Kyte sat straight-backed with a slight forward lean on a pristine white chair in front of a large screen. Their wrists and ankles were individually cuffed in the same Mercury bands as Nico's. Their necks remained free, much to Kyte’s relief. Their escape from Yinzhu’s frayed temper was also a relief. The official’s wrath was solely directed at Nico, who sat beside Kyte on an identical chair. However, his head was currently dangling off the seat and his legs flailing dramatically in the air.

“Sit. Properly.” Yinzhu hissed, towering above Nico’s head. Kyte passively traced the veins popping on her forehead. They were almost certain that the increase was exponential, with the x-axis being every passing second interacting with Nico.

“Oh, woe is me! I can’t seem to remember anything over your nagging!” Nico smirked. He too must have noticed Yinzhu’s increasing number of visible forehead veins. He continued talking in mock distress, now in a higher pitch. “Those classified files were so dense your grace. It would be so easy to lose track of its contents.” Kyte pressed their lips into a tight line in an effort not to snicker. Yinzhu looked ready to go ballistic. But all that energy was instead directed to the most aggressive sigh and nose-bridge pinch combo Kyte had ever witnessed; all to Nico’s great disappointment.

Yinzhu strode to the board and finally started the briefing in earnest.

“A couple of months ago, a small asteroid landed in a section of the ocean just south of our archipelago. Corresponding with its decent, high levels of Mercury were detached by the multitude of sensors stationed at every plant in the region. Not only that, but some plants even reported their sensors burning out due to unprecedented levels of energy.” Nico let out a large yawn, drawing out the sound for good measure. Yinzhu pointedly ignored him and continued.

“However, when teams were dispatched to investigate, no trace of Mercury was found. In fact, it was as if the entire asteroid never even fell. It is imperative for the city’s safety that we quickly retrieve and contain whatever caused those readings.”

“Ok that’s cute and all but what does that have to do with me,” he jabbed a finger in Kyte’s direction, “or them for the matter?” said Nico as he sat up only to flop forward again against the table.

“I was getting to it.” Yinshu snapped. “A few days later, some of our highest Mercury-consuming systems experienced unexplained glitches. Most notably the Weather Dome, which resulted in some minor news outlets reporting on the sudden spike in humidity.”

“So you believe the glitches have to do with the asteroid?” asked Kyte. Yinzhu nodded.

“We do. Trace amounts of similar readings have been detected sporadically around the lower tiers. It is imperative that the government retrieves this asteroid and whatever is inside of it before the mafia uses it for their corrupt means.” Nico spits out a wad of blood and it splatters millimeters away from Yinzhu’s coat.

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“Apologies your grace, but I have a hard time listening to tasteless hypocrisy and lies,” spat Nico.

“Did the guards hit you too hard? Or do you just naturally spew baseless slander and pass lies as truths? I heard that up north, the traditional treatment for madness was bloodletting and extreme isolation. Perhaps you would benefit from such intervention if these ludacris statements don’t cease.” Yinzhu responded with a voice dripping in venom.

Nico whipped his head away and mumbled something about how he isn’t scared of a little torture but otherwise kept quiet. Yinzhu finished the debrief with a self-satisfied air now that both her audience members were quiet. At the end, Kyte politely nodded to show their understanding, but Nico rolled his eyes.

“I see how it is. You and the rest of you golden mutts want me and that grad student to act like your ‘super-mercury-asteroid’ bloodhound.” He pushed himself up and looked up at the ceiling with a loud sigh, “Well I got bad news, your grace, but I left my old boss weeks before your maybe-asteroid hit earth. What’s more, I wasn’t ever involved with the boss’s R&D teams so I don’t know where or how they operate. So, I’m just as ignorant as you.” Instead of scolding Nico like Kyte anticipated, Yinzhu smiled. Nico raised a brow.

“You really are hopeless. The intelligence team has already located and narrowed down possible locations they could be storing it.” Yinzhu pointed the tip of her gilded fan at Nico. Level with his jugular, Kyte notes. “All you need to do is get us access.”

“ I don’t know how to get into every mafia base. You underestimate how secretive my late boss is.”

“Then I suppose you better start knowing how to get in.” Yinzhu brings up a 3D map of the city. Multiple glowing red dots litter the surface: potential locations. Without counting Kyte knows that it’s too many locations for them to comb through by the chairman’s deadline. Taking a peak at Nico’s exasperated expression, Kyte saw he realized the same thing.

“There is no way I can get us into all of those, especially not time.”

“Well, then you and Kyte here should get working to narrow down the most likely locations.” Yinzhu glared down, “and if you value your lives, you should also get working on an infiltration plan.” She pointed with her fan at Kyte’s cuffs, “ those don’t come off until either we retrieve the asteroid, provide proof it doesn’t exist–which is unlikely–or you die.” Yinzhu reached into her silk sleeve and pulled out a small disk. With a flick, she tossed it into Kyte’s lap. “ All available information is contained there. I will return in 24 hours. If no reasonable plan is proposed by then…” She lets her words trail off into their implied demise.

“Good luck,” and to Kyte, “You will need it.” Yinzhu was gone with the mechanical click of the door lock.

Nico groaned. “This is such a nightmare! C’mon Kyte, how did you get us in this awful situation?”

“Awful? Oh no, this is just delightful! Never before has such a natural phenomenon been recorded. I’m just electrified with the possibilities to investigate,” said Kyte as they gave Nico their most winning smile. His face contorted from confusion to bewilderment to disgust in a loop. Kyte kept smiling and talking about asteroids, even as their mind wandered to how direct access to confidential information just dropped itself in their lap.