“Do you think it’s real?” Darsi asked the question that was going through everyone else’s mind. The hacker played with the end of her ponytail while her blue eyes glanced casually from one Bottom Feeder to the next. All six of them stared at the holo projection that hovered over Dex’s kitchen table. It was a detailed overlay of the human nervous system.

Gadget seemed the most bothered by the discovery of the schematic. The image showed three different data ports that were attached to the nervous system. The first two were on the inside of both wrists, and the third was located at the base of the cerebellum. The cranial data node was zoomed in to show that several optic ‘feelers’ branched outward to other areas of the brain. “This kind of medical procedure doesn’t exist for a reason. It’s decades beyond the current cutting edge.”

Dex rotated the view and zoomed in on the optic fibers. They were like nothing he’d ever seen. “It could be fraudulent. Someone’s science fiction.”

Gadget pushed his gnarled fingers through his thick white hair and let out a long breath. “My specialty isn’t neurology, but I know enough about the brain to tell you that these fiber optics lead to the frontal lobe, the portion of the brain that controls foresight, judgment, and voluntary movement. So let’s get some input.” He glanced to his right where Stiletto was sitting. “Go.”

Stiletto bit down on a frown; she hated going first. ” Looks like a blueprint to me. Something that has already been developed.” She shrugged slightly before nodding toward Mongoose, indicating she was done. This sort of thing was outside of her specialty.

“If this med-tech exits, we need to get the details. This would make hard-entries into partitioned systems, a walk in the park.” Mongoose pointed toward Dex outside of Darsi; he would be the next best at hard entry. “You’re up, Dex.”

“I’m not a medical expert, but just looking at this image makes me think that it’s incomplete somehow. Until Gadget mentioned the frontal lobe and its uses, I was completely clueless about what we could be looking at.”

“And now,” Thumper asked?

“Some sort of remote relay.” Dex zoomed in tighter on the microscopic fibers that connected the data port to the frontal lobe. “Gadget mentioned the tasks of this area; foresight, judgment, and voluntary movement.”

Darsi muttered a curse under her breath and took over when Dex nodded. “This is some scary shit… Is this a normal brain, Gadget?”

Gadget shook his head slightly. “Fucking Da Vinci has the right of it. A large portion of the frontal lobe appears to be missing. Either it was removed surgically, or this specimen was born without it.”

Darsi smiled grimly. “Could someone like this function normally?”

Gadget shook his head. “Granted, I’m not a Neurologist, but… No fucking way.”

Darsi leaned back in her chair while casually resting a hand on Dex’s shoulder. “If it is a remote relay, then the nightmare we are all having is probably the same.” She glanced around the table at the rest of the Bottom Feeders.

The group went silent for a moment before Dex said what was in everyone’s thoughts. “Worst case? It’s a relay for Origin.”

Darsi accessed her personal hud and waited impatiently while the person answered. Her slender fingers tapped the countertop until a surprised-looking female popped up. “Going to need your help.”

Nova smiled slightly; she could see that Darsi wasn’t happy to be making the request. “I gave you all my files.”

Darsi shrugged slightly. “You know Anodyne Cybernetics, and that’s where we are going. Tandem jump with my partner while I do a real-world hard entry.”

Nova shook her head without hesitating. “No way. That’s a hacker job! I don’t have ICE or Exe or anything like that.”

Darsi glanced at Dex, nodding at him to speak up. “Convince her, Dex.”

“Mute the holo, Darsi.” Dex kept his face expressionless, waiting until his partner complied. “We have to go at this one unconventionally.”

Darsi’s lips curved in a slow smile. “I love it when you talk like that, Dex. Got a plan?”

Dex nodded. “Nova and I will Tandem jump into Anodyn Cybernetics. However, we’ll do it from the Virtual World that Syntax created. We’ll mirror your movements, helping you when we can.”

Gadget held up a hand to get both of their attentions. “Nova said no. We don’t force jobs on anyone. There has to be a suitable award.”

“We could give her Dex…” Thumper smiled innocently.

“Denied,” Darsi tilted her head slightly. “She’s currently on the 8th floor; move her down to the 5th.”

Dex didn’t realize the significance of three floors, but from the expressions of the other Bottom Feeders, he figured it must be substantial. “What about Syntax?”

Darsi shrugged slightly. “Talk to Syntax; she can go into stealth mode while Nova is there. For now, Syntax has to remain our secret.”

The Bottom Feeders nodded their heads one by one. After the circle was completed, Darsi unmuted her hud. “Fifth-floor access if you join us.”

“Done!” Nova grinned happily. “When we doing this?”

Darsi considered the timeline for a moment before answering. “Four days, you can use the time to move floors again.”

“Agreed,” Nova smiled and waved before turning off the communication from her side.

******************

Half a day later, Darsi was straddling her Ducati while rummaging through a backpack that was sitting in front of her. “Don’t look so worried.”

Dex’s frown deepened. “Sorry. This is the face I make when I’m worried.”

“Take good care of me, and I’ll be fine.” Darsi smiled sexily and motioned him closer with a wave. She held her arms out expectantly, waiting patiently for the young hacker to hug her.

Dex hugged the slim blond, swearing in his head when he felt his face turning red.

If Darsi noticed, she didn’t say anything. She ruffled his hair with both hands before zipping up her backpack. “So we’re clear… If Nova and I are hanging from a bridge. What do you do?”

“You’re my partner.” Dex bit down on a grin. “Save you and then her.”

Darsi smiled happily and slid the backpack over her shoulders. “Good answer.” She held out her closed hand for a fistbump. “Ride the Wave, Dextron.”

“Ride the Wave, Quicksilver.”

Dex watched as the Ducati zipped through the open garage door and disappeared from sight.

*************

[3 Days Later]

Nova whistled softly when she saw the Tandem jumper. “Fucking Da Vinci built this?”

Thumper nodded; she was giving the Infiltrator a last-minute briefing while she studied the building schematic of Anodyne Cybernetics. “He’s pretty amazing. I’m surprised Darsi is letting you Tandem with him.”

Nova glanced over her shoulder to make sure Dex wasn’t listening. “Those two an item?”

Thumper shrugged slightly. “No idea, but Darsi has made it pretty clear that we are hands-off when it comes to Dextron.”

“Ready to go?” Dex approached the Tandem jumper. He had already discussed the mission with Syntax. Although they hadn’t built the T-6 yet, enough of the satellites were online so that they could utilize the security protocols that the Bottom Feeders had come up with. The AI would stay in the background since Nova wasn’t aware of its existence.

Nova nodded while fiddling with the zipper of her black jumpsuit. “I’m a bit nervous.” She smiled and fist-bumped Dex. “Ride the Wave, Dex.”

“Ride the Wave, Nova.” Dex nodded to Thumper, who immediately closed up the Tandem jumper.

An instant later, the pair appeared on the platform inside the World that Syntax had developed with Dex’s Virtual Map. He moved to the controls and punched in a set of coordinates.

“What is this place?” Nova’s face showed the wonder she felt as the platform blinked forward at an impossible speed. “No way… Is this a World Sim?”

Dex nodded as he hung over the edge and scanned the landscape below. Syntax would be updating the map in real-time; any lag would be unnoticeable. It had been two days since Darsi left the Hive; the coordinates he punched in was their meeting place.

Nova leaned over the side next to him. “What are we looking for?”

“Darsi,” Dex stated before pointing to a slim figure sitting casually on a bench at one of the highway rest stops.

“This is in real-time?” Nova shook her head in disbelief; the Bottom Feeders actually have something like this?

Dex nodded and brought up his hud. “She can’t see us up here, of course, but we can see her.”

Darsi smiled at him through the hud. “Glad to see my partner is on time. We’re five miles from Anodyne Cybernetics. Once the sun sets, we’ll go in through the fence on the NW corner.”

Dex moved back to the controls of the platform. “We’ll head there now and scout it out.”