"So it IS true?" Henrique asked.

"Hard to believe, isn't it?" Officer Sendesas replied to the burly detective before sipping his hot cup of coffee, "Boss told me about his family, oh, five months ago.  I still kinda find it hard to believe.  Looks normal to me.  I can't quite picture him being grown in a glass tank full of glowing green stuff."

"I can't picture him being born without a cigar." Detective Allarque put in dryly,  "Bald yes.  Cigar?  Incomprehensible."

The others laughed, "Well, *I* sure believe it." Lieutenant Torqueda admitted.

"Why so?" Henrique asked, fishing his fifth donut out of the box on the table.

"'Cause that glowing green stuff really exists.  He showed me a small glass capsule full of it just before he knocked it down the hatch.  It sure glowed, and it sure was GREEN." Torqueda helped himself to another donut also, "Brighter than those glow sticks you take with you to camping and break to get to glow.  Wasn't the same stuff, though."

"How did you know?" Sendesas asked him, turning to toss the empty coffee cup into the trash.

"When he opened it up, he shook a drop out of it onto a telephone book.  Burned a hole as big around as a pencil and maybe two centimeters deep in it!"  Torqueda shook his head, "I suppose I should believe the other stuff too."

"Other stuff?"

Officer Villarte grinned and shook his head, "Claims about three quarters of the employees at Trodden Import/Export, including the Troddens themselves, are his brothers and sisters..  Imagine that.  The richest guy in Meridiana!"

"Go on!" Henrique said skeptically.

"Hey, just knock on the front door and tell Harold, their butler, that Type 37 sent ya, and you'll walk away with a pretty damn good snack."

"Type 37." Henrique said half to himself.

"He's number 37 of the Type model:  supposedly leaders, administrators, creative types.  Cyprus and Serena are Technos.  They get turned on to the detail stuff.  Their daughter, Bethany, is their natural born daughter, and so's called a special.  We, by the way, are normals, like his mom and dad."

"Mmph.  That's nice to know." Henrique said.  His head turned when the door to the police gymnasium opened.  The men immediately stood up and faced their police chief, glancing at the teenager and the woman in the five alarm dress who had accompanied him into the room.

"Good evening, men!  At ease!" Type 37 barked.  He glanced uncertainly at the teenager, then at the woman, "I've called you here to lay out a plan to get the petty and middle level crime rate down."

The men nodded, aware of the revolving door that the criminal court had been turned into when Judge Megillo had been transferred to the bankruptcy court.

"I want you to meet a sister of mine, Cybersix, or Six, if you prefer."

"Hello." Cybersix said absently.

It was at that moment that the officers noticed that the woman had been looking them over with a critical eye.  She stepped  forward and began to circle them, occasionally tugging at a collar or straightening a badge, "You a plainclothesman?" she asked Henrique.

"Yes."

She looked at him, "Yes...?" Her eyebrow went up.

"Uhh.  Yes MAAM."

She nodded and moved on, the whiff of her perfume making Henrique think, for a fleeting moment, of exotic purple jungle orchids.

She finally stepped back to Type 37, faced them, put her fists on her hips, and frowned, "I dunno..."

"Don't let their looks fool you, Six." Type 37 said.

"NOT that you're a good example, brother." She said, throwing a pointed glance at his paunch.  Henrique fought to suppress a snort, while his compatriots sniggered and the teenager giggled.

Cybersix  exhaled gustily, making the fall of hair over her left eye flip upwards, "Well, I DO suppose I should give you boys a chance."

"Pardon me, maam," Torqueda spoke up, "But we ARE policeMEN with excellent records."

She pursed her lips and nodded slowly, thinking.  "OKAY!" she said suddenly, walking around them to the center of the gym floor, "Let's each find out what the other's made of!  That suit you?"  She smiled at their nods, "All right!" she looked at her watch, "I'll give you guys five minutes to yank my dress top down.  And no, I DON'T have a bra under this thing.  Ready?"

Jacinta felt Type 37's hand on her shoulder, "I think we'll best just step over here." he said.

"Is she serious?" Jacinta asked, concerned as she followed him closer to the wall.  Her conversation with her newfound aunt while coming here had made her feel rather close to her.

"NOW!" Cybersix shouted.

"Cybers usually are." Type 37 said dryly as he pulled out a cigar and began to unwrap it.

"WELL?"

Type 37 glanced up at Cybersix's remark.  His men were looking at him, rather bewildered.  He couldn't exactly describe the look on Cybersix's face, but it made him think of a woman who had just been told that her 38C's were 'inadequate'.

He waved his cigar at them, "You heard the woman!  Get moving!" he said, biting the end off and spitting it into the nearby trashcan.

After glancing quizzically at each other, they all turned and  jumped her.

"So, Jacinta." Type 37 said as he pulled his lighter out, "Are you a friend of Cybersix's?"

"Huh?  Pardon?" Jacinta said distractedly, a bit amazed at seeing her aunt expertly weaving in and out of the six man one cyber melee that had broken out in the middle of the gym floor.

"Are you a friend of Cybersix's?" he repeated.

"Umm, no" she shook her head, smiling depreciatively, "Not exactly.  I just met her tonight, when she came to visit my mom."

He blinked, "Then what-"

"37!"

He  grabbed Jacinta's arm and jerked her out of the way of the flying body that hit the wall beside which they had been standing, "Torqueda!  I'd have thought-" Type 37 started, then deliberately didn't finish the sentence, but sighed loudly instead.

With a look of determination, the officer got up and advanced two steps before the flying body of Officer Estevez knocked him back into the wall.  They were both still for a few seconds before they started disentangling themselves from each other.

Type 37 sighed again, "She's not being very serious about this..."

"Not serious..." Jacinta glanced at her aunt, noting that someone had just sneaked up behind her and was reaching around to her front.

Cybersix's arms shot straight up, and she dropped into a crouch, slipping out from under the hands which now grabbed at air.  Still crouching, she reached backwards, took the man by the shirt, lifted, and tossed him over her head into the path of another of her opponents.  She then sprang upwards, backflipping over the big plainclothesman who had been charging at her.  Coming down, she planted a foot into the man's back and shoved him into the growing pile, backflipping again onto her feet..

"So, back to my question." Type 37 said, flicking on the lighter and holding it to the cigar, "If you just met her tonight, and yet she brings you here, then you have to know something of our family."

"Well, that's what I'm trying to do.  She said my mother was Serena Trodden's sister, and that she was my-  Hey!  You okay?" She began pounding Type 37's back to help him get over aspirating his cigar.

"Is he okay?" Cybersix called.

Jacinta glanced at Cybersix, "I just told him who my mother was!" she called back, wondering why she wasn't surprised at the sight of her aunt holding the largest policeman high over her head.

"GOTCHA!"

Cybersix froze, then turned her head and regarded the man whose hands now firmly grasped the top of her dress, "I'm caught." she admitted, slowly smiling, "Got distracted.  What are you waiting for?"

"I never deliberately humiliate a co-worker."  Detective Allarque replied, grinning, "Besides, if my wife found out, I'd lose my cajones.  Painfully."

"Can you put me down now?" Henrique asked, craning his head to glance at her, but only succeeding in glancing down at her behind.

"Oh?  Sure."  She slowly let Henrique down, "I appreciate that." she said to Allarque as the others surrounded their police Chief.

37 stared at Cybersix, "Which one?" he asked, pointing at Jacinta.

"254.  54 had been worried about her, since she hadn't been heard from for years.  After the dinner party, she asked me to look her up and find out what was going on.  I guess we know the reason now."

"But-" he started, then stopped when her eyebrow went up slightly, "Uhh, yeah.  Back to business!  Any doubts or questions, officers?"

Henrique scratched the back of his head, looking a bit chagrined and embarrassed, "Not any more."

"I think I got the idea behind the Types and Technos, boss," Officer Villarte said, "So the Cybers are-?"

"The Army of the Geneva Convention." Type 37 replied, "Their job is to infiltrate, watch for, and prevent atrocities.  Technos, Types, Specials.  We all support the Cybers.  There are not quite 5000 out in the field now, with a thousand still in training.  The plan is that, as they retire, they'll move into police jobs and protect the civilians.  Cybersix here-" He waved at her, "is on special assignment in Meridiana, and my father was kind enough to give his permission for her to work with us.  She'll be working out the protocols and techniques future Cyber police will use to work side-by-side with normal police."

"Special assignement, eh?" Sendesas remarked, "Special assignments usually get assigned to special people."

"I'm just a Cyber..." Cybersix said, reddening slightly.

Type 37 snorted, and Allarque intervened "Umm, let's cut to the chase, since we're embarrassing our newest recruit.  What's the plan, chief?"

Type 37 had certainly been prepared as he handed out small radio units.  The ones he handed to the police had LCD screens, while hers was a bit larger, looking like it was a modified Videotape recorder.  Jacinta glanced over her shoulder while Cybersix looked it over.  She chuckled.

"What is it?" Jacinta asked.

She pointed at an imprint of a google-eyed kid with glasses sticking his tounge out, "Classic Jose equipment." she remarked, smiling.

"And Jose is..."

"The nephew your mom was trying to forget." Cybersix said.  She glanced at Type 37, "These look pretty well polished: You've been planning this for a while, haven't you?"

"Since the Training Board decision." Type 37 said, "I saw the opportunity to snag you, so I pulled Jose and Cyber 738 aside and we did some brainstorming on how to leverage a single cyber into a four car squad."

"Four-" Henrique started, then remembered getting picked up by the woman.  He decided to follow one of his Grandmother's proverbs and managed to look wiser than he really was by shutting up.

"The Red button starts the VCR.  It has a high gain directional microphone as well as a low light amplifier.  Use it to take evidence.  The tapes last about 10 minutes.  The black button stops it.  Push it hard enough, and the cassette ejects."

Cybersix lifted the camera and activated it, "Smile everyone!"

Everyone mugged for the camera for a few minutes, the antics stopping when Allarque tried to spit polish his boss' bald pate.  Cybersix stopped the camera and ejected the tiny cartridge, "Looks like one of those mini-cassettes for tape recorders." she said, holding it up, "This one says it lasts 60 minutes."

"The video signal takes up more space, so Jose made the tape run faster to keep up." Type 37 said, "The idea is that you tape the crime, move in, immobilize the perp, and leave the cassette behind.  See the yellow button?"

"Yes."  She pushed it, and it popped right back out again.

All the other devices in the hands of the policemen began to beep.  They looked at the LCDs and noticed a blinking arrow pointing at Cybersix.  Torqueda turned around and watched the arrow swing around, "Homing device in the VCR?" he asked.

Type 37 shook his head, "No.  We'll want Six to be long gone.  The VCR contains a GPS receiver and a radio transmitter.  When she pushed the button, the VCR recorded and transmitted the coordinates.  Your receivers also have a GPS receiver.  When your receiver gets the coordinates, it computes the difference in distance and relative direction, and indicates which way for you to go.  The closer you are, the faster the arrow will flash.  Use your regular radios to decide who will do the bust.  We'll transfer the evidence to a regular VCR cassette and keep the original for safekeeping."

"What do I use to immobilize them?" she asked.

He grinned, "You don't have to be gentle.  However, you can use tiewraps."

"Tiewraps?" Estevez asked

He pulled a long strip of plastic half as thick as a chopstick out of his pocket, "It's used by electricians to bind large numbers of wires together into a cable that's more manageable.  Pretty tough.  Here."  He wrapped a tiewrap around Estevez's joined wrists.

The officer strained to break it but couldn't, "I could see how that could work." he said.

"Let me try." Henrique said.  He was able to barely snap one, but couldn't snap two.

Cybersix grinned and held her wrists out, pressed together, and Type 37 began wrapping tiewraps around them, "It's one of these little games we Cybers did when we were bored." she explained to Jacinta, "We took turns seeing who could snap the largest number of tiewraps.  My old limit was eight, but that was years ago."

Type 37 put ten around her wrists, then beckoned everyone to step away from her sides.

She experimentally flexed her muscles, then snapped all ten tiewraps, the pieces flying apart as if from an explosion, "Still got the touch." she said with satisfaction, ignoring the astounded looks of the surrounding officers.

"Any questions?"

"Yeah." Henrique said, "I'd like to ask Cybersix something."

"What?" She asked.

"You available this Saturday night?"
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Jacinta tried to hide a yawn as she came out of the Police Station, noticed that Cybersix was looking at her, and smiled sheepishly, "I guess it IS rather late, isn't it?"

"School day tomorrow." Type 37 grunted, stepping up to the sidewalk on the other side of Cybersix, flicking on his lighter and holding his cigar up to it.

Cybersix smiled, "Can't have you stumbling through the halls of Meridiana High-" she started, only to jerk her head around to stare to her left, past Type 37.  She grabbed his coat and jerked him into Jacinta, throwing them both onto the ground and using the momentum to start her running up the street at the approaching car.

"Hey!  What the-?" Jacinta cried out as she and Type 37 scrambled to get off of each other.  Suddenly, there was a long burst of gunfire, making Type 37 hug the pavement again, shoving Jacinta down flat with his right arm.  She twisted her head just in time to see a car passing by, her aunt kneeling on the roof.  She was holding the muzzle of a gun so it was pointed upwards, her face illumiated by the strobe-like flashing of the muzzle fire as it blazed lead several tens of centimeters from her head.  Pebbles and pieces of glass, brick, and mortar fell like rain around them as the bullets hit the wall and windows of the building.  She heard people coming out of the building, and vaguely recognized the voices of the police she'd left just minutes earler.
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"KEEP YOUR HAND ON THE MUZZLE!  A burn in the hand is worth more than a hole in the head!"

That bit of wisdom from a human DI, now retired in Lima, came back to Cybersix as she felt the muzzle of the AK-47 heat up in her hand.  Cybers were nearly always quick enough to grab the muzzle of a rifle, but their strength would be compromised by the lesser amount of leverage they could apply, given that the stock would be securely under the shooter's armpit.  While wrestling for the weapon, they'd have to be aware of where the business end was at all times, and avoid it at all costs.

Cybersix's problem was that the roof was smooth and her position atop the car was rather unstable, adding to the imbalance introduced by her having to lean over to keep her hold on the weapon.  She didn't think she could keep a good grasp on the weapon and jerk it out of the hands of the shooter, so she settled instead to pumping it in and out of the car, gaining an extra several centimeters of amplitude with each stroke.
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"DAMN!  DON'T SHOOT!" Henrique shouted, pointing his drawn pistol upwards upon seeing Cybersix on the roof, "WE MIGHT HIT HER!"
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"That clip should be running out about NOW." she thought.

The gun stopped firing.  She shifted her weight, preparatory to punching downwards through the roof with her free hand to get a better handhold when the car suddenly accellerated.  She slid toward the back, then to the right as the car did a sharp left turn.  Letting go, she spun into a cocoon and hit the pavement hard, rolling into the base of a lamppost.  She was momentarily stunned, and it took a few seconds for her to recover and get her bearings.  By that time, the car had pulled another turn and was out of sight.

She was getting on her feet rather shakily as everyone ran up to her, "Six!  You okay?"  "Anything broken?"  "Did you SEE that?"

"I'm a bit winded, OWWW!" she grabbed at a spot on her side, "and a bit bruised!"

"How did you know-" Jacinta started.

Cybersix smiled crookedly, wincing, "Anti-assassin training.  The car's engine started up moments after 37 lit his lighter, illuminating his face and identifying him.  The headlights were off, and I heard the window being rolled down.  I took a chance, shoved you two down, and sprinted toward the car.  I saw the muzzle sticking out the window, so I hopped onto the roof, grabbed the muzzle, and made sure it shot over your heads.  It wasn't personal, Jacinta.  They were after the Police Chief."

"Pretty dangerous, holding onto the muzzle." Estevez said warningly.

"Yeah." she replied, opening her right hand and looking at the reddening skin, "But we train on it, so I knew what I was doing."

"Oh?  How?" Type 37 asked.

She smiled, letting Jacinta hold her hand in hers and fuss over it, "We have an AK rigged to shoot water dyed red out the muzzle.  We then practiced grabbing it and wrestling it from the hands of a DI, while trying not to get wet. 'If you're red, you're dead."" she quoted.  She made a face, "The dye's nasty and doesn't come out of clothes easily, so we all practiced au naturel.  Including the DI."

"You sure you're okay?" Henrique insisted, "No cuts?  Nothing broken or bleeding?"

She felt at herself carefully, then turned around, "See anything on my back?" she asked Jacinta.

"No." Jacinta replied, reaching out and brushing the dust off her aunt's dress, "Looks okay to me.  Your shoes are torn up, though."

"Ohhhh!" she bit her lip, "I just bought them."

"Sister, you can have my next paycheck!" Type 37 said with feeling, "This is the second time you've saved my neck."

"Second time?" Estevez asked.

"She was the commander of the team that rescued me from Cornazon."

"I'd better get you home." Cybersix said to Jacinta, the looks of respect from the officers embarassing her a little, "I'll probably get in trouble for this."

"As if we need to say anything." Jacinta said decidedly.

"THAT just might be a good idea." Cybersix agreed, glancing around to get her bearings.

"Henrique." Type 37 said to the burly detective, "Grab your car and drive Miss Valasquez and  Cybersix to their homes, will you?"  He made a face as his cellphone beeped, "I'll have to file an incident report, as must the rest of you.  Looks like another late night, gentlemen." he said as he flipped the phone open, "Hello?"

Cybersix leaned back against the lamp post and closed her eyes, letting her system settle back after the adrenaline surge.  For her part, Jacinta frowned, trying to think of what it was that had bothered her before the attack.

"I'll do one better.  What?  Oh, you'll see!  Bye!" Type 37 shut off the cellphone and put it away, frowning.  A police car pulled up, and Type 37 opened the door to let Jacinta and Cybersix inside.  He then leaned in, "Change of plans, Henrique.  Drop Cybersix off at the Trodden mansion after dropping off Miss Velasquez."

"A problem?"  Cybersix glanced at him.

He nodded, glancing at Jacinta.

"No.  Drop us both off there, okay?"

Henrique glanced back at her, then at Type 37.

"Do what the lady says.  To the letter.  Goodnight Jacinta, Six.  Both of you drop by my place sometime this weekend, okay?"

"I'd like that!" Jacinta said with enthusiasm.

He smiled and closed the door.  Henrique turned on his flashers and headed toward the Trodden mansion.

"A problem?" Jacinta repeated.

Cybersix nodded.

"Family?"

"Yes."

"Who?"

"Ohh, you'll find out." she said lightly, leaning back in the seat and closing her eyes.
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Jacinta (C) Black Inque
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Chapter 13