“Name?” the guard asked. He yawned, not looking up from his clipboard. A series of lights and words generated above the clipboard in holographic lettering. He seemed glued to the clipboard, purposefully avoiding the eyes of the people in front of him.

“Alexis Sable” Alyx said. Telling the name to a border guard wasn’t necessary, but for the purposes of efficiency and formality, many still do. To some guards, its an extra safety measure to prove the name stated matched the name in the system. Alexis Sable wasn’t her real name, but it was the one she used.

“Alexis, Alexis” the man said, searching through his device, “I’m sorry, I don’t see an Alexis in our database.”

“Check again”, Alyx said. Caz noticed movement under her sleeves.

“Oh, there you are. I’m not sure how I missed that. Apologies Ms. Sable. I just need your ID now.”

Caz, standing behind her, looked at Alyx curiously, though behind his frustum hat and semi-opaque Johrei shards hanging down from the hat’s rim, no one could tell.

Alyx pulled up her arm. The long black sleeve she held forward had three small glowing squares on it. One of them lit up and generated a holographic ID in the air. The officer heard the hum from the hologram, and raised the scanner to scan the ID, still not looking up from his clipboard.

Somebody gasped next to the pair, but the officer ignored it. The officer just wanted to get on with his day so he could go home. He had better things to do, meeting his innate goal of becoming the titular archetype of a person who could care less about anything around him. Just like how the artist pours their entire heart into creating a masterpiece, he pours his entire heart into disregarding the objective reality that surrounds him on the daily. It was a feat that was so stupidly impressive, Caz couldn’t help but feel amused watching him.

“Alright. ID matches. Welcome to Ecreville. Next!”

Alyx strode through the metal detector with no difficulty. Caz found something odd, and risky, about an Onyx technician refusing to carry any of her tools on her, especially given the circumstances of the current hunt. I guess in this case, there was a valid reason.

As Caz pulled up, the same guard began again, “Name?”

“Casimir Lionnane”, he said.

The guard paused, as well as several of the onlookers next to him. The guard looked up at the imposing tall man in front of him. A little more than six feet, Caz was strapped from head to toe in Bastion armor. Gauntleted wrists whirred, a raven-black chest plate with a glowing core at the center, legs wrapped in in bastion metal with segmented designs, the large hat he wore obscuring his face, and a large, twin-pronged halberd as tall as him locked into his backside, unactivated, gave the guard the impression of a walking armory. He looked almost…inhuman.

Most of the onlookers talked in hushed whispers amongst themselves. Most rarely get to see a Division hunter in person, but to witness an Augmentor – that was a treat no one thought to see in Ecreville of all places. Inners, which consisted of Augmentors, Supplementors, and - though many try to discredit them - the Enhanced, didn’t just wear Bastion armor - it was part of their bodies, grafted on - a second skin, so to speak.

For Casimir, his armor guarded all of his vital organs, save for his “heart” – an Elite Enthipid core - which was visible within a spherical armor slot nestled behind a thick layer of translucent Johrei shielding and synchronized to his adjacent armor sections, giving Caz the benefit of replacing Enthipid cores on the fly, and thus utilizing the various creatures’ abilities. Since the core serves the same function that his heart once did, depriving it would lead to his inevitable demise, but Augmentors had the advantage over Supplementors in that his body would provide reserves of oxygen that would keep him alive for a good amount of time before things become fatal. In every aspect, save for potential of the condition known as the Voices of Madness, an Augmentor was a superior human specimen.

Alyx recommended subtlety coming here, but given Casimir’s reputation, he believed there was no point in hiding his identity.

“You’re, you’re –”, the guard stammered, before reducing the volume of his voice. “I – I’m sorry sir, we don’t allow h-hunter business within Ecreville.”

“Don’t worry. No hunter business”, Caz replied smoothly. “I’m just here to take in the sights. I’m a huge fan of music and heard the Psyhi had a music festival happening nearby. You wouldn’t deny me such recreation, would you? Cause that would be a problem.”

If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

The guard, though somewhat fearful, looked at Caz questioningly. He couldn’t tell what Caz was thinking. The onlookers around him didn’t know whether to approach Caz to ask questions or fall back from the intimidation of his presence.

“Well, you don’t have any current infractions in Ecreville. So long as it stays that way, I won’t deny you access. Still, if I could ask you to drop off your weapon sir? I can’t have you bringing that into the district. I hope you understand.”

“Oh, this?” Caz said, pointing his thumb to the halberd at his back. “You have heard that I’m an Augmentor, right? This thing’s a part of me. If you separate it from my person for too long, I would actually just die. And we can’t have that can we, haha?” Caz gave a booming laugh. The guard wasn’t laughing however, and instead looked anxiously at the other guards, who looked just as unsure at how to deal with this situation.

All that Caz said about the halberd was a lie of course, but no one outside of technicians and Division members knew enough to say otherwise. Alyx sighed waiting for Caz to finish his spiel. That man was going to be the end of her. The guard looked nervously at the halberd and then back at Caz, wondering which course of action he should take next.

“Um, yes, yes. I u-understand. Of course, Mr. Lionnane. However, I think I would need to discuss this with – ”

“It’s okay”, a woman’s voice chimed in. “You can let him through. He’s with me. I invited him to watch the Scarlet Wings live today.” She looked at Caz. “Looks like you missed my debut, but I can still get you backstage access if you want meet the bandmates.”

Caz smiled under his hat. “Well, that’s a shame. I’ve always been bad with timing. I’d love to get a tour around the place, if you’ll have me.”

“Ms. Rainsong? What are you –”. However, the guard steadied himself. “Casimir Lionnane, you may enter. But keep to the festival venue if that is your purpose. Please understand we don’t want to attract civilian attention to…a man of your repute.”

“Of course,” Caz replied with a tad too much exaggerated formality. When he walked through, multiple alarms in the metal detector rang, but the guards did nothing.

“Lead the way, Ms. Rainsong”, Caz stated.

Mimi gave an amused look at him before turning towards where Alyx was. They walked toward her.

“I’ve only waited five years for you to finish that debacle”, Alyx said, looking up at Caz. She was not entertained.

“Yo”, Mimi said, raising her hand in greeting.

“Hey, Mimi”, Alyx greeted back. They high-fived. “I’m not surprised you found out we were coming. You always seem to know what’s going on before anyone else does.”

“Well, maybe not you in particular, and especially not the Blackbird himself”, Mimi replied, eyeing him up and down. She nodded approvingly. “But I am keeping my ears open to anyone notable from Lucens Mundi who pops their head up around here.”

Alyx’s ears perked up at that. Mimi was maybe a little too good at what she did. Alyx had known her for a long time, even back when Mimi was the Daimyo of the Valkyries, and although Mimi may not realize it herself, Alyx knew Mimi’s ability to gather, manipulate, and distribute information was unmatched by anybody in the entirety of Neo-Kamakura. Even the Clan of Tribute’s vast network of eyes and ears didn’t have the knowledge she had, nor the pull over people she carries, although that latter trait might be attributable to more than just her natural charisma.

“So you know, huh? Anybody else know we’re here?” Alyx inquired.

Mimi responded, “Other than those people and guards you just announced yourselves to? No. And don’t worry about them. I’ll have that taken care of.” She looked over towards the border station and waved with a smile at the guards, who had been watching the trio warily. They jumped at her noticing them and returned to scanning IDs.

“Anyways, I know who you’re looking for, and as of these last few minutes, I even know where they’re located.” She grinned mischievously. “But we’ll talk somewhere more private about it. There’s…matters I want to clarify with you two first. Come meet me backstage at the Psyhi. I’ll have some tea prepared.”

They? Alyx thought, and then she had a revelation. In that moment, Alyx’s respect, and fear, for Mimi grew.

And with that, the trio began walking towards the Psyhi Music Festival.

********

The Ecreville border guards began discussing in low voices over their comms.

“Have a few men follow those three. I don’t know who the little girl is, but Mimi and Casimir are both Division Shoguns. Whatever they say they’re doing, I don’t buy it one bit, over”, the captain of the guards said.

“Yeah, definitely hunter business, over”, another guard stated.

“Who are we sending to watch? We still have to keep watching over the borders, over”, a third guard asked.

“Should we let the Auditors know about this, over?”

“No, involving them always causes major problems later on, over.”

“I think Mimi knows we suspect her.”

“Don’t be crazy. She’s just friendly. Comes with being an idol, y’know.”

“Are you seriously insinuating that? Did you not just hear that part where I said she is a Shogun, AKA the leader of one of the most dangerous hunter groups in the city? How ‘bout you – Oh hello there. Are you here for the festival? I’ll need your name to start.” The guard cut off his comms.

“Can we stop squabbling like children fresh off the teat? The captain is the one who decides what we do in the end. And quit talking over each other. Say ‘over’ when you’re finished speaking, over.”

After a momentary pause, the captain spoke again, “Men, get in touch with the local patrols around the Psyhi festival. Ask them to keep watch over Mimi Rainsong and the Blackbird. If they ever leave the venue, I want them to report to me first before bringing anything to the local Auditors. Before we take any rash actions, I want to know exactly what they’re doing here. We’ll figure out what to do next after we’ve gathered more information, over.”

“Yes, captain”, the other guards announced in unison.