him, ¡°I know who I am! It is ''Our'' duty to stop crime and capture the troubled suspects so that they can receive justice. That is what I am doing. I don''t need you to lecture me.¡±

 Chapter 123: Who are you?

    Arron marched down a cramped hallway that had not been cleaned in years.


    All the trash covering the floor allowed his footsteps to be muffled instead of the normal loud clack of footsteps on a para-steel floor. There was only one light that worked in the entire hallway and it was right above the last office door that had a grimy sign above it [Berts P.I. & Information].


    Arron was being followed by two other low-level enforcers from the Ryu family who had come along as backup for him.


    The three of them stopped outside the door with their hands on their weapons. Arron nodded to one of the grunts who then stepped forward. He had to kick the flimsy metal door twice before its cheap mechanical lock broke and the door swung open and slammed into the wall of the room.


    The three rushed in and scanned the messy office with their weapons ready. Arron''s eyes stopped when he found Bert sitting behind a desk. Their target had a confused and blank face that was trying to understand what was going on but was unable to make sense of anything since he was drugged out of his mind.


    ¡°Whaaaa...?¡± slurred Bert.


    Arron took out an injection pen that had a fast-action wake-up drug from his belt.


    Normally he kept it on himself just in case someone tried to drug him secretly or openly, but it also came in handy for times like this. The two enforcers grabbed the dazed man''s arms holding him still while Arron walked up to him and stabbed the injection pen into the man''s neck.


    The enforcers held the man for a few minutes until whatever drugs he had taken had been flushed out of his system by the wake-up drug. The process was never a pleasant feeling.


    ¡°Don''t you guys know how to knock?¡± complained Bert as his wits came back to him.


    ¡°If we did that, you would have run and then we would have had to chase you. I don''t feel like running today,¡± said Arron.


    ¡°I''m busy with work and I can''t see you today. Please leave,¡± said Bert weakly.


    ¡°Can''t do that. Word on the street is that you know something about a killer who has been targeting girls working for the families,¡± said Arron.


    The man''s face turned a shade paler at hearing this and glanced at the weapons in their hands before holding up his hands in defeat.


    ¡°I do know her. But! I have nothing to do with these killings! All I know is that she was paid a once-in-a-lifetime sum to take on this mission.¡±


    ¡°Who is she and who hired her?¡± asked Arron leaning in closer to make the information broker even more uncomfortable with his breath hitting Bert in the face.


    ¡°She didn''t say their name just that it was someone ''BIG''. That usually means it''s not any of the usual clients from the families. It''s not an internal fight between the families if that''s what you''re worried about.¡±


    ¡°Her name,¡± said Arron, poking Bert in the chest with his finger.


    ¡°Come on don''t make me give up one of my main sources of income...¡± said Bert trying to protest but after looking at the three stone faces again he gave up any idea of resisting.


    ¡°Stella is the name she goes by when receiving missions from any of the families. I... sold her a fake I.D. of some dead person who was never reported to have been killed. So even if you had her real name that was given out by Mother and Father you would not find her.¡±


    Arron only stared at Bert who let out a long sigh and then swiped over all the information he had collected on her including a holographic picture of what she looked like when she visited him.


    ¡°Her list of targets was rather large so she should still be working. That''s all I know,¡± said Bert.


    ¡°You have been very helpful. We will come back if we need more help,¡± said Arron as he motioned for the two enforcers to follow him.


    ¡°Please don''t. I have enough problems already,¡± said Burt as the door was slammed shut.


    As Arron walked out of the shabby building he sent off two messages requesting information on the person using the new ID, one to Kix, and one to the Ryu family ''Researchers'' at the main office. This was done for insurance as he did not want to put all his eggs in one basket.


    They silently waited in their shabby rental hover-car which looked like it was ready to fall apart if someone gave it a hard kick.


    After only ten minutes of waiting the Ryu family sent him the information he needed which included the most recent scanning of the fake ID when it was logged buying items near another pleasure palace.


    Arron did not ask how they were able to get the information so fast and just plugged the address of the pleasure palace into the hover-cars auto-navigation.


    When the hover-car stopped at their destination, Arron turned to one of the enforcers, ¡°You stay here and keep the car safe. If someone were to steal it, the rental place is going to try and rip me off by making me pay them more than the car is worth.¡±


    The enforcer only nodded his head and stayed in his seat while Arron and the second enforcer got out and walked to the building.


    As Arron passed through the doors two scantily dressed women near the doors stepped in front of him to greet him.


    ¡°Welcome guest! What service would you like to...¡± When they saw Arron''s grim face, his clothes, and the enforcer that came in behind him they paused for a second.


    ¡°Sir, what family are you from? Are you here to speak with the manager?¡± asked the older female of the two.


    ¡°Ryu family. Tell the manager it is an emergency and that I have come to talk about ''That'' issue,¡± was all Arron said.


    ¡°''That'' issue?¡± asked the confused woman for a second but she shook her head to clear it. ¡°I will immediately inform him.¡±


    Arron only had to wait a few minutes near the front desk of the lobby where several guests who were coming in and leaving tried to give him a wide space due to his scary scowl.If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.


    ¡°Sorry, lighten up. You''re scaring my customers!¡± said Poe, the manager of the building, when he came out of a hidden door behind the lobby desk. ¡°This is our first time meeting in person so I really have no idea why you have come.¡±


    ¡°As I said it''s because of ''that'' issue which everyone has been experiencing.¡±


    ¡°Are you talking about the... mishaps? We haven''t had any problems... wait are you saying that we''re next?¡±


    ¡°The killer was spotted at a place near this building. You should prepare for the wo...¡±


    ¡°AHHHHHHH!¡± A scream could be heard echoing down from the main stairwell that was busy with hundreds of people going up to enjoy themselves or returning from one of the rooms on a higher floor.


    Everyone on the stairs froze as they looked up towards the woman who was screaming hysterically.


    ¡°What''s going on? I can''t see with everyone in the way. Bring up the video footage!¡± ordered Poe to one of the people at the front desk. With a few quick taps, the stairwell video was pulled up and enlarged so that they could all see.


    One of the female workers had fallen to her knees and was pointing to something round on the ground only a few feet away from her.


    When Arron looked closer he saw the round object was a severed head of a young female...


    ¡°Lock down the building!¡± ordered Poe frantically over the building''s internal comms.


    Red sirens began to blare as his orders were followed. The guests who were unsure what was going on all started to panic.


    Out of the corner of Arron''s eye, he saw one of the guests moving through the crowd with a hood covering their face.


    ¡°Everyone stop where you are!¡± roared Akira as he moved towards the panicked crowd.


    As soon as he said this the hooded figure bolted to the hallway leading to the rear of the building.


    Arron did not bother talking to the manager and just gave chase to the escaping assassin.


    The enforcer tried to follow him but more and more worried guests were flooding down from floors above trying to escape the several decapitated bodies they had seen on floors above them. With such a crowd flooding the lobby, the enforcer was cut off from Arron.


    BOOM!


    The ground shook as an explosion in the rear of the building went off.


    BOOM!


    A second explosion could be heard as Arron reached a large hole in the wall of the hallway next to the closed para-steel exit door. The hole led into a storage room and at the far end of the room there was another fresh hole that led outside towards a dark alley.


    Arron dashed through the smoldering holes in the wall while calling the Ryu family HQ.


    ¡°This is Sorry, I have found the assassin killing the palace girls! I am calling for backup.¡±


    ¡°Where are you?¡± asked an office worker of the family.


    ¡°The killer is cornered requesting ¡­¡±


    Slash! Kaching!


    A sharp long blade slashed down on Arron''s right arm trying to sever it. It only managed to cut his wrist-datapad in half before bouncing off of the parasteel metal arm.


    ¡°Who has who cornered?¡± asked the ambusher before throwing a round object toward Arron.


    Arron did not have time to think and just jumped back through the second hole into the storage room as a loud ''Wooomp!'' and a shock wave from the explosion slammed into his back.


    Arron gathered himself and after checking that he was okay, once again dived back out of the building doing a quick roll while bringing his weapon up into a low ready position as he scanned the area but found that the target had already escaped.


    His ears were still ringing from the explosion but with the help of his special sunglasses visor, he was able to catch the sound of running footsteps that were headed deeper into the dark alley maze.


    As he rushed forward and then slowed down at a dark corner so that he could cautiously check the area...


    Swish!


    A long blade swung out of the shadows, aimed at his neck.


    Klang!


    With skilled training, Arron leaned back and used his right arm to block the sudden attack.


    ¡°Stop following me! I am just doing my job!¡± said a female voice that was slightly altered by a voice changer.


    ¡°I am doing my job as well. I need to capture you and take you in to face justice before the families!¡± said Arron as he blocked another slash that was aimed at his stomach.


    Now that the ambusher was right in front of him, he was able to see that the long blades attacking him had folded out from the assassin''s mechanical arms and formed a sort of bladed sword which she was able to swing around quite effectively.


    With the blades constantly slicing at Arron''s neck and chest he was on defense trying to protect his vitals.


    He did not want to kill her and so he was refraining from shooting her while he tried to think of an alternate way to take her down.


    Swoosh! Kachack!


    Akira''s blood went cold as one of the attacks he blocked bounced off his arm... but at the last second was aimed again at his face slicing right across his cheek and forehead.


    Instead of blood gushing out... There was only torn synthetic skin and metal. The large slash destroyed Arron''s mask and revealed a large portion of his real face underneath.


    ¡°Wait... You''re not someone from the families! Who are you?¡± said the surprised assassin.


    ¡°What are you talking about? Am I not allowed to hide my identity just like you? This is a common thing in each of the families to keep the Office of Reason off our tracks,¡± said Arron trying to throw her off his tracks.


    Swoosh! Several more attacks were launched at Arron''s head.


    ¡°That''s a lie! I know I recognized you! You are one of those new recruits! I''ve read your files before just in case I was given a mission to normalize you! There was no mention of you wearing a mask! This is big! You can forget about taking me in for a reward! When the families hear this...¡±


    Bang!


    The assassin clutched her stomach where blood was now gushing out of a new large hole.


    As she fell to her knees she clawed at her wrist data-pad trying to start a call to expose him and ask for help.


    Arron''s foot shot out and stomped on her arm stopping the action. With another stomp, he crushed the wrist-datapad to the point that it could no longer be used.


    ¡°I didn''t want to kill you. Honestly, I just wanted to capture you and turn you in. I''m sorry.¡±


    Bang!


    A second shot from Arron''s gun ceased the assassin''s struggle to escape.


    Without any emotions showing Arron went into action to clean up this mess as there was little time left for him. He rummaged through the weapons on the assassin''s body and found four high explosive grenades stuck to her body sewed into a suicide vest.


    ¡°That makes everything more simple...¡± said Arron as he stripped off all his clothes leaving him barefoot and only wearing a pair of gym shorts that he wore underneath his clothes because he had been planning to head to a gym and work out before all this happened.


    He quickly tore off the assassin''s baggy hoodie which now had blood all over it and pulled it over his head.


    Arron stopped for a moment as he looked at his bare feet and the assassin''s shoes. He took them as well and slid his feet into them and grimaced as his feet were crammed into the far too small pair of shoes.


    He piled up all his clothes, wrist-datapad, sunglasses, and gun underneath the assassin''s body.


    After a quick search of the ground nearby the dead assassin he found the trigger for the suicide vest that had been dropped when she died.


    Arron did one last look at himself and the area before running to a safe corner of the ally and pressed the trigger button.


    KABOOOOM!


    A large fiery explosion smashed into the walls of each of the buildings nearby, tearing them down and leaving a large hole in the center of the alley. The force of the explosion along with the heat was enough to leave no trace of the assassin or Akira''s clothes that had been placed underneath the body.

 Chapter 124: Its over. Were done!

    Arron slinked through the dark backstreets with the hood of the bloody hoodie pulled down to cover his face. Since he now knew the territory of each of the families well enough he was able to avoid the hot spots and escape from deep within the family-held territory.


    With how serious this situation was, he could not chance meeting with any members of one of the families nor could he pay for a ride out of this territory and so he was forced to walk for several hours hiding in the shadows.


    The people that he did meet were those down on their luck or criminals trying to escape the view of their targets. Both did not pay much attention or care that Arron was wearing bloody clothes.


    When Arron reached the safe house, he waited for several minutes to make sure no one was following him in person or with a drone. When he was sure the coast was clear he rushed into the rundown building and passed the security protections to enter the high-security room.


    When he was locked inside the small secret room that was hidden behind the metal bed, he was finally able to sigh in relief. His feet were killing him since they had been crammed inside the small shoes the whole time.


    There was a small stash of clothes and shoes inside the room just for a case like this. It only took him a few minutes to change into the fresh clothes.


    Only after changing did he access the emergency secure coms that had been set up here. But first in order to activate the connection he had to enter a set of codes to unlock it. There was only one number that could be called and Arron did not hesitate to tap on the name and start the call.


    ¡°Who is this?¡± asked Kix when he answered the unknown number marked as urgent.


    ¡°Kix it''s me! My identity has been compromised,¡± said Arron, his face coming into the light allowing Kix to see Arron''s damaged mask.


    ¡°Crap! Are you safe right now? Did anyone follow you?¡± asked Kix as he sat up fully alert from the paperwork he had been reading.


    ¡°For now I am safe and no one has discovered me yet. I am not sure how thorough their search will be. If there is anything I have learned while undercover, it is to not underestimate the families and their power to get weapons, hi-tech, and information. This secure base may not be so safe in the coming hours.¡±


    ¡°I''ll alert A.S. and Chief Chesty. You can explain everything to them when you have been safely extracted,¡± said Kix ending the call.


    When the call ended the device he had just used fried its circuits and the chips. It was a one-time use item and this was a measure taken to stop anyone from tracking and tampering with the device or the call.


    ***


    [The killer is cornered requesting ¡­]


    ¡°That was the last transmission we received,¡± said an office data worker who had accompanied Ox to the crime scene.


    Ox was silent as he watched the last captured footage of Arron chasing after a suspicious hooded figure that ran into the back halls where two large explosions destroyed the cameras in that area.


    ¡°His wrist-datapad was recovered... or what¡¯s left of it. Something cut it in half and then it received a large amount of heat melting most of it,¡± said the data worker showing the melted pieces.


    ¡°Can any data be recovered from it?¡±


    ¡°No, it''s just scrap now.¡±


    Ox turned to one of the two enforcers who had been with Arron. One of them was being bandaged for the wounds he received.


    ¡°Is what you said true?¡± asked Ox with a stern expression.


    ¡°Everything I said is no lie! When I managed to catch up to Sorry he was being attacked by the hooded assassin. I rushed over to help him but that is when an explosive was thrown at us and in the explosion I was knocked unconscious,¡± said the enforcer a little embarrassed at his failure.


    Ox nodded, ¡°... he was able to dodge the attack and chase after the assassin. Their fight must have been too much and so the assassin detonated the last of their explosives in a suicide attack that killed Sorry. Is that what you think?¡±


    ¡°It is. Because the explosion was so strong there is nothing left of either of them.¡±


    ¡°Keep searching the area and the security footage of the local area. Test everything you find at the explosion site. We can''t declare him dead with such little information,¡± said Ox.


    ***


    ¡°What did I tell you? You bit off more than you could chew and this is what happened,¡± said Kix as he slapped Arron on the shoulder.


    Arron only let out a small grunt not bothering to reply. The two were currently hiding at one of the Office of Reason''s many safe houses in sector 1. This one was in an underground basement that was underneath one of Mother and Father¡¯s gang-controlled businesses.


    A.S. had chewed Arron out for over ten minutes after hearing that his cover was blown. After he had cooled off he had started making plans and had sent someone to extract Arron from the hot zone. When they had left the safe-house all important equipment was taken out before the room was blown to pieces.


    ¡°Before I arrived here I got word from the chief that the raids are going to happen today. With the information you have gathered and presented to the Office of Reason, there is more than enough to take down the targets that they have been trying to get for years. Of course, the Office of Reason will not be the one doing the raids. That''ll be us, the M1, and we have to strike now while the iron is hot or everything we have done will be for nothing if they manage to get wind of this and escape.¡±


    It was already evening when several teams of M1 officers arrived in sector one. Arron and Kix were given the all-clear and allowed to get into an old hovercar and drive to the meetup zone, an underground parking garage that was no longer in use.


    When they arrived they were greeted by several familiar faces all from the ERF 3 and over 100 other M1 officers.


    ¡°Glad to see you''re doing good!¡± said Captain Pointer as he shot Arron with his usual pointing finger guns in greeting and then slapped Arron on the back while he looked him over. ¡°I wasn''t able to fully catch up with you after you got out of the recovery tank and were fixed up by Doc Octy since the Office of Reason snatched you up so quickly. You look fine to me.¡±


    Captain Pointer¡¯s smiling face frowned when he saw the tip of a shimmering holographic dragon tail on Arron''s left hand, ¡°You better cover that up otherwise it could cause both you and M1 problems.¡±


    ¡°From who? The Office of Reason and Mother and Father already know I have this Irezumi. They are the ones that forced me to get it,¡± said Arron.


    ¡°Even if that is the case. If the media or some citizen sees it and makes a big deal about it, I have no doubt that they will throw you to the wolves and pretend to know nothing about it,¡± said Captain Pointer.


    Kix nodded his head in agreement.


    ¡°All your gear is inside. As soon as you two are geared up we will be heading out,¡± said Captain Pointer as he pointed to their APC.


    When Arron and Kix had donned their helmets, body armor, and armored boots along with a pair of electronic gloves for Arron, Captain Pointer clapped his hands and then tapped a few options on his wrist-datapad sending out documents to each of the M1 officer teams.The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.


    ¡°We have to normalize the big shots before they get word of the raids and go into hiding. They will be our priority number 1 targets. We can take care of the low-level people later. The Office of Reason has already given us information that the buildings the targets are in have had their security compromised and are now under their control. We do not have to worry about any nasty traps, just the grunts with guns,¡± said Captain Pointer.


    ¡°Any questions?¡± asked Captain Pointer who looked around but found no one raised their hand. ¡°Then let''s move out!¡±


    Their armored vehicles exited the underground garage and split up heading to their different destinations. Since there were too many targets to go after each team only had 4 M1 officers. Three of them wore ''soft'' armor (the type Arron was wearing) and one officer was using an exoskeleton to help assault heavily defended targets.


    With such small numbers, this was a rather dangerous mission but the Office of Reason had given them orders to capture everyone at the same time and had not allowed them to receive help from the black-suit Office of Reason agents or local police. At least they had the element of surprise on their side so that should help soften the danger they would face. Only Captain Pointer¡¯s group had more than 4 people as they were headed to take out the main target.


    When the armored vehicle stopped at the coordinates that were plugged into it, Arron, Kix, Bishop, and Knox jumped out of the back of the vehicle.


    Arron looked around and saw that the building in front of him was one he knew well. It was a pleasure palace under the control of the Ryu family and managed by Sen, one of the old man''s sons who had survived the blood war with the Office of Reason.


    Ping! Arron''s helmet notified him of two approaching objects from the sky.


    When he looked up and his helmet camera zoomed in on the target he let out a curse and then over the secure coms he shouted, ¡°We''ve been found out!¡±


    The two approaching objects were news drones, and they were now broadcasting the m1 forces for the entire mega-city to watch.


    Similar messages from the over 25 groups came in over the group comms with similar cursing.


    ¡°Do not waste time! Capture your target!¡± shouted Captain Pointer, stopping everyone''s cursing.


    Arron could hear the sound of gunshots in the background while Captain Pointer continued to issue commands to everyone. Wherever he had gone there was a major firefight happening.


    ¡°Let''s go!¡± shouted Arron as he led the others into the pleasure palace through the front doors.


    ¡°Ah!!¡± The frightened screams of the female workers echoed through the lobby as guns from the M1 were pointed at them as they rushed over to the front desk.


    Arron hopped over the counter and pushed the cowering females to the side before accessing the cameras and swiping through them until he found his target.


    ¡°Fifth floor!¡± shouted Arron.


    Bang!


    He shot the communications terminal, disabling it. Hopefully, it would allow them enough time to reach their target without them noticing. The building''s alarms were already disabled by the Office of Reasons hackers so there was little fear of something like that alerting him.


    They rushed the stairs with female workers and guests screaming in fright as they jumped out of the way of the scary armored M1 officers.


    When they reached the 5th floor... bang! A gunshot slammed into the wall above Arron''s head. Causing him to retreat back down a few steps.


    ¡°Guess it''s my time to shine,¡± said Knox.


    Arron, Kix, and Bishop all got behind the heavily armored Knox who, with only a hand signal, rushed out of the stairwell using the exoskeleton armor as a walking human shield for those behind him.


    Several bullets bounced off the exoskeleton armor creating sparks and dust as they bounced off and slammed into the wall, floor, and ceiling.


    BAM! BAM! BAM!


    Hiding behind Knox, Bishop''s heavy guns fired off at a high speed and cut down the enforcers that had been shooting them.


    There had only been five of them guarding the room that the target was in. As they reached the door it opened with a half-dressed Sen holding a gun as he peeked outside.


    ¡°What the hell is going on...?!¡± his words were cut short when four guns were pushed into his body.


    ¡°Drop it!¡± ordered Knox.


    Clatter! The gun fell from his hand and skidded across the para-steel floor.


    ¡°You guys are making a huge mistake, do you know who I am? I will be out in an hour and then I will make sure to get payback!¡±


    Arron silently cuffed Sen and shoved him over to Kix.


    ¡°Target secured! Exiting the building!¡± said Knox over the group comms.


    ¡°Understood! If possible, head to your next target!¡± shouted Captain Pointer over the loud noise of the gunfight that was still going on.


    With Knox leading the way back to the front entrance they only encountered a few more enforcers who were easily taken care of before the group stopped at the front entrance.


    ¡°Why the hell has a crowd gathered out there so fast?¡± cursed Knox when he saw a growing crowd forming between the building and their armored vehicle.


    ¡°Kix, Arron, cover me and Bishop. We''re going to try and rush through. Just keep those people away from us and the target until we have secured him inside the rear of the armored vehicle,¡± said Knox.


    Both Arron and Kix gave a silent nod with their armored heads not speaking.


    The door was kicked open by Knox''s heavy armored foot and he held out his armored arms as battering rams in front of him, rushing forward into the crowd. Those who did not jump out of the way were forcibly knocked out of the way. There was no time to play nice with the gawkers that were hindering their operation.


    Bishop was running right behind him dragging the angry Sen who was still cursing at them.


    Right behind Bishop was Arron and Kix who had their weapons ready to stop anyone who tried to intercept Knox and Bishop.


    The Gawkers in the crowd all let out loud OO''s and AH''s as if they were watching an interesting movie all while the news drones hovered above them capturing everything. Not all people were enjoying the live show. There were several dozen that were staring daggers at the four M1 officers.


    As Arron and Kix were blocking the crowd from following after Knox and Bishop a screaming woman jumped towards them forcing Arron to reach out and grab her stopping her reaching arms as she continued to scream.


    ¡°Ma''am please stay back, we are... Yumi? What are you doing here?¡±


    The struggling woman stopped her shouting and stared right into Arron''s mirrored helmet in shock.


    ¡°Arron!? Wait... you''re a special officer of the M1?¡±


    ¡°Well...¡±


    ¡°It''s over! We''re done!¡± she said, cutting him off.


    ¡°But... I''m still the same guy that you met when I was not in uniform! I am that same person you said you loved!¡±


    ¡°That was before I found out you were one of THEM!¡±


    ¡°So all that you said about staying together forever was a lie?¡±


    Yumi ignored his question and shouted back at Arron. ¡°What are you doing to my uncle!¡±


    ¡°Uncle?¡± After only a few seconds everything clicked into place. He remembered hearing that the old man had a granddaughter that he doted on because she was the only surviving family from one of his sons who had been killed in an attack by the Office of Reason.


    ¡°What¡¯s this? A lovers quarrel!?¡± asked a female reporter who had only heard the last part of the conversation as she tried to push her way through the crowd.


    ¡°It appears that one of the M1 officers is being dumped in Live on air! Apparently, the M1 is not only stirring up trouble with the families tonight but is also stirring up a pot of troubled love!¡±


    Kix stepped forward and pushed Yumi away from Arron who had been standing still as a statue while she hammered his chest armor with her slim arms.


    ¡°Get back! We will not allow anyone to interfere with our mission!¡±


    ¡°The target is secured in the back! Kix, Arron hurry up!¡± shouted Knox from the rear of the APC.


    Arron took one last glance at Yumi''s face which was filled with so much hate and anger. Seeing such an expression on her face instead of her usual playful and coy smile hurt him deep into his core.


    Kix grabbed Arron''s arm and dragged him away to the back of the vehicle and shoved him inside.


    ¡°Get a hold of yourself. We still have a lot of shit to do tonight! We can''t have you breaking on us now!¡± said Kix as he slammed the door shut.


    Knox, seeing everyone was inside, tapped in the coordinates of their next target and a second later the armored vehicle lifted off the ground and shot out of the crowd. The automatic driving system did not care about the dozens of people that were in the way and just pushed through them.


    While traveling through the streets at a high speed an emergency notification was sent to each of their helmets followed by Captain Pointer¡¯s face appearing.


    ¡°The main target has escaped our encirclement and is on the run!¡± said Captain Pointer with a pained expression. His breathing was not calm and was full of pained gasps.


    ¡°Captain, are you OK?¡± asked Arron. Several other people chimed in to ask the same question all at once.


    ¡°Everyone that is not currently engaged with a target is to cancel your previous orders and intercept the main target! I am sending the coordinates now! We are trialing them but at this rate, we will be unable to capture the main target!¡±


    Knox received the new coordinates and tapped them into the system causing the vehicle to swerve off of its previous course and head in a new direction.


    ¡°Since our team has already captured our priority target we will help you to cut off the main target''s escape routes!¡± said Knox over the group''s secure comms.

 Chapter 125: Highway Chase

    ¡°That''s right. This has to be the biggest and most successful raid on the Underground factions since the founding of the Mega-city Neo-Tokeyo,¡± said Kommy.


    As their armored vehicle shot down the main streets and headed to their destination to try and intercept the target, Arron and the others watched the news to see how well the other raids were fairing.


    On the projected holo-tv screen there were over 20 smaller screens each showing the view from one of the news drones that had followed each M1 team to their main targets.


    ¡°Ah! Look there,¡± said Fela pointing at one of the small screens. With just a tap, one of the small boxes was enlarged and took up most of the screen.


    A reporter on the scene squeezed her way through the crowd and managed to get right in front of the three people, one female and two men who were being led out of the building in mag-cuffs. The female and one of the men were both half-naked as they were being led through the crowd.


    ¡°Party member Stooni. Why is M1 escorting you out of this building? Who are your friends next to you?¡±


    ¡°No comment!¡± said the stony-faced and half-naked party member.


    The reporter kept pace with the three mag-cuffed troubled suspects while turning to the hovering news drones and spoke in a loud voice for all to hear, ¡°This is Stooni, a party member under Mother. He is married, and the woman next to him is not his wife!¡±


    Arron muted the news as they started to gossip about the party members'' relationships. Everyone just paid attention to the smaller boxes of the other teams. Most of them had already captured their target. There were still some in shootouts with their target and the news drones were happy to show them live on air.


    ¡°This is so messed up!¡± grumbled Kix, ¡°We spent so much time undercover with not even one slip-up or anyone finding out about our operation, but as soon as the order was given to take down the targets, the news showed up at each of the raids.¡±


    Ping!


    Captain Pointer''s face appeared in front of Arron as the call was automatically accepted.


    ¡°Kix, Arron! Your patrol APC and hover-cycle are waiting for you at the previous coordinates! Most of the teams are too far away to help so I need you to use them to help block off any additional escape routes and intercept anyone trying to reinforce the main target!¡± said Captain Pointer who looked to have recovered slightly after getting field treatment for his wounds.


    ¡°Understood!¡± said both Kix and Arron before Captain Pointer ended the call.


    When the armored vehicle halted for a second Arron and Kix both hopped out and then slammed the door shut. It did not stay still for long as it shot off to new coordinates to try and intercept the main target from a different direction.


    Arron rushed over to the waiting Hover-cycle hopping onto it and started going through the startup process while Kix jumped into the APC.


    When both vehicles were running they plugged in the coordinates of the fleeing target and shot off down the street headed towards one of the main highways of Sector 1.


    The sirens on both vehicles blared out and echoed all around them as they traveled at a high speed down the streets. The auto-driving vehicles with civilians all moved slightly to the side allowing them an easier time to weave in and out of the busy traffic.


    ¡°The main target has entered onto the main highway and is coming right at you Arron and Kix!¡± said Captain Pointer over the secure comms.


    The main highway of Sector 1 was built high above the smaller streets below and had over ten lanes that were always packed full of fast-moving hover-vehicles of all types as they were trying to get to one place or another.


    With the increased traffic Kix was lagging behind as the automated vehicles took a few seconds to adjust their position to allow the APC to pass through.


    Arron had no problems with the increased traffic and did not slow down as he continued to weave his way through the parting vehicles at a high speed where everything passed by him so quickly.


    If viewed from above, the vehicles moving to the side for Arron would look like an arrow parting through a large wave of water.


    As Arron looked at the floating holographic map with a blinking dot that represented the target he saw that it was now blinking faster and faster as it was approaching him.


    Arron unholstered his service weapon with one hand while still holding the hover-cycle''s throttle to the max.


    ¡°I have the target in sight! Do I have permission to engage?¡± said Arron over the secure-comms.


    ¡°Affirmative! Stop them at all costs! If it is not possible then try to lead them to the checkpoint that has been set up!¡±


    A speeding gray armored vehicle was driving in the middle oncoming lane in between two large hover-semi''s as it tried to hide from those chasing it.


    As the distance between them closed Arron slowed down as he took aim and opened fire.


    Bam! Bam! Bam!


    The bullets slammed into the vehicle''s armored windshield only leaving small indents. The gray armored vehicle immediately pushed the brakes and slowed down until it was hiding behind one of the semis blocking Arron''s aim.This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.


    Arron activated a constant repeating command that ordered all vehicles in the area to stop.


    As he shot down the highway towards the gray vehicle there were only three vehicles that continued to move!


    The two large semis plowed through the stationary vehicles sending several cars careening to the side and crashing into others. The semis did not stop as more and more overturned and crushed vehicles began to pile up in their wake. There were even a few that had been pushed off of the highway!


    Several of the damaged hovercars burst into flames burning alive those who were inside.


    The two Semis had changed course and were headed right towards Arron due to the large open path behind him that had been cleared to allow him and Kix to reach the target faster.


    They were quickly closing in and were trying to squeeze into the tight spot while blocking the path to protect the gray armored vehicle behind it.


    Arron had only a few seconds to make a decision on what to do as the semis rushed toward him.


    He holstered his weapon and grabbed the handles revving the engine speed to its maximum and shot forward right between the two large semis.


    Bam!


    Just as he shot out from between them, they slammed into each other trying to crush him.


    Arron used his brakes to slow down and did a sharp U-turn as he skidded over a hundred feet, nearly crashing into a few of the wrecked cars.


    In the distance, he could now hear Captain Pointer¡¯s sirens fast approaching as it made its way through the carnage. He did not let this distract him as he revved the hover-cycle to the max and shot off after the armored gray vehicle that was right behind the two semis which were now plowing through the small path that had been opened.


    ¡°Kix, two semis are coming your way!¡±


    ¡°Go it! I already got permission to set up the countermeasures!¡±


    Arron''s speed was far faster than the semi''s and he was able to pull up right beside the gray vehicle.


    He slammed his fist on the car several times to distract the occupants from his discrete actions of placing a more advanced tracker on the vehicle. This tracker also had the ability to try and pierce the vehicle firewall so that he could take control of its command system.


    ¡°Occupants inside the gray vehicle! By order of Mother and Father you are to pull over now!¡± shouted Arron using his helmet''s external loudspeakers.


    He knew this was useless but if he didn''t try commanding them like this then the Office of Reason and the news would complain that he was a thrill-seeking junkie and was just messing around with his gun and not taking his job seriously.


    The gray vehicle''s window opened slightly only enough for an arm to reach out and throw a flaming Molotov cocktail at Arron!


    Fwoosh!


    The Molotov cocktail crashed into the ground in front of the hover-cycle which flew right through the exploding fireball unable to dodge in time.


    Arron''s control of the hover-cycle loosened and he nearly fishtailed out of control from his knee-jerk reaction to the fireball that washed over the lower half of his armored body for a brief second as he shot through the exploding Molotov cocktail.


    It was only through sheer willpower that he managed to hold back his fear of the fire and straighten his hover-cycle.


    As he sped back up and trailed behind the gray armored vehicle he took out his service weapon and opened fire trying to hit the sensitive parts underneath to disable it.


    On both sides of the car, arms reached out holding guns that returned fire causing Arron to weave erratically left and right out of their view.


    ¡°I see you! Activating countermeasures!¡± said Kix.


    A small square barrier rose out of the highway and stopped when it reached waist height.


    The speeding semis were unable to stop in time and slammed into the barrier. The lower half of the semis was smashed and shredded while the upper half continued forward over the barrier carried by the remaining momentum before skidding to a stop.


    The gray armored vehicle which had been lagging behind the semis and shooting at Arron swerved to the side dodging the barrier and...


    ...flew right off the highway landing on the street far below.


    Arron grit his teeth and followed right behind it, not slowing down.


    As he shot into the air he fell over 5 stories before nearly pancaking into the street below, he was only saved by his hover-cycles hovering mechanics groaning loudly as it strained to keep him from crashing.


    The rear of the hover-cycle scraped against the ground sending large sparks trailing behind it before regaining altitude above the road. If he were to try something like this with a civilian Hover-cycle he would have definitely been heavily wounded or dead.


    The gray armored car was once again speeding away. It looked horrible as it had lost large chunks of its body from the crash which now littered the street.


    As Arron sped up to chase after the fleeing targets he saw that on every side of the road they were on, the round road barricades had been activated leaving only one path on the road they were speeding down.


    The gray car noticed this as well and decided to go even faster to try and ram their way through the hastily erected checkpoint that was most likely at the end of the road.


    High above the roar a large hover-copter shot past Arron and the speeding gray vehicle. It was carrying several M1 officers in exoskeletons and its speed was far faster and quickly disappeared from sight.


    After a few minutes of wild chasing down the street, they rounded a corner and saw at the end of the street the checkpoint that had been set up.


    The occupants of the car had given up shooting at Arron and started to shoot at the gathered exoskeleton M1 officers that had just been dropped off by the hover-copter a few minutes before.


    As they were trying to capture the main target alive they had set up less-than-lethal roadblock measures to stop the car. Using both their APCs and a type of metal strip net that could capture the speeding car. Of course, the net was still in its testing phase...


    CRASH!


    The front of the gray car was totaled as it tried to ram its way through the APC''s and the metal net that shot up around it.


    Arron slowed down as he saw the crumpled wreckage tangled up in the metal net.


    ¡°The main target has been stopped!¡± shouted someone over the secure comms.


    BAM!


    One of the armored doors was kicked into the air and a black exoskeleton exited the car and Rushed at the gathered M1 officers who were not wearing exoskeletons.


    They were forced to open fire with their small arms but the bullets did little damage as the exoskeleton rushed forward with its arms held up as shields.


    Before it could reach the soft armored officers hiding behind their APCs the M1 exoskeletons intercepted it by grabbing it and slamming the black exoskeleton into the ground.


    The target''s last-ditch attempt at escaping had utterly failed but he still fought until he had no energy to fight.


    The exoskeletons wrestled for over a minute before being able to pin the black exoskeleton to the ground and tear off the exoskeleton face-mask revealing that it was indeed the ''Old man'' of the Ryu family.


    ¡°The target has been secured,¡± said Knox, who was one of the exoskeletons holding down the target.


    ¡°Great work everyone. The Office of Reason will be sending someone over to pick him up shortly! Now that the hard part has been taken care of, you just need to keep him safe until then!¡± said Captain Pointer.

 Chapter 126: We Will Not Cower

    ¡°Captain, do you want us to stay where we are or is there someplace more secure we can wait?¡± asked Arron.


    He and the others at the checkpoint waited for over a minute but heard nothing but static over the comm link.


    ¡°Captain! Are you there?''¡± asked Ward using his Exoskeleton''s more powerful comms to try to reach Captain Pointer but there was still no reply.


    ¡°Pick him up and put him in the back of the APC. Something is not right. We''ve lost connection to the captain,¡± said Knox, looking at everyone around him. ¡°I am making the decisions now. We''re pulling out to a more defensible spot. We''re too exposed here.¡±


    Arron helped two of the other officers not in exoskeleton suits pick up the old man. They had both his hands and legs mag-cuffed behind his back so that there was no way for him to escape. With the door slammed shut there was now less of a chance for the target to get injured.


    ¡°Arron, take your hover-cycle and scout ahead for us just to make sure the coast is clear. This is where I want to go,¡± said Knox using his armored exoskeleton hands to swipe the directions over to Arron.


    ¡°Sure,¡± said Arron. He was happy to help and only took a few seconds to look over the route he needed to take. With his hover-cycle''s small size and speed compared to the APC, he was perfect for scouting ahead of the group.


    When the regular officers had loaded up into the APC and the exoskeleton officers had hopped onto the sides, Arron took off down the street widening the distance between them just enough to give those behind him warning if someone was laying an ambush ahead of them.


    With his siren turned off so that he was harder to notice, he weaved through the little traffic that was present on the road now that all the side streets were still being blocked off all along their path.


    Trailing behind him were the APCs, despite what Knox had thought there were no ambushes or inconveniences on their way to the local Sector 1 police station.


    When Arron was nearing a thick red para-steel guard post at the end of the street corner a long para-steel beam fell down blocking his path.


    Ping!


    ¡°Unidentified person on the hover-cycle, stop where you are! This is a restricted area. Only police and authorized personnel are allowed to come any closer! Identify yourself or we will activate the defense system!¡±


    A holo-call appeared on Arron''s helmet visor as well as each of the M1 officers following behind him.


    ¡°We are part of the raiding force that you may have seen on the news. We have come here to request that you allow us to wait here for the Office of Reason who will be coming to pick up a target.¡±


    ¡°Wait, you''re the M1 party that just captured the old man?¡±


    ¡°What if we are?¡± asked Ward as he hopped off the side of the APC and stared at the guard post.


    ¡°We were just about to send out one of our hover-copters to pick up that target! We were given orders by the Office of Reason to escort him to the 4th level.¡±


    ¡°Why you?¡± asked Knox. ¡°I thought they would send field agents for someone this important.¡±


    ¡°You know why. It''s the same reason they sent you out to capture the target instead of doing it themselves,¡± said the police officer.


    Arron could only nod his head at this. With all he had gone through while under the control of the Office of Reason, he knew they hated taking credit for anything that would bring them hatred from the citizens. Whenever they could they would outsource such jobs unless they wanted to make a statement, then they would go in full force guns blazing with the news covering every second of it.


    The officer swiped over the official orders to Knox who looked over them.


    ¡°Everything looks to be in order but just to be sure, see if you can contact the captain,¡± said Knox as he looked over to Arron.


    ¡°Captain Pointer, come in! We have received new orders from the Office of Reason. Please reply with a confirmation that you are aware of this.¡±


    No matter what M1 official channel Arron tried there was no response. Even a simple holo-call kept giving him a busy signal before hanging up...


    Arron shook his head to Knox after several minutes of nothing but static.


    ¡°We can''t just hand him over to you and leave. We have to personally see you place him on the hover-copter and see it take off so that we aren''t accused of something crazy by the Office of Reason later,¡± said Ward.


    The police guard stepped out of the guard post and shrugged as he pressed the holographic button for the parasteel beam to be raised allowing them to enter the secure police area.


    ¡°Fine by me, the hover-copter is already up and running. We are all ready to go since we were preparing to go out and look for you. You saved us time coming here.¡±


    As they moved farther in Arron could hear the sound of a hover-copter that was idling, after they passed through another security checkpoint they arrived at the large hover-pad that had two older generation hover-copters resting on it. One of them was letting out a low murmur as it idled. Their pilots were already going through a checklist to make sure the old hover-copter was not going to fail while they were flying.Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.


    The side doors of the Hover-copter slammed open and four police officers wielding rifles hopped out.


    ¡°What a nice escorting force for the VIP,¡± said one of the police officers as he walked up to Arron who was getting off his hover-cycle.


    ¡°You can never be too careful,¡± said Arron.


    ¡°Right you are,¡± said the police officer.


    With the soft armored M1 officer and exoskeletons forming a shield around the rear of the APC, Knox opened the armored doors and dragged out the old man. As one they all marched over to the hover-copter making sure that the old man was shielded from any possible surprise attack as they handed him over to the four police officers.


    Arron watched as they took off M1''s mag-cuffs and gave them back after replacing them with their own mag-cuffs.


    The four police officers hauled the old man into the hover-copter like a sack of potatoes and then gave Arron and the other M1 officers a friendly salute before slamming the door shut.


    With the target secured, the hover-copter took off and flew out of everyone''s view.


    ¡°Well, that settles that. There are still several targets we need to capture. Arron, since you were separated from your team you can join us. With how hectic everything is, the more people we have the easier it will be to capture them,¡± said Knox.


    ¡°Sure, I have no problem helping out,¡± said Arron.


    ¡°We still need to contact the captain so someone needs to keep trying until we get through. When you do inform him of the successful transfer.¡±


    ***


    The hover-copter flew through the air at the fastest speed possible without risking crashing into any of the flying cars.


    Although they were excited to be allowed to actually travel to the 4th level, there was no talking as they had been on shift all day and just wanted to complete this mission as fast as possible so that they could return to their families who were waiting for them.


    Beeeeeeeeeeep!


    A red light lit up on the holographic dashboard and a loud warning signal blared out throughout the hover-copter.


    ¡°What''s going on?¡± asked one of the police officers in the back.


    ¡°S-somethings locking onto us!¡± said the first pilot as he was tapping through several warning messages.


    ¡°What! I thought you checked the codes before we left! If we get shot down by the city''s defense system because you were too lazy...¡±


    ¡°I did check them! They are up to date! The signals are not from the city defenses! And the number of signals are increasing!¡±


    ¡°Inform HQ! Ask for help!¡±


    ¡°I''ve been trying! Nothing is getting through!¡± said the co-pilot.


    ¡°Hold on! I''m going to start evasive maneuvers!¡±


    The hovercopter that was flying high in the air dipped down from the mostly wide open sky and started to hug the buildings as it weaved in and out of the maze of buildings trying to break the locks of whatever was targeting them.


    ¡°It''s no use! Whatever is chasing us has a solid lock on us!¡± said the co-pilot as he was tapping through the constant warning notifications with one hand while trying to make a call to HQ with his second hand. ¡°Incoming! 1, no 2, uh 6...¡±


    The hover-copters radar showed over half a dozen incoming missiles flying towards them.


    The blips of light on the radar were approaching them at a speed that made the speeding hover-copter, which was weaving in and out of the gaps between the buildings, look like it was standing still.


    ¡°Launch the flares!¡± ordered the pilot.


    Poof, Poof, Poof! Several flares shot out behind them and flared up, lighting the area and causing several bright heat signatures to appear behind them.


    The approaching blips on the radar could now be seen with their own eyes through the rear cameras and their hearts sank as they watched the missiles pass the flares and...


    Kaboom! Kaboom!


    Several small but loud explosions could be seen several hundred feet up in the air as its tail and over mechanics were repeatedly hit causing them to lose power and begin falling...


    ***


    A group of gray exoskeletons holstered their shoulder launchers after seeing the target falling.


    ¡°Who shot the main body? You were told to only hit the tail and other parts. We need the main body intact so that we can confirm that the target is inside.¡±


    ¡°Stop complaining. We need to hurry up and finish the job before the news drones arrive. How much more time do we have?¡± said a second person in one of the gray exoskeletons.


    ¡°The jamming should last at least 10 more minutes.¡±


    ¡°That''s enough time. Let''s go.¡±


    They rushed towards the crash site where the hovercopter lay in a crumpled mess on its side. Its tail had been blown off and the hover mechanics were blown to bits, the gray exoskeletons did not waste any time inspecting it and just tore open the side door and looked inside.


    ¡°Help...¡± came the voice of one of the police officers who was amazingly still alive.


    ¡°Target located.¡±


    ¡°Permanently normalize those still alive. We''ll have to take their bodies with us, just leave the target inside.¡±


    Bang! Bang! Bang!


    7 high-powered shots rang out as they enacted their orders without hesitation.


    ***


    ¡°As you can see something happened to the police hover-copter that was transporting the leader of the underground RYU ''Family'',¡± said Fela narrating the footage of the news drone as it zoomed in on the crashed hover-copter.


    ¡°Reports state that there were several large explosions from missiles slamming into it. The Office of Reason suspects that this was an act of defiance done by the underground families to stop them from interrogating him and learning new secrets,¡± said Kommy.


    ¡°The only body inside the wreck appears to be that of the former leader of the RYU family. There are no bodies of the police who were escorting him.¡±


    ¡°It could have been...¡± the news broadcast was turned off leaving the room dark so that those gathered only appeared as shadows.


    ¡°I will only ask this once... Was this done by any of your family members?¡± asked a dark figure holding back his rage that was mixed with grief.


    ¡°This is the first meeting between each of the Family heads since the bloody war and that is what you want to ask us?¡±


    ¡°You know the answer already! After all we have gone through, how could we attack the old man!¡±


    ¡°We are constantly being raided by the Office of Reason every other week. It would be impossible to hide such large weapons like what they are describing.¡±


    ¡°Right, it''s hard enough to hide all our small arms from their prying eyes let alone something so large and eye-catching.¡±


    ¡°Then someone must be targeting us and trying to turn public opinion against us,¡± said the angry dark shadow.


    ¡°This is nothing new. We already know the culprits. It has to be either the Office of Reason or Mother and Father.¡±


    ¡°It doesn''t matter which one since they are the same entity.¡±


    ¡°Then we are all in agreement on what to do?¡±


    ¡°Correct. If they want to start a war we will not cower!¡±

 Chapter 127: Clearing up loose ends

    Nearly a half hour after the transfer of the old man to the police, Arron was still rounding up the targets on the list that had been given to him. He had managed to stumble upon the hidey-hole of the last man on the list and started to drag him towards the APC that was now crammed full of everyone who had been rounded up.


    ¡°You won''t make me talk!¡± said the large man that Arron was half carrying and half dragging.


    ¡°That''s not my job. The Office of Reason will be the one talking with you,¡± said Arron.


    Ping!


    Arron looked at the new notification from his NerViz to find he had an important incoming call.


    ¡°Hey Knox! The captain is calling!¡± shouted Arron as he sped up his pace to the opened back doors before shoving the grumbling man in the back with the rest. He had a little trouble trying to close the door with several shouts coming inside but he ignored them as he gave it one more push and managed to close the door allowing the auto-locks to engage, securing their large harvest.


    ¡°Accept the call! Don''t leave him waiting!¡± said Knox while he ran over to Arron.


    Arron did just that and immediately Captain Pointer¡¯s face appeared in front of Arron.


    ¡°What the hell is going on? Where are you? I have been trying to get through to you for over a half hour,¡± said Captain Pointer.


    ¡°All our communications were blocked and I was trying to contact you the whole time. But I am happy to announce that we managed to capture the Target. We then received new orders from the Office of Reason and handed him over to the police so they could escort him to the 4th level. We just finished gathering the last person on our list so I can say it''s Mission accomplished!¡± said Arron in one quick breath.


    Captain Pointer stared at Arron for some time in silence making him feel awkward as if he had missed something.


    ¡°You say you had new orders? Can you show them to me?¡±


    ¡°Sure,¡± said Arron with a shrug as he brought up the orders from the Office of Reason and shared it with Captain Pointer over their secure connection.


    The captain''s face scrunched up in confusion as he read the document.


    ¡°Looks to be official... by the way, you haven''t been watching the news have you?¡± asked Captain Pointer.


    ¡°No, too busy hunting down the troubled suspects for the Office of Reason. Why? Has something happened?¡±


    ¡°A short while ago the news started to broadcast footage from the wreckage... It was the hover-copter that was transporting the old man of the Ryu family. All hell has broken loose in Sector 1. Many of our informants have gone silent and will not talk to us anymore. Something big is brewing.¡±


    ¡°Even bigger than today?¡± asked Arron, skeptical of such talk.


    ¡°Even bigger,¡± said Captain Pointer with a nod.


    ¡°Then HQ is going to be on high alert. Do you want us to head back there immediately or can we drop off the suspected targets we gathered?¡±


    ¡°Everyone should head back to HQ as fast as possible. Except for you. Both you and Kix have been ordered to head to the Office of Reason''s level 1 HQ to receive a debriefing for your time working with them,¡± said Captain Pointer.


    Arron signed. Of course something like this would happen. He could do nothing about it, so he just accepted the fact and tried to figure out how to get a ride to the main Office of Reason building.


    ***Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.


    When Arron arrived in front of the Sector 12 Office of Reason building, Kix was already there waiting for him along with half a dozen white suit agents.


    Both Arron and Kix could only nod to each other in greeting before the white suit agents silently led them into the building through many winding white-tiled hallways until they were deep within the belly of the building.


    The hallways they took were quiet and had little to no traffic in them making the large building feel empty.


    A well-polished white door at the end of the hallway slid open to reveal an interrogation room with five hover chairs around a small white table.


    The escorting agents waved the two into the room and watched them closely before the door slid shut.


    Arron plopped down into one of two chairs on the right and quietly grumbled, ¡°I hate these rooms, why can''t we ever use a normal conference room.¡±


    ¡°It''s so that they can show who has the power,¡± said Kix as he sat next to Arron.


    ¡°You know with everything that happened I now have a deeper understanding of what hardships you had to go through as a kid and what''s going on with the families now. I am surprised that they even allowed you to leave,¡± said Arron quietly.


    ¡°My father is not that kind. You know the family codes. I already paid my dues... both in blood and credits,¡± said Kix as he looked at his metal hand.


    They sat in the room silently for what seemed ages before the door slid open once again.


    Three gray suit agents walked into the room, one of them was A.S who sat down in one of the chairs opposite them while the other two agents continued to stand.


    ¡°Since we have all the files and recordings from the both of you during your undercover and support roles, this is just a formality so that we can close up a few loose ends...¡± said A.S. with a slick smile on his face as he said the last words.


    There was a long pause making both Arron and Kix feel uncomfortable before A.S chuckled and continued talking, ¡°As promised, we will be paying you for any credits spent during the mission minus the taxes.¡±


    With a swipe of his hand, he sent both Arron and Kix small deposits to their bank accounts.


    Ping! Arron checked the amount that had been deposited and saw that the number was correct. It still left him with fewer credits than he had started out with.


    Although Arron had risked his life multiple times while undercover, in the Office of Reason opinion this small amount of credits was all that he was worth. It was not a nice feeling.


    ¡°We also have several finished reports from the researchers on your latest test prototypes that you were working on. The main Office of Reason researchers have decided to end the test since they were not satisfied with prototype Chewy''s AI as it is too docile along with its other quirks. I hear they have already started working on a new future domestic product using its AI as a base. Spike''s AI model on the other hand is much more to their liking. I''m guessing that they will soon be producing new updated models for use in the military, and police forces.¡±


    Arron was not sure why A.S. was talking about such things that sounded to be highly classified, but if he was talking about it, he might as well ask the question on his mind. ¡°...and what will happen to the two prototypes?¡±


    ¡°Now that the project has finished the researchers have already sent through a final patch to add a few limitations on their functions and harden their systems in order to follow the regulations set by Mother and Father. Since they are not worth the cost needed to scrap them, they will be handed back to M1 to use however your chief wants,¡± said A.S.


    ¡°As for your NerViz prototype... also a failure. It is too expensive for mass production and has several flaws and bugs that can not be fixed. Only worth producing in low quantity if the party of Mother and Father want them.¡±


    Arron was sweating... flaws? This was the first time he had heard of this! Was he really safe the entire time he was undercover?


    ¡°Arron, just so that our records are complete, I will need you to take off your armor and shirt so that we can get a full scan of your new ''Art piece'',¡± said A.S with a smile.


    The two gray suit agents next to AS stepped forward threateningly.


    Arron could only do as told and strip off his armor, the sweat-drenched uniform shirt, and the silk arm cover that he had been using to hide the Irizumi on both his hand and arm.


    Now half naked, he waited as two drones dropped down from an opened hole in the ceiling.


    They slowly hovered around him scanning his entire body once then slowly taking a close-up detailed scan of his left hand, arm, and shoulder.


    When the drones finished their scans and flew back into the holes they came from, A.S. clapped his hands loudly.


    ¡°It would be quite a problem if another Office of Reason agent were to suspect you of being a member of the Ryu family. With that added to your files we should be good... but if anyone else not in the know were to catch wind of THAT,¡± said A.S. pointing to Arron''s Irizumi. ¡°Let''s say the news or one of the families did. If something like that were to happen, we will deny any knowledge of it.¡±


    With that said A.S. and the two other gray suits turned around and walked to the door that was now open.


    ¡°You are free to leave whenever you want. The white suit agents will escort you out,¡± said A.S. as he exited the room.

 Chapter 128: You did not see what you saw

    In the week after the old man''s death, Arron and Kix along with the entire M1 force, were now even more busy than during the last rage week holiday. A massive number of calls were sent out detailing violent battles flaring up all over the first level.


    Without the steady hand of the old man to lead the Ryu family and the other families, several upstart gangs were causing trouble. This also included a few of the smaller families that were suspected to be under Mother and Father''s control as they started to chip away at the Ryu family territory and businesses.


    The Ryu family of course fought back along with several of their more loyal allies among the other families, but for the rest, they offered words of help but not any solid support.


    The lack of help caused friction between some of the families but not to the point that they came to blows.


    With all this conflict the sound of gunshots and explosions was not uncommon in the poorer areas of the first level. Crime was on the rise with no end in sight.


    ***


    Arron and Kix exited their APC and dragged out a grubby man whom they had been hunting down for the last two days. He had finally been found living in one of the local dumpsters near his original apartment.


    Both Chewy and Spike walked alongside them now that were on active duty once again after they had received both hardware and software updates to follow the regulations passed by the party of Mother and Father. They were still the same as before but just with more restrictions.


    This was the first time in a long time that the four had been on a mission together once again because of all the underground work with the Office of Reason and other cleanup missions.


    Flash! Flash! Flash!


    Several news drones were hovering above them as they took pictures and live-streamed everything around them.


    ¡°There he is! One of the infamous and most wanted violent gang members who once worked for Mother and Father but turned to a life of crime!¡± shouted a female news reporter as she pointed at the grubby man who looked rather plain. You would never have guessed he was such a famous person.


    Arron ignored the news drones and the reporters as he began dragging the man towards the thick paraconcrete launch pad that had been set up in sector one near the outer wall of the megacity.


    High above their heads, a large hole in the ceiling had been opened allowing everyone to see actual sunlight which was now shining on the launchpad. The large booster rockets of the shuttle were steaming as the AI pilot went through the checklist to launch into orbit.


    ¡°For those of you joining in just now, Efamas the infamous, was captured earlier today. It was decided that his mind was unable to be Re-educated. His crimes are so egregious that a simple normalization is not enough! He will be sent to the Moon prison! That''s right! For the rest of his life, he will be mining minerals on the moon for the mega-city and the rest of the WHO member states!¡±


    Arron shoved the cuffed Efamas through the open doors of the Shuttle. Both Kix and Arron buckled him into his seat and shoved a self-sealing space helmet onto his head before exiting the shuttle and slamming the door shut allowing its auto-locking systems to activate.


    As they walked back to their APC the shuttle''s checklist finished and the countdown was initiated over loudspeakers.


    All of this was being live-streamed to anyone who wanted to watch.


    [3...2...1... Liftoff!]


    The roar of the rockets sent out plumes of smoke and long jets of fire as it shot into the air and flew right out of the open hole in the ceiling.


    Arron watched as the shuttle flew higher into the sky and grew smaller and smaller. When it was just a large black dot... a massive fireball burst out high in the sky as the shuttle exploded.If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.


    Arron stood there slightly shocked but recovered himself and turned on the volume for one of the news streams he had been watching earlier.


    ¡°A missile!¡± shouted one of the reporters on the live stream as he pointed to a small object captured by the news drones that had been zoomed in on the shuttle.


    ¡°It wasn''t from Nippon! Why would another country...¡±


    The live stream was immediately cut off and was replaced with the daily KNN news in less than a second.


    ¡°Today we have a special update about a former party member you may remember.¡±


    ¡°Who?¡± asked Fela.


    ¡°Everyone should know who I am talking about. It is of course the D-rank citizen Nuck. He was recently spotted living in his hover-car on the first level,¡± said Kommy.


    ¡°Why would he want to live in his hovercar? Does he not like living in an apartment?¡± asked a coy Fela.


    Kommy smiled and nodded while he said, ¡°I believe there are rumors flowing around that he has had a hard time finding a new place to live since he became a normal citizen with a D-rank SCS.¡±


    Rando Poyson who was a guest on the news for this segment spoke up, ¡°This man has been a long-time troll. So no one should feel sorry. Instead, you should be happy as this shows that normalization works! Those who are Normalized must feel the pain from their actions and words! There may be many non-believers who disagree with this and scream that this is not fair. But I say they are just sympathizers of the separatists.¡±


    Both Fela and Kommy nodded their heads at this and then switched to a new subject.


    Arron and Kix both got into their APC and continued their patrolling of the area for the day.


    ¡°What the heck was that?¡± asked Akira.


    Kix only shrugged and continued to listen to the news as they slowly cruised around looking for any suspicious gang member or family enforcers looking for trouble.


    ¡°Over the last few weeks, the rise in gang violence has sharply risen ever since the leader of the underground families was captured by the special M1 forces and was found dead. Shootings, explosions, and worker-bot crimes are all on the rise. If you have any information on those committing these crimes, send it to the Office of Reason,¡± said Fela.


    ¡°We will take all the information sent to us seriously,¡± said Rando with a serious and upright expression on his face.


    Arron snorted at that. They would probably hand off all the grunt work to the M1 and once again take all the glory for the results.


    ¡°It seems a gang war has started between the underground factions. I guess there is no honor among thieves,¡± said Kommy.


    ¡°In other news, all government social media will be adding a new yearly fee that you must pay in order to use. Each platform has had its TOS updated to conform to the new regulations passed by the party of Mother and Father. Here is an excerpt from the new guidelines. ''We will enforce these new Community Guidelines using a combination of human reviewers and machine learning, and apply them to everyone equally¡ªregardless of the subject or the creator¡¯s background, position, or affiliation. That is unless a user or users post views that do not align with the party of Mother and Father, this will result in the said user or users accounts being permanently normalized.''¡±


    Arron muted the live stream once again and looked out his windows to see the old buildings nearby looked even more shabby due to the uptick in violence.


    Those that lived here were unable to escape the fighting and so they were forced to hide in their homes which only offered them a little more protection than standing outside.


    The Office of Reason was constantly yelling at M1 to do something because the fighting was affecting the local economy, which was already in a major recession. Even if Mother and Father along with the news refused to call it that and made new definitions to describe what was happening, everyone knew what was going on.


    It seemed like every day there was some major explosion killing dozens if not hundreds of people each time. The factories of the first level were having trouble keeping their workers working as they all feared random violence flaring up or the threat of a car bomb exploding. So many were now staying home.


    There was little that the M1 officers could do as the main culprits were faceless groups of lowlife gangs that had no honor, unlike the Families who were defending themselves against the attacks.


    ¡°I just don''t get how these gangs are armed so well,¡± said Arron as they were nearing the end of their shift.


    Kix shrugged, ¡°No use in trying to go on a goose chase hunting down the source. There will always be a way to get something if you really want it. For every weapons shop shut down, two more open up.¡±


    Ping!


    Lexa''s face appeared above the dashboard and interrupted their chat, ¡°Arron, the Chief wants to speak with you as soon as you arrive back at the station. It seems to be very important.¡±


    With that the call ended just like that, Kix continued to stare at Arron.


    ¡°What!? I didn''t do anything! You were with me the whole time!¡±

 Chapter 129: Four vs one

    ¡°Since there have been many openings for command positions and looking over your recent activities that have all been completed ''successfully''... I along with Mother and Father have picked you as a possible candidate to fill in for those spots when needed in the future. That is if you accept this offer,¡± said Chief Chesty who was sitting behind his desk reading over several holographic flowing reports that streamed in front of him.


    ¡°What about Kix?¡± asked Arron, as he stood ramrod straight in front of the chief''s desk.


    ¡°He was given the same offer but he declined since there are more work requirements put on the commanding officer including being responsible for those under your command.¡±


    ¡°And what is required to become a commanding officer?¡±


    ¡°You will be required to comply with the new regulations passed by the party of Mother and Father and will also be required to take a few mandated officer classes run by Mother and Father. You will not be able to become a captain until you pass all their tests and are deemed qualified.¡±


    ¡°Do I have to decide right now?¡± asked Arron.


    ¡°I don''t have the time to wait for your answer. So yes, I need an answer now.¡±


    Arron''s mind was running through all the pros and cons while feeling pressured to decide right this second.


    ¡°I... I''ll do it,¡± said Arron, finally coming to a decision.


    ¡°Good. Your position with M1 will not change for now. You will still be a member of the ERF and Kix''s Partner. If you complete your training in the future you will be used as a backup commanding officer,¡± said Chief Chesty. ¡°Your ride will be here to pick you up in five to ten minutes.¡±


    ¡°What?¡± asked Arron.


    ¡°Since you have such a good ''relationship'' with the Office of Reason. You have been chosen to play along with their request to have an M1 officer join KNN for a ''live'' news recording tonight. Don''t worry, you aren''t going to the 4th level. They have set up a recording studio here on the first level.¡±


    ¡°But...I just got off patrol and haven''t had time to change or take a shower. Also because of my undercover work won''t this be a little too dangerous if any one of the families recognizes me or somehow can see my Irezumi?¡±


    Chief Chesty for the first time in this conversation looked up from his flowing reports and glanced at the holographic digital time that was floating over his desk, ¡°Just keep wearing that silk arm cover, and if you''re worried about your voice, and face you can use a voice modulator as well as a mirrored visor. Although that might make you stand out even more... You better hurry since they will be here soon.¡±


    Arron gave a smart salute and then rushed out of the office and into the mag-shoot. There was no time to mess around, he needed to clean up fast!


    ***


    Arron was standing alone in a dimly lit back room behind the hastily constructed recording stage.


    He had managed to do a quick 1-minute shower and throw on a clean M1 uniform before the black hovercar sent by KNN arrived to pick him up.


    Due to his nervousness, he was constantly wiping away the sweat on his forehead.


    This was his first live sit-down interview with KNN or any other major news media for that matter.


    In the past, he had only been interviewed by reporters from the news portals. There were many live streams where he had been recorded doing his job but that was different. All of those had been scrubbed from existence by the Office of Reason before his undercover job so as far as the public was concerned, this was his first public appearance.


    He had no idea what the exact topic was but he guessed it had something to do with M1 as they had asked for an officer to join them... and since no one wanted to do it the Office of Reason picked someone...


    To try and calm his nerves he pulled up the news portal and picked an article at random to read.


    [If you eat synth food with Bechup you are most likely a separatist.]


    Sighing with frustration, Arron exited the news portal and began pacing back and forth.


    Ping!


    A notification of an incoming holo-call from Kix startled Arron. With all that had been going on in such a short time he had been unable to talk to Kix so of course he accepted the call.


    ¡°I heard about your predicament. I am just calling to remind you what your last interview was like. You need to be on your [A] game as this can turn out to be even more brutal if you are not prepared.¡±


    ¡°Thanks for the pep talk,¡± said Arron as the door to his backstage room opened unexpectedly. ¡°I have to go, someone has just come into the room.¡±


    Kix nodded and ended the call.


    Five people, 1 male and 4 females, entered the dim room which immediately lit up with several drones flying in and hovering over the three hover chairs that were sitting in front of a large wall mirror.


    Of the three females carrying floating metal boxes one of them came over to Akira and pointed to one of the three chairs. ¡°Please sit.¡±


    The chubby man and a female with hawk-like features sat down in two of the hover chairs leaving the one on the right for Arron. Behind each of them, a makeup artist began sorting through the various shades of makeup, brushes, and cleaners. There was no talking as they cleaned their faces and started applying a liberal amount of broadcasting makeup on their faces.


    Arron had decided that it was better to be safe than sorry and so he had opted to wear his mirrored visor to cover half of his face. No one would really fault him for this due to his line of work but modifying his voice would bring a little too much attention to him. Even with the visor on, the makeup artist made sure to cover all of his face, even the hidden parts.


    When the makeup artist finished their tasks they left the room together leaving Arron and the two other strangers sitting in their chairs looking at themselves in the mirror.


    ¡°My name¡¯s Chobe. Have you heard about the recent gossip that has been sweeping the government-approved social media?¡± asked the man sitting on Arron''s left as he held out a chubby hand for Arron to shake.


    ¡°I''m Arron. What Gossip?¡± asked Arron as he grabbed the man''s sweaty hand. He had no clue what the man was talking about.


    ¡°Wow! I''m surprised you have not heard about the new superstar actress MeepMeep calling out a seasoned actress!¡±The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.


    ¡°Well... I don''t use any of the social media so I guess I wouldn''t be up to date on such matters...¡± said Arron. He really had no interest in such stupid drama. There were far more important issues everyday that he had to take care of which were life-threatening if not addressed properly.


    Arron had to remind himself that the regular citizens were blissfully or ignorantly unaware of these issues that had huge implications on their own daily lives and they instead participated in such pointless drama.


    ¡°What! How could you not use social media!¡± asked Chobe, who was greatly appalled and shocked at hearing this. He turned to the female on his left and said. ¡°Hey did you hear that? He doesn''t use social media!¡±


    The female guest did not pay Chobe any attention and also ignored Arron as she was focused on redoing her hair so that it looked just right.


    Over the next few minutes, Arron exchanged a few words with Chobe getting to know the talkative man a little better. He seemed relatively friendly and outgoing.


    A green light began flashing on one of the drones above them before it began speaking in a loud robotic voice.


    [Head to the main stage! Recording will begin in 5 minutes!] [Head to the main stage! Recording will begin in 5 minutes!]


    Arron and the two other guests exited the room and walked the short distance to the recording stage which was lit up as brightly as could be. His footsteps echoed loudly throughout the cavernous warehouse that they were using for the recording.


    The small stage had been set up to look like a nice living room but you could still see the dirty warehouse behind them. On the stage, there were three hover armchairs and a large couch sitting across from them with a table separating them.


    There was no one but Arron and the two other guests on the stage as they walked over to the three hovering armchairs and sat down. They sat down in the same order as they had been in the makeup room. Arron on the right, Chobe in the middle, and the female on the left.


    In the air above the stage, a floating drone was projecting a live countdown to let them know when the recording would start.


    No matter where Arron looked he was unable to see where the reporters were hiding. He only saw a few grubby workers controlling the news drones and the lighting.


    As the countdown reached 50 seconds two full-body holographic renderings of Kommy and Fela appeared before them sitting on the large couch.


    Seeing the famous news reporters right in front of him was quite a shock.


    Now instead of yelling at his holo-tv whenever he heard something stupid, Arron had the chance to actually speak directly to the two who were always criticizing the M1.


    ...not that he would actually do something like that. It would be the fastest way to get yourself destroyed. But still, it was the thought that counted right?


    Arron saw that Chobe''s smiling face turned hard and serious when the countdown reached 10 seconds while the hawkish female guest''s scowl was replaced with a bright and fluttery smile.


    Arron felt out of place as he did not know what expression he was supposed to make so he just stayed as he was.


    When the countdown reached 0, a loud beep echoed throughout the warehouse and the noise-canceling privacy shields popped up around them. They had been programmed to look like the walls of a normal living room to block the people''s view of the dirty warehouse.


    ¡°Welcome viewers to tonight''s KNN live special news segment brought to you from the first level!¡± said an ever-cheerful Fela.


    ¡°Tonight we have three special guests joining us! Each from a different background on the first level!¡± said Kommy.


    ¡°Our first guest is a popular journalist and budding actress Pumpmi Phul who has recently done several AVs,¡± said Fela introducing the female guest. The news drones all zoomed in on her to get closeups from several angles.


    ¡°Hello everyone! Please watch my videos! I am told they are electrifying! Also, any producers out there call my agent!¡±


    ¡°Our next guest is Mr. Chobe, a party member under Mother''s wing!¡± said Kommy with gusto as he waved his hand and gestured to Chobe having the cameras pan to him.


    ¡°Hello,¡± was all Chobe said, his face showing nothing but seriousness.


    ¡°...and lastly we have a special guest from the special M1 force. Because of his line of work we have been asked to not use his name and will just call him Mr.M1,¡± said Fela jokingly as she covered her mouth to stop a laugh from escaping.


    ¡°Tonight''s main topic is... the use of special M1 units for so-called ''riot'' control as well as taking care of the growing separatist threat that the Mega-city faces,¡± said Kommy.


    ¡°But first, let''s get into the other news before that!¡± said Fela.


    ¡°We have only recently learned that the CEO Mr. Kurup of Kurup Computing Chips has died unexpectedly,¡± said Kommy.


    ¡°I was shocked as well at this sad news. Mr. M1, do you have any comments or opinions about this subject?¡± asked Fela.


    Arron was a little startled at being put on the spot about the subject. Of course, he knew who the man was and he had to bite his tongue to stop himself from saying what he really felt. He knew of all the crimes and even several murders the dead CEO had committed so that he could keep his position.


    Many of his crazy killing sprees had wiped out the entire families of his rivals. But since this was live news and not the place to say such things he was forced to take a deep breath and dumb down his answer, ¡°He had some flaws but...¡±


    ¡°What? Why are you badmouthing such an esteemed and well-respected person who followed the laws and regulations of the party of Mother and Father?¡± asked Chobe with a harsh rebuttal that interrupted a surprised Arron.


    ¡°As expected from someone who works for the special M1,¡± said Pumpmi.


    ''What is going on?'' thought Arron as he looked at Chobe who was now going into a long-winded explanation on how great the dead CEO was.


    ''Don''t tell me this is going to be a 4v1 hit job?'' thought Arron as he looked at the two smiling reporters.


    ¡°With the rise of violence in certain areas many innocent people have been killed and numerous properties have been destroyed during M1''s response to these incidents,¡± said Kommy.


    ¡°Mr. M1, would you care to enlighten us on why this is happening?¡± asked Fela.


    Arron tried to think of any innocents killed by M1 since he was on the job but knew of no one who matched that description.


    ¡°To my knowledge, there have been no...¡±


    ¡°Don''t lie. Over 20 innocent people died yesterday along with their homes collapsing! That is just one example of many!¡± said Chobe.


    ¡°Wait... are you talking about the gang members? Those buildings were the fortified hideout of a group of the violent gang. It would have been a death trap to go in so it was decided to collapse them.¡±


    ¡°That''s real rich. You''re calling those you killed gang members so that you can cover up your murders. Were they ever convicted in court? Oh wait of course not, you killed them!¡± said Pumpmi.


    ¡°I am just following what the Office of Reason labeled them,¡± Arron shot back at them with gritted teeth. This retort shut them down for a few seconds.


    Arron realized now why no one wanted to come. This was nothing more than a means to push out more bad press for M1 and make their job harder while praising others for things they had not done.


    ¡°I see you lost your arm. Did you perhaps lose it fighting in the army for Mother and Father?¡± asked Kommy.


    ¡°No,¡± was all Arron said, not caring to explain anything more.


    ¡°So you lost it while part of the special M1? Oh my, I guess that is to be expected of those who have such a job,¡± said Fela.


    ¡°Since you brought up the topic of the gang and yakuza family violence happening on the first level, I know that Chobe has some interesting news to share with everyone in relation to this matter!¡± said Kommy.


    ¡°You are right about that! I, along with several other party members, have created [The House Committee on Violent Speech and Separatism]. We have been tasked to study and come up with ways to combat the violence of separatists, and the various underground groups. Hopefully, in the coming months, you will see some major changes being made.¡±


    Arron listened to Chobe''s long-winded speech about the various factions and how evil they were. But during the nearly ten-minute blubbering, Chobe did not say one word about the violence or riots caused by Anti-sep. Which irked Arron seeing as one of their members caused him to lose his arm.


    Throughout the rest of the interview, Arron was on the defense with Fela constantly throwing curveballs trying to trip him up until the very last second of the interview.


    Fela and Kommy did not bother staying a second longer when the cameras shut down and they just disappeared from the couch leaving the three guests alone.


    Both Chobe and Pumpmi''s faces returned to their previous expressions before the recording had started.


    Chobe turned to Arron with his chubby hand held out and a genuine smile. ¡°I hope you know it was nothing personal.¡±


    Arron could not say anything about it or refuse the handshake since Chobe was a party member who could make his life hell if he was displeased.


    All he could do was keep a smile on his face as he shook Chobe''s hand.

 Chapter 130: Time for Edjamacation

    Arron walked off the packed mag-lev onto the equally cramped and dirty Sector 11 platform. Since it was the weekend the platform was teaming with tens of thousands of citizens trying to use their rare free days to travel.


    Many of them would only be traveling to different parts of sector 11 while only a few would be able to travel to another sector to blow off steam before the tough week of work once again started. Most of the people Arron saw were in their late teens up to their 30''s which was not unusual for where he was right now. Of course, every one of them had a C-rank SCS, since D-rank citizens did not have the luxury of many weekends free of work.


    Although Arron was not currently in uniform and was not on duty as an M1 officer, he was not here for fun.


    He pushed his way through the crowd and exited the dirty station to walk down a familiar road. As he walked down the street the average age of the groups of people he passed was becoming younger and younger.


    Akira stopped walking as he came to the end of the street where a large crowd was gathered at the front entrance of the 100-story Everpreen College.


    Most of the students in the crowd were all late teens to early twenties with a few older people mixed in with the crowd standing out like sore thumbs.


    Akira joined the slow-flowing crowd as it moved through the large doors of the front entrance. No one standing around him greeted him or paid any attention to him since he was a stranger.


    When Arron had reached the front doors he stopped to allow the floating security drones to scan him.


    [Error! Identification not recognized! Step to the side and wait for security to arrive!]


    [Do not attempt to escape!] warned the security drone with its metal claws crackling with electricity.


    A few seconds passed before a human security personnel arrived and looked at Arron with a scowl because his nap had been interrupted.


    ¡°Who are you and why are you trying to sneak in?¡± asked the grumpy security guard.


    Arron did not say anything as it would just anger the man, he just tapped a few options on his wrist-datapad and pulled up the paperwork he had been given by Chief Chesty.


    The guard looked the paperwork up and down several times before looking back at Arron, his facial expression still unchanged, and said, ¡°Wait here.¡±


    The guard disappeared into his office for a few seconds and came back out with a handheld scanner.


    He used it to quickly scan Arron and then tapped in a few options before pressing a button and printing out a metal Student ID that was coded for him and the class he had been assigned to.


    ¡°Don''t lose this as you need it to get in and out. It is also the key to unlocking your classroom door,¡± said the guard before waving Arron to enter the building.


    Even though it was the weekend the hallways were still packed with people. As Arron walked down the hallway thoughts of when he had first seen these hallways came back to him. Back then they seemed extremely huge and empty but now they were jam-packed with humans.


    Arron was looking for a holographic map on the wall or nameplates to help him find his classroom as all the doors had only numbers. At every door he tried to open there was a red light at the door scanner with a warning beep causing those near him to give him weird looks and slowly step away from him as if he had a disease that they could catch if they got too close.


    ¡°Excuse me... but...¡± as Arron tried to ask for directions, the students all turned their heads and walked away ignoring him.


    With no other option left Arron was forced to walk back to the security guard''s office at the front of the building.


    Knock! Knock!


    ¡°Who the hell is waking me up again!¡± growled the guard.


    When he saw Akira standing in the doorway he said, ¡°Of course it''s you! What are you doing bothering me this time?¡±


    ¡°I seem to be unable to find my classroom. Do you have a map or know where it is?¡±


    With a sigh, the guard looked at Arron''s ID again and tapped the information into the security console in front of him. A second later he swiped the directions over to Arron.


    Ping! [Start NavGuide?]


    A notification from Arron''s NerViz popped up asking for confirmation which Arron did not hesitate to accept.


    ¡°Thanks for the help,¡± said Arron as he waved at the guard.


    The guard only gave him a grumpy grunt before closing the thick office door.


    With the floating light pixi leading the way he was able to walk through many different hallways until he reached the rear of the building and stopped in front of a maintenance door that had a sign that read [Authorized Personnel Only! Trespassers will be normalized].


    ¡°No wonder I was unable to find the classroom...¡± muttered Arron.


    The floating pixie chimed, urging Arron to open the door.


    Beep! The door¡¯s holo-lock turned green as soon as he swiped his new ID and opened.


    Behind the thick door was a set of stairs that led into a deep dark underground belly of the college.


    When he started to descend the stairs the Pixi chimed and disappeared with its task now completed.


    Arron had not brought an external light source with him as he was not expecting to be in such a dark place with such a new building. So now he was relying on his bionic right eye''s low light setting to help him walk down the cramped maintenance hallways that led him through many rooms full of humming machines that were needed to keep the building running properly.Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.


    As he was walking through the doorway of a room he felt something bump into him.


    ¡°Oof!¡± came the grunt of a man who was knocked back.


    ¡°Oh sorry didn''t see you with the bad lighting,¡± said Arron as he tried to reach out a hand to help the man, but he was unable to see where he was so...


    ¡°No need to apologize, I was also not looking where I was going since I don''t normally see people down here.¡±


    A light on the man''s helmet turned on, lighting up the dark underground pathway and blinding Arron for a few seconds in one eye.


    As he regained his full vision he was able to see who stood before him.


    ¡°Hey aren''t you that professor guy I met several months back?¡± asked Arron as he looked at the old man.


    ¡°Former professor,¡± said Yuri.


    ¡°So you don''t teach here? Then...?¡±


    ¡°I''m a janitor and mechanic for many parts of the machines that keep this university running. Mother and Father would never allow me to step foot in one of the normal classrooms for fear that the knowledge I have up here would corrupt the youth,¡± said Yuri tapping his helmeted head.


    ¡°Ah... yeah I heard some rumors about that... Do you know where the classroom for Officer Training is? I have been all over the place and was told that it was down here but I can''t seem to find it.¡±


    ¡°I see. So you''ve come to get your Indoctrination Certificate?¡± asked Yuri bluntly.


    That remark caught Arron off guard but before he could reply Yuri turned around and began walking down another path making Arron run after the old man.


    It only took a few minutes of silent walking to find the classroom which had a basic metal plate above the door that read [Officer and Command Training]. Yuri did not stay a second longer and returned the way he had come.


    ¡°Thanks...¡± said Arron but he could only shrug and turned back to the door, swiping his ID.


    Beep the holo-lock turned green and opened letting a warm damp air escape out into the cold corridor.


    With a quick glance around the room Arron was able to see there were around 30 beat-up hover-desks crammed inside the small ''classroom''.


    The only light came from a single light strip hanging from the ceiling.


    Over twenty faces turned to look at the open door to see who had just arrived. Most of the faces in the room were middle-aged men who all sported some sort of scars or wounds from their time on the job. There were a few female faces but they were in the minority.


    ¡°Ah, a new student! Welcome, I am Professor Indacto! Take a seat at any of the empty desks. We don''t have any set seats since that is only for children,¡± said a middle-aged female who was standing at the front of the room.


    Arron was surprised to see that there was an actual human professor!


    When Arron was seated, professor Indacto''s smile was turned into a harsh frown as she returned to her lecture.


    ¡°Ahem... now where was I? Ah, yes. Everyone here is either from the M1, Police, or security companies that have been allowed to receive officer training. In order for you to be certified and recognized by Mother and Father, you must complete my class. I am not a demanding professor but there are some things I will not tolerate,¡± said Professor Indacto as she slammed her hand down on her desk and activated a holographic button bringing up a flowing list of words on the black wall behind her.


    One of the largest sets of words on the list that Arron could make from the back of the room was at the top of the list: [Separatist conspiracy theories].


    ¡°On the matter of Separatism... It is my duty as your professor to make sure that each of you is fully equipped to ward off the temptations of such nonsense conspiracy theories put out by bad actors. These are only vile tricks to try and get you to use your future officer ranks against Mother and Father or the Office of Reason!¡± said Professor Indacto using an extendable metal pointer and slapping the black wall where the words were hovering.


    Professor Indacto continued to talk about the dangers of separatists for several minutes. She also gave a few pointers on how to spot separatists and how to deal with them if you did meet one.


    ¡°In short, everyone has a little bit of separatism in them. Over these next few weeks, it will be my job to help you stop thinking like a separatist would and think properly so that you can fulfill your duty to Mother and Father with flying colors. In order to do this, we must go over what is acceptable speech and what is wrong speech.¡±


    A new flowing list appeared on the black wall with thousands of words. There were too many for anyone to remember everything.


    ¡°If you use the wrong words you could be falling into a separatist trap which will lead you down the wrong path and could end up with you having to pay large fines or getting your government social media account banned!¡±


    Several of the ''students'' nodded their heads while a few of the females let out shocked gasps.


    Arron didn''t really care much about the talk about social media accounts and only half heartedly listened to the lecture.


    ¡°As for using Illegal programs and unsanctioned social media, that is the fastest way to get yourself normalized.¡±


    Arron was forced to listen to the professor''s dry speech about the dangers of separatism for over 2 hours.


    ¡°I think that will do for today. Be sure to be here on time tomorrow. We will continue where we left off,¡± said Professor Indacto.


    The twenty-plus students did not stay in the room any longer than necessary and did not say a word to each other. Everyone wanted to get out of the damp room and the large building as soon as possible so that they could spend the rest of the day doing something more productive.


    Arron was in no rush so he decided to let the others exit the room first while he brought up the rear of the group as he slowly walked with thoughts of the day''s class filling his head.


    In his entire time in the Mega-city NeoTokeyo, he had never heard someone who had so much to say about separatists... and from what she had said only moments before, she was not even close to being finished with her rant.


    ''What does this even have to do with officer training?'' thought Arron as he climbed the cramped stairs to the ground floor of the large building.


    The college was just as active and cramped as it was 2 hours before he had entered the class, possibly even more crazy as it was nearing noon when everyone would be out for lunch.


    As Arron exited the front doors, he saw a large area near the front of the building was blocked off and had several hundreds of students gathering under a holographic banner. Each of the students in the group was wearing all red and were finalizing their outfits.


    [COME JOIN US IN A DIRECT ACTION AGAINST SEPARATIST!] Read the holographic banner above the gathered students who were changing their outer clothes.


    Arron was not surprised at seeing this as he had heard that such groups were gathering on campus regularly.


    He did take a quick picture of the crowd and sent it to both Tooth and Lexa to keep M1 informed of possible disturbances later in the day.


    As he walked back to the mag-lev station he turned on the news.


    ¡°Today a party member under Father made an interesting post on the government-run social media. I will just show you and let you see for yourself,¡± said Fela.


    The screen switched to showing the post but¡­ only a second later the screen went black.


    Beep!


    A warning sound came out instead of Fela''s voice.


    [Please stand by for corrected and updated news!] said a floating red text banner.


    Arron watched the black screen for several minutes as he walked to the mag-lev station.


    When the news broadcast returned to normal both Fela and Kommy were looking sternly at the hovering drone cameras.


    ¡°We have just learned that a member under Father has been normalized for his treasonous and negative remarks against Mother and Father. We can not say or show you what he said, but it was enough to warrant him being sent to a re-education camp outside of the mega-city.¡±

 Chapter 131: Breaking the Logjam

    Sector 1 waste management building, Miso family territory.


    ¡°Things are getting really bad out there,¡± said a young lanky teen as he smoked an illegal cigarette that was laced with stims. It was not illegal because of the stims, but the tobacco it used was real and had been smuggled into the city from an outside source.


    The young teen was sitting at a small table inside their meeting room with over a dozen other workers who were all part of the Miso family. Each of them wore grimy gray suits that stank of human waste. Although they had not, and would never get used to such smell, they had become adept at ignoring it.


    ¡°Can you not smoke that here? This is serious business we are talking about,¡± said an older man with gray streaking through his hair. He waved his hand trying to clear the smoke.


    ¡°There wouldn''t be any problem with it if you weren''t so cheap and fixed the air cleanser,¡± grumbled the teen as he used an ashtray to put out the cigarette.


    ¡°You know that with all the waste pollution here they constantly break down every week. Although waste management is a good moneymaker, the parts for fixing the air cleanser cost way too much. We can''t waste money on it every week,¡± said a round middle-aged man who was wiping the sweat from his head.


    The waste management business was a major money maker since each sector created a massive amount of waste that overwhelmed and constantly broke down any attempt to fully automate the waste management plants. That''s where the families stepped in and took over the business with their members keeping the places running. It was too dirty for Mother and Father to bother with so they had latched onto it.


    The older man coughed and cleared his throat drawing their attention. ¡°The heads of the rest of the families have all agreed to go ahead and prepare for a fight. But it is taking too long, there have already been several attacks on family businesses by rival upstart gangs from other sectors. With all the chaos it seems that the heads are hesitant to strike back. If we don''t do anything now we will lose this fight!¡±


    Several of the workers nodded their heads in agreement.


    ¡°What are we supposed to do then? Wouldn''t we be disobeying orders?¡± asked the young teen.


    ¡°No. We would break the logjam that they are currently in. With the disappearance of the old man, no one wants to openly take command...¡±


    ¡°I doubt that. They are all drooling at the thought of taking command.¡±


    ¡°I said ''openly'', everyone knows that they all want to be the next leader of the Families. There have already been three factions formed pushing for a different leader. We are part of the two larger factions who although disagree on who to nominate still believe in working together with each other and following the honor code. It''s the third smaller faction that is causing all the problems...¡±


    ¡°Let me guess... they are the ones that we have all suspected to be working with the Party of Mother and Father,¡± said another grimy man.


    The old man nodded his head, ¡°From what I heard they want to do away with the old honor code. My guess is if they don''t get what they want, they aren''t above playing dirty.¡±


    ¡°So you want us to take care of the problem?¡± asked the young teen.


    ¡°We have already contacted other officers in various businesses of the different families. We have all agreed to remove the roadblock.¡±


    There were a few grunts and nods while everyone''s expressions were grim at the thought of what this meant. The older men who had actually fought in the last blood war had the knowledge and experience in how to mount successful attacks against the Office of Reason and Mother and Father and they would be a major key in helping the families stand against the might of their enemy.


    The old man with the gray-streaked hair knew all too well the hardships such a war brought, he had lost his son and his wife in the last blood war. Now their enemies were even stronger than they were back then.


    The younger members who were still babies and young kids when the fighting was at its peak only knew about the stories that they heard from the older men, even with all the horror stories they were still eager to prove themselves.A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.


    ¡°When do we move?¡± asked the round man.


    ¡°Tomorrow.¡±


    ¡°So soon? We don''t even...¡±


    KA-PA-PA-PA-PA!


    Several loud explosions exploded outside their meeting room all centered on the heavily reinforced parasteel door.


    The entire room all stood up and pulled out their weapons pointing it at the door.


    ¡°How did they get past our security system or those that were on watch?¡± asked the old man.


    ¡°I... I''m locked out of the system!¡± shouted the young teen as he continued to type in the access codes on his wrist-datapad. No matter how he tried to break through he was constantly being blocked!


    BOOM!


    The reinforced door was blown out of the wall and shot forward slamming the young teen in the back and crushing him into the wall where his arms, legs, and ribs were broken like twigs.


    In the smoky haze from the explosion, several gray heavy exoskeletons stormed into the room.


    BAM! BAM! BAM!


    Their heavy weapons shot off several rounds into those who held weapons and were pointing them at the door.


    Large holes appeared in the bodies of the Miso family members, limbs were blown off, and even one of their heads exploded like a watermelon when a large bullet passed through.


    The only person left standing without a wound was the old man with the gray-streaked hair. As the smoke cleared the gray-painted exoskeletons stepped aside allowing three gray suit agents to enter the room.


    They were each wearing rebreather masks to filter out the stench of the waste factory. A green light shot out from one of the handheld scanners in one of the agent''s hands.


    ¡°Target match!¡± said a female voice that was altered by the rebreather.


    In a robotic altered voice, the leader of the gray suit agents said, ¡°By the order of Mother and Father, you, John Gray, have been diagnosed with Sluggish Schizophrenia. For your safety and the safety of those around you, you will be normalized and receive the treatment needed to cure you.¡±


    ¡°We have been looking for you for over ten years,¡± said one of the gray suit agents as he walked up to John Gray.


    The agents and the exoskeleton guards paid no attention to the moaning wounded and dying family members lying on the table or floor not bothering to offer first aid. They only cuffed John with a pair of mag cuffs and led him out of the small office.


    All over sector one similar raids were happening. The old hardened veterans of the last blood war were being picked off by the Office of Reason causing further mayhem. All of this allowed the small opposing faction to keep the families in a log jam full of indecision.


    ***


    Sector 10, zone 3. In a small warehouse.


    ¡°Thanks for this shipment of weapons!¡± said a grubby gang member as he held out his hand to three dark-cloaked members.


    He had to awkwardly lower it when the three did not move to shake his hand. He turned to the several crates of weapons and explosives that were being loaded off of a hover van.


    ¡°With this, we can take on those big shots from the families that always like to crush us and lord around their power.¡±


    ¡°You better not let anyone know that we are supplying you with these or...¡±


    ¡°Whoa! No need to say such threats! We aren''t stupid! We know who is behind you. If those two really want us to do this task for them, then it would be our honor to do it!¡±


    ¡°Cut the crap! Don''t talk about them like that! You are lucky that they gave you this chance to work for them! Otherwise, you would be no different than the families that will be wiped out and become extinct in the whole city.¡±


    ¡°Alright, alright, I said you don''t need to use such harsh words! So... who do you want us to target first?¡±


    A secure data-stick was pulled out of a hidden pocket and handed over to the gang member.


    He plugged it into his wrist-datapad and when the files were transferred... the black-clad member snatched the data-stick back and crushed it.


    The gang leader read several of the names on the flowing list in front of him and frowned.


    He looked back up at the three and asked, ¡°Are you sure these are the right targets?¡±


    ¡°Don''t ask stupid questions.¡±


    ¡°It''s just... not exactly what I was expecting...¡±


    ¡°Either you do these jobs or we find someone else to do them. If it''s the latter, then we can arrange your permanent normalization right now since you know too much.¡±


    ¡°Wait! Hold on a second. What''s with you and your threats in every sentence? I didn''t say we wouldn''t do it. Just let us gather some more people. Our current membership is not strong enough yet.¡±


    ¡°There are other gangs in this sector as well right? Just use your new weapons to nicely recruit them.¡±


    ''Nicely recruit them my ass,'' thought Cowhard. They were telling him to kill the leaders of the other groups and cannibalize the groups so that he could grow his own forces.


    ¡°If that is what you want, we can do it.¡±

 Chapter 132: Growing the [Righteous Front]

    Bang!


    A bullet pierced the head of a skinny old man who was scowling at the intruders who had entered his small gang''s hangout.


    ¡°You killed our boss!¡± shouted a low-level grunt.


    Several shouts of, ¡°Yah, why''d you do that!¡± came from the other grunts.


    ¡°Either you join us or you can join your boss,¡± said Cowhard. He had chosen to target this group as one of the first gangs to take over because of how weak their leader was.


    With several weapons being pointed at the dozen or so gang members, they had little choice in the matter and followed several of the other armed gang members of the [Righteous Front]. This was the new name Cowhard had chosen for the gang after discarding their old name.


    Cowhard stayed behind and started rummaging through the dead man''s belongings, taking anything valuable.


    He took out a portable scanner from his coat pocket and tapped in a large number before he tried scanning the dead man''s cloud chip.


    [Payment denied! The citizen has died. All credits have been transferred to Mother and Father.]


    Cowhard snorted in derision and said, ¡°They sure act quickly when it has to do with credits. Anything else and it is like trying to pull teeth.¡±


    He pocketed what valuables he could before exiting the building where one of his officers, Knakad an old friend, was standing.


    ¡°A decent haul this time?¡± asked Knakad.


    ¡°Make sure you check each of their records. If there are any troublemakers just get rid of them now. I don''t want those people calling me because someone did something stupid.¡±


    ¡°Everything will be taken care of. Before our next target later today!¡± said Knakad.


    ¡°Any word on the families taking action? We''ve been making quite the racket these last few days.¡±


    ¡°Last I heard they were still at loggerheads unable to make a decision.¡±


    ***


    [Gams Gambling Den] was lively as ever with the sounds of the holographic machines chiming and beeping along with the chatter and laughter of several hundreds of gamblers that were in the building even though it was the middle of the day when everyone should be working.


    The place was run by a medium-sized gang and the profits allowed them to put their toes into several other side hobbies, one of which was stockpiling small arms, but mainly they dealt with ammunition as it was easy to transport, hide, and was always in demand.


    Bam!


    The entrance door was kicked open and a young man stumbled in as he was pushed forward, everyone''s gaze was drawn to him for a few moments wondering what the hell he was doing.


    He looked around the large gambling room trying to find someone but did not see them.


    ¡°Where is Gams?¡± asked the young man.


    ¡°None of your business,¡± said one of the security guards as he walked over to the young man.


    ¡°I demand that you bring me to Gams or have him come out here!¡±


    The security guard with a lightning quick reaction popped out a hidden gun from inside his metal arm and shot the young man in the head before he could react.


    Before the body hit the floor, several gunshots rang out from the doorway and pierced the bodies of the gathered security guards.


    A small round ball the size of an apple was tossed through the door and hit the ground rolling further into the room where it stopped next to a table that was filled with gamblers playing a holographic card game.Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website.


    Everyone at the table looked down at the ball that had four blinking lights, which went down to 3 lights, 2, 1, and then blank.


    BOOM!


    A large explosion tore through the center of the building leaving a large hole in the ground where the table and gamblers used to be.


    Several pained cries from those wounded and those frightened from the explosion drowned out the usual sounds of the gambling den.


    ¡°Damn! That''s more powerful than I was expecting,¡± said Cowhard as he peered into the building looking at the results.


    ¡°We have to hurry! The police will not be able to ignore such a loud explosion,¡± said Knakad.


    ¡°The least those guys could do for us is pay them off or tell them not to nose around. Bunch of cheapskates only giving us weapons and telling us to figure everything else out,¡± grumbled Cowhard.


    ¡°WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?¡± roared the middle-aged Gam, as he rushed out from a basement office with a group of several henchmen.


    ¡°Gam, we have come to demand that you join the [Righteous Front] or die!¡± shouted Cowhard.


    ¡°To hell with you! Shoot them!¡± ordered Gam.


    Bullets began flying through the air aimed at the entrance of the building causing many of the gamblers to try to flee but there was no exit! They could only try to lie flat on the ground or dive behind one of the gambling machines.


    ¡°If you give up now, you can still become an officer!¡± shouted Cowhard, as he hugged the sturdy metal wall next to the entrance.


    The bullets continued to fly out of the gambling den and into the wall of the building across the small alleyway.


    ¡°Alright we''ll do it the hard way!¡± said Cowhard, after not receiving any reply.


    Two more round balls were pulled from a metal crate. A small button on top of the balls was pushed down starting 6 blinking lights before they were thrown randomly into the building.


    Everyone near the door pulled back and covered their ears.


    BOOM! BOOM!


    The ground shook with great force as the two metal balls exploded.


    The shooting from inside had stopped, so Cowhard motioned for one of the new grunts to look inside and see the results of the explosions since he did not dare look himself.


    Gathering his courage, the grunt peaked his head out before skittishly pulling back immediately.


    ¡°Well?¡± asked Knakad.


    ¡°Uhh...¡±, the grunt sheepishly shrugged and once again took a quick look, this time staying out in the open for a whole 1 second before pulling back.


    He turned to Knakad and said, ¡°Looks clear.¡±


    ¡°Then you can head in first,¡± said Cowhard pointing to the door.


    The grunt hesitated but jumped into the room and looked around ready to duck, but surprisingly nothing was paying attention to him or cared that he had entered.


    Cowhard peered into the room and through the smoke saw the dismembered bodies of Gam and his henchmen.


    ¡°These grenades really are great,¡± said Knakad.


    ¡°They saved us from having to be stuck in a pointless firefight,¡± said Cowhard.


    The two walked into the building with over 30 other grunts.


    ¡°This building now belongs to the [Righteous Front!] All of you who worked for or were a member under Gam are now part of the RF. If you do not want to join us, let me know now and I can help you leave,¡± said Cowhard.


    One of the workers raised his hand and Knakad nodded. The man''s life was ended with a bullet allowing him to leave.


    ¡°You lot hurry up and gather the ammunition from the underground storage!¡± shouted Cowhard at the loitering grunts that had entered the building with him.


    ¡°Hurry up! We need to get out of here before things get hairy with the police!¡± shouted Knakad urging the grunts to start running towards the open door of the underground office.


    ***


    On the roof of a hundred-story building, Knakad was with a grunt who was holding a sniper rifle. The grunt was peering through the scope at a cafe far below them. The cafe''s walls were nothing but para-glass allowing the most light in as well for a better view outside.


    ¡°Was the information given to us correct? Is that him?¡± asked Knakad.


    ¡°I think so. But he is with some woman. Last I heard he is not married and has no mistress...¡± said the sniper.


    ¡°Don''t worry about her. If that is indeed our target then this is the best time to take him down before his underlings can do anything to stop it. With his men added to the RF we will be even closer to the number needed to start our main missions!¡±


    ¡°So you want me to shoot him right now?¡±


    ¡°Of course! Otherwise, why would we be here!¡±


    The sniper pulled the large rifle back into his shoulder where it locked into his parasteel shoulder, steadying it even more while also connecting his bionic eye to the large gun''s targeting system.


    With a few large breaths, he calmed his breathing and... pulled the trigger.


    BANG!


    The faint sound of shattering glass could be heard even from this height.


    ¡°Oops,¡± said the sniper.


    ¡°What?¡±


    ¡°That female sure was unlucky. She chose the wrong time to stand up. If she had stayed sitting the bullet would have passed over her shoulder... but...¡±


    ¡°Did you miss the target?¡±


    ¡°Of course not! I just got an extra kill for you is all.¡±

 Chapter 133: Asking for trouble

    ¡°Breaking news! One of our reporters was killed while interviewing an important subject! This is only one of the latest deaths in a string of many as the gang wars in the area have flared up between the small and medium gangs. The special M1 officers are dragging their feet as usual,¡± said a sanctimonious Fela as Arron watched the morning news and sipped on a warmed-up synth-energy jelly-pouch.


    Standing next to him was Kix who was inspecting his new prototype light exoskeleton that the Office of Reason researchers had dropped off this morning.


    ¡°What number is this one?¡± asked Arron.


    ¡°Version 3. They said it is made out of A7 Parasteel... it may be sturdier but it is nothing like the armor Spike and Chewy have.¡±


    At the mention of their names, the two retired prototype robo-dogs looked up at Kix with their glowing robotic eyes.


    They had not been on many missions since the official end of their prototype testing. But when they were taken out all of the information was still recorded and sent back to the Office of Reason researchers so that they could add it to the data they had already gathered just in case there was something they had missed before.


    ¡°Why are they having you test it with such a minor parasteel upgrade? Shouldn''t it be easy for them to get the results on their own?¡±


    ¡°That''s not all that''s changed... they have some new synthetic ligament material to help move the arms and legs. Apparently, it is an important project that they rushed to have tested as soon as possible. Rumors that I heard say it has to do with the stalled project from before.¡±


    ¡°And your old model?¡± asked Arron.


    ¡°Stored in the warehouse armory with the other prototypes. If we need it again we can get it back.¡±


    ¡°Are you ready for today''s fun?¡± asked Arron with a dry laugh.


    ¡°As ready as I''ll ever be...¡± said Kix, slapping the light exoskeleton. He navigated through the familiar menu and pressed several options and confirmations to return the exoskeleton to its large metal suitcase.


    ¡°Let''s do this!¡±


    Both Spike and Chewy let out happy robotic barks since the Chief had permitted them to join this mission.


    ***


    Sector 2, zone 3.


    ¡°131... 133... 135... ah there it is apartment 137!¡± said Kix as he led the way down the dim hallway which was a result of the flickering lights in the grubby ceiling above them.


    As Arron and Chewy walked up to the door ready to knock, the door opened with a loud screech.


    ¡°... I said before that I''m busy with something so I can''t meet with you right now,¡± said a young weasel-like man who was so occupied with talking to someone on a holo-call that he did not see Arron or Kix.


    Both Arron''s helmet and his right eye zoomed in on the man''s face to scan it and identify who he was.


    [Ralph Weasly, SCS: C, Black mark on record (former D rank)]


    Only when he bumped into Arron and fell back into his room did he notice there were others outside his apartment.


    ¡°EEP!¡± cried Ralph as he swiped his hand ending the call and pressed an emergency lock button on his wrist-datapad causing the door to slam shut.


    Neither Arron nor Kix was able to stop the door from closing, so Arron pulled an extendable cord out from the back of his helmet and plugged it into the door''s holo-lock.


    Kix and Spike tensed up ready to react to any threats.


    With the cracking program activated Arron watched as various images sped past at a speed that his bionic right eye could barely keep up with. As for his left eye, there was nothing but a bright flashing blur.


    Click! The holo-lock turned green and the door slid open.


    Arron stepped aside allowing Kix and Spike to enter the apartment first.


    The floodlights on Kix''s light exoskeleton lit up the dark apartment leaving no shadows for anyone to hide in. As he and Arron searched the sparsely furnished apartment they were unable to find their target.


    He did not escape from the window as it was locked shut and had several bars on the outside defeating the purpose of the escape hatch attached to the building. Arron could see no Bobbie traps or signs of the target...Stolen story; please report.


    ¡°Arf!¡± Chewy started to scratch on a parasteel panel that was seamlessly attached to the wall and floor.


    Arron walked over and lightly tapped the part that had caught Chewy''s attention. A light hollow echo could be heard coming from underneath him. Still, he could not tell what was below or how to get there...


    ¡°Step aside,¡± said Kix as he walked over and knelt. He formed his metal hands into jackknifes and stabbed them down piercing the thin metal. With both hands able to grab hold of the floor he managed to pull the parasteel off of the hole that it was covering.


    Arron used his helmet''s floodlights to look into the hole only to see a deep tunnel system connected to the building''s maintenance tunnels.


    ¡°Great... more tunnels,¡± huffed Arron as he looked at Chewy and Spike.


    ¡°I''ll go down first and secure the tunnel, then you can lower them down one at a time,¡± said Kix as he pointed at the two large robotic dogs.


    Kix didn''t bother with using the ladder and just hopped in the hole shooting down and landing with a loud CLANG!


    After scanning both directions of the maintenance tunnel with his weapon out ready to shoot, Kix waved to Arron and said, ¡°Send them down.¡±


    Arron pulled on the thick wire from his work belt and tied it around Spike who stood still and allowed him to slowly lower him down the shaft landing on the ground with Kix who swiftly untied the wire allowing it to quickly shoot back up to Arron.


    Chewy seeing what had just happened was rather excited and was hopping around making it harder for Arron to tie her up in a sling to lower her down.


    ¡°Stay still Chewy!¡± said Arron as he tried to lower her steadily, but with all her squirming she caused the wire to swing, making her scrape the wall several times which led to her trying to bite the ladder rungs as she brushed past them.


    With both of the robotic dogs lowered, Arron used the metal ladder to climb down to them. He did not have the proper armor to do the acrobatic jumps similar to Kix.


    ¡°Chewy find the target''s scent!¡± said Arron as he hopped off the last rung of the ladder.


    ¡°You too Spike!¡± said Kix.


    The two robotic dogs got to sniffing the ground, Chewy started on the south side while Spike was on the north.


    ¡°ARF!¡± ¡°GRRR!¡± at the same time both of them confirmed they had locked onto the target''s scent!


    ¡°Wait, which way is it?¡± asked Arron. ¡°Chewy check over there by Spike.¡±


    ¡°Arf?¡± said an uncertain Chewy after she also picked up the same scent going north as well.


    ¡°Looks like the target has been using these tunnels a lot... so their tracking system is getting confused... we''ll have to add this to the reports when we get back.¡±


    ¡°I''ll take the north, you can get the south,¡± said Kix.


    Arron nodded, although they were not supposed to separate, Chewy and Spike were with them so technically they were following the rules.


    ¡°Chewy, follow the scent south! We have a target that needs to be captured!¡± said Akira as he pointed to the southern tunnel.


    Hearing this, Chewy bolted off down the tunnel with loud robotic sniffing as she went. Arron had to run at full speed just to keep up with her.


    Through the winding tunnels, they ran for several minutes before coming to a hole in the wall.


    Chewy leaped inside the hole and...


    ¡°OWWWW! GET OFF ME!¡± Came the pained cries of Ralph as he was bit by Chewy and dragged out of the hole and into the main tunnel.


    ¡°Kix, the target has been captured in the south tunnel. No resistance yet,¡± said Arron over the helmet-secure comms before turning to the struggling man in front of him.


    ¡°Ralph Weasly, we have been ordered to pick you up so that you can have a chat with some people who want you to answer a few questions,¡± said Arron as he pulled the hyper Chewy away from the man.


    ¡°What the heck is this all about? You know that we are in the middle of the task you gave us! The captain is still gathering forces. We told you we needed more time!¡± said a pained Ralph.


    ¡°What?¡± asked a confused Arron, ¡°What task?¡±


    ¡°Huh? Aren''t you from ...¡± Ralph immediately shut up as he took a closer look at Arron''s armor and the glowing badge on his chest.


    The sound of Kix''s footsteps grew louder as the speeding exoskeleton came into view and skidded to a halt as he slid a short distance stopping right next to Arron.


    ¡°This new prototype is quite nice. I need to ask for a break system in the next version,¡± said Kix as he rotated his arms and legs. ¡°It''s quite springy but also a bit uncomfortable with how stiff it can get. Oh right... Troubled suspect Ralph Weasley, we have some questions for you... and you will answer them!¡±


    Both Chewy and Spike began to growl at the troubled suspect. Chewy snapped her metal jaws right in front of his face menacingly.


    ¡°EEP!¡± said a frightened Ralph as a puddle began to form on the ground.


    Arron and Kix both recorded the quivering Ralph''s confessions as spilled the beans on everything that they asked. Even so, he only gave them one name to work with. The Righteous Front.


    ¡°This won''t hurt my SCS will it? I only just got out of the D rank hell...¡± asked Ralph.


    ¡°Who knows...¡± said Kix. He honestly had no idea after what they had been told.


    Arron tapped on a few options of his wrist-datapad and started a call to M1 HQ.


    ¡°Lexa, we have stumbled onto something big. We will not be returning for some time as we have to track down some leads and see if we can get to the bottom of this!¡±


    ¡°You know the Chief is not going to like you starting more trouble which he is going to have to clean up,¡± said Lexa as she continued to work on other paperwork and pushed her glasses back up her nose.


    ¡°Tell him this, ''If we don''t do this, there is a possibility that an even bigger mess than anything before will have to be cleaned up if we ignore it. '' I''m sure he would agree that stopping something like that would be part of our jobs,¡± said Arron with a serious face.


    Hearing this Lexa''s attention was pulled away from her paperwork and she looked at Arron''s face inspecting it for a few seconds.


    ¡°I''ll tell him that. But that doesn''t change the fact that you are asking for trouble.¡±

 Chapter 134: Investigation discoveries

    ¡°You think he is telling the truth?¡± asked Arron as he looked at the buildings that were speeding by them as they drove to their new destination.


    ¡°Hard to tell since he won''t tell us the whole story. Even with the details he gave us there is enough to find their stronghold and see what they are up to,¡± said Kix.


    Ralph had gone into a crazed muttering after he was captured and brought back to the APC. Now he did not respond to anything they did not even the threat of violence from Chewy would not wake him out of his stupor.


    ¡°We''ll get out here,¡± said Kix as he stopped the APC several blocks away from their destination. They had pulled off the main road and into a side ally so that they would not draw too much attention to themselves.


    Kix turned around to check on the mag-cuffs on Ralph''s arm and legs to make sure that he wouldn''t be making any trouble for them while they were gone. When he was satisfied he joined Arron and Chewy on the crumbling sidewalk with Spike.


    They were now in the warehouse district of Sector 8, zone 2. This was a bittersweet feeling for Arron as his last time in one of the warehouse districts was when he nearly died from an explosion.


    They slowly walked down the sidewalk hugging the walls of the warehouses to stay out of view as much as they could.


    Some distance ahead of them they could hear loud laughter and shouts coming from the direction of their intended destination. As they walked closer they were able to spot the target building.


    Arron held up a hand stopping the others.


    As they watched the warehouse, several people who were fully armed with outdated weapons and light body armor exited the warehouse and entered a unmarked modified hover-car that was waiting for them. When the last person entered the hover-car it shot off in the opposite direction of the hiding Arron and Kix as it drove off to some unknown destination.


    ¡°How are they able to have such an arsenal of weapons and armor? They are armed to the teeth. Some of that equipment is far better than what the yakuza families have access to,¡± said Arron over his helmet-secure comms.


    Kix shrugged and said, ¡°No idea, but them leaving makes our job easier. Just to be sure let''s have a quick scan of the building to see how many are left,¡± said Kix.


    With a few taps on his wrist-datapad a small silent drone, the size of the tip of one¡¯s pinky, flew into the air and headed to the warehouse where it started to scan the building using various types of scans.


    Both Arron and Kix connected their helmet feed to the drone so that they could see what they were up against. Luck was indeed on their side today as they only saw one heat signature in the whole building.


    ¡°There is no telling how long they will be out. Let''s get this done before they have a chance to find us,¡± said Arron as he started walking towards the open door of the warehouse.


    ¡°Hey you stop!¡± shouted the baby-face guard. ¡°Who are you? You can''t be here!¡±


    The young-looking guard started to fumble with pulling his gun out of its holster. But he was having a hard time deactivating the lock function that was in place to prevent someone else from pulling it out and shooting him with it.


    ¡°Chewy!¡± said Arron calmly.


    Before the guard could unlock and raise his weapon Chewy bolted forward and bit into his arm, yanking it away from the gun.


    ¡°Ahhh!¡± The young guard cried in pain as his arm was yanked back and forth every time he tried to move it toward his gun. Even with all this pain, he was still dumb enough to repeatedly try grabbing the gun at his waist.


    ¡°Good job Chewy!¡± said Arron as pat her on the head.


    ¡°ARF!¡± said Chewy, her robotic voice muffled by the man''s arm stuck in her mouth.


    Arron quickly cuffed the man''s free arm to his other arm which now had a few new holes in it. With that done he stood the young man up and began to pat him down confiscating the unlocked pistol and his wrist-datapad that he had been trying to use to call for help.


    ¡°HELP!¡± screamed the young man.


    ¡°Tape his mouth and hog-tie him. He''s too much of a risk for us right now. We can search this place without his help,¡± said Kix as he handed Arron synthetic tape.


    Arron smacked the screaming man a few times causing him to shut up for a moment allowing him to tape his mouth shut. Still, the young man did not give up fighting and tried to bite Arron''s armored hand only ending up hurting his teeth.


    With the young guard now incapacitated Arron rolled him into the corner of the warehouse out of view from anyone that might enter the building. As he did this Kix looked outside before closing the building''s open door.


    Whoever owned the warehouse had cheapened out and did not include enough lights to light the entire building so Arron and Kix were forced to use their helmet''s headlights to light up the dark paths in front of them.


    ¡°Record everything,¡± said Kix. ¡°Lexa, are you getting this stream clear without any distortions?¡±


    The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.


    ¡°Loud and clear for both of your streams,¡± said Tooth answering for Lexa who was busy with other things.


    There were several dozen rows of large and small metal crates stacked up against the walls of the warehouse.


    Arron randomly picked one of the closest metal boxes that was on the smaller size. When he reached it he found that its lid was already halfway pushed off allowing him to see what was inside without much trouble.


    With his helmet lights shining down into the opening he was able to see a black foam lying at the bottom of the crate. The foam had several holes in which a smooth metal egg was resting in each. He quickly counted over several dozen of them as he leaned closer to get a better view.


    ¡°Arf?¡± asked Chewy as she also poked her head into the open box to see what was inside.


    ¡°I''m not sure Chewy it could be... What the hell!¡± said Arron in shock as he realized what the metal eggs were.


    He had to struggle with Chewy for a few seconds pulling her away from the metal box to stop her from doing something that got them all killed.


    ¡°What?!¡± said Kix, whirling around his weapon drawn and ready to shoot.


    ¡°These are military-grade grenades!¡± said Arron pointing to the box.


    ¡°How can you tell?¡± asked Kix as he lowered his gun and walked over to the box.


    ¡°You know I was in the military. It is easy to identify something like this.¡±


    They opened several other crates and found that they were all full of small and large ammunition as well as a varied assortment of explosives! There was enough to completely level several dozen of the largest buildings.


    ¡°What the heck is going on here? How are they so well equipped and have such a large stockpile that puts even some of the smaller families to shame... Aren''t they a small gang that just sprung up?¡± asked Arron.


    ¡°I don''t like this...¡± said Kix.


    ¡°ARF!¡± Chewy notified Arron about a nearby door that was hidden from view by several rows of large crates.


    He followed her through a tight squeeze in between the metal crates to reach the door.


    It was unlocked and slid open with only a light push. Inside was a small office with only a metal desk and a hover chair.


    Arron walked behind the desk and tried to open the two drawers but they were shut with an outdated mechanical lock.


    ¡°What treasure do you hold?¡± asked Arron.


    ¡°Arf?¡± asked Chewy.


    ¡°No, you can not eat treasure. If we do find anything it''s evidence,¡± said Arron.


    With a bit of elbow grease and the use of simplified tools, he managed to bust them open to reveal what was hiding inside.


    A single normal datapad.


    Arron tapped it to turn it on and was immediately prompted to enter a password.


    ¡°Darn... we''ll have to let the techs back at HQ crack it open...¡± said Arron.


    On a whim, he just entered a simple password and pressed the holographic enter button.


    With a ping, the light turned green and unlocked the device.


    ¡°Seriously? People still use such an Ancient password?¡±


    There were several folders with multiple documents so Arron just tapped one of the files and let it stream the information in front of him...


    His face darkened as he read the details which were all being recorded on his stream as well. It was details of corruption and collusion of several groups and corps secretly helping the gangs on the first level. There were several targets listed for future planned hits that were supposed to cause the friction between the many groups as well as the yakuza families to flare up even more than now.


    ¡°This will definitely start the war that everyone is talking about...¡± said Arron.


    He found other damning documents saved under folders labeled [Insurance].


    Along with these documents, there were many saved audio recordings of conversations with an unknown second party.


    This was getting a little too hot for Arron and he was starting to feel uncomfortable...


    BEEEEEEP!


    A bright red alarm message scrolled across his helmet''s screen nearly giving Arron a heart attack as he was interrupted from reading the documents.


    [By order of Chief Chesty you are commanded to immediately return to M1 HQ. You are ordered to report to the Chief''s office within the next hour.]


    Arron frowned at this as he walked out of the small office with the datapad in his hand.


    With the alarm message popping up his connection to Lexa and Tooth had also been cut causing him to worry that something had gone wrong.


    ¡°Don''t look at me like that,¡± said Kix as he saw Arron''s face. ¡°We are definitely in trouble... again.¡±


    ¡°Ah... we can''t forget about this guy,¡± said Arron as they were walking past the bound guard.


    They both grabbed one of his limbs and carried the hogtied guard to the APC where they shoved him in next to the silent Ralph.


    ***


    ¡°... so that is why you decided to go on your own without orders?¡±


    ¡°It is something that Mother and Father would be proud of! We have found a massive illegal cache of military-grade weapons, ammunition, and explosives at a warehouse. It''s enough to start a small-scale war!¡± said Kix with a blank face.


    In one of the corners of the Chief''s office, three black suit Office of Reason agents stood glaring at the two who stood ramrod straight in front of the Chief''s desk.


    Chief Chesty nodded his head with a calm expression as he said, ¡°Indeed, what you showed us could cause us a bit of trouble. Now that you are here, these agents would like to talk with you in private before you leave. Due to your hard work over the last few weeks, you two have earned yourselves a week of unpaid vacation.¡±


    Arron groaned inside... this was the chief''s polite way of saying they were being suspended for a week. Probably something that had been decided by the Office of Reason.


    ¡°Thank you sir!¡± said both Arron and Kix, not showing any irritation on their faces.


    ¡°Come with us. We only want to chat with you for a few minutes. We can do that while on the Mag-shoot,¡± said one of the black-suit agents.


    The five of them all walked out of the office and into the Mag-shoot with the Office of Reason agents positioning themselves around Arron and Kix as the doors closed behind them.


    ¡°Do you know what you''ve done?¡± asked an agent in a low, even tone that was trying to stay calm.


    The agent did not wait for an answer and continued speaking, ¡°I suggest you two stop messing around. Don''t go poking your nose into places you have not been authorized to enter.¡±


    The agent standing next to Arron was breathing hard as he opened his mouth and said, ¡°Just because you have worked for and helped the Office of Reason does not make you special. We WILL normalize you if you step out of line.¡±


    When the mag-shoot doors opened once again the agents took control of the two troubled suspects that Arron and Kix had captured. ¡°We will take care of their interrogation.¡±

 Chapter 135: Banks, Stores, and Separatists

    6:05 A.M. read the large red digital clock on one of the lobby''s walls.


    ¡°What a mess,¡± said Arron as he looked at the scattered legs, arms and chunks of body parts littering the floor.


    ¡°Serves the idiots right for trying to rob the bank. I can''t believe that people are still this stupid to actually believe they could find credits to steal here. But here we are,¡± said Kix standing next to Arron.


    They both looked over to a moaning man lying on the ground not too far from them. They had been called here to take care of the lone survivor of a harebrained robbery attempt on the local bank. Unlike banks from several centuries past, modern banks under the joint control of the party of Mother and Father and the WHO were nothing more than glorified offices.


    Arron turned to the female manager of this branch office and asked, ¡°Are the defenses turned off?¡±


    The manager tapped on a few invisible menus on her wrist-datapad before nodding to Arron.


    Arron was still a little skittish about walking towards the troubled suspect lying on the ground.


    The reason he was hesitating was the invisible laser defense systems scattered about the lobby to protect the building from malicious people during the hours that the building was empty.


    These invisible lasers had already sliced through four or five other people leaving only large chunks of their bodies and limbs lying on the ground. And that was just a rough estimate judging by the number of limbs lying on the ground.


    The only survivor was a man who escaped death but lost both of his legs which had been immediately cauterized so he was in no danger of bleeding out. Just a few inches farther north and he would have had his stomach sliced in half leaving no one alive for them to come and pick up.


    Arron turned to Kix, ¡°You''re wearing the light exoskeleton so it''s safer for you to test the waters.¡±


    ¡°These defense systems will eat right through my armor. I''m no safer than you,¡± said Kix.


    ¡°You two, I said I turned them off,¡± said the annoyed manager.


    ¡°No offense to you lady but we don''t know you. And we have had many problems in the past with things ''mistakenly'' happening almost killing us,¡± said Kix.


    Both Kix and Arron stepped to the side and silently stared at her waiting to see if she wanted to walk out in front of them to prove the lasers were off but she stayed at the entrance not moving an inch.


    ¡°Those things look like they can take some damage,¡± said the female manager pointing to Spike and Chewy.


    ¡°Can''t do that, the Office of Reason would kill us if we sent them back all sliced up,¡± said Arron.


    ¡°Plus we just got off of a week of unpaid vacation...¡± said Kix over their secure comms.


    Both Chewy and Spike began glaring at the manager after realizing what she wanted to use them for.


    And so it was decided by rock, paper, scissors that Kix would be the one to venture out and grab the troubled suspect. They were not being overly paranoid since they had intimate knowledge of this defense system which had been tested out by past M1 ERF team members with disastrous results.


    It had a bad habit of staying on for several seconds and even minutes after being turned off.


    Kix inched his way forward constantly putting the tip of his armored foot out first. If the lasers were still active they would only cut off the metal parts just above where his foot was. Doing it this way he would receive no damage.


    Small step by small step he managed to reach the moaning man and grab him under the arms. Not wanting to stay out on the open lobby floor any longer than necessary caused Kix to not be gentle with the injured troubled suspect as he dragged him towards the entrance doors quickly.


    ¡°AHHHH! You''re hurting me!¡± complained the injured man between his moans of pain.


    ¡°This little bit of pain should be the least of your worries,¡± said Kix, not slowing down.


    When they reached the doors Arron helped cuff the man''s hands with a pair of his mag-cuffs.


    It was not like he was going to run off on them... you know because of the missing legs and everything... but it was better to be safe than sorry as he could still cause them problems if he wanted to.


    With Arron grabbing the man''s right arm and Kix on his left they hoisted him up in the air ready to carry him out.


    ¡°Alright thanks for your help,¡± said Arron nodding to the manager as they began walking out the door.


    The manager followed them and said, ¡°What about the others? Aren''t you going to clean them up?¡±


    ¡°We aren''t cleaners Ma''am. You need to do that yourself or get someone else to do it,¡± said Kix as he opened the back of the APC and deposited their catch inside.


    ...bang...


    In the distance, Arron could hear the sound of gunshots. He looked to Kix who shrugged.


    ¡°Tooth do you know if there is another team in this sector?¡± asked Arron as he and Kix hopped into the APC followed by Spike and Chewy.


    ¡°No one other than you,¡± said Tooth over the secure comms connection. ¡°I''ll check in with the other Orgs and see if they are doing anything over there.¡±


    ¡°Oh, what''s this? Something just came in. A police unit was sent to deal with a disgruntled man, but he has taken one of the officer''s guns and is now held up in a random goods shop. No other information at this time.¡±


    The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.


    ¡°We''re just down the road so we can take care of this quickly before coming back,¡± said Kix.


    ¡°I''ll let the dispatchers know.¡±


    The APC did a U-turn away from the angry female manager and shot down the road which was filled with light traffic as early birds went about whatever tasks they had to do.


    Kix parked the APC behind the parked police car where two police officers not wearing any armor were currently hiding.


    One of them was aiming an ancient pistol at the doors of the store while the other seemed to be on a heated call with their HQ.


    Arron and Chewy got out and dashed over to the officers.


    ¡°Are you stable?¡± asked Arron as he looked over the officer who had been on a call seconds before.


    He was breathing heavily and looked to be in pain. On closer inspection, Arron saw that there were two large blood stains that blended in with his red cloth uniform, one on his right shoulder and the other on his lower left leg.


    ¡°I''ll live. I managed to use the clotting medicine to stop the bleeding,¡± said the wounded officer.


    ¡°Are you two the reinforcements that the main office said they would be sending? You guys sure got here quick,¡± said the officer who was still pointing his gun toward the front door.


    ¡°We''re not your reinforcements. We were just down the street and decided to come help,¡± said Arron.


    ¡°Any help we can get is welcome. Especially help from someone as heavily armored and armed as you two. The target has a gun and has taken everyone inside as a hostage.¡±


    Arron thought that they were lightly armored for what they had to deal with constantly, but compared to the police officers who only wore cloth uniforms, he guessed they were better suited for this.


    ¡°This place have a rear exit?¡± asked Kix.


    ¡°None, just this front door and a few windows in the front...¡± Before he could finish his sentence several flying cars and hover-copters noisily flew in and landed a short distance away.


    ¡°Are these your reinforcements?¡± asked a frowning Arron as he saw several gray exoskeletons hopping out of the hover-copters.


    ¡°I''m not sure... they didn''t say who was coming. This really has turned into a big S-show...¡± said the officer pointing to the hovering news drones that had caught wind of something big happening and had followed the Office of Reason hover-copters here.


    Arron turned on the news livestream to see what was going on.


    ¡°As you can see there are only a handful of police and M1 officers guarding the entrance for the Office of Reason agents. Inside there is a suspected separatist who also happens to be a member of the Chozen family!¡± said the female reporter who was walking next to the young commanding officer of the Office of Reason force that had just shown up.


    She did not seem to notice or was not informed that civilians were being held hostage inside.


    When Arron saw the commanding officer he uttered a few curses. It was Yung Dod who they had worked with in a past operation to clean up a hotbed of ''separatists''.


    Yung Dod leisurely sauntered up to Arron, Kix, and the police officers who were all squatting behind the police car. The female reporter was making sure to capture everything with the news drones.


    ¡°Good work holding down the fort for us! I will be taking the reins now,¡± said Yung Dod in a bossy manner acting as if he had commanded them all to be here.


    Arron and the three others next to him stayed silent and stared at Yung Dod as if he were some odd creature. They all knew he was putting on a show for the people watching the news stream.


    ¡°So what''s the situation here right now?¡± asked Yung Dod, ignoring their silent stares.


    ¡°Someone stole a gun from one of the officers, shot him twice, and has now taken hostages inside that store,¡± said Kix with a bland voice as he pointed towards the random goods shop.


    Yung Dod stood there for a few seconds as he looked at Arron and Kix before asking, ¡°Haven''t we worked together before?¡±


    ¡°Yes we have,¡± said an unhappy Arron.


    ¡°Odd that we are here together on another case such as this.¡±


    Yung Dod''s face scrunched for a quick second as he realized he had messed up and admitted to something that he was officially supposed to have not taken part of. Even if those watching the livestream did not know what it was that he had just admitted to, it was still a major slip-up.


    ¡°You four can stay where you are. If we need something we will call for you,¡± said Yung Dod as he walked over to a new fortified command post that was set up right next to the police car.


    The front of the command post was made out of a curved reinforced parasteel. The other Office of Reason agents and the gray exoskeletons were all gathered behind the command post with the female field reporter crammed in with them so that she could continue to capture everything that was going on both at the command post and inside the shop.


    ¡°Troubled suspect. This is the Office of Reason,¡± said Yung Dod using the command posts'' external loudspeakers. ¡°You have nowhere to go, so come out!¡±


    A loud crackling came from the store''s intercoms as a fuzzy and cheap holographic body of a man appeared in front of the store.


    ¡°I knew you would come! Give me back my brother!¡± said the fuzzy holographic man.


    ¡°Your brother?¡± asked Yung Dod, feigning confusion.


    ¡°Don''t act dumb! You know who I am talking about! Hark was attacked and grabbed by you on bogus violations of the religion act passed by Mother and Father! Give him back to me!¡±


    ¡°Oh, that''s who you are talking about. I am sorry to tell you but for the crimes that your brother committed, he was sent to be re-educated and we can not let you see him until he finishes his sentence.¡±


    One of the agents snickered and whispered to another and said ¡°Even if we wanted to, there is no possibility of doing that.¡±


    Yung Dod''s head jerked to look at the agent and he gave him a death glare shutting him up. They were being live-streamed and had to put up the wall of perfection for those watching.


    ¡°Don''t give me that bullshit! I know what happens to those who get normalized by you! They never come back alive.¡±


    Arron listened to the man rant about all of Yung Dod''s dirty laundry and why he hated him.


    Even though the man was a troubled suspect and was holding several hostages Arron was enjoying watching Yung Dod squirm as he tried to keep the situation under control.


    Yung Dod turned to the female reporter and quietly hissed under his breath, ¡°Cut that part out.¡±


    ¡°B... but sir we''re live right now,¡± said the stuttering reporter.


    ¡°Don''t give me that crap I know you have the tools to fix this. Mother and Father have spent enough money on such programs just for situations like this.¡±


    ¡°I.. I''ll see what I can do...¡± said the reporter as she tried to work out how to get the near-impossible task finished.


    While she fiddled with the options and menus of the news drones the drones continued to livestream the troubled suspects'' rant for all to hear. The longer it went on the more spicy it got causing Yung Dod''s face to get redder and redder.


    ¡°Normalize the separatist inside that building!¡± ordered an angry Yung Dod as the situation spiraled out of his control.


    This was Arron''s first time seeing the calm and cool Yung Dod like this.


    The heavily armored gray exoskeletons marched out of the command post and into the random goods store.


    Bang! Bang!


    The sound of the stolen officer''s gun was heard before the loud whirring and quick repeating,  BAM! BAM! BAM! of the heavy guns used by the exoskeletons as they permanently normalized the separatist threat. Young Dod had wanted to capture him alive but it had turned out this way.


    Arron and everyone else were able to watch what was going on inside from the fuzzy intercom holographic video that was still active. In the short gunfight, the gray exoskeletons did not care where they shot which led to several of the hostages being shot, a few of them even dying.


    Only after being permanently normalized did the man''s rants against Young Dod stop.


    Young Dod turned to the female reporter and said, ¡°We have successfully rid the mega-city of another separatist and saved those he took hostage.¡±

 Chapter 136: MagLev surfing

    Sector 1 zone 1.


    ¡°Are we ready for the operation?¡± asked a male voice from beneath a red face mask.


    Four other people, all similarly dressed in dark clothing underneath light armor and with a red face mask, nodded as they checked their weapons.


    They were all sitting inside of an old outdated hover-work-van that should have been scrapped long ago.


    ¡°I don''t like this plan... it seems too risky,¡± said a young female voice.


    ¡°They paid us too much money to ignore it, plus you know who they are. Even if we wanted to, we could not deny them this ''request'',¡± said a second male voice.


    ¡°There is no point in waiting here any longer,¡± said the first voice as he looked at the time on his wrist-datapad. ¡°Everyone out. Remember only speak common for this mission, no RSS.¡±


    The van''s side door slammed open and the lightly armored group of five rushed out with their weapons held up at the ready as they rushed to the entrance of the nearby MagLev station.


    Since it was early morning the station was just starting to come alive again as the morning and night shift workers were trying to get to work or returning home causing the grimy platform to be packed.


    The five took a stance inside the entrance blocking the path of many trying to leave.


    Bam!


    A single shot was heard as the leader shot his rifle into the ceiling destroying one of the flickering lights causing sparks of electricity to repeatedly spray the area.


    With the shot, they gained the attention of everyone on the platform. With everyone''s attention on them, the five aimed their weapons right at the civilians in front of them and slowly started to walk forward. The civilians were all like deer caught in the headlights as they watched the armed group approach them.


    Bam!


    ¡°AH!¡±


    A pained cry rang out as a random person was hit in the leg and fell to the ground.


    Bang!


    The entire station platform turned into chaos as the civilians pushed and shoved each other trying to escape the shooters. The only place they could escape to was the MagLev which was stopped at the station right now.


    The five shooters continued to walk towards the MagLev while they kept shooting into the crowd.


    Bam! Bam! Bam!


    There was no rhyme or reason for who they shot. They just aimed at those who were in front of them. The only exceptions to this was for those that tried to escape being herded towards the MagLev which the group of five also boarded.


    Now that the group of shooters was on the MagLev, everyone wanted off... but the doors all slammed shut and the MagLev shot off to its next destination, trapping everyone with the group of five killers.


    ***


    ¡°...over 50 people were killed in the attack and just as many if not more were wounded. Current reports are that it is only one person who is heavily armed. ERF has been given the task to assess the number of troubled suspects, rescue the civilians if possible, and gain control of the MagLev that has gone rouge,¡± said Tooth who was being broadcasted on the top right of Arron''s and the rest of the ERF teams helmet screens.


    While listening to Tooth, Arron had been looking out the hover-copter''s door window as it zoomed through the city sky.


    Arron, Kix, and Kat were the only three in the back of the hover-copter while the rest of the team headed out in vehicles for ground support.


    ¡°Don''t they have a kill switch for a situation like this? Why send us?¡± asked Kix as he continued to check his Light Exoskeleton which had recently received a few minor changes.


    ¡°The decision-makers fear that if they stop it at any of the stations or near a civilian or industry zone the possibility for an explosion is high which will cause too many problems for them. So they have decided to keep it running on a random loop for as long as they can. Plus there is a rumor that it was hacked, so they can''t do anything even if they wanted to. You have all been given new prototype jump-jet packs to test out for such a situation like this.¡±


    ¡°Wooo...¡± said Arron, not at all happy about strapping some untested item to his back.


    The jump-jet pack that both Arron and Kat were wearing was smaller and more compact compared to the jet pack attached to Kix''s light exoskeleton which was larger and far more powerful since it was able to pull more juice from the exoskeleton''s power source.


    ¡°We''re nearing the target!¡± said the pilot over the hover-copter''s internal comms. ¡°It''s moving at a fast speed so there will be no easy hover and drop like normal. We will have to keep the same speed with them.¡±


    Arron, Kix, and Kat all finished their last checks and clipped a heavy line attached to their armored harness to the ring holes on the hover-copter.


    The side doors of the hover copter slid open as it continued to speed forward and lowered its altitude to get as close to the speeding MagLev that was now just below it.


    ¡°This is the best you''re going to get,¡± grunted the pilot as he tried to keep the speeding hover-copter steady over the fast-moving MagLev.


    Kix jumped out first and descended to the MagLev in only seconds. Arron was the next to hop out and as he descended he began swinging wildly as he was pushed back by the wind. He did not bother using the jetpack to stabilize his descent as he had tested too many ''failed'' projects (although they were not publicly announced to be failures) already and knew of all the horrible ways something could fail miserably when needed the most.


    He was just fine with the wildly swinging wired rope descent and successfully landed on the roof of the MagLev with a thud as he scrambled to activate the magnet grips in both his boots and gloves. At such high speeds that the MagLev was traveling the wind pushing against him was no joke.


    When he was clamped down he looked up to watch Kat descend from the hover-copter. She was swinging even more wildly as the hover-copter had to make several adjustments.


    As she slammed into the metal roof Arron had to reach out with one hand and grab her arm stopping her from sliding off the slick roof.


    When he heard the buzzing clunk over the wind he knew that she had successfully activated the electric magnets in her armored boots and gloves.


    ¡°Thanks,¡± said a heavy-breathing Kat over the secure comms as she lay flat on the roof.


    ¡°Find a place to plug in and work your magic,¡± said Arron to Kat, before turning to Kix who was farther up ahead of them. ¡°I will head to the rear to scan for the troubled suspects. Are you okay with checking the front Kix?¡±


    ¡°Fine with me,¡± said Kix as he started to clomp forward with his exoskeleton''s magnetic feet keeping him attached to the roof.


    As Arron crawled towards the rear he made sure to turn his helmet''s heat scanning function on, allowing him to see through the roof of the MagLev into the cabins and scanning the people inside for any signs of the armed targets.


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    It was quite troublesome moving one magnetic limb at a time while trying to stay balanced with the wind pushing at him from behind. He was working up a good sweat from all this.


    Over the comms, Arron heard Kix let out a cuss before saying, ¡°Watch out!¡±


    Arron''s back turned to Kix and was too slow in responding to the warning and was smacked in the back by a low-hanging sign that was just above the MagLev.


    The sudden hard hit knocked him off his handhold on the roof and sent him tumbling back along the roof of fast-moving MagLev. His armor scraped and screeched against the roof as he slid back and started to slide off to the side of the roof.


    Arron tried to regain a foothold but with all the tumbling and sliding he could not get his feet or hands to clamp down on the roof.


    As he was falling off the roof and went airborne, in a last desperate act he activated the jetpack on his back.


    The thrust from the jetpack was another brutal kick in the back and gut as he stopped falling backward and started to keep a wobbly but steady pace alongside the speeding MagLev.


    The digital power gauge of the jetpack was displayed on his helmet''s screen and it was falling rapidly. Since this version had less juice he had to act quickly, luckily he was not as heavy as Kix in his exoskeleton so the jetpack had less need to compensate for that.


    He fiddled with the jetpack controls and tried aiming to move back up to the rooftop.


    As he shot back up into the air, the windows just underneath him shattered as bullets shot out hitting nothing but air.


    With a loud thud on the rooftop, Arron was able to land back on the roof but he did not stop to catch his breath and calm his racing heart and instead used another jolting boost of the jump-pack to launch himself forward onto another carriage ahead of him as the roof he was just standing was riddled with bullets.


    ¡°I found them,¡± said a gasping Arron over the secure comms. For several seconds all he could do was cling to the roof with his heart beating at such a high rate from all that happened in such a short period.


    The digital power gauge now showed he only had 10% left. If not for this jetpack he would have been nothing but a bloody mush on the ground for someone else to find. That was just another near-death experience he could put on his resume.


    ¡°You okay?¡± asked Kix as he heard Arron''s heavy breathing.


    ¡°Just peachy... Kat, how goes the hacking?¡±


    ¡°Already in, just typing up some stuff. Which carriage was it that you said they were in?¡±


    Arron looked to the top of the carriage behind him and saw large lettering on it A-113, he used the heat scanning to make sure the targets were still in that place and counted five people with guns.


    ¡°A-113, and it is not one person that was reported. There are five people inside along with a dozen or so hostages.¡±


    ¡°Got it. Activating the code.¡±


    KaThunk!


    The carriage behind Arron detached from the main MagLev and started to slow down while its doors went into lockdown mode.


    The main MagLev that Arron, Kix, and Kat were still on top of continued to shoot down the designated course.


    ¡°HQ this is ERF scout 1. The target carriage has been separated from the main MagLev and stopped near the tunnel system at these coordinates,¡± said Kix, sending the directions to Tooth.


    ¡°Affirmative, sending the rest of the team to that area. Make your way there and secure the area.¡±


    With the full control of the MagLev, it was easy for Kat to stop the MagLev allowing them to slide off onto the ground.


    Arron''s legs were a bit wobbly as he tried to stand straight. His body still felt like it was vibrating from the shaking and thunking of the MagLev and the fierce wind that was pushing at him just moments before.


    Kat was in no better shape than Arron with Kix being the least affected.


    ¡°Remind me next time to ride the MagLev inside a carriage instead of on the roof,¡± joked Arron.


    ¡°I''m glad I didn''t eat a big meal before that I think I threw up in my helmet...¡± said Kat, as she continued to monitor the situation on the MagLev carriage that had been separated.


    ¡°You won''t be able to get out that way, just sit still and wait for us,¡± said Kat as she hacked into the broadcast system in the carriage and spoke directly to the trapped troubled suspects.


    With the three of them regaining their land legs they set off at a fast jog running back down the MagLev tracks toward the halted carriage.


    Due to how fast the main MagLev section was traveling as well as the many twists and turns it took they were having trouble finding the right direction to go in the maze of tunnels and tracks.


    Through Arron''s connection to Kat¡¯s comms, he was also able to hear the troubled suspects shouting threats at the ceiling of the MagLev as they pointed their guns toward the few remaining hostages they had.


    ¡°What''s taking you guys so long!¡±


    ¡°IF YOU DON''T GET HERE SOON WERE GOING TO BLOW THEIR HEADS OFF!¡±


    They seemed rather irritated having to wait for so long trapped inside the carriage.


    As the trio were arriving at the site of the stalled carriage several M1 hover-copters were swooping in carrying ERF team members and exoskeletons who all roped or jumped down to the ground and formed up around the carriage.


    Captain Pointer stepped forward and tapped a few options on his wrist datapad to activate his helmet''s external mic.


    ¡°Troubled suspects! Your plans have been thwarted and you are now trapped and surrounded!¡±


    Captain Pointer turned to Kat who was now standing next to him. She shook her head as she watched the troubled suspects inside grow alert and raise their weapons.


    ¡°If you do not lay down your weapons and release the hostages, we will be forced to Normalize you by any means,¡± said Captain Pointer.


    Again Kat shook her head so Captain Pointer jabbed his fingers at the Kix and the other exoskeleton members, and then pointed to the sealed carriage doors.


    They understood his orders and stomped forward forming up ready to rush in.


    Captain Pointer turned to Arron and asked, ¡°How much juice do you have left in your jetpack batteries?¡±


    ¡°Enough for one or two more quick jumps. That''s it,¡± said Arron.


    ¡°Alright, I need you to jump up onto the roof and draw their attention.¡±


    ¡°What? They''re going to shoot me if I do that!¡± said Arron.


    ¡°Exactly what we want them to do,¡± said Captain Pointer, shooting him with his two finger guns. ¡°That''s why you have to be quick.¡±


    Arron grumbled as he walked over to the rear of the long carriage and checked the remaining energy which was still the same as before.


    ¡°You are green to take flight whenever you feel ready,¡± said Captain Pointer over the comms.


    With a quick burst from the jetpack thrusters, Arron shot into the air and landed on the roof with a loud thump that was all too noticeable by those below him. He did not stay still and continued to run forward to the front of the carriage.


    As he ran he was chased by a hail of bullets that opened new holes into the roof of the carriage.


    While the troubled suspects were occupied with shooting Arron, Kat deactivated the door locks allowing Kix and the other exoskeletons to rush in and start clearing the targets.


    Bam! Bam! Bam!


    Half of them were incapacitated before they were able to comprehend what was going on and return fire at the exoskeletons.


    The surviving troubled suspects dived behind several parasteel metal boxes dragging a few hostages with them while others just outright shot the hostage they were near before diving to cover.


    A fierce gun battle started as the exoskeleton members cautiously moved forward checking for booby-traps or explosives that the suspects might have set.


    ¡°Stop! Everyone out! It''s gonna blow!¡± shouted Kix.


    No one hesitated or asked questions, they just rushed back to the doors. It had only been a few seconds since they had entered so they were not too far into the carriage.


    It was unfortunate but they could not save the hostages as they had to save their own lives first!


    Arron was nearing the edge of the front of the carriage when he heard Kix''s warning over the comms and he cursed to himself.


    He did not stop running and instead picked up his pace before jumping into the air and activating the last of his jetpack''s power to shoot him forward at a higher speed.


    He crash-landed by face-planting into the para-concrete cracking his helmet as he skidded and rolled over 50 feet and slammed into a wall knocking the wind out of him.


    BOOOM! A huge explosion rocked and vibrated the air and the ground as the carriage disappeared into a large fireball and shrapnel that flew through the air in every direction.


    Several large chunks of shrapnel embedded themselves above and around Arron, as he tried to make himself as small as possible and roll towards a dip in the MagLev tracks.


    A string of several dozen more small and large explosions continued to go off for at least 5 minutes as whatever had been inside the carriage continued to cook off and explode.


    Arron only looked up from the ground when the sound of flying shrapnel and explosions had stopped.


    What he saw was a grim sight.


    ¡°M1 HQ can you hear me?¡± asked Akira, not sure if his helmet''s comms were still working.


    ¡°I hear you,¡± said Lexa.


    ¡°We have multiple officers down! Send as many med-vacs as you can!¡± shouted Arron as he rushed over to the M1 officers lying on the ground. Several of them had been pierced by the large shrapnel of the MagLev carriage.


    Although Kix and the exoskeleton members had been closest to the explosion their armor had been enough to block most of the raining shrapnel that had been flung out.


    The one who looked to have received the worst of it was Captain Pointer.


    ¡°Stay awake Captain!¡± shouted Arron as he tried to plug the large holes in Captain Pointer''s arms and legs and worked as fast as he could to stop the bleeding of the numerous other shrapnel wounds on his body.


    ¡°What the hell was that carriage carrying?¡±