We remained camped out on top of the building for several hours after my phone call to Ishimaru, probably so the Jade Fangs could validate my info. Once several vans started to pull up around the warehouse though, we moved down and out of the building. By the time we got to the street level, the rackets of gunfire and occasional explosions had already begun.

Of course, the Fangs were eager to clear out the Savant Lab as soon as possible. It was good PR for them, cleared out a hostile entity, and made the people around more accepting of ‘protection’ fees. Nothing makes a particular group look better than comparing them to someone worse.

Then there was the minor detail of loot. If this one was ‘secretly’ sponsored by a corporation just like most Savant Labs, then there would be some good stuff stashed in there. High-end lab equipment, drugs, and ‘course any data pulled from the terminals in the lab were all but guaranteed. That wasn’t even considering the miscellaneous goods and stuff they could grab from the guards.

We returned to my apartments and I shot a text to Carone about Ajay Insurance going down sometime soon. He didn't reply, but the message turned to read a few minutes later. After that, I also sent one to Nael about heading into Advent tomorrow. Nael responded with a thumbs-up emoji and 'Good luck, kid.'

“So…” Feras said as I began to tie him up for the night. By this point, I hardly thought it was needed, but the guy’s occupation was conning people. I'd much rather be safe than sorry. “Y-you’re in tight with the Fangs?”

I finished up the knots. “Yeah.”

“Right… they’ll be able to wipe out the lab…” He frowned as I stepped back and appraised my handiwork. “L-listen, I’ll have enough money to go on my own soon.”

“Sure.”

“Well… it’s b-been nice, I guess.” He looked down at his tied-up hands. “Other than t-tying me up every night, and not in a fun way.”

“Don’t make me kick you out prematurely,” I said as I made sure the door was locked.

He chuckled. “Right. Look, I just wanted to say- just… never mind.” He looked off towards the windows and settled down against the wall. “Night, shorty.”

I ‘tripped’ over his foot as I headed for my room, mercilessly crushing it under me. Twice. “Night, leech.”

For some reason, he groaned in pain as I settled in for the night.

I awoke to the interface blinking in my bleary eyes. After checking the local news, I found out why rather quickly. Last night, Ajay Insurance ‘mysteriously’ burned down. It was mysterious because only his corner burned out, and only one person, suspected to be Ajay, was caught in the fire. I shut the news off on my deck and looked down at the interface's near-holographic screen.

「Sleight of Hand - 7>8」

「Net - 1>2」

「Intimidation - 1 Acquired」

「First Aid - 2>3」

「Deception - 3>4」

「Accounting - 1 Acquired」

「Name: Shiro Tsukuyomi

Traits: Fox’s Grace, Quick Healing, Insight

Tracking - 4

* Stalk

Tech - 5

* Eidetic Schematic

Stealth - 7

* Fox’s Paw

Sleight of Hand - 8

* 1 Perk Point

* Hidden Hands

Perception - 4

* Aetherial Perception

Net - 2

Melee Weapons - 1

Intimidation - 1

Firearm - 3

First Aid - 3

Evasion - 2

Driving - 7

* Land Vehicles

Deception - 4

* 1 Perk Point

Criminology - 4

* Cues

Concealment - 8

* Lethargic Presence

* Hidden Weapon

Brawling - 1

Accounting - 1

Request Board - (empty)」

Most of the Skills that went up were about as I expected. It was nice to see that helping that guy out with his arm leveled First Aid even if I didn’t necessarily fix the problem. Accounting was a surprise though. I guess it makes sense, but it was one of the Skills I originally deemed useless. I still don't see a point for it, though I could at least admit someone somewhere would find it useful.

I briefly debated on spending the Perk Points now but decided not to. Not only did I have the meeting with Advent, but spending points also left me extremely vulnerable. I didn’t want to be in such a state with Feras around. I trusted him a bit more than I originally did, but still not as far as I could throw him. He would be gone soon though, and I would be clear to spend away.

I ate a quick meal, which I was running low on, and headed down to my bike. I hopped on and began the trek to Advent.

This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

Advent sat at the southern edge of Downtown, closer to Oldtown and the FSA base than my home. It was a bit of a journey to get over there, especially with traffic the way it is these days. Eventually, I pulled up to the place.

Advent owned the entire building they were housed in, which meant I could safely mark the place as a medium-level corp. It was a sheer white building faintly reminiscent of Medtech’s hospital. No windows or fancy architecture covered the walls as most corps liked, and it looked almost as if the building was just one big brutalist rock.

I parked nearby in a small parking garage. Say what you will about Aythryn City, but at least the parking wasn’t too bad here. Every block had at least one parking garage under it, so there was plenty of space. I had seen images of other places, like Veyth, the capital of Vurn, where gonks just parked out in the streets everywhere.

I hopped off my bike and peeled off my helmet before locking it up to my bike. My hair was caught by a lone breeze, blowing into my face annoyingly. The wet strands, somewhat soaked by the light rain on the way over here, stuck to my cheek. I pulled it all back into a ponytail and secured it under my trusty Aythryn City Slashers baseball hat.

Just as I reached the door, I got a message from Carone. ‘Confirmed. Deposited 5,000 Rayn. From now on, I’ll keep you in the books for higher stakes gigs.’

I checked my First International Boswan Bank account, and a big deposit of 5,000 sat in it. I felt giddy at the sight of nearly seven thousand Rayn in my account as fantasies of getting a nice, comfortable bed started to play on repeat. Or maybe even some scented shampoo? I haven’t used any of that stuff since I was a kid. ‘Course, I could also buy a gun or something…

I shoved that thought to the back of my head and entered Advent. The door opened into a rather large lobby, which sat quite barren. Everything here was done in smooth whites and grays, evoking a certain detached vibe from the rest of the filthy city. Alcoves along the walls hid neon blue lights, casting a clinical glow around the lobby.

Paintings of fancy-looking doctors, chrome, and labs were scattered about the clean-cut white walls. Each of them felt very out of place, though I couldn’t exactly say why that was. There was almost a pattern to them that faintly triggered something in my memory, though I couldn't say what exactly. Regardless, they looked very high-end if the golden frames were anything to go by.

The lobby was quite large, though it wasn’t filled near to the capacity for such a room. There were a few people scattered about, but nowhere near what I would expect from a corporation of this size. To put it into perspective, Artoras had dozens of people coming and going when I walked by it.

While they were slightly lacking in population, they weren’t lacking in security. Advent had at least a dozen security guards stationed around the entrance further into the building. They looked kitted out too. Heavy flak armor clad each of them, and their rifles looked mighty impressive. Shen Kang Keiji weaponry based on the design of reds, golds, and blacks. It was odd considering Sentinel was the preferred brand ‘round here. At a glance, each guard wore at least fifteen hundred Rayn in gear.

I walked across the lobby, trying to ignore the mass of security watching me like hawks. With so few people around, I felt uncomfortable as I approached the receptionist's desk in the middle of the room.

A rather lithe guy came to the counter and met me, one that was absolutely covered in scar tissue. Half his face was clad in circuitry and little neon lights as if to take away from the scar tissue covering the other half. “Hi! Welcome to Advent Labs, how can we help you?”

“Um- I’m here to meet with someone. Doctor Fodisa, I think.”

The man tapped on a terminal. “You must be Miss Tsukuyomi. The doctor is expecting you. Just head on through security, and someone will take you to him.”

I nodded to the man and headed to security. “Ma’am, if you would surrender your weapons here, please. We’ll keep them safe till you leave.”

It was rather nice to see security that expected people to be strapped instead of the typical song and dance of being surprised every time someone pulled out their iron to surrender it. Only an idiot traveled around without being strapped somewhat, and most of the time it boiled down to corporate red tape.

I didn’t put up any struggle or hassle and even revealed everything I had on me. I was confident in sneaking at least my emergency shiv by most forms of security, but not past a metal detector. I would light up like a firework. It was much better to just leave everything here. Did I like it? No. Not one bit.

Maybe I should look into getting some plastic weapons? Or just make them myself. I had some of the know-how, and that combined with the information from Sentinel’s schematics should allow me to engineer a prototype at the least. Who knows? I might even be able to work around some of the defects in common plastic guns.

Sure, plastic guns that could be taken past metal detectors were super illegal… but so was murder. And klepping. And practically living in this day and age. Maybe I should look at something else though? They make plastic knives and stuff. Hmm… maybe I should just splurge and buy a metal detector-proof gun. But I didn't have black market contacts, nor the money at the moment...

I walked through the metal detector and passed through security after they checked over my chrome and patted me down. For a startup corporation, as Nael told me back when I first got the cyber-eye, Advent Labs had some crazy good security. It did make sense though if I considered their level of experimentation. Blackout was some high-end stuff.

A woman stood at the other end of the security, and she led me through the building. We didn’t talk much, and she left as soon as she dropped me off at an office door. Doctor Fodisa according to the nameplate.

I lightly rapped on the door, and a heavily accented voice called out. “Enter.”

I stepped into the doctor's office. It was about as normal of an office as I would expect, except bits and parts of chrome covered absolutely every part of the place. There were even blueprints scattered about, which I glanced through and memorized. Unfortunately, most of them were unfinished and I couldn’t make out their purpose. They looked to be prints for parts, but I couldn't piece them together without a larger print.

The doctor himself sat behind a desk, looking far too… normal, I guess. I was expecting a doctor focusing on chrome to be chromed out himself, but he looked a hundred percent flesh. Heck, he even wore a pair of glasses. His skin was incredibly dark, and he looked like a first-generation migrant from Mandor. “Ah, you must be Miss Tsukuyomi. I was wondering who my old choomba would give the phantom to… How’s it treating you?”

“It's got a serious overheating problem when using Blackout, but otherwise a preem piece of chrome.” I offered as I took a seat across from him.

The man nodded and passed me a port. “Yes, some of the other testers mentioned similar issues. Unfortunately, it's been decided that Blackout will be shelved for the moment. If you would jack in, I’ll run a diagnostic check on you and make sure it's good to be removed.”

I pulled out my data jack and plugged it into the port. Immediately, I felt the familiar buzz of electricity that came with jacking into something. It wasn’t quite uncomfortable, but definitely an odd sensation. “Blackout is being shelved?”

The doctor nodded. “Yes. It was originally designed so people could get out of the oppressive feelings of society. Unfortunately, I didn’t think of how it would affect crime- rather, I didn't want to admit it. As such, Advent Labs has decided to shift into a new direction with our products.”

“Oh…” Was this a classic case of a noble cause being warped by others? Oh wait, I was one of those others… Still, I could appreciate a man with morals, especially one who was willing to throw aside profit for the sake of them. Such a thing was quite rare, and Nael was one of the only other people I've seen like this.

Also, the doctor must have an incredibly high position in Advent to be able to shift the entire corp's direction away from a more profitable venture. Maybe he was even the CEO? Regardless, Nael had some friends in some very high places.

Doctor Fodisa clicked on a few things on his terminal before sitting back in his chair. He looked me over briefly. “You a fan of the Slashers?

“I used to be. I haven’t been able to watch baseball in a long time though.” I shrugged, not minding the small talk for once.

“Such a shame. I watch the Slashers all the time.” He smiled. "They're up five two this season."

“Is Quitan Tearantino still playing?” I asked. It really had been a long time since I had checked in on sports. I hadn’t exactly had the luxury to set up a piracy account to steal the streams.

The doctor shook his head with a sad expression on his face. “He got brained a couple seasons ago. Flatlined before the team’s Medechs could get to him. Slashers haven’t been the same without him.”

That sucks. Quitan Tearantino was the best player of the Aythryn City Slashers back when I used to watch. His rough and gruff style of shredding and tearing apart the opposition made him a favorite in the blood sport. “That's rough…”

“Yeah…” Doctor Fodisa focused back on the screen. I felt the cold tingle of Insight and looked at the doctor. For the briefest moment, I caught the reflection of the Phantom’s schematic in his glasses. That was all it took for the entire thing to be copied into my brain.

Unlike the other schematics around the room, the one for the Phantom was complete. Considering that they decided to shelve Blackout, this kind of knowledge would prove to be incredibly useful once I figured out how it all worked together. Unfortunately, Eidetic Schematic only allowed me to instantly memorize a schematic, not instantly understand it.

“Alright, we’re good to go. As a beta-tester, you are welcome to test out some of the other products free of charge since the Phantom will no longer be available.” He smiled apologetically.

Nael was right back then. Being a beta-tester sure had its benefits. “What are the options?”