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Roguehunter
Loretto Armadillo

Loretto Armadillo

"Why have you brought this...creature, so to speak, to my office?"

I immediately decide I dislike Loretto Adamori. Everything, from his curly brown hair to his crisp white suit, bothers me. "I could just kill you, y'know," I grumble.

Loretto's face goes white as his suit. "Lucille, darling." He slides his feet off his desk. "We don't deal with beasts. It might dirty my suit. Remove it from the premises."

I feel Lucille tense up next to me, barely constrained murder potential radiating from every pore. The Head of Security doesn't seem to notice. "Our job is to deal with beasts," she says, confidence behind her words. I feel a strange sense of pride. "And this one tends to cause more problems if ignored."

Adamori pauses. "I have a party to get to, you know." His gaze finally flits to me. "What?"

Oh, how I wish I still had the Breaker on me. "You ordered a woman's death," I respond.

"What, do you want vengeance?"

My face goes blank. "Why would I want that?" No answer from Snow White. "She was illegally dumped in my dumpster. I'm here to return the favor."

Loretto's face is a sheet of confusion. Jon throws up his hands as the glorified manager searches the group before him for answers. Outside, the city shimmers thirty floors below.

"Is this a joke?" he asks. "Why is this worth taking up my time?"

Lucille frowns. "You didn't read your briefing, did you?"

"Of course I did! What kind of Head would I be otherwise?"

"Entry 57 in the database. Alex Park. Considered extremely dangerous, unstable, and non-terminable. He's to be cooperated with except in edge cases and emergencies."

I didn't know it was possible for someone to blanch so much. "I need a moment," Loretto says, beginning to look green in the gills. His voice had gone up an octave. He taps a button on his desk phone and the device lights up. "Anita, please bring in the hard copy of Claire Klein's file."

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Jon pokes his head out from behind Lucille where he'd unconsciously hidden. "Klein?" he asks. "Is she...?"

"Yes."

"I don't like this."

The door clicks open. A shabby middle-aged woman with prominent nets in her neck shuffles into the room, dumps a thick file on Loretto's desk with undisguised abhorrence, then shuffles back out, slamming the door on her way.

The group jumps as the sound reverberates throughout the cluttered office. Loretto clears his throat and begins flicking through the documents to clear the awkwardness.

"Wow, real paper!" Jon exclaims. "I didn't think we still had any."

"Trees are rare, not extinct," Loretto mumbles as he searches the file. "Cor2 can get anything it wants."

"Oh."

"Here we are." Adamori leans closer to read better. "Original request from the board. A hit out for Claire Klein, aged twenty-seven. Something something security risk, something something minimal body trail, something something something. Mission report: success. Anything else?"

I frown. "Why was she in my dumpster?"

"Convenience, probably. Why does it matter?"

"Because it's illegal."

"So's killing."

"No it isn't."

Any remaining blood in Loretto's face drains away. "Please leave."

"Who ordered the hit?" I ask as Lucille's grip tightens on my shoulder. "I'm not leaving without details."

He jabs down at another button I can't see. The door swings open. "I told you to leave!" he screeches. "Now!"

I can't fight Lucille. ACIs are a death sentence to fight without proper gear, even for me. I don't argue.

In the elevator down, she lets out a breath of relief and releases her hand. "I'll get you the details you need," she says. No hesitation. The utmost confidence. Enviable. "We'll reach out in a couple days."

"We will?" Jon squeaks from the corner, as far from me as possible.

Her gaze withers him on contact. "I knew Claire," she says. Her voice has in it something I don't recognize. "Not very well, but..."

She turns to look at me full in the face. "I know you're not doing this out of the goodness of your heart," she says.

The bluntness nearly kills me. "Uh, thanks?"

She shakes her head. "I'm going to use you. Blow this whole thing open. I want to see what happens."

I narrow my eyes. "You've lost it."

"Have you seen yourself?"

"Not lately."

"Exactly."

The streets are welcoming. They're where I belong. The Cor2 Building is stuffy and bureaucratic. I'm nearly hit by a speeding truck running a light as I cross the street. You can't experience that in a skyscraper.

Lucille said she'd contact me once she has the info I need. She didn't say how, just asked me to stay in the district for a couple days. Not a hard ask. I'd read somewhere ages ago that the Cor2 District is larger than the limits for St. Louis, the city Site 17 was built on top of. Might do some sightseeing.

May as well admire what I'm going to burn.