The Mysterious Casefiles of Marie Magnum

The Dilemma of the Diabolical Doktor

Marie Magnum chugged down a cup of caffeine-rich brown sludge. She gagged down a protein and nutrient bar. Even the synthetic tastes her nanobots provided barely made it palatable. Of course, given the strange crap growing in the food processor, she was not surprised. The last thing she needed was another bionanoreplicator trying to get inside her food again.

After downing the bitter brew, the private eye threw on her trenchcoat and fedora hat. She put on her Enhancer gloves and grabbed her loaded Mateba autorevolver. Checking herself in the mirror, she tightened her fedora hat. Her hair had been pulled back nice and tight into a bun. She was ready to begin her day. She climbed up the set of stairs, and the door locked behind her. They were advantages to having a condo right below your office. Charlie Chong, her partner, lived just next door. So, the office was as much an extension of her home as it was his.

Marie took a seat, and interfaced with her business's network. She sorted through various messages, deleting the garbage ones and having Charlie direct meetings with potential clients. Suddenly, the small console by her desk turned on. A message for her appeared at the same instant that happened. It read, “DEMAND ASSISTANCE, PATHETIC NEARBASELINE.”

Suddenly, an image appeared on the console. It was a man in a green cloak and hood, with his face concealed by a black, angular mask. He had a gladius short sword hanging from his sides, and a bullpup QBZ rifle in his hands. Behind him, he stood in front of a laboratory setting with various scientific instruments and a bookshelf behind him. Marie knew who this was, but not why he would contact her and Charlie of all people.

“You are Marie Magnum, private investigator, I presume?” the man asked with a nasally, snark-filled tone. The man’s voice was grating her ears already.

“That's correct,” Marie replied. “Why did you hack my console and private network? Charlie, trace this idiot!”

“Can't,” Charlie's voice shouted from the front of the office. “He's using a scrambler!”

“Now, now, Marie,” the masked figure wagged his finger. “Is that any way to treat your new client?”

“I already have enough clients, you nutcase,” Marie tried to disconnect, but found her own system refused. If this truly was who she thought it was, she had better pay attention.

“Well, change their priorities for me,” the figure said confidently. “I am somewhat of a celebrity, after all. I personally started the two Zomborg Wars, and have terrorized your 'civilization' for years.”

“Tell me why I shouldn't just call up Singulartech right now and have them send Rex Ratio to kick your ass again,” Marie threatened, recognizing the figure.

“Those fools just underestimate me!” the madman replied. “Now, Miss Magnum, I'm prepared to reward you handsomely and covertly. What I need from you is your specialized skillset. While I, a superior being than you, would normally do it myself, there are times that call for a specialist.”

“And this is one of those?” Marie replied. “What can you offer me?”

“I’ll give you the antidote to all versions of my Zomborg virus,” the mad scientist grinned. “And spare you from my memetic assaults. Another Bookshelf of Horrors experiment is coming out shortly, and I’ll spare broadcasting it to this city if you assist me! Mwuhahaha!”

“And what kind of mystery is it that even the Abominable Doktor Bizarro can’t solve it himself?” Marie sat back. “So much for being a superior being.”

“Believe me, you pathetic sack of hormones,” Bizarro muttered. “If I knew the party responsible, they would be zomborgs now.”

“So what kind of case is it, Dok?” Marie replied to the mad scientist.

“Theft,” Doktor Bizarro replied nonchalantly. “Of my latest version of the Zomborg virus. I believe someone is planning to modify my invention for their own ends.”

“How do you know it ain’t just Singulartech or Rex Ratio swiping it?” Marie replied. “If anyone would want to steal your zomborg virus, it would be them. If not for those cures they made, the Second Zomborg War would have lasted more than a few hours.”

“If it was them, they’d be rushing to update their hardware and defenses as soon as possible,” Doktor Bizarro replied. “They’ve been quiet, and other groups have also not acted. No Science Corps updates. No Nest Blackguard firewall and nano-immunity upgrades. No Ascendant Order or Invisible College updates on the subject. It’s highly improbable that-”

“Hey, Ree,” came Charlie’s voice from behind Marie. “You can’t honestly be thinking of making a deal with this nutjob!”

Marie turned her attention back to the Chinese man in her office.

“Can it, Charlie,” Marie replied. “Just think of what would happen if someone actually dangerous got a hold of the zomborg virus.”

The irate mad scientist suddenly overrode her implants. “I am plenty dangerous. That’s why Singulartech constantly must try to stop my mad plans!”

“Singulartech lets you off your leash because you tend to wipe out worse threats, if only by accident,” Marie replied. “Now, what about the zomborg virus was stolen? A nanoschematic for it? A sample of it?”

“A sample of it,” Doktor Bizarro replied. His voice suddenly became angry. “Making more of it isn’t the problem. The fact some inferior sack of meat has stolen my nanotech terror is! I want you to find who dared steal my invention, and tell me! I’ll handle the rest!”

“Can you tell me more about the crime?” Marie asked. “Like the scene, useful uploaded memories, and the like?”

“I have no memories, since I had no sensors nearby,” Bizarro explained. “There was a stash of it I left under the New Chicago Aerospace Port. I return to retrieve some, and it's gone! It was stashed in a forgotten maintenance shaft that hadn't been opened in years!”

“Well, looks like someone else did check it out,” Marie replied. “Give us the location, and we'll check it out. Can't promise anything, but we'll check it out.”

“You have my thanks, Detective,” the mad scientist snickered. “The faster this gets done, the less likely I am to unleash a horde of zomborgs on New Chicago! If you call Singulartech or Rex Ratio, I'll unleash the zomborg virus on some random cities ! Doktor Bizarro out!”

The communication channels suddenly cut off. Marie had a schematic uploaded into her mind of a specific tunnel system underneath the aerospace port, and records of Doktor Bizarro hiding drums of the nanoplague there, and returning to find them gone. There was also an antigen to the different strains of the zomborg nanovirus and some memories in there. Already, she was cross-referencing the official aerospace port security logs. She checked SciCorps military logs, civilian flights, NCPD related flights, and regular repairwork. There was no report of Doktor Bizarro there, nor finding his drums of zomborg virus.

“You honestly can't be wanting to help that ass!” Chong protested. “He'll probably turn on us once we find that damn zomborg virus of his! Not to mention, if the NCPD catches us, they'll get us for conspiracy with that ass!”

“Step outside with me, Charlie,” Marie gestured to the front door. “Go into autistic mode. Disable all your implants except our secure link. I'll tell you why we should.”

Charlie did just that, and the two left the front door of the office.

Ree, why are we working for that evil cyborg? Charlie sent a message through his implant to his partner.

Listen. If he was able to hack the room's sensors and our main communication lines that easily, he probably bugged it. Tell our NCPD contacts we're going undercover to find the zomborg virus. Play along for now, Charlie, Anne suppressed the emotions on her face.

She opened the door to her office, and lead Charlie back in. “And that's why we need to help that egghead!” she added with a grin on her face.

“I understand completely!” Charlie grinned. “I was in the Science Corps myself for a while, and I know how important helping advance all searches for knowledge are!”

Ugh. I'm gonna puke if I keep faking this any longer, Charlie complained.

Just suck it up for now, Marie replied. We've worked for worse before. I'll make it up to you. Somehow.

Charlie would have moaned if he was not so paranoid now. Marie thanked him for playing along.

“Now, how about we get out investigating? Trail's not getting any warmer!” Marie exclaimed. She adjusted her fedora, straightened her trenchcoat, and ensured her Mateba was ready in its concealed holster. Charlie adjusted his suit a bit, ensuring his P90 was still concealed underneath it. The duo locked the office, and walked down the stairs.

“Say, Ree, there's something I always wondered,” Charlie mused. “About Bizarro.”

“Yeah? Other than he's a certified kook?” Marie replied. “And more pathetic most of the time than threatening?”

“More about his name. He spells 'Doctor' in the German way, with a 'k' rather than a 'c.' He also calls himself the 'Good Dok,' and gets pissed whenever someone spells it the other way,” Charlie continued. “Just something subtle I noticed.”

A quick infolink search later, Marie found a solution. “Well, turns out there's some old porn movie called 'Doctor Bizarro.' Guess that's one reason he gets pissed.”

“He's just anal about so much. He hates baseline and nearbaseline humanity so much, yet loves human culture! I mean, you've heard of those literary rants he's always making,” Charlie continued, as they walked out the front door. “And he uses a QBZ rifle and gladius short sword. An otherwise obscure assault rifle used by the Chinese military, and a short blade used by the Roman Legions. Chinese and Roman weapons. Weapons of two of the main sources of culture in pre-Singularity times. If that ain't some kind of symbolism, I don't know what is.”

“Might just be him acting erratic and demented,” Marie just shrugged. “I mean, he can be a threat, if he got his act together, but thankfully, only a handful of those demented plans of his ever come close to working.”

“Before Rex Ratio destroys them,” Charlie noted. “I mean, since Rex has been on the job, Doktor Bizarro's gotten less erratic. Before then, he and those zomborgs were a joke! The first Zomborg War was an accident due to an incomplete strain getting released too early, and the second ended in a few hours due to Singulartech and the Science Corps distributing that anti-viral nanobot.”

“As long as someone's keeping their eyes on that nut,” Marie shrugged. “And he stays away from my city. This is my town, and no one messes with it. Ya know what I mean?”

“Yeah, I do, Ree,” Charlie replied. “But I'm worried someone even worse than Bizarro could get a more potent zomborg nano-virus. I mean, remember those worst case scenario simulations? Imagine if someone like the Unifists began using it, or the Four Lords Triad selling it on the black market!”

“I know,” Marie replied. “But I'm thinking our perp ain't in New Chicago any more, or wasn't from here.”

“We haven't even checked out the scene!” Charlie complained. “Don't go putting the Singularity before the integrated circuit now!”

Marie was leading Charlie down towards the northwest. The Art Deco commercial buildings were giving way to more sleek, lean military-style nanofab buildings. The local Science Corps base was near the New Chicago International Aerospace Port. Aircraft of several sorts, from replica World War I planes to Information Age American jet fighters to Cold War Russian MiGs to zeppelins to Singulartech commercial space planes to SciCorps military flights and armed shuttles, all landed at the port. Most of the vintage craft were nanofactured replicas of classic aircraft. Those were some of the easiest to nanofacture and gain proficiency with, given their design for baseline human pilots.

The airport itself was a good distance from the rest of the city. It took the duo a trip in a robotic taxi and the better part of an hour to get there. They did not take the primary entrance, but instead took a side entrance. Normally reserved for automated cleaning robots and repair crews, it was near a section of older tunnels under the runways and hangers. The distant control tower and sensor arrays could barely be seen. Instead, the nearest structures they could see was a row of massive hangers, all partially hidden behind a high fence.

Marie broadcasted her clearances to the port’s security, and cleared a side entrance for use. She approached a metal bulkhead, and waited for a response. The metal door itself was surrounded by concrete, and had several concealed and apparent sensors around it. Klaxons wailed, and suddenly flashed green. The bulkhead door opened, propped open by massive hydraulics. Behind it was a concrete tunnel, dimly illuminated. Some wires and pipes ran along the wall, and some drains were located in the floor. It looked like the sort of tunnel one would meet monsters in old movies. If the memories from Doktor Bizarro were accurate, the room he had used was deep down.

“Ree, mind if I lead?” Charlie pulled out his P90. “I’ve got an SMG and can set up a nanoshield. You watch for anyone behind us. I get a bad vibe down here.”

Marie pulled out her Mateba as Charlie went in. “Doktor Bizarro didn’t leave any guards down here, but I think someone else might have,” she mused. “I was going over his memories, and even though he sensed something else moving down here, he just chalked it up to some automatic cleaner bot or human crew.”

“You think there’s someone else down here?” Charlie replied, tracking across the room with his P90. “Wouldn’t they want to not leave anything that could tie them to the theft? Especially of some nasty nanotech! I mean, this ain't the kind of place that people just go to make out.”

Marie directed Charlie down a darkened corridor. The Chinese man threw up a nanoshield, allowing the metal stairwell to be illuminated by its dim glow. Marie switched to her low-light retinal implants. The stairwell was familiar from her visions, but also had some of the signs of unwanted company. She cross-referenced some echoes down the corridor with known audio profiles of cleaning drones. As she suspected, no match. She trained her Mateba in the direction of the noise.

“What are you doing, Ree?” Charlie asked. “I barely hear anything.”

“Just shut up and shoot Charlie!” Marie blasted at the figure that pounced at them from the bottom of the stairwell. A surprised Charlie unloaded his entire magazine at the figure, rushing back up the stairs until it fell dead on the stairs. Charlie focused on it, illuminating the figure with an illuminated part of his nanoshield. It was a nearbaseline human male, dressed in some kind of red uniform. The man's organic parts had decayed partially, leaving a rotting smell to waft into the air. Half of his face, part of his forearm, and one of his leads were covered with almost random metal growths. A laser had 'grown' out of his infected eye, and a number of bony and metallic blades protruded from his hands. He was a random, asymmetric combination of decaying flesh and cancerous metal and mechanical growths.

“I give you a freshly converted zomborg,” Marie pointed down. “Look at this asshole's uniform.”

“It says “Union for the Restoration of Red System” in Russian,” Charlie translated. “URRS. The Union. What the hell are they doing here? They're the only one of the Big Ten clades that doesn't have a major presence here! Why would those damn Soviet throwbacks be making zomborgs?”

“Exactly what I was thinking,” Marie grinned. “But let's talk later. We've got company!”

The sounds of hydraulics and feet running echoed down the corridor. Marie saw two shapes climbing up the stairs, and one dropping in from above. Charlie quickly loaded a fresh magazine as more zomborgs appeared. They were much like their downed comrade: ungainly, asymmetric combinations of flesh and metal. They still wore the tatters of a red uniform, indicating they were of common origin with their downed comrade. One of them crawled down the wall towards the due, blasting at the two with its laser eye. Marie quickly rolled and shot two bullets at the creature. It skittered along the wall, but a third shot managed to send it plummeting to its doom below.

There was no time to savor the victory. The two other zomborgs had laser cannons mounted on their arms, and began blasting at the duo. Charlie caught one blast with his nanoshield, and Marie jumped behind her comrade to avoid another. They charged up the stairs, firing with semi-aimed shots. Marie trained her Mateba on the closest of the zomborgs, and blasted him twice in the chest and once in the head. The zomborg fell down, its nanorepair systems either overwhelmed or depleted. The last zomborg stopped firing its laser altogether, and simply charged the duo. This time, Charlie broke his nanoshield into hovering blades, and launched each at their target. The blades penetrated the zomborg's body, pinning it to the nearby wall. Once immobilized, Charlie unloaded his P90 into it. With the last zomborg destroyed, he reloaded and scanned for more.

“You look like you never faced zomborgs before, Charlie,” Marie commented on her panting partner. “You've got military grade implants. You'd think you'd pay more attention to your own senses.”

“Well, I'd normally eat zomborgs for breakfast,” Charlie boasted. “Both those were just a few First Zomborg War types! Just mindless zombies! These seemed to attack at all once!”

“That's because it's the new zomborg virus,” Marie said as she scanned over the dead and damaged zomborgs. She quickly loaded some recently nanofactured rounds into her Mateba, and put another into the heads of the downed creatures. They were small syringe rounds, each loaded with the antidote to the zomborg nanovirus. The medical nanobots would not rebuilt their hosts how they were before infection. Strangely, Doktor Bizarro preferred his zomborg virus to make a backup of each victim's personality.

“The Dok sent me some notes on how this virus is supposed to work,” Marie replied. “They interface with other zomborgs nearby wirelessly, and share computing resources.”

“So, you're saying the more of these things there are, the smarter they get?” Charlie inquired. “After what we saw, that does make some kind of sense. That isolated one was pretty brainless, while those three managed to set up an ambush. They got dumber as we thinned their ranks out.”

“Yup,” Marie nodded. “I think the Reds left 'em behind as guards.”

“Well, we got four suspected accomplices down here,” Charlie gestured to the four downed zombies. “Once the nanobots patch them up, what are you gonna do?”

“First, I'm going to snag a copy of their memories, tie them up, and left 'em for the cops,” Marie added. “But I doubt they'll know anything too juicy. Probably just some low-ranked mooks used as test subjects.”

Marie began to download the backup copies of each of the perps' identities. As she thought, they were just unwilling dupes in the plan. She did have a few ideas on how to proceed, though.

“You think the URRS did this?” Charlie mused. “What the hell would they want to do with cybernetic zombies? I thought they hated hive minds! Sure, you'd think with all their talk about collectivism, they'd love it. But after that Red lunar collective turned itself into computronium and defected to the Nest, they've been less interested in it.”

“Well, Charlie, just think for a minute,” Marie continued. “The zomborg virus doesn't create a collective mind in the normal sense. It improves the performance of decentralized, ad hoc units. It's essentially a recursive seed AI running on parallel processors. Each zomborg acts as a processor, sharing tactical information with the others.”

“I see,” Charlie added. “You'd create a literally infectious fighting force that can act as a seed AI. Who'd have thought Doktor Bizarro's virus would help create another emergent intelligence? I guess the Reds might be using it to create an emergent intelligence on a budget.”

“And literally become an overnight force to be reckoned with,” Marie added. “They'd turn a lot of their rivals and hapless bystanders into both a fighting force and emergent intelligence, both with the same device. Charlie, I hope you're thinking what I'm thinking.”

“We keep this info from the Good Dok?” Charlie replied. “I think we should contact the NCPD. We've got nanoterrorism, conspiracy, and plenty of other crap I'm not touching with a ten foot pole.”

“Charlie, I'm going to give you the nanobot antidote to the zomborg virus,” Marie added. “Think you can give it to your contacts in the NCPD?”

“Commissioner Alvarez is going to love thank us for this,” he said as he submitted the schematic, as well as a summary of what was going on. “If they try infesting the local water or nanofeed supplies, we'll be ready.”

“Follow me, Charlie,” Marie loaded live rounds into her Mateba. “I know where we can find the culprit.”

“Yeah, where?” Charlie gave his P90 a fresh magazine. “Hopefully not too far. I'm in no mood to walk back downtown from here! I get paid to beat down thugs, not hoof it across town.”

“Follow me. Best if I show you,” Marie climbed up the stairs, and walked out the door at a quick pace. Noticing a sandy patch in a nearby lot, she walked through. She turned around, and saw Charlie walk across it. She noticed footprints appearing in the sand behind Charlie. Someone with thermoptic camouflage on was following them. Reacting on her instinct, Marie aimed her autorevolver at the unseen stalker. Charlie followed suite, unaware of what was going on.

“You can drop the cloak now, Doktor Bizarro,” she leveled the autorevolver at him. “I always knew you were sloppy and careless, but this takes the damn cake.”

The cloak dropped, and a figure emerged from under his active camouflage. He had a black, angular mask that resembled some sort of plastic. He wore a green hood and robe around him. He wore dark gloves and boots, completely subsuming himself in his suit. On his belt was a gladius short sword, and in his hands was a QBZ-95 assault rifle. There was no mistaking this man as anyone other than Doktor Bizarro.

“Mwuhahaha!” he laughed in his snarky, maniacal tone. “You must have figured out I was following your every step since you left the office!”

“It made a lot of sense, actually,” Marie kept her revolver trained on him. “That type of scrambler you used could only work at close ranges. You waited up here while Charlie and I fought all those zomborgs.”

“Yes, I did, you pathetic human,” the Doktor taunted. “Now, give me the name of the guilty party, and I'll let you leave here alive!”

“You should already know it from Ree and I talking,” Charlie threw up his nanoshield. “The URRS.”

“I got that, you fools!” Bizarro shouted. “Unless you want to be the next generation zomborgs, you'll tell me now!”

“You're bluffing pretty badly, Dok,” Marie called out the mad scientist. “I'll admit, the whole distributed emergent intelligence and parallel processing in the zomborg virus is a swell idea. But, you underestimate something. Actually, two, and that ain't counting the damn Red zomborgs you missed!”

“Bah! I've already taken into account how fast most subjects' nano-immunities can be compromised!” Doktor Bizarro mocked. “Now, tell me or you'll be shambling home with a few unwanted metal implants!”

“One, how fast other emergent intelligences can adapt to a new threat like this. The glory days of easy zomborg infection are over,” Marie nodded. “And two, how fast the response times of Singulartech security, Nest Blackguards, the Science Corps, and NCPD are. When I mentioned I was broadcasting the zomborg virus cures to the major clades, I also included a few slight changes I use as red flags when I need them.”

It was then several law enforcement and clade security craft appeared. Black and white NCPD Neutrius hybrid hover cars with sirens wailing on them appeared in the sky. Sharp, angular Science Corps armed dropships hovered overhead, painted in an olive green color. Singulartech drones appeared, their shiny and sleek forms each defended by nanoswarms. Blackguard VTOL transports appeared, each having two rotors and painted jet black. A man with a World War II styled flight jacket and goggles, rocket boots, and a pair of laser pistols lead the pursuit force. But their target did not remain stationary while the pursuit force amassed.

“Curses!” Bizarro shouted. “You haven't seen the last of me!”

Bizarro vanished, throwing his thermoptic camouflage back up. The sound of his grappling hook firing was audible, and vanished as he fled further from the force. In the meantime, Charlie and Marie escaped in the confusion.

“They got here fast, Ree,” Charlie looked up, whistling. “What, did they have nothing better to do?”

“The trick is calling the right people at the right time,” Marie replied. “I found some of the major clades have a specialized zomborg task force for major cities. When I sent out the new zomborg cure and the warning flags, it was to the specific zomborg task forces.”

“What about that man with the rocket boots, Ree? Think that was really him?” Charlie looked at the armada giving chase to the mad scientist. “Or just a hologram of him? Even he'd need some time to get all the way out here from Ohio!”

“I think it was him,” Marie looked at the speck on the horizon she thought was the Transhuman Technomad. “Rex Ratio spends a lot of his off time out in Ohio and Midwestern Singulartech bases, so it's likely. If there's one thing that keeps Bizarro on the run, it's Rex Ratio.”

“But who was the guilty party, anyway?” Charlie cocked his head to the side.

The reply came over the secure channel he and Ree had used previously.

The Comrade himself, Charlie. The leader of the URRS, Ree sent the message over the implant. He's getting desperate for some reason. Despite already having some kinds of emergent intelligences working for him, he's treading into dangerous territory.

Why not tell the NCPD and the other clades, then? Charlie asked.

They already know, Marie replied. For some reason, the Comrade especially hates the Nest. Probably because they got nanosocialism into a viable, decentralized, and free society, rather the the dictatorship the Union wants. Considering the Nest is founded on Nestor Makhno's ideas, rather than the Soviet ones, he's probably made it personal.

Why the secure channel now, and not before? Charlie asked. Oh, right, possible Bizarro surveillance and all.

When we get home, I'm going to search the apartment and my clothing for nanobugs, Ree added. I think you should try the same.

Marie grinned. “Well, Charlie, let's get heading home. The good guys win, and Bizarro's on the run,” she looked at the chase, which was now over Lake Michigan in the distance. Marie hailed an automated cab, and headed back to the office.

“So, Ree, how are you going to make it up when we get back?” Charlie relaxed. “You said you'd do something to make it up to me.”

“Already did,” Marie rolled her eyes. “Honestly, some guys can't get hints. Remember what I said about the nanobugs?”

“Oh, right,” Charlie slapped himself in the face. “Damn I can be dense, Ree.”

Now that you get it, maybe we'll do just a bit more than that, Ree grinned as she laid back in the seat. She figured she'd be closed for the rest of the day, so why not enjoy it? If she ever did meet the Comrade or Bizarro again, she'd put a few rounds in them for sure. Charlie was definitely of the same opinion.