It took quite a while for me to compose myself, but we were both well aware that we had a job to do. And now that we had a lead, we finally had some sort of direction to follow.
"So, this 'Inzen Robotics' company, they're the ones your parents worked for?"
"Yeah. From what I was able to gather, the man in the lab coat was their director and head researcher."
"Any idea what his name was?"
"Sorry, but I have no idea at all. I'm not even sure my parents knew. I only met him that one time, and even when my parents talked about work they just called him 'the director.' I know nothing about him other than that." It was unfortunate, but a nine year old kid wouldn't have had any reason to know in-depth information about the inner workings of a robotics company.
"Well, the company name at least is enough to give us a start." Mai started pouring over every thread, article and web page she could find related to the Inzen name, documenting information that she seemed to determine was useful at such a speed I could barely keep up.
After what must have been nearly an hour of cross-referencing every source she could find, Mai seemed to sat back and breathe a sigh of relief, satisfied with her work.
"I don't know exactly how useful this'll all be, but I think I've managed to reconstruct the series of events that led to the beginning and end of Inzen robotics. It's quite the tale, I almost wouldn't believe it if not for the official police documents that I… attained."
"You mean that you illegally accessed and downloaded?"
"Not important. The sequence of events seems to go something like this: small tech startup that was interested in neurologically controlled robotic body parts gets windfall of funding from some anonymous benefactor. The project is taken over by a genius engineer, though no source seems to have documentation of an actual name. That'll be this director you talked about. Anyway, on the surface they were doing exactly what you'd expect of that sort of company. Cybernetic limbs for amputees, partially restoring motor functions for paralysis victims, even interfacing with the brains of people with total blindness to give them some form of 'sight.' Real cutting edge shit, way ahead of its time in the mid '20s. But in 2025, shit really hit the fan."
"2025… the same year my parents were murdered."
"Seems like they weren't the only ones. Apparently the downfall of the company happened when an anonymous whistle-blower alerted authorities about the illegal shit going on there. At least, the police and government tried to keep the whistle-blower anonymous. Someone leaked some documents, and it turned out it was some little boy whose parents had worked there. The series of events isn't clear, but I assume they never came home so he went to the police."
My stomach dropped at that detail. I knew exactly who that little boy was. The idea of that identity being leaked filled me with unease. I could only hope bad actors hadn't got their hands on that information.
"My folks mentioned something about 'brain hijacking,' is that what the company was exposed for?"
"Oh, it goes way deeper than that. Turns out that helping the disabled was a front for a way more fucked up project. They were replacing people's limbs under the guise of 'harmless new technology,' then wiring them up to their brains so the robotic parts would take control of the body. In short, they turned them into cybernetic slaves."
The pieces from my memory started to click into place. My parents had brought me that day to see the results of their achievement, but were horrified with what they saw and concealed it from me. They must have seen the Director's cyborg slaves with their own eyes.
But, more importantly…
"Increased physical capabilities… hijacking of free will… shady corporate backing…" I muttered to myself
"Starting to ring some bells, huh?"
The situation at Inzen… it's damn near identical to the magical girl conspiracy.
"So someone… most likely the director… is determined to make superpowered slaves? No, maybe superpowered soldiers?"
"My thoughts exactly. With this much time, effort and money, I have my doubts that this is just someone trying to make manual labourers that are cheap and easy to control. I think they're building an army."
I couldn't deny that it seemed plausible. Well over a decade's worth of effort just to make some powerful slaves? Something about that didn't add up. If they had an enemy to fight, though…
"I guess that begs the question," I said, after a moment's contemplation, "what the hell are they fighting?"
***
"You want our second target to be an abandoned building for a company that shut down eight years ago?" I had filled Saki in on the details as we made our way to our infiltration target.
I had, however, left out my own personal history with the company. Even telling Mai was a little too much for me, so I decided I'd keep it a secret from Saki and Nao until I felt a little more comfortable talking about the subject.
"The leads between the two seem airtight. Mai can probably explain it better than me, but I really think it's a worthwhile use of our time. If it leads us to the identity of whoever is running all of this, it's definitely worth the short."
Saki pondered it for a while, but eventually seemed to give in.
"Well, I do trust your judgement, and I especially trust Mai's skills. If you insist that it's worth our time, I'll take your word for it. But for now," She pointed out ahead of us, where our first infiltration target had already come into view, "we have a job to do."