"Baby…." A soft sensation caressed my face and brushed over my hair as I found myself in the comfort of the bed I missed a lot.
'Why do I feel like I haven't slept in a long ti-'
My thoughts stopped in place as my eyes fluttered open to meet with two beautiful gray eyes that had uneven streaks of orange and green, giving them a tinge of mystery and serenity.
"Ah…you're here dear?" I asked with my hands slipping around the waist of the woman beside me, pulling her closer, smelling the simple flowery fragrance that closely resembled a rose and a sweetness that resembles a forget-me-not, into a comfortable hug that comforted me more than her.
"Ha! Why're you like this today! You never liked it when we cuddled during the summers!"
"I….I don't know…." I said in a confused tone, maybe yesterday was a little too tiring I guess, 'Yes that must be it.'
"Is everything alright? Do you want me to takeover looking after Riyane for a few days?"
"Huh? Oh, no. She's no trouble. She's sleeping well. Don't worry." I spoke as I closed my eyes and nestled closer to the woman beside me, in my arms, under the warmth of the first rays of the sun that peered in through the gaps in the window blinds.
"I see." I heard the same raspy, velvety tone fill my ears as it tickled my ear drums gently like the fingers that were running along my slowly disappearing hairline.
"You might need to get a hair replacement surgery done soon? Don't you think?"
"Hmm….I'll see…we're already working too much….I don't want to pull into our reserves, we could go on a holiday somewhere soon."
"Oh! You've got something planned!?"
"Hehe…I wonder…..maybe a little bird had told me about someone's wishlist after they just coincidentally happened to leave their VR glasses on the table with it still playing the video of a rather scenic destination?"
"Oh no!!!" The woman squirmed as I felt her face heat up, but then she hid herself and prevented me from looking by pushing her face over my head and locking me into a tighter hug.
"Hehe…." Pushing myself away, I tried to turn the woman's face towards myself as she protested, "Stop it!!! I'm embarrassed!!!!"
"Haha!!! Isn't that when you look the cutest though!"
My hands freed themselves from her tight hug and managed to pull her hands away, bringing me face to face with the same eyes I had just seen, except they weren't the same, they were similar.
A panicked expression spread across the woman's face as I watched her eyes first widen with fear and then focus to try and push me away from herself with force.
"WHO ARE YOU! WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE!? GET AWAY FROM ME!!!"
My grip loosened as memories came flooding back to me when I felt a shock across my chest.
Opening my eyes, I was met with the same eyes that I had seen, gray with uneven streaks of orange and green, eyes that held a little recognition this time round, but were still mostly distant, I felt my vision blur but held back from letting anything leave my eyes as I recognized the syringe stabbing my chest.
"Welcome back to the land of the living, Dave."
"I flatlined?" I asked as I pushed myself up from the rough hard floor I had collapsed upon, trying my best not to make further eye contact with the woman.
"No, but you were quite close."
"I see." I ignored the woman and pulled out the syringe.
I got up and looked at the metallic door in front of me that had its peeping window slot opened.
"I looked on the other side to confirm if there were any more threats and informed the department that we might need reinforcements since the ones inside might've called for help." The woman responded in a neutral tone.
"Hmm…we shouldn't need any backup." With a quick nod, I stabbed the syringe into the door to destroy it and scanned the room I first woke up tied in, along with the table filled with wavers that had been piled onto the table. "Tell the department I'm taking over the case on the desk inside." I ordered.
"You can do that yourself. I'm not your assistant." She said, in that irritating tone, using that raspy, velvety voice that shouldn't belong to her.
"I see." I walked away and began to move towards the door that I thought led to the exit.
"That's the bathroom." I heard the same woman speak behind me.
"I know. I'm just checking for any clues."
I could feel the woman deadpan and stare at my back as I said that to her, but I made no attempt to respond to her or make any further conversation.
Opening the door, I was met with the not too sanitized view of a bathroom filled with puke stains and stains from other fluids like blood or chemicals used to fix prosthetic actuators and clean blood. A stash of opened JOI pods filled the trash can in the corner, overflowing it quite a bit and falling onto the floor around it. Several rouge screws and flat cells lay scattered around the floor in random locations like corners and under the sinks and toilets.
A small vent by the side was clearly working overtime to keep the area smelling neutral by constantly pumping air around if its low buzzing hum was to indicate something, but I shut the door and walked away from it after tossing my broken syringe into the trash already piling there and since I thought I'd spent enough time staring at nothing.
Turning around, I found myself staring at the crown of a head with parted hair that was a rosy hazel color with a similar shine and silky nature to it that I recognized, but the smell of a different product that resembled daffodils and not a rose, the one I was used to, left me imbalanced as I tried to walk around the person in front of me.
"How long are you going to ignore me?"
I walked to another door without replying, this one was open, 'Should've started with this since it's probably where she came here from.'
Walking out the door, I came face to face with a stairwell, causing my slightly tense body to relax and begin to descend up the curved staircase to a higher point.
'Looks like the trap house is underground?'
'Is that why I heard no sounds from anywhere else, anywhere outside, and why there are no windows?'
I heard sharp footsteps follow me around from behind, as I did my best to ignore them and keep walking ahead, looking at the second metallic door I had seen that probably led to the exit.
Shafts of light shone down from the slightly ajar door, illuminating the cracks and spiderwebs all across the walls.
"Wow. Not even a word of thanks for someone that saved your life." She spoke, now walking beside me, the sound of her gear audible as she walked.
"Wow. I get why she chose to MindWipe herself. I would too if I was married to bufoon like you. Oh, wait! I 'was'!" The woman spoke using the same raspy velvety voice that shouldn't belong to her as my head began to pound, but the chemicals injected into me from the syringe kept me calm and suppressed it, at least partially.
The familiar buzz of the streets filled the tunnel as I got closer and closer to the metallic door that arrived in front of me which I pushed open, arriving outside and finally being able to breathe 'fresher' air as the afternoon sun shone down on me, giving me the first taste of warmth I felt like I had in days.
I started to look around for a police Hoversteed since I needed to get back to the city to give my own report on the situation.
'Huh….I'd hoped more people would be looking for me….I guess I'm not as popular as I thought I was.'
Finding one parked close by along the curb, I walked over to it and was about to open the saddlebag of the Hoversteed when I found my hand being dragged to a stop after it was held by the woman.
I forced myself to turn and look into her eyes as she spoke with seriousness, "Those are my things. You're not even my commanding officer, so don't touch them."
I slipped my hand out of her vice-like grip and stood aside as I waited to find a random person on the street we were in that'd allow me to call the police for a ride, but then I remembered where I was.
Looking over at the woman, I watched as she was calmly looking back at me with a smirk as if she knew I needed some help but wanted me to beg for it, so I chose to walk away to the other side of the street.
She still had to arrest the two thugs inside, so she'd eventually have to call in for backup. I was sure I could get a ride then, if I didn't, well then I guess the police and I would be parting ways.
Once again I felt a force stopping me, this time by pulling on my shoulder to spin me around, "Don't overreact like a little baby! You're just a consultant!" The woman spoke, but I ignored her and continued to walk down the street on my own, looking at the place in front of me to eat something. I already felt like I was starving.
"Can't you hear me!?" The woman shouted louder, grabbing the attention of the passersby, who already looked pissed since a member of the criminal police task force had come to their area.
I continued walking, no one would really associate me, an old man wearing nothing but a dirty white shirt and grey pants, with a police officer. I'd probably be considered a homeless informant of some sort with how much dirt I had on me and the smell I had taken on from the place I had been stuffed into.
'Damn…I left my jacket in the room….'
'It doesn't mean anything anymore though…not after the person that gave it to me no longer exists.'
'I guess I can spare some change to buy something new. Maybe I should get a wardrobe change, Noive always keeps telling me I look too broody, I should ask her to help me sometime, though I wonder if Terialux will give her a short leave for an afternoon.'
Reaching the building across the street from the trap house, I looked at the proud sign of an atom. It was the beloved-
'Atomic Explosion.'
A cheap and easily accessible food supply solution for all the people outside the city.
*Clink*
The door opened with an electronic chime that resembled the tapping of a wine glass as I walked toward the counter and held my hand under the Wavelength ID scanner.
A transparent blob that tracked my eye movement appeared on the screen in front of me, my preferred way to order, as I chose a burger along with a bucket of tendies and a naturally sweetened drink to satiate my thirst by blinking my eyes after looking at them.
A soft *Kaching* signified money being deducted from my wallet, as the numbers U109.98 flashed on the screen to let me know my billing.
I walked back to a corner table in the dimly lit store under the light stares of a few people who had disconnected from the neural system, perhaps to make conversation with each other or maybe to simply relax and take a break from the constant unnatural forced connectivity.
It was not long after that a plate with my food arrived at the tracks, which I quickly picked up and shifted onto my table and tore open the seal burnt into it.
*Crunch**Squish**Crunch*
With slightly larger than normal munches, I began to eat my lunch while watching the woman across from the street wait patiently for the backup she had called upon after probably reporting on my safe rescue.
I watched her fiddle with the neural interface, something she'd only recently acquired about a year prior after her divorce.
A surge of anger filled my mind as my brain throbbed, but the delicate look on her face stopped me from taking any action as I was reminded of Riyane.
'She shouldn't have to grow up without a mom as well after she does not have a father anymore.'
'Hmm….I wonder if I can sneak in a gift once again…..did she even like the gift I sent her last time?'
'I wonder what'll happen to the case….who killed the banker really? Was it the lady in the recording who had been MindWiped? Or was it someone else? Was she even involved? Why did this information get sweeped under the rug during the first investigation? This seems too sloppy to be related to Suimanto directly.'
'Maybe Suimanto will agree to reveal the culprit if it is related to them…..they do help occasionally….after all you can't seem too perfect.'