Smiley paces back and forth by Cass’ body. “Don't be dead. Don't be dead. Don't be dead.”

Cass suddenly takes a sharp breath and wakes back up. Smiley drops to his knees and grabs his face, “Don’t do that to me! I thought you were dead!”

Cass sits up and Smiley sees the major wound on his head. Cass looks at his body. His right leg is mangled. His left arm is broken and it feels like at least seven ribs are shattered.

Lightning courses through his body as the wound on his head seals shut. His leg cracks and bends back in place, as does his arm. He can feel his ribs become solid again.

Smiley backs away, “That’s new.”

Cass stands up, “I chose survival.”

Smiley looks confused, “What?”

“When I focused on the new power. It was weird but ultimately it asked a question and I answered ‘survival’.” Cass said as he cracked his back and grabbed his bike.

“Weirdly, I feel good.” He says as he speeds off toward the town. Cass reverts to go through the checkpoint and rides straight to the guild. “Let’s be quick. I don’t feel like dealing with the knights right now.”

Cass walks into the guild and Lila bursts out of the office like a cannonball through a wall. “Cass! Please come with me!”

She doesn’t even wait for a reply before dragging him into the office. 

Stone sees Cass, “Good! Take this.” He hands him the scroll. “It’s from AngelOS.” 

Cass takes it and tosses it in the trash. “I’m good. Thanks.”

Lila yelps and fishes it out and hands it back to him. “Read it!”

Cass takes it and opens it. 

Dear Cass,

I would like to cordially invite you to connect with our office in Brickhaven to discuss the terrible events that occurred between my subordinates and you. As per the rules of parlay, you shall not be harmed. Please come at your earliest convenience.

Sincerely, The A.I., Salvation.

Cass puts the letter down. “It’s just an invitation to meet with the AngelOS about a situation that happened.”

Stone looked terribly confused and snatched the letter and read it himself. “That can’t be all.”

Cass looks at the both of them, totally freaked out. “Alright, what’s going on?”

Stone turns the letter over to show him the sealed symbol. “This symbol belongs to the Angels of Death. Professional assassins and killers of the company.”

Cass looks at the symbol. “I’ll just not go. I have to do that job for you so I can finally get my license.” 

Lila breathes a sigh of relief. Stone nods then types something on his computer. “You’re marked for the job. All relevant details are sent to your phone as well as a gps ping on the building you are going to. Hopefully, you’ll be a full Multi the next time I see you.”

Cass nods, reassures Lila then leaves the guild. Smiley flickers next to him. “You saw who sent it?”

“Of course. We’re going.” He checks his phone. “The building is slightly off from Brickhaven so it’s barely a detour.”

Smiley starts turning in circles, “Weird thing is, I don’t remember him. I know they changed their names but they still fit their vibes. This one is a total mystery.”

“Should we not go then?”

“Oh no, we are going. I’m just curious which one it is. Who changed that much?” 

Cass’ pocket starts buzzing. He takes out his phone, sees that Sock is calling, and answers. “Hey Sock. what’s up?”

“Are you in town?”

“I am.”

“Bikes done, come by.”

“On my way.” Cass said as Sock ended the call. “A little rude.”

Smiley chuckles, “Liberty Punks then Salvation.” Cass hops on the bike and heads over to the garage.

He weaves through the roads until he rolls up to his garage. Sock comes running out, “What did you do to her?!”

Cass looks confused then looks at the bike and it sinks in how damaged it really looks. The tailpipe is hanging by a thread. Dents all up and down the frame and a large dent in the gas tank. “Ah, sorry. I’ll pay for the repairs.”

“Damn right you will!” Sock says as he takes the bike into the garage and puts it in the stasis field. “Your bike is over there. I’m glad I built her to be more durable. Oh and if I find out you let anyone else work on her,” Sock gets face to face with Cass, “I will find you.”

“I promise to only come back to you. Oh, while I’m here. Any progress with that cassette?”

Sock looks around suspiciously, then closes the garage door. “I don’t know what you brought me or how but that thing is dangerous.”

He walks over to his computer and turns it on. He pulls up the scans of the device. “It’s as if a simulated form of a body is trapped in this. Do you remember when replicators first came out and they put food scans on cards before they just put it on the machine. It’s exactly like that but for a person.”

Sock rummages through a box and pulls out a cassette player looking device. “I was able to do something crazy with it, though. Watch this.” 

Sock puts the cassette in the device and wraps it around his wrist and presses a button. Light wraps around his body as a bmx style bodysuit with hardened pads grows over his whole body in the design of a cheetah.

Cass just stares at him in disbelief before turning to Smiley. 

Smiley’s mouth is agape. “Well damn. I guess it’s not safe. Whoops”

Cass just looks at him with the most disappointed look. ‘I left a giant pile of cassettes back in that house and littered all over!’

Smiley floats away, “we should probably get those.”

“Hey! Did you not see the whole transforming part? It’s pretty cool!” Sock says with his arms out in frustration.

“Yeah! It was awesome. I need you to keep this a secret.”

Sock presses a button on the device and he transforms back. “I’m not an idiot. Of course I’m not telling anyone.”

Sock puts the cassette in his pocket. “On one condition.”

Cass’ eyes narrowed, “What?”

“I want more and don’t give me that bull about finding them in a ruin. I know for a fact that these are brand new. I did a total scan and can obviously tell they were created with Cold Light.”

Cass looks at Smiley, ‘He’s already proven to be quite useful. Maybe letting him see the others is not a bad idea.’

‘He did catch something that even I didn’t account for. You have a point.’

“Alright Sock, here’s the deal. This stays here. Not a single soul outside of yourself can know. If you agree then you have a deal.” Cass says as he holds out his hand.

Sock grips his hand, “You don’t know this but the only reason I am with the Liberty Punks is because they had access to a garage. I live and breathe tech. If you can get me more of this kind of stuff then you can consider me your personal scrapper.”

“Right, gangs call mechanics ‘scrappers’. It feels like the opposite but okay.”

Sock looks offended. “Okay, first off, the Punks are not a gang. Secondly, we’re called scrappers because we don’t have access to freshly built stuff and have to cobble together stuff from the ruins.”

Cass resigns to defeat, “Alright, fair enough.”

“You got a bathroom? I keep some of the cassettes on me but I need to undress.” He says as he looks around.

Sock leads Cass out back from the garage to an empty building. “We use this one as a sort of living area.” He said as he continued to lead him to the second door on the left. 

Cass enters, shuts, and locks the door behind him. ‘Which forms should I give him?’

Smiley looks around, ‘Hang on.’

‘What is it?’

Smiley floats through the ceiling then back. ‘I thought I sensed the infrared of a camera but it’s just in the other room so all good to go.’

‘I thought you can’t see what I can't?’

Smiley floats back down. ‘In physical space but digital is a different case.’

‘Speaking of which, I wanted to look into something in brickhaven.’

Smiley’s head cocks to the side. ‘What’s that?’

Cass grins, ‘A surprise. Now, the transformations?’

‘Nothing too powerful. Maybe the scream and the clown?’

‘Yeah, I don’t know if I should give him the black knight or the sun warrior. I think I’ll give him the undead shotgun too.’ Cass thinks as he quickly transforms into each and places the cassettes on the counter.

He walks out and hands them to Sock. “These two are weapons. A long range and a short range. The third one is a full transformation like the first one I gave you. It is cyberware heavy so keep that in mind.”

Sock lights up and the pair head back to the garage. He sees a bike by the door. “Is that one mine?”

Sock barely looks up as he messes with the cassettes, “Yeah, try not to bust this one up.”

Similar in build to Socks two wheeled bike but with a reinforced frame. Instead of red, white, blue, it’s a red and black color to match Cass’ clothes with a symbol painted on the gas tank. A book encircled by digital rings.

“I will do my best.” Cass said as he hops on the bike and heads out of town toward Brickhaven.