Chapter 274
Inside of an interrogation room, Doctor Lance Brittlesmith sat cuffed to a metal table. He’d been here for hours already, and no matter how much he called, a lawyer never came. If he still had access to the Net, he’d find that not only had his calls gone unanswered, but that they’d also been erased. For all intents and purposes, Lance hadn’t done a single thing since entering the Crusade’s hands.
Lance groaned, rubbing at his eyes. Worse than anything, the man was bored. He couldn’t go to sleep thanks to the bright lights of the interrogation room. His phone had been ripped out of his hands when the Crusade snagged him, and even his chrome was being jammed by the room. He had nothing to do but sit there and wait.
If he were a normal citizen, he might start feeling pressured by the lack of attention and silence. He was not a normal citizen. He’d been here before, in this exact seat even, so he knew full well how this would all pay out. He’d walk the streets by tomorrow at the latest, and whoever brought him in would find themselves on desk duty for a month. As an exec of Medtech’s Aythryn City division, he had at least that much protection… had.
Finally, something changed. The AC kicked on, dropping the room by several degrees. It soon grew cold enough that white mist poured from the vents. Lance rubbed at his arms in annoyance. If he just had a bit more time, he could’ve at least grabbed his jacket from his office. They snatched him just as he went for a smoke break though.
After stooping in the cool air for over thirty minutes, he heard movement from the door. The handle jingled lightly. A Squire stepped through into the interrogation room. Nothing really stood out about him except for his eyes; they looked dead. Hollow, almost.
A bit of calm returned to the executive when he saw the Squire. This should be it. Cocky pride leaked into his voice. “Are you here to release me?”
The Squire locked the door, then nodded to the camera. The camera immediately shut down. ”Now why would we do that?”
Lance felt his heart rate pick up. Something was wrong. The Squire should be bowing and kneeling before him, not just standing there. “What are you talking about?”
”Do I need to spell it out for you?” The Squire shrugged as if to say fine. “Medtech sends their regards.”
“Wait- no. This- this can’t be happening.” The executive’s calm confidence shattered easily. “What about the people who set me up? This is all just a setup!”
The Squire snorted and tossed several documents onto the table. “They’ll get what’s coming to them, of course… assuming we can find them. Honestly though? You’re not worth getting into a fight with Inverse over.“
Lance dropped to cover his hand, fidgeting uncomfortably with it. “What do you mean? It’s just a lowly corp—not even one of the Big 7!”
“They control public perception for this side of the world. My bet? My hope? Our investigators only dig a bit before giving up.” The Squire’s dead fish eyes dropped down to the exec’s fidgeting hands, though he didn’t say anything.
“You can’t seriously be going through with this? What about all I’ve done? All that I’ve done for Medtech!? Just to be treated like this?!” Lance’s face shifted into a fierce scowl. He knew what was coming. Although he didn’t want to admit it, he felt it ever since he sat in the interrogation room for too long.
”Oh? Are you referring to the several projects you leached thanks to your uncle? Or your little poison… Archer, was it?” The Square brushed his shoulder off casually. “Medtech no longer has a use for you. It’s simply business. Now, will you cooperate and choke on your own tongue? Or will I have to get… forceful?”
“You’re not going to kill me!” Lance frantically shouted and pulled out his trump card. His finger slid back, revealing the small barrel of a single-shot derringer. It was completely manual, lacking the normal automation of modern chrome. It was designed to get past security and be usable in any situation, though. Even here, where the rest of his chrome was jammed.
Bang!
The shot fired right through the Squire’s head, instantly blowing his brains across the wall. He dropped easily. Anticlimatialy, even. For talking such a big game, he had nothing to back it up. He’d just claim the other was an assassin sent by Medtech. If he leaked what he knew, surely the Crusaders would offer protection. Lance let out a sigh of-
“Ha. Ha. Ha.” Broken laughter came from the dead man’s head. It was a wet and clingy sound, blood choking in his windpipe. Slowly, the Squire lifted his destroyed head back up.
Their head was a horrid sight, one that would make a weaker person feel faint at heart. Lance, of course, did feel faint at heart, but it wasn’t thanks to the gore. It was thanks to the realization that struck him when he stared at the ‘dead’ person across from him. The slowly rising ‘dead’ person.
His heart sped even faster. It was so loud and constant that he was surprised he could even hear still. “P-project Lazarus?”
The broken face of the other man sagged horribly, only held up by his hands mechanically supporting the broken mass. “Of course. Did you really- think you’d be able- to escape- with just that? You know too much.”
”Project Lazarus was supposed to be shut down! How- no, it doesn’t matter. Someone would’ve heard the gunshots. Crusaders are surely on the way.” Even as he spoke, he could feel he was just coping. Medtech wouldn’t let this go on any further.
”Indeed.” A wet slurping noise came and the person pushed his split skull back together. “I can see- the new’s headlines now. During a- routine investigation, the perpetrator- suffered delusions, paranoia, and an- eventual heart attack. Not before executing- a poor Squire just doing his job. In retribution, the Crusade fully wiped out the whole drug ring-“
“What are you talking about, damnit!” Lance clutched at his chest, feeling his heart pound unsteadily. At first he thought it was just the situation, but he could feel it now. This was unnatural. “P-poison?”
Another wet chuckle came from the broken corpse. “Archer, I think you- called it. Poetic, isn’t it? Dying by a- poison you yourself made.”
Lance couldn’t hear the broken voice anymore. He was too focused on his symptoms. His limbs were slowly turning numb. Antidote- right, an antidote. He always kept one on himself just in case. Just in case someone tried something ‘poetic’, as the dead Squire put it.
His limp hands fumbled for a hidden catch on his leg. He tore at his pants to access it, sliding back a small compartment hiding a vial. He reached for it-
“Looking for this?” The broken voice called mockingly. Lance looked up just in time to see the Squire pour a vial onto the ground, wasting the dose of Archer antidote.
“Wh-why y-you-“
”Enjoy your- last moments.” The Squire laughed brokenly once more before dropping and going entirely still. He looked just like he had when he was first shot. “I’ll- see- you- in- hell.”
Lance could do nothing as he stared at the corpse, full of righteous fury. How dare Medtech do this to him?! After all he’d done?! His heart picked up one final time, overloading. It finally burst and blood flushed Lance’s face. He dropped, his mind still reeling with hatred even in his final moments.
— — —
“There she is!” Saint called out from the booth of Big Mike’s.
I glanced around, though nobody seemed to notice his call. More accurately, no one seemed to care. Such was the city, I guess. No one cared about much of anything. I shook my head and moved over to him. “Would a little subtlety hurt you?”
”It might.” He chuckled. “Glad to see you’re still in one piece."
”Still kicking.” I slid into the booth across from him and tossed out a Scrambler to hide our conversation. “So? How’d it go?”
Saint pulled out a deck and slid it over to me. It was already opened up to his site, City of Sorrows. “Check for yourself.”
I read through his article. It was rather well written, and the call to action at the end was well done. Added with all the information about various Medtech plots? Not to mention the evidence that back up the article. It wasn’t just another screamsheet. It was real. It was happening. And we, as Aythryn City citizens, needed to stop it.
I wasn’t the only one that thought it was well done either. The comment section below the article was already sprawling, and it’d only grow as time passed. It’s reach was massive, especially with Inverse backing and pushing the article.
”What about higher ups?” I waved a hand to the article’s comment sections. “The people here aren’t in a position to do anything.”
He shrugged. “Still waiting to be sure. Some of my sources in the city council assured me it was being looked at. There’s a week left until the election is over though.”
”So no telling.” It’d depend on whether or not the new mayor was in Medtech’s pocket or not.
He shook his head. ”Unfortunately not. The corps on the other hand? Some of my people in Raijin informed me they plan on jumping on it hard. They didn’t do anything with the AEZ for some reason, so they’re hoping to make Medtech look worse by comparison.”
”What about Sentinel?”
“They’re not getting involved. Might make a small move when Raijin does, but otherwise radio silent. No idea.” Saint sighed. “A lot of my sources were killed thanks to, erm, recent events.”
Sentinel did get hit the hardest out of all the corporations. Maybe not harder than the small ones located inside of the AEZ that were completely wiped out, but the hardest out of all the bigger ones. They needed time to lick their wounds, probably…
“Have you heard anything from Medtech itself?” They were the ones who really mattered in this situation.
”They’re publicly condemning everyone involved in Operation Milburn. My guess? They’re using it as an excuse to get rid of undesirables within the corporation. They’re shutting the whole project down.” He pulled his deck back and slid it into his bag. “How about the Crusade side of things?”
”Last I heard, Lance is dead. Heart attack.” I shrugged. The Crusade side of things wasn’t going well, but we got what we needed. It would’ve been preferable if the guy survived, but oh well.
Saint tilted his head. ”Assassination?”
“Probably.” Stress could’ve done it, but poison was much more probable. I mean, we were dealing with Medtech here. And the guy was a ‘whistle-blower’. “Think they’ll track us?”
“Not through City of Sorrows. I spent a fortune getting it secured.” Saint looked around the restaurant. “But there are plenty of trails to follow. I’ve cleaned up as best I could. You might ought to do the same, kiddo.”
“Don’t call me that.” I shot him a glare and ran a hand through my hair. “Not a bad idea, though. It wouldn’t hurt.”
There wasn’t much to clean up, but I could definitely go back and remove my traces from a few places. Just in case. I worked indirectly through the Crusade, but I didn’t doubt they had people in the Crusade willing to betray us. Hell, Lance had already been assassinated and it’d barely been any time at all.
”So that's it then?” I asked.
”That’s it… if you need anything in the future, give me a call, alright? Working with you wasn’t that bad.” Saint rubbed at the back of his neck.
”You were alright too, I guess.” He was good at investigating at least. Had a lot of connections. Wouldn’t be bad to call on if I ever needed his particular capabilities.
We talked a bit more before going our own ways. I watched the reporter walk off down the street to fetch a cab for a few lingering moments before turning back toward the parking garage.
「Accounting - 1>2」
「Brawling - 6>7」
A little weak in the level ups, but I didn’t really use much of my lower leveled skills. The leveling speed for stuff was really starting to slow down. Accounting was a surprise though. Maybe thanks to forging the black book and all of that? Hmm… would accounting even have any good Perks?
I returned to the speakeasy and got back to work on the hover bike. It wasn’t going to build itself. Most of what I needed I had on hand now anyway. Gravitic was a bit of an issue, but I used the majority of my left over Crystallized Elements to Transmute it. It would've been nice to find a flyer, but I didn’t feel like going back to the AEZ anytime soon.
I had no more pressing matters to attend to. It was nice, to be honest. I spent a couple days working on the bike and then finally got back to spending my Perk Points. They’d definitely been waiting long enough.