RETURN TO BASELINE
Three days after the Cyborg-X assault, Jaxon Steel steps back into the INN's main atrium. The space hums with its usual high-throughput energy: analysts moving in sprints, holographic feeds pivoting real-time intel, junior agents barking status updates into comm-links.
Steel's face carries a calmer disposition, almost stabilized by his short leave — though the Neuro-Link still pulses faintly beneath the surface. A subtle blue shimmer runs across his right iris and fades before anyone notices.
He nods to a few colleagues.
Everyone double-takes.
Clearly, they missed him.
Steel (thinking):Back to the grind, Steel. Let's not break anything today… preferably yourself.
OPERATION CHAMBER
Madison Connor is already waiting inside her operations chamber — a high-capability secure suite lit by cascading data rails. She looks sharper, colder, more laser-focused than the last time he saw her. The pressure of the ongoing investigation is burning her candle from all sides.
But when she sees Jaxon, the slightest warmth flickers across her expression. Soft. Almost maternal.
[MadisonConnor]:"Welcome back, Steel. I trust the downtime helped you recalibrate?"
[Agent Steel]: Didn't get mauled by any cybernetic maniacs, so I'll call it a win.
She smirks, just barely.
Then her tone shifts into operational mode.
Madison taps a control panel. A holo-screen rises, revealing a victim lying in an alleyway — clean kill, no defensive wounds, body unnervingly pristine except for a small incision at the base of the neck.
[MadisonConnor]:New case. Local homicide. No weapon residue, no struggle, no signs of theft.
Pause
And something else — something that doesn't fit any known pattern."
She zooms into the incision.
Steel steps closer. The wound is precise, almost surgical.
[Agent Steel ]: That looks… biotech-clean."
[MadisonConnor]:We're still validating. For now, it's classified under internal anomaly protocols. You'll lead the field review.
Steel nods, but something nags his instincts.
A faint whisper in the back of his consciousness — a ripple from the Neuro-Link.
[Agent Steel ](thinking):That cut… it's too perfect. Too intentional.
Madison studies him for a moment.
[MadisonConnor]:Steel, stay sharp. There are forces moving off-grid. Quiet ones. The type that don't want to be found.
Madison opens a thin classified folder and slides a photo across the table.
It's small. Easy to miss.
A mark burned faintly into the victim's skin.
A coil-shaped glyph… barely visible.
Agent Steel]:
"What is that? A tattoo?"
[Madison:No record. No symbol match in our archives. Treat it as a non-priority anomaly. Just document it.
Her voice is firm — almost too firm.
Steel studies the symbol one more second longer than he should.
---
OPERATIONAL LAUNCH — FIELD DEPLOYMENT
Madison hands him a sealed evidence tablet.
[Madison Connor]:You're flying solo. Investigator class only. Minimal footprint. The board is already sensitive after Cyborg-X.
[Agent Steel]:"Roger that. I'll deconstruct the crime scene."
[MadisonConnor]:Jaxon….
She pauses.
"You don't need to prove anything. Just bring back the truth. One step at a time."
He hesitates — surprised by her soft tone.
[Agent Steel]:Copy that… Madison. And thanks."
He exits.
As the door closes, Madison exhales heavily. She taps into a hidden console beneath her desk — a secure channel with encrypted sigils scrolling across the display.
A single tag appears:
SERP-€— Shadow Tier Inquiry Pending
She stares at it for a long moment…
then shuts it of
Steel walks through the INN corridor, case file in hand. His posture is ready, steady — but the Neuro-Link flickers once again, as if responding to the symbol he saw.
Somewhere deep inside the INN infrastructure, a dormant system pings quietly, registering the symbol as a low-priority redacted alert.
But no one sees it.
Not yet.
TO BE CONTINUED
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