Chereads / Behind The Scenes: The Painter Of Lies / Chapter 5 - Ch.4 Boss, Detective and Partners

Chapter 5 - Ch.4 Boss, Detective and Partners

Afreecia, Aegyptus.

"Welcome to Terra's Best Detective Agency. Justice Sun Eye Agency provides you with the best cost for the best results. We Search and Investigate. Buy our membership and receive a 20% discount now for all your problems."

The billboard said as it hung at a tall metallic building. On the building was a yellow logo of an eyeball with half of it as a spiky sun next to its name "Justice Sun Eye Agency".

Suddenly a run-down car came flying in down in front of the building. The car was littered with bullet holes and its paint was scratched by burn marks.

The car's door opened vertically and a blonde adult man in a yellow overcoat wearing a fedora came out. The man had his hair reach his chin and curtained his golden eyes. This man is called CD-1854. He is a clone.

A lot of clones work for enforcement corporations they are a full citizen of the federation. But of course, to become a full citizen of the federation clones are created with the specification of their buyers and must work for half of their lives to their employer. They expect the clones to use their specialties for humanity.

"CD" means Clone Detective. "1854" is his serial number. But his callsign is "Holmes". Holmes walks towards the employee entrance. Besides the entrance was a scanner. Holmes presents his face to it. A blue light starts scanning his face. The blast door opened with a "psh" sound revealing an elevator. As Holmes gets in he is greeted by the Building AI.

"Welcome back Mr.Holmes, the boss is waiting for you. Please go as soon as possible."

"Okay."

Holmes said nonchalantly. The elevators soon opened and as Holmes walked into the office, heads started turning. He starts receiving funny looks. From glares of the enforcement department employees, sly looks from fellow detectives, and murmurs from other workers. Holmes shrugs it off and heads to the boss's office. Finally, Holmes reaches the entrance of the boss's office. But before going, Holmes decides to dust off the debris from his attire. Finally, with a deep breath, he knocks on the door and looks at the small camera lens of the door. Soon a melodious female voice with a hint of danger sounds from the intercom.

"Ah. CD-1854. Right on time. Come in."

Holmes's back started sweating heavily. Holmes starts making excuses in his mind before it's too late as he hurriedly gets into the office.

There he was greeted by the stern red eyes of a long and messy white-haired beautiful woman. The burn marks on the right of her eyes only make her look more menacing as she smiles at him. The woman then said the following

"Shootout at a bar down the slums. A high-speed chase led to five "explosive" car accidents and a total of 120 injured and 20 deaths. You sure had an exciting night Holmes. Should I be happy Holmes? Should I?"

Holmes gulped and immediately answered

"I did what I had to do boss. If I didn't do that, the suspect would have escaped!"

"Holmes! How many times do I have to tell you? That you're a detective agent! Not an enforcement or bounty hunter! Every time we have to clean up your mess!"

"Come on boss, it wasn't bad this time. The bastard caught wind of our operation! If I didn't step in, he would have high-tailed his way to the black sectors..."

The Boss started rubbing her nose bridge. And then said.

"*sighs* After your actions today, a lot of the other security agency corps are thinking of cutting cooperation with us. There is the bureaucracy that we must all follow Holmes."

"They're nobodies, we're the best agency in the whole of Terra! They're nothing but money-hungry wolves, unlike your boss. Those assholes should become mercenaries instead, they're an insult to the security agency all across the federation!..."

"Ah... here we go again..."

The boss resigned her fate. Once CD-1854 starts complaining about other corporate agencies, he will not stop. He hates those people with every living fiber of his body. After a while, Holmes was about to finish his ranting.

"...As I say! Those corrupt bastards should get scrutinized by the Federation! They are parasites! *cough cough*."

"Are you done, Holmes?"

The boss's sharp red eyes were looking intently at Holmes, he only realized it now.

"Sorry boss!"

"You know, Holmes, you've changed, not for good but bad, ever since- hah..."

The Boss stopped talking as she noticed a painful look slowly creep up on Holmes's face.

"You know what I meant Holmes. You don't need to shoulder everything, no one asked you to. I have been waiting for our corps' best detective to fix himself. But it looks like I need to be more forceful. Target, come in here."

Holmes looked behind him, as the sliding metallic door opened with a woosh. A smiling woman goes in, wearing a black sleeveless combat suit, she has shoulder-length white hair, although more well-kept than the Boss. But what he noticed the most was the newcomer's eyes. It was sky blue, the color wasn't the problem, it was the red glow on the rims of her iris and pupil. This indicates she is a cyborg. Holmes also saw her cybernetic arms. This wasn't a normal cyborg Holmes thought. After a quick scan at the woman, he realized she was a walking black market filled with military-grade enhancements.

"She will be your new partner, Target."

"I'm SG-4635 callsign "Target". Hellofriendandsoontobepartner! Hehe." said the hyperactive cyborg as she introduced herself as she fidgets around

"SG" means SafeGuard. SafeGuards are a type of clone that the Federation employs. The difference between normal clones is that they are highly augmented since birth, and are born adults, unlike normal clones who went through a short childhood. They are implanted with cybernetics chips that ensure their loyalty to the Federation laws, this also gives them the authority to act above the law. As long as anyone threatens the peace of the Federation, they are allowed to kill. Giving them the description of the Federation's most dangerous peacekeepers.

But clearly, this safeguard had a problem that Holmes sensed, he quickly sent an inquiring look at the boss and didn't bother to reply to the hyperactive safeguard. The boss replied

"This is Target, the problem child of the enforcement department. As you can see, she's a... A bit active. So if you need to do any shooting, leave it to her."

A bit active? Holmes thought. More like too active, he had never seen a safeguard smile in his entire life! it's uncanny to see one, if looks could kill, this one is a serial killer. This one has a problem with her source code. Noticing the broken safeguard is already attracted somewhere else and playing around the room, Holmes asked.

"You want me to partner with...this? You know I work better alone boss!" as he points his eyes toward the direction of the safeguard.

"Heh. You'll get along soon. Who knows maybe you two became my first Star Agents. Pfft- huhuhu" The boss holding her laughter as she covers her face with a data slate.

Holmes gave up, it seems the boss finds the situation funny and won't take no for an answer. At least she forgave him. Then the boss composed herself suddenly announces his or their new mission.

"I got a big job for the two of you, so at present yourself."

"Yes bossy! So what's me and my new friend got to do? Do I have to shoot bad guys?" Said the safeguard who hurriedly went to the boss's table.

Holmes merely rolled his eyes, another day another work. He then asked.

"Is it the heist? Nothing big going on other than that."

"Is it like Mister Detective said? Ooh, I'd like to beat those techrunners and teach them a lesson!"

"No, Someone is already on that case. As much as I value you two, you both aren't good at cybercrimes."

"Something else big is going on huh..."

The boss stood and opened the hologram as she inserted a data slate into it. Data started showing up, including a graph called kidnappings.

"Recently Pure Humans on Terra are on dire straits. Just today, approximately ten thousand Pure Humans have gone missing, I know it's not a lot, but for Pure Humans, who is a dying lineage, this is a small percentage of their numbers. Why don't you take a guess why they're missing?"

"Eh? To do bad things to them? Like bad guys do?" Said the seemingly oblivious safeguard

"Ugh. Illegal Gene Research, just like always. Don't these assholes learn?" Holmes as he rubs his eyes

"*clap clap* Exactly! The Federation believes someone is doing illegal gene research on Terra." The boss

"Any clues?"

"lots of clues, but for now, I want you to look into this man."

A hologram of a man was shown.

"Joseph Skorzenty, Pure Human, Age 23, Height 169cm Weight 150lbs, Born in Europa, moved to Afreecia a month ago.

People seem to call him "The Baron". Not sure what it means. A VIP was found murdered, her last contact was him. The VIP was found with her blood drained, and not a single drop of blood was found in her body. He went missing since then, he has been called for a trial and hasn't shown his face anywhere since. He's also a member of an organization known as the Purity Church."

"Purity Church? Never heard of them." Holmes said in dismal.

"Well you should have, recently they have been making big waves on the Pure Humans side and making friends in high places. They were established 50 years ago. I think this "Purity Church" seems to be the front of their kidnapping ring since a lot of their members have been marked as suspects for other missing cases. I want you to look for this "Baron" and collect intel about this organization."

Holmes started looking into other details of the hologram. And asked.

"Where do we start looking for this "Baron"?"

"He was last spotted entering Underhive 366. Informants found traces of him in that sector."

"Yes, finally some action! I'll get myself ready now partner! wait for me outside!" Says the cheery safeguard.

Holmes continues to ignore her, he'll be with her later, but for now, he has to prepare himself. But before he could leave the boss said something shocking.

"Before you go, Holmes, leave your service revolver here."

"What!?"

Holmes was shocked to the core, it seems the boss is still mad.

"This is for your good! You are not allowed to carry any firearms until this case is over."

"You want me to go to the underhives unarmed!? You might as well send me on a suicide mission!"

"Holmes..."

"Agh! Fine!"

"Don't worry your Target will take care of you well. She will be well-armed, I assure you."

Holmes handed his Gauss revolver and begrudgingly left.

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