“Too damn quiet,” Nika observed as they made it to the front desk of the building.
“Yeah, I’m not picking anything up on cameras either,” Sephy noted. “I’ve just fast-forwarded the camera overlooking the corridor from when we came and left, there hasn’t been any movement since.”
I can imagine that most people would either be sleeping or sheltering from the current corpo-war, Chiyo noted. However, if whomever we spoke to hasn’t left the apartment…
“Could they have manipulated the camera feed to cover their exit?” Jack asked Sephy, who had to think on that one.
“Possibly,” the Skritta admitted. “We have no idea what we’re dealing with here.”
“And yet, here we are,” Alora dryly chuckled. “Stay icy.”
“It’s ‘stay frosty’, but sure!” Jack snorted in amusement as he led the way.
We take the stairs, Chiyo decided, fully drawn in her power, ready for a fight.
“Very well.” Alora nodded, noting that nobody made a joke about Chiyo actually refusing to take the elevator this time. All of them were on edge, rightfully so. Whoever they had spoken to previously was clearly highly skilled in deception, and they could only speculate on what they would else they were good at…
Quietly ascending the stairs, the group encountered nobody, which was unsurprising at this time in the morning. It was still dark outside, but Nika had informed them that the orbital plate would likely finish its pass soon to give way to the light of the new day. Ideally, they would be out before that happened. It was better to work in the shadows, after all…
“Alright, 4th floor,” Jack noted. “Are we all ready?”
“We’re ready,” Alora acknowledged with a look of determination, a look that was matched by the others. They were as prepared as they could be.
Jack almost expected to be attacked as they carefully traversed the corridor to the right apartment, looking for any hidden cameras or tripwires, but also expecting attackers to come bursting out of any one of the apartments to the side.
Still sleeping, Chiyo noted as they approached their final destination. Life signals are normal…or are made to appear that way.
“Sooner we get out of here the better,” Nika whispered. “But we need to investigate this.”
They quietened as they reached the door to Apartment 4.89. As before the door was unassuming, and looking at the crack at the bottom of the door indicated that the lights were off.
No life signs, Chiyo told them, though given how all of them were fooled before, that didn’t necessarily tell them anything useful.
“How do we do this?” Jack whispered to the others, who all had their subvocal comms active. “I can kick the door open and go loud?”
“Keep it quiet for now,” Alora decided. “Sephy, would you mind?”
“On it!” the Skritta acknowledged as she quietly reached into one of her pockets and pulled out a roll of silk, which she unravelled to reveal a set of several small lockpicking tools. Chiyo moved to the other side of the door to support it with her power, while both Jack and Nika were on high alert for anything that could go wrong.
Jack concentrated on listening out for any sounds of activity from behind the door. Though it was dark, that didn’t mean it would be safe.
Far from it.
He heard nothing from inside the apartment though, and Sephy barely made any noise as she manipulated the lock, fiddling with it carefully before something within gave way with a quiet ‘click’. Nobody moved for several moments as they waited for something to happen, but nothing did. The corridor was still as eerily quiet as before as Sephy nodded to confirm the door was now unlocked.
Jack moved forward, holding up a hand to indicate that they should stay back while he drew his Dominator with the other. Pressing up to the door and hearing nothing he squeezed the door handle tight, before slowly opening it, ready to leap away the moment he detected any active danger. The moment the handle was turned all the way, he held a breath as he slowly opened the door a crack…
Only to suddenly stop as he saw a slight glint against the light seeping in from behind, a tiny piece of barely perceptible string or wire, just visible between the gap in the door.
Carefully he pulled back away from the door, taking care not to move it from its latest position as he paced back to the others, who knew from his expression that he had found something.
“What are we dealing with?” Nika whispered.
“They’ve got a tripwire behind the door, it might even be attached to it,” Jack whispered
Jack, when you opened that door, something happened in the astral, Chiyo warned. It was like an arcane mask was destroyed when you open the door, I’m detecting an overwhelming amount of residual magic coming from that room!
“Is it still active?” Alora asked.
I don’t believe so, it’s already showing signs of dissipation, though I would need a closer look.
“Could you disable the tripwire with your abilities, Chiyo?” Nika questioned, quickly going to the door with Jack, who pointed it out to all of them.
I think so. Chiyo nodded after a few moments. They had a barrier in place that would have stopped me from doing it, but it dissipated when Jack opened the door. I don’t think they expected anyone to spot the trap in time, and if I astrally project I should be able to see what we’re working with. Jack, could you stay on the other side of the door and get ready to help if I need you?
“Be careful Chiyo!” Sephy patted her friend on the back as the Ilithii closed her eyes, Jack returning to his previous position at the door.
Opening her ‘third eye’, Chiyo emerged into a darker, gloomier version of the corridor, filled with the residual auras of apathy and despair from the mostly elderly residents living in the building. Turning around she saw her friends, though very different than they would normally look, like the colour and definition was blocked through one of those depressing social media filters.
Such was the nature of the Ethereal Plane.
A transitive, multi-levelled realm that bordered the other native planes of this galaxy like mortar to brick, it was like peering into a neighbouring reality, different in more and more alien ways the more layers you strayed from your home realm. It was a place of ever-shifting mists with little hard matter to obstruct those who knew how to traverse it, but it had its dangers. Chiyo had heard many horror stories of what happened to those who strayed too far, losing themselves as disembodied spirits desperate to return to their original bodies, as well as those that could physically travel ‘The Spaces Between’ encountering…bad things that hunted the deeper layers.
Floating forward, Chiyo quickly but cautiously stuck her head through several of the walls to check the other rooms. While one or two individuals were sleeping, there were a suspicious amount of empty rooms that looked completely vacant of occupants, leading the Ilithii to become suspicious. After all, secure, affordable apartments were in demand thanks to the recent attacks.
Floating back, she waited until Jack was in position by the door, noting his very unusual presence on the Ethereal Plane, like how some streams of mana focused on him and noticeably changed and how others actively avoided him. An unusual property but not an immediate cause for concern, likely just his status as an Outsider reacting with the natural phenomena of their galaxy. Jack wasn’t magically active as far as they knew, though he had utilised magical items simply enough. It would be something worthy of future testing…
Steeling herself, she floated through the door of apartment 4.89, senses on high alert and ready to lash out with her power, but she was relieved to find nobody home. The residual auras at a glance were unusual, but for the moment Chiyo put that to one side as she saw the trap left behind. The wire was stretched taught, actually bolted to the far wall, and so Chiyo pulled back towards the potent-looking stack of plastic explosives directed towards the wooden front door, designed to smash through it and tear apart whoever was opening it. Moving closer, the first thing she did was ensure that all pins were pushed back into the detonators and stuck there, ensuring that they wouldn’t be yanked out
Now to disconnect the wires… Chiyo thought to herself, carefully using her power to slowly unravel each and every line, maintaining her focus and discipline as she gently laid the bottommost wires gently on the ground after disconnecting them, knowing that the slightest mistake could trigger the device. Finally, after what felt like an eternity, the last part of the tripwire was rendered inert, and Chiyo exhaled a silent sigh of relief. Moving back, she tried not to spook the others as she moved through the door and returned to her body.
I’ve taken out the tripwires, the Ilithii reported. Though I’ll need the seal of approval from Nika and Sephy before I can say the device is disarmed. Also, there is barely anybody living here! Who owns the building?
“I think it was a private business of some kind,” Sephy spoke up, checking her notes. “I made sure to do a search on the company name before we committed to the job and nothing bad came up.”
“Sephy, how do I activate the camera on the commlink?” Jack asked frustratedly, trying to manipulate his commlink like he would a smartphone from Earth.
“Here!” Sephy took it and quickly showed him, making sure Jack understood the specific app he needed to click, and how to manipulate the camera. “You…want to take a selfie here of all places?”
“Not quite!” Jack grinned with a chuckle and stretched his arm through the door, holding the device. “Just getting a better angle on the room, though I can’t see anything.”
“Good idea!” Nika grinned as she made her way to the other side of the door. “I guess there’s no putting it off any longer, shall we?”
Jack slowly pushed the door open further, with Nika slipping in the moment she could, Sephy and Alora quickly following.
“All clear!” the Skritta confirmed, as Jack, Chiyo and Dante brought up the rear, with the ‘dog’ letting out a slight whine. “I’m not sure what I expected really, it’s mostly like we left it, only without the asshole from before.”
“Be careful,” Jack warned. “Where there is one trap, there could be more.”
“I agree with the caution, but I reckon we won’t find any more traps,” Nika argued. “There’s enough explosives on the door to take the entire floor out! I think whoever set it was hoping to wipe any trace of their being here in the first place.”
“Don’t forget why we’re here,” Alora told them all. “Is there anything that stands out?”
There are astral runes all over the room! Chiyo exclaimed. They’re no longer active and have been that way for a while. Looking at them, I think they were maintained by proximity.
“So it’s reasonable to assume that the guy we spoke to was the guy who cast them?” Jack asked. “Some kind of mage that knows their way around a tripwire?”
“Got folded clothes over here!” Sephy called out to where Dante was curiously sniffing and recoiling away from a meticulously neat pile of clothes on the chair that their ‘client’ had occupied when they were last here. “I’m pretty sure this was what they were wearing when we spoke to them.”
Neatly folded? Chiyo questioned. Why do that when they could have just dumped them?
“Could be a personality quirk?” Jack questioned, recalling the many police procedural TV shows he had seen with his family.
“Something else,” Sephy noted, cautiously dipping her finger into something and poking it. “What is this? Some kind of greyish jelly?”
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I would refrain from touching that, Sephy! Chiyo sighed and floated over. What is that? Alora, have you encountered anything like this before?
Alora walked over while Jack went to look at the explosive with Nika, who was busy making sure it was no longer active, and already had several smaller bags out ready to pack up and take it with them. “I don’t know what this is.” The Eladrie sighed, before casting a quick cantrip. “It doesn’t look dangerous, but it has a very faint magical residue that’s slowly degrading.”
“Is that stuff anywhere else?” Jack asked. “Maybe it’ll tell us what else they got up to here?”
“There’s some greyish muck around the bombs too,” Nika noted, pointing it out to the human. “Only trace amounts though.”
I don’t detect anything else in this apartment, aside from on the door handle and on the chair, Chiyo noted. Yet there was nothing in the corridor outside, I would have detected it.
“Woof!” the previously silent Dante barked, padding up and drawing the group’s attention to the bedroom door, which had the telltale sign of slime on the handle, with the walking stick propped against a nearby bookcase.
“I’ll check for traps!” Sephy told the others as she began examining the door much as Jack had done, while the others confirmed that the small kitchenette and bathroom were completely clear. Aside from the trap at the front door and the discarded disguise, there wasn’t much else.
“Chiyo, do you have an idea on what kind of sigils were in place? “ Alora asked while they waited.
Mostly to do with masking and illusion, Chiyo noted. A lot of preparation went into this deception…
“All clear!” Sephy finally told them, opening the door confidently. “What are we looking at, Dante?”
The ‘dog’ led the way into the room, looking around unsurely, like they were expecting to see something obvious pointing out at them. The bedroom was plain, with a single, well-made bed that clearly hadn’t been slept in for a while, a basic chest of drawers, bookcase and cupboard, and several boring-looking paintings that only an elderly person would consider good taste.
“No window,” Nika noted. “What are we looking at here?”
“Hang on,” Jack spoke up, noticing something and moving to take a closer look. “This bookcase was recently moved, the carpet’s all scuffed.” He carefully got a good grip on the bookcase and slid it across the carpet to reveal what was behind it.
It was a vent of some kind, with a latch that remained unlocked, allowing Jack to easily lift up the grill and take a look. Sure enough, there was a lot of the greyish slime, and by the way it was slathered it was clear that whoever or whatever they had spoken to previously had exited this way. When he shined a light through the vent he couldn’t see any monsters, but he did note several solid-looking chunks, the same colour as the slime.
I’ll take a sample of it, though I have no idea what this means. Chiyo sighed.
“Let’s find out, I’m gonna send a drone down there.” Sephy grinned, pulling one out and setting it to hover and follow the traces of biological material. It zipped through and down, before exiting on the ground floor of the building, following the trails until it arrived at a dead end.
They likely teleported out, you can tell by the pattern in the dirt, Chiyo noted. We should still take a look there before we head home.
“Is that us done here then?” Sephy questioned. “What do we do? We know the actual owner of the apartment is already dead, so…”
“Please tell me you’re not suggesting what I think you are, Sephy.” Alora sighed, looking disappointed at the Skritta. “You know how we found him! Tortured, murdered, and strung up to taunt us, and now you want to steal from him!?”
Sephy may be right, Alora, Chiyo interjected. We did take this job for a reason after all, and though nobody here would ever take what happened to the poor man lightly, the living have more need than the dead.
“We might as well come out of this with something.” Nika shrugged. “We’ve only got a few guns from the Myrodin troops, and we didn’t exactly get much of a payday from the service station or from the truck we took a joyride in. Sure it’s something, but it doesn’t even begin to justify the night of hell we’ve just been through.”
“I’m with Alora on this one,” Jack spoke up, realising he’d have to say something. “I’m not that comfortable going through an innocent old man’s stuff that we have no right to. It’s not like this is some ancient treasure horde from a long-forgotten bloodline or something, he could have a surviving family that needs closure and should inherit stuff that might be sentimental to them.”
He sighed, as exhausted and hurt as the rest of them as he tried to form the words. ”I don’t mind looting bad guys that do us wrong, but I think this man’s suffered enough indignity.”
“You might be outvoted, but you make a good point.” Sephy slowly sighed, as Alora gave Jack a grateful smile and a nod of the head. “We don’t actually know if he had a family, I just assumed it was a load of crap he told us to appeal to our spirits, and it’s not like there’s any sign of anyone else living here. I guess we can do a quick check to confirm…”
“Thanks, Sephy.” Alora acknowledged, accepting the loss.
We should make it quick, Chiyo added. We need to get home and change for school.
“I’m not looking forward to that.” Nika groaned. “We’re all burned out, and it’s gonna be even worse for those coming down from stims…”
“Look on the bright side!” Jack gave the Kizun a tired smile. “At least it’s almost over!”
*****
The morning light dazzled Jack’s eyes as their home district finally got within sight. He let out a yawn as helped Alora along, who was barely able to stand on her feet, with Sephy on his other side, still standing and using her wings but being guided like a zombie. It had been a long, intensely exhausting night for everybody, and Jack was glad that they didn’t encounter any more hostiles, with Sephy connecting to the local networks to avoid corporate patrols, though that did lead the group on a longer path that did not leave them with much time to get ready for school.
The sight of home soon put a spring in the steps of all of them as Jack barely even registered the slightly worse-for-wear local shops before they headed up the long, winding path of their gargantuan neighbouring district, passing the sparsely populated shacks of their mostly elderly neighbours before finally making it to the small, secluded gate of District Sector ST976624SA.
Home.
“There you are! Thank fuck you’re alright!” they heard a familiar voice call out from up top, as they saw Karzen and Bentom standing guard at the top of the tower. “How did the job go? You could have called ahead and we would have cooked you a hot breakfast!”
Alora cursed under her breath as they entered through the gate, not having thought of that. “Job went bad and we’re exhausted!” she called back. “How are things here?”
“We’re good! Obeda thought it’d be a good idea to have more of us on the walls and at least one person keeping an eye on the local news feeds, and we weren’t gonna argue!”
“Good call,” Nika muttered under her breath.
“Well, we’ll try and brew some tea for you at least!” Karzen grinned. “We don’t need to stand guard anymore, so we may as well stay useful. Have you guys not slept?”
No, there’s been barely any time for us to rest, Chiyo told her. While I don’t ‘sleep’ like the others do, I can only imagine how exhausted they are. How much time do we have?
“About ten to fifteen minutes until we need to go.” Bentom shrugged.
Jack sighed at that. Though he knew the local ‘minutes’ here were nothing like those on Earth, it still didn’t give them much time.
“Just dump our stuff in the armoury and get ready,” Alora told the others, struggling to stay awake. “We can just eat a cereal bar to keep us going until lunch.”
They all quickly dispersed and did just that, stopping by the armoury to quickly shuck their bags off and empty their pockets in various heaps on the ground, before taking Dante’s battleskin off of him and letting him go off to eat and sleep. Chiyo didn’t look too happy about not leaving with a decent meal, but was quickly mollified when Alora promised to buy a few bags of sweets on the way to school if they could, to consume during class if they had the time. Their fellow classmates were all mostly ready and gathering in the living room, so they all quickly headed off to their various rooms to get ready.
Jack sighed as he brushed his teeth in the bathroom and checked the time. Surely they’d have enough time for a quick shower? He got in the old, cracked bathtub and turned the handle for the water.
Nothing.
“Oh come on…” Jack groaned to himself out of sheer frustration. They had just gone through a night of hell that should have killed them ten times over, and they couldn’t even go to sleep yet. This was his life now. Surely a hot shower was the least he could ask for?
He almost broke down then and there.
They only had a minute left until they needed to leave, and he was expecting the others to chastise him for taking too much time. He had decided to just hose himself down in deodorant and hoped he didn’t smell too bad. Maybe at school he’d have the opportunity to use his Deathball team’s showers…
He was somewhat surprised to see almost everyone huddled around the TV. He managed to find a spot where he could see, and his eyes bulged as soon as he saw why. Plastered all over the TV for everyone to see, was a bird’s eye view of their highly destructive joyride from just a few hours ago.
“...during the chaos, an unknown group of mercenaries hijacked a truck belonging to Wingu Incorporated and initiated a conflict on the YH87 Transway, leading to a massive loss of life. Though the reason for this conflict is unknown, what is known is that the Regulator Order known as the ‘Order of the Infernal Harmony’ and the former inquisitor of Siros, God of Purity, known as ‘The Redeemer’ attempted to intercept this group, again for unknown reasons, before the latter was shot down and almost killed in action. When our correspondent on the ground approached ‘The Redeemer’ for questioning, he had this to say:”
The scene on the TV shifted to the highway, with a backdrop of several destroyed vehicles. The entrance to the tunnel was almost completely blocked off by the burning debris of The Redeemer’s dropship. The Ogar himself looked critically wounded, with many visible lacerations, and several bandages covering the right side of his face. His arm hung uselessly at his side, and his movements were slow and pained.
Jack subtly grinned to himself, despite everything that had happened. He got this asshole good!
“My King,” The Redeemer growled as he shuffled back and forth, with the cameraman backing away. “Do you dare mock me? Have I not praised your name? Have I not fought those you have deemed unworthy?”
“Good morning…” the news reporter nervously spoke up, as a diminutive-looking Xarak walked forward, holding a microphone. “We just wanted to get your statement on….”
He didn’t finish his sentence, as The Redeemer roared in rage and shoved the reporter to the side, before striding forward and grabbing the camera, putting his injured face into full view.
“Make no mistake, My King!” The Redeemer yelled. “You will grant me another encounter with the Outsider, and the power to destroy him, or you shall become my enemy. If you do not, I shall march my forces to your verdant palace and tear your perfect kingdom down!” He gave a wicked, insane grin at the camera. “So sayeth, The Redeemer!”
“Holy fuck…” Nika muttered. “This guy’s nuts!”
“In other news,” the news anchor continued. “Several instances of rioting and looting have been violently suppressed by warlord and self-proclaimed ‘hero’, Commander Cocaine, who had the following to say:”
“OHHH YEAH!” Commander Cocaine’s excited-looking expression matched that of the female avian reporter he had one of his arms around. “Commander Cocaine and the boys and girls have been busy tonight, yeah!”
“Thank you for joining us, Commander!” The reporter next to him smiled. “Do you have any comments on the current chaos in the city?”
“They’re totally banging!” Vanya purred from where she was sat on the sofa, before being shushed by one of the others.
“Yeah!” the aquatic being yelled. “We’ve seen the looting, yeah! We’ve seen the fighting, yeah! And we’ve seen the dying, yeah! But Commander Cocaine also sees the ones responsible, yeah!”
“And who do you hold responsible Commander?” the reporter asked.
“There’s the MegaCorps, yeah! There’s the cultists, yeah! And then…” Commander Cocaine looked serious for the very first time. “Then…there’s those out there stirring the pot, yeah! Commander Cocaine knows, yeah! SO LET ME TELL THEM ONE MORE TIME!” the man suddenly yelled. “I AM COMMANDER COCAINE, AND COMMANDER COCAINE IS COMING FOR YOU! OHHH YEAH!”
“Jesus Christ…” Jack snorted in amusement. “That dude must have been popping more rocks than Hunter Biden…”
“And finally our main story this morning…” the news anchor concluded. “The current conflicts between several MegaCorporations within the city of Naganai came to a fever pitch last night, with multiple reports coming in that Corvin Enterprises has achieved a decisive victory, after a coalition of organisations launched an attack on their headquarters during the later hours of the evening.”
“That’s right Oudrie!” the co-anchor spoke up. “The Chairman and CEO of Corvin Enterprises, Atticus Corvin has now become the 9th Most Wanted Bounty on Hive Station Bastilla, ascending from his previous position as the 10th….”
“Everyone, we need to go!” Alora called out. “We’re going to be late for school!”
“Hang on a sec guys…” Jack called to his friends as he held out the Ring of Lesser Restoration he and Sephy had looted from the Prefect’s Lockup. “This seems like the perfect opportunity to use this thing. It can keep you going after getting tired, right?”
The physical effects of fatigue, yes, Chiyo informed him. That would be useful to us, however it only holds three charges and there are four of us that would benefit from its use…
Jack looked confused at the Ilithii for a moment, before Chiyo clarified. I would not benefit from this, as I don’t sleep like the rest of you do. I naturally regain my vitality through meditation, calories and reduced activity. I will be fine until we get to class.
“If you say so…” Jack nodded, putting the ring on. “So how do I use this? Like a command word or something?”
It shouldn’t require attunement since it’s been in your proximity for a while, but you should know the command phrase instinctively if you wear it, and choose the target of the spell.
“Huh.” Jack shrugged to himself, before pointing at Alora. “Mohlo.”
A faint trace of white light shot out from his hand as Alora perked up. “Gods, that feels better!”
“Don’t worry about me, save the other charges for you and Sephy…” Nika began, before Jack used the ring’s effect on Nika.
“Too late to argue.” Jack grinned, before turning to Sephy.
“Hey, not me!” Sephy shook her head emphatically. “It’s my fault we took this job, I…”
“Mohlo.” Jack pointed at the Skritta with a resigned smile. “Nice try, but I don’t blame you, and I don’t think anyone else does either. I’m pretty sure all of us could have done something differently at some point, but you can’t beat yourself up over it. We either succeed or fail as a team, and although we all had a bad time, we came through it stronger, if not necessarily richer…”
“Well said.” Alora smiled at Jack. “I hope you’ve still got enough energy in the tank, because I don’t want us to be late for school!”
“Yep…” Jack sighed as he started to move…