Becoming More Human: Chapter 2 – Investigations and Interrogations

Chapter 2 – Investigations and Interrogations

Joseph prepares Eggs in Purgatory along with some baked bread for Antonietta while she makes her plans.

“You know, I never understood why you never learned to cook,” Joseph says.

“Why’s that?”

“Your mom made it a point to teach you, didn’t she?”

“Eh, I’m too busy to cook. It’s why I make you do it and why I gave you her cookbook and apron. Besides, you look cute in it.”

“What? This is her apron? You didn’t tell me that.”

“Oh, that’s right. I thought you might’ve known when I gave it to you with her cookbook, but whatever. Anyways, is my dinner ready?”

“Yes, here it is. It’s actually appropriate that we eat a so-called poor man’s meal now that most of our businesses are gone.”

“I wouldn’t speak too soon.”

After eating, Antonietta says, “That was delicious as always. You cooked it exactly how my mom made it.”

“I try to. So, what’s your plan?”

“My remaining allies are coming to meet us at a secret location underneath my parent’s house. They should be there in an hour.”

“They’re going to be here that fast?”

“Information moves fast in this world. News of the attack makes it to people as if they were in the same room and they act accordingly. Even though there are dozens of things happening in the world and we get all this information at once, we prioritize what needs to come first, and with this on our plates, there’s only one thing we know that we need to focus on.”

Joseph and Antonietta drive down to Antonietta’s parent’s house and meet their allies in the secured basement. These allies of theirs are from other countries and other parts of the country they are in. They all go over the attack and where they were when it happened with some reporting people from their own branch trying to finish them off. Joseph tells them their own story of how they were attacked after and how their cybernetics were modified by other companies.

“It’s strange to me how our own employees obtained cybernetics that could hack into our own and disable us for a second,” one of their allies says.

“Tau Enterprise was a primary force in rebuilding the world after the World Enterprise War. The work of our ancestors is within every fiber of the world they built up for us. We sustain the world with the goal of the common good in mind. We are going to march into the offices of the places that our attackers got their cybernetics from and demand answers if not take them for ourselves. I have authorization from my friends in law enforcement to do whatever we want, so don’t hold back.”

“Antonietta, this could cause trouble and might even spark another world war,” Joseph points out.

“The past World Enterprise War was started by countries controlled by their businesses because one alliance of countries was cheated by the other. This won’t end up that way. I promise.”

“I hope you’re right.”

“Well, then ladies and gentlemen, let’s go out there and remind our enemies whose own bodies and livelihoods exist because of us.”

Antonietta, Joseph, and her allies head to the closest office of a major business and walk into their building.

“We demand to see your boss. They were supposed to lend us support and answer why some of our employees that attacked us had modified tech done by your company,” Antonietta sternly says.

“Excuse me, but how can you say that their tech was done by us?”

“My cybernetics allow me to track where a piece of cyberware is from based on the model and coding and tell your boss to sit tight on top of what you already told him about getting ready for a fight. Thank you.”

The people from the company fall around them as their cybernetics are hacked by Antonietta and her allies while Joseph watches and silently prays that everything ends well. They continue up to the floor where the company boss is. On this floor, there are many others on the floor groveling in pain.

“Everyone in the building is neutralized,” one of Antonietta’s allies says.

“Good. I want everyone on the ground until we figure out what’s going on here,” Antonietta says.

They enter the company boss’s office where he is unable to move from his chair.

“Let him speak.”

“Ant-Antonietta! You’re mistaken about me being involved in that attack!” the boss says.

“I’d like to believe you, but you have all the symptoms of a liar, sweating, shaky voice, feeling nervous. You aren’t lying to us, are you?”

“Oka-okay! I backed out from the plan at an early stage so I don’t know much and don’t who organizes it, but I do know that the mayor has something to do with it.”

“The mayor should one of our most loyal members but given recent events and my scans telling me that you should be telling me the truth, I’ll believe you. Thank you for the information.”

The people in the building aren’t given control over their bodies until the group leaves the building and even then, their communication devices are all sabotaged and have to be fixed. They then go to the mayor’s office. This time, no one tries to attack them and the group manages to see the mayor by saying a secret code word to his secretary. The group enters the office of the mayor who is hard at work on multiple computers. His arms have multiple mechanical fingers to handle all of the control panels and be aware of most of what is going on in the city, the country, and world events that he needs to take note of.

“Please don’t mind my appearance,” the mayor says as part of his face moves to see the group in the office, “You gave the code to signal an important and immediate meeting. How may I help you?”

“My scans are telling me that he’s been compromised,” one of Antonietta’s allies say.

“Take him off his inhibitors and remind him of himself,” Antonietta says as her allies do what she says and tell the mayor of certain events in his life.

“What? Wait, what happened? What are you doing here?”

“Who have you been talking to recently that we don’t know about? Don’t bother lying because you already know what we’ll do.”

Joseph is a bit confused by the situation especially by the mayor’s sudden panic and sadness.

“Please, please just let me go already! You people play me like a puppet and I’m tired of it!”

“We are helping you help the people of the city, the country, and the world. All you have to do is your job and we’ll do the rest.”

“You think what you’re doing is the right thing, but you’re doing nothing by playing god with the lives of the people in this world while keeping yourselves comfortable in power!”

A sharp pain makes the mayor scream.

“How dare you say that when we’ve been keeping crime and corruption from influencing the world for decades while you people sat back while we did the dirty work! Now, tell us who you’ve been seeing behind our backs!”

“Okay, okay! I’ve been talking to the heads of Collective Commoners. They use me just as much as you do, but at least they let me act like my old self.”

“Put him back on his inhibitors and tighten up the firewalls.”

The mayor screams out in pain until he suddenly becomes calm.

“I see that you are alive and well. I’ll help you in any way that I can,” the mayor says.

“Thank you, but you already have.”

“Oh, then I wish you the best of luck in finding the people who have wronged you and our friends.”

Joseph doesn’t say anything about what happened until he enters the car with Antonietta and they head off for the office of Collective Commoners.

He asks, “What was that about?”

“Well, there are certain people in business and politics that we give…special kinds of cybernetics to that make them more friendly towards us.”

“Really? Because it seems like you’ve brainwashed the mayor.”

“It seems like brainwashing, but it isn’t. Sort of. It’s something that all businesses and politicians request for certain people they want to make sure that they aren’t going to be a problem.”

“This isn’t right, Antonietta. You have to fix it.”

“We aren’t going to make this public. It would completely ruin us.”

“Then keep secret. You’re a persuasive person, aren’t you?”

“I guess so. Fine, I’ll do it after we’re done with this.”

“You shouldn’t listen to that boy, Antonietta. His morals are too strict for what needs to be done for this world to thrive,” one of Antonietta says.

“Don’t call my assistant a boy. He may be younger than us, but he’s a real man to speak up when he does for what he knows to be is right.”

“Tch. That lapdog of yours will be the death of you.”

“Demean him again and I’ll be the death of you.”

Everyone is silent until they reach the Collective Commoners offices. An ambush awaits them and is sprung as Antonietta, Joseph, and their allies fall to their ground as their cybernetics are hacked into. Several people with guns and swords and launchers for arms point their weapons at Antonietta and Joseph who still manage to barely hold themselves up.

A woman steps forward along with ten other people. She says to Antonietta, “You didn’t think that you could stroll up to everyone unexpected and do what you wanted, did you? How are you still alive after the hacks we put into your system?”

“You’ll see why.”

Antonietta’s and Joseph’s cybernetics return to normal while everyone else in the room falls to the ground.

Looking over to their allies, Joseph says, “They are dead. Why are we alive?”

“I’ll tell you later. Honestly, I didn’t think it would be this easy to get you all to come to me, but I appreciate that you made it easy for me since this going from one place to another is getting tiring and starting to irritate me. Tell me who else I need to find so they can pay for what they did to me and my family’s legacy.”

“Heh, how about you ask the newest and biggest cult? That is if you managed to live.”

Explosives go off that collapses the entire building into itself with Antonietta and Joseph trapped underneath. Just like the previous building collapse, they manage to survive thanks to their cybernetics that let them compress their bodies so they aren’t crushed.

“I’m getting sick of having buildings fall on us,” Joseph says.

“Me too, but at least we have an idea of the next people we should visit. I’ll get us out of here,” Antonietta says as she uses the cybernetics in her arm to cut apart the debris around them, “Do you know what cult they were talking about?”

“I think they’re talking about the gnostic-like cult of technophiles. They’re the newest cult that says this future generation of mankind was meant to obtain immortality by replacing their human body with cybernetics.”

“They’re going to be a joy to talk to, but I wonder what they have to do with it. They don’t seem like the kind of people to be against us since we’re the primary distributor of cybernetics.”

“We’ll see what they say when we see them.” Antonietta cuts her way out of the debris and frees them from it all. “Now, can you explain to me why our allies died while we lived?”

“We have special programs in our cybernetics that feign being damaged so that we can make our enemies think that they have an advantage on us and ours is such that it won’t turn on us. It’s the same thing that happened when we were attacked the first time.”

“But why do just you and I have it?”

“Because…because you’re special to me, Joseph. I can’t lose you. You’re my ticket to Heaven where my parents are and I won’t let them down. It’s another reason why I have to punish the people who turned the company to dust. I won’t let them get away with destroying something they trusted me with.”

“I understand. You still have to do the right thing and not just what you think is the right thing. Following what God wants you to do is how you get to Heaven.”

“This is what I think is the right thing. I’m still in a position of authority. Despite not having my entire business compromised and all my allies dead or gone, I still have a few tricks up my sleeve that will get us the justice we deserve.”

“Okay, I trust you. One of the cult’s meeting places isn’t too far from here.”

“We’ll have to walk since all the cars are destroyed. It looks like you’ll have to carry me there.”

“What?”

“You’re my personal assistant, so you’ll have to assist me in getting there. Come on.”

“After having two buildings fall on us, you think I can carry you there?”

“Yes.”

“Heh, your cybernetics are better than mine, so you should be the one carrying me there.”

“Okay,” Antonietta says as she picks up Joseph.

“H-hey! I was joking! I didn’t say that I wouldn’t carry you there.”

“It’s fine. I like doing this anyway.”

“Hold on, put me down. I’ll carry you there.”

Antonietta puts Joseph down and he carries her.

“Actually, you might be right. I think this may be better.”

Antonietta rests her head against Joseph’s chest as he carries her to their next destination. While carrying her, Joseph sees a peaceful smile on her face that makes him smile as well since he almost never sees this kind of smile on her.