Recap of Blood and Steel

At midnight on June 1st, the Toxin Club was as bustling as it ever had been, the patrons too drunk or lustful to be aware of the deal going on right above their heads. They got to enjoy the workers there, whose minds were blissfully altered by Personality Editing Matrices to leave them moldable at a cost of Shardyne.

But another mind needed the Editor to protect its fragility, for Ripley Donovick was a man who had little to his name except the Shard Operating Claw once belonging to his mother, who was now ailing with disease caused by Implant removal. He found the strength to continue on in his childhood friend Selene, reunited with him once they'd both fallen from grace.

Officer Diana Jones willingly descended from grace, abandoning her esteemed father, Brian Ulrich, to join the police. She would be sent undercover that fateful night to discover the existence of a deal between the Snake Fangs and a Yuzhou representative only known as Ms. Himiko. At Ripley's intervention, they'd accidentally unleashed one of humanity's predators, a MAL.

A Gold MALignant, one of brutal lightning that devoured technology into its anatomy. It devastated the club and the Snake Fangs, who could do little more than run as they lost everything. Ripley, too, would lose something in Selene's life. The algorithm known as the Personality Matrix in his head would beg to differ, and it would only grow in potency once he and Diana emerged not just as survivors, but as claimers of Gold Implants. The only clue they had to go on for the source of these powers was the name of the orchestrator of the deal.

The Dogwhistler.

Under the protection of The Misfits, Ripley, led by the aptly named Missy, would form a close kinship with Mirage and her three AI personality duplicates, Personas, and bond closely with Twilight. Led to the seedy town of Little Requiem, he'd earn himself the interest of Mr. Skeleton... who knew far more of Ripley's life than a black market dealer should.

With Skeleton's guidance, Ripley found himself wrapped in the mystery of his Grandfather and the peculiar Warp Material left to him and his mother. Livewire. As his prowess with cybernetics grew, so did his carelessness when the infective powers of mimicking another Implant led him to assault a drug dealer, losing his arm in the process as he learned a valuable lesson.

Freedom is not a life without consequences.

Diana, meanwhile, would be promoted to Third Investigator, earning herself a presence in the Intelligence Department where she would find herself in an alliance with Anthony Grazhe, nephew of current lieutenant Anabelle Grazhe. Wielding extraordinary mutations that allowed her to wield electricity for personal strength, she would make quick progress in her duties. Eliminating a serial killer, taking down arms deals, and being a crucial component to the safety of hostages that Muramasa Dynasty had taken. Though the R0N1N had been more noticeable then, she'd gained quite the sum of attention.

Kendrick Rorsche was the wrong sort of attention. His interest in her led Indra Harmony to spy on Diana, leading to the discovery of the Gold Implant within her and the kidnapping of Diana's close friend, Officer Yvette, as a result. In her rage, Diana would charge into Little Requiem in an attempt to retrieve Yvette from Metal Heavens, but with every ounce of strength she drew, her control lessened. A misplaced touch led Yvette to her death, and Indra would follow.

Ripley would intervene to save Diana, and together they'd learn more of the other's past. It wasn't quite a friendship, but it would be the start of the bond and a reason for it to tear. Diana would leave, her muddled fury turned inwards in an attempt to devastate her body using Yvette's Implant. It failed in its task, only empowering her and providing a moment of clarity, and the Investigator would make sure Rorsche got his punishment by contacting her distant biological father.

Where she was tormented, Ripley desperately needed to prove himself for the heist Missy and the others had been hired for. A plan months in the making, he would only ever be the R0N1N's Operator and commit to repairs, but he took the mission to heart as he scourged for Implants wherever he could. He'd infiltrate Metal Heavens and several other gangs, leaving them fuming for the mercenary named 'Dreadwire'.

Love what you're reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on.

As he gathered resources, a Shardware device he'd thought impossible began to weave together. Dreadwire was complete once he bore the Arachnodyne upon his back. Its four limbs wielded Livewire to make him a mercenary of a kind wholly alien to the city. His debut saw him eliminating four lieutenants of the underworld, and he'd only further build his legend.

He'd also blossomed his connection with Mirage, learning of her past as a NeoCore Proxy to divulge the secrets of the Old Net in possession of The Allseeing, a MALtitan. The two of them found a moment of connection amidst the troubled world of New California, an intimacy and vulnerability that was rare to find.

In what little time they knew each other, they'd begun to fall in love. And he loved all sides of her — the darkness, the light, and everything in between.

But Diana found her time spent all alone. The loss of Yvette ate at her, and the teeth of the matter lay in the knowledge that it had been her powers that killed her friend. Anthony had grown determined to soothe and help her. His presence thus far had only ever been to lead Diana closer in her investigations on Soul Killer, but she'd strike a treasure trove of knowledge in his mother, Juliet Grazhe's, findings.

On a group calling themselves The Uncaged.

Ripley, likewise, would hear from Missy about them and her plan to eliminate Soul Killer, Mr. Skeleton, and The Dogwhistler. Mr. Skeleton, in particular, had been one of Missy and Diamante's coworkers — and a protege of Ripley's grandfather, the legendary Hammersmith. A man once known as Mikail Almajali.

With events of importance nearing for both of them, Diana's Gold Implant would surface among the Underworld's knowledge. They'd hunt her down, but soon they'd have nothing to hunt. Her search for Soul Killer led her to an auction, where she'd come into contact with Ms. Himiko — better known as Yuzhou's governing AI Amaterasu — only to be sold as the product. However, Soul Killer's plans shifted as she proved immune to their mind-manipulative Mutagen.

Kidnapped, Diana was forced to engage with Soul Killer's hivemind of infected as they researched her Implant, forcing her to combat deadly MALformed and feed on their strength. Her telekinetic strength was born when she faced off against a mercenary raised from the dead, a Parasyte. Mutations quickly evolved under The Revenant's tests, granting her the power to reach into the infection of others… but she lacked control.

Regardless, she would reflect all the terrors to come in her gaze as Silvereye. And burn them.

Ripley's mission, meanwhile, saw him infiltrating Yuzhou's Shandian Shardware Labs as Dreadwire alongside The R0N1N. They'd steal and pilfer their way down, Ripley making startling discoveries about the origins of Unique Features as he tried to wield The R0N1N's power. Augmented in speed, Ripley and The R0N1N still failed to be quick enough to prevent the tech they'd come for, Goliath, from being teleported to another facility.

Splitting up, Ripley journeyed towards Missy and Topaz. He'd challenge himself against a Silver, one wielding a spider-like Exoskeleton. In their duel, he'd forced Yuzhou to witness Dreadwire's ingenuity and resilience, a victory that earned him the next step of his journey into Tier II.

Diana would find herself being fed Mutagen for the same result by Soul Killer. Determined to leave, she manifested her powers to their utmost as she dueled Soul Killer's most favored vessel, Emily Kaisel. But killing Kaisel only raised questions, for the woman dropped no Implant, and another one of her had approached. Reluctantly, Diana followed the second Kaisel at her request, revealing Anthony to be caged and infected.

Desperate to cure him, she found the true calling of her Warp Energy's Tendency: Fire. She'd burn The Revenant down for their sins.

And Ripley, upon contact with the firewall guarding Goliath, would find his power in the very nature of his adaptability. In Water, to flow as needed and become whatever its vessel is shaped into. But hidden within the Datashield lay Amaterasu, revealing to him that his and Diana's Implants are born a MALtitan's spawn. The Infinite.

With both at Tier II, they worked in escaping to safety, but not before Diana eliminated The Revenant's lab with the aid of Dryder, a private investigator with ties back to the police -- and Anthony's mother. Ripley would find himself finding safety in a jail cell, his location unknown to all allies except his girlfriend.

Diana would release him, their lives intermingling once more as they revealed their findings. Returning home, Ripley would find his mother surrounded by his allies and in a worse condition. Time was running out for him. It wasn't merely enough to collect funds to buy a cure—he'd have to make one himself.

As for Diana, her Gold prowess would be known to all by her father's appearance, and she'd forever be labelled Silvereye to the city. Its future would hang in the balance, one the Uncaged were keen on disrupting, especially when it came to be known that it was intended to become the front for a coordinated attempt at killing a MALtitan.

Before then, Diana needed to eliminate all the monsters in her path.

And Ripley needed to become the master of powers even beyond his Implant.

As Dreadwire and Silvereye, their origins are bathed in Blood and Steel.

But there remains a Clash yet to come; it echoes in thunderous omens, woven upon webs of lies.

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.