Defrag finished off the list. Everyone that was deemed relevant had now been alerted to Mana's passing. It had been a short list but the travel had made it take a while. Defrag had decided to tell Marty which had ended up being the best course of action because he exploded and tried to shoot Defrag.
Defrag sat in the back of Mana's car as it glided towards Defrag's next stop, Titan to see an info broker. They had been hard to find, even with Mana's connections Defrag was effectively pulling at strings but they decided it would be worth the visit. It was still a few hours away so Defrag started working on other projects. First, They needed Mana's money but before that, they needed the money to disappear. Placing multiple calls at the same time Defrag started to work and by the time they were done, it was a masterpiece, it had taken hours but as Defrag's foot hit the surface of Titan the galaxies bank's erupted in transfers and withdrawals as hundreds of thousands of Neuro vanished, in milliseconds Defrag became the richest robot in the known universe, not that there was much competition. The only competitor was a cleaning robot that someone tapped a 10 New Euro bill too.
Defrag maneuvered out of the car and stood. Though still massive the hooded trenchcoat covered their exterior and simply made them look like a rather large hoodlum. They had one stop before they headed to meet the info broker. Defrag's AI had consciously forgotten about it but the automated computer side of their mind had remembered. It was a contingency plan in the event that Mana was ever killed and Defrag was unable to contact her father. Defrag walked towards the place that they would need to complete the plan, an old car shop. Defrag opened the door.
Lowering their head Defrag enters and speaks, "Hello, I'm looking for a decal artist."
A fat elderly man was leaning back in a chair, "Whys that?"
"I need to have decals applied to this frame."
The man seemed reserved, "Youuu... need em'?"
"No, I don't. My User thought I could use a, quote 'spiced up look'."
The man relaxes and gave a chuckle, "Oh you're User wanted you freshened up. Ok, come over 'ere."
Defrag followed the man into a back room.
"Sit over there and send me the decal I'll print it out."
A moment passed, "I've sent it to you're print machine."
Grunting, "Damn sentients, just let me do my job. ...I need to update who can access that."
He walked over to a large machine that roared as it printed out the decal's outline, stopping a few times to be resumed by the man hitting it. The machine finished the man reached in pulled out the plastic pieces.
"Wait a minute... the hell...this is," He looked at Defrag, "Where did you find this? Is that encoded? Who is your Us-"
Defrag slammed the man into the wall, suspending him a few feet above the ground with a death grip on his throat.
"You will apply these decals and you will not speak a word of it to anyone."
Coughing and clawing at Defrag's fingers, "Fuck... no... I ain't."
"So be it."
Defrag walked out of the building and chucked a spray paint can back inside, wiping away a new reddish-black mixture on their arm. Punching through one of the building's windows they drop a small pile of cash inside the building. Able 45 minutes later Defrag found the small alleyway, it was between an apartment building and a massive skyscraper that nearly touched the biodomes roof almost a mile above. The signposted claimed it to be a bar but Defrag new better. Their massive frame slides down the staircase with almost no noise. Knocking on the door a shuffle of feet was heard through the door. The door cracked open and through the crack, Defrag saw a strange sight. A one-way glass mask with a skull decal on it looked at him. With a distorted and inhuman voice it spoke.
"Who are you! What do you want."
Defrag heard the pistol in the figure's hands, they were shaking. Defrag slowly raising their arm slide up the trenchcoats sleeve and revealed their entire arm. The mask looked at it. A black snake that ran from Defrag's shoulder down their arm splitting at the wrist area into to heads that bit into an apple.
"Oh, yes. I see. Come in."
The door opened and revealed the entire figure. A scrawny mess of a human, their body so withered Defrag couldn't even begin to guess what they looked like under their loose clothes and mask. Defrag sat down on a rotting couch and the figure sat across on an equally rotten recliner.
"I am Cypher and you are..."
"Defrag, I work for the Brighten family."
"Robert Brighten?"
"...Yes. Indirectly currently."
"So. Defrag. What can I do for you?"
YOU ARE READING
Hollow Point Happiness
Science FictionAn emotionless hitman, trying to understand what it truly means to be human. Through oceans of blood and money, they discover more about their past, their family, and themselves. And a disgraced cop called to back to work a seemingly impossible case...
