Skyline: A Cyberpunk Noir

Chapter One

"Welcome, Detective Kade."

The metal doors slid open with a hiss, revealing a shabby elevator. The walls had water stains dripping down from the ceiling, the floor missing a few tiles, it smelled of sweat, dirt, and blood. Not a very pleasing scent to take in. Kade let out a heavy sigh, the awful music drilling into his eardrums yet again... He didn't understand why they added it in the first place, a silent elevator would have sufficed. He took enough blows to the head while in the field. The one good thing about this music, was that the toned changed according to Kade's instincts, he knew if a day was good, bad, or like today... ugly.  

Kade stepped inside, his head turning to face the buttons on the wall that were glowing pitifully. He jabbed his thumb into the one labeled 'CTI'. It was faded and worn, just like Kade. This city always had an investigation for him... This latest bombing being the biggest one since... 2038? The Manhattan Massacre. Wild stuff.

The Detective leaned against the wall, pulling out a nicotine strip from a dispenser. He set it under his tongue, letting it melt. He shoved the little box into his coat as a ding rang out, the elevator slowing to a stop and taking a few seconds to stabilize. The doors slowly opened to a muscular looking individual, they weren't at all pretty, more handsome than anything... deceptive even. Thick lips and a jaw that could take a hit and keep going, you'd never guess who they really were until you saw a birth certificate. They insisted on specific pronouns, Kade didn't at all care.

"Welcome back, Kade. Another bombing?" They asked, warily, they knew how Kade felt about them. They were wearing a suit, that Kade could tell, they didn't want to wear. They shifted around, clearly uncomfortable. They were eager to get into the field, stubborn, but driven. Kade couldn't exactly say no to Them, FBI after all.

"Yeah." Kade pushed passed them without a second thought. He wasn't going to stand here and waste his time arguing with them.

"You know, I can help. My team can help, you realize that, don't you?"

Kade looked back at Them, a frown on his face, "It's not like I can cut you out of this investigation, Kai." He kept walking, left hand buried into the pocket of his trench coat. Bombings like this wasn't his favorite type of case, stiffs from the FBI were going to bark at him all day and slow him down... but it had its pros. The FBI took all the credit, therefore, the press wouldn't get in his way. He wouldn't be a target either. Well, not a big target. That was something River told him. It was agreeable as long as he got a bonus. 

"That's Special Agent River, Detective." River caught up to him, matching his stride, "But let's not be formal, I prefer it casual. Agent..." They scoffed, Kade was not amused, "We got people to see, Agent." Kade spoke, his tone flat and dry. River looked froward, "Understood." They nodded and quieted down for now.

The two round a corner, heading straight for the CTI Briefing Room when River leaned forward to gaze at Kade's face. A five o'clock shadow, dark rings under the eyes, dropping eyelids, "Forgive me, Kade, but you look exhausted... We could grab some coffee if you'd like?" They offered, the break room for the desk jockeys was close by. Kade looked to them, catching a trace of a smile on their lips. He read their file, of course he did, and he knew all about that past of theirs... a smile was a rare sight.  

"No, dirt doesn't help me focus. We don't have that much time, anyhow," He threw up a finger toward a clock that they passed by, "I prefer the coffee maker in my office." A joke from Kade was even rarer, if you could call  them that.

"Well, you're the boss." 

"I'm not."

He could see the briefing room now, but something felt off... He could feel eyes on him, at first he believed them to be Rivers, but it soon turned cold, burning a hole into his back. Something was staring at him, and that something hated Kade's guts and beyond. It was so intense that the Detective stopped in his tracks, his right hand hovering over the doorknob and his left slowly wrapping around the grip of his gun hidden in his coat.

River had stopped as well, but they were unsure of what they stopped for. However, they knew that when Kade had a weapon in hand... They stepped to the side as Kade whipped around, the Detective trying to spot what was staring at him.

The gun stayed in the holster, Kade saw no one. No rush of footsteps trying to get away. No telltale sign of a Spy-Bug anywhere. He had enemies, but none could get here, this place was too well protected. It was silent, only noises were the faint chatter behind the door. Kade had suspected that whatever was looking at him would ease off... but it didn't. It continued to gaze into Kade's very being, but he didn't have time to waste figuring out the source of this feeling. It was probably nothing.

But that nothing had a close eye on Kade as he entered the briefing room, a security camera situated on the wall on the far end of the hallway, its lenses now zooming in on River. They backed away a few paces before turning and following Kade, "Is it just me, or was that fuckin' camera staring at us?"

"Don't care." Kade replied, and that's all he was going to say on the matter. River quickly followed him, closing the door behind them. At least there wasn't any cameras in here.

"You're late." 

The voice of Hatori Maki made Kade frown, "Traffic." He grumbled, taking a seat. It was only them, Hatori, Kade, and River, the other field agents were either dead or worse, working on suspicion cases. The detective roster down here in the CTI wasn't so great, the FBI didn't exactly fund them that well. They were working with basic equipment and barely any staff, but somehow Kade always solved the cases put in front of him. His secret weapon, River, let him use FBI resources and equipment, and honestly? He wanted to see the new prototype equipment they had for him to use. With such a high profile case, they'd love to say that the new device or whatever was 'instrumental' to the case. 

Hatori gave River a sideways glance of distaste, she wasn't going to say anything, however, since River was technically their superior. She then spoke, mostly to Kade, "Alright. It's pretty messy out there right now, but here is the situation: The MalenTek HQ Office has been the site of a terrorist attack." She tapped the screen on her podium, a live feed of the flaming building pulling up on the main monitor, "The twelfth floor of the building was targeted because we- well, Graves believes that it would destabilize the building causing it to collapse."

She tapped the screen again, getting another angle and pulling up a holographic blueprint, "As you may have noticed, this was your typical bomb. It was something big that took out four floors in the blast, and if you look at this blueprint you can see that the twelfth floor was undergoing renovation. A weak point. This isn't your typical bombing... This was planned ahead of time, surgical. We are dealing with a professional, who we believe, will strike again."

Hitori turned their attention to a hypothetical situation with the hologram, "The building is coming down." A small timelapse that if the fire isn't put out and the building doesn't get stabilized, it was going to come crashing down. All 100 floors. And it was going to be anarchy in the streets, "They estimate about... an hour. You need to find this bomber and take him down before all hell breaks loose, or he'll be in the wind until he strikes again."

"Dismissed."