Big Apple, 3PM

[Jim Raynor]

Continued from Rogue Code (Continued)

Cyborg lined up his bazooka and fired. Before Ditto even saw the rocket approaching, he slammed his wings down hard and fought for lift. He tucked his talons into his feathered belly as the projectile sailed beneath him, his claw tips tapping the metal. Rising, he glanced behind him as a ball of fire erupted from a skyscraper, shattered glass showering the virtual people below.

Ditto turned back to the bounty hunter. He had three more missiles laying by his feet, one of which he hauled into the bazooka with his robotic arm. There wasn't much time for him to change forms from Pidgeot, and even if he dared fate, it was unlikely he would reach Cyborg before another missile came barrelling towards him. If the missile clipped the edge of the building or worse, fired into the ceiling, only Pidgeot would get Ditto out of there alive.

A vindictive thought tugged at the edge of his mind, demanding he consider Engima's role in his current situation and find her. After all, she had duped him again, and left him in a life threatening mess while she likely went off to cause more havoc. Ditto wanted to pursue that thought, but his better instincts kicked in as Cyborg propped the rocket launcher on his shoulder again and took aim.

"Stay still this time, talking bird."

"Aren't you curious as to how a bird can talk?" Ditto said, flapping his wings faster but staying in place. Would he notice?

Cyborg scoffed. The wind tussled his scruffy hair. "I don't get paid to be curious. I get paid to blow stuff up. Besides, it's the Dataverse. There ain't anything surprising in here anymore."

The winds propelled from Ditto's wings snuck up on Cyborg, and he didn't realise it until the last moment. His one eye went wide as he pulled the trigger, the Gust catching the lip of the bazooka and jerking it upwards. The missile zoomed straight up and into the atmosphere.

Strange. He intended for his Gust to launch Cyborg off his feet and over the lip of the building, but instead the effect was mitigated somehow.

Ignoring the thought for now, Ditto flattened his wings against his feathery body and darted at Cyborg, who was clumsily trying to insert another rocket into his weapon. Ditto threw out his wings, opened his clawed talons and aimed for the shoulder of Cyborg's organic side.

Cyborg looked up, let the rocket slip from the bazooka and clang on the roof, and swung the weapon like a baseball bat. Ditto flapped his wings furiously, trying to push himself out of his all-or-nothing attack, but he had picked up too much speed.

A massive throbbing pain boomed through his side as the bazooka connected, and a second echoed on his other side as he skidded across the roof. After coming to a stop, Ditto rose to his feet and a mechanical hand seized his neck.

"Not much of a fighter," Cyborg grimaced, tightening his grip.

He threw Ditto to the ground and stamped on his chest. Ditto's lungs compressed and his breath raced out of his beak. He tried to scratch at Cyborg's boots with his talons, but either they were armoured or he wasn't much of a combatant in the Dataverse. Transforming was out of the question too, as he lied on the ground, wheezing for breath, wings beating uselessly at Cyborg's legs.

"Heh, some match," Cyborg grinned to himself as he hoisted the bazooka into both hands and held its end over Ditto's head. "Better luck next time, talking bird."

Cyborg rammed the bazooka into Ditto's head, and everything went black.

--------------

Ditto opened his eyes and blinked rapidly. Back in Coruscant. Shit.

He grabbed a handful of wires attached to his skull and yanked off the sticky pads from his skin. Enigma was not sitting next to him at the other terminal anymore. She'd fled the Dataverse already.

Ditto got to his feet and brushed off his suit. Something about that virtual reality weakened him. That cybernetic oaf got the better of him, and far too quickly for his liking. Perhaps avatars suffer from some sort of penalty? All the more reason to claim that mobile Dataverse device for himself.

If his combat skills weren't useful in his quest, then it was back to his old cunning, deceitful strategies.

He walked away from the Dataverse terminals, hands in pockets, mulling over his options. Enigma had taken off as soon as he encountered Cyborg, which means she must have had a hand in setting up their meeting, knowing full well how it would end, and know that it would inconvenience Ditto. But for what? What was she planning?

It also raised the question; was the rogue solider even in that simulated city, or was it just the agreed upon location for Enigma and Cyborg to take Ditto out? The Dataverse was a massive, incalculably large place. He could be hiding anywhere.

Ditto pressed his lips together in a wan smirk. He needed more information, and his best informant was going rogue. There was only one place he could think of where perhaps there was some more data he could wring free, but it was a long shot. Any other avenue he would choose to take might take too long; if Cyborg already had a head start, his window was already closing.

Ditto ran.

------

"You again?" the prisoner said feebly, head sagging down to the ground again. He was kneeling in almost the same position as last time. Was he bound there, stuck to kneel? Why even give him a bed?

"Yes, me again," Ditto said coolly, masking his impatience. "Glad to see you remember me."

The prisoner snickered. "I suppose you've come back for more information? Tried finding him but had no luck, so you're scraping the bottom of the barrel? You're getting desperate."

"I'm not so interested in your friend as you might think," Ditto said, and this time, there was a hint of truth amongst his words. "Do you remember that ugly prick who came through here?"

"You mean you?"

"Very amusing. I'm talking about the cybernetic gentleman that spoke to you before me. Giant steel arm, red lens for an eye - not hard to pick out of a crowd, by any means."

The prisoner scoffed, his messy hair bouncing from the breath. "What of it?"

"I want to stop him. I have a feeling he's close to your friend, but he's difficult to pinpoint in the Dataverse."

"Stop him?" the prisoner said incredulously. "You just don't want him to beat you to your quarry."

"Surely you jest," Ditto said icily. "He and I have some unfinished business, and I'd like to extract it out of him. Besides, if I'm busy dealing with him, that gives your friend more time to move around. I can't deal with Cyborg and your little rogue friend at the same time, can I?"

The prisoner looked up at Ditto, face uncertain. His bruises were healing. "What's your angle?"

Ditto smirked. "Do you care? I'm offering a reprieve for your friend, at the least. I just want you to answer a question for me."

"What is it?"

"Do you have any idea who Cyborg works for?"

The soldier dropped his head again. "He let it slip when he was berating me. But the name didn't make any sense."

Ditto fought back the jolt of anger in the back of his brain. "What is it?"

"Spook Eye."

Ditto's eyes widened. "Of course." Enigma said as much when I almost killed her. She said the rogue soldier was meeting with a bodyguard of Spook Eye's at the F-Zero track. It was him all along.

He smiled. He knew what he had to do now.