# Cyberland - 1

Author: Arghos
Tags: Assassin, Character Development, M/F, Story Progression, Story Series, corruption, cyberpunk, straight

     "This is the ninth murder this
month." An officer in a black coat stated as he looked down at the soaked
body of an African American youth. His long ebony hair was done in a ponytail
as he pulled the collar up on his coat to defend against the chilling wind.
     The woman next to him stretched her arm,
the slow hum of the internal processor whirring like a mad hive of bees while
she clenched her metallic digits into a fist. In a better light, out of the
rain of the city and under better circumstances one could say she was radiant.
Her long, deep red hair cascaded past her shoulders and curved over her frame,
dripping with perspiration in the mid-summer rain storm. Her elongated muzzle
was that of a fox, yet blunt enough to almost be classified as a feline. Her
tail swished with its radiant red and black hues as she stared with an annoying
glare at the other men.
     "If I could correct you officer it's
the ninth gang-related murder this
month." She interjected. 
     "Yeah, thanks for the obvious
statement Alexa."
     Alexa crossed her metallic prosthesis over
her clothed arm, walking circles around the corpse while noting his garb and
facial tattoo. His shirt was of black silk design and was cut off mid-riff
style, with a thick white vest inlaid with red neon strips that still glowed in
the darkness of the night. His chest was littered with holes of varying size,
the bleeding long since stopped.
     "Neon glowing tattoos across the face.
That's usually synonymous with the Key Strokes. White vest, steel toed boots,
facial tattoos, what kind of weapon was he carrying?"
     A man in a blue uniform handed her a sealed
bag with a firearm safely placed inside, the handle was a sawed off rifle
stock, custom fitted to a three barrel firing case with what looked like a
plunger in the back.
     "What kind of Stems was this guy
packing?" She asked the man carrying the bag as he looked back and forth
nervously.
     "We aren't s-sure. The gun was
unloaded when we arrived at the s-scene s-so as far as we know it was emptied
or already fired." He stuttered. From the way he talked Alexa noted he was
probably a third time rookie. He had probably never even seen a corpse.
     "Thanks rookie, you can head on over
and give the boys the gun so they can analyze it."
     The boy looked all too happy to be leaving
and nodded his head as he hurried off, pausing past the tape to throw up on the
ground, coughing violently as he tried not to look back. The towering heights
of the buildings created an almost eerie scene as Alexa looked around. Who knew
who or what was watching them on top of those buildings, or even hiding in the
shadows. She looked down at the corpse one more time as she felt a hand on her
shoulder.
     "Hey, let us handle it from here. Go
home and get some sleep you've been working the square for over a year without
a single bloody vacation. This isn't the war anymore Alexa."
     Alexa felt her metal plates that made up
her shoulder bones sag as a sigh escaped her throat. It hadn't been easy coming
back to the city. It hadn't been easy getting over her friend's death and it
sure as hell hadn't been easy finding out how the murders of both augs and stem
addicts were related to each other.
     "I'll head over to Todd's and have a
few drinks. You or the boys want to tag along?"
     The officer shook his head with a flinch as
he looked back to the other patrol officers.
     "Sorry Alexa, but even being cops we
all kind of fear the guy running it now. It just isn't the same since Todd
died. Not to mention he gives me the creeps and you know the story about his
arm."
     Alexa rolled her eyes and pushed past the
officer with a groan.
     "Cowards, nothing but fucking
cowards."
     She opened the door to her car and hit the
gas, leaving an etheric trail of neon lights as her car sped down the road. She
could understand their fear, on the other hand though she had known Todd and
his brother since they were kids. She remembered the times they would go to the
river at the reserve park and play at night when the city lights cast a rainbow
glow over the entire park. She remembered how Todd and she had entered the
military together and even graduated top of their class at the exact same time.

     She pulled up to a very antiquated building
with a large wooden plaque declaring the owner of the simple yet popular bar.
She smiled as memories of Todd buying the place and spending a small fortune
decking it out with antique furniture and lighting. A lot of time and energy had
gone into the building, on all their parts. Her, Todd, and-
     "Alexa! Are you just gonna stand there
or are you going to help me unload this?" Came a cry in the rain from
outside her car. She was snapped out of her memory and opened the door, looking
at a shadow of a man wearing a dark green coat extend a gloved hand to her.
     "Come on Alexa. I'm glad you decided
to show up, did you get off work early tonight?"
     Her heart grew soft again as she heard that
baritone voice so richly talk to her. Todd's brother Han had been one of her
more childish friends. His eyes shone under the dark mantle of his hood, those
blue orbs accented along the iris by the effects of his old military stems. She
stepped out of the car and took his hand, walking alongside him as he
approached an unloading truck, signing the holographic tablet being held by a
delivery boy.
     "What did you buy this time Han?"
She inquired.
     He pulled his hood back leaned up into the
rain. His oaken brown hair fell back in a disheveled mess, casting a few bangs
over his forehead as he reached up to wash his face with the fresh rain. The
rough cut of his beard made his face appear wiser and angular, both of which
were traits he did not possess.
     Alexa sighed at his silence and grabbed the
dolly that supported a crate taller than her, helping Han wheel it into the
warm atmosphere of the bar as electric jazz washed over her. The bar was empty,
the tables all had chairs stacked on top of them, the lights turned low with
most of the light coming from an old jukebox and a few holograms projecting
ads that Todd had used to help pay for the bar when business was slow.
     "Well it's the one thing that Todd
always wanted, but he never could get."
     Alexa stared mouth hung wide open while Han
grabbed the side of the box with his gloved hand, tearing the side off with a
swipe of his arm. The splintered remains poured out beads of encasing foam poured
out of the side. With a wide grin Han reached in and with a grunt of effort
pulled out a pay phone, covered lightly in rust and paint chips.
     "I can't believe any of these exist.
Where the hell did you manage to get one?"
     Han shrugged and pushed the pay phone
against the wall next to the bar, staring at it with a happy sigh before going
behind the bar and setting two glasses on the counter. He looked over at Alexa
and paused, his mouth twitching as if he wanted to say something, but opted
instead to grab a dusty bottle of whiskey and present it to her.
     "Todd's fifty year old bottle of whiskey... Are you sure you want to drink this Han?" She asked while
looking at him with a concerned frown.
     "It's been long enough." He
stated quietly as he poured a generous amount for each of them.
     The golden liquid almost glided over the
ice like silk, casting shadows of gold and brown on the smooth oak counter, well-worn
with scuffs, scratches, and gouges from when the few brave augs played stabs. 
     Han picked up the glass and held it aloft,
sighing as he closed his eyes hard. It was a moment just like this before Todd
and Alexa went to war when they drank in the empty building that was now his brothers'
legacy. The memories came pouring out as the first few tears fell from his
tightly closed eyes. As he opened his eyes he looked at Alexa who was also
fighting back tears as she toasted with him, downing her glass in one gulp. Han
drank the deep robust flavor of well-aged liquor. Soon his mind swam with the
deepest memories of his brother, and how it all came to an end with the painful
thoughts that had once given way to blame.
     Alexa let out a muffled whimper and clenched
her fists, shattering the whiskey glass in her prosthetic hand. She looked down
with wide eyes as they wandered over her metallic digits. The arm whirred
softly as she sporadically tried to pick up the shards.
     "Alexa stop, you haven't been maintaining
your augment. Go down to the basement while I lockup and I'll help you
out." Han commanded softly as he placed his own prosthetic hand over hers.
     Alexa sighed and nodded her head. His kind
blue eyes worked in keeping the many worries she had at bay. Han didn't join
the military like Todd and she had. He opted to stay behind and work for Jenix
Augmentations. His deep knowledge of coding human as well as bestial neuroscience had made it possible for multiple breakthroughs in digital
interfacing over the last few years. But when the accident happened he had left
the business, sold off his research, and stayed alone in the bar's basement for
over a year.
     She tapped in the twenty digit password to
the door and walked down the familiar stairs as lights turned on one by one in
front of her. A normal person would be skeptical of the lights and the
password, but living in the military and knowing what some of the experiments
meant to Han made it all seem normal to her. She walked into his workshop and
sat on the well conformed chair meant for operations while she turned on the
antique CD player Todd had purchased when he had first opened the bar.
     "It'll make it classier." He had
stated while giving a noogie to Han at the time.
     The white washed walls were decorated with
blue-prints, pictures of Han and Todd, and tools that were used for augment
maintenance. Alexa felt strangely at home in the modern basement of an antique
bar setting. Her mind swam with the affection she held for the human male, even
though human and bestial relations were to be kept as friendships due to the
breeding laws. Soon enough she saw the lights go out upstairs and heard Han
descend down the steps as he whistled a familiar tune to himself. He entered
the lab and quickly took his glove off, revealing the cold dark chrome outline
of a hand that was his, yet not his own. 
     "So how long has it been since you
reset the nerve connections and did a complete system reset?" Han asked as
he sat in a swiveling chair and wheeled it next to her as she sat up to take
off her coat and outer shirt.
     "It's been a little over a year. I
just tend to forget I need to do maintenance on my own body." She stated
as she laid back on the table. 
     It wasn't strange to her to be so bare next
to Han. He had been the one to operate on her when she was flown back to the
city for extensive reconstructive surgery. So for all intents and purposes he
was the only man to ever see her naked. He labored on the connecting panel over
her shoulder with a machine like precision, his metal hand easily unscrewing
the bolts and pulling the wiring out as a bird would when pruning its partner.
The multiple colors of wire came out as he grabbed the endings of each, small
silver prongs that hooked up to nerve clusters in the spine. 
     "Well you lied."
     She looked at Han with a confused look as
she witnessed his fingers separate into a dual pair of slimmer fingers. She
wasn't sure what he meant and kept quiet as he re-integrated the nerve endings
to her robotic mainframe.
     "You've taken very good care of my
prosthetic. It's clean, it's been maintained better than most of my old
patients, the only problem is you hyper-extended the endings so they separate from
the clusters, making the movement sporadic and unpredictable."
     A very subtle blush surfaced across Alexa's
face as she looked away, making sure not to let her eyes meet Han's. 
     "Well of course I took care of it.
You're the one that put it on. I remember they told me you wouldn't let anyone
else into the operating room while you worked on my arm and leg."
     Han smiled with a chuckle and set aside his
tools, the thin prongs of fingers clinking back to normal. The last closing
sound of the plate rang out as he walked to his bench and grabbed his pipe.
     "That's right. I didn't let anyone in
the room as I operated. I sat next to your table after everything was installed
praying that you would make it. I wasn't about to lose another family member
because I couldn't work. I didn't do it alone though Alexa. I had my brother
beside me to work." He stated as he flexed his prosthesis.
     Alexa was one of the few people to know the
entire truth of Han's arm. Three years ago Han and Todd were out driving around
the city after a successful presentation of Hans' new line of augmentations hit
the market. A few blocks into the city their car was attacked by gang members
with use of explosives and sonic weaponry. The car was almost completely
destroyed, and Han was left without an arm. Later that evening after being
rushed to the hospital Todd had told Han to take his prosthesis for himself.
     The military was not too happy with this
and even though the arm was one of Hans' designs they still claimed ownership
over Todd's corpse upon his death. So Han got out of his bedroom after they
cleaned his wounds and used his security skills to lock himself in the hospital
morgue. After a ten hour attempt to get inside Han walked out with his brothers
prosthesis secured to his own body. It still remained a mystery how he had done
it with no tools, no doctors, and no anesthetics. The government dropped the
case in exchange for the original design which Han was all the happier to be
rid of.
     "Thanks for the tune up Han. I was really
getting the shakes lately." Alexa whispered graciously while pulling her shirt
back on. 
     A blush crossed her muzzle again as she bit
her lower lip, surely her time hadn't come yet, she had taken the necessary
shots so she wouldn't be bothered with her heat any longer.
     She smiled and tested her arms reactive
capabilities, marveling as it felt even smoother than her real flesh and blood.
     "No problem. You may notice some
differences in the frame work because I overclocked the reaction nodes along
the fingers and hinges of the arm." You might not be superhuman or bestial yet,
but I'm willing to bet you can bend a steel rod right now. Just be sure to keep
that to yourself." He added with a smile.
     "You overclocked the muscle mesh? That's
illegal!" She said with a smirk. Legalities were lost on Han.
     Alexa sat upright with a shake of her head
and looked around the room. She noticed something was different with Hans' lab.
Blueprints were strewn around the desk and the room was in minor disarray,
which wasn't like Han at all. She looked behind her and stared wide eyed at the
series of suits behind her. Suit wasn't the right word she realized. The first
was a black hooded jacket with pauldrons over the shoulder that scaled down to
arm guards, and hung directly below it was some sort of attachment meant most
likely for an augmentation. 
     "Han what is all this?" Alexa asked as she
looked back at Han while he smoked his pipe.
     His eyes grew cold as he stared at the wall
of suits and tools. She watched as he strung a hand across the black suit and
across the polished pauldrons. She had seen him like this once before. At his
brothers formal funeral his eyes had gone so cold the winters snow seemed hot
in comparison.
     "It's nothing. We should go for the night.
     He picked up her jacket and placed it
around her shoulders as he coaxed her upstairs. It wasn't like him to keep
secrets, she thought quietly. Han had never been one to keep secrets let alone
seem morose in his nature. Yet as his hand reached around her shoulder she felt
the familiar warmth of his company. The Han she knew was still there, beside
her and with her quietly.
     She walked with him out of the bar and
into the damp streets of the city. Bestials and humans walked around the bar as
if it was cursed, many not so much as looking towards them as they left arm in
arm. If a policeman had seen them he would have surely questioned them, but as
two hardened souls they hardly even cared. 
     Alexa looked to Han as they walked on and
felt her head fall slowly onto his shoulder. He smelled of cleaning solution,
scotch, and wood, but still he smelled to her as a summers warmth did. 
     "I'm sorry if I'm a little close Han." She
stammered suddenly as she backed to his side.
     "You're in heat, it's quite alright."
     She stopped dead in her foot steps and
glowered at him.
     "You knew all along?"
     Han turned around and produced a smile that
paralyzed her.
     "How long have we known each other Alexa?"
     She smiled back and chuckled, walking up to
him and socking him in the shoulder with her newly repaired arm.
     "You could break that arm if you're not
careful." He joked back as they approached the neon enriched apartment building
she called home.
     "You're fault. I don't suppose inviting you
up would be in order?" She asked almost too quietly for anyone to hear.
     Han shook his head and looked up the hill
to the brightly lit capitol buildings of the city.
     "As much as that may be a temptation to
every male in the city I'll have to pass Alexa." He said almost too harshly.
     Alexa felt her heart sink and she wondered if
the fusion of the alcohol and her heat had ruined a possibly fruitful
friendship with Han.
     "Even if it's a temptation to me..." He muttered
to himself, her ears barely catching the comment.
     He shook his head and embraced her.
     "Sorry hon, maybe another time. In the mean
time you should use the hyper vibrating functions I installed into your
fingers." He added with a smile.
     She blushed and turned quickly her tail
bristling behind her.
     "I n-never asked you for that!"
     He smiled and kissed her on the head as he
began to walk away.
     "If you overdo it you won't ever find a man
to make you happy in bed!"
     She bristled and called after him.
     "There's a million men that would jump on
me right now if they had the chance and you're walking away!"
     She could hear him laugh as he trailed off
in the distance.
     "I'll be first in line then!"
     With a laugh she turned and went upstairs
into her bedroom. As the door closed behind her she felt her shoulders fall and
the familiar tug of her heat draw her to the bedroom. She might as well make
use of the gift Han had given her and as she removed her shirt, then her sports
bra, she looked out the windows in the hopes maybe he was there. Maybe he would
rush upstairs and break the door down into a million splinters and make
ravenous love to her.
     Just the heat talking. 

Source: https://sofurry.com/view/742573