Binary Bonds

"Oh fuck, oh fuck! Tera!" The woman groans as my tongue explores every crevice of her womanhood. "Oh fuck... Right there!" She screams as her body convulses, her thighs tight around my head. Finally she relaxes and lets go of me, falling back on my bed.

I pull myself up and grasp a V-Cig out of thin air. Ahh... All of the hit, none of the cancer – the best invention of the last century. I grab my jeans and throw them on, along with my tank top. The woman takes this as a cue to at least put her underwear back on. Good call, given what's about to go down. "Your name's Mary, right?" I ask, taking another drag.

"Maggie." She corrects me with a confused tone. "Maggie Jones... Why do you ask?"

I cast the V-cig away, and it vanishes in thin air, turning back to her. "Just making sure I had the right perp." I tell her before launching over her, flipping her onto her stomach and applying an armbar behind her back. "Maggie Jones, Mary Baxter, Monkey Bollocks, whatever you're calling yourself this week. You're under arrest for three counts of ****. You have the right to remain silent, and, fuck, it'd be a nice change after listening to that nasally groaning." I inform her, slapping a cuff on one wrist before adding a second to the other.

The mag-cuffs pull her arms behind her back, leaving her restrained. I grab the half-empty glass of whisky and down it in one go before snatching my trench coat and throwing it on. I point my wrist to my window and snap my fingers twice for my Aerial Vehicle, or AV as we call them nowadays, which appears moments later. I grab my prisoner and throw her in the back seat.

"You can't just fuck a suspect and then drag them in, you know." Monkey Bollocks yells. "They have laws against that kind of entrapment."

I enter the front seat and select the destination. "Great, when you find a judge that'll uphold them, let me know, I'll dress up for court." I answer, having heard shit like this before. It never sticks.

Nothing sticks in Neonfall.

*

"Hey Mendez, I solved your case while you were jerking off." I yell, pushing the prisoner over to him, still clad in just her underwear. I turn back and walk away before he has a chance to ask stupid questions. "Remember to send me the capture bonus, I don't want to have to give you the Peters treatment." I remind him. Peters is fine... Mostly.

Ignoring the shouting coming my way, I exit the precinct and take another chance to enjoy my V-Cig. I sit down on the steps for a bit. AVs need charging regularly, so I've got a few minutes. I look out onto the city. Between the megabuildings stretching into the atmosphere and the slums below, the middle city feels like the worst of both worlds.

The year's 2120. We call this the post-fall era. Megacities like this used to have real names: London, Manchester, Tyneland... Slowly they got replaced by branded names... Now, not even those matter anymore. Neonfall isn't a real name, it's like a nickname for a place that died long ago, now we just live in its corpse.

"Ooh, look out city, Detective Baker's looking introspective." A voice rings from behind me. It's not a voice I ever enjoy hearing. "Next thing you know, she'll be joining Internal Affairs." Lux laughs, barely looking up from her phone, the light reflecting off her ebony skin even with her hood up.

I sigh and toss my V-cig. "Have you come to turn yourself in?" I ask, hopefully. Lux is a grey hat, a hacker, and, worst of all, she's good. In the five years I've known her, I've never been able to get proper evidence against her. Even worse than that, she's even helped a couple of times. I hate owing people favours.

"We both know if you could arrest me, you'd have done it years ago." Lux gloats, still typing on her phone. Physical phones are just a hindrance for most people, but Lux insists it's easier to secure. "Nah, I was in the area and wanted to see if you fancied coming to dinner with me."

"I'd rather eat Mendez's arse." I reply immediately. It's not like I'm picky in who I'm fucking, I literally just banged a triple murderer, but Lux is the lowest on my list of considerations.

She snorts at my response. "Funny, that's what he's yelling you should do. In the Chief's office," she sniggers. "Oh well, I tried, you have fun with that."

I stand and look back at the city again. No good deed goes unpunished.

*

"For fuck's sake, Tera, was it absolutely vital that you get another notch on the bedpost before bringing her in?" The Chief asks, his hand slowly dragging down his face.

"Well, actually, I don't have bedposts, sir, it's more of a frame." I inform him. He looks at me like he's deciding if I'm even worth the paperwork to fire me or if he should just shoot me.

Chief Thomas Ludd, 30 years on the ****, not that you'd believe it for looking at him. Hey, I don't have to be hetero to acknowledge that the guy looks damn good for his age. I'm hoping I look that good at 50, assuming I live that long.

The Chief leans forward and looks me in the eye. "Tera, you've got more arrests than even I do, but those don't count for jack shit if the board gets wind of this kind of fuckery." He points out, the anger boiling in his voice. "Not to mention Mendez is livid, and the Peters incident is—"

The chief is cut off as a dispatch comes through both of our bangles. You know, what people who aren't Lux use for communication. 'Incident at Methus Labs: one body confirmed, looks to have been here a while, requesting investigation.'

There's silence for a moment as the chief looks at his bangle, then back to me, giving me a look that says, 'Don't you fucking dare.' I love those looks, it just makes me want to do it all the more.

"Detective Baker, en route." I reply into my bangle before running at a full sprint out of the room. The chief's furious exclamations lost to me. I snap twice as I exit the precinct and leap into my AV as it arrives. Connecting it to the dispatch, the vehicle automatically speeds off towards the lab.

Finally, something challenging.