Several days later, in Reina’s basement room at Vyxora, the wall displayed several feeds of spectators filling an underground arena. Dante stood, chugging a drink from a can. He slammed the can onto the table, causing Reina-cat to glance over. The can read ‘Monguar’ with a gaudy label.
“Let’s fucking do this!” Dante sat and typed away at his keyboard in abnormal fervor.
Meanwhile, at the underground arena, Yuna stretched in a locker room. She wore her Aegis suit along with her dual transarms. As she exited the room into a corridor, she heard Reina’s voice.
“Yuna, do you know what’s with Dante? He’s weirding me out,” Reina asked. “There’s a bunch of ‘Monguar’ cans? The heck is that?”
“Energy drinks. Why? What’s he doin?” Yuna asked. Reina explained his occasional shouting and strange attitude. Yuna laughed. “Kinda want to see that. Record some, will ya?”
“I can’t even recall him raising his voice before? Why’s he guzzling energy drinks all of a sudden?”
“Don’t worry about it, I made a deal with the bum.”
“Deal? Huh?”
“I think he got them from the Nezins. Heh. Sounds like he’s really takin’ it seriously.”
“Uhm?”
“Since they still wanted you on security, and I’m obviously going to be busy, told him to pick up my slack. Promised if he could ensure no problems, I’d get his ALTR back.”
“Ahhh. Now it all makes sense.” Reina giggled. “Should’ve known it’d be tied to ALTR.”
“’Bout to cut out. I trust you’ve got it all handled. See you soon.”
“Good—.”
Reina cut out as Yuna entered the arena. With an agile bounce to her step, she spun her transarms while making her way to the center. Meanwhile, back in Reina’s room, Dante rambled while switching between feeds of the arena.
“I think you need to chill out on those drinks. I can barely understand you,” Reina said.
“Ah, damn, really? Shit. Didn’t realize. Def not used to,” Dante said in rapid succession. “Probably should. Hey! Yuna’s out. She’ll win, right? Yeah. She will. Nero’s got no chance.” He laughed somewhat maniacally. “Things’re lookin’ good, boss. Nothin’ suspicious yet. You checked in with Leon?” He reached for a can.
“Hey! No more, jeez. You’re freaking me out.”
Dante withdrew his hand. “Right. Yeah, you’re right. My bad.” He placed his hand on his chest. “Was my heartbeat always this fast?”
Reina paused. “I better ask Sophia what’s in those…”
A short time passed. The arena had filled, while Yuna still stood at the center. Her jubilant energy had been replaced with palpable impatience. The announcer called for Nero several times. Nothing happened from the opposite end of the arena. Dante and Reina exchanged glances as they cycled through the camera feeds.
“Answer that, please!” Reina said.
“Hello, this is security speaking,” Dante said.
“Dante. Nero is not answering my calls, nor are his attendants. Do you have sight of him anywhere?” a woman said, her tone cold and stern.
Dante flinched. “Mah-Mother?” Reina glanced at Dante.
“Yes. Now, do as you’re told. Answer my question, post-haste.”
“Uhhh.”
“Hm.”
Dante snapped from his brief stupor, then conveyed what his Mother said to Reina. She switched to a feed of a similar corridor Yuna had walked through. Two Legionnaires stood outside a door at attention. Reina checked several more feeds.
“I really don’t see two grunts ignoring a call from my Mother,” Dante said. “Is it just me, or do they look off?” Reina refocused her attention in haste, expanding the window.
“You’re right.” Reina paused. “Papa! Throw me at the arena. It’s an emergency.”
At the arena, Reina-sparrow came hurtling from the shadowed crowd of spectators. As she neared the ground closest to the tunnel opposite Yuna, she transformed into a hawk and hovered. She then darted inward. Yuna watched it unfold before breaking into a full sprint after Reina.
“You almost pancaked me! But thanks,” Reina said to Leon.
“Follow?” Leon asked.
“Don’t worry, I’m positive Yuna’s already behind me. Continue patrolling, please.”
Reina soon saw the two Legionnaires lying on the floor in puddles of blood. Thrashing sounds emanated from the open door. She stopped before the opening, glancing over the two bodies. Their throats had been slit. Yuna caught up. At the sight of the blood, she brandished her transarm axes. Further sounds echoed from the room.
“Gotta be fuckin’ kidding me.” Yuna exchanged a glance with Reina-hawk as she turned into the door, side-stepping the blood.
Time slowed for Yuna while she absorbed the scene. Destroyed furniture and various objects littered the room. It looked like a tornado had swept through. She spotted Nero in a hunched position at one corner of the room. Three cloaked individuals encroached upon him. He had an Aegis suit adorned as Vito once did, excluding a helmet. A large, broken cylindrical device protruded from his neck. He huffed in exhaustion while one eye twitched and the other struggled to remain open, as if he would fall unconscious any second. He swiped at the approaching three while making indecipherable sounds. As Reina turned into the room, Yuna hurled an axe. She quickly pursued its flight as it penetrated the back of the center three. Before they hit the ground, Yuna retrieved the axe, then swung both axes at the leftmost. They turned and parried the axes with a transarm sword by a narrow margin. As Yuna reeled back, the rightmost lunged at her side with a transarm dagger.
What the…wait, Reina thought. They look just like that scout?
Yuna dodged the dagger, to which she followed by grabbing the assailant’s arm and flinging them into the other. The pair crashed into the wall. Yuna took a moment to regain footing, then moved to swing at them. As she swung, an ear-piercing screech emanated from Reina.
“Don’t kill them, Yuna! Capture! Capture!”
Yuna stopped. The pair, who had fallen to the ground entangled, looked to their third. A loud unintelligible gargle sprang forth from the limp body, startling Yuna. She glanced at it, then back to the pair who appeared to exchanges gazes for a moment.
“Libertas Carnis!” they yelled. As Yuna turned toward them, their bodies fell limp against one another. A few seconds passed.
“The fuck?” Yuna cautiously approached them.
Reina flew over as Yuna kicked one body off the other. Meanwhile, Nero had craned his head toward them. He made another indecipherable grumble before collapsing to the ground and drawing Yuna’s attention. He lay unconscious. She glanced in confusion back to the others, who remained unmoving, then to the one in front of Nero, then to Reina, who now hovered near her.
“What…?” Yuna asked.
Reina transformed back into a sparrow. “I was right. They’re dressed just like that scout.”
“Reina?” Yuna sheathed her transarms.
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“What could this mean? What’re they doing here? Did I hear them shout something?” Reina muttered, too quiet for Yuna to decipher.
Yuna glanced over the three and Nero again, then around the room. “Hellooo? Reina? Mind cluing me in here? Pretty fuckin’ lost.” She bent toward the closest of the three.
“Wait! Don’t touch! They might be dangerous!”
“Uh, what?” Yuna withdrew. “They seem pretty dead?”
“They are, I think. Suicide. But, sorry, uhh, where do I even start?” Idiot, why didn’t you ask Griff about the poison they used? What if it’s not self-contained? “Keep away from them for right now, and keep your helmet on, please.”
“Alright…wasn’t planning to. Doubt I wanna smell this place, anyway.”
Dante’s voice piped in. “Hey, so, uh, Reina, any update? My Mother is not the patient type.”
“Not right now, Dante!” Reina shouted.
“Shit, my bad.”
“Sorry. Just. Not right now.”
“Oh right, comms back. Mother? Say what?” Yuna asked.
“Safe?” Leon asked.
“Yeah, we’re fine, Pops. I’d tell you what’s going on, but I’m totally lost. Reina seems to maybe know?”
“Hold on, everyone, please, I’ll try to explain soon. I have to make a call.” Come on, Griff, pick up.
Meanwhile, in an industrial district of Lyrsium, on a humid night, Griff stood outside a warehouse among countless similar. Some distance away, Tau stood in front of the warehouse’s vehicle entrance, watching the road opposite Griff’s direction. Griff lit a cigarette and took a drag, then pressed at his ear. A log of missed calls from Reina appeared in his IRIS. .
That’s a lot. It’s the encrypted line, too. What could be? Griff thought, then a new window appeared, interrupting him. It showed a call from Reina. His index finger tapped the air.
“Yeah, sorry, just saw all your missed—,” Griff said.
“Griff! Finally!” Reina shouted. Griff winced at the unexpected volume. “Please, I can’t talk. I just need to know if that scout that committed suicide was hazardous at all?”
“What? Uh.” Griff glanced at Tau, who looked to be tapping his foot impatiently while still watching the road.
“Please! I need to know now!”
“The hell could be the rush?”
“Please!”
“Alright, alright. ‘Hazardous’? You’re asking if their body was like dangerous to touch, or something? That what you mean?”
“Yes.”
“A full report’s still in the works, but no, it wasn’t hazardous to others. Of course, wouldn’t recommend touchin’ the soup it made, still. Why?”
“Thanks, we’ll talk later. Bye.”
A ‘Call ended’ notification appeared to Griff. “What the hell was that? Ear’s wringing.” He took a long drag. “What could possibly be—?”
“Sir, they’re here!” Tau called. Several police vehicles approached their location.
“Good.” Well, I’ll ask her later, hopefully with some new—. A sudden wave of heat washed over Griff as he turned to see the warehouse in flames. The cigarette fell from his mouth.
The next night, rain poured over the Vyxora apartments. Griff jogged up the steps while using his coat to shield himself. He paused at the top, a dry area. He turned around, gazing into the cityscape while he plucked a wet cigarette from his mouth and stashed it with an exhaustive sigh.
“You are one cold bitch, Lyr. Rubbing it in my face now? Coulda used you last night,” Griff grumbled.
A short while later, Griff approached a corner heading towards Reina’s basement room. Yuna appeared, walking in a brisk daze. She had a fierce glare, albeit directed nowhere in particular, while mumbling inaudibly.
“Hey there, Yuna,” Griff said. “Careful, rain just—.” She walked through him, as if he weren’t there. He bounced off her shoulder into the wall. “The fuck, you—,” he turned around to grab her, but she was already out of reach, “brat?” He composed himself, watching as she disappeared from sight.
Meanwhile, in Reina’s room, Dante spoke with Reina-cat while holding an icepack to his calf.
“Are you okay?” Reina asked.
“Stings. A lot,” Dante said. “I think even she mighta recognized it was a pretty hard kick.”
“You should know better.”
“Yeah…” Dante pressed the ice pack.
“Sorry. That sounds like victim blaming.” Reina shook her head.
“It’s alright. If I’m lucky, she’ll feel just bad enough to humor me now.”
“Maybe. She’s warmed up to you way more than I thought possible. Think it was years before she even remembered Lawrence’s name.”
“She’ll never warm up to that guy.”
“I don’t get that. Lawrence is so nice to talk to.”
“Right.” Poor bastard.
“Well? How’d it go?”
“Fortunately, uneventful. No sign of Mother, tending to Augustus, at least according to Constance. Who was uncomfortably pleasant, whereas she usually treats me with not-so-subtle disgust. Must think I have some sway here.” Dante laughed. He noticed a slight head tilt from Reina. “Don’t know about Nero, probably sulking somewhere or breaking something. In and out, otherwise.”
“Really? That’s all?”
“Told ya, your family life’s skewed your perception.”
“Sorry.” Reina-cat’s head drooped a little.
“Nothin’ worth apologizing for. I’m sure plenty out there would be jealous of you, but you should know by now I ain’t one of ‘em.”
“Hm.”
The door opened, Griff entered. Dante and Reina-cat turned to him.
“The hell’s with Yuna?” Griff asked in agitation. “Brat walked through me like I wasn’t even there.”
“That’s my queue.” Dante stood. “It’s better she didn’t notice you. Trust me.” He limped away.
“What’s with him?” Griff moved to sit next to Reina.
“Long-ish story,” Reina said. “Yuna’s in a very foul mood. It’ll make sense later, though, somewhat. Thought you planned to be here earlier?”
“Yeah, I did. Went home to shower, closed my eyes a few seconds and passed out. More exhausted than I thought, clearly. Age is a fuckin’ hassle.”
“Are you okay?”
“Physically, I’ll live. Mentally? Well, let’s just start.” Griff placed a cigarette in his lips.
Reina explained the prior night’s events along with the accompanying footage. They confirmed the three assailants to have similar garb to the scout Griff had encountered. They killed the guards outside Nero’s waiting room, then attempted to inject him with a paralytic. He must have reacted in time to avoid the full dose, and a confrontation ensued. The impaired Nero fended them off until being cornered, to which Yuna soon entered the scene. After her brief exchange with them, they committed suicide, just as the scout had. Nero fell unconscious. Reina then explained that the council’s intelligence apparatus, Shinobi, issued a hush order on the whole incident. They forced Augustus to take Nero’s place in the duel. Even with Yuna holding back, he barely lasted a minute, to her great irritation. Reina expanded a bit more, then stopped.
“Let me guess, that’s what’s got her death staring?” Griff asked.
“Yes,” Reina said.
“She always did tend to anger instead of pout. Has she gotten worst?”
“In some ways, but.” Reina proffered a defense of Yuna’s progress on tempering her rage until Griff interrupted.
“Settle down, I wasn’t slandering her. If anything, used to always amuse me how she reminded me of young Celeste, despite them not being blood.”
Reina’s ears perked up. “Yuna said Mama mentioned something about that recently. It’s really true?”
“Yeah. Let me stop you before you even start, though. I’m not risking Celeste’s wrath any further. You’ll have to ask her.”
“Mmm.”
“Now I get why the sudden call last night. Sounds like, despite you experiencing a big event, nothing’s gonna come outta it.” Griff gestured to light his cigarette, then gave an exhaustive sigh. “My news ain’t so great, either.”
“I’d rather you didn’t, for your own health. But, not like I can inhale it, you can smoke if you really feel the need.”
“Tobaccos not so bad these days, ya know? Not healthy for you, but not as bad as it used to be. Very, very tempting. But my detective’s instinct is telling me not to risk Celeste smelling it.”
“Mama doesn’t really come in here, much.”
Griff paused in thought. “Heh. I must be wearing a long face if you’re nudging me toward my vice. Perceptive little devil, ain’t cha?” He gave Reina-cat’s head a tussle. “Rather unfair that I’ve got a metal cat’s face to read in comparison. How’s that therapy goin’? When ya gonna start being here in person?”
“That’s…” Reina-cat’s gaze shifted a tiny bit, looking past Griff, to which he noticed.
“Alright, fine, time to share my tale as well. Let me spoil the ending, though, no actual progress, same as you.”
Griff explained how Tau and him scoured countless hours of traffic footage tracking the delivery van. They lost it several times, even assisted by AI software. They realized, however, a telltale sign to identify said truck; it looked too clean and maintained, in contrast to other such vehicles. This eventually led them to discovering it entering an industrial park. They didn’t want to risk waiting for further access to any security the park might have, so they investigated on foot. They searched over a dozen warehouses storing various equipment and goods until, at last, they found the truck. At least, they were pretty sure it was. They had already repainted the truck, along with new decals. The inside proved pristine, void of anything to latch onto. The only things they found were the tools used to clean and alter the truck. Still, they were a little hopeful some mistake might’ve been made. They had encountered no one, but just maybe, something was missed. Someone might also return, since the truck hadn’t been scrapped. Tau hurried to call down a forensics unit. It was shortly after that Griff received Reina’s call.
“Had things muted, for obvious reasons. Still, hardly expected to see so many missed from you,” Griff said. “After that short chat and Tau’s call, I turn to see the place go up in flames.” He shook his head. “Took far too long to get the place extinguished. Burnt to a crisp would be an understatement. After we dug through the ruins from night into morning, the only thing that became clear was the fire was planned well in advance. Things were so thoroughly destroyed, even the truck must’ve been rigged.” He let out an exhaustive sigh. “So, we fucked up. Nothin’ to show for all that effort. And no way such careful fuckers have left any trails to the property ownership, I’m sure.”
“That’s unfortunate. At least you and Tau were outside, though,” Reina said.
“Yeah, same thought occurred to me. I’ve got no idea if someone was hiding while we were inside. Whether they knew or thought we were cops. Or they arrived after we went out. Maybe they had cameras. Who knows? But if we assume it’s the same group who seem willing to kill themselves off at a moment’s notice, doubt they’d have hesitated to catch us in the inferno.”
“Yes. About that. I want your opinion, and maybe your memory. That scout at the gov building. Did you hear anything from them?”
“‘Hear’? Don’t think so. Like what?”
“A declaration.” Reina explained about the phrase the three assailants Yuna encountered had uttered before committing suicide. “Loosely, it means ‘freedom from flesh’ in Latin. And watch.” She brought up the recording of the scout, slowed it to a near frame-by-frame playback, and zoomed into their jaw area.
“I follow. You’re thinking they made the same declaration as they offed themselves?”
“It’s hard to be sure with their mouth covered, but yes.”
“Well, christ.” Griff sat back in his chair with a sigh. “Startin’ to regret including you.”
“What? Why?”
“I’m gonna get an inferiority complex at this rate.”