Phantom Initiative 1st Gig Chapter 1: Ghost in the Machine

“I wouldn’t go in there if I were you D.A. Wright. That scene is fucked up, I’ve never seen anything like it and I’ve worked homicide in New Los Angeles for 21 years. It already traumatized the poor greenhorn who was first responder.”

“I’m fine Detective, I worked homicide for 7 years myself, I can stomach a lot.” Ashlynn Wright said. Ashlynn was a pale woman, raven hair up in an elegant bun. Her sharp, dark brown eyes bore through you like a knife and she walked with equal intensity. She put two rubber gloves on and went to the front door where another 2 detectives stood.

“Can you make sure this damn rain doesn’t screw up my crime scene any further?” one of them shouted angrily. “Tell Jacobs to go get the tarps and the rain tent. This should have been done 20 minutes ago.” He barked as some younger CSI workers scrambled at his harsh words. He was your standard grizzled NLAPD Detective, a bit worse for wear, short cropped hair, 5 o’clock shadow, unremarkable yet unmistakable. He wore a broad billed hat and a black trench coat. His breath hung in the cold morning air.

“D.A. Wright, I’m with the B.A.A.R unit of the Central Investigative Bureau. And this is my partner, Y6 Agent Iwomori Yukari.”

“Hello, it is great to meet you. We work with the behavioral analysis unit of the CIB. I am an Arodyne Industries Y6 Criminal Investigative unit. If my greeting was in any way unsatisfactory, please let me know for future algorithmic adjustment.”

“God, Walters, I will never get used to these fucking rust buckets looking exactly like a human. You know, I’m all for equality but isn’t this too far?”

“I am sorry if my appearance makes you uncomfortable, but under federal law number 2204120472 B: Criminal Law Code 23 C of the Equality in Robotics Act, all synthetic units must be fitted with Arodyne Industries second skin, technology-“

“Yeah yeah yeah, she’s a lawyer, she gets it Y6, why are you down here?” Walters asked as they crossed under the holographic police tape that had been set up around the parameter of the house. It blinked red at the intrusion then went back to normal.

“You have reason to believe this crime was committed by a phantom, and you are part of the Phantom Initiative team.” she answered simply. “And I’m just about the only District Attorney in the entire western United States who will actually entertain this bullshit about the phantoms.” she added, flaring her nostrils. “I could ask you the same. What’s so special about this crime scene that you had to come all the way from your fancy HQ in Annapolis on a cramped bullet train.”

“Trust me, you’ll see.” Walters said, stepping over another transmitter of the holographic tape. He hung his head with an unusual look of defeat.

They entered the large mansion. It was a pristine and modern building with a minimalist pool in the back. The front had floor to ceiling glass windows that overlooked the hills down into the packed, constantly lit neon expanse of New Los Angeles. The area was a rare retreat from the omniscient buzz of the city, you had to be seriously wealthy to afford a place like this nowadays. They got to the first bedroom where a CSI technician was scanning the surrounding hallway walls and marble floors with a hand scanner.

“Are you sure you want to see this Miss D.A.” Y6 asked as they got to the bedroom door where the scene in earnest began.

“I’m a big girl, I can handle it.” She answered, taking a deep breath before putting cloth mask over her mouth.

Y6 opened the door and they all took in the scene. Before the door was even opened, there was a large streak of blood leading from the marble of the hall to the carpet inside.

“Oh Jesus, Father and Mary.” Ashlynn exclaimed upon seeing the unadulterated violence of the scene. A young Asian woman had been stabbed in the chest, then her limbs separated and nailed to the wall in the crucifix position, including her head. Underneath the torso were a couple of lit, red candles and two playing cards. A Queen of Hearts and a King of Diamonds.

“Y6, can you analyze the scene for us. I need to talk outside with the D.A.” Walters commanded. Agent Yukari began running scans of the scene, lights flashing cyan and red, uploading information to her head. Her alongside another officer continued to look for forensic evidence while the other two stepped out.

Walters heaved a massive sigh and took his hat off as they went out into the flawless white marble kitchen, the granite looked like it had been meticulously cleaned, but the agent leaned against it precariously, showing that he was hardly thinking about crime scene etiquette now.

“So… You can see why I was called from Annapolis.” He stated flatly.

“Reed, I don’t get it.” Ashlynn stated morbidly “Vitor Romanov was the Black Jack Killer. That case was as ironclad as it could be, we had an eyewitness that survived and identified him. We found DNA and evidence of the same scalpel being used across all 19 murders, a scalpel which we found in Romanov’s car… Vitor Romanov was put to death by lethal injection in 2064, that was 7 years ago. There were witnesses and a coroner’s report which are public record.”

“We may be dealing with a copycat, I’m not sure at this point.” he said, reaching to light a cigarette then thinking better of it. “I wouldn’t stress it too much worrying about getting the wrong guy. That was a pretty airtight case. That’s why I have Y6 running the scene as we speak in to MNERVA. I’m praying we get some leads, otherwise, I have no idea where to go, the other possible explanation is… Sort of unthinkable.”

“If it is a copycat, then they’d have to have pretty in depth knowledge of the crime scenes, stuff that wouldn’t have been given to the press.”

“I’ll have Y6 ask MNERVA to run the data on every former and current NLAPD officer and B.A.A.R Agents who would have intimate knowledge of the Romanov murders.” He pulled up his left wrist and typed a message into the screen. His Personal Life Assistant, or PLA which nearly everyone wore as a matter of daily convenience, was a slim rectangular green screen that fit onto the wrist like a watch. He swiped his hand left over it and then returned to meet Ashlynn’s stony gaze.

“Looks like you and I will be working together… Again.” Walters said, tossing his hat back on.

“My excitement is immeasurable.” She stated, before they went back to the room where the murder took place.

“Agent Walters, I found out many things from my analysis of the crime scene.” Yukari stated

“The petechial hemorrhaging in her aorta suggests that the initial stab wound would have killed her almost instantly. Meaning that the decapitation of her limbs was done post mortem.”

“Good, what else.”

“I found no finger prints or anything to suggest that the murderer cleaned up potential forensic evidence. Much like the previous murders in the Romanov case, the incisions were made with precision that suggests deep knowledge of human anatomy, as none of the arteries sprayed blood. In fact, the only blood at the entire scene was from the initial stab wound to her left aorta. I also contacted MNERVA with the request you sent me on my PLA. I have forwarded the information to you. It would seem officer Lance Mills is the only former NLAPD Detective who both had any connection to the Romanov case and was reasonably in the area at the time of death, which as I have established from decay rate of the chemicals in the blood to be around 1:40 AM yesterday morning.”

“Thank you Y6. Let’s get out of here, let the CSI do their job.”

They left the room and Walters looked at Ashlynn. “I love having her around. Can you believe they used to have to wait months for forensic analysis?”

“One wonders why our tax money even goes to paying us.” Ashlynn said dryly. The rain hadn’t let up and clouds were filling the gray sky over Los Angeles now. They stepped out into the gloomy gray expanse and Ashlynn put up an umbrella as they walked to Reed’s car. They got into the sleek, silver self-driving vehicle as the display lit up pink and light blue. The outside of it lit up with holographic NLAPD tags. Y6 sat in the back and Reed looked back at her. “Chavez Diner.” Walters said into the console and the car started up by itself, leaving the driveway of the mansion and down the short gravel road to the gate. Agent Walters flashed the attendant his badge and he opened the gate, it creaked slowly open.

“Yellow? What do I think about yellow?”

The room was bathed in aquamarine light. An analog projector flashed against a blank wall. The image sort of sputtered into life after the slide transitioned. The technician tapped the top of it slowly and it finally clicked over properly.

“It is a primary color.”

The technician looked back behind him. A girl in golden mirror shades spun her finger in a little circle to signal him to continue.

“Yes but what do you feel about yellow. I don’t want facts about yellow. What does yellow represent in your eyes.”

“How does yellow make me feel? Well… In art, yellow represents optimism… Joy.”

“He’s saying that because it’s what he’s programmed to say.” A man in the shadows with only red glasses and gloves on said.

“Just hush will you Taki?” The woman in gold glasses said. She tapped the glass and told him to cycle the projector again.

click tick tick…thunk The clumsy turn of the projector slide caught briefly before clicking over to the number 21 in a scratchy projection. The white beam of light was obscured by the top of the crown molding.

“Let me rephrase this. What do you personally… Associate yellow with?”

The person on the other side of the table was bathed by a yellow flood lamp. It wasn’t a person though, it was a robot. The robot had yet to be fitted with the synthetic skin and hair so it was just a red skeleton of a human being. The light on top of its head glowed different colors under clear glass.

“Personally, I associate it with… The golden room. And… The man in the red glasses. The other R5 units say that he really cares for each of us. I cherish the memory of the day he greeted me in the golden room. On the production line. I had just passed my test and was ready to be sent out to the world. I was… Proud of myself.”

The woman in the yellow glasses gave the technician a thumbs up and then turned to Taki. The man in the red glasses stood up. He fixed his matching colored gloves, pulling them down his wrists.

“This is a significant leap forward, I can tell. I’m impressed by the new algorithm. Being able to simulate emotions is… A huge step in the right direction. I’ll see to it that your funding is continued. The Egeria project must not be halted.”

“Thank you sir.” She replied dutifully “I feel we are so close to cracking it finally.” the woman said in a German accent. “I have long since learned to stop doubting you and your team, Colonel Braun. Take care.” He stood up and the aquamarine light glinted off a gold and red revolver on her hip as she turned to salute him. Him and a few other people in the room walked out together, his cane thumping against every step.

“Is it synth eggs this week?” Walters asked the waiter as they sat at the corner booth. “Yes.” the lady, a middle aged woman grunted.

“Then just the sausage and cakes then. I can’t stand synthetic eggs.” he replied, closing the menu and sliding it over to her.

“Anything for the Bucket of Bolts?” she mocked

“Actually, I would like a cup of hot tea. I of course cannot drink it, but feeling the warmth against my heat sensors would be comforting.” she stated.

The waitress rolled her eyes and left to put her order in. The diner was filled with dated wood paneling and old tile that never matched the grimy, overcrowded aesthetic of the city. It’s why Walters liked it so much. Reed turned to Ashlynn and Yukari. “I got a bad feeling about this. Something isn’t right. Then again something never was right about the Romanov case.” he said bluntly, taking out a cigarette and lighting it.

“You’re still hung up on victim 12 huh, what was her name, Suzi?” Ashlynn said

“Suzi Yuen, a Chinese Exchange Student at New Los Angeles University. She was killed in 2058. She was the twelfth murder by Vitor Romanov. Her body was never recovered, but Romanov confessed to killing her in detail as well.” Y6 dictated, metallic and synthetic.

Walters stirred sugar into his coffee and shook his head ruefully. “C’mon Ash. You worked homicide for almost a decade, I’ve run B.A. for almost twice that now. There are no experienced serial killers out there changing their MO’s for exactly one murder. Not once they start wracking up double digit kills… Not with that hyper specific of an MO. Why did he change for only Yuen; she was the only one that we never found decapitated and displayed in the crucifix position.”

“I don’t know Reed.” She snapped, suddenly irritated, as if they’d had this conversation one too many times. “Maybe he botched the killing, left too much evidence and had to hide the body. Maybe he killed her at the same time as somebody else, maybe she was a witness. All his murders were planned weeks in advance. Maybe he got sloppy and didn’t have time to plan so he panicked. I don’t know, there are plenty of explanations.” she said, standing up “I need to use the restroom.” She straightened her pencil skirt and walked away briskly.

“District Attorney Wright’s adrenaline levels spiked drastically when the Yuen murder was brought up. Perhaps she is hiding something from you.”

“I know she’s bullshitting me Y6. My gut’s not always right but it’s never always wrong.”

Ashlynn returned just as their food was being brought. She had gotten waffles and some fruit. Agent Yukari cupped the hot porcelain tea with her hands. “What about Mills. He was second or first responder on the scenes of 11 of the 19 murders. He would know the MO just as well as any of us.” Ashlynn said, smoothing her jacket to sit down again.

“It is highly unlikely in my estimation that Detective Mills is the copycat you are looking for. Copying the Romanov MO requires both intimate knowledge of the case which would not be public information, but also deep knowledge of human anatomy. Vitor Romanov was a world class neurosurgeon after all.”

“It’s not even worth bringing Millsey in for questioning, I know that old fat dog didn’t get off his retired ass to murder anybody. He lives in the area too, probably just coming home from a friend’s house or something.” Walters swore under his breath. “Which means we are officially out of leads unless CSI finds something to go off of.”

They all sat quietly and ate. Y6 continued to sit there calmly, scanning the environment, her hands still gently holding the tea cup, steam billowing from the gray surface. Suddenly, a light flashed from Walters’ PLA. He grunted and waved his hand over the top of the screen. “Talk to me Griggs.” he said

“I don’t mean to interrupt your brunch Agent, but I’ve got something you probably want to see back at the BAAR HQ.”

“Got it. I’ll get there as soon as I can.” he said, hanging up. He ate his breakfast like he was still in the military. He looked up at Y6 and Ashlynn. “I lost my appetite anyway, I’ll take it to the office for later.” Ashlynn stated, as Reed signaled for the check. He threw a 20 Zhang bill, the currency of the United States, it was colorful and red.

The interrogation room was lit by pale pink lighting. Griggs, Wright, Walters and Y6 all stood behind the two way glass, gathered around a control panel dancing with small green and red lights. Griggs lit up a cigarette and offered Walters one which he obliged. He lit it slowly, the smoke pluming into the air thick and smelling of rich tobacco.

“We’ve got another phantom… Not a doubt in my mind.” Griggs exhaled, dashing the end of the cigarette into the ash try with a practiced tap.

“Fucking hell” Reed swore, slamming his hat against the console. “Another one? That’s three this month already.”

“I’m sorry, what the fuck am I even looking at. No offense Agent Yukari, but isn’t the whole point that they look human to begin with? So why would a human upload their personality to a robot?” The D.A. asked in a prickly tone.

“The brain scan tech they have now is completely insane.” Griggs stated “You know the elites are backing up their consciousness to discs so they can become immortal. There’s this whole thing. They just did an article on it in World Halozine.”

“Ok, whatever you say Griggs.” Walters said skeptically to the short red haired Agent with a beard. His skin was pale from a complete lack of going outside. Not that he was a complete loser, he was just very dedicated to the gig. He lived for behavioral analysis and finding phantoms.

“So how do we know this thing is really a phantom?” Ashlynn asked, shifting her weight.

“I have developed a system. The phantom will train itself to act like a robot when necessary. The problem is, there are a whole bunch of key phrases that I found are dead give aways that it isn’t just a bunch of numbers bleeping and blooping. No offense Y6.”

“None taken. It is quite humorous that you equated me to a bunch of simple digits. Technically, that is what I am I guess.”

Ashlynn gave a look of annoyance. “Ok, so what do we do now that we know it’s a phantom?”

“We decommission it and give it back to Arodyne. The way we find it to begin with is we ask Arodyne for any active serial numbers that aren’t connected to their network and then we work backwards from there. That’s how we popped this guy right here.” Griggs explained pointing to the robot on the other side of the glass with the scarlet ember of his cigarette.

“Isn’t that technically killing somebody, if it has consciousness?”

“Take your petty morality and get out.” Griggs laughed “That’s what the corpos would all tell you. Arodyne made 5.3 trillion Z’s off of just patenting that brain scan tech. Of course, it’ll be 50 years before us peasants can afford to get our brains uploaded to the mainframe so I can have virtual dates with Jun-Kim whenever I want. But it’s bad enough with this MNERVA shit they’ve got going in the background. Talk about a police state, you ever read that super old book 1984? Again, no offense Y6.”

“What is MNERVA anyway?” Ashlynn asked

“Jun-Kim the J-pop Idol?” Reed said exasperated. “Isn’t she like barely 19?”

“MNERVA is… Think of her like a coworker that can instantly recall any bit of data that has been stored in the server. She’s like a living database that can scan over 500 septillion points of data per nanosecond. She also connects all of the city’s security. All the city wide surveillance cameras, the power grid, the defense systems, all of it runs through MNERVA’s Operating System.” Y6 explained

“Like I said, police state.” Griggs scoffed

“You are the police Griggs.” Reed muttered dismissively. Griggs ran his hand over the screen and the lights came up in the control booth.

“So the good news is that we got a hit on where this phantom was made. They got all this back ally sketchy shit you know, we traced it back to a warehouse in the water district. Just your average Halo Porn and black market tech operation. But, we got info from MNERVA that lead us to a bigger warehouse in Chinatown that we’re staking out now. We’re probably gonna raid it tomorrow, think we might find something big. They been tracking these guys up the ladder for a few months now.” Griggs said.

Two men in suits appeared and Griggs pointed for them to take the robot beyond the glass. The four of them left the room as the men entered. The walked down the hallway of the B.A.A.R HQ, a modern building in the heart of the bustling downtown. Behind them before the door closed, a blood curdling scream was heard before being muffled by the heavy white door. They had a floor between the CIB NLA office and a tax firm. The top floors were expensive living. The basement they had utilities.

“Well, I am going to go back to the office and review some cases. And since it’s raining biblical proportions outside, I will crank the heater when I get there since this place that eats up half our state’s tax budget can’t afford some central heating apparently.” She covered herself with her coat and nodded as she got in the elevator. “I am going to go follow up on a lead, Y6, can you continue to search for any relevant data about the case for us?”

“Will do. This is what I am here for since my analysis suggests that all cops hate what is called ‘paper work'”

“Something like that.” he said as the harsh, clinical white light of the elevator lit up with a soft ding. He got in, waving to Y6 as the doors closed.

Walters wrapped his heavy coat around him but it was never enough. Fall was so damn cold even in LA now. The streets shimmered in neon soaked puddles on the pavement, but the weather did little to abate the foot traffic that constantly scourged the overcrowded city. The detective pushed through to a small ramen booth perched on the street corner. There was only one seat under the makeshift awning that blocked the rain. The floor beneath was damp with a puddle and the neon light sent slivers of red across the surface. He sat on a cracked leather topped metal stool next to an Asian man, similarly wrapped up. His hair was greasy black and up in a bun. His beard was untrimmed and smattered with gray hair that matched the white flashes that streaked his hair. He looked over at Agent Walters as he sat down and Walters responded.

“Date, I need your… Services.” he said

“You know my payment.” The homeless man said with a knowing smile. Walters wrapped his knuckle quickly on the bar top to get the cook’s attention. “The whiskey please. Itori. The whole bottle. And two beef bowls.” The man acknowledged the request. The heat from the wok warmed the immediate area from the bitter cold of the weather outside. Once the chef got a moment, he handed the two men glasses and the entire bottle from the shelf.

Date poured himself a hefty glass and downed it. “What information do you need? I have my ear to the ground here in New LA, but I can’t guarantee anything.” the man spoke with a heavy Japanese accent.

“That murder that happened last night. Jenny Han. The girl on the news. Did you see it?”

“Maybe.” he said simply, pouring and downing another glass as Reed took his first sip.

“Any early rumblings? You know she was murdered just like the girls in the Romanov case, between you and me.” Reed said, feeling the bitter bite of the whiskey slide down his throat.

“Sorry, I’ve not heard anything about your latest murder. But… I am not a detective. Disgraced Yakuza. That is what I am. It is your job to solve crimes, is it not?”

Their food arrived and the man started eating like he had never eaten before. He shoveled the noodles and broth into his mouth with lightning fast speed and efficiency. Reed separated his wooden chopsticks and waited for the steam to settle before he took his first bite. He pressed Date with his eyes.

“I mean, the only possible scenario is that it’s a copycat right? We nailed Romanov dead to rites and we had a clean cut case. He was put to death, it can’t be him.”

“As I said before Mr. Walters. I am not a detective.” He greedily downed another glass of the expensive amber liquid. “But I do have my ear to the city’s pulse and what I do know is that the increase in phantoms is because of a leak in the tech. That technology isn’t ready for private use, that’s why it costs over 500 million to have it done. Somebody at the company was probably paid a lot of money to leak the schematics, but it’s still black market quality tech, if you know what I mean. The police won’t say it but that girl in New New York, the one that became unresponsive? Black market brain scan tech.”

“So you’re telling me we’re dealing with a potential outbreak of phantoms?” Reed asked bitterly, the warmth and richness of the broth briefly running the chill from his bones.

“Maybe, and for what it’s worth… I think there are only two possibilities. Either you have a copycat on your hands… Or perhaps there’s a ghost in the machine.”

Griggs set the bulky analog tape recorder down. He stared up at the control booth and Walters flashed him a thumbs up. He hit the record button and the large tape inside started to wind. It ran an electrical current up to the booth where the sound waves played on the screen. It flashed red, green, orange then settled to just the red waves, climbing up and down as they talked. Griggs lit up another cigarette and exhaled, watching the smoke catch the purple-pink lighting like a pillowing cloud. The young man, about 20, a Latino sat nervously shaking across the table from him, his hands glistening with sweat in the dim lights.

“What’s goin’ on I just clocked in.” Reed said, sliding into the seat in front of Y6 in the control booth. He sloshed his piping hot coffee all over the console but it still ticked along as he grabbed his handkerchief to dab it up.

“They busted that illegal Halo-vid and tech ring we were talking about. We split the guys we found on the scene up so they can’t get their stories straight, but Griggs is interrogating the supposed leader now.” Ashlynn informed him. “They found over 16,000 illegally distributed Halo-vids… Mostly pornographic in nature… Of course.”

“Eduardo, my name is Special Agent Griggs I work with the Central Investigative Bureau in the Brain Analysis and Reconnaissance division. Do you know why you’re here today?” he asked. The rattle of the microphone feedback through the intercom made the control room come alive with noise.

“Yeah, because you all are fascists!” Eduardo shouted

“Flattery will get you nowhere Eddy. tsk tsk.” Griggs scolded him mockingly.

“Look, don’t play with me, I know you’re not some big dog ok. You’re running a two-bit black market halo-porn ring just like 500 other wannabe gangsters have. So tell me. Why the hell do you have this then?” He gently tossed a floppy disc onto the table with a smack of air.

“I told you I don’t know what that is.” he spat back, crossing his arms in defiance.

“Ed, do you know what the reconnaissance part of the department’s name means?” Griggs stood up and ashed his cigarette. He walked over to Y6 who up to this point had been standing in the corner of the room watching silently. Griggs slapped her playfully on the shoulder.

“It means Y6 here is going to take you down to the basement where we have a really special room. We call it the brain tap room. After we get a warrant which takes about 15 minutes now, you’re going to go down to the bottom floor where there’s a chair and there’s a helmet that goes on your head-” he stopped to put his hand over Eduardo’s skull, palming it like a claw. He made a noise to simulate suction, making Eduardo flinch. “There’s gonna be about 250 needles that go straight into your scalp, and while you’re sitting there writhing in agony as electricity fries your synapses, we’re going to extract every single memory. Everything you’ve ever experienced. Everything you’ve ever seen in that pretty little head and then we get the information we need and you get to be a barely functional vegetable for around 48 hours.”

Griggs put out his cigarette in the ashtray, the remnants of the smoke dissipating in the pale pink light. “Soooo, your choice. Writhing in agony or just telling me. Because we will find out either way and neither one gets me paid any less.”

“F-Fine.” he stammered “My boss came in one day with this guy and an Asian guy with red gloves a-and he had body guards with him… H-He put a gun to my head and said that if anybody ever asked about the floppy, that it didn’t exist. That’s all I know ok! I swear!”

“You’re looking at about 8 years just for the black market tech and the bootlegs. Don’t make it worse by lying to me Eduardo.”

“Man, I don’t know fucking shit. We never used it. I swear to god!”

“Agent Griggs, his heart rate indicates that he is not lying. He does not know what is on the floppy disc.”

Griggs walked away from him and sat back down. He motioned for the cops to take him away and he grabbed the floppy disc. “Y6, do you know what it is?” he sighed, lighting another cigarette.

“I have already ran it through a database. The only information I have on it is that it is an Arodyne Industries F400 1500 Terrabyte floppy disc. Most notably used for home robotics units.”

“Ok thanks. I guess we gotta try it the old fashioned way.” Griggs murmured. He walked back to the control room and sat down. Ashlynn, Y6 and Walters were there. The jailor came and got him, tying his hands behind his back with orange glowing cuffs.

“So just put it into the console.” Reed said “Hell no, what if it’s some black market kiddie porn or some virus or some shit. I’m gonna jack up the whole database.”

“It’s analog Griggs, we’ll just reboot the system. But you don’t cement something into the wall unless it’s that important. They didn’t even find it in the initial raid, it was only until the Y6 unit did an X-Ray scan that we found it.” Walters snapped, lighting his own cigarette from the pack on the console. “Alright, fine then.” Griggs obliged. The fit the floppy disc into the slot. It went in slowly with a mechanical crick, and a few moments later, the console buzzed a low, monotone sound. Then it started to make one of the displays blip red and green lights. Suddenly, lines flashed across the screen and it turned blue. blip… blip… Griggs tapped a few buttons and cleared the screen.

“It’s a fuckin’ brain scan. Holy shit.”

“A brain scan? Whose brain?” Ashlynn interjected with a shocked look on her face.

“We’d have to put it into a robot to find out.” Griggs stated

“Do we have one… I mean besides Y6” Walters asked

“Yeah, down in the basement there’s an old Y4 unit we can test it with. I’ll have Murphy bring it up.” He got on his PLA while Walters ejected the disc from the console. They went into the interrogation room and security brought the dusty unit up. It didn’t have the polymer skin or realistic hair that was mandated by law for all modern units, making it look much more uncanny and robotic. Behind the cold metal head was a slot to put the processing chip that all Arodyne robotics had. This is where the chip to determine their jobs, commands, personality, information and more was stored. Griggs took the card and slid it into the slot. The blue lights started up and then the eyes of the robot moved. Everyone left the room as the robot sprung to life after a few minutes of watchful glares from beyond the safety of the double sided glass.

Walters hit the intercom button. “Hello, can you hear me?” No response from the robot though it was on and alert.

“Do you hear me synth?” Griggs added into the mic on the console.

“It says it wants a standard pack of 52 playing cards.” Y6 announced out of nowhere.

“Are you fucking with me right now Yukari? It really asked for playing cards?” Walters asked and Y6 confirmed with a nod. Skeptically, he called for the secretary Jackie to bring a pack of her cards from the front desk where she was always playing solitaire. Walters and Ashlynn went into the room and Walters put it down on the table. The robot moved over and quickly grabbed the pack, nimbly shuffling it and displaying intense finger dexterity to flip the cards between its fingers. The movement made Walters flinch.

“Ah… Detectives. I never thought I would see you again. And we were spending so… much… time together by the end, I think we’re almost family.”

The voice was the standard tinny rasp of a synth, but the calm, measured cadence was one Ashlynn had heard it before and it made her blood run cold. Sweat soaked her hairline, her back became rigid with a primal fear.

“Aww, Detective Wright… You look like you’ve just seen a ghost. hmm hmm hmm”

“Romanov…”

“In the flesh… Well, in spirit maybe as it were.”

Walters almost as if by instinct pulled out his handcuffs and cuffed the robot to the chair and table as tight as they would go. The cuffs were just two connected circles, but when engaged, they glowed soft orange and then bound unbreakably to his left wrist.

“Now that seems unnecessary. But I wouldn’t harm you, of course. Detective Wright on the other hand… Such a gorgeous creature… And just my type too; pale skin, raven hair, dark eyes… Of all my victims that never were, You are… My biggest regret.”

Y6 appeared and grabbed Ashlynn’s hand, dragging her out of the room. “District Attorney Wright, your body is going into a state of panic and shock. I suggest you find a safe place and try to relax. Your adrenaline levels are spiking through the roof.” She lead Ashlynn out into the hall.

“Can you tell Jackie to get us another pot of coffee and to bring us a carton of smokes.” Griggs said into his PLA. “Half a pack is not going to cut it today, I can already tell.”

click… tick tick thunk the projector turned over again. “And what does this mean to you. The number 21?”

“I am… Not sure. The number 21 is of no personal relevance to me.” The robot said. The technician threw his hands up in the air and looked to the glass above him. “Again.” the woman in the golden glasses mouthed. She had her hands crossed over her lap as she observed.

“Focus R5. What does the number 21 mean to you. Really think about it now.” The room was flooded in soft blue lighting, being cut through by the florescent white light of the projection.

“21 is not my favorite number.” the unit replied

“Oh, then what is?” he asked, the projector laboriously clicking to the next slide which was just a rabbit.

“My favorite number is… 13. My sources say that it is an unlucky number but that is why…”

“Thank you R5. You’re dismissed.” he said, checking the box that said “fail” on it. He tossed the pen down angrily and reset the projector to slide 1, which was just the color red.

Walters slid the photo of the recent crime scene across the table to the robot. “Did you do this?” he asked “Or some form of your consciousness, whatever transhumanist bullshit is going on here fuck, Jackie where is that coffee?”

“Insulting you think this is my work… And here I was assuming you’d looked over these crime scene photos every day of your life with baited breath.” You could practically hear the wicked smile creeping acrossed the robots suposedly friendly facade as the words tumbled out.

“Oh I’ve seen what you’ve done to those girls more than any pair of eyes should ever see.” Walters replied “And that seems like a pretty fucking dead ringer for your murders to me.”

“Well, it’s not… Just look at the incisions. They’re… Brutish. It lacks the elegance to be one of my masterpieces.”

The robot shuffled the deck between his right fingers effortlessly, flicking cards from front to back and cutting the deck perfectly with one hand. Jackie came in and slammed a mug down in front of Walters quickly, and then exited without a word. Reed took a long sip as he thought over his words. The cards flashed across the face of the deck again. Ace of Spades then the Jack of Clubs.

“Well, since you won our game of wits last time… I see no harm in throwing you a bone. I wasn’t working as a lone wolf.”

“You had an accomplice this whole time?” Walters said, first shocked, then angrily, nearly spitting the entire large sip out. He stood up and ashed his cigarette making his way over to the bot. The robot cut the deck rapidly and flashed two more cards to the face before shuffling it with one hand. The pale pink light illuminated the face of the standard red deck. The front showed the Queen of Hearts and the Ace of Clubs.

“Accomplice is such a… Dismissive word. No, he was more of my… Prodigal Son as it were. I taught him my methods, how to be clean and efficient. His name was Justin Hwang. He was a medical student at NLAU. Oh I took him under my wing. But you see, there’s more to being a serial killer than just technical precision… And Justin lacked… Well let’s say my strong personality type.”

“What does that mean?” Reed asked, moving his chair closer, partially with intent and interest, partially to busy his mind while he processed this revelation.

“Agent Walters, I have run Justin Hwang through the database in MNERVA. He committed suicide on December 20th of 2068. The case was ruled a suicide by hanging, but it remains unclosed as there was some suspicions around the circumstances of his death at the time of the case.”

“So he lacked the complete absence of remorse like you, is what you’re saying.” Walters stated for him as he took another drag of the cigarette.

“I would say you’re putting words in my mouth but I believe that’s all I am now anyway… Words.” It was almost innerving how the absolute accuracy and pace he was shuffling the deck with one hand, bending the cards in the middle so they would fly from his finger tips to the palm.

“Is there anything you can tell us about the murders, what about Yuen, victim 12.”

“Ah Suzi… I don’t know what to tell you detective. Always so hung up on that one…”

“Why didn’t you follow your MO for that murder. Where is her body?” he demanded, gripping the table angrily.

“I told you all the details of the case. I’m sorry if I don’t remember exactly where I buried her. Probably somewhere far out in the desert that nobody will ever find…Myself included” he turned his head, looking down at the stack of the playing cards. “But if our copycat is anything like me… You don’t have long until they strike again. Tick tock Agent Walters, I wouldn’t spend all my time… Reminiscing about past glory.”

“Romanov!” he roared throwing his chair into the wall. “Who did Hwang kill, why did you admit to all the murders if you didn’t commit them?”

“Oh, I was the one who killed all those women, but I was not the only one at the scenes. Poor Justin, such a supremely gifted surgeon… It’s a shame he died. But then again, do we really ever live, detective?” The deck flashed between his fingers and he flipped two cards over the back of his hand, in doing so, also cut the entire deck sideways so they displayed perfectly on the face of the deck. The Queen of Hearts and the Ace of Spades.

A bolt of lightning flashed in the window of the apartment building. The curtains were stained bright blue from a giant billboard just outside the window constantly singing “Let’s all go to Neo San Diego,” The only light in the apartment was three candles which had been lit just below a bloody mess of a crime scene. The girl’s head, dark hair soaked with deep blood accompanied by her limbs, decapitated and separated to be nailed to the wall like a crucifix. Underneath the violent display, a hand placed two playing cards. The Queen of Hearts and the Ace of Spades. Then, the hand placed an intricately crafted origami butterfly before slinking back into the darkness.