[[ ??? ]]

I can feel my exhaustion setting in already by the 0100 mark. By this time, I’ve managed to catch a few leads, but it's impossible to say I’ll net three girls in one night. Honestly, I feel like giving up at this point, but my body moves on its own out of a sense of duty. I’m clad in an obscuring hood now. The streets of the Outer Rim are bustling despite the late hour; out here, the sky dome, otherwise known as the Dome of Eternity, barely reaches its light to illuminate the artificial daytime, so without a clock, any hour is as likely to be 1 AM than the last. Nightlife is an eternal constant, and the shady dealings that come from such a time is summarily a constant as well.

I breathe off a slow exhale and gaze up at the black “sky” our underground world has to offer. We may as well be in a void.

So far, I’ve been tracking a few different girls throughout the night. It’s a little difficult to maintain several targets, but so far, they all have done well to stay within my range. I’m currently on a rooftop keeping tabs, and nobody’s come to interrupt me. Ah, by the way, there’s currently a little party being held in the bar and streets below me. That’s how I’ve been able to keep an eye on all these girls in close proximity. Naturally, I don’t know if I can pluck each girl I’m watching from their perch without some sort of hiccup, but I have to at least try. They’re getting ripely wasted, more than likely drinking away their miseries.

Not a wise choice in the Rim, but inevitable. Certainly more affordable for men, but for women, it’s a gamble. I’m glad they’re gambling, though -- makes things easier for me.

Now, how to lure them off efficiently…

Each situation is unique, meaning most of my previous work experience only mildly applies here. I exhale through my nose softly as I rifle through scenarios in my mind. Below me, one of my targets vomits on the ground outside the bar, bracing herself against a wall.

Ah… Gross.

I suppose now’s better than never.

I pace to the opposite end of the building, leading to the alleyways where the homeless sleep through anything and jump down, landing with a decent thud on the ground. It wakes a man from his slumber nearby, but after a flurry of curses flung in no particular direction, he’s back to dozing off. I flip my hood down once I’ve paced to the outside street, exposing my mess of brown hair and leaving my identity at risk, but it’s a more trustworthy look. I doubt that anybody in this crowd is wanting to become a vigilante tonight, so I take my chances with revealing myself. Instead, I focus on honing in on the girl.

I put a hand on her back, causing her to jolt.

“Hey,” I say, feigning an expression of pouty concern. “You’ve had too much. Let’s get you home.”

“Bwuh…?”

“You okay?” I murmur to her.

“Yuh-yeah, I’m fine…” She says, her blurry vision doubling me up. Her eyes dance back and forth, trying to pick somewhere to look. While she’s flushed already, a new hue of red comes over her cheeks as she stares me down. There’s a little sparkle in her eyes.

“I don’t believe that for a second,” I say, gathering her close rather firmly. “Come on, let’s get you back. Where do you live?”

“Uuh…” She manages a sloppy smile, apparently dazzled by something she sees. “How about your place~?”

“I can arrange that,” I smile, and with some work to keep her steady, we’re off.

I lead her easily, despite her stumbling, to what I dub ‘my place’; really, it’s just a holding house, but it’s not obvious on the surface. It’s a miserable place, but so is every other place in the Outer Rim. The place lacks electricity and most of the windows are busted in, but it’s secure enough in the basement to keep quarries secure. I lead her right in, and within moments two men in wait come from behind us, barring any escape. It doesn’t take long; she’s without her senses enough to fail to detect the new men, and within seconds they have her pinned down and gagged. She’s not putting up much of a fight -- how can she? She’s bombed out of her mind -- and wiggles in her confines before fading out of consciousness with a little help from a sedative jabbed into her arm. The sedative is meant to act as a failsafe, too; if she were a NIKKE, she wouldn’t be affected by the juice and we’d let her get away. Alas, this girl was only human, though, so no resistance for her.

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Lucky stars for me to have snagged one so easily. The rest won’t be quite as smooth if I return to that party… I glance at my phone. That took about twenty minutes in all, which wasn’t bad in the slightest. Except for the fact that it took about four hours of casing, at least, which is incredibly bad. That being said, I need to get a move on.

“That’s catch number one,” I report to the men, already heading back out the door. They don’t bother with any pleasantries as I leave, but they do take note of my words.

I’ve got, assuming we’re going by daybreak, until 0700 to catch two more girls or Cassiel pulls his help. That’s five and a half hours, give or take.

Why did Clear have to go and break like that?… I guess I only have myself to blame.

I was the one who pushed him too hard, after all.

It’s never been recorded for a NIKKE to have survived a Mind Switch, but there were signs that made me think he was still alive. Namely, the blood trail. From where I lost him, he had slain about 20 bodies before disappearing entirely without a trace. Any other instance, a regular NIKKE would be terminated and left on the ground for scrappers, but he was nowhere to be seen. He might have snuck onto a cargo van headed for the Ark. The gates are tightly sealed most of the day, so cargo is the only way I can imagine him getting in.

The only reason he likely hasn’t been killed is because he’s male.

Oh, to have been a fly on the wall.

I still have two more girls to snag. Focus.

I head along a lesser-traveled alleyway. A bit further down the line, there are two women chatting with their backs turned to me. My footsteps are silent, and with some patience, I’m right behind them. I don’t need to breathe, so I don’t; they can’t even feel my presence, and as lucky as I got with the first one, these two don’t seem to have eyes on the backs of their heads. I suppose I could aim to take their consciousnesses with some well-aimed chops to their neck…

… Let’s try it.

Double Chop!

Crack-crack!

… Both girls fall to the ground without so much as a peep. This is going too well; I move to check their vitals after a few seconds of silence.

…

I killed one.

I click my tongue in distaste as I move her quickly fading warm body to lean against the wall, like any other bum taking a nap in the Outer Rim. The other one… I need to do another check.

I move to break her skin. It takes a bit of work, which is a bad sign, but once I do, red drools out. I take a taste. It’s coolant.

“Son of a bitch!” I hiss, knowing now that I killed the only viable victim. The NIKKE I took out will be back up in a moment’s time, and probably raring for a fight, which I don’t have time for. I sit her against the wall next to her now deceased friend, and breathe a low, brooding sigh, positively fuming.

This is exactly why I can’t pull in the numbers Clear did.

Humans are just too delicate!

A pain rings through my skull, and I know that I need to calm myself down. I need rest, a meal, to breathe, and ‘normality,’ but most of those are just not viable right now. I’m dancing close to the edge, just like Clear did. I can’t risk a mind switch, but I can’t risk rest either. There’s no comfort available to me. I have to keep going.

Rising from the ground, I dust myself off and make myself scarce from the scene. Behind me, the NIKKE begins to stir, so I quicken my pace and turn a corner. I can hear her let off a scream once she realizes her friend’s vitals are plummeting with little she can do, but NIKKE bodies are built-in with different life-saving potions for humans. Nothing to fix a broken neck, though, and once she realizes it’s hopeless, maybe even she will experience a mind switch, depending on how close those two were.

It wasn’t for me to witness, though.

Four more hours.

I wasn’t going to make it, was I?

[[ CHAPTER 13 END ]]