Cyberpunk Stars [Part 1]

In the middle of a cyberized afternoon, Izel and his father spent most of the day adjusting to their new way of navigating their own home. As their home is mesmerized with copious amounts of security systems and protective firewalls for their safety. Izel had one bad day and couldn’t escape the downfalls of Nuevo Eztli. Blessed with a silver lining, that his father has friends in unexpected places.

“Again?” Izel asked, opening the door to see Nevaeh greeting him.

“Yeah, is there a problem?” Nevaeh asked, one eyebrow raised.

“No, just why?” Izel then asked.

“What? Don’t tell me that you go to school on the weekend too?” Nevaeh asked with some confusion.

“No, of course not.” Izel scoffed.

“Whatever, you’re hangin’ out with me today.” Nevaeh remarked with light sass.

“Alright, I suppose I don’t have a choice in the matter.” Izel sighed. “I’ll be out in a minute.” He then stated. Nevaeh rolled her eyes impatiently, as she chose to wait outside the door.

“Hey, pops, I guess I’ll be heading out with the Team today.” Izel announced to Tlacaelel, also grabbing a few things.

“Okay, I picked up a few shifts this weekend, so I might not be home when you get back.” Tlacaelel mentioned.

“Got it, I’ll see you later.” Izel responded, as he readied his things for the random event of the day. To then leave the house as Tlacaelel waved goodbye.

“Okay, ready, where to first?” Izel asked Nevaeh.

“Carmen’s place, your home is on the way there, so I figured I would pick you up first instead of making two trips.” Nevaeh explained.

“What?” Nevaeh soon asked as Izel looked at her blankly for a moment.

“Oh, uh, nothing… Where do you live?” Izel stutters lightly.

Nevaeh fluttered her hand for a moment in the air, to highlight the ring on her finger. “The lovely towers.” Nevaeh answered.

“Oh, right, that Ring is like an identification key for homeowners of the Pen—? Something, umm?” Izel questioned, recalling the name.

“The marvelous ‘Penurious Obelisk’ as they’re known.” Nevaeh retorted.

“No! No, I-I was going to say, uh, condominium… hah.” Izel quickly explained himself, recognizing the sensitive subject.

“Yup—Come on, I run a consistent schedule.” Nevaeh mentioned, slowly walking away. The two began the day together by making the route to Carmen’s place.

⧮ ⧯ ⧮

Izel entered Carmen’s place with Nevaeh. Just as he remembered it, yet still widely different from his usual environments. The comforting scents and sounds of morning breakfast are replaced with the degenerate aroma of marijuana, and the persistent buzz of static energy running throughout the entire building. Perfectly curated with dozens of computers designed for whatever goal that Carman and her team have, with countless unidentifiable technological objects and gadgets, sprawled all over in every room. From the prim and proper prestigious educational institute, now transformed into the true faces of Nuevo Eztli—beautifully cyberized and humble.

“Hey, Light-skin!” Tenoch shouted the somewhat mockery nickname to Nevaeh, commenting that her skin tone is much lighter compared to the others.

Nevaeh rolled her eyes from the comment of Tenoch as her and Izel entered the room, shortly waving to Cash, Espectro, and Carmen. “Hey, I’m going to do some errands today, you need anything?” She then asked Carmen.

“Yes actually, I’ll send you a list.” Carmen mentioned taking out her phone to create a list for Nevaeh.

“Hey, what’s up.” Izel smiled at Cash, Espectro, and Tenoch.

It was more than evident that the three had zero interest in engaging with Izel’s chipper greeting. Cash and Tenoch provided the most ugly of looks of disinterest for Izel. While Espectro was the most intimidating. A calm, menacing aura. Greatly disinterested in anything that doesn't concern him; just barely providing enough attention by shifting his head towards Izel, glaring at him from the corner of his eyes. Just to get up and leave the room, shortly after.

“You plan on watching something?” Izel asked, as he noticed the two preparing to watch something on one of the popular streaming applications on the TV.

“Yeah… This new movie that came out, there’s some talk, if it was made by AI or not.” Tenoch slowly explained, providing Izel with a droll look.

“We’re gonna watch it and see for ourselves.” Cash added with a similar glare.

“Oh, that sounds like a fun idea. One thing that I personally do to determine if something was made by AI is look at the background. Before one major give away was the teeth and fingers, but as AI progressed has improved greatly over the decades in creating people and animals, however. AI still struggles to generate consistent backgrounds without any flaws as each scene develops throughout a film.” Izel provides his input on the subject in a spry tone. “All in all, many films that have been made involving AI have won a fair amount of awards. Which leads many individuals to validate the legitimacy of use in filmmaking. I personally think that there are plenty of nuances. So, as long as the film is making people happy, then what’s the harm, ya know?” He divulged heavily.

An awkward silence quickly followed Izel’s banter. Cash and Tenoch glared blankly at Izel, overly bored by the unexpected speech of AI films. Izel’s smile from the chat soon faded, as he understood that he is surprisingly out of place in this new environment.

“You sound educated.” Tenoch eventually retorted, exerting his thick accent.

“Huh?” Izel wondered.

“Yeah, the way you talk, it sounds like someone from the Top Floor.” Cash remarked.

“‘Top Floor’?” Izel repeated in confusion.

“Uh, ya know, rich jerk offs that do nothing all day on the top floors of those expensive ass skyscrapers.” Cash explained, with a mild condescension.

“Well now that I think about it, he seems more smart than those bobos.” Tenoch added, leaning back in her chair.

“Right, he’s like a modern day Quetzalcoatl.” Cash mentioned with a grin.

“Hey, yeah, that’s what we’ll call you! Quetz, or Coatl!” Tenoch thought.

“Hehe, I like Coatl!” Cash laughed, pointing at Izel with glee.

Izel fell into himself. Disappointed with how his interaction went with the hopes of making some friendly acquaintances. Embarrassed, Izel just looks at Tenoch and Cash laughing loudly at his expense.

“Hey, Izel.” Nevaeh announced, quickly getting Izel’s attention. “I'm done here, let's get going.” She then mentioned as Izel walked to her.

The two then left waving farewell to the Team. “Later, Coatl!” Cash yelled with delight.

“So…” Izel sighed. “What do we have planned for today?" He asked.

“Just some casual Tecperado.” Nevaeh mentioned, nonchalantly.

“W—W—wait!” Izel quickly interrupted.

“What? Are you saying you can’t? Because you're a prissy school boy?” Nevaeh mocked with glee, and continued to walk to their destination.

“What?! No! It’s just, it's just.” Izel hollered, as Nevaeh smirked at his frustration.

Izel fell quiet for a moment, as he recalled the threatening words that Mario warned him with. The apprehension was fair and justified, but this new life with his current life will have to somehow coexist. Especially if one is technically a crime, and the other is needed for safety.

“Listen, you won’t even need to think about your school finding out or anything like that. If that’s what you're worried about.” Nevaeh mentioned. “I use a top tier encryption coding transmitter to gain access to people’s info, so it's pretty much impossible for them to trace anything back to me. And as long as you don’t do anything stupid, you should be fine.” She then finished her explanation.

“If you say so…” Izel remarked with a mildly annoyed expression.

“Oh, relax, this’ll be a fun day.” Nevaeh smiled.