A loud crash came from behind Ogilvy and the doctor. Ogilvy turned around to look, but the doctor knocked a table over and dived behind it. Distracted by the doctor's sudden movements, Ogilvy only just noticed the closet door slamming the ground as the infected cybermancer busted his way out. With the dust obscuring his vision, the cybermancer stepped forward, rifle at the ready. Ogilvy rolled towards the doctor behind the table to take cover. He asked the doctor how he knew the cybermancer was coming.

"He was the one who scanned the dead body," he explained, scared for his life. "I was never good at cybermancy so I paid him to do it. I don't know what happened but he got infected and tried to kill me! I used an EMP to disable him and locked him in the closet hoping he wouldn't get out. When I heard that crash I knew he had busted out – he had to eventually."

"Warn me when you hide sleeping killers in your closet," scolded Ogilvy. "But thanks for the tip." He detached an EMP grenade from his armour and threw around the corner, making sure not to expose his head. The grenade activated and surely, the footsteps slowed to a stop. Ogilvy peeked around the corner slowly, cursing his lack of helmet. The cybermancer had fallen flat on his face, his implants no longer in full control of his body. He looked up at Ogilvy before slowly getting back up.

"Thank you for not killing me," he said, "but it won't take long for my implants to recharge."

"Is there any way we can stop it?" asked Ogilvy.

"There is only one way," said the cybermancer. "All implants recharge themselves with the CO2 in my blood. I can hold my breath and delay it, or I can die."

"I'm not going to kill you," said Ogilvy. "The doctor here can remove those implants and you'll be fine, although not half the fighter you are now."

"There is no time," said the cybermancer in an increasingly stern tone, "and thus there is no choice." The cybermancer aimed his rifle to his head and fired. The blood sprayed across the walls, much to the doctor's dismay.

"Do you know how long it's going to take to clean and resterilise my office!?" shouted the doctor.

"A man kills himself in your office," replied Ogilvy, "and you're more upset over the mess he made?"

"Who cares if he killed himself, what if he had some blood borne disease?" argued the doctor. "We could both be fatally ill right now and we wouldn't even know it yet!"

"Oh shut up, you paranoid geek," beamed Ogilvy. "I'm going to help myself to your notes and leave. I've already seen one thousand times more casualties than I was hoping to on this trip." Ogilvy marched towards the doctor's computer and downloaded all the information the doctor had on the body and Carpenter. As he turned to stroll back to the ship, the doctor called out to him.

"What am I supposed to do with Carpenter?" he asked angrily.

"If you're brainy head couldn't tell, he's already dead," said Ogilvy. "You damn well cut his hand off for no good reason so you may as well finish the job, unless you to be a cruel human being and let him slowly starve to death standing completely still. Either way, I'm reporting him dead to the Federation so whatever you do to him now means nothing." As callous as it sounded, the doctor got the message. He looked back at the mess in his office whilst Ogilvy exited the room.

Ogilvy held his fingers on the communicator fastened to the neck of his armour. "Krestel," he said, "we're done here. I'll be at the ship in five."

"Alrighty then," replied Krestel. It didn't take Ogilvy long before he arrived at the ship, with Krestel standing beside the cockpit ready as ever. As the ship began to take off, Krestel looked over his shoulder back at Ogilvy. "I heard the ruckus you made in the hospital. Had a bit of a tussle did ya?"

"The doctor was a dickhead," said Ogilvy. "He kept a Federal agent locked in an airtight room and did the bare minimum to keep him alive. Of course, the doctor also kept it from me that he had a dangerous man locked in a weak cupboard."

"Dangerous man?"

"The thing that got to Carpenter also got to another guy who went berserk and tried to kill the doctor. The doc disabled him with an EMP and hid him in a closet. When he broke out, I stopped his implants with another EMP before he shot himself in the head."

"Why were the implants relevant?"

"Because the virus in the body Carpenter scanned seizes full control of the victim's implants and then kills anybody in sight with extreme accuracy and reflexes. Carpenter caught it when he scanned the body and luckily his gun wasn't loaded so he was harmless. The cybermancy in the doctor's office scanned the body as well and caught it. He, on the other hand, had a loaded rifle."

"Well, I'm glad you found your way out of that one," said Krestel. "I don't know how your Commander would've felt having his number one shot in the head by a zombie."

"He wasn't a zombie, just the effect of someone's cause." The grim statement by Ogilvy announced the end of the conversation. The rest of the trip remained silent, mainly because Ogilvy was collecting his thoughts about the whole situation and Krestel had run out of things to talk about. He always said the hardest part about being a pilot was maintaining conversation.

Upon re-entering New Eden's puke green, turbid atmosphere, Ogilvy exhaled with relief but had a feeling deep inside that the next few weeks or so were going to be complicated. He finally knew what was happening to the looters, the Federal scouts, to Carpenter. The ship landed and snapped Ogilvy back to reality. The ship depressurised and he rose from his seat whilst removing his helmet. Ogilvy looked at Krestel. Krestel turned his head and saw Ogilvy. He signalled Ogilvy to move on without him. "I'll stay here and run maintenance for a while," he said. "You'd better be off to Ilupen." Ogilvy nodded and exited the ship. He stumbled a little, still adjusting from one artificial gravity system to another.

"Reports?" asked Commander Ilupen as Ogilvy entered his office.

"All here," said Ogilvy. "Things are definitely far from over, but at least we know what happened to the bandits and scout parties."

"Do we now?"

"I witnessed it first-hand, yes."

"Out with it, then."

"A virus gets into the cyberbrain of any individual who explores the cyberbrain of a deceased body that has the virus," begins Ogilvy. "The virus then seizes full control of the skeletal implants and leaves the victim powerless to control themselves. The virus uses whatever is on the victim's person to kill anybody it can see. Whether or not this means anybody or a specific demographic I'm not too sure about yet. The virus has its own extra-sensory upgrades that it automatically and instantaneously applies to the victim's software and targets vital points with instant and lethal precision, making any weapon at all capable of killing quickly. I believe that neutralising an affected individual is to simply disarm them, but the doctor at Omar-15 said that there are traces of code in the virus that causes the affected to use an advanced form of hand-to-hand combat should a firearm not be available, but we can't be sure that the code is not completed and implemented in other instances of the virus."

"So you're telling me that you came up against a man with lethal and instant precision and still came out unscathed?" said Ilupen. "Now you're just bragging."

"The doctor witnessed the whole event. Bring him in for questioning and he can confirm my story."

"Later. Right now, just send me what you have and go rest for a while. You've done a lot for the Federation stationed on New Eden these past couple of weeks and you deserve some down time."

"Thank you, sir." Ogilvy saluted, Ilupen returned the gesture. Ogilvy walked outside the office and as soon as the door closed behind him, he leaned forward with his hands on his hips and exhaled deeply. Finally, some relaxation, he thought. He waved to Aahmiah as he walked out, but Aahmiah got out of his seat and hurried over towards him.

"Are you heading out?" asked Aahmiah.

"Yep, I earned myself some me-time," he replied, smiling like he hasn't in weeks.

"And you're going to go out without me?"

"You're on duty."

"Hang on a second." Aahmiah rushed back to his office, slammed his fingers upon the computer, hung up his 444K revolver and returned to Ogilvy. "Not anymore."

"Just like that, eh?"

"Commander Ilupen holds us both in high regards; he won't mind if I took some time off."

"I'll hold you to it," said Ogilvy. "Let's get out of here."

"I know a place I've been meaning to go to for a while. It's a rave joint but I think you'll be fine."

"Oh boy. You're driving then." And with that, the duo got into Ogilvy's car and off they shot. For the extent of the drive, Aahmiah asked Ogilvy questions about the investigation. Ogilvy answered with half-arsed answers, as he was too busy savouring the fact that he wasn't on duty right now. For the time being, he wasn't a Federal agent that survived a gun fight with a man using performance-enhancing viruses, he was just a man who was gearing it up for the night life he could never tire of while riding shotgun with his best friend. It was strange how much he cherished free time, but only one who was in his position could understand what being forced to be ready for combat at any possible moment of the day or night does to you, what sort of stress he constantly bears. Tonight, he could let go of it all, even for as small of a time as one or two nights.

The car stopped in front of a building that flashed a range of colours, but predominantly different shades of purples and blues. The bass could be felt through the car and the floor, but otherwise the music was very silent from outside. The entrance had two large men in black titanium armour that made them seem like robots. Aahmiah and Ogilvy approached the entrance, and were greeted by the bouncers, who had surprisingly calm voices and kind manners. As soon as the duo made it past the doors, the cold air hit them hard and the music exploded in volume, making it feel like they walked through a portal that led from shitty, carcinogenic New Eden to a place where the most alcoholic of drinks were served on tap and verbal communication was not an option.

The music had a slow tempo and every beat was a distorted kick with high bass. Between each kick, a melodic lead played, while every once in a while a feminine, robotic voice sang indecipherable lyrics, presumably in a long forgotten language. The duo didn't mind the music, and could see themselves getting amongst the group and dancing to it. Before they could do that though, they needed booze. They both walked up to the bar and took a seat next to each other. On the bar table was a touchscreen menu that was used to mix personalised drinks. It appears as if the owner of the club made sure everything could be done without talking as there was no way anyone could hear each other over the music. Ogilvy ordered his drink and the bartender came to collect the money. The bartender's face had a nasty snarl on it, thought Ogilvy. Ogilvy turned around on his seat and watched the crowd dance to the music. They all appeared to jump in perfect unison to the beat and were clearly lost in a trance, probably trying to forget all their troubles. Ogilvy turned back around and to his shock, found a rather large pistol pointed at his head.

Ogilvy moved his head out of the way just in time to feel the bullet rub against his temple as it flew past and into the dancing crowd. Before he moved his head back, he reached out for the gun and grabbed it by the sizzling hot barrel. The pain was terrible but he had to disarm this man. With all his strength, he yanked it out of the bartender's hand and into his own. Right after the gun felt comfortable in his hand, the bartender had another at the ready. But this time, Ogilvy had one of his own. He shot the bartender square in the forehead before quickly pulling the pistol close and searching the room for anymore incoming combatants. To his dismay, Ogilvy discovered Aahmiah has gone off on his own. Ogilvy got up and tried to find him as soon as he could, the gun lowered so nobody would see it. He decided to check the male toilets for Aahmiah. He looked inside and found it empty, but then the door slammed behind him and three large men wearing light armour of some sort appeared from the stalls, wielding batons of some sort. "You should have left the Orus to rot," said one of the attackers, "but instead you had to dig yourself a deeper grave."

"Are you talking about Carpenter!?" shouted Ogilvy. The men didn't reply, they just laughed and got ready to attack. Ogilvy quickly shot the one to the left with his gun in the right shoulder. The gun in that claustrophobic environment almost deafened everybody in the room. Ogilvy was able to ignore the ringing in his ears and pushed forward while the men held their ears. He kicked out the right leg of the man in the middle and held the gun to his chin. He shot the gun, sending blood all over the ceiling. He quickly pistol whipped the man on the right, sending him to the floor. He shot the first guy in the chest just to ensure he won't get up from the previous wound and then picked up the third man by the collar.

"Why are you attacking me?" he asked with an angry, gravelly voice.

"If I tell you I'll—" The man is then cut off by something plugging up his throat. Ogilvy became cautious as the man continued to choke. As the man choked, he started to bleed from his mouth, his nose and then finally his mouth. Ogilvy threw him to the floor to keep the blood off him. The man held onto his neck before his head shortly exploded, making a huge mess. Ogilvy stared for a few moments in disgust while what just happened before slowly registered.

The restroom doors slammed open as Ogilvy kicked his way through and marched forward. He turned his head to scan the area and accidentally bumped into someone in front of him. Luckily, this someone was Aahmiah. Ogilvy grabbed him by the shoulder and dragged him into the restroom. "Aahmiah," began Ogilvy, "we should really leave—"

"What the fuck is that smell?" asked Aahmiah, looking towards the male toilets. He immediately wandered in and froze. Ogilvy went with him. "What the bloody hell did you do!?"

"I think there's a hit on us and these men tried to kill me," explained Ogilvy.

"So you decapitated the lot of them?"

"No, their heads exploded."

"Okay, so you shot their heads off. You didn't stop and ask them why we're doing this?"

"Well, yeah, and it went fuckin' amazing as you can see."

"Don't you start swearing at me, mate," said Aahmiah. "What do you mean?"

"I was about to interrogate a guy and then he started choking and bleeding from his face before his head went off like a 'nade."

Aahmiah laughed. "Whoever sent them really wants to stay anonymous. That's some hardcore 'no loose ends' technology we got here."

"Right. Like I said, we need to leave."

The music cut off suddenly and the sound of hundreds of party goers screaming in fear seeped into the room. "God damn it," grunted Aahmiah, "I won't be getting my requested tune anymore will I?"

"You're an idiot," said Ogilvy. "Let's run while everyone's scrambling."

"I'm right behind you," said Aahmiah. Ogilvy lead the way through the rest room doors and immediately dashed for the bar counter, Aahmiah right on his tail. In the middle of the dance floor stood a man with thick, black armour on. On his head was a helmet with a filter over the mouth and three lenses where three eyes would be. His shoulder guards were large, proud looking and his gauntlets were thick, leaving the fingers very little room to wriggle around in. The torso plate was thick and held two pistols to the sides not far down from the armpits. Before Ogilvy could look any more, the hitman opened fire on the bar counter with an automatic shotgun, forcing Ogilvy to duck in cover. The sound of the shotgun dropping and hitting the floor made him believe that the hitman had run out of ammo. He looked back over the counter but very narrowly missed a huge knife flying through the air towards him, shattering a bottle of spirits and sticking into the wall behind it.

"Do you reckon he's one of them?" asked Aahmiah.

"Let's just say he is for now," replied Ogilvy, "and kill him."

"How are we going to do that?"

"Take this gun," Ogilvy said as he handed the pistol over to Aahmiah. "Run to his left while shooting and hopefully you can keep his attention."

"What are you going to do?"

"I'm gonna see if I can preserve that head of his." Aahmiah nodded and spun the pistol around in his hand before dashing out from behind cover. Instantly, the deafening sound of guns firing and bullets flying through the air filled the room. Ogilvy ripped the knife from the wall behind him and kept low to the floor as he snuck out from cover. The hitman quickly turned his head towards Ogilvy but Aahmiah landed a bullet on the back of his head. The bullet deflected off his helmet, but he returned his focus back to him, giving Ogilvy time to get closer. When the hitman was within Ogilvy's reach, the hitman swung his arm around to try and bash Ogilvy away, but again, not focusing on Aahmiah allowed another bullet to hit the helmet; this time the bullet left massive hole in the guard around the hitman's throat, but did not touch his skin. Ogilvy threw his left fist into the hitman's head and with his right hand, swung the knife around and straight into the hitman's windpipe. The knife slid in with very little resistance.

The hitman froze and blood soon coated the entirety of the knife. Ogilvy then pulled the knife around, effectively severing the hitman's neck flesh from his shoulders. Ogilvy pulled the knife back and the hitman fell flat on his face on the floor, blood very quickly covering the floor below him. A sound came from the body, similar to the sound the other men made before their heads exploded. Ogilvy braced for the oncoming explosion, but the head had so little holding it onto the body that the system simply made it pop right from its socket, making a sound similar to a cork being removed from a glass bottle. The duo were huffing from exhaustion when Ogilvy looked at Aahmiah. "We should leave," he said.

"Grab the head," Aahmiah said. "We'll ID the guy and see if we can find any of his affiliations." Ogilvy didn't respond; he just did as Aahmiah said. A bleeding head on his lap, Ogilvy buckled himself into the car and Aahmiah drove off back to the New Eden Federal base.

-{Ogilvy Minorum: Monologue File #00033}

TIMESTAMP: 09/02/0015

I'm given my first actual holiday this whole investigation and I get attacked by a couple of rent-a-thugs and a meathead. They all had exploding heads except for the big one, who instead decapitated himself and made a sound so sickening I can still hear it playing back in my head. The perpetrator made a direct attack and went to disgusting lengths to make sure he couldn't be traced, but now it's only a matter of time.

{End Holonote}-