Deflating the Ruse

[Sage]

Dr. Kinnaird said she'd see him later. He and Christian were left alone in the room watching the news flying across the screen. Sage hated watching the news it was depressing and the anchors only told you what someone else thought you needed to know. Sage wanted to know what was going on behind the scenes.

He'd reached for the processor several times but stopped as soon as he felt the whirr of the processor kicking into gear. He sighed. "A lot harder than it should be."


"What is?" Christian asked.

"Not doing what comes naturally."


The other man smiled and stood up with his bag and pulled out Sage's laptop. "I figured you'd want this." He started to hand it to Sage but Christian pulled it away quickly. "Only if you promise you won't connect to it. Only typing."

Sage sighed. "How are you going to know?"


Christian looked over at the monitors that were above his bed. "Up there, when you use it your brain activity goes off the chart."

Sage sighed. "Dr. Kinnaird will know when I do and then I can't go home."


Christian nodded. "Promise, Sage. I won't leave it here with you otherwise. I need to get back."

"I promise."


Christian smiled then came over to him and patted his shoulder. "All of you boys are like family. Don't do anything stupid Sage. None of us will forgive you. And then you'll have to explain to Ana, why you did what you did."

Sage knew he had paled a little at that thought. He'd never had a mother who had cared. But Ana was taking the cake and eating it too. Cruz was lucky to have Ana and Christian in his life. He guessed he was too now.

Christian set the laptop on the table in front of him and waved his farewell. Sage was left alone with the one thing he wanted more than anything - information.

[Sage]

Sage did his usual thing the moment he got his laptop powered up. Every feed he ran he scanned quickly. There was a god sighting someplace in the red light district, fires and earth quakes. There was other notable things but Sage skimmed past them as he check on the goings on in the US.

And then came time to look for all his friends where abouts but one was distinctly missing. Nox's signal was gone. He looked at the Vega estates and saw only Cruz, Ana. Dorian was on the move. So was Christian. But Nox wasn't anywhere. "Impossible."


Sage scanned the security feeds and found someone elses digital footprints all over things. Someone was watching. He called Cruz but he didn't pick up. The call rang and rang and finally went to voice mail. "Shit!"


And there was nothing he could do about the matter.

There was a knock on the door and Sage looked up to see Dr. Marcil. "The information you had provided us upon your admission into the program has proven to be helpful, but we still don't understand why it works. There is nothing special about it."

There was a slight evil grin to the man's face as he continued. "We'd like to try these replacements."

All thoughts of Nox evaporated when Sage realized he could get his processor back sooner rather than later. "But you did't have them this morning."


"Not with me. We wanted the remove the pieces first but your refusal made us step up the process. We'd like to go in when you are stronger and replace the circuits and inject nanites to help monitor and repair the circuits should they become faulty. You might feel the urge to eat certain things when necessary."

"How soon?"
Sage couldn't hold back the enthusiasm.

"When your doctor feels you are strong enough."

"You are my doctor."


"I could do it tomorrow."

"Isn't that too soon?"
Sage said outloud. But it had been the hardest thing to say. He wanted this now.

"Maybe, but you are young, strong and..."

Sage shook his head. "No, we'll talk with Dr. Kinaird in the morning."
He was disappointed but he could hear both Christian and Ana chiding him for being rash. Even Nox wouldn't put himself in danger like that. He could die... Sage didn't want to die.

"Tomorrow then." Dr. Marcil said farewell and Sage was alone with his thoughts. Sage was almost giddy with joy. He would be able to see right again.

[Sage]

Sage was almost giddy. Bouncing on the bed except when he did, his laptop bounced bringing his attention back to the light no longer blinking. There was only so much he could do with the connection at the hospital so he sent Cruz a message.

Cruz replied with a quick message saying that the Atharim were attacking Nox. How was that possible? What the fuck?

That explained all those footprints in his system.

For the next thirty minutes Sage cleaned things up. It was a lot harder than he remembered it - having to type.

An hour later he still wasn't done, but he felt better about Cruz being at the house again. No one was getting in.

Sage drifted to sleep at some god forsaken hour.

There was a gentle shake and Sage started awake. "What? Huh?"


Sage blinked his eyes and saw Dorian standing at his bed side. He glanced outside and it was still dark. "What are you doing here?"


Dorian didn't look happy. "Cruz said you were worried about Nox. I just wanted to let you know he's alive, and he's downstairs in protective custody."


Sage laughed. "You mean he's been arrested but got himself hurt?"


Dorian smiled. "No. Well yes. The Atharim found him, he defended himself. But he caused damage is a confessed murderer on the street. It doesn't look good for him. So they have him sedated and cuffed so he can heal before they question him."


"Can I see him?"


Dorian frowned. "It's probably better than you don't. Keep you away from the officers and asking too many questions."


Sage nodded. "Tell him when he wakes up that I'll be back to my self sooner rather than later. The boards are made, when I'm strong enough they'll repair it all."


Dorian smiled. "Good to hear, son. I just hope you know what you are doing?"


Sage laughed. "If I die give Nox my laptop."


Dorian frowned and then nodded. "Okay."
He patted Sage on the shoulder and said his farewells and mentioned something about visiting when it was visiting hours. But Sage's thoughts had drifted to the time and wondering if he would get to see Dr. Kinnaird soon.

[Sage]

The sun wasn't up yet. But Sage hasn't even slept yet. He was too busy monitoring Nox's vitals in the hospital computers. Dr. Marcil walked into his room with a smile and other doctors in tow.

"Mr. Parker, these are my collegues. We'd like to get started if you are ready."

"I thought we were waiting until we talk to Dr. Kinnaird."


"Oh she's waiting for you in the operating room. There is no need to wait, if we want to get this done we need to start now." He set the computer boards on the bed in their protective bags. "We will take you on up. Get these in and you'll be good to go."

Sage was concerned but between the anxiety of not being connected and the excitement he was all the more eager to agree - to get back to normal.

"Tell me the specs of the boards."
Sage picked them up and started examining them. One of the nurses moved his laptop and set his things to the side.

One of the men started speaking as they wheeled Sage out of his room and into an elevator to go get this done. "The microprocessor is the latest on the market...."

[Sage]

Sage was in the operating room. It wasn't the same one they were in before. There were a lot more electronic equipment in the room. Computerized arms, and lasers. It was a cybernetic implant surgery room full of robots and other things to assist in the transfer of a human into machine. Brains just hadn't been replicated except for his processor.

Sage never forgot that he had been a test subject. His parents hadn't loved him enough... He pushed it all away. What they had done was horrid to think about but Sage couldn't think of being without it either. It was a double-edged sword.

Dr. Kinnaird wasn't present which made Sage uncomfortable. But not enough to say anything. He was too excited. He was about to have his processor fixed - a brand new one - an upgrade.

They helped Sage on to the moveable table and strapped him down. They gave him a spinal tap to keep him immobile. He needed to be awake again. Localized numbing agents for the none brain work. But he'd be fully conscious during the whole thing - like he had been when he was a child.

The memory and the fears ran through his body making him cold and unable to do anything else but focus on those fears. But Dr. Marcil didn't even notice as Sage heard the buzz of the saw behind him...

[Sage]

Panic flared but Sage was immobilized by the paralytic he'd been given as the memories flooded into his mind. His parents cutting into his head. Grafting wires to his brain in perfect dance of machine and flesh. Sage wanted to scream but something stayed his voice.

One of the nurses looked at Sage with their little pen light. "It's alright Mr. Parker, Dr. Marcil is the best cybernetics physician in the world. You'll be good as new soon."

It was not comforting but the nurse kept talking to him as the Doctor behind him worked. Sage felt nothing but a simple pressure the whole time.

Dr. Marcil spoke several long hours in. "You parents did an excellent job here Mr. Parker. Their work is exquisite. None of the sockets are defective. We won't need to make any adjustments to them. I'm going to simple clean them and we should be able to plug you in and start the booting sequence soon."

There was movement to the side as the nurse moved towards the Doctor and then came back as Dr. Marcil spoke again. "We have devised a better protective coating for your new circuits. You can see some of the goop still there, but most of it's eaten away now."

Sage glanced at the board the nurse was holding and Sage had an odd sense of awe and wonder. That thing was in his head... it was covered in a black ooze on the top but the bottom was almost like it was charred from over use. The nurse handed it to a technician who was eagerly waiting the board. He mumbled to himself. "I can't wait to see how this sucker works."

Dr. Marcil spoke over the technician's mumbling "We'll be done in another few hours Mr. Parker. You are doing great!"
Edited by Sage, Jan 26 2018, 09:05 AM.

[Sage]

Dr. Marcil rambled as he worked. "Fascinating. I never would have thought of this. Interesting. Hmmm.." And on and on it went for another three hours.

At least that's what the clock on the wall said. Sage was sure he almost passed out a few times, but the nurse kept his attention with the light and would ask him a question bringing him back to the here and now.

Sage only answered because the questions were about the circuits the technician had. But this time she asked him to look at pictures - ink blots and generic images of blocks and flowers and chimpanzees. Sage knew the words, but was having a hard time saying the correct word.

Her frown made Sage sad. This was not good. Dr. Marcil looked over at a computer screen. "I think that's normal. We'll watch it."

Dr. Marcil stepped in front of Sage wiping his hands off in towel. "Mr. Parker, we are going to inject you now with some pre-programmed nano-bots. Over the next few days we'll adjust them to their needs and they should help mend the issues we are seeing now."

Sage tried to answer but the nurse frowned. "Are you certain Doctor? He can't speak sentences."

Having it voiced out loud made the panic rise... what the fuck had he done?

[Sage]

Sage was moved to an ICU unit where they would monitor him for the next 24 hours. He didn't need to be in ICU but they wanted the observation just in case things went badly. They didn't consider the ability for him to actually speak to be critical. But they hadn't affected his motor skills.

Sage was eating like a normal person. He was up and about with in a few hours. But his words still came out garbled. It wasn't until a few hours after they'd got him walking around that a technician came in. He was wearing a lab coat and carrying some computer equipment. "Mr. Parker, I was hoping you felt up to seeing how well that new hardware works? I'm not going to poke and prod you anymore but I'd like to make sure everything is working."

Sage nodded knowing if he tried to say yes, he was good with that that it would come out like garbage. Sage sat back down and relaxed in his bed. It had been a long time since he'd done this. The machine had been running for some time, he felt the familiar hum in his head, but it was different.

It was like learning to walk all over again. First you had to learn to sit up, strengthen those leg muscles. The brain was no different and it wasn't easy trying to make that connection. The man sitting next to him was typing seriously at his keyboard. "Everything looks good. I'm adjusting the nano bots to help with that connection your struggling to get. There...." He tapped a few more things and Sage felt the information flowing. The ones and zeros colliding with his neurons and he gasped at the feeling. Fuck he'd missed that feeling.

And the best thing of all - he was connected to a network. It was almost like he'd gone to heaven. He could feel the world again. He saw things with new eyes. His old human eyes lacked detail. There was a beauty in the ones and zeros. A smile spread across his lips.

The man next to him watched him. "If you don't mind, I'd like to watch you work maybe see how this all works. One day when you are feeling better, we can hook you up and watch your brain waves work. Dr. Marcil is only interested that it works, this is just a curiosity for me."

Sage gave the man a smile and a shrug and hacked into the man's machine and opened a message box for him. <small>ENJOY THE SHOW.

</small>

Sage started looking for everything he needed to create a new identity. Phaser was done and gone - He would be something else - someone else entirely - He'd expose the truth...


Edited by Sage, Feb 6 2018, 12:13 PM.

[Sage]

continued here


Edited by Sage, Feb 7 2018, 04:00 PM.

[Nox]

(( I'm going to post this here instead of hijacking Jaxen's thread where Sage is currently they are in tandem. ))

He had his orders. But he hadn't exactly do only that. He had to talk to Sage. And he hoped the hacker could help him. Aria's phone was shit as was his own and he had no way of finding her and he wasn't going to stalk around Moscow looking for her when he could set computers to do the task for him.

Nox went home. Dorian was not home. It had Ana and Christian on edge. Cruz was happily downstairs playing with earth. Though he did better with spirit. My things were still in the basement despite the fact that Elyse hadn't returned yet. He would leave it to her. He didn't precisely want to go up there either. He'd hurt her. He knew it. He knew he would. He just hadn't expected to cheat on her with Jay. He hoped Jay was alright. If he got nabbed, he could have too and Jay was actually worth something not some kid Atharim with a reckless streak.

Aurora sighed in his head. "Always so down on yourself."


Nox didn't care as he was walking out of the house he muttered to himself. "Shut up."


Cruz looked at him and smiled. Nox smiled back, "I'm going to go see Sage. We've somethings to talk about and I need his help."


Cruz nodded "Don't overwork him."


I gave him a side ways glance but Cruz just laughed. He knew more than what he let on. Made Nox wonder what those two talked about when he wasn't around.

The train to the hospital was uneventful. Boring actually he didn't have his wallet on him, fried by whatever weapon they had used on him. He felt much more like himself wearing his own clothes, though the sleeves rubbed on the burns of his arms and around his neck. It was annoying he'd have to see if Ana or Christian could help with it.

The hospital was the same he'd been in a day or so ago? He really had no idea the time right now. He just knew he needed to kill Aria. And Sage was the only person he knew who might be able to help.

Visiting hours weren't over but it was close. Sage had his eyes closed lying in a hosptial bed. His head was bandaged and he looked like he was asleep. "Well shit."


My words were like a key and Sage's eyes shot open and he shouted. "Jex! Holo whaxavo ug foon?"


Nox's eyebrow rose and he looked at Sage who was growling. And then he frowned "Holo dis yeep waxarrot?"
Sage's eyes grew dark and he rummaged through his sheets and waggled a finger at Nox to come hither. Nox obeyed curious. Sage handed him his own wallet and across the top was text scrolling. <small>FUCKING CAN'T TALK RIGHT. WHAT HAPPENED?

</small>

Nox shrugged. "I got cornered by the Atharim. Then kidnapped by Ascendancy. I need to find Aria. Can you help me?"
Now seemed like the perfect time to ask since it was all tied up together and it left the other talk for later. The whole pending kiss thing in the basement. Nox watched Sage as he leaned back in the bed completely not with him at the moment. Had he even heard him?

[[ Gibberish translator ]]


Edited by Nox, Feb 11 2018, 05:00 PM.