After lying about having information about a traitor in the mayor’s staff working with the local bandits, Rachel, Touch, and Anea got sent straight up to see the man himself, leaving their packs with security.

“You have something you want to tell me?” A balding black man groans as he rises from his desk.

“A few things, actually.” Rachel says, “First, I lied. We don’t know anything about a traitor. I just don’t like to waste my time.”

“Second,” she continues as the mayor opens his mouth. “we’re professionals. I was a former scout. I know how to track people. My friend-”

“The ninja?”

“The ninja. Was an intelligence analyst for the military. And the princess here can read minds. We can find all the thieves and crooks you want, but we need something more in return.”

The man eyes the peculiar crew before him.

“It literally won’t cost you anything unless we deliver results.” Anea speaks up. “But that’s not everything, is it? The potential cost doesn’t bother you. What else is up?”

“You tell me, mind reader.”

“I don’t know specifics, just intent and temperament. Just walking through the street, I know about one in fifteen people in the town is a cheat and a pickpocket. I know if someone is lying, I can’t guess your mother’s maiden name. If I get close to someone who likes to hurt or steal, I’ll know it. Once I mark them, I’ll be able to identify them through walls. From over a mile away out in the country.”

“Okay. What do you want?”

“A higher fee, for one. If we find these guys, I want twenty thousand hard-credits. Second, we have mercenaries hunting us from Winston Industrial. We want you to come up with something to keep them off our trail while we work. We drew a lot of attention to ourselves getting this sword for my friend. Can you do that?”

“I can do fifteen thousand. Bring me something to prove you’re serious and I’ll get you whatever cover you want. If you can give me good information on all bandits and major criminals in the area, before everyone starts hitting the road for the end of Halloween, and it all pans out, I’ll double your fee.”

“Deal.”

“What’s bothering you, Touch?” Anea says as they walk out of city hall.

“I was never an analyst. That’s not what I did in the military.”

“Really? I just assumed-”

“No. The military didn’t teach me anything. Everything I know I read in a book, or looked up online. Everything. I signed up to be intel, because I knew I’d be good at it. But they voided my contract on a technicality and a lie, and gave me some shitty IT job. Even then the training was shit. I learned everything on my own. Ortega taught me everything else I know, not them. Don’t tell people I was in the military. Don’t give credit where it isn’t due.”

“Okay. I’m sorry. I didn’t realize it was… I’m sorry.”

“It’s fine. How do we find these guys?”

“You tell me, master criminal. How do we begin the hunt?”

The stone man groans.

“Lots of homework. Let’s get back to the hotel.”

They spent the rest of the day finding out everything they could about Davton. The towns that haven’t been swallowed up by the ever expanding corporate port cities to the north and south were strung together by an intertwining network of roads each town had to maintain if they wanted any hope of income from travelers.

Road houses, traveling tent cities, and hastily thrown together shanty towns sprouted up between all the farmland, towns, and more minor cities to accommodate large herds seasonal workers, merchants, and nomads of all kinds, who didn’t have access to cars or corporate highways.

The traveling population is currently at an all-time high since the meteors fell. Travel in large groups, mixed with an increase in jobs as people bounce back from the meteors and war, discouraged and pushed out most violent roadside robbery. But as more and more people feel safer to travel in smaller groups, banditry’s made a resurgence, since it was easy to disappear into the countryside, and reappear with a traveling group with no one the wiser. Much like Rachel and her own friends did.

The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

“Alright,” Touchstone says from his spot on the floor, next to his laptop on the coffee table. “Now we need-” Touchstone ducks as Arch skitters across the coffee table and over Touch’s head, Anea hot in pursuit, carrying Arch’s little black costume.

“Come on, Arch, don’t be like that! Just try it! It’s not like I’m trying to make you wear pants. I promise you’ll look cute!”

“No running in the room!” Rachel and Touch call out in unison. The two look at each other. Touch looks back over his shoulder.

“That goes for both of you! Anea, stop trying to force Arch into little clothes. Leave them out and he’ll try them on if he wants to.”

“But he can’t! He doesn’t have opposable thumbs!” She looks at Touch, then lays the little costume across the floor.

“Fine.” The girl throws herself onto the bed and poutily snuggles up with Dill, who is content to sit on the pillow in his little fuzzy sweater. Which wasn’t really a costume, Anea made Touch buy it because she thought he might get cold on the road.

The two hone their research to Davton itself and the surrounding area. Apparently, the place was one of the largest towns in the area; it was conveniently placed to both ride out the war in peace and establish itself as a trading hub for all foot and hoof traffic in the area. So, on top of a steady stream of comers and goers, it was the natural place to host large festivals and gatherings several times a year.

The place regularly supported a ring of tent cities and flea markets on the outskirts of town, like what they saw on their way in. A temporary and fluid district surrounding the town, with the most wealthy travelers staying in the permanent hotels and houses in the inner town.

“I’d hardly consider us wealthy.” Touch mumbles to his computer.

“Yeah, we can’t afford to stay here long, even with how much extra your side hustle got us.”

“Should we downgrade?”

“I’m more worried about security. This is the cheapest I found outside a tent or a shack.”

“Okay.”

Anea suddenly groans and sets her book down on the bed.

“Anea, how do we find these guys?” Touch says.

The girl’s eyebrows scrunch together.

“You need to find the actual reports of stick ups and break-ins, find out how they operate, and we should prioritize our search to the bandit attacks. They’re the most dangerous.”

“Wrong. You need to find the actual reports.” Touch swings his computer around and indicates to the open spot next to him.

“Ugh!” The girl swings her feet around, leaps off the bed, and takes her seat at the laptop. Touch looks over her shoulder and walks her through how to find the articles and reports they need on the corpnet and freenet sites, and how to critically analyze and check her sources. Every time she finds something, Touch takes the computer and reads through it first, to make sure the details aren’t too gruesome.

“Okay, now copy and drop the article here.”

“What’s this?” Anea asks.

“It’s my private database. Basically an offline wiki where I store and backup all my research to secure servers.”

“You do a lot of research.”

“There is nothing more valuable than information, little one.”

“What’s that?”

“Irrelevant. Focus on the project at hand. Drop this map here. Drop a pin here, link it to the article.”

Rachel gets up and takes a break, going out on the cramped balcony to stretch. She feels naked, looking down at the bustling streets below without her mask on.

After a time, Rachel notices hardly anyone looks up when going about their business. She took in the quiet and clean air. Rachel still remembers the days when everyone had a car and the streets were constantly filled with the racket and exhaust they made.

Nearly three years ago. It feels like so much longer… Only three years, not even that…

Now the streets were quiet against the chorus of people and wind and bugs and people literally couldn’t afford to produce enough light to bury the stars, outside the cities.

She lets her mind wander a bit as she bends down to touch her toes. Then she grabs the rail and bends forward with her arms outstretched and feels her shoulders release and her blood flow a little. After a few slow squats and twists, she was ready to head back inside.

After over an hour of searching, a pattern started to form across Touch and Anea’s map. The bulk of robberies and attacks were by masked men armed with pistols and assault rifles. The attacks correlated loosely with the movements of traveling workers, but targeted small, isolated groups. There’ve been multiple injuries and one or two murders. One confirmed, one not.

“What does this tell you?” Touch asks.

“That there is most likely one really active group using working parties as a cover. The attacks are very loosely fit with the alleged movements of this one group that keeps getting mentioned. People call them the ‘West Coast Pinchers’. So they are likely using them as a base of operations. The Pinchers already have a bad reputation for things going missing whenever they’re around, forcing them to be secretive and distant, and only going into town when they can camouflage with other groups.

They have weapons and aren’t afraid to use them, letting me know they are hardened and dangerous. Assault rifles would be difficult to hide. I also know that there is no dedicated law enforcement in the area, just local militias and neighborhood watches guarding their immediate areas. The roads have virtually no security.”

Touch smiles, “Very good. What’s our next move?”