Ricky chewed me out for attacking their base alone after I returned, beaten and bruised, and of course he was fucking right. It was stupid. He was out on a job when the higher-ups got back to me with a trace on… I guess on that doll? I still don't know what to think about that. Anyway, whatever it was they got a trace on, he was out when they told me about it, and I figured I'd probably have a better chance against the lot of them without him anyway, so I just went for it. Stupid. Exact same kinda stupid shit I've been trying to beat outta him these past few months. I earned myself some more bedrest with that shit, which was of course agonizing.

It was counterproductive, too. Making a run on their base without sealing the deal gave them the opportunity to figure out how we found them and fix the problem. We tried sending a team out the next day, following the same trail, and all they found was the doll, wandering the maintenance tunnels. We put a watch on it, but it hasn't led to anything. It hasn't contacted the rest of their crew, and none of them have come anywhere near it, so we're basically as blind as ever. Blinder, even, since we don't even have any leads on how to find them again.

I've had a couple weeks to get back on my feet, but I'm still not any closer to figuring out a solution for this wild goose chase, and I'm sick of it. Tim's no help, so I don't really have any choice but to take this over his head. I know the stance of the organization is that I'm not to know about any of the shit that's going on with these factories that are getting attacked, but I suspect I already know more than they want me to anyway, enough that giving me enough info to have a shot at catching these phantoms is probably going to have more pros than cons at this point. It's worth a shot, anyway.

I storm into the offices of the managerial demon who sits above Tim. She'll know I'm coming, of course, I haven't exactly tried to be subtle and, even if I had, this is the headquarters of a crime syndicate, they're not about to slack on security. The woman I'll be talking to is far from the head of this particular table, as a matter of fact she's probably not even sitting at the same table as that head, but she's still important enough to be worth protecting in a way that I, and everyone I regularly interact with, simply am not.

It doesn't take long to make my way through the halls. Tim let me know where my best bet was; far from being miffed that I'm going over his head, I think he's a bit relieved to be able to pass the buck on this one. The amount of time this was taking wasn't exactly making him look good. The layout of these offices is pretty labyrinthine, I suspect by design, but I had a pretty good sense of direction even before the horns. In short order I'm standing in front of a fairly unassuming set of double doors, and I reach forward to knock on them. None of the guards I passed on the way hassled me, I doubt they're about to start now.

Sure enough, the doors swing open before the third knock, and I step into a pretty spacious office with a large wooden desk sitting at the far end. The demon in the large, cushy chair behind the desk is already facing toward me, presumably because her computer monitor, which I'm sure displays many things she wouldn't want any random visitor to see, is oriented away from the doors. This office is on the ground floor, but there's no window on the wall behind her someone might peek through. Come to think of it, I'm pretty sure this office isn't even against an exterior wall.

The chair is occupied by a short demon with dark red skin and large, resplendent horns. The sight of them chafes somewhat as I'm reminded that one of mine broke recently. "Kara, I presume?" she asks with perfect professionalism.

"Tim told you I was coming?"

"He didn't need to. If I had to rely on ground-floor handlers for information about who is coming to talk to me, and when, I wouldn't be sitting in this chair."

"Then, do you know what I'm here to talk about?"

"Of course. You want access to information you have no business accessing."

"I very much have business accessing it, it's the only way I'm likely to catch these angels you're after!"

She rolls her eyes. "I'm sure. However, this is a paradigm we are continually taking under consideration, and have yet to find reason to renege on the decision to keep our confidential information to ourselves in this instance."

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I can't say I didn't expect that, although I am a bit surprised by the level of insulting corporate euphemism it's wrapped in. I wouldn't have come out here if I didn't think I had a shot at convincing her, though. After all, I know something she doesn't know I know.

"Is it related to turning humans into dolls?"

She looks at me instead of her computer screen for the first time. "Excuse me?"

"That cosma signal we traced to find them. It led to their doll, didn't it? The one that used to be human?" She tries hard not to show any emotion, but I can see her jaw clench. "I'm not supposed to know that, right? Well, they let it slip, so the cat's out of the bag now. I'm guessing that the factories they're attacking have something to do with that?"

She takes a long moment to think over her response, breathing deeply and slowly. "Yes," she finally replies. "They are connected."

"Look. I don't really care what y'all are getting up to here. As I've been told numerous times, it's above my pay grade. As far as I'm concerned, all I need to know is which factories to expect them to hit."

"That presents its own problems, Kara. I assume you hope to increase the guard presence at production facilities that are deemed likely to be targets, yes? That in itself is data that could be useful to anyone who happens to be watching for it. You're not the only person in the world who's gotten her hands on a bit more of our confidential intelligence than we would prefer, and it is vital that we deprive those who have some pieces of our puzzle from collecting any more of them. A conspicuous pattern of increased security in specific plants presents a dangerous potential leak of information."

"Isn't the pattern of facilities being attacked here equally conspicuous?"

"Yes, but not in a way that anyone outside our organization should be able to put together. We have a number of production chains spread throughout various manufacturing facilities across the city, there's no way for an onlooker to easily tell which production chain is currently being targeted. Any attempt at guessing which one it is would be an irresponsible assumption."

"And it would be equally irresponsible to make such an assumption about a production chain being placed under heavier guard, yes?"

"No. Certain actors have enough information to know that the production chain in question is one of our more important ones in relation to future ventures and that we have an outsized interest in protecting it. That's a much smaller leap than assuming the motives of a fully anonymous, clandestine group attacking our facilities. For all they know, the attack pattern could be random."

"Is it?"

"Of course not. But it could be, and the same is not true of a mobilization of additional guards to at-risk facilities."

I sigh heavily. "So your plan is to just let them keep bombing your factories in the hope of not potentially giving someone else too much information?"

"They have not used bombs. But yes, that is the plan until and unless you find and apprehend, or neutralize, the culprits. We can repair our production chain, much faster than a single band of malcontents can destroy it. We can't repair the damage done to our organization if trade secrets leak to our competitors."

"Alright then, I won't increase guard presence. Just give me the list of places, and I'll start running out to them in a random order and checking things over. We've got plenty of combat demons going around making random checks at factories, one more won't trip any alarms. Any place that gets hit gets marked off the list."

"And what if you do happen to run into our targets on one of these checks? Things didn't go well for you last time."

"I was alone last time. There are guards stationed at all these factories, and I can coordinate them better than they can coordinate themselves. It won't go down the way it did before."

"Forgive me for maintaining some doubt about this promise."

"I'll bring leverage."

She raises an eyebrow. "How? What do you have over our targets that could help?"

"I've had a watch on their doll for a couple weeks now. It's obvious that that thing is special to them, somehow. It would be trivial to bring it in, it's just out there wandering aimlessly right now."

She sits and regards me for a few minutes. I don't even need to hear her answer at this point, if it was a no she'd have already said so. "Very well. Turn and leave, you'll get your list on the way out."