I dropped the hover bike onto its stand just outside of the FSA base’s gate. Five guards stood around, blocking the way forward alongside a barrier. I pulled up the ‘Special Investigator’ ID from Uncle Ezra on my phone. ”Here.”
”Ma’am.” The head guard scanned it, then popped a salute. The barrier lifted, letting through. Just how high of a position did this thing put in, anyway?
I moved into the base and parked. Shouldn’t have to worry about anyone coming to snag my bike in here. Probably. No way soone would steal from an FSA base just like that, right?
Blitz Base… I hated it here, to be honest. Mira and I hung out a few years back. I still rembered being locked in their stockades when I was apprehended by security. Mira cleared up the confusion, but… please be safe, Mira. I didn’t know what I’d do if I lost my best mikata just like that.
I pulled off my mask, brushing a long lock of wind-tossed hair back behind my ear. I still had yet to add on a windshield. I didn’t exactly have the ti recently, so the mask was a requirent to drive—fly?—without my face being hamred.
I adjusted my poncho slightly, turning down the heat levels. I had the climate control set to super warm while flying the hover bike. The winter air mixed with rushing wind was a bad combo. I probably wouldn’t catch a cold thanks to Quick Healing, but could never be too sure.
I headed for the main entrance. The mory of my ti here with Mira was foggy at best. It’d been a while. I was several years younger, and it was before I had the interface to help out. Unfortunately, Eidetic Schematic wasn’t retroactive. The private offices should be right over there, maybe?
I headed down a few halls, walking with a purpose. Subtle pulsations of Fear the Reaper kept anyone from approaching . I didn’t push it enough to cause actual fear, but just enough to create a psychological distance from approaching .
A duo of soldiers blocked the way forward into the offices themselves, halting at the security door. I flicked to the Special Investigator badge once more and showed it.
One of the guards scanned it, chro eyes flashing slightly. “Can I help you, ma’am?”
”Um-“ Did my uncle even say who he was going to call? “Security’s office. Can you point in that direction?”
Unfortunately, the Crusade only had schematics for the basic layout of this place. They weren’t near as informative as most of the stuff on the Crusade’s database. Probably so kind of security hazard. Honestly, it was a surprise they even had the prints for the base in the first place.
”Yes, ma’am. Just down the hall, two lefts, skip one, then a right. Need an escort?” The soldier asked.
“No. Thanks.” I pushed on past them. No idea what permissions my uncle managed to push onto this Special Investigator badge, but they must’ve been a step above just a normal base pass to enter restricted areas so easily.
I arrived before the door the man directed to. It was quite ornate for just a security office. Was I even in the right place? I ntally backtracked the route- chek, this was it?
I knocked on the door. A tired voice called from within, “Enter!”
I pushed open the door. The curious eyes of a high-ranking official stared at . A sleep mask was pushed up just slightly above his eyes. “Am I- am I interrupting you?”
The official sighed, rubbing at baggy eyes. He looked even worse than Hope, and that was saying sothing. Just how long had he been awake? “No… probably should get back to work. Couldn’t fall asleep anyway. What can I do for you?”
My eyes flicked to a naboard on his desk: Lieutenant Colonel Broadside. Was that a high rank? I should’ve studied more. “Sir- um… I was asked to check out security feeds?”
”Ah! You must be that Special Investigator Old Ezra asked to let through. Don’t look like the picture-“ I whitelisted him for Master of Disguise. “Ah- sorry. Must just be tired.”
Looks like I wound up in the right place then? “It’s fine.”
Broadside tilted his head. I caught sight of a fresh scar down his neck. It was a familiar one. A bunch of Crusaders had a matching scar after falling victim to Mother’s drill octopus monstrosities. ”What are you doing here, though? They should already have all of it ready for you.”
”I got turned around.” I rubbed at the back of my neck.
Lieutenant Colonel Broadside stood up, pushing off the couch. “I need to head down anyway. Just co with , I guess.”
“Lead the way.” I stepped back, letting him by .
We got down to the right room much quicker than I got up to his office. Soldiers practically leapt out of their skin when we walked down the halls. Quite a few of them turned a bit pale. Guess Broadside had quite the rep?
He led to a room full of terminals and server banks. A few soldiers loitering around jumped to attention. “At ease. One of you help Special Investigator Tsukuyomi out. And soone get a coffee.”
“”“Sir!”””The group split, one of them motioning to .
”I need the recordings starting…” I pulled up the date and tifra Mira’s plane was supposed to arrive at. “Right here.”
“Yes, ma’am.” He moved to a terminal and took a seat. There were several security checks to go through, though eventually he got every cara in the specified ti pulled up. “Let know if you need anything else.”
”Chek.” I pulled a seat up and glanced through the hundreds of caras all along the base’s periter alone. This? This was going to take a while. When would I get a Perk that could just compile everything I needed in a matter of seconds? Seriously, sothing like that would be so useful.
It took a bit to figure out how their systems worked. After about an hour, I managed to catch sight of Mira. She definitely got to the base. I zood in on her face, reading her Cues.
She didn’t seem agitated or anything like that. Just excited, as she always was. And extrely happy. Her radiant smile practically blinded through the monitor. There was a bit of stress in her posture, but whatever happened definitely happened after she landed.
Over the next few hours, I tracked her through the base. There wasn’t a cara everywhere, but there were enough of them that I never had to do much guess work in finding her route.
It was a surprisingly difficult process. My legs wouldn’t stop bobbing, which caused electric charge to build up constantly. I had to manually drain myself several tis, terrified that I might short circuit the terminals and wipe the feeds by accident.
I flicked to a periter cara, watching her leave on foot. I was hoping to track her through a taxi, but that made things much more difficult. Maybe I could get access to the traffic cams? Track her that way?
The direction she initially headed in though… What was even over there though? It wasn’t toward Little Yukoto like I might expect. Where… maybe the gun range? What was it called? Fail- Falion Armory, I thought. The one she took to. Maybe she went to shoot and relieve so stress?
I updated Uncle Ezra and headed back for my bike. Traffic cams… for that I’d need to head to the Blue Crusade’s Oldtown location. The gun range was on the way, so I should run by there first and see if she stopped by like I suspected.
I flicked my hover bike back on. The engine purred quietly, and the entire vehicle lifted off the ground as that familiar sense of weightlessness hit. I wrapped back through security and headed for the gun range.
Just like last ti, parking was incredibly tight right around here. I drove into an alley, and disabled the altitude limiter. I carefully flew up onto the roof and parked. I guess I didn’t really need parking garages anymore, huh? This should take care of most thieves too.
Real casually, I stepped off the roof into an alley. My Drop Chutes kicked in just in the nick of ti. I didn’t even wait for them to fully shut off before moving for the entrance to the Falion Armory.
“Welco in.” A bored attendant called from behind a counter.
I walked past a group of off-duty soldiers and pulled the Blue Crusade badge from my pocket. The attendant's boredom imdiately vanished. “Do you keep logs of who all cos in?”
He looked a little panicky. Not that I could bla him. The Crusade just naturally had that effect on people. “Yes, ma’am. For three months. I-is sothing wrong?”
“Just looking for soone.” I motioned to a terminal near the checkout. “Show ?”
“Right.” The attendants moved for it, clicking around. “Do you have a na?”
”Mira Delano. It would've been about a month and half ago.” I pulled up a picture of her face and showed it to him.
He leaned away from the terminal and looked over the picture. “She- um- she ca in and rented a lane for three hours. O-only shot for two though.”
Damn, I’m impressed- “The range keeps logs that detailed?”
”No.” He shook his head, flinching. “I rember her though. Got in a fight with a soldier. It was super nerve-wracking considering all the guns here, and the guy wasn’t- well, he wasn’t all there. Both were thrown out with a three-month ban.”
Did he do sothing to her? ”Any chance you could show the security footage?”
”S-sorry, I just work here. I don’t have access to that.” The guy shook his head. “The manager just left too. Um- i-if you leave your number I can tell him to give you a call?”
”That’s fine. Thank you, truly. You’ve been instruntal.” I flashed as gentle of a smile as I could at the guy.
”N-n-no problem.” He looked away, rubbing his arms.
I stopped just before heading out. “Oh, right, what was the na of the soldier she got in a fight with?”
“Oh- um…” He glanced toward the terminal. “Henry Diater.”
I made a note of the na on my phone. Okay, that narrowed down the scope significantly. I should be able to find her on street cams from here. And the soldier she fought with, with any luck. They should’ve both been thrown out at the sa ti. After that? I wasn’t too sure.
I get walking to the range considering its proximity, but surely she took a cab after? I might be able to track the cab from there assuming she called one. I took the fire escape back up to my hover bike and set off for Oldtown’s Blue Crusade HQ.
— — —
I found her on the cams without much issue. She didn’t get in a cab though. Instead, she walked for a couple blocks before vanishing into an alley. Her cues had shifted entirely to annoyance and aggravation. The soldier that she argued with? Went the completely opposite way from her. He was picked up for a bar fight and tossed into the Crusade's drunk tank. Likely wasn’t involved.
Unfortunately, the alley she went into connected into a maze of alleys and back routes without many cams. I checked every exit of the alleyways, but she never popped out anywhere I could see. There were just too many blind spots throughout the area.
A gang was present throughout the area though. That’s what bought here, to the very sa alleys. I slowed my bike way down and entered, floating just above the trashed space. Another nice thing about the hover bike? I didn’t have to worry about popping my tires by driving through places like this.
The gang, Razor Bloc, was small. It didn’t take much effort to get the Crusade’s files on them and narrow down their operating area. Mostly just small-ti drug and arms dealers. Shouldn’t have been much of a threat to Mira, but maybe they saw or knew sothing? They were my best lead, anyway. Most gangs were paranoid enough to always know what went on in their territory.
I checked my location one last ti. There should be Razor Bloc gangers right around here sowhere. I flew through the alleys at a slow place, scanning them for thugs. I turned a corner, spotting so smoking around a burning forklift. Must be trying to shove off the winter chill.
Razor Bloc’s gang colors were pretty basic. Wasn’t even a ‘color’, really. They all had razors sewed into their clothing. It was a bit weird of an aesthetic, all things considered. Surely cutting themselves would be a major issue?
The group’s attention snapped to . They pushed themselves away from the flaming forklift, forming a wall blocking the way forward. A larger man, half his face made of tal, stepped forward. His eyes flicked across and traced along my hover bike.
With a motion of his hand, the group spread out, encircling with greedy looks to their eyes. The leader flicked a cigarette butt at , falling just short of my bike. “Rode into de wrong alley, little miss. I help ya’ get out uh here safely… fo’ so fee, ‘course.”
”Really? Are you seriously trying to shake down?“ I really didn’t have the ti to bother with ants like these guys.
”Boo-hoo. Goin’ t’cry t’mommy and daddy in deir tall towers? Tehy’re too far t’save ya’ now.” He sneered at . “How about dis? Give da ride? and da boys gotss’ta let ya’ go without harm then. You can get anoda’ one fum mommy and daddy anyway.”
Did he- did he think I was so corpo brat coming to play around? A bout of rage pierced through Cold-Blooded. I leaned forward, propping my elbows on the handlebars. Just what were the streets teaching slags these days? They should know target priority by now.
Fear the Reaper flared out in full force. In a re mont, the entire group froze. Usually, I just flashed it for a second to not be so suffocating or for montary intimidation. I let it stay on this ti around, pelting them continuously with the terror generated by hundreds of deaths. My killing spree when the circle was asleep back in the AEZ hadn’t been small.
“So... try that again?” I flicked my mask off my face, glaring at the group with predatory eyes.
One of the guys at the back dropped, frothing at the mouth. A few others flinched, wet spots growing in their pants. Usually I’d feel a bit bad… not this ti. Ants should know their place. And these guys? The smallest of the small fry. Hell, only the leader even had chro worth while, and it was just so basic subdermal armor.
The brute that tried extorting flinched, and his entire face drained of blood. Still, he wasn’t the leader for no reason. He managed to push through the fear. “S-sorry, m-ma’am. Wh-what c-c-can ah’ do t’make i-it up t’ya?”
“You with Razor Bloc?“ I lifted Fear the Reaper off of him slightly. “And quit stuttering so much, slag. Already hard enough to understand you.”
Anger flickered. Only for a mont though. It was overwheld almost imdiately by terror. ”Y-ya have business wit’ da boss?”
”Chek. Where’s he at? I just have a few questions.” I flashed an Honest smile, manipulating my Cues slightly to appear more trustworthy. It was hard to pull off considering the current situation.
The leader’s face twinged with hesitation. I leaned forward and pulled a knife, casually toying with it. His hesitation abruptly vanished. “R-right ova’ dere. I-inside.”
Inside, huh? That ant abandoning my bike out here with them. I leaned back, casually flicking my hand into my pocket. I tossed a Dragonfly into the gaps between my prototype bike’s armorer plating and pulled half a dozen more knives. Hidden Hands kept my motion mostly out of sight.
I flicked the initial knife, slamming it perfectly between the leader’s legs. It flashed just below his groin, slicing through his pants. I quickly threw several more, giving the sa treatnt to the others. The faces of those around turned even paler, sohow. “You lot better be good little bitches. Guard my bike. If I find even a hair out of place, then I’ll aim way higher.”
“R-r-r-right on, m-ma’am.” The leader of the group turned into a chattering ss, hands shooting down protectively.
I cast one last feral look around the group and hopped off my bike. Should be more than enough of a warning. ‘Sides, if they were busy out here, I wouldn’t have to worry about them coming up behind .
I adjusted my poncho slightly and headed off to find the boss of the Razor Bloc gang.
User Comments
0 comments from readers