The Last Orbit: Project Ara

25: Page Break #theCage

Fike was someone who never gave up. He knew if he kept searching, sooner or later he would find the information he was looking for. Nevertheless, he never thought that it would be this difficult to locate someone in theCage. No matter how many different angles he approached it from, there was absolutely no trace of the exiled goldcoat. It was like he had been deleted after his membership was revoked.

But for reasons he couldn't quite explain, Fike felt that it was unlikely. Especially considering how quickly the GoldGrid had been alerted of the profile being accessed. If anything, it was a dead giveaway that they were hiding something – something significant.

One thing was for sure. They weren't alone. But even with this many eyes on him, Mikhail wondered if this might just be the best place to delete Russo. Afterall the binaries watching him were unregistered - not like they had a connection with anyone.

Russo could tell the thought had crossed his mind. "They'll still know it was you," he blurted.

Mikhail smiled back.

"You can't delete me without a file being automatically created. You know that, right? It will have your signature. They will know."

"Relax!", said Mikhail slowly turning away. "I'm not going to delete you." His words, slow and dragged out as he got off on Russo's pitiful sigh of relief. "I'm just going to do a factory reset."

It wasn't as much his words then his demeanour that sent a chill up Russo's spine. Mikhail's eyes had gone green. A shade of green no one on Station Theta had ever seen. They were the eyes of a Shapeshifter.

Russo's mind was racing. He needed a way out. "Fight me!" he said, without thinking and to his surprise Mikhail obliged.

Heart pounding, he tore off his jacket but just before he dropped it to the ground, he took from it what would make it an even fight. Russo took the pills he had on him and slowly looked back at Mikhail.

In the blink of an eye, Mikhail was in his face throwing the first punch. Russo went down hard. He spat blood as he scrambled to get back on his feet just to have Mikhail put him down again. The black pill finally kicked in, giving him the bit of craze, he needed to get back into the game. It was his turn now. He took Mikhail completely by surprise. And for a second there he thought he almost had him.

But what he didn't know was that Mikhail had no intention of letting him walk. And so, a fair fight was not something he was going to give him. As Mikhail shifted, half vanishing from one spot while appearing in another, Russo got caught off guard - Mikhail had pinned him to the ground, ripped his wristcom off and grabbed his face. Luckily for him he had blood trickling down his forehead, over his eyes. It prevented Mikhail from scanning them. Knowing he had lost anyway, Russo stopped fighting and half laughed as Mikhail smudged the blood aside with the palm of his hand and tried again - completely paralyzing him in the process as he scanned the files on his microchip. Unable to move or speak, on the inside, Russo was screaming in pain.

Having completely underestimated the binaries in the shadows, Mikhail did not see them coming. There were two of them. He knew because not only did he feel their presence behind him, just a second too late but also because he felt two blades go into him at the same time. He lost his connection with Russo before he could do any real damage.

Russo felt the weight of Mikhail's body hit him before passing out.