Chapter Nine - They Tried

Crystal patted Alice's back in an attempt to be as comforting as possible. "It's okay. You tried," she said.

Alice couldn't help the blush trying to spread its way across her cheeks, so she pulled the hood of her cloak down lower and did her best to will it away. "Yeah," she said noncommittally.

Her attempt to meet with the city council, or at least the chairman had... not gone as well as she might have hoped.

First, the lady at the counter had been, in a word, a hardass. She didn't care who Alice was, what kind of primordial power she wielded, or the kind of threat that Alice could represent. All that mattered was that neither Alice nor Crystal had a home address within the city, a citizenship number, or any usable ID.

She was told to wait, so they did wait, for an hour. During that time, the old lady by the counter continued to play cards, then finally got up... only to go use the washroom.

Alice was just about ready to put the fear of god in the old woman, but Crystal held her back. "So, that didn't work," Crystal said.

"Yes," Alice agreed. She unclenched her jaw, then sighed. "It very much didn't work."

"It's okay, it's okay," Crystal said. "There's always other options."

Alice sighed and reined in her frustration. "You're right. We came here with no real reputation. It's not surprising that no one will care about us. But I don't like being so... ignored. Not when either one of us could bring this city down."

"Hey, not having a reputation isn't all bad," Crystal said. "And it's not like the locals know that there are two walking nukes in their city square. How about we find out what we can over there?" She pointed across the street, to the Office of Zone Exploration.

"Are you sure?" Alice asked.

"I've got a good feeling about it," Crystal replied. "Trust me?"

Alice couldn't say no to Crystal, not when the younger magical girl looked up to her with big, shining eyes. It was a secret that Alice would take to the grave, of course. If Crystal knew that Alice could be convinced just by pulling out the puppy-dog eyes, then Crystal would suddenly have far too much power.

"Alright, I suppose it's worth a try."

"Yeah!" Crystal cheered. She bounced on the spot, arms raised over her head. Her good mood was a little contagious, and Alice allowed herself a small smile as she followed after the skipping Crystal.

They got a few looks as they crossed the open plaza in front of City Hall, but Crystal didn't seem to care about the looks, and most people that saw her skipping smiled, or shook their heads rather fondly.

Joy, Alice guessed, wasn't something too common here, but when it did spark up, the locals weren't quick to squash it.

The Office of Zone Exploration was a lot busier than the City Hall, with a dozen people waiting outside, and more filling the interior. Crystal slipped through the people by the entrance, Alice coming in behind her.

Within, they found a decently large lobby area that had clearly been converted from an office into something a little more homey.

Couches had been dragged in and placed in a large circle, and there were a few tables with chairs around them. A counter ran across the room to the right, with a grated fence coming down from the ceiling to mark the area as off-limits. Bottles and guns and gear hung from the wall behind the counter, guarded by an overweight man in a wife-beater and apron.

Cigarette smoke filled the air, along with music hissing from a jury-jigged PA system with wires that dangled from above.

The people here were much the same as those outside. Mostly men, mostly in army fatigues and overalls and worn-but-tough clothes. They nearly all had masks, but inside, none of them were wearing them. They were also disproportionately armed.

"Looks like a dirtier adventurer's guild," Crystal said. "But with more guns."

"Hey," a man said with one of those backwards nods guys did when they wanted someone to know they were being addressed. It was aimed at Alice and Crystal. "Are you two looking for someone?"

He looked somewhat more put together than the average person there, with a button-up shirt tucked into slacks and a tie hanging loose. Notably, he was only armed with a small officer's pistol by his hip. He didn't look like the rest, more like a very lost office worker.

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"Hi," Crystal said. "Do you work here?"

"Yeah," he said. "I'm an employee of the Office of Zone Exploration. Can I help you? Are you looking for your big brothers? Husbands?"

"Look at Melnyk, going after the first pretty things to step into our little hole," a guy at a table nearby said. He grinned over the top of his mug.

"Hey, Melnyk, show them all of your scars!" Another called out.

The man, Melnyk, barely reacted past a slight tightening in the corner of his eyes.

"We're looking for information," Crystal said. "Maybe you could help us?"

Melnyk actually eyed the pair for a moment. "Are you from the bureau?"

"We're coming from a bureau," Crystal said, and it had the benefit of being true, on account of the City Hall having plenty of mostly-empty offices. "But we're not here for an inspection. We really are just looking for something. Or, I guess, someone."

The man, Melnyk, eyed the two of them. Alice wasn't sure how much he could make out, with the hoods disguising part of their faces and the lounge area's lighting being rather sub-par, but he nodded. "Follow me, please. And ignore these idiots. They take to bright ideas like water takes to a goose's back."

"Hey!" the drinker nearby protested, "this brain has been boiling for ages, Melnyk! If you stepped out from behind a desk sometime yours might warm up too!"

Melnyk dismissed them, then gestured for Crystal and Alice to follow him. They did so, and soon found themselves past a set of double doors into the deeper parts of the building. There were cubicles here, but also more doors going further in. A large grated door at the back was guarded by a pair of bored men. The room behind it had stacks of ammunition crates and guns.

This was, she realised, not a normal sort of office situation. Something was up here.

"So, who or what are you looking for?" Melnyk said as he pulled into a small cubicle and gestured to the chairs ahead of him. The desk had several stacks of paper on it, and a small trash can next to it overflowing with paper coffee cups. The computer in the corner looked both new and ancient. New as in it had only been installed a few years prior, at most, and ancient in that it was a large CRT monitor with a brick for a mouse.

Crystal sat, then Alice did the same. "We're looking for a friend of ours," she said.

Alice glanced her way. She wasn't sure how wise letting others know of their ultimate goal was. Then again, how much could it hurt?

"Her name is Meagan, and we think she's... ah, more or less that way?" Crystal pointed to one side.

Melnyk followed, then frowned. "This friend of yours went into the zone?" he asked.

"You're not Stalkers, are you?"

"What's a Stalker?" Crystal asked.

He scoffed. "A fool who dives into the zone, past the security barriers, without permission, training, or a lick of common sense. They bumble around like cows on ice and half the time we end up having to save their sorry asses."

"Oh, well, no, Meagan isn't that," Crystal said.

"We've travelled some ways to get here," Alice said. "What can you tell us about this zone?"

Melnyk frowned. "As much as anyone else. Which is to say, nothing. You know that it's all classified."

"It is?" Crystal asked.

He scoffed. "For as much good as it does. As if anyone can miss the storms, and the walls, and the stories. The official story is the same, and as an official, I must repeat it. There is nothing wrong, there is no Zone, there is no anomaly, there is nothing wrong. And so on."

"Isn't this the Office of Zone Exploration?" Alice asked.

"Eh, what of it?"

"Right," she replied. "In any case, we're thinking of heading out to save our friend. We know where she is, more or less, is there anything we should know?"

Melnyk shook his head. "You can't."

"We can't?" Alice asked.

"Why not?"

"Because to enter the zone you need a permit, which means passing the regulatory tests. People that enter the zone without are hunted down. For their own good. It won't do your friend any favours if you go in and then get shot down on the way out."

"Oh, well that's not a problem, we don't intend to come back," Crystal said with her best smile.

***