Diana

Titanium Warp Energy… and it belonged to Soul Killer. I had no idea what it was doing here, or why Skeleton was shipping something like this to Los Diablos, but I had to confirm it with my own hands.

Sabrina stared at me from the side. "Uh, Diana? You good?"

"Yeah, just… let's confirm and secure this place." I steadily walked over to the truck, preparing myself for the upcoming meeting with Soul Killer. Dammit, why did Sabrina have to be here? Could I send her off somewhere?

Regardless, maybe it was a good thing to drag the police into this mess. Open up their eyes to the real threat.

I tore the doors open, two red eyes staring back at me from the depths of the truck. Through the faint light peering into the vehicle's storage, I made out the finer details of the man who had lost himself to Soul Killer.

Those details made me freeze.

Enough that Sabrina had to pull me out of the way as he thrust his way out, a once-human arm transformed into a wicked machination of flesh and wires morphed together into a spear.

"Diana, what the hell is that? Who is that?" Sabrina tore out a gust of icy wind from one of the grenades at her belt, creating a frosted shroud as a violent burst of electricity threw itself at us from…

Kendrick Rorsche's arm.

My old boss, the man who had tried to take advantage of me. And now he was Fractured, a MALware and an enemy of humanity. I had lots of questions, too many, but there was a better time and a better place to get my answers.

"Leave this to me, Sabrina. Don't… don't get involved." I hissed as I threw myself above the wall of ice, staring at the pale, inhuman eyes of Rorsche as he aimed his blaster arm back up at me. He certainly hadn't used Shardware like that back in the police…

Shooting from his weapon, a thick stream of lightning stormed into my body, painful at first but then igniting a burning strength through me. Under my suit, I morphed my muscles, coiling them tight and releasing my electrical potential as a kinetic charge that landed me a punch right up at Rorsche's chest.

Metallic bones groaned and cracked as he blew back into a wall, but the malice of a MAL didn't care for pain like a human would. His arm pulled itself into a different shape, becoming a jagged blade that lunged at me. I caught it in my grasp, spasming sparks through it and reinforcing my Gold to combat his-

Iron? Kendrick was a Bronze last time I saw him. It worked to my benefit for now, easily commanding my telekinetic power to shred the metal off his body and compacting a jagged rod through its scraps. My previous attack hadn't been solely to damage him, I'd sent a burning flare of my Warp Energy through it — and found the MAL core deep up in his brain with my Soul Resonance Mutation.

My muscles rippling with thunderous strength, I jabbed the rod of metal deep into Rorsche's skull through his temple. Piercing the MALcore in one go. The metal scraps in my hand soon faded away, turning dull and lifeless as they fell into a mix of dust and sludge, a few clattering Iron Shards all that remained of the Shardware.

I heaved out as his body collapsed into my arms, my mind conflicting itself as a whirlwind of thoughts stormed through it. Rorsche had become a MAL under Soul Killer's Soul-Death Mutation.

Why here? Why now? Why did Skeleton have him?

Sabrina approached me, and her normally cheerful face was sullen and all too serious. "Was that… a…"

"A MALware. Fractured." I explained, voice bitter. "And it's… I knew that person…"

"Oh, Diana." Sabrina held my arm. "I'm so sorry, I-I'll call Alex. Are you okay?"

I stared at the lifeless body lying at my feet. "I'm fine. He- he wasn't a good person."

Still, did anyone deserve a fate like this? Maybe…

Maybe this bastard did.

———

12:32 AM, October 3rd

It was long past time to leave the office, but I refused to, not until Morgan 'Omen' Kirell would damn answer me! Sabrina stayed with me the entire time. The poor girl was stuck to me like a lost puppy despite the fact that she had been here much longer than I had. Maybe it was our common ground as two rich daughters of Police Corpocracy that were Espers.

I knew she wasn't a bad person but… on the contrary she was… just incredibly off-putting.

I guess I was just tired.

The Staff Sergeant of the Special Intelligence Operations, Morgan 'Omen' Kirell, entered a few moments later. The huge man was bald, practically hairless anywhere as I had noticed, and for a reason. He was made of steel. Even had four arms all to manage more holographic reports at once, according to Sabrina.

Omen's voice sounded barely human. "Diana, Sabrina. I apologize for keeping you two waiting. The autopsy is underway. Rorsche's BUG was Fractured, just as we expected…"

Sabrina covered her mouth and gripped my uniform's sleeve a bit tighter.

"Can we talk, Staff Sergeant?" I held back most of myself.

"Of course." One of the four arms waved for me to follow.

Sabrina got up with me, but it was the Staff Sergeant who shook his head. "This is private between me and Associate Special Silvereye. This was someone she knew, Wraith."

"I understand." Sabrina sat down, but her sad gaze followed me.

Morgan led me through the expansive halls of the Special Intelligence floor, technically… one of five floors located at the Westcrook's Central Police building. Although I was still affiliated with The First Precinct under Lieutenant Grazhe, technically, I was also now under the direct ruling of Westcrook's Captain.

Ishram Krishav — a war hero of the Fourth Swarm and the Civil War sixty years back. Callsign: 'Leviathan'. A Gold much like me, and more importantly, a Dual Adapter.

Not much was known about him, and he preferred to leave much of the District's public image in the hands of the ten precincts and their lieutenants, but his power was indomitable. That's how it is when you've been commanding a District's entire police and military for half a century.

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

"Associate Special Investigator." Morgan referred to me with my actual title now. "Rorsche didn't produce an Implant from his corpse, unusual for a human and a MAL, isn't it?"

That was because, like Ripley had said when he met one of the Dogwhistler's corrupted thralls, the Implant dissolved itself.

I stared at my Staff Sergeant, I hadn't gotten a good feeling for him other than that he was very powerful, but as for where his alleigances lie… "It is. What do you know about it?"

"That the Shards he produced were of Iron Grade, while Rorsche was of Bronze Grade when he was employed by us." The Staff Sergeant led me to his private office, a beautiful curved room featuring a massive window that unveiled the height of this city's twilight monoliths under the moon.

I added. "I'm not the expert when it comes to Shardware, but that definitely strikes me as odd."

"I know you're smarter than that, Ulrich." He stared out the window at the crowds below.

I found my solace on a couch of his, letting it's comfort ride out the rest of my unease. "Why did they choose Rorsche?"

"We analyzed the data on Skeleton's drone; there wasn't much, but Rorsche was an unknown even to Diablos. Skeleton knew you were coming, hell, he's probably been the one leading us to clues to this deal. Point is, it was either him mocking you, or warning you."

"Doesn't explain Rorsche becoming a MAL."

"Right, I've been looking into him for the last few hours." A field of reports came over to me…

The summary of it was probably far from the truth. Rorsche, after being fired from the police, tried to use his standing as a former officer to sell out information to criminals. But since he wasn't a particularly high-standing officer, his limited supply wasn't enough to get him enough money to pay off his Shardware debt.

With no other choice, Rorsche sold off his Implant's Warpcode to an unknown buyer, reducing himself to Iron Grade and his compatibility low enough that he Fractured.

It was a load of bullcrap. I'd sensed Titanium in there, and that was way more output than an Iron should have been capable of.

"I don't believe it sir, not the part about him selling his Warpcode. Is that even possible?"

"It is, through a program known as a Degeneration Daemon, although not highly recommended due to the various health issues it can cause. Even some SIM Adapters can reduce their grade if they have the right equipment." Morgan eyed me. "What's your theory then?"

He had me right where he wanted me. My mouth moved, and my vocal chords tensed. "Soul Killer."

"That, to many, would be the illogical choice." He stared at me without a flinch at the name. "It's much more feasible for a Proxy User to succumb to failed compatibility than it is for a boogeyman to create a method of corrupting Adapters. Yet, I am in agreement with you."

Morgan said it all too calmly.

So he did know Soul Killer was real after all… I wasn't surprised, he was in charge of our special operations, but I'd been keeping it to myself until now. I didn't know how far Soul Killer reached into the Police, but it was deep enough that they could control the most central of the Precincts through Anabelle Grazhe. "Then why are we just letting them… do what they want?"

"Do you know how many case reports have opened — and then been left open — out of mysterious cases of those with red eyes and white pupils? Over the last century, we've had 59 open cases of it, each locked once its assigned Investigator was either killed or chose to abandon it. This includes Juliet Grazhe's." Morgan's voice was harsh, but not cruel. "Diana, Soul Killer, although committing criminal acts, has so far not outwardly antagonized us."

Not… outwardly antagonized us?

"You say that, yet the First Precinct's damn Lieutenant is a mindless thrall of theirs!" I couldn't keep myself cool for now.

"Anabelle Grazhe is not completely lost to Soul Killer, their hold on her is… incomplete. And the circumstances behind it are complicated matters, one that even I'm not entirely aware of, but the Captain remains confident in. So far, you've been the only victim of Anabelle being seized by Soul Killer's methods."

"So then that's proof that we shouldn't just-"

"Anabelle's been corrupted for a decade, and you've been the only one to look at Soul Killer following Juliet's death. She may have led you into their hands, but clearly losing Anthony wasn't enough to persuade you against this crusade on them."

He turned to me, the weight of his gaze felt like a mountain. "The matters of The Uncaged are to be handled by me. Do not involve yourself in what you are not ordered to, Associate Special."

I was too angry to care. "Like anyone's doing anything! After everything that they've done to hurt the people of this District, we let our fear-"

"Is it wrong to fear that which may control those we love? To change them into weapons to wield against us? My wife is a SIM Adapter, so is Special Investigator Rick, as are Sabrina and Belle, and you. Although neither of our unit's Investigators will be easy to infect, they are still vulnerable to it."

Lightning burned across my irises. "I'm immune."

The Staff Sergeant raised his hairless eyebrows at that. "I'll have your blood taken for sampling then, but the rest of us are not. Whatever gift you have, cherish it by using it fruitfully to stop the criminals that are actively undermining our power. Mr. Skeleton is another viable target working in the same vein as Soul Killer, and he takes an effort to punish us."

"I can handle both at the same time."

"No, you cannot." The Staff Sergeant responded firmly. "Those two are building their power for the Swarm, and this city is already prepared to make a deal with one devil, but not two. The choice has been made long before your instatement into our ranks, there is no say in this — unless you want to bring this entire District into a war a few years before the Swarm. And a war cannot be won alone."

I knew he made sense, on a fundamental level, I knew he was right.

But how could I forget everything that happened to me? Everything that I'd learnt. They wanted me to be simple — Silvereye, that glamorous beauty within the Police striking hope and awe in the people of New California. "With all due respect, Staff Sergeant — I disagree with you. We can't wait until they're an unavoidable threat… the sooner we act-"

"I have my countermeasures ready." Morgan sighed.

"Just… really…" I said with pain in my voice. "I've already identified seven people in the First Precinct's building with their parasite, not including the Lieutenant. Are we really not going to do anything about them?"

The Staff Seargent's had one of his arms wave something to his side, probably a note that I'd revealed I could gauge Warp Energy relatively easily. "It's better the devil you know."

"Then I'll be taking my leave if that's fine."

"As you wish, Associate." Morgan mentally opened the door for me. "Just know, the next time we have this conversation, there will be a discussion of repercussions."

I nodded, knowing it was just an empty bluff. I bet the news was already writing reports of my victory over yet another gang deal far before I even got to the warehouse. I'd become a poster girl for the police in order to drive up recruitment now. Apparently, now everyone thought that if they performed well enough during their time as an officer that they would get one of the esteemed Silver or Gold Implants that NeoCore was gifting our District.

My success here meant more bodies for the police. They'd give me whatever jobs could be made public and embellish them until NeoCore began sending me recruitment letters. Heck, I wouldn't be surprised if I had another one waiting for me already.

Apparently, I even had a fucking publicist, my brief exchange with them was me refusing to give them access to my social media accounton Hotgram before discovering that they somehow changed my password and did it anyway. And I was even more mortified to find fan accounts of me… and… damn, some of them even had things to say about Yvette.

And here I was with my best friend! A fucking bathroom as always, standing infront of a mirror, because that's where I always ended up with these sad lonely thoughts before something fucking terrible thing would happen with either someone like Indra Harmony or Anabelle Grazhe sneaking up on me who I would trust only to betray me or-

"Hey, Diana." Sabrina looked at me with that same pitying expression she could so easily pull off.

"What?!" I might have whispered that a bit too harshly, considering she flinched. "Sorry. Just… having a bad day."

"No, it's okay, I get it. I totally do… just… thought I'd come by and see if you want to get a drink. I'll pay! No worries about that! Would actually be glad to pay for something for once! I just… I'm sorry. It was probably stupid but… I'll just… I'll just go."

"It's fine." I slumped down, weighing support onto the sink. "Thank you for asking I-"

Incoming Message from Dryder: [Got a lead down riverside, you up for a pre-dawn stakeout? I'll get donuts. And vodka.]

"I- I appreciate it. But I need to get home." I looked at her, conflicted in my heart.

Because everything Morgan had said was true, fighting Soul Killer was a losing battle. Except it wasn't you who would lose; it was those around you who didn't even fight. I wasn't letting anybody in, and maybe that was bad for the long term, but… it was better than having them forced to turn against you.

He was also right about this being a war, one that couldn't be won alone.

It was a damn good thing then that Soul Killer made an enemy of someone just as crazy as I was.

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