Red Veil… they were a group I was already interested in even without the Scav leader pointing me toward them. They dealt in human trafficking and drugs specifically. If anyone might’ve heard something, it’d be them. I only had an area of operation for the group and nothing concrete, though.
I drove into an alley and flew up to the roof of a tall building. Freezing winter rain drizzling from the sky played a constant staccato against my poncho. I was feeling much more calm now. A massive chunk of the rage and hatred that filled me had been tamed by taking out the Scav Dens. Now there was just overwhelming anxiety striking at my heart like a gong.
Cold-Blooded kept me all together though. Otherwise… Well, I didn’t know how I’d be acting. I adjusted the hoverbike, which I had yet to name, to avoid a camera. I should make a Blackout module for the bike when I got the chance. I mentally added it to the list of modifications I was planning.
The hoverbike floated to a stop and then dropped onto its stand. I flicked it off and adjusted my poncho’s climate control to keep me warm. Cold-Blooded and the winter rains pushed it into overtime to regulate my body temperature.
I settled back on my bike and tried to close my eyes. I just needed thirty minutes to take a power nap. I’d been moving and moving and hadn’t had time for a proper rest. Sleep eluded me though. My brain just refused to turn off with Mira still out there, waiting for me to save her.
It got to the point I had to use Lethargic Presence to force myself to sleep. I barely got ten minutes before a call startled me awake. I rubbed at the partially healed injury on my arm and answered. “Chek?”
”Found something.” Saint’s voice practically radiated good cheer. “You know how Savants use code names when buying supplies, gear, and- um- people?”
”No?” I never really looked all that deep into how they operated. But yeah, it made sense. They couldn’t just pull all the chemicals and equipment found in a lab out of nowhere.
Saint sighed slightly. ”Okay… Well, they do. There were four groups that operated in that area about a month ago.”
“Four?” That might complicate things. Knowing my luck, it’d be the last one I checked… So should I start at the last group instead of where I would usually start? Or- no, if I did that, then it’ll be the first one that I would’ve checked originally. But now that I said that- ugh- I’m spiraling again. I needed more sleep.
“Yeah. You’re looking for Crimson Crusade, Hardon, Mecha Patrol, and Yellow Inc.” He paused for a moment and sent me a file. “That’s everything my guy had on them… also, I had to promise we’d stay away from the Chillton Gang in exchange.”
Chillton Gang? Didn’t ring any bells. “That’s fine. Thanks.”
”No problem. I know this isn’t exactly what you were looking for-“
”It’s enough.” I cut the reporter off. “At least we have a starting place now.”
He sighed roughly. I could envision him running a hand through his hair on the other side of the phone. “Look- I’m going to keep digging. With any luck, I’ll be able to get us into the Crimson Crusade. The others, though…”
“I’ll take care of them.” I looked through the file he sent me. There was unfortunately little to run off of. Just a few lists of supplies. Based on what each group bought, I could roughly piece together what they were working on.
Crimson Crusade seemed like maybe a robotics lab? Hardon had something to with… um- joytoy biotech. Mecha Patrol was likely some kind of experimental chrome or heavy weaponry lab. And the last one I had no idea. Their list of supplies was all over the place, so I couldn’t quite tell.
Which one was the right one though? It’d be a massive waste of time running from one to the other trying to figure out which one had Mira. It might take weeks to find even just one of the labs, let alone four of them. How could I-
Wait- hmm… that might work. There was a way to vastly narrow down the search to just one Savant group if I played my cards right. I sent a message to Uncle Ezra to keep him up to date and then flew back down to the streets. A plan slowly formed in the back of my head.
— — —
I checked my gear one more time. I swapped into my Crusade gear not too long ago. I had to run by the BC Gym for it, but I was already headed up to Little Yukoto anyway. It wasn’t too far out of the way.
“Can I get you something?” The bartender at the Crusade’s internal bar asked me. Looked like an old, retired Knight, maybe.
”Um- water?” I replied.
He nodded his head and casually moved down the bar to serve an Inquisitor covered in blood. The Crusade really did have all sorts of people. A few minutes later, he returned with bottled water. On the house. The Crusade’s benefits had no end.
“Thanks.” I sipped at the bottle while I waited. A few more minutes passed. I spent the time reading old Crusade documents on the Red Veil, as well as five other gangs of interest in connection with the Savant Labs of Oldtown. Assuming Mira was even still in Oldtown and not some other district. Or a different city.
”Shquire?” A voice called out from behind me.
I glanced over my shoulder and then hopped off my seat. An Honest smile popped up on my face. About time he got here. “Commander! Thanks for agreeing to meet with me.”
Commander Ligh motioned to the bartender. “Any reashon to get out of the office.”
”Haven’t settled in yet?” I tactfully didn’t say anything about him drinking, just the same as every other Crusader in the room.
He paused for a moment and then shook his masked head. “Doubt I ever will. Sho much paperwork.”
“I bet.”
Ligh slid in next to me and took the offered drink from the bartender. “Remind me to give you a raishe.”
”Thank you, Commander.” The bartender’s expression lit up. He moved down the bar to serve a Knight that just entered the place.
“Sho?” Commander Ligh nursed his drink. “I imagine this washn’t a shocial call.”
”Ah, but it was…” At least, as far as I would admit. I nodded my head to the far side of the bar. A dartboard hung on the wall. “Want to play a game? Loser buys.”
He immediately stood up and moved over to the dartboard. “Can’t refuse free drinks.”
Did he not know the drinks here were on the house? I set up the dart board and handed him a set of darts. He immediately threw them, hitting the bullseye with each and every dart. His throws were haphazard and weak, and yet each one of the nailed the target.
“Impressive as always, sir.” I followed after him, likewise hitting every dart. A straightforward game like this? It wouldn’t be any issue for me with Throwing Weapon Master.
We went back and forth over the next several minutes, neither of us missing even once. We tied up and started another round. Two more games passed, and a small group of Crusaders gathered around to watch us. Neither one of use was missing even once.
I pulled out my set of darts and started a new match. “How about we up the stakes, sir? Neither one of us is going to lose like this.”
“Hmm…” Commander Ligh sipped at a fresh drink the bartender brought by. “What do you suggest?”
”Trickshots. The wilder, the better.” I started first, causally flicking a dart to the side of the room. It bounced off the chandelier dangling above the bar and slammed right into the bullseye. A wave of claps and impressed murmurs spread from the nearby Crusaders.
”I like the way you think.” Commander Ligh slipped and tossed a dart as if by accident. It pelted the chandelier in the same place, perfectly imitating my trickshot. The light clapping resumed.
”Impressive.” I pulled the darts out and tossed one back to the commander.
He snatched it out of the air and threw it behind him without even a hint of hesitation. It bounced off a drinking Knight’s helmet, arced behind the bar, and deflected off a metal pillar. From there, it skimmed just over my head and slammed into the bullseye.
I followed his action, adjusting my aim ever so slightly to account for the movement of the Knight. My dart flew true, perfectly tracing the Commander’s path without any issue. Once more, I collected the darts. “This might not work either, sir.”
”Indeed. You’re shurprishingly good at this.” The Commander sighed and gulped down another drink. “Shall we call a draw?”
”I have one more tiebreaker.” I offered. “This one for sure will ensure a loser.”
”Fine. Not like I want to go back to the office anyway.” Commander Ligh casually waved a hand at the bartender to get another drink. “Whishkey.”
I barely managed to suppress the tired smile that threatened to spring up on my face. My plan was coming along well. This was the real reason I called him down here and suggested we play a hand of darts. I pulled a piece of paper from my pocket and pinned it up onto the board. Four names were written across it in quadrants.
I motioned to the paper. “Only one of these is the right answer. I don’t know it, and you don’t know it. The lucky hit on the right one wins.”
”How do we know which ish it?” Inqu- Commander Ligh’s head tilted to the side.
“I’ll know the answer after we throw.” I motioned for him to turn around. “Backward, so we can’t see what the other picked.”
”Why not?” Commander Ligh easily turned around. He waited till I was ready, and then we both tossed a dart. My heart hammered in my chest. This was the moment I was waiting for.
As soon as I heard the thunks on the board, I darted over to see the results. My dart hit dead center in between all of the names. Ligh’s, however, smacked perfectly into the Yellow Inc quadrant.
I pulled the darts and shoved the page back into my pocket. “I concede defeat, Commander. Drink to your heart's content.”
”Mighty kind of you, Shquire.” The Commander moved back to the bar. “And thanksh for getting me out of the office for a few hoursh.”
”It’s only been twenty minutes at most?” I followed after him a few steps and discreetly sent a message to Saint. ‘Focus on Yellow Inc.’
“My shecretary doeshn’t know that.” He chuckled happily and waved toward the bartender again. “Load me up, good shir!”
I shook my head and headed for the door. Good ole’ Ligh. I had no idea how he worked or what voodoo he used, but he was damn useful. I’d have to actually buy him a drink sometime as a thank you. Maybe even try and get something high-quality from Bear?
Yellow Inc though… They were the most mysterious of the bunch. I thought about pinning up a map for the Commander to hit with a dart too, but the chances of him hitting the right place were… I trusted him to pick the right one out of four way more than the right spot out of billions of locations.
I headed back out of the BC HQ and made my way to my hover bike. Saint called me once more on my way there. “Shiro! Yellow Inc? For sure?”
I turned on the hover bike and leaned forward against the handle bars. “Seventy-five percent sure.”
“How’d you know?” He asked. “Your source must be quite something to get that high of a confidence level.”
”They are… and very high-up.” The Commander of Aythryn City’s Blue Cursade wasn’t exactly a low position. “Will you be able to swap tracks?”
”Without too much issue.” Saint went silent as if he had something on his mind. “Listen… after we find Mira… can we keep working the other three? I’m not naive enough to think we’ll be able to root out every Savant Lab, but-“
”Chek. We’ll tear them out by the roots.” After saving Mira, of course… Assuming she was even in a state where she could be saved-
Electricity sparked out of me, coursing along the body of the hover bike. It was a good thing I already set up EM shielding for the thing, or I might’ve fried it by accident. I carefully manipulated the electricity, discharging the built up charge into the ground before I could fry any of my tech.
Right, think positively, Shiro. Don’t spiral again. I took a few deep breaths and rested my forehead between the handlebars of my bike. Mira would be perfectly fine once I found her. Hell, she’d probably join me in taking down the Labs. Just like old times, we’d be fighting by each other’s side once more…
With such happy fantasies keeping me going, I drove back out onto the city’s streets. Yellow Inc was in for a world of hurt once I found them.