Violet Machine

Division 1: Chapter 4

It was midnight before Lindsey made it back to the station. To her surprise, Commissioner Ryans was still there, looking over several screens with his head propped up by his hand.

"Commissioner? Is something wrong?" She inquired, trying not to sound tired. Ryans just looked up at her with a grim look.

"Look at this." He pointed out, showing the news feeds he had up, "Freenet, LCTV one-through-six, the BBC, even the international networks." he added. Lindsey got a look and her stomach dropped. Everyone Ryans had just mentioned was talking about the Cyber-Attack on Osiris, comments on social media were going wild with accusations abound; from calling the LCMP corrupt to speculating that it was a publicity stunt gone bad.

"I'm trusting you've got some good news?" Ryans asked.

"Not a lot. Kyo's alright, she's in hospital now, that and we've got an idea." Lindsey explained.

"An idea? And what's that about your cousin?"

"The virus that caused this was brought in by Kyo, her neglectful boyfriend planted it on her before leaving for work. That's not even the worst part, it was rigged to only activate once it got an inkling that someone suspected it, like a break up text, for example."

"I take it from your grimace that said boyfriend's not available for a chin wag?"

"No, he tried to finish the job, an Osiris collaborator had to take him out. We've recovered his black-box."

"Collaborator?"

"Yes, sir. We ran into Ex-tech looking for Kyo, they'd gotten to James first. They were likely deployed to make good on Alex Xander's threat to Geoffrey."

"Great, that's just what we needed." Ryans muttered, "I should have known that these bastards couldn't hit Osiris and get away with it as easily as they have been."

"Part of it might be my fault." Lindsey confessed, "I lost my temper at Steele in front of them."

"Don't blame you, in fact, I believed it was only a matter of time before you did." Ryans admitted, "This has been going on far too long. it's time we do something about it."

"Any ideas?" Lindsey inquired.

"Not now." Ryans replied, "Go home and get some sleep, detective, I'll discuss a game plan with you and the Untouchables in the morning."

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Silence stayed at the hospital all night. She'd volunteered to keep watch on plain-clothes duty in case someone tried to tie up the loose end. Nurses both human and Tron were tending to Kyo in a private room while she waited with a small firearm within reach. In the early morning, Lindsey finally arrived with Dr Otoya in tow. The good doctor looked in recovery from a panic attack, quite pale and almost shaking. A nurse Tron emerged from the room as they arrived.

"Morning detective." she said kindly, "Doctor."

"Morning." Lindsey replied, "How is she?"

"She's lucid. Hasn't had much sleep but she's stopped shaking at least." the nurse explained, "As for her physical condition, I've got good news and bad news, she was semi-conscious during much of the event, she remembers the ambulance ride, her stay with the scrappers and the rescue, she's fully aware of what happened. She's spoken about with a psych doctor."