Chapter 60: One Step Ahead

“Damn it! this is the fourth place she has beat us to!” said a frustrated Kix.

The APC had just pulled up to a dark alley between several 300-story apartment buildings.

Cammy Newsons was already near the entrance filming the dead victim of the [Killer Criminal]. Several security bots were now blocking her from going further down the alleyway.

“This is ridiculous. Why is she even out here during the height of rage week?” asked Arron.

“Is she getting her information from the [Killer Criminal's] stream?” asked Kix.

“No, I checked it several times. The [Killer Criminal] actually has been very secretive trying to hide anything that might identify him as well as the places he goes to,” said Arron as he got out of the APC.

Seeing the two walking towards her Cammy Newsons ended her stream quickly.

Kix didn't say anything and only pointed for her to leave. If he did open his mouth nothing nice would come out.

“You boys are late... again,” said Cammy Newsons with a smile as she passed them and entered her waiting hovercar.

The two of them watched as her hovercar disappeared around a distant corner.

“Haven't these damn investigation bots gathered enough data? What's taking them so long to give us the identity of the [Killer Criminal]?” asked Kix.

“According to Tooth, the [Killer Criminal] is using some sort of spoofing tech or software similar to what the separatist use. It is helping them hack the holo-net as well as keep their NerViz data scrambled from the surveillance wherever they go,” said Arron.

They watched as the investigation drones plugged into one of the local discreet surveillance systems to gather the digital data and floated around taking samples and physical evidence from the crime scene.

“Wait, isn't he supposed to be killing separatists, but he's using their tech to do it?” asked Kix.

“There is no evidence yet that they were separatists,” said Arron.

Kix shrugged as he watched the drones slowly do their job.

When everything had been documented and the sight cleared, the two walked back to the APC to find their next destination.

“I don't like this one bit. It feels like we are just playing clean-up for the [Killer Criminal]. What is the Office of Reason doing letting this go on?” asked Kix.

When they slammed the doors shut, they were both surprised to receive a high-priority call from M1 HQ.

PING!

“You two, what the hell is going on out there?” asked an angry voice.

“Chief!” shouted both Arron and Kix as they saluted the chief who had appeared hovering over the APC's dashboard.

“Chief, we're doing the best we can with the information we have. But that woman keeps showing to places before us,” said Kix.

“You're not giving her information are you?”

“No,” said both Kix and Arron at the same time.

Ping!

A new person joined the call as Chief Chesty was staring intently at them.

“Chief, I have information... ah... about that woman on the news,” said Toothbrush.

“Speak.”

“I recently started dating her... she knows I work for M1. I think she may have hacked into my wrist-datapad and gained access to my security clearance as an M1 information specialist,” said Toothbrush with a sad look covering his already tired face. He was not happy at realizing that he had been used most likely only for this.

Both Arron and Kix were surprised as they looked at the worn-out Tooth.

Chief Chesty was silent for a moment before he spoke again.

“Wait where you are. I'm sending over M1's Office of Reason rep, to check your wrist-datapad.”

“I understand chief,” said Toothbrush with an exhausted sigh.

“You have two choices. Quit M1 or end your relationship with her. We can not have such a liability in our information center,” said Chief Chesty.

“I am fully committed to M1! I will end the relationship,” said Tooth immediately.

“Good. You should break it off now before she does something stupid that would also pull you down with her as an accomplice to her crimes,” said Chief Chesty.

With that, Toothbrush exited the call leaving only the Chief, Arron, and Kix.

Chief Chesty looked at the two for a moment, “Let this be a lesson. If you can, do not let your dates know you work for M1 otherwise this might happen to you as well.”

“We will take this into consideration,” said Kix, not worried about it.

“Go to the next destination, I'll have Lexa immediately inform you of any new orders,” said Chief Chesty before ending the call.

“Never would have expected Tooth and that irritating woman to date each other,” said Arron.

Kix shook his head, “It was all a scam. Tooth's big mouth probably got him into this situation by letting everyone know he worked at M1. Since you're single you need to keep this stuff to yourself or something similar might happen,” said Kix as he drove the APC to the next destination.

“What about you?” asked Arron.

“I can handle myself. It's you who needs to be careful since you are new to the megacities dating scene.”

When they arrived at the next crime scene a new red dot appeared on their mini-map.

Ding!

New orders were sent to them by Lexa informing them what they had to do.

“... and I will keep you all informed of the ongoing killing spree of the [Killer criminal]. Ah...! Um... I seem to be having technical difficulties... my information is being blocked for some reason...” said Cammy Newsons as she tried to access several menus while she live-streamed the crime scene.

“That cheap bastard! He's dumping me!” shouted an angry Cammy Newsons. “He only bought me a 1000 credit ring and expected me to fall for him? Ha!”

The news drones were now hovering all around Cammy Newsons, not recording the crime scene, but her as she cursed Toothbrush in various ways for being cheap.

When she realized this her ugly and angry face was quickly hidden with a bright smile.

“Ahem... sorry for the outburst. Some personal matters came up and caught me off guard.”

At that time she noticed both Kix and Arron walking toward her.

“The special M1 officers have arrived so I have to...”

“Cammy Newsons!” said Arron in a loud booming voice that was amplified by his helmet's external speakers.

Cammy looked over to the fast-approaching M1 officers and quickly ordered the news drones to reposition themselves to get a better view of the two officers.

Kix grabbed onto her arms and spun her around placing her wrists into magnetic cuffs.

The hovering news drones seemed to have lost interest in the scuffle as soon as Cammy was cuffed. They immediately flew off not bothering to continue filming or find out the reason she was being normalized.

“What are you doing! I am a reporter for KNN! I am reporting for Mother and Father!” shouted a panicked Cammy Newsons.

“By order of the Office of Reason you are to be normalized!” said Kix, not hiding his smug grin.

“Normalized!? Why are you harassing me!? Go do your job and catch the separatists!”

“For the crime of using separatist software to hack into Mother and Fathers government database. You are to be Normalized!” said Arron as he led her to the soon-to-be cramped APC.