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Some context before we start. Last year, the Detached-People 's Discord Group ran a year-long competition where people could submit artwork based on a theme, and after a year, a raffle would go out to give prizes to each of the contestants. By sheer coincidence, CyonixGFX and I each won a render request from the other as our prize (You can check out his amazing interpretation of my idea over here!)
While he was responsible and got mine to me in a reasonable manner, I unfortunately am ever the one to take simple things too far (I really should just change my middle name to 'Scope Creep' at this point 🤣), and what started as a rather simple request to see Izzy headless in a cyberpunk setting, sort of ballooned out to creating an entirely new CyberPunk Alternate Universe (which yes, still features a shot of Izzy headless 😉)
The story you're about to read (if you read the descriptions for these things), is a bit darker than my normal stories, but I feel like that's sort of to be expected with CyberPunk.
I want to thank Cyonix for being extremely understanding as I proceeded to take nearly a year to get his prize done, and for letting me share it with you all. It was a lot of fun to design this alternate universe, and honestly, it's a setting I could see myself returning to very soon.
Enough of my yapping though. Enjoy!
-Michael
“No cops,” The gruff man with a metallic body the size of a polar bear sporting six arms snarled down at E-773 as she finally came to the front of the line outside of Maho’s.
“I’m not-”
“No bots neither,” He spat a bit of something down onto the pavement, barely missing E-773’s foot, whatever chemical that made up his spit fizzling and melting the sidewalk slightly, “especially ones that are cops.”
E-773 glared at the bouncer, her mass shifting slightly so that she was slightly taller, although still a good two feet shorter than the absolute monster of body modder before her, “Don’t make me-”
“National Trade Commision, Regulation of Vices, Subsection four dash six alpha, action against private security officer. Any business within designated red light districts with active permits and contracts with approved private security forces are exempt from any outside investigations on all individuals within the premises, with the expectation of said private security force providing due diligence against any unregulated vices or illegal activity. Any attempts by an outside investigation force to obstruct or retaliate against said private security force shall result in the immediate termination of duty, or retirement in the case of wholly artificial individuals,” the bouncer rattled off, his eyes trained harshly on E-773.
E-773 scowled. If there was anything more annoying than a muscle-bound brute, it was a brute who knew the law enough to know that she wasn’t technically allowed to conduct an investigation in this part of town.
“Oh hey~!” A slightly robotic voice chirped from the entrance behind the bouncer, his eyes bugging slightly as he awkwardly shifted, still taking up most of the doorway but revealing the source of the voice: A woman wearing a mask with a vectorized face on the front, and completely see-through clothes, revealing a strange lack of any genitalia, “There you are~! I was wondering when you were going to show up.” E-773 did her best to hide her confusion, as the strange woman placed a hand on the bouncer’s lowest left arm, “She’s with me, Rocco.”
The bouncer gave a confused look as he alternated between the woman and E-773, who decided to play into the deception, shrinking back down and sidling closer to the strange woman, who proceeded to wrap her arm around her waist as if they were close. His eyes hardened as they settled on the masked woman, “What are you doin’ inviting a cop inside, Sofia?”
Sofia giggled, patting Rocco’s arm in a comforting manner, “Nothing you need to worry about, Rocco. There were some creeps trying to rob a lady of her purse this morning that I helped the officer here catch, and as thanks she promised me that we could share a dance tonight.” Sofia unwrapped herself from E-773’s waist, motioning for Rocco to bend down.
With his ear down next to the mask’s speaker, she whispered in a voice that would have normally not been audible to anyone but Rocco, but E-773 could hear clear as day, “Consider her one of my pet projects I’m working on.”
Rocco’s scowl softened slightly, but there was still a look of distrust as he eyed E-773. “Just a dance?” He asked.
E-773 knew the best way to play this would be to appeal to his emotions, and so her artificial facade reddened her cheeks slightly as she attempted to avoid eye contact with the towering behemoth. “It’s an unorthodox request… However Sofia’s assistance helped in catching two criminals who have been at large for quite a while, and I did promise her whatever reward she desired.”
It seemed like those millions of cycles of emotion training had been well worth it, as based on the conflicted look on Rocco’s face his guard had been shattered. He bit his lip as he looked behind him for a moment, then at Sofia’s vectorized face, her eyes slightly enlarged in a pleading manner. He sighed. “Fine. One Song-”
“I’ve got a specific song in mind, Rocco, it’s already in the DJ’s queue,” Sofia interrupted, continuing her pleading look, “It’s only two songs away.”
Rocco visibly tensed again, before grumbling, “Fine. Three songs-” He was interrupted again, as Sofia latched onto him, doing her best to give a hug to the massive behemoth, thanking him over and over again. The brute blushed, as his upper right hand scratched the back of his bald head. “The bot better behave though,” He said, pointing a middle arm aggressively towards E-773 while giving her the evil eye.
“Don’t you worry, Rocco. She won’t leave my sight for a moment,” Sofia assured, this time not bothering to whisper as she said in a provocative tone, “and maybe after your shift is over, we can go out and get some coffee?” She raised a vectorized eyebrow playfully, the image leaving the bounds of her vectorized face.
“T-That’d be swell,” Rocco blushed again, as he stepped aside, finally letting E-773 into the nightclub.
It was a loud and obnoxious place, the strobing neon, loud bombastic music, and throngs of people clearly all intentional to make people need to buy something to dull their senses and let the cacophony wash over them. Of course, E-773 could just tune it all out like any other frequency. She turned to look at her entrance ticket, mouth midway open when Sofia interrupted her.
“You’re here looking for M, right?” The soft, almost bubbly demeanor she had on at the front door was gone, replaced with a professional businesswoman tone.
“That’s-”
“Classified? One of my best friends wakes me up at four in the morning, sobbing her eyes out because her favorite client who promised her they were going to run away together suddenly isn’t returning her calls after ‘one of the best fuckings she’s ever had’, coincidentally on the same day that some robo-cop decides to risk retirement by breaking the RoV? I may choose to indulge in all the pleasures life has to offer, but I’m not stupid, officer.” E-773 grimaced, “Now, would you care to hear my demands before I take you to her, or would you rather waste the nine minutes I bought you trying to figure out which of the hundred or so people in here with a name that starts with M is the one you’re looking for.”
E-773’s grimace shifted into a scowl, her processors had already been working on ID’ing the hundreds of people in this night club, but even if she were lucky enough that Macaylah Stevens behind the bar was the M she was looking for, she knew that she wouldn’t have enough time to properly question her before that brute would get her kicked out and then retired. “What?” She spat out, doing her best to layer the word with as much vitriol as possible.
“One. You make sure M and I aren’t going to be involved in this any further,” Sofia talked at a normal tone of voice, knowing with certainty that the officer would be the only one able to hear what she was saying. A waitress walked by carrying a plate of drinks that shone neon in the night club’s blacklight, offering one to Sofia and the officer, of which only Sofia accepted, sticking a finger in, the level of the liquid slowly decreasing. “M’s a sweet gal and has already been through enough. And me personally? I’ve got too many connections to be helping her seek justice for what was ultimately some idiot trying to cash out. Nor do I want GigantoCorp breathing down either of our necks.”
E-773 was about to argue, but Sofia kept rattling off her demands, the drink in her hand now mostly gone. “Two. No pressing her further on things she doesn’t want to talk about.” A different waiter walked by, accepting the now empty glass from Sofia. “I’ve seen the leaks of you bots and your ‘interrogation’ methods. It’s why I’m giving you this one shot. Public place, under my supervision. And I can tell you right now if you break any of my demands you’ll have a better chance of finding Amelia Earhart’s plane before you find either of us again.” Despite being a rather low tech approach to a digital face, E-773 could very easily see how pleased Sofia was with how thoroughly she had outplayed her.
A distinct slurping sound could be heard coming through the speaker of Sofia’s mask as she made her final demand, her vectorized face taking on an almost impish grin, “Finally… your chat with M ends when the DJ plays our song, and you will go out on the dance floor and dance with me.”
“What?!” E-773’s processors were shocked out of their scrubbing through Morreen Goldwater’s second divorce proceedings by the unexpected request.
Sofia laughed at the bot’s almost human expression of confusion, “I invited you in under the promise of a dance, and would rather not have Rocco think of me as a liar. Besides,” Sofia got up close to E-773, wrapping one arm around her while trailing her free finger along the strap of the camouflage E-773 had transformed her uniform into. Sofia’s speaker volume lowered even further to a whisper “it would be a shame for you to get all dressed up and not have some enjoyment this evening~” This time, the reddening of E-773’s cheeks was not something she had done on purpose. Her emotion center was not returning a concrete reason for the reaction, but most likely something to do with a static electric build-up from Sofia’s mostly inorganic body. It would be something she would have to research further at another time.
For now, E-773 very quickly untangled herself from Sofia’s grasp, adjusting her dress. As much as she absolutely hated having to do so, her background check on approximately 90% of the women with an M name in this building returned nothing that could pinpoint which one was the ‘M’ Phillip Gibson had met last night, and unfortunately failure was simply not an option on this mission. “Fine,” E-773 spat out, “I accept your demands.”
Sofia purred, “Attagirl~” Overhead, the music shifted as the DJ transitioned from one EDM-inspired track to another. The verbal contract signed, Sofia grabbed E-773’s hand, “C’mon now. The show’s about to start!”
All around the club, platforms began to descend, the lights along the side pulsing in time with the rhythm of the music. Standing on each platform, holding onto the long metal pole for balance were various women in just enough clothing to protect any un-modded private regions and very little else. As the platforms settled into place, the women began to perform erotic dances upon their poles, eliciting many cheers from the club’s patrons.
As Sofia dragged the officer to one of these platforms, the crowd that had gathered around it dispersed, many grumbling to themselves wondering who let the cop in. The dancer on stage seemed to pay no mind however, her almost completely robotic body continuing to move in rhythm to the song, dancing around the pole seemingly without a care in the world.
“Hey M!” Sofia’s speaker shouted out just over the din of the club, perking the dancer’s ears up as her head impossibly swiveled 180 degrees to look over at her small audience. “The officer here has a few questions for you!” At a lower volume, Sofia turned to E-773, saying, “This song lasts for about three more minutes. Remember, if you don’t want to be retired, you’re not pushing the blame onto her.” With that Sofia stepped back, positioning herself as best she could between them and Rocco to block their make-shift interrogation.
E-773 knew she had exactly 3 minutes and 24 seconds to edge out some sort of lead on the case. Even as the pole was descending she had managed to link enough clues together to determine that this mysterious M was Michelle Clark. 30 years old. Still 250,000 credits of student loan debt. Just barely being able to pay off the interest with her current job as a dancer. Traded away most of her body in a vain attempt to fix it. Still only 60% of the way through restart number 4 of her first book. About as textbook of a prime suspect as one could get.
Michelle’s eyes focused on the officer, genuine concern present within them as she asked. “Is this about Phil? Have you found him? He said he was going to call me last night but never did.” She bit her lip nervously, her head swiveling, the neck it was attached to sliding along her metallic joints to keep facing E-773 as her body continued what must have been a pre-programmed dance sequence with how effortlessly and intricately her movements were.
“Yes, I responded to a wellness check on his location a little bit ago, and unfortunately Phillip Gibson was found dead-”
“WHAT?!” Michelle’s eyes widened with concern as she shouted out, turning a couple of nearby heads but otherwise being washed out by the music, her body not missing a single beat of her routine. “Officer, I was over at Phil’s place last night. He- He can’t be dead! We were supposed to leave this rotten town tonight!” There were tears welling up in her eyes.
E-773’s processors were working overtime. This dancer, without any prompting, had not only admitted to essentially being an accomplice of Phil’s, but that she was the last person to have seen him alive. She’d successfully charged people for less connection, and yet even without Sofia’s testimony, she was slowly coming around on the idea that Michelle didn’t do it. It was all a little too perfect, and unless she had some latent acting ability that had never been officially written down somewhere, the desperation and concern in Michelle’s voice was genuine.
“I’m afraid I saw the body myself, Miss. It… was not pretty,” E-773 ducked her head a little, wincing as she had been trained to as the tears that had been welling up near Michelle’s eyes began to properly start falling. “Do you happen to know of anyone that would have wanted to see him dead?”
“N-No!” Michelle sobbed, “Phil was such a kind man. He made friends with everyone.” Her makeup ran slightly as tears continued to flow, E-773 keeping a neutral, but still concerned expression as she hoped that her witness’s emotions would not eat too much further into her already dwindling time.
“You said you were planning on leaving? Tonight?” E-773 asked. In her peripheral vision, she could see Sofia moving a little closer.
“Y-Yeah…” Michelle sniffled, “I guess those plans are gone now though…”
“Was there any particular reason you two were going to be leaving?” E-773 pressed.
“Well… Phil’s always wanted to move to the country-side. He had a weak heart you know, and all the smog around here’s always made it hard for him. So, he’d taken up a second job to help make enough for a down payment on a small starter house we could both move into.” A bittersweetness swept over her as she recalled, “He-... he was always so thoughtful. He thought it would help with my writing too. Less distractions…”
“A second job?” E-773 asked, her ears perking up a little.
“Y-Yeah. Phil suffered from insomnia a lot, and with the house and all, he picked it up to help pay for it,” she sniffled again, scrunching her face in concentration “I think it must have been with FoodHub or one of those other delivery apps? He didn’t like to talk about it a lot. Oh!” Her eyes lit up in fear, “Phil was supposed to drop something off tonight to someone! He was going to drop it off before coming to pick me up so we-... we-”
E-773 interrupted before Michelle could fall back into another crying fit, “I think we might have found that package at the scene. Do you happen to remember where he was going to drop it off? I could swing by and drop it off for him before reporting back to the station.”
Michelle closed her eyes, “He mentioned being annoyed last night that it was all the way across town… I want to say it was some garage?.. P-Paul Smith’s?”
E-773 was already gathering a location profile as soon as Michelle had mentioned it being across town. There wasn’t anything with a name matching Paul Smith’s. But, there was a, “Pondsmith’s Body Shop and Repairs?”
Michelle’s eyes lit up, the distressed woman smiling for the first time since E-773 had met her, “That sounds right?” Her mood returned to a bit lower state as concern flooded her eyes once more, “It won’t be too much of a hassle for you to deliver it? Do you need it for evidence? It’s not too far out of the way?”
E-773 gave a polite, calming laugh, “Not to worry, Miss. I’ve already ran a scan on the package and it seems unrelated. I’ll make sure it gets to the people who need it, and rest assured, I will not rest until I’ve brought Mr. Gibson’s killers to justice.”
“Oh, thank you. Thank you!” Michelle emphasized, tears welling up in her eyes again. Her attention turned towards Sofia, who was now standing next to E-773, holding out a cocktail napkin towards the stage. Michelle’s body expertly spun around the poll, snagging the tissue and wiping away at her runny makeup. “Sof, would it be possible-”
“I’ve already talked with Oliver. You should be good to leave early and take a couple of days off if you need them.” The lighting of the club changed, as the music began to slow down, the mix becoming less aggressive although still danceable. Sofia’s digital face beamed, “Oooh~! Sounds like that’s our song, Officer~” She winked playfully, addressing Michelle once more, “I’ll be right back, M. We’ll catch up in the breakroom, okay?” Michelle nodded appreciatively once more, as Sofia grabbed E-773’s arm and dragged her out to the dance floor.
The music was much more laid back than the techno fair that had preceded it, encouraging more personal, small groups to form on the dance floor than the over-stimulating mosh it had been when the two of them had come in. Sofia took the lead in setting the tone of their dance, which for the moment was some rhythmic vibing to the music, E-773 did her best to mimic Sofia’s actions while her processors focused on looking up more information on the lead she had just been given. “Thanks for not going too hard on M,” Sofia smiled, glancing over towards Michelle. It seems another dancer had arrived to take her place for the evening, allowing Michelle to step down off of the stage and head towards an unmarked door. “She’s one of the few honest people left in this city.”
E-773 was singularly focused though. “Were you aware of Phil’s second job-”
“Aww, you were doing so well,” Sofia sighs, her attention drawing back to E-773. “You were giving her such human responses, I almost forgot you were a Robocop for a second there.” E-773 frowned at this comment as Sofia stiffened up slightly, “I didn’t know Phil particularly well other than the facts that he was a good tipper and that he was very kind to M.”
E-773 could tell that her question had seemed to strike a nerve, but also got the sense that Sofia truly did not know anything further. “I-” E-773’s paused, she was going to ask if Sofia knew potentially knew anything about Pondsmith’s, but from her body language, also knew that now would not be the appropriate time to ask. “Sorry…”
The two danced in silence, letting the music wash over them. From watching Sofia and others around them, E-773 had started to develop a bit of her own style. As it seemed like couples were starting to form around them, E-773 took a step closer to Sofia, wrapping her arms around the much taller woman, almost seemingly catching her by surprise from the little jerk she did, but seemed to go along with it, wrapping her own arms around E-773.
E-773 wasn’t sure what was coming over her, but as the song continued to play, fuzzy memories seemed to arise within her. Some sort of courtyard, hanging lanterns, long dresses and tuxedo, lavender perfume. E-773 rested her head against Sofia’s chest, hearing not a heartbeat, but instead the mechanical whirring of whatever engine ran the woman’s facade of a body. Still there was some level of comfort to it. Sofia reached a hand up, placing a hand on the opposite side of E-773’s head, her words coming through the mask’s speaker sounding uncertain and questioning, “Dani?”
E-773 instinctively bristled, pulling away immediately from Sofia and staring at her. The animated screen of Sofia’s mask had vanished, revealing inside a small, shrunken human in some sort of control center. There was a look of concern in the small human’s eyes, clearly looking for some sign of recognition, however E-773’s programming had taken control at this point, instructing her to leave the location immediately and follow up on the lead she had been given.
E-773 turned towards the door and ran, barely hearing Sofia shout out, “Wait!” behind her, as her body bent downwards, turning metallic as her form shifted into that of a driverless motorcycle, speeding off down the road towards Pondsmith’s Body Shop and Repairs.
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