Neo Thirteen Heavens

Approaching a week and a half on her mission, Josefine had made little movements within the technological jungle of her hotel room. However, she speeds through the vast realm of cyberspace, raiding any access point she can discover. As mentioned in Kingsley’s file of the mission. Josefine is tasked with the location and intelligence of the mission’s objective: The President of BijouStars Inc. A genetic research and development organization. With the clients for the mission are the President’s two daughters, who went directly to Kingsley to locate their mother. Little is known about the whereabouts of the President and the best location to search for them is in the city of Nuevo Eztli.

“How's the Suit?” Kingsley asked via Thought Phone, referring to Josefine’s new cybernetic body.

“Amazing…” Josefine remarked with a somewhat low tone.

“Fully customized, right?” Kingsley wondered.

“Yup, from head to toe. Limbs and exterior are from Aramaki Robotics, transistors are of course Danish, and everything else are from personal acquaintances.” Josefine explained with a slight sigh.

“Buut…” Kingsley prolonged, recognizing that Josefine is unsatisfied about something with her new body.

“But, I had to cut back on some other aspects… I can’t really enjoy many things like my other Suits could, like tasting food, and well, other pleasures.” Josefine explained with obvious implications.

“That is a factor that separates some of the Best Agents.” Kingsley mentioned.

“Well, that’s very easy for you to say. You’ve had a cyber body since you were a child.” Josefine scolded with a smirk.

“Yes, how unfortunate, anyhow.” Kingsley chuckled slightly. “How is everything going?” She then changed the subject.

“Well, for starters. This city has quite the notoriety for kidnappings, much higher than the global average, however, they all have a fairly linear objective. So I quickly ruled out any random kidnapping.” Josefine began. “Hard to say even that I’m not a little skeptical that our culprit or hostage is still here. But I’m finding a lot of little things that indicate that someone involved is still in the city.” She mentioned.

“Little things…? Such as?” Kingsley asked.

“I’ve been data mining for like 160 hours!” Josefine hollered. “Not a single person has left the city with any form of suspicious cargo or luggage. Nor has anyone with no affiliation with the CEO even mentioned their name since they went missing.” She quickly explained. “It's more like they just vanished.” She then added, with a pondering look.

“The entire city? That’s not as long as the usual time frame, you must have found something promising? Surveying a population of this size normally takes upwards to three weeks, nonstop.” Kingsley mentioned, with some surprise.

“Yeah, but the reason why is actually kind of sad… Most of this city’s tech is several years behind most of the world.” Josefine mentioned, showing some sympathy.

“Well you have to remember that you Danes are also several years ahead according to some experts.” Kingsley retorted.

“I know, but still.” Josefine remarked with a mild compassion.

“I understand… But what did you find?” Kingsley then asked, wanting to get a proper update on the mission.

“So… I narrowed my choices down to a few. All have a history of escorting, smuggling, and of course abduction. I actually found this one through the connections he has with some bold scientist that caused a hell of a disruption the other day.” Josefine stated. “The most promising one that I’m starting with is an absolute unit. Only going by —Zuma— but facial recognition shows that he’s been part of the Mexican Army for nearly thirty years. Starting in the Mexican Special Forces Corps, then moving to Mexican Special Forces, and is where most of his career was. To end and eventually retire after service in the Mexican Navy’s Ixtoc-Alfa. His time in the Special Forces, he’s been part of several insane reconnaissance and unconventional warfare in the New Texas land disputes, aftermath of the New Maya Revolution, aided in the Caribbean Restoration, and some smaller stuff.” Josefine described.

“Damn, and I thought I had an impressive resume.” Kingsley remarked.

“He was also discharged from the Special Forces in 2000… For what? That’s classified. I’ll need way more time to access that database, luckily, I don’t think it is that important right now. Because ever since his discharge, he’s been rather quiet, and very secretive.” Josefine explained in detail.

“So your guess is that he’s been quiet because of illegal activity.” Kingsley questioned.

“I think that would make sense… Another interesting fact is that he doesn’t have any Cerebral tech installed, only muscular prosthetics, and is highly advanced, ironically.” Josefine mentioned.

“Secrecy, shady past with the military, involvement with powerful individuals: Seems to be a likely candidate.” Kingsley added. “How do you plan to track him? Since he has limited cybernetics.” She then asked.

“He's actually predictable, the actions and activities are very strict, so I should be able to guess his movements… But, this is just one person.” Josefine mentioned.

“What do you mean?” Kingsley asked.

“Well, I still have some more of the top 0.001% of the city to survey still. They have much better security, I’d be discovered from this location if I try, I need to get close to their main database to get information secretly.” Josefine explained. “Not only that, something else I realized while I was in Alaska, I tend to overlook the average citizen's observational abilities. They’re so accustomed to seeing their own people that something like me will stand out visually and audibly.” She then mentioned.

“Right, you're often in European regions.” Kingsley remarked. “The upper class likely relies on facial and genetic scans, they’d flag anyone that’s not a native.” She added.

“Exactly, remote hacking their systems will be too risky, I don’t have enough leads or time to check every single one.” Josefine mentioned.

“Should have got a different Suit.” Kingsley chuckled.

“Yeah, well, hindsight's 20/20, besides, I’d think they’d flag anyone with my type of tech. No matter the style.” Josefine remarked.

“What will you do with the 0.001%? Got a plan?” Kingsley asked.

“I don’t know… But I’ll think of something. I’m starting with this Zuma character.” Josefine sighed, somewhat disgruntled.

“Is that so? Only one idea?” Kingsley remarked with a slight giggle.

“Sorry I wasn't born in an era where the internet was legal!” Josefine scolded.

“Ha, I don't envy ya, being able to sit at a tiki bar and hack into Russian war generals’ computers was the dream.” Kingsley reminisces about her past.

“Yeah, yeah, rub it in.” Josefine mocked.

“I hear your frustration, but it was ultimately the correct action to take.” Kingsley added.

“I'm inclined to disagree with that, nearly moments after the UN shutdown the World Wide Web, the USA went straight into an economic collapse. One that undoubtedly led to its Dissolution. Which had plenty of its own repercussions.” Josefine smirked.

“That inclination right there is why you're my top Agent. As it stands, what’s done is done, the turn of the century had numerous paths of complexity. Now all we can do is move forward.” Kingsley encouraged.

“Whatever you say, chief… We all still have a lot of work to do if we really want to move forward.” Josefine sighs lightly.

“Just remember to be diligent, I have a feeling that there is a wicked underbelly to all this. I doubt this ends with those kids and their mother.” Kingsley promoted.

“Yeah, yeah, you said that.” Josefine snapped slightly.

“Is something else on your mind, Agent?” Kinsley slowly asked, recognizing the personality of her Agent.

“It's just… I’m just amazed at the volume of corruption that's going on in this city.” Josefine released a long sigh once more.

“Corruption? Like with the politicians?” Kingsley asked, confused.

“No, surprisingly. They’re more just unaware of what’s going on in the city.” Josefine mentioned.

“So you mean more of the symbolic corruption?” Kingsley posits.

“You could say that… Nearly 40% of this city’s GDP is from foreign countries. And just from one day of mining, I discovered that most of them are using this city as a testing ground, because it's illegal or waiting for approval in their home countries. Not to mention the law enforcement here are mostly preoccupied with poverty, so these companies are never investigated.” Josefine described in detail.

“I thought you were going to mention the black market hub for synthetic organs.” Kingsley added.

“Well, that too.” Josefine remarked.

“Are you saying you want to be the next Immolation Reader? We are coming up on 30 years since the last one.” Kingsley remarked.

“Heh, that does sound like an interesting path, but that life is a little too flashy for me. As I'm more of an anarchist than a revolutionist.” Josefine smirked. “Not to mention, a majority of history’s Immolation Readers are on the younger side, and from an underprivileged country. I don’t think many people are going to cheer for a Dane.” She snickered at the idea.

“Very true, and I can’t help but agree with your assessment of the state of this city.” Kingsley mentioned. “All I can offer is words of encouragement, Agent Kierkgaard. You're smart, I have faith that you’ll figure out everything that you put your sights on.” She promoted.

“Thanks.” Josefine said quietly.

“Alright, don’t hesitate to get a hold of me. Kingsley out.” Kingsley announced before ending the call.

Josefine then slowly disconnected the copious amount of observation tech from her body. The new age god is ready to rest. However, this cyberized god slowly held a gaze to her window, making her way to it. Observing the vast lands of madness and injustice, Josefine has the knowledge and complicated understandings of humanity’s sorrows. Studying these ideas, she utters a simple thought.

“Besides… This world isn't complete shit—”

“Yet.”