”So…” I stared at Dev. He looked good, to be honest. Much better than the last ti I saw him. Granted, he was recovering from a rather nasty fall back then.
”Zuku.” His eyes looked away from his surroundings just long enough to look over. Bags clung to his eyes deeper than even Hope’s. The almost feral twitch of paranoia in his eyes cald for just a beat.
”You look good.” Not as gaunt as before at least. The ti in recovery had done good for him. He actually looked kinda handso now—at least, if it wasn’t for his heavy hunch and stopped posture.
He nodded his head and pushed off from the wall of the gym. We were down out of the way where everyone was working out. “You too.”
”Thanks.” I tried not to notice how awkward the conversation felt. It was almost impossible though. Compared to recent talks with people I knew well, it just felt… uh, off?
I crouched down and checked out the jaeger he brought with him. The tal hound sat on its haunches at his side, ears titled back and head curiously tilted up toward us. After a bit of ssing around, I got the access hatch opened and quickly scanned the hound with quick taps of Technical Expertise.
So that’s how they did their limbs? Interesting. And their power core is just a basic cell like I might find in power armor. Not to ntion the main processing unit wasn’t all that intensive. Hell, I could probably make one of these if I put my mind to it and got Luna to work out its code.
Its sensors surprisingly weren’t that good. It was almost all in on olfactory senses, so its audio and visual were slightly lacking. With so longer ears, its audio could beco way better. Then it’d look closer to a fox, though, so… not that looking like a fox was a bad thing by any ans. Should I make a pet robotic fox?
Its shock maw was the most interesting part of the thing for , though. It was similar to my own shock gauntlets, but they used internal capacitors that’d dump their charge on impact. It made the attack much more dangerous than just the current system I had set up.
Hmm… maybe I could work that in? Or make my own hound. That’d be kinda cool, wouldn’t it? A robot that followed around and took care of threats for would be incredibly nice. I wouldn’t have to bother with fighting or anything either.
Maybe I could add a tesla rifle into it too? I was already planning out a design for my Roughrider bike, so I could slim one down and incorporate it into the body. That way it’d give the hound a ranged option without having to worry about carrying around ammo. As long as it was near , I could recharge it at any ti too.
Dev shifted uncomfortably beside . It seed even in the heart of Crusade territory, the man still wasn’t comfortable. Not that I could bla him. Not with this whole armor heist pointing toward a Crusade traitor of so kind.
I shook my head. Scheming and designing could co later. I scanned my badge on its sensor and linked it to my na. The access terminal flashed green. Unit CJ29 following Squire Zuku Ichima, under Inquisitor Hope.
The tal doggo stood up and its tail flicked back and forth like it was overwheld with joy at seeing . “Did they upgrade the jaeger’s behavioral programming?”
“I have… no idea.” He shrugged and looked around. “Are we taking my cruiser?”
”I never got one, so chek.” I patted the tal hounds head lightly and stood up. Although I got most of the Crusade’s equipnt, a car certainly hadn’t been one of them. “Unit CJ29, follow.”
We headed out of the gym to a nearby parking garage. Dev popped open the back door for our jaeger and then slid around to the front of the sleek, angular vehicle. He opened the door and leaned over the top of the vehicle instead of getting in. “We’re headed toward the apartnt building, right?”
“Unless we have more clues, then yeah?” There wasn’t anywhere else I’d want to take the jaeger. Besides, requesting a jaeger was more so so I could scan it than actually finding clues. I doubt it’d be able to track down our mystery thieves.
The way there was silent—or at least as silent as driving through Aythryn City in a Crusade Cruiser could be. Dev turned on his lights and sped the entire ti, which might be technically illegal. Not that anyone would stop us. The Crusade were infamous for abusing their power, though we got results, so nobody in power really cared. So what if the little guy was inconvenienced?
This was also my first ti in a Crusade Cruiser. At least, while conscious. It was incredibly interesting. A HUD was displayed up onto the windshield of the car, projecting all sorts of information. Everything from a color coded map to indicate cri rates to a bounty board covered in wanted people.
I spent the entire ti thinking about the hound, things I’d do to improve it should I be given the chance, and setting up my factory to actually start pumping out Cold Moon Solutions products.
The other half of my mind wasn’t as busy. I mindlessly twirled my finger in lazy loops. Ionized air followed my finger, charging and discharging the air with electricity. Priming the air was my newest practice for my kinetic ability after my talk with Akito, the wind Kinetic.
It wasn’t long till we arrived thanks to Dev speeding through the streets. Problems imdiately arose, however. The entire street was sectioned off by Crusade personnel, and a fire raged just beyond the tattered street of East End.
A building was engulfed with light purple flas. Noise clattered down the street as half of it collapsed in on itself, and the fire roared even more fiercely. By so miracle, it hadn’t yet jumped to the other worn out and decaying buildings around it.
“That was it, right?” It could’ve just been a random fire, of course, but it was oddly convenient that there just so happened to be a building ablaze right where we were headed. Not to ntion it was, you know, purple. That wasn’t a common fire color at all.
”Yeah…” Dev’s hands tightened on the steering wheel. “They knew we were coming.”
Of course they did. Usually I’d say Dev was just being paranoid, but the fire only just happened to break out after I requisitioned a jaeger to clear the scene. Covering tracks was, like, thievery 101. I’d be disappointed if they made it too easy. Unfortunately, it looked like I was destined to be disappointed.
”This is good.” I watched a crew of firen spray a foamy water into the fire in an attempt to set it out. Another fireman, this one clad in more ornate clothing, waved his hand. Part of the fire instantly went out. A fla Kinetic, eh? Much better than Carone was back then. That fool—if only he’d paid more. He really took advantage of my situation, didn’t he?
That guy wasn’t the only one coming out with abilities either. A shark Magus was busy playing with a small shark floating through the air. Every ti the Magus tossed the sprite a piece of steak, the shark would spray a tide of water onto the building with magic.
The fire wasn’t just a simple thing, though. It churned with what I was beginning to think was so kind of arsonist chemical specialized to keep the alive and blaze all the more furiously. It wouldn’t surprise if whoever started the fire was an old hand at burning down evidence.
“How is this good?” Dev’s hand dropped to his pistol. “If they’re infested deep enough to know our movents, then—”
”Then we’ll be able to track them back easier.” I raised a hand to try and calm him down. “Think about it. Right now, it’s all very hush hush, right? Whoever it was just exposed themselves.”
At least, assuming not many people knew about the whole stolen armor thing. The way it was discussed and how Hope reacted suggested that not many knew, though. We now had a list to go through rather than the entire Crusade.
I popped open the door and slid out of the car. “C’mon. It’s not too late to get so clues either.”
I doubted the arsonist stuck around. This wasn’t emotionally motivated, so they likely dipped as soon as the fire took. No point in sticking around if the person was just here to burn evidence.
Side’s that, the arsonist likely wouldn’t lead back to our thief. If I was the one setting this up, I’d pay so random stooge to light the fire and distance myself as far away as possible. And, to be frank, we were likely after soone in the Crusade. No one knew how easy it was to hide and clean up a cri like a Crusader.
“You go ahead. I’ll call it in.” Dev leaned back in the seat and pulled out his phone. “I’ll be right behind you.”
”Chek.” I slamd the door and let out the jaeger. At least CJ29 would stick with . The hound tilted his head in response. It wasn’t nearly as cute as the sprites or Corvin, but it’d just have to do. “Let’s go.”
I made it all of ten steps away from the car before I was stopped by a fully kitted out Knight. Her helt reflected silver beams into my eyes that felt oddly blinding. “Halt. Crusade only beyond this point.”
I looked down at myself—right, I forgot my armor back in my apartnt. I just saw Dev and completely blanked on that. I was wearing a Crusade coat and clothes, though. “Squire Zuku. Under Inquisitor Hope.”
The sharp edge of the Knight dropped slightly, though she still remained on guard until I fished out my badge and flashed it at her. “Sorry about that, squire… you know it is these days.”
I stuffed my badge back into my pocket. “You know who’s in charge of the situation?”
”That’d be Knight Bruce, over with the fire fighters.” The Knight waved a gauntleted hand off toward the blaze. “Be careful with Embercore, eh? Those bastards aren’t very cooperative on the best of days.”
Embercore… I briefly ran through the corporations I knew off the top of my head. They were quite a large corp with branches across North Arkhanika. Ones specialized in fire prevention and fire response, maybe. “Thanks.”
The Knight moved off to stop soone else from getting too close. I whistled sharply to CJ29 and moved along through the throngs of people toward the forefront of the fire. “Unit CJ29, scent the place. Stay out of people’s way.”
”Woof.” The hound moved away from to follow my orders.
While the jaeger was busy, I turned to watch the fire itself. The purple fla was oddly pretty burning against the building—
“Put this on, slag.” A rebreather with a face shield slamd into my chest, nearly knocking over. A knight appeared with an oddly detailed face mask. I was used to the normal, sheer tal masks of the Crusade. This guy, though still almost entirely blank, had knots at either side of his mouth like a gas mask. “The fire’s releasing manganese oxide fus.”
”Oh.” I took off my hat and slid the mask over my head. “Thanks.”
”Uh, huh.” The Knight stared at for a mont. “You showed up just a little late, Squire Zuku.”
”You know ?”
“Inquisitor Hope called ahead and said you’d be dropping by.” The knight dropped his hand toward . “Knight Bruce. Commander Ligh gave the Crusade orders to help you guys however possible for so reason.”
”Squire Zuku—though you already knew that.” I nodded to the fla and completely ignored his probe. “What’s up with that?”
The Knight stared up at the fire for a long mont. The purple flas danced across the reflection of his mask. “They’re running chemical analysis, but it’s probably from that bastard Lavender again.”
Lavender? The na rang so bells. I think I saw him on the screamstreams a couple tis. Supposed to be an master arsonist that’d been plaguing Aythryn City for over a decade. “What makes you say that?”
”The fire is purple. That, and my mask is detecting faint traces of potassium permanganate and glycerol. It’s his typical concoction.” The Knight sighed and shook his head. “I should’ve been paying more attention. Could’ve had that bastard this ti.”
I whistled sharply for CJ29 to co back to . Lavender, huh? I had a lead now, at least. There was a high chance Lavender was hired to burn up any evidence and scent profile. It could just be a random arson, of course, but coincidence like that were too rare to take serious. “Who all has had access to this street?”
”Just the Crusade. We blockaded this entire street a day ago or so.” He waved his hand toward the fire fighters. “And now Embercore, but they showed up after the fire.”
Probably wasn’t Embercore. Unless Lavender was actually a fire fighter who got off to putting out his own fires. Wouldn’t be the strangest thing, but I sohow doubted it. “Can you get a list of who was on duty here?”
”Yeah. Not that it’ll matter. If soone wanted access to the building, they’d easily be able to get past a patrol.” He pulled out his phone and started to work on it. “Oh, if you see Garrick around, tell he owes five hundred rayn.”
He was right, of course. I myself knew just how easy it was to get past security. Still, it was sowhere to start. I crouched down and slid off CJ29’s access panel. Just like Bruce said, the jaeger picked up potassium permanganate and glycerol. Not much else. The fus from the fire were choking out its sensors.
I patted the hound and resealed its panels. I then moved back toward the cruiser so I could sit down. There wasn’t much more to do than wait for the fire to be put out.
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