Her head peaked out from the sewer grate, Karla looking both ways before finally emerging out. For better or worse, the city streets of Angelas were just as chaotic as she remembered when she'd been alive. Maybe more so given the people were suffering from post-cat army withdrawal.
"It's like they just vanished."
"What if it's like one of those miragey thingies?"
"Dude, it's called a mirage."
"Miragey. Mirage. Same thing."
"Dammit Terry, just shut up?"
She drifted along the ground, keeping to crevices and under cars. Though this hadn't been how she expected things to turn out, the moment that secretary woman showed up, everything was downhill. If there was one thing she'd learned while training with Lui, it was that she was bad at keeping illusions under pressure. And nothing was quite as high pressure as getting shot at.
"Everyone remain calm and return to your homes."
"I heard it's gonna rain soon anyway. The cats probably ran to get clear."
"Crap, what?"
"Suzy, let me borrow your umbrella."
The different voices all flowed through her ears. She wasn't sure why, but ever since she'd started improving with illusion crafting, her sense of hearing had gotten a lot better. Assuming that's even what it was. Being a ghost of modest intelligence, she only knew what her powers did. How they worked and why remained a subject that always went over her head whenever Lui tried to explain. Speaking of which...
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Where's that friggin' demon, anyway? All these alleys look the same.
She flew through a building, finding nothing but the usual stretch of garbage and rats. And some actual stray cats. They meowed in greeting. She waved back, continuing her search. What did a ghost have to do to get a map around here? She could have flown over everything if not for the threat of a sudden human attack.
Man, I hate being stealthy. Stupid PIB. Stupid secre-
Her thoughts dropped, the ghost ducking underground.
Nothing happened. She peaked her face through, seeing no signs of an ambush. Slowly and cautiously, she stuck her full head through the pavement. It didn't change what she saw. The stretch of broken dumpsters, shredded vent pieces, and buildings full of holes. Or the woman pacing in the center of it all.
"I'm gonna need a full media blackout."
Karla narrowed at her, recognizing the face of the secretary woman who'd just been shooting at her. And though she didn't see her friends, she did see the phone at the woman's ear. Karla flew a bit closer to listen in.
"Prep Sector 305 for containment," she said. "Yes. Yes. We've issued a severe thunderstorm warning. That should suffice. Yes. I'll coordinate the details with Tupwell tomorrow. Yes. Yes."
She wasn't sure what the other side was talking about, but it didn't sound good. Full media blackout? Does she mean...media media? And what's this about containment? She'd heard horror stories of how the government liked to cover things up. Aliens. Roswell. Bigfoot. All conspiracy nutjob stuff she'd never really paid attention to. And even as a ghost she hardly believed to be the case. Weird things happened around her, sure, but to think the government was actually doing things like-
A droplet fell through her.
Huh?
A second soon followed. And another. She looked up as the city skyline was replaced with dark clouds. As lighting sparked above, the drizzle turning into a torrential downpour. A severe thunderstorm.
"Thank you, Senator."
For the first time since she'd met Lui, Karla felt a shiver run through her undead form. When she looked to the secretary again, her eyes were shining bright. Her hand resting on the hilt of her sword.
"Returning to the hunt now," she said, ending the call.
The secretary was looking right at her.