In the darkness of the warehouse, the three teenagers exchanged another tension-filled glance. Cassandra opened her mouth to say something, but Delilah flicked out her hand and made a muffled snap with her fingers. Then her hands blurred into the lightning-fast hand signals that were required learning for all attendees of Kharon Academy. Listening Skills are common. Don’t speak.

Cassandra blinked several times, bit her lip, then moved her hands in painfully slow imitation of Delilah’s adroit display. Let’s retreat.

However, Mint’s eyes hardened into a determined set. And when he moved his hands, it was clear that he took the lessons much more seriously than Cassandra. We need to at least investigate, to report to my dad that someone else was present here when they shouldn’t be. Follow me.

Delilah followed after the older teenager, his suddenly flinty expression causing her to suspect that he planned to apply to an Order after graduating from Kharon Academy. In those kinds of situations, being a part of a rather famous incident would do a lot to earn him recognition.

Or perhaps he even wouldn’t apply to other places, but wait for one of the sought-after and mysterious recruitment letters of the Order Ducis to be slipped under his door. From her observation of Mint, she had learned that he had chosen the Defect of Weakness, just like Delilah herself. And while she hadn’t seen him practicing much during the observation period, he didn’t make a sound as he crept forward between the tall piles of materials in the warehouse.

His fundamentals were impressively sound.

Clang! Clang!

The strange noises at the other end of the warehouse continued, acting as a constant beacon that guided the three through the maze of tarp-covered objects. Mint led the way, stopping at the right moments to peer ahead of the group and keeping the silhouette of his body covered by the various items stored in the warehouse for the future auction. Delilah followed behind, her eyes glowing with trap and heat detection Skills to make sure there weren’t any surprises ahead of them.

Cassandra, after her nervous hesitation, fell in quite adroitly behind Delilah. She was just as silent as Mint in her movements, and twice as agile. In her heart, Delilah inwardly apologized to Cassandra. The busty teenager had chosen the Defect of Apathy to address in her stay at Kharon Academy, which was often considered by the combat-focused groups to be the joke Defect. But although each of Cassandra’s steps looked like she was dancing, it was a dance of silence and subterfuge.

Should I try a dance class…? Delilah wondered. But then an image of her small and slight form standing on a dance floor, opposite the tall and dryly smiling Annon, and Delilah stopped dead in horror. Why the hell had she pictured herself that lump of wood Annon?!?

Delilah had stopped so suddenly that Cassandra had to execute a graceful pirouette to the side to avoid stumbling into her. Even more galling was that the obviously nervous Cassandra attempted to put on a brave face and patted Delilah on the back. In those jerky, slow hand signs she communicated. Don’t be scared. We are together.

Delilah chided herself for being a fool and hurried forward, banishing any thought of Annon from her head.

Mint had slowed his advance as they approached a particularly large object, gesturing for them to do the same. They huddled behind a massive pile of glittering metal ingots, likely a new type of alloy churned out by Kharon’s industrious furnaces. All three crowded together, Cassandra’s chest pressing against Delilah’s back and arm as they peered around the corner.

Clang! Clang! Clang!

Completely ignorant of the watchers, the mysterious figure continued to work about ten meters from their current position. To both their benefit and detriment, between their cover and the figure was a partially obscured object that could only be an Earthfire Sculpture from the Deep Rift Danger Zone. Despite being covered by a tarp, the inner fire of that rare material glowed with enough lumens to release a halo of radiance that slipped out from the bottom lip of the covering.

The yellow-orange light provided a little more visibility in this corner of the warehouse, but it was also difficult to make out details of the dark figure while peering past this light source. Even with Delilah’s vision Skill, she was unable to make out anything concrete. The figure was fiddling with something past a light of stacked crates, wielding some shadowy implement that intermittently produced those clangs…

Cassandra pressed more tightly up against Delilah’s back, stretching out her hand so Mint could see as she moved her fingers in her typical stiff jointed effort. I. Can’t. See. Anything.

Shaking her head in irritation, Delilah stretched her hand forward too. Those boxes, do you see the symbol?

Darksteel. Image Kill Suits, out of Zone 1. Mint responded just as quickly. But I cannot tell what-

Something changed in the air. The hairs on Delilah’s arm began to tingle. Then things began to accelerate.

Without appearing to move with any urgency, the figure twisted and glanced over its shoulder. The next instant, Delilah’s training kicked in; she didn’t even see the figure fling the object before her fingers splayed outward and she conjured a Hex Barrier Shield only a few inches in front of Mint’s face. Delilah had spent altogether too much time training under that witch Lucretia to be caught by surprise ever. That horrid woman delighted in ambushing Delilah at the strangest moments, birthing in the girl a constant sense of vigilance toward her surroundings.

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However, in the following moment as recognition arrived, Delilah felt somewhat foolish as the glowing blue shield of hexagons appeared in front of her. The object that trembled slightly, sticking against the front of her shield, was a thrown playing card. The laughing face of a joker leered at her through the barrier, mocking her effort.

Just as Delilah’s expression darkened, she was abruptly vindicated in her decisive measures.

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMM!

Congratulations! Your Skill Hex Barrier Shield (R) has grown to Level 169!

Congratulations! Your Skill Hex Barrier Shield (R) has grown to Level 170!

Congratulations! Your Skill Hex Barrier Shield (R) has grown to Level 171!

The force of the explosion from the playing card cracked her shield and sent the trio tumbling backward, but Mint had reacted rather quickly after Delilah had deployed her Skill and manifested a barrier of his own. In combination, the two of them were able to diffuse most of the blast and were only knocked backward in a sprawling pile of limbs.

Alarms began to sound as the warehouse security system reacted to the explosion and Mint scrambled to his feet with a guilty expression on his face. He held his hands up vaguely, as though proving he wasn’t carrying a weapon. “Ah… s-s-sorry for… my hand…”

Meanwhile, beneath an impatient Delilah, Cassandra was blushing furiously. But her mouth slowly curled into a shy smile. “...I’m just glad I could… cushion everyone…”

Delilah shook her head at the weird diversion of these two and pushed off Cassandra’s stomach to hop to her feet. She peered around the corner and mobilized her Wind Manipulation Skill, suppressing all the pieces of torn tarp and splintered palettes that filled the air in the wake of the explosion. But the mysterious figure who had thrown the playing card had vanished. Delilah took a few steps forward and activated her tracking Skills, but she couldn’t find any trace of the figure.

Even worse, during that brief explosion, the figure had somehow managed to find the time to switch around the different palettes in the area and disguise the source of the noise. The Image Killer suits had been spread out and several other auction lots had been shifted to near where the figure had been standing. Delilah frowned and took another step forward, but the floodlights of the Warehouse switched on and she heard the march of feet rushing into the area.

The police in this city are too damn quick, Delilah’s frown deepened.

Cassandra shivered and crossed her arms. “...I hope we don’t get in trouble. Why did that person attack us like that?”

“Maybe we stopped sort of terrorist?” Mint said slowly. “I mean… that was definitely malicious, right? And… and if he was so aggressive…” Then he blinked at looked at Delilah. “Hey… that was a really quick shield. You probably saved us all. Thanks… for coming along.”

Of course, I saved you, but- Suddenly, Delilah straightened. All at once, her true goal in tagging along struck her with physical force: the chance to touch the Dreamchaser!

Just as she was turning around to hurry back toward the skybike, the familiar form of the Kharon emergency response forces arrived, covered in sleek armor and carrying combat batons. The leader scanned them quickly and dismissed them as not a threat, speaking to his subordinate as he marched past. “Split them up and take their statements. And send a report to special operations.”

The officers moved quickly to their tasks, taking Delilah, Mint, and Cassandra away and splitting them up as they walked between the soon-to-be-auctioned items under the harsh white illumination of the floodlights. Delilah went peacefully, although she cast several longing glances over her shoulder toward the far end of the warehouse as she was ushered outside. Once out of the building, the trio was split up and taken into different bulky police transports and brought back to the police headquarters.

Can’t even feel the wind on your face in these bimbocrates, Delilah banged her head against the side of the metal transport with an aggrieved expression. Both the pilot and the accompanying officer upfront ignored her antics.

Being quite familiar with the police headquarters due to an earlier project, Delilah glanced around without much interest when they arrived and allowed a police offer to guide her to an interview room. Inwardly, she was kicking herself for allowing some stupid noise to distract her from fulfilling the dream to actually touch a skybike made by Elijah Frank. After this incident, they definitely would up the security in the warehouse. Breaking in again would be that much more difficult.

And even though Delilah’s parents were relatively famous and well off, there was no way they would give her enough money to actually purchase the bike at auction. Her mother would laugh her out of the room.

Without even asking Delilah any questions, the police officer left her in the room and locked the door. The corner of Delilah’s mouth quirked up but she just as quickly schooled her expression and folded her hands in front of her. She aimed to seem somewhere between bewildered at the circumstances and contrite. Ha, seems like they recognize me. But even though we were caught trespassing, the bigger issue is the other figure… I don’t think we will even get in much trouble…

Hah… but that bastard might try and blame this on me, huh?

Minutes crept past, allowing Delilah to solidify her story and prepare herself for the confrontation that she knew was coming. And, as she predicted, after thirty minutes a familiar figure opened the door and took two heavy steps into the interview room.

Commissioner Arrietti was carrying several manila folders as surveyed the interior of the tiny room. Metal chair, metal table, small girl on the second metal chair, two-way glass on the far wall… he seemed to be mentally tallying everything. Then he didn’t even spare her a glance as he sat down in the metal chair opposite Delilah, instead preferring to lay out his folders with exacting precision in silence.

Delilah kept her hands folded and waited. There was a ritual to this. They both knew the rules.

And in a tiny corner of her heart, Delilah admitted to herself she loved how this man considered her a serious enough threat to the city that he always made time to come talk to her personally, even if her crimes were minor.

Only when the folders were in place did the Commissioner raise his mild gaze. “Delilah. I really wish we would stop meeting like this.”

Delilah picked a bit of dirt from under her fingernails and flung it casually to the side. “Oh, I agree. It’s quite annoying to be brought in for question so many times in a row… when I’m simply an innocent bystander. I almost wonder if you know what a coincidence is.”