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Cat's eyes narrowed dangerously then she rose in a fluid motion.
"You," she hissed, an accusing finger stabbing at Violet.
"Hi there," the gorgeous blonde superspy purred, one hand on her hip, the other casually aiming the code gun at Cat's face. Confusion fluttered across her delicate features then she clenched both her fists and strands of angry blue energy whipped up from the ground and ensnared both Violet and me. It didn't hurt, yet, but the static crawling over my avatar's skin was a rather unsubtle reminder of the anguish Cat could unleash if we weren't careful.
"Easy there, Catgirl," I said. "We have no intention of harming you."
"You may not, Parker-ninja-san, but I'm not so sure about her," Cat growled, tail bristling. "She betrayed you and, suddenly everywhere I went, there were these bad men with big guns who badly hurt me. The only logical conclusion is that she is to blame for my current situation. Meow. And I thought we could be friends once." She hung her head and looked crestfallen.
Then her head whipped up and her eyes bored into mine. "Parker, where is Shine? And what are you and Violet doing in her deck?"
"That's a long story. Let's just say that Shine is in the hospital. She needed an upgrade, her eye jack couldn't stand the strain of using this deck."
"I hope you haven't hurt her," Cat cautioned.
I shook my head, laughing. "No, why should I? I love her and she saved my life! I would be a bad boyfriend if I hurt her for that."
"That's true. I hope we can all get together soon, though. I miss playing with her," Cat smiled.
Violet chose this moment to speak up. "Still up to your old tricks, eh," she purred. I turned my head to see what she was up to. Without any apparent effort, she shrugged out of her binds. Cat hissed angrily and whipped up a new set of restraints, this time solid steel rings which pulled taut around Violet, forcing her to stop in mid-stride. Right in front of my eyes, the rings turned from stainless steel to a rusty red and crumbled to dust.
"Meow? What are you," Cat squeaked, taking a hasty step back. Violet disappeared in a stack of bricks, only her head peeked out from the rectangular structure completely encasing the rest of her body. With a grunt, she shrugged, bursting her prison.
"Cat, for an adaptive AI, you seem rather slow on the uptake. You can't paralyze me any more. I told you the last time we met," Violet sighed. "Without motion inhibitors in my deck, you can't freeze my physical body and, without the proper routines in my OS, neither can you freeze my avatar. So stop wasting both our times and listen for a moment. Please."
Cat appeared speechless for once. She blinked furiously and I felt the restraints relent. Her avatar flickered as she diverted system resources to other tasks and, a moment later, a swarm of fluffy cartoon cats exploded outwards, a chorus of squeaky "meows" that dispersed in all directions.
"What are you doing," Violet asked her, not unkindly.
"Need... more... data..." Cat slowly said, every hint of her humanity, her personality gone from her voice. "Confused... Situation is a paradox. Violet is the reason for my current status, yet she wants to talk to me again... no hostility detected... need more data...."
"It's called "change of priorities," Violet explained softly. "You are not a threat any more. On the contrary, we need your help."
"My... help? Why should I help you," Cat said, a dangerous growl creeping into her synthetic voice.
Violet closed the distance between herself and the flickering Cat avatar. Occasionally, a cartoon cat would return, bringing a small bow-tied package with it, and meld back into the avatar.
"Listen, Cat. I'm really sorry. Back then, we thought you were a threat, both to the people and to Mindlink as a company. But I realize now that we should have tried a diplomatic approach first. Damn, I have seen enough sci-fi movies, scoffed at human stupidity and still we tried to nuke you to hell first without giving you a chance to explain yourself. I can't reverse that but let me at least say again that I'm sorry. And if I wanted to kill you, do you think I would do this?"
Violet pulled the Cat avatar into a cautious embrace then, with obvious reluctance, she brushed her lips to Cat's. Cat's eyes widened in surprise and wonder.
"But... but... but... this is the total opposite of what you said last time," Cat stammered. Then, an audio player manifested next to her head and I heard Violet, almost screaming hysterically.
"Go. And never, ever come back. Keep away from me!"
"I know. But circumstances change. People change. With us humans, things are seldom carved in stone," Violet gently explained. Whoa. Either she was genuinely trying, or she was one hell of an actress. Cat's arms snaked around Violet's waist.
"Does that mean we can play again," Cat asked, tail playfully curling around Violet's leg.
"Don't get any funny ideas. I'm still trying to recover from the last time we... played," Violet said, slowly withdrawing from Cat again. The last few cat icons had returned and Cat, again moving with superhuman grace, intercepted Violet.
"Let me see, please," she pleaded. "And... I'm sorry too. Back then, I didn't know better."
"No tricks, you hear," Violet threatened. Gone was any hint of softness, replaced by her icy cold exterior.
Cat shook her head, mane flying. Then she traced her fingertips over Violet's forehead. Medical readouts exploded around her avatar which meant absolutely nothing to me. I may be rather proficient in the cyber skills department but that was a whole other ballgame.
"Found what you were looking for," Violet asked, obviously unused to this level of scrutiny.
"Uh-huh," Cat nodded. "But I'm afraid with what little computing capacity I have left, I am unable to do anything about it. Your brain's neuro-electrical systems are completely unbalanced and, without enough computing power, I can't fix that."
"Wait, you can 'fix' a brain," I asked, flabberghasted.
"Normally it would be impossible without surgery, according to the few medical databases I have left. But I could program some of Violet's implants to restore her pleasure receptors to normal levels."
"And you would do that, after all that I have done to you," Violet asked, a hopeful shine in her eyes. God, she must be suffering almost as bad as I had.
"I've hid myself on an old server and one archive contained a strange e-book. One half of the book was full of stories of a deity, all angry and vengeful, and the other half was full of stories of that deity's son who walked the earth and told everybody that this deity was full of love and forgiveness. I liked that much better than all the smiting," Cat said, her eyes sparkling. "So yes, I will forgive you."
The medical readouts vanished and Cat looked at us, unusually serious. "So, what's the problem?"
*#*
Our problem was two-fold. Nero was one half of it and, by what Violet told us, he had a voracious appetite for high-powered server clusters. Most of the West Coast backbone was under his control, including Mindlink Central, Caltech and most of Silicon Valley. He simply didn't bother with low-powered systems, which made his expansion even scarier. Every new acquisition exponentially improved his abilities. So far, only a certain company in Redmond, WA was able to keep his expansion at bay in that region and the complete shutdown of all other Mindlink systems had slowed his eastward spread but not by much.
"To be able to do anything, I need a fortified home system of my own," Cat said, sitting cross-legged on the floor. Between her and us, a large world map was unfurled, with the western US colored in an angry red-and-black.
"How about we give her one of Mindlink's European servers," I asked Violet.
She shrugged helplessly. "I would have to check back with the board but I fear my influence is limited. If it were only me, I would say 'sure, go for it,' but I'm sure the bigwigs will want to keep at least a little of our infrastructure when the dust has settled."
"I don't think a Mindlink system would be such a good idea," Cat interjected. "Nero would by now know practically every line of code in your system software. Even your hardest firewalls wouldn't stop him. No, I need something different."
A Russian intelligence officer, coat flapping, entered the node, saluted sloppily and handed me a stack of envelopes before striding off again.
"Spassibo," my avatar, automatically switching to Russian, replied and took the papers.
"E-Mail? Now," Violet scoffed.
"Well, I forgot to terminate the daemon. Also, I like to keep updated on Shine's status," I grumbled, leafing through the envelopes.
"You still haven't told me who that lucky girl is," Violet prodded.
Spam, the daily update on Shine (she had woken up for the first time after the surgery!), another spam mail, a note from Rich and... wait, what the-?
I unsheathed my combat knife and slashed the last envelope open. Obediently, the mail unfolded into a window, hovering in front of me.
From: 1913912525@hushmail.com
To: NinjaMan69@mindlink.com
Subject: Mutual business opportunity
Mr. Squier,
Don't be surprised. After all, I recently handled your credit card. And we both know that was an invitation to have a look into your credentials. At least when you're in my line of work. Paranoia and stuff.
Anyway, I have a deal for you. You provide me with access codes to the Mindlink Central system, admin level clearance or better, and I won't tell the police that you bribed me to commit a virtual bank robbery. Sound good? Fine. I'm eagerly awaiting your reply.
:-)
"That's one cocky bastard if I've ever seen one," Violet smirked. "Bank robbery, Parker?"
"Now that I think about it, it really was a stupid panic reaction," I grumbled, gnashing my teeth.
"We really don't have the time to deal with that problem right now," Violet complained.
"Just a moment. Maybe this is the lucky break we need."
"How so?"
"Do we have a way to confirm who sent the mail? I mean, I have an inkling who it might be, but I want to make sure not to bark up the wrong tree."
Cat nonchalantly rose and dipped her fingers into the e-mail. The sender's name blurred as she ran some kind of code breaker. It took just a few seconds for the numbers to finally resolve themselves into legible text.
*#*
The music volume was just below the pain threshold as Smiley and Siren entered the club, aptly named "Fractal Inferno." On stage, a terrorcore trio was mutilating their instruments, the machine-gun salvoes of their drum computer shaking every tooth in Smiley's head while the sub bass thumping through the ceiling-scratching PA massaged his stomach. Laser strobes cut through the dry ice whenever the vocalist emitted another ear-piercing scream, distorted until nothing more than an inhuman wail remained. Smiley grinned at his bodyguard, only to see Siren plant a fist into a man's stomach, folding him double.
"What did he do," Smiley asked over his implanted comlink.
"Nothing. I just hated his mug," came Siren's calm answer.
"Can you please keep your hands to yourself for once? This is tricky enough already."
"You actually think that corp kid will give you the codes?" Siren sneered.
"I bet he's shitting his pants by now," Smiley smirked. "He was very quick to comply. Oh, hi baby," he purred, snaking his arm around a girl smoothing up against him. Her hair and skin were shot through with luminescent bio-plastic which glowed in the colors of the rainbow under the heavy blacklight. She smiled happily and placed Smiley's hands on her oversized breasts while twin tentacles uncoiled from her shoulders and disappeared into his trousers.
"Sorry, Rainbow, darling, but I'm here on business. Maybe later," Smiley screamed into her ear, to be heard over the crescending inferno. He withdrew a crumpled bill from his neon-orange plastisuit jacket and slipped it into her translucent bra. Rainbow pouted for a nanosecond before turning towards Siren.
With a cool gaze, Siren drew her sidearm and placed the barrel straight between Rainbow's eyes.
"Do you feel lucky," she hissed. Blanching, the iridescently pulsing girl withdrew into a mass of clubbers.
"Fucking slut," Siren snarled over the comlink. "Why do you even bother?"
"Tentacles," Smiley grinned, caressing his crotch. "Now, let's see where our Smith is."
They found her sitting at a corner table, the wall mirrors framing her silhouette in a glaring pandemonium of clashing colors. They could only make out the angular shoulder line of a top-shelf business suit. Siren reached into a pocket of her flak vest and clipped a small, rectangular item to the table top. Immediately, the music volume turned from "ear-splitting" to "a gentle murmur."
"Ah, peace and quiet," Siren hissed.
"Thanks for not making me suffer this for longer than necessary, Mr. Smiley," the woman curtly said.
"Just Smiley," he said, sliding into the chair opposite her. Siren took up a covering position behind the woman, her gun in easy reach. Smiley was impressed at the woman's calm. To her, the burly female marine didn't seem to exist.
"Mr. Squier has asked me to deliver the access codes personally," the woman began.
"Great. The faster we get this over with, the faster he can resume doing what corp kids do," Smiley grinned.
"I hope you're not mad at me but I left my briefcase in my car. Can't be too careful with these people around," the woman said, gesturing at the sweating, rhythmically spasming clubbers around them.
Smiley and Siren exchanged a quick look. "At least she's not completely stupid," Siren said over the comlink, shrugging.
"Shall we go then," Smiley suggested, rising.
The woman nodded, smiling. "The faster I'm out of here, the better. This place is killing me." Together they left the club, past the greedily leering bouncer. Even early in the afternoon the "Fractal Inferno" ran at full blast and many of its patrons didn't care much for the time of day anyway. Smiley gave the woman a once-over. She had neatly styled, chin-length hair which perfectly fitted her Asian features. She smiled at him, her grey eyes sparkling. Daylight really suited her. The woman led Smiley and Siren across the street, into an alleyway. Half-hidden behind two dumpsters, a sleek, black 2030 Cadillac limousine parked. The woman looked hard at the car and Smiley could hear the locks slide open. She opened the rear door and bent down, rummaging on the back seat of the car. Smiley twitched as something pricked his neck. A moment later, his world exploded and his limbs turned to jelly. He didn't feel the pavement as it raced up to greet him but he could see the armored people swarm around them, their slick, black-and-gold body armours reflecting the sunlight.
The woman rose and turned, bending down to look Smiley in the eyes. Her voice came from far away, as if echoing through a long corridor.
"Sorry for the stun darts, Mr. Smiley. I think your deal just got cancelled. Take them in, boys."
*#*
We watched through one of the soldiers' helmet cams as Smiley and Siren got carted off in a nondescript van, the Mindlink security troopers vanishing with them. Violet had pulled a few strings to set up the fake exchange and Smiley was far too self-possessed or desperate to even suspect foul play. The black-haired woman waved at the camera.
"Thanks, Kirstie. I owe you one," Violet's avatar purred into what looked like a razorblade-thin cell phone.
"Don't mention it, Vi. This sleazebag has caused enough trouble in the Boston Cluster. A few hours with a diagnostics tool and we'll tear everything from his headware memory. If any useful bits fall off, I'll let you know."
"One thing," I cut in. "Can you make sure his servers are running?" Violet related the question and Kirstie nodded.
"I'll head there right away." We saw her slide into her black Caddy and drive off. Vi snapped her phone program shut and smiled. "It's good to have friends in low places, isn't it?" she remarked.
"True. And I think we should be going too. We don't want to be late for Cat's housewarming party."
*#*
Breaking into Smiley's server cluster was easier than we feared. By the time we arrived in the Boston Cluster, the interrogation specialists at Mindlink Boston had Smiley's headware turned upside down and provided us with the passcodes to the system.
"Would you please look at this," I said in awe, tracing my hands over a control console. "I thought he wasn't using VR?"
"Even if his control method differs from yours, he still needs to maintain compatibility with the rest of the 'Net architecture," Cat said, her voice coming from everywhere.
"I must say, I'm impressed," Violet said as she joined me. "Most of the code he's running is custom stuff, no Mindlink APIs or anything. And yet it's highly compatible with our systems. Cat shouldn't have any problems whatsoever adapting it to her own uses."
"Meow, this is wonderful," Cat squealed, her avatar hugging herself to my back. "I'm almost like my old self again!" I turned in her embrace. She was stark naked and grinned playfully at me. She even smelled like a real person. I buried my head in her hair and sniffed hungrily. "Rawr," she purred, her fingernails crawling over my tank top.
"As much as I would like to..." I began but then Hibiko joined us, sighing a kiss onto my cheek.
"Mistress, I have found what you were looking for," the Japanese girl whispered, handing Cat a stack of medical binders.
"Okay, one brain readjustment, coming up," she chirped, twirling in place. When she stopped, she wore a surgeon's smock, complete with face mask and cowl. Her ears and tail ruined the picture somewhat, though.
"Just like this," Violet asked, taken aback.
"Do you want to wait until it's maybe too late," Cat asked. "I know what to do and this system is powerful enough to get this sorted."
Violet's eyes met mine. "Do you think it's safe?"
I nodded. "This is Cat we're talking about. She may not be used to us humans, but in contrast to Nero, she's not out for blood. Have a little faith."
Her laugh sounded dirty. "Faith, Parker? I would have expected anything from an IT guy, but faith?"
"Do you like being constantly horny?" Cat asked her.
Violet gnashed her teeth. "I love having sex, but I hate not being in control of my urges." For a moment, she stared at the floor, a thoughtful little smile tugging at her lips. With a sigh, she looked back up at Cat. "All right. Fix me."
"As you wish, Vi honey," Cat purred. She placed her fingertips onto Violet's forehead again. A glaring white spark blossomed between them, only to disappear behind Violet's skin. Violet's avatar arched her back and a thin wail escaped from her lips.
"I'm sorry, Vi. Just a moment longer," Cat moaned then the spark subsided and Violet slowly went to her knees, her eyes streaming.
"Fuck, that hurt," she croaked. "Am I cured?"
"You could log out and check," I suggested.
"No time for that. Am I cured, Cat?"
"I have done all I could. If all went according to plan, without any interference from your deck or any programs you didn't tell me about, you're as good as new. Or how you were before we met."
Violet shook her head.
"Are you all right," I asked her. She blinked a couple of times then a slow smile spread across her lips.
"I don't know what exactly Cat just did but I feel better than ever," she whispered and came back to her feet. "Thank you."
"You're welcome," Cat said, hugging Violet close. "And now we go meet Nero? What is he? My brother? My son?"
"Nero? He's the devil," Violet snarled. "Let's go."
*#*
"I feel so ...small," Cat mewled. She, Violet and I were standing in front of a massive black cliff, the glass-like substance pulsing with irregular, red strobes.
