Night's arrival felt all too swift, the fateful moment at long last. All of their preparation had amounted to this next stage of their grandiose act.

“Holi, can you give me an update on our situation?” “Oh, welcome back, Kori. Everything has gone according to plan so far. Your surveillance grid is fully operational. Does that mean we’re going to be proceeding with…” “Tonight, yes, but not quite yet. We need to delay a bit longer, give people time to begin their night. Delaying now would be far easier than trying to hold things off under hostile terms. Where is Sophie? We could at least get everything in position so that we could go right when opportunity knocks?” “Sophie is in the inventory room.. so I guess she’s of like mind to you.” Kori nodded as she ran off, leaving Holi just as suddenly as she had arrived. Nothing about that had been new that night anyway, just about everyone was stirring about all over. Even Holi herself was quite literally all over the place, her nanites spread out in a vast calculating network. There was far too much to do to simply stay in one place at a time.

“Holi, I need your help with something.” “Oh, Rosa.. what is it?” “I’ve got some slight stage alterations I’m hoping to run by you at the last moment. Nothing too major.. though it might certainly have quite the impact. I especially want your input on how I should convince Kori that it would be a good idea.” “Ah, so you’re working on a surprise.. but you want to share the surprise in advance. That might be a good idea, Kori would be left quite flustered if things suddenly broke from her plan unexpectedly. What exactly is it that you have in mind, then?” Rosa went over the details of her idea with Holi, the whole concern becoming very quickly evident. No wonder Rosa sought help with this particular problem, this really was quite a stroke of ambition. Fortunately.. it really wouldn’t impact the plan very much at all. In fact, in all honesty, even Holi believed there would be a lot of value in the accomplishment of Rosa’s little project.

“Kori, perfect timing. I’ve got your attire already prepared for you. I made sure to include all of my sister’s random doohickies, all while not diminishing the vibrant flare of the decor. I’m really hoping Holi manages to get a recording of everything, it would suck missing you two up on stage dressed up like this and performing. If you want to take this and go get changed, I can work on styling you up too.” “You’re about as eager as Holi was. I don’t mind getting changed, but we should be careful about being too quick with makeup and all that. Like I had told Holi, we’re probably not leaving quite so soon. It’s going to be rough already having to wait all uncomfortably, it would be even worse if your work didn’t hold up long enough for the main event.” Sophie still handed off the package she was carrying to Kori, not disputing such logic in the least. Just as Kori left to get change, Rosa arrived too, picking up her own package in much the same way. Sophie could tell though that Rosa was pondering something.. but Rosa was gone before she could form her inquiry. Holi however remained behind.. and was already open to filling in the blanks.

Kori returned soon after in a full body dress, a glamorous appeal far beyond anything she had ever even bothered considering before. Sophie had gone all out on this one, the whole thing outright shimmering in its light and buoyant flare. The electric azure tones diligently clouded over the blue marks of her conduit blood, despite the whole thing doing even less at covering such marks than she might have usually been used to. Makeup was supposed to handle much of the rest, along with a proper distribution of shadows. Rosa was going to be the center stage anyway, all lights on her, Kori was just playing a supporting role here. Music was far more Rosa’s thing anyway, this was just going to be her show.. even if it might have been fun to have made something more out of everything.

“My word, it suits you perfectly. We should have you wearing this sort of thing more often.” “Uh, maybe not. I feel it draws a little too much attention to myself.. which really…” “Yes, yes, you’ve always preferred to blend in rather than stand out. Just like it’s been far more your style to do things for others than to find your own happiness. Quite rightfully, that won’t do. We need you out there having the time of your life, because you’re going to be representing Hypertech out there. Fake smiles won’t be nearly as good at drawing in people’s interest than actually being the authentic Kori out there.” “Wait, authentic? I thought we would be hiding the fact that I’m a conduit, because that would…” “Oh, yeah, that really was a crummy idea. Think of the controversy when your fanbase learned the truth? No, certainly.. there is no way we would have any long term value in clouding over everything. So instead, we’re going to have to bring out all the best in the real you.” Sophie’s sudden shift in the plan was leaving Kori going outright pale. There was no way this would work.

“Actually, that’s not really that bad of an idea.” “Tristine!? I thought as another conduit you would understand.” “Well, yeah. I understand that being hated for what I am sucks. I know you’re just worried about the whole thing leading to a sudden riot, airhead this, airhead that. However, I still remember the conduit that stood up to a crowd that would have wanted to riot upon my presence.. and that conduit got everyone’s awe. Clearly the trick is to do something amazing.. and then have people figure out what they're seeing. Maybe you could hide the whole thing until you really get started.. but if you then shock everyone with a sudden reveal then you’re bound to get everyone’s attention. At that point, it would just work for you, wouldn’t it?” Tristine was honestly sipping coffee neutrally as she just dropped Kori’s jaw with such a statement. Holi smiled, knowing that involving those two would have had the impact Rosa was going for. Tristine was just glad that the request to show up came with a cup of coffee, she was still really tired.

Rosa then showed up while Kori was still stammering her case. Rosa’s outfit was very similar to Kori's, just her velvetine look used a very reflective violet instead. Her sister was then equally all over her too, sharing even more praise than Kori had endured.. an act which also had the result of drawing everyone else away from Kori’s attempt to plead her case. Rosa glanced at Holi, who gave a silent smile and nod. They would be making room to ensure Kori got the social recognition she so truly deserved. Kori meanwhile pondered that there might not be any concert curse on this side.. but they were really already trying to tempt misfortune by dabbling in some very precarious stuff. Even hearing the rest of Rosa’s plan.. it really was a horrible plan.. even if everything really was well within Kori’s abilities and expertise. However, no one gave her room to express her doubts of her own value.. and she inwardly wished that things might possibly go so well.

Eventually enough, Kori agreed that the time was ripe for them to begin. Everything was in position, so it was time for their grand performance.

Velvet searched over her equipment for any sort of peculiar quip. She knew full well that this was when that stupid music festival was scheduled to occur. She also knew she had to prevent it. What was dumb though was how much had been screwing up for a while now. How long has it been since the last DMA raid? There should have been some very established encounters by now.. but nothing had happened. Did she just remember her history lessons that badly? Sure, she wasn’t ever actually good with history.. that might make sense.. but something really felt wrong. Questioning herself didn’t help her either, as she could remember that the whole thing was due to happen in a park.. but she couldn’t remember which park. Obviously it was the park which got targeted by a lot of strange deliveries.. but so far that was none of them. Meanwhile, there was no sighting of the two girls either. If they used any of their zealous quirks, she would have readings of their progress. If they just walked in, she would have reports of their passage. Nothing, absolutely nothing. Was this the wrong night, then?

She turned to look out of the window, reviewing the sprawl of buildings below her. To ensure she could get anywhere she needed quickly enough, she was in a shuttle of her own.. the pilot just hovering there waiting for instructions. Then, suddenly, she got a notification, the shipping request she had been tracking had suddenly been marked with a destination and instructed to move expedited. That’s what she had been waiting for, it was time to move. She passed on directions to her pilot, who even just happened to be that same Nick that had previously been acquainted with Kori, before waiting for their own hasty arrival. The moment she touched down, her equipment received another message. The shipping target had been changed, there was a data entry error, the new address had been provided. Wait, that was on the far opposite side of the colony! That.. wasn’t even a park, it was a small field within the commercial district. She returned to her shuttle and relayed new instructions.

“I’m sorry, but it appears your shuttle can not be authorized for takeoff. My equipment here says that it’s detected a dangerous fault in the engine, and it will need to be repaired before you could be allowed for takeoff.” “What?! There’s nothing wrong with the thing, it looks perfectly fine.” “I’m sorry ma’am, but aerospace control will not give you authorization to lift off.” “Damn it, I am from aerospace control, and I damn well say this thing can take off.” “I’m sorry, but within that shuttle you would not have all of the information before you to properly make such a call. If you wish to escalate the matter, you would have to contact a working executive member of aerospace control.” The dispatch for aerospace control simply refused to listen to Velvet’s own assessment. She could perfectly well see all of the display indicators for the system for herself, she knew how all of this worked. An engine fault would have shown up for her, but the thing didn’t even exist. Escalating things wouldn’t even do anything, that process would take no less than an hour.. would be faster travelling there by bike for herself. She pulled out of the shuttle, getting such a bike she already had handy, and began the slow trip for herself.

“Shame about that engine, right? At least it will be really easy to fix.” “Holi! I should have known you would be behind this. Wait, what are you doing here anyway? Have you been following me around?” “Maybe. I also looked into that nanite suppressor you had handy.. that’s something which you might need to take in for some actual real repairs. Your OSIDF distortion tin can is possibly garbage too, unless you think that can be fixed. Also, the crystal in your thingamajig may have shattered, that you’re going to have to replace.” “You do know that messing with aerospace equipment like that is illegal, right? It’s called destruction of property.” “Wait, you expect someone actually broke your stuff? When I looked it over, I didn’t see any signs of that sort of thing, there isn’t a single thing that would prove anyone guilty of actually sabotaging your stuff. Speaking off, you missed your turn, this road is a dead end. Aren’t you glad you have me here helping you out?” “I hate you so much right now.” Holi made it clear exactly why Velvet was suddenly having problems. It became dreadfully difficult to predict what someone was doing when that person was capable of watching what you were actually doing. Holi having hacked administrative credentials really didn’t help with things either. Intercepting things was going to become a whole lot harder.

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

However, Velvet did remember her mother telling her stories about this event.. and none of them were especially full of fond memories. Just because Velvet was going to be late to the party didn’t mean that things were just simply going to work out.

“Holi says that everything is going well on her end.” “That’s good at least. Do you think my makeup lasted that trip, or do we need to look into that? Really, are we sure that showing everyone…” “Kori, relax, everything is going to be fine. We managed to avoid the snow by making most of the trip through Ruixse anyway, though Mheridz is probably still scrambling around at our sudden disappearance. Our stealth gear was running on arrival, the careful thermal masking working perfectly to hide the cold of our arrival. We didn’t even pass through the barrier here, Velvet’s stuff even reports how cleanly that went off. Your holo is doing fine too, just make sure to not brush too close to anyone. Just because people can’t see your dress blowing around doesn’t mean they wouldn’t feel it.” Rosa clearly had a lot more confidence in things right now than Kori did. However, nothing Rosa had said was wrong, things really were proceeding very smoothly.

The first of the deliveries arrived, with Rosa being faster to identify herself as an employee of Hypertech and recipient of the package. This was very possibly the largest OSIDF unit she had ever seen so closely. Fortunately, soon after, other parts of their assembly also arrived, including the tools needed to get everything in position really quickly. Kori’s cybernetics proved immeasurably helpful in the process, but even Rosa’s personal holo skills were diligent in getting the job done. A crowd had already begun to gather, curious as to what might possibly be going on. Meanwhile, Rosa connected the whole unit to the thermal grid, everything precisely where it needed to be. Kori walked over beside Rosa, the two exchanging a nod. It was time.

Absolutely in sync with the other, Rosa switched the principles around them while Kori called upon her instrument. The surrounding lights went out, their functions removed, as the place momentarily went dark. A swirl of gravitational might whirled as everything settled into place, the dark elements infusing a purple veil clouding their surroundings. This sudden dramatics shifted countless eyes in their direction. Then, Rosa switched things back once again as Kori jacked into the system. The OSIDF unit came to life right away, forming a holo stage along with the restoration of lights. Rosa meanwhile unshouldered her kellegno, pulling it free from its container that was no longer concealed by a holo. Her disguise was completely discarded even when the lights went out, leaving her performance dress visible for everyone to see. Then, Kori got the lights under control, setting Rosa under a gleaming spotlight. Holi would be helping with that process too, taking over the dramatics while Kori began creating her playlist. Rosa’s DRE fins even took to a glowing shine, having a dazzling display of sparkles swirl around her. Rosa then slipped on the audio receiver and plugged an ionic wave transmitter into the kellegno. Then, she took a deep breath.. knowing this was going to be the hard part.

“Hello, everyone. I’m Snowbell and I’m here with DJ Mixer on the behalf of Hypertech, here to surprise you all with a flash performance. All of our equipment today has been just newly provided by Hypertech’s supply partners, and in such a short time has been prepared before your very eyes for your own amusement. DJ Mixer is even right now preparing our supporting melodies from scratch. Today, we’ve got a list of songs, some which you might be very familiar with, others will sound right out of this world. I hope you’re all ready, cause this show is about to begin.” Rosa’s voice echoed through the amplifiers, broadcasted to everyone in the vicinity, getting even more attention. News crews were even quickly on site, catching that this was going to be big. Kori scrambled to get the last pieces together she would need to begin, knowing that she would have to build the rest while the performance was ongoing. She’d done worse before.. but not nearly in such a stress-filled environment. Turning on her own receiver, she turned on some faint lights to highlight her presence, letting her dress shimmer in the shadows. Then, she set the first song, adjusted the initial settings, loaded the first score of effects, and had it begin.

The bass wave struck the streets with a boom, a startling high-quality rush of audio that demanded attention. The song itself smoothed out after that, building upon the quick insert into melody before Rosa herself pitched in. Setting her instrument to her shoulder, she began playing to the chord of her own lyrics, her singing voice resounding powerfully across everyone gathered. More than just commanding attention, this commanded intrigue, inviting people into their performance. People were outright coming out of the nearby buildings just simply to have a better chance to hear everything, many of them drawing closer in the process. The crowd itself grew as people came in from beyond the immediate area, pressing their curiosity to the scene. The field filled.. and then exceeded its limits, the crowds surging for blocks in radius. Businesses momentarily closed as they were cut off.. but even so it was the staffing for such places that had willingly marked their business as having the staff out of office for a time. Streets closed, but even that was uniformly willing as no one was especially in a hurry to leave. Song followed song, with Kori’s transitions blending smoothly from one song to the next and Rosa easily keeping up to the almost endless singing she was enduring.

Aerospace then showed up.. and had immediate troubles trying to address a crowd more interested in ignoring them. Uncertain what to do, the on site agents simply waited for instructions to come in from above. Quite certainly, they were well aware they had a job to do.. but weren’t quite certain how to actually do it. In honesty, there weren't any problems with waiting for instructions either.. as they could actually manage to hear the whole performance from that distance and.. waiting.. wasn’t that bad. Velvet however also showed up, seeing how things had been shifting in her absence. This wasn’t right, Rosa’s shine was supposed to have stumbled already due to having her confidence shattered by the previous party’s failure. She could hear her mother from here, absolutely nothing about that sounded like a shattered confidence, her mother sounded outright proud and ambitious. Well, then maybe she would have to manually sabotage this whole performance.

“I would be careful with what you’re planning to do. Got an awful lot of witnesses here right now. Ah, were you going to take down the thermal grid? Don’t worry, I’ve got an administrative override ready for that already.” “That won’t matter if the whole place is manually disconnected.” “My word, an executive of aerospace control contemplating shutting down the commercial district. Do you know how much that would cost the surrounding businesses? You would be making more than a few powerful enemies doing a thing like that, enemies aerospace certainly would hesitate to keep you protected from.” “Shit, how much did you guys plan out?” “Everything, obviously.” Holi had actually taken the opportunity to appear as a holo beside Velvet, keeping the executive company as she stressed over the terms of her circumstances. Alright then, if there was no alternative, she would simply wait. Once the crowd began to disperse in disappointment, she would have her opening to deal with things then.

“Thank you, everyone. I hope you are enjoying things so far. Once again, I’m Snowbell and I’m here with DJ Mixer on the behalf of Hypertech, the people behind this great performance. All of our equipment exemplifies the potential Hypertech has to offer, as it has been configured here on the spot as a part of our show. In fact, let me take this opportunity to tell you more about the great minds behind such a great company. I’m actually an employee of Hypertech myself too, music is more of my hobby, while commanding mechanical marvels is more of a specialty.” Rosa set aside her instrument to start dazzling her audience with a dramatic display of holographic projects she furled around her, the effect boosted to a longer range by drawing from the ionic unit hidden under the stage. “Meanwhile, let me introduce to you one of the great geniuses behind hypertech, a star analyst with more information processing skills than most machines. Of course, it might help that the two of us are part machine ourselves, augmented by Hypertech with some top quality cybernetics. Let me give you.. DJ Mixer.” Rosa indicated behind her while the lights shifted around right on time. This was by far the part Kori dreaded the most, a direct involvement and direct exposure of herself to their rather sizable audience. With the light shining directly upon her, her azure dress only seemed to exemplify her rather blue traits of her conduit heritage, her cortex itself gleaming in direct light. Sophie had ensured her hairstyle did the exact opposite as to what it was supposed to do, her cortex was almost adorned visibly in a matter of pride.

“Wait, so the DJ is.. an airhead?” “Shit, no airhead could do this kind of thing. Didn’t you hear the woman, they’re cybernetic.” “Wow, so Hypertech is so skilled they could turn an airhead into a genius?” “This puts a whole new feeling to the whole conduit they were normally called, the girl is wired in all the best ways. She almost seems human, I really get that feeling.” “Oh shut up, that’s almost an insult. Haven’t you been hearing them perform? This isn’t the work of some mortals, those two are almost divine.” “Wait, I recognize her. Isn’t she that one marvelous enforcer from the whole aerospace incident, the one who kept the peace better than anyone ever could?” “Oh, so she worked for Hypertech? No wonder she just disappeared, wasn’t hypertech dismissed by aerospace?” “You could discard wonders like this? Wow, that’s shitty. No wonder aerospace has gone down in quality of late, they just went full stupid.” Several random voices in the crowd spoke up quite audibly, a shouting competition passing over the front lines. Rosa could see the news crew following along with the discussion with as much intrigue as the original performance.

“Alright everyone, let’s settle down. No point in getting upset here, we should be all here having a blast and enjoying the music. So on that note, let’s get right back into things. DJ Mixer, if you will, please bring us our next song. Come on, everyone. If you want to hear the next song, I want to hear you ask for it. Next song, next song.” Rosa got everything moving around peacefully, drawing the crowd right back in. She was honestly shaking at this point, really really nervous about what was feeling more and more like social interaction, let alone how easily it could be to lose the pace she was trying to build and having things shift in all the wrong ways. Kori herself was worried about the same thing, leaving her absolutely frozen. The crowd however picked up steam with this new direction, chanting for their next song. Kori listened to the surge demand from their audience, people who knew she was a conduit now.. and that didn’t matter anymore. She was being respected for what she could do, not hated for what she was. This.. had never happened before. Well, to her as Kori at least, she still knew this feeling as Axln. In fact, finally, this was itself starting to feel like quite the party.

Kori conceded to her audience and got the next song going, leaving the lights on her as she worked to the music. Rosa herself got her equal share of lights, picking up her instrument again and preparing to pitch in. Both of them were outright beaming with pride as their crowds cheered. Snowbell and DJ Mixer chants were yelled through the music, the crowd making up for the lack of amplifiers to support their chants with sheer numbers. The entire performance proceeded straight to it’s natural ending.. with the audience demanding even more. Kori loaded three more songs into the list after that, the two of them able to keep up to even such growing demands, and even that didn’t satiate their audience. However, by this point, they were both really tired and brought things to a close regardless.

However, it was at this point when the crowds did begin to thin down that Velvet was provided with her awaited opportunity. Holi scrambled to follow, catching wind of Velvet's impulsive move, realizing that they might not have anything prepared to deal with this.