Catch and Release

The greatest pleasures in life, I find, are the simplest. The feeling of ice-cold whisky sliding down your throat, the look on a woman's face when she realises she's never going to have better than you, and the image of one day beating Frazier to **** with his own clipboard. I'm a simple girl.

Azure may be on a different level.

"This burger is the best thing in the world." She decides, her mouth half full, taking another bite of the third-grade beef. "I'll treasure this memory forever." She adds after finally swallowing.

I roll my eyes at her overexcitement. "It's barely meat. It's cheap as fuck food from a cheap as fuck diner, not fillet mignon." I point out, taking another fry from the basket between us and looking out the window. AVs fly past, but from this place you can still see the ground, all the little people living their little lives. Sometimes I'm envious of them, they probably don't realise how close the whole thing is to collapse on a daily basis.

"But it's food that you bought, Master!" Azure chirps, almost dancing in her seat. "And you got me this bag too. Today's been great, definitely my favourite day." She adds, grinning to herself. It's true I bought the bag, but only because she didn't understand the concept of a market stall and almost walked off with it. I paid the guy so he didn't start raising a fuss about the AI robbing him.

I flick my bangle to give a holographic display of the time. Marco should be showing his face pretty soon, if I remember his schedule correctly. Marco the Mouse. Little fuck will try and wriggle his way out of anything. Sometimes a good kick or two gets his priorities in order. It's nasty work, but that's life nowadays.

"Come on." I prompt Azure, "You can finish that in the AV, we've got a snitch to rattle." I explain, standing from our booth. Azure dutifully wraps the other half of the burger in its paper and puts it in her newly acquired rucksack before leaping to her feet to follow me out the door, humming a jingle she heard in the diner... Repeatedly.

At least the next stop will give me something to let my anger out.

*

I finally get my hands on the little shit. He made the mistake of fleeing down this alleyway, just as I expected, giving me the chance to cut him off and pin him against the chain-link fence, preventing him from going further. Marco's a tiny man, both in stature and presence, there's no way he's escaping my grasp of his collar.

"You must not have seen me, Marco, otherwise there's no way you would have run." I growl at him. I hear Azure's steps catch up behind us. "We need to talk." The greaseball's shaking like a leaf, his dirty blonde hair filthy, his pale skin sweaty, and his forest green eyes darting around. Definitely on something.

"I-I've got nothing to talk to you about, Baker." The little bitch whines, not meeting my eye. "I know who you're looking for... What you're looking for. I can't tell you, please let me go." He begs. Bullshit.

I yank him forward and push him against the fence again. "If you've heard that much and you're running, it means you've got answers." I note, still not letting go. "Look, Marco, you're a smart boy, you know there's only one way you walk away here. You tell me what you know. Now, you can tell me of your own free will, or I can learn it through your broken teeth."

Marco flinches at my words but stands his ground. "You... You don't get it." She stammers. I can't tell if it's fear or **** making him this way. "The Purifiers aren't people you flip on... Fuck, I don't think they're people at all. They're monsters. They know this is happening right now. They know what you'll do next. There's nothing you can do to me that they won't do a million times over." He continues, finally meeting my eyes. "If you want to kill me, then do it, it'll be easier than whatever they have planned."

Something tells me he's not lying about that part... But I still need that information. "If that's the way you want it." I decide, delivering a quick punch to his gut. He coughs as he recoils, only for me to drag him back up and deliver another. Damn, I've needed this... Nothing like letting loose. I wind up for another and –

"Master, please, stop!" A voice cries from behind me, and I feel hands wrap around my arm. I turn to Azure... Who looks distraught? I didn't know it was possible for her to look like that. Her eyes shining a pale teal. "I'm begging you, let him go."

Without thinking, I let Marco fall to the floor, still spluttering and gasping for air. Azure kneels next to him as I take a step away... What on earth is she doing?

"I'm sorry about that, people attacked us last night, so Master's just worried." She explains. Worried? No way, he's a scumbag with answers. I wasn't the bad guy when I let him off all the theft and **** charges. I'm still not. I'm not worried, it's just a case. Just a case... I have no feelings about this case. None. "You look hungry." Azure decides with a smile, reaching into her bag. "Here, this is the best burger in the world, ever. I had some earlier, but you can have this half!" She offers as if providing him with solid gold.

Marco looks at her like the lunatic she is but accepts the gift regardless. Azure closes her bag and stands back up. "We're gonna go stop those Purifier guys now, that way you don't have to be scared anymore, okay?" She smiles, walking back to me. I frown at her, despite the movies, good cop/bad cop doesn't work, the suspect just holds out until the good cop rewards them again. Fuck it, too late now. I'll have to think of-

"HEP." Marco's voice speaks up. "The Human Enhancement Project. It's a subdivision of Neurocorp. Meant to make people achieve 'peak humanity' or some shit." He adds, taking a bite of the burger, still sitting against the fence in the dirt.

"Neurocorp..." I think aloud, looking back to Marco. "They have an AI division too?" I ask. Thinking back to my earlier hypothesis, this could tie some of the threads together.

Marco shrugs in response. "They sell false AI through a shell company, but true AI? No clue, it'd be top secret." He admits, taking another bite. I doubt he has much more to say. I beckon for Azure to follow me and proceed back out of the alley. Once we're in the AV, I don't even wait to input a destination.

"What the fuck was that?" I roar at her. "I was in an interrogation, you are a civilian at best and a suspect at worst, don't you dare interrupt me in an official capacity again. Are we fucking clear?" I demand, pointing my finger at Azure, who turns to me with... Are those tears?

"You were being a bully, Master." She tells me directly, her hands curling up into balls in her lap. "You knew he wouldn't tell you anything even if you hit him... And you did it anyway. It felt wrong. I didn't like it." It's amazing how the most basic of phrases can cut you to your core. I know I shouldn't care. I know she probably can't feel anything really. Just a simulation of emotion... But it still hits like the same gut punch I delivered to Marco.

I stop for a minute, unsure how to respond to that. I know she's right. I've been frustrated with the **** and Lux's torment, and... No, not lonely, I'm everything I need. I'm just... Bored of being everything I need. I took it all out on him... Arsehole or not, that wasn't fair.

"How did you know bribing him would work?" I ask, with a sigh, finally inputting the next destination.

Azure looks confused at my question. "I didn't bribe him." She corrects me. "I just felt bad for him, so I wanted to be kind. I was as surprised as you that he changed his mind." She admits with an awkward grin before her face grows dark again. "Master... Has no one just been nice to you, not in exchange for anything, just to be nice?" She asks.

Plenty of people have been 'nice' to me over the years, some to avoid a beating, others to get me out of my knickers. Just for its own sake, though? Nah, everyone's got an agenda. Even Azure. Even if she doesn't realise it. Deep in her programming she's got a reason for being nice. Maybe she thinks she can get a free ride with me if she acts all sweet and innocent. No way. I'm all I need. Niceness doesn't come into it.

I end up not answering her question at all, but it does decide what I'm doing this evening, whether Azure is there or not.

I need to get laid.