Augmented

Augmented Identity

It was a busy morning at DigiSteam Coffee. I walked in, checked my watch, and noticed my usual waiting for me. A tall, black coffee sat steaming next to a small memory card. I scanned the room. No one seemed to be watching the table. I walked past a young couple, keeping my eyes forward to avoid seeing their kissing ritual. Once I was past them, the ear piece I wore picked up a sudden, jarring signal.

"You were them once, Porter," my partner reminded me. I looked around, not seeing her. I gave a thin grin and sat down.

"We both were, Caine," I said as I peered into my coffee, my black reflection staring back. I took a sip and felt the usual drug induced state of alertness wash over me.

"Well, one of us more than the other." She replied. Her words stung sufficiently. Being just two years my senior, she had a way of speaking that the agency doesn't teach you. Her words laced with venom, she could say something so simple yet you'd feel guilty for it years to come.

"We aren't here to talk about that though," I said as I mounted the memory card into the read slot on my prosthesis. I flexed the metallic fingers in their usual calibration movements and suddenly hundreds of files flared up in the HUD of my optic sensors. "You seeing this?"

"Upload complete. File encryption a success." When it came to business, she always made it seem as if we were fully robotic. Her voice felt so artificial and lacked emotion. "Porter, you realize who this is right?"

Several files showed traffic and security footage from around the city. The same man stood prominently in each file. "Chancellor Williams," I replied, trying to sound as monotonous as her, "I'm not an idiot, Caine."

For a moment, there was only silence. During that moment, several customers came in and sat down. I scanned each and every one. Civilians. None whom we were here for. I checked my watch again. "Stop doing that, you look suspicious, " She scolded.

"He should've already been here. Besides, everyone is running out of time these days."

"You only just learned of his morning routine moments ago. Don't behave like you're an expert." Her voice maintained it's calculating tone. I ignored it,  though, keeping my attention on the door. More and more people filtered through, many in their teens. They wore the latest cellular headsets, just a few generations behind my earpiece and optics. I smiled and took another drink of coffee. The pungence had worn off.

"Go easy on that. Its not meant to be consumed completely. And what is that smile for?"

I snuck a metallic middle finger off to my side and took another sip. "Just some memories that are fond to me."

"Well we don't have time for memories now. There's our mark."

I looked up and saw Chancellor Williams walk through the door. He wore civilian robes, which were a brilliant royal blue, just high enough off the ground to keep from dragging. His face stood stoic as he moved from the door to the coffee machine. Reaching his own prosthesis out, he waved his hand in front of the pay system, which gave a light hum. The coffee machine dispensed a metal cup and poured steaming coffee into it. He seemed to hover across the floor as he moved to a booth just a few tables away from me. He pulled a newspaper out of his robes and began reading with his one good eye.

"That's strange. There's no bodyguards with him."

"That's what we're here for." Caine responded.

Williams stood up and folded his paper, stuffing it back into his robes. He looked around and made his way to the door. Cracking it open slightly, I watched as his gaze moved towards me. I looked down and put my focus on my coffee. Out of the corner of my eye, I watched him stare a few seconds more then leave.

"You idiot," Caine whispered, "he made you."

"No time for that, we gotta follow him!" I stood quickly and went out the door. Before I left, I looked to see if Caine followed. Still no sign of her. "Where the hell are you?"

"Stop asking dumb questions and catch up to him. Don't let him see you."

The door chimed as I left. I walked towards the alley leading behind the shop, seeing a flash of blue disappear around the corner. The chancellor seemed in a hurry. I broke into a faint jog, careful not to let my footsteps echo off the tall buildings. Despite the early morning, the two office buildings cast a near midnight shadow.

"Porter, someone is overriding our sig..."

Caine was cut off, leaving the unnerving beeping of standby signal. Suddenly, i heard a rapid panting. "I don't know who you are; but if you're wanting to kill me, you're gonna have to do a hell of a better job staying hidden."

"Chancellor Williams?"

"I won't be that easy." He responded.

"Sir, that's not what we're here for. This was only supposed to be a protection detail."

I cut out of the alley and wandered into the main road, washed in daylight. I couldn't see the chancellor anywhere. Busy as the day was, there were no shuttles out. The road lights shifted their red-yellow-green sequence, empty to the morning.

"Right. Why would I need protection in a coffee shop?" The signal began to break up.

"I don't know. I only receive the case files as they become relevant."

I heard him scoff and grunt, almost as if he were climbing something. His signal started to go out of range. "So my 7 a.m. latte was reason for a protection detail?"

I ran down the street a couple blocks, scanning the highway and overhead rail line. A train rattled by quickly. The signal beeped again, returning briefly, then disappearing again.

"Porter!" Caine's signal faded in and out, finally coming in strong. "Porter, can you hear me?"

"Yeah I read you, Caine."

"I managed to salvage the connection. What the hell happened?" Her voice remained cold, but a sense of concern snuck it's way into her tone.

"I think Chancellor Williams had a train to catch." Caine went silent. "I'll explain in a little bit. Meet me at the station next to the old clock tower."

Isolde's Tower stood, massive and crumbling, at the center of an old subway terminal just outside the city. In its prime, the tower served as an observatory and a meeting point for anyone that left or entered. The ancient grandfather clock face stood facing the city for all her inhabitants to see. Now, it stopped. All the numbers, once gilded in a bronze sheen, now tarnished in rusted black. The arms of the clock remained stuck at twelve o'clock, yet the city will no longer hear its deep chime. The subway terminals started at the base of the tower and fanned out in a perfect radial fashion. Tall windows stretching for about a hundred feet towards the ceiling let in the early morning daylight, this illuminating the faded pathways on the floor. Each pathway had once been marked with the names of their respective tunnels leading to different destinations. Sadly, most of the tunnels are boarded up now.

I made my way through several rows of rusted metal benches until I stood before one of the few remaining tunnels, partially lit and flickering like an old, sad ghost wanting to be noticed. The tunnel was represented by a metal archway that read ARKHAVEN. Beneath the archway, Caine stood impatiently.

"Porter, why the hell are we here?" She asked with two metal arms on her hips. Her optics shined a bright red in the dim lighting, making her seem almost ominous.

"Williams got on a train and I lost his signal. " The look on her face told me she was confused. She did not respond so I continued. "He's the one who hijacked our comms. For some reason he thought we were there to assassinate him.

"That's ridiculous! We were assigned protection over him