Something was wrong. I’ve had the feeling for a while now ever since I first looked into the corp, but sitting across the street in a frankly disgusting restaurant pointed me in the right direction. Or- or it could be the mystery meat that I just ate. I'm ninety percent sure it was chopped up rat…

Cold Moon Solutions had a four-story building all to itself on the edge of Bricktown. Of course, the alleys on its sides were tagged to hell by the Jade Fang and Neo-Jokers, though the latter were nowhere in sight. It was a bit odd? Normally the Neo-Jokers would at least be in the area considering this was their turf, but so far I had yet to see anyone with their telltale bright red hair.

The building itself wasn’t anything too interesting, but the security was. Armed guards sat just inside the large glass doors into the place. I spotted at least a couple dozen cameras and other security features scattered about, and they weren’t low-grade either.

The cameras themselves were a bit odd. They didn’t look like any of the normal cameras I’d run into, nor were they anything from Sentinel. It took a while, and some serious looking through the Net, before I figured out what they were: Mystech’s Manasense. It was too far to tell the exact mark, but the tech was interesting.

True to the corporation’s nature, Mystech’s Manasense was a kind of technology that mixed the mystical with the technical. The tech was quite expensive, offering vision both into the mundane and lightly into the Aether. Not quite sure how it all worked, but I had to admit Mystech was quite skilled considering how finicky the magic and tech were. Definitely a reason they were among the big seven.

Not sure why Cold Moon Solutions even decided to have Mystech's security. It was stupid expensive, and they definitely couldn’t afford it based on what I'd seen. They weren’t the only oddity either. As I said, there were armed security guards. And not just security guards, but Adepts by the looks of things. They’re the only ones that carry wands about like that- well, excluding the apparently abundant cosplay population.

I watched the building for several hours, each one opening even more questions than the last. For instance, where the hell was their money flow coming from? Were they- were they working with Savants like that insurance company did? Surely not… he had to have some level of self-respect at least.

And what’s up with all the magic stuff? The last time I checked, which was literally earlier today, Cold Moon Solutions was a tech company first, and a networking company second. Magic wasn't anywhere in their purview.

It wasn’t just the Adepts and Mystech stuff either. I’d looked through the list of gigs they hired Athena for. About half of them were items from Cwalu, while the other half were varied magical relics. If even one of the things Cold Moon Solutions acquired was on the level of the monstrous box from the Leper-Khans, things weren’t looking so good.

They were also guarding against a magic attack from the looks of things. Just what did the corporation get into that required this level of security? Something reeked about the whole situation, and it wasn't the rats.

Hmm… I need to go in- er, I don’t need to, but I want to. I want to see the state and confirm it. Thankfully, getting in wouldn’t be that hard. I could bypass the majority of their security by simply acting as if I were a customer. Their core service, at least their public one, was still network set up.

I wouldn’t go in as is though. The sun had set about an hour ago, and the corporation was about to shut down for the night. That, and no way I was going in there without a solid disguise. Maybe I should call up Feras?

Or maybe not. That guy wasn’t exactly reliable. The last couple times I partnered up with him haven’t exactly gone smoothly… Speaking of team-ups, now that Mira is on the other side of the country my list of contacts was way too short. I’ve got Torren and Shinobu… and that’s it. Other than the three fixers and Iris’s team I guess, but fat chance they’ll do field work with me if I asked politely.

Maybe after this is over I could go to a merc dive and try to get a job with a group? Might be a good chance to build up Mr. White’s reputation. Nothing like rep to get me a better-paying job.

Or maybe not. Merc dives were… Well, I’d never actually been to one. I guess I should withhold judgment. Besides, Feras talked about them briefly in the past. As long as I had the skills to back up what I was claiming, it wouldn’t be an issue. And I definitely had skills in Tech and Stealth to get some decent gigs.

I finished up my meal and then headed out of the restaurant. I took a detour into an alley, having to skip by one of them that was full of a shady-looking group, and got up onto the roof of the building via fire escape.

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

I jumped the gap between a couple buildings to get into the perfect position across the street from Cold Moon Solutions to continue my stakeout. If I decided to sabotage the place after all, then I might as well learn the security patterns. That, and I had a better view through a bunch of the windows from here.

I made myself in the shadow of an air conditioning unit and settled in for the night. Corvid even came by for a little bit, dropping off another one of those black crystals.

— — —

The next morning I didn’t immediately run over to Cold Moon Solutions. Instead, I stuffed my armor into my bag and looked through my frankly chaotic apartment. The printer was just about finished, so I’d have all the stuff I needed to get set up in the Underground, which was yet another thing I’d have to dedicate time to. My loot was scattered about the place. I was quite thankful the landlord took a hands-off approach with the place, otherwise…

I went around and picked up the masks and the ugly statue from my latest heist, stuffing them into one of the duffle bags along with the fox statue I klept from the Neo-Jokers. I had gloves on, so I didn’t feel the tingle that I felt the last time I touched it.

I also loaded up on my pistols and a couple knives. Thanks to my armor, there were dozens of spots where I could easily hide the weapons. Nothing said intimidation like an overabundance of weaponry.

With all of that prepped, I headed out onto the streets. I chose a random location not too far off from Sakura Street to armor up. I adjusted the armor, finally activating the adjustable chroma on it. I set the color to red with a faint pulsation and then glanced at the reflection as I headed back for my bike. The red along the contours made my shape a bit easier to look at and not as headache-inducing. The pulsation made it a bit eerie though.

I was just about to continue on when I remembered the voice modulator. I slapped the device on just underneath the bodysuit part of my armor. As an added bonus, it looked a bit like an Adam's apple, adding to my disguise.

With that, I was set to meet Carone. I parked fairly far away and walked to his antiquity store. The guards stopped me just before I could enter. The goon on the left stepped forward. “No weapons.”

I passed one of the pistols over to the guard,\ and proceeded only to be stopped by the goon on the right. “Pat down.”

I dodged out of his reach and discreetly tapped on my wrist, making the pulsation effect quicker. “I heard chrome hands were in style,” I commented in as cold of a voice as I could and popped my knuckles in a way I hoped was intimidating.

“Huh?” The two backed off slightly, looking confused. Not to self, Shiro; some people need dumbed-down threats.

“Gonks.” A long, drawn-out sigh came from inside and Carone’s voice called out. “Let them in.”

The two guards stepped off, allowing me entry into the store. I walked in, calmly striding to Carone’s desk as I tossed the duffle bag onto it. The fire kinetic himself stood just off to the side, twirling a fire around his hand. He was better at it than the last time I saw him. This time, the fire looked like a dragon with detailed scales on about half of it.

”Ah, you must be Mr. White. What a… fitting name.” Carone lazily sent the fire off to light a candle off to the side.

”I didn't come to chat.” I coolly said to him, completely unfazed. Or at least that’s how I acted.

“Fine, fine…” Carone shrugged and unzipped the bag, withdrawing the items within. He glanced over the three from Franz’s vault, though he paused for a few seconds too long on the fox statue. “What an… interesting piece.”

”That’s the thing I need to identify.” I waved a hand. “The other three are to sell.”

Carone set down the fox statue and looked over the other three with a bit more thoroughness. He started with the masks. “They certainly look authentic. Probably fetch three to four grand each.”

That was… better than I thought? That was almost as much as I was going to make from my gig with Athena. “What about the statue?”

“It…” Carone frowned and tapped on it a couple of times with his finger. He turned it over several times. He summoned a flame from one of the candles and used it to melt the bottom side, revealing a wood core. “It’s a forgery. Only worth the materials used to make it, unless you want to try and offload it to some idiot. I only deal in real merchandise though.”

Damn… I need to train my eyes better. I wonder if the other two items I got were also forgeries. Surely not though, right? Cristoph couldn’t have been that careless with his money, right? “The fox statue?”

Carone’s eyes flashed with undisguised greed as he looked at it, though the emotion faded as he ran a hand down the metal fur. “Worth a pretty penny… to the right person.”

”Not for sale.” I already had a spot picked out in my stash for it.

”Fine, fine… as for its effects, I recognize them.” Carone flipped the statue over and rubbed at the base of it. His rubbing revealed a small Crow symbol engraved into the metal. “Crow’s crooks commonly use this type of enchantment to hide items from other eidolons. Particularly when they… acquire it from said other eidolons.”

Oh? Does that mean Fox can’t see the statue? And that it was stolen from her? Then… if I were to give it to her shrine, would that raise my favorability with her? Ah, that must be the right person Carone talked about. Favor seemed to be pretty important to Magus, so there was no doubt one would pay a high price for more of it.

Carone put the statue back down and picked up the masks. “Come back in a couple days.”

“Chek. Oh, and I want my payment on a chip.” The wireless transmission-type transactions that I usually use are supposed to be a hundred percent foolproof and private, but I didn’t want to leave any chances. A chip could act as a middleman and temporarily hold the funds that I could then transfer into my account.

”That’s fine.” Carone went back to playing with fire. He trailed it into a moon, imitating my calling card. “You really should cover your tracks better.”

“Ah, then how will I gain rep for a better job?” I put the fox statue back into my duffle bag and turned to leave.