Decoy

3rd POV:

It was to a strong slap that Faraday woke up. He blearily looked around trying to gather his surroundings. 

It was dark. The only source of light coming from above his head. The light was not strong enough to light up the surrounding area. But there was no need to. In the dark he could see the neon orange eyes of Nexus. Staring at him from beyond the circle of light.

Faraday recalled the moment before he got captured. He looked at his right arm and saw a stump. His optics flickered as seething rage overcame him. How dare someone mutilate him. Still, in the corpo world you did not make it far, if you could not control your emotions. He calmed himself down. First he needed to get himself out of this situation alive and then he could get his revenge on this fucker.

''Hm,'' Nexus hummed approvingly ,''commendable self-control.''

''What do you want from me? Clearly you need me for something, else you'd zeroed me already,'' Faraday questioned. Silence greeted him as he looked Nexus in the eyes. Nexus merely inclined his head in amusement, though he gave no outwards indication of somesuch. 

Despite what most people in NC thought of him, he was still just a human. Perhaps jaded and tired to cruelty, horror and injustice, maybe even a little warped, but ultimately human all the same. Like all humans, he enjoyed seeing people like Faraday hypocritically beg for mercy when their time came to meet their fate. Whatever form their fate might take, be it justice, vengeance or revenge.

Nexus could have visited the same swift fate upon Faraday that others of his kind had gotten. However he decided to indulge himself a little and take slightly longer than usual. Of course men like Nexus are never that superficial or simple. Each move they make always pursues multiple goals. Nexus looked at Faradays optics.

''You want to know who hired me, that it? Think I'm the only one? Then you are a gonk. You came from nowhere and took NC by storm, with gadgets and abilities that gathered the corpos interest. You made many powerful enemies. Enemies that always get what they want, one way or another. Killing me would accomplish nothing, they'll just send another one to take my place,'' Faraday threatened with a smirk. Naturally he had no intention of divulging anything to Nexus. 

In the corpo world the only way to stay alive was by being useful and exploitable to the overlords. And after that, ones hope was to stay alive long enough for one to become overlord themselves. Faraday knew that the moment he revealed that Militech hired him he was no longer useful. Therefore it was his biggest bargaining chip. He would not part with it easily.

''Oh? Are you talking about Militech hiring you to gather intel on me? My strenghts, weaknesses etc. Or are you talking about how Militech sometimes gave you prototype tech to test out in the field, so that they may prepare a manhunt for me with cutting edge military tech. Or perhaps you are talking about Arasaka Counter Intel and how they have contacted you in regards to Lucyna Kushinada. My, my, quiet daring of you. Hedging your bets on two corporations like that. Ones ambition should never exceed his worth,'' Nexus mocked Faraday.

By the time Nexus finished speaking Faradays smirk was completely gone. A look of unease occupied his face. He made sure to be very discreet when communicating with Arasaka, he was confident he would remain undetected. He was not prepared for someone to suspect, much less know about his activities. Nexus audibly chuckled when seeing this.

''If I am useless to you, then why am I alive? Or am I merely to be tortured?,'' Faraday had so many questions, yet only voiced the most important ones. He kicked himself mentally. Losing his smirk was the wrong move in this situation, since it basically confirmed all allegations. But he was too shocked to react appropriately, since he did not expect this conversation to go in this direction. Now, Faraday figured, he should run damage control. He was neither dead nor being tortured, so he must have some use. He just needed to find out what his use was.

''Tortured? No, nothing so primitive or inefficient,'' Nexus denied. He stalked around to Faradays back and grabbed the chair. He slowly turned him around as the chair obnoxiously scrapped against the ground. Then he clapped and the lights lit up the entire room.

Faraday saw a medical operating bed and a table. On the table were medical tools, a very small device of unknown origin and an injector.

Nexus took the injector and slammed it in Faradays neck. It released a small hiss once he pressed the button on the injector. Then Nexus forced Faradays head towards his stump.

Faraday watched in fascination as his arm regenerated itself back to its original shape at moderate speeds. Cloning was quite advanced nowadays. No longer was it a mere fantasy. But it usually took 2-3 months before one could grow back the body mass you have lost. This? Regrowing entire body parts in around a minute? This would be revolutionary and would redefine the current market.

The fascination was quickly replaced by terror as Faraday reminded himself of the medical operating bed and his unknown fate.

''What do you intend to do with me?,'' Faraday demanded to know, a small quiver in his voice.

Nexus was behind Faraday and put his hands on his shoulders. Then he revealed :'' The corporations are hunting me. But they are confusing me for prey. You, Faraday, shall be my Trojan horse. One among many. With or against your will, you will play your assigned role.''

Nexus did not let Faraday say anything anymore. He was done playing with his food. All he wanted from Faraday was to have him stripped of his self-delusions and self-importance. He paid close attention to Faradays expressions and once he saw what he was looking for he was satisfied. He also saw no need to explain himself anymore than he did. What little he said was not meant for him anyways and would fulfill its purpose.

Nexus slammed Faraday on the table and used his speed to restrain him utterly, to the point he could not move a muscle. He had every intention of using anesthetics, but since he had a spectator he would put on a show. 

Nexus took a scalpel and cut around Faradays skull. Then he took the bonesaw and cut up his skull, opening it up and revealing the brain. Since the serum would regenerate all damage he used his speed to outpace the healing. It would not have mattered if Nexus cut into the brain with the bonesaw, since it would have healed, but his steady hands avoided such a scenario.

Faraday was screaming in pain, begging for it to stop. He was trying to trash around, but the restraints were far to tight, to the point he could only move his eyes, toes, fingers and mouth. He stared at Nexus' mask, his eyes pleading him for mercy while his voice was becoming hoarse. Nexus blury arms were quickly working on his exposed brain, unperturbed by his begging. Faraday did not know what Nexus had planned for him, at least not specifically, but he feared he was about to become a slave.

Nexus quickly took, what he dubbed, the PONs (Personality Overtaking Nanobots) and medically inserted it into his brain. All he needed to do was insert the PONs in the frontal lobe of the brain and the PONs would do the rest. The PONs were able to take over the frontal lobe without being detected by any device, additionally they were radio silent for netrunners, making them perfect for espionage or manipulation of decision making. They did not actively take control of its victim, but subtely. This made it harder for others to tell if something was wrong with the subject, because the personalilty remained largely the same, minus very minuscule differences. Thanks to the way Nexus' programmed them, they could also easily adapt to most situations.

Mere seconds after the operation was done the skull closed itself up and the skin grew back. The serum had many advantages, but it did not grow back hair, so Nexus rubbed some hair growing gel on Faradays bald spot. Then he inserted another injector in Faraday, one that would neutralize the healing serum. After he was done he cut Faraday free.

Faraday who long since stopped screaming stood up from the medical oprating bed and fixed his tie. The combination of the healing serum, Nexus deft hands and Faraday not moving made it so that almost no blood was spilled.

''Well, do you have the detes on the target? You better hope you do,'' Faraday asked, his usual holier-than-thou face was on. The PONs removed all memories of the previous interactions, they also made it so that he would not aknowledge Nexus despite visibly seeing him. His presence did not register in Faradays brain.

''Of course, who do you take me for?,'' Nexus drawled as he held out a datashard. Naturally all info on it was false. ''Pleasure doing biz with you. Now let me see you out, Mr. Faraday,'' Nexus continued, showing him the way out of the room.

As Faraday made to follow Nexus his optics flickered .