A Slow Task
Towering biomass of flesh against the platform-covered sky wasn’t as unusual as you might think it is in this city. Anyone worth their salt or have been working in the flesh-mines one way or another would have been familiar with such a sight or any towering mass of flesh won’t bother them.
The enemy was clearly hoping to make use of the extensive tunnels underneath Alonzo to launch surprise attacks on the OB and the TCU, who despite their rabid wariness, was caught by surprise by this tendril of towering flesh that stabbed through their base of operations here in Alonzo. Whether it was to intimidate them. It didn’t work. If anything, they relished the idea of fighting the tainted mass of flesh.
If they were planning to lock the whole place down. Then they succeeded as the TCU and the Bureau declared a martial law approved by the Government. Most of the citizens were placed in house arrest and anyone caught acting suspiciously was granted an invitation to the Head Interrogator requested by the Bureau to facilitate the in-depth examination of the likely culprits.
Despite their rather strange relationship. Kei didn’t risk it and hired Emily as her bodyguard in the duration of this mission.
“Are you sure about this?” I asked.
Kei shrugged and explained. “She’s a professional. She might have qualms, but she doesn’t refuse a chance at earning some cash. Not to mention I bet she’d rather be on our side than be at the citizen-side.”
I scrutinized her face for a moment. She didn’t show it. And she really did that. Of course, she told me to hire her. So, I brought out my transmitter and gave her a call.
“You got her contact?”
“Yeah. It’s common sense to do so. Don’t glare.”
“I am not glaring.”
I called Emily and told me about our position. The first thing she asked was the compensation. I managed to talk her into lowering her prices and she agreed to meet us at the place we were at.
Armed to the teeth, carrying webbings of magazine, supported by an exoskeleton, and carrying a cutting-edge high-caliber rifle with explosive rounds and breeder pack with the ability to sustain fire.
She was in full gear. The way she looks at Kei could be talked about, but she’s here for the money, not for Kei. Thankfully, Boss was somewhat professional enough about the whole thing and focused on the task at hand instead of going about their relationship. They are grown adult women. Sure, they can be unreasonable, and start again. But I wasn’t going to let them do that.
I have to intervene. Stopped them from doing what they did behind the shop Emily was working. I don’t think I’ll convince them, but I can at least tell them to focus on their jobs instead of letting their emotions get in their ways. We can agree on that, at least, so so far it’s been quiet. Emily’s watching Kei’s back while she inspects the towering mass of flesh.
As I was watching the power-armor wearing combatants of the Church. I saw Emily checking Kei's behind unconsciously. Her glassy eyes practically swooning over Kei’s neck. She saw my stare and looked away. Thinking she’s caught already, she approached me with her finger hovering above the trigger.
“Don’t understand why I’m when you’re around,” she told me. “I get that she needs another hand, but surely you can watch her back.”
“Or she’s just cautious,” I said. “We can rely on the TCU and the Bureau, but not that much. They have a bad case of paranoia and once they start thinking about who their enemies are. I want another gun at our side too.”
“You think she hired me because you know?”
Because of an excuse? Maybe Kei really did hire because she wants Emily close. As far as I’m concerned, despite what she said to me, she still cares about her. And she’d rather have her close than not. She got the cash and in a way it made sense. I shrugged to show I don’t really know.
“Could be. Could be not. I don’t mind having another pair of hands. Honestly, it’s best if someone watches our backs while we sort through data and all of that.”
Emily was craning her head around the place. “If Eta’s around. I doubt she'll hire me. Really, she’s making a mess of my head.”
Kei, at least to me, is a successful woman who managed to get an officer of her own at such a young age. She can be clever. She has a steely confidence and yet I have started thinking she isn’t as steely as I thought she is in some manners. She’s not the kind to keep people around her. It took me months to become trusted, it also helped that we managed to survive a man-made god and Elder Vampire, which tends to give me a favorable opinion as her assistant. I know she mourns Eta in one way or another. But she’s still someone who seems to care about her business. Or it could be that she didn’t want to lose momentum and thus used the thought of business to forget about the emotional hits she has gotten lately.
“I think she’d still hire you just in case.”
Even a fool could tell what she wants. And despite the beating Emily gave Kei fairly, I can tell Emily was somewhat glad she’s working with Kei while this chaos was going on here in Alonzo.
Emily gathered her gaze and this time Kei noticed. The two didn’t look away and just stared at each other before putting their gazes back to where it should be. I was somewhat having fun at the sight of them doing this. As long as they don’t brawl it out again, I don’t really mind seeing them make a fuss at whatever feelings they have together. It’s also rare to see Kei this way, so it was a treat.
***
The attack stopped there. Another week passed and there was no development other than the usual investigation and the constant cleanup.
I was back from Asobe to report to Sato at Kei’s request when I found the place we were occupying strangely quiet. As I was climbing the staircase, I noticed the underwear freshly thrown on the side and the slight moans on the bedroom. Not far from the underwear was the rifle Emily carried. All signs point to the two being in the bedroom, so I excused myself and left them to their business.
I was smoking my pipe when I caught two heads leaning on the window, eyes clearly pointed to the rock I was on. I arranged a knowing smile and after more minutes. I sat in the living room to avoid the fog and saw the two walking down as if nothing happened. I would have been convinced if they didn’t leave marks on their necks and the heated smell coming from them.
“It’s not really my business, you know? Could have told me instead of letting me go through the trouble of taking the service train.”
“Yeah, uh, thanks.”
Kei sat while trying to put on a professional demeanor. Emily looked away, pulling on the sling of her rifle and arranging her quickly dressed outfit before somewhat accepting there’s no point in hiding. She took a seat in the kitchen, perusing the cabinet, and making herself cup of coffee.
“What did Sato say?” Kei said.
“He told me it’s fine if we keep on investing in this story. I passed on the initial reports to him and he’s now negotiating for our pay. We aren’t releasing the information with the OB and TCU forbidding it since there’s a likely chance we’re dealing with a demon or possibly a devil.”
“And he said anything else at all?”
“Nothing much really. As it stands, he really seems to be letting us have autonomy as long as we give him the tithe the 7S needs. I do worry about our dealings with the Techno-Lich since so far we’ve not been providing him adequate data on tech-anomalies.”
So, he doesn’t pay us or provide anything other than what we can offer at the moment. A reasonable exchange. The Redmonds however, have been somewhat generous since they manage to somewhat sniff out the need for Mage and have sent two more Mages interested in what was happening here in Alonzo. Honestly, the Redmonds have more dealings with us than the Tech-lich and so far they were using what we offer to them with more delight and interest.
“Good work,” Kei said. “I have done some work too.”
I held off my desire to make a remark and focused on the data she had sorted. I notice the timestamp that marks the last time she edited it. It seems like these two have been busy since the evening. There were also bottles of beer in the kitchen and some snacks. I put the scenario in my head, erased it, then went back to the data she gathered from the TCU who has been tasked with cracking the heart. The Redmond Mages should be in there now, waiting to get a crack on this ritual and see if they could learn anything.
“Looks like they want to get this thing done.”
“Obviously. They have their role, and ours is to analyze what we can and make notes of it.”
I also notice Agent Hayes insisted we don’t interfere for now. I’m not particularly keen on not knowing what they want to do. It’s usually what you don’t see coming that kills you. Ignorance is bliss when you aren’t living in a world of monsters. In this era, to know is to survive.
“We’ll participate if they don’t crack it, right?”
“We will.” Kei declared as if it was given. “We’ve already spent enough time here. We won’t miss this one.”
“Do you want to call Aidan and his freelancers here?”
“No, it’s best if he holds the fort.”
When I returned to Asobe. Aidan was practically managing the freelancers and were working the interns to their deaths. Even told me we needed some chat representative or some bot to manage the inquiry since there are surprisingly a decent amount of people who are interested in anomalies.
“I guess he should. He’s busy with the business and keeping his freelancers aligned to our needs instead of using us to make independent profit of their own.”
Kei nodded and awkwardly adjusted her clothing. It was somewhat distracting trying to talk business when your Boss just had fun. Still, I wasn’t honestly childish enough to poke fun at them and there was a time and place to use it.
Other than that, my quick trip back to Asobe was fruitful and coming back to see there was finally progress was great. You might think we’d do all the jobs ourselves, but it would be foolish to do so. There are others who have better resources. It was more efficient to let others do the big chunk of our job while we focus on what we’re good at. Kei’s office might have gotten profitable as of late, but we can’t compare to the spending power of the people who are hoping to massacre the cultists who have made a mess of the flesh pit mine here.
The flesh pit mines are considered tainted. Alonzo District lost a source of income and I doubt The Church Union’s Inquisitors would stop to think about the effect of this on the people living in this district employed by the company mining the flesh pit here. The need of the many comes first than the need of one district. It’ll take a while before the people here get something profitable again. And the Bureau is particularly harsh on places that have been tainted. They should be glad they aren’t sending Graded Agents and Disciples who are willing to purify this place.
Anyway, all signs leads us to joining the Bureau and the Church on stabbing the heart of the anomaly.
A Slow Task
Towering biomass of flesh against the platform-covered sky wasn’t as unusual as you might think it is in this city. Anyone worth their salt or have been working in the flesh-mines one way or another would have been familiar with such a sight or any towering mass of flesh won’t bother them.
The enemy was clearly hoping to make use of the extensive tunnels underneath Alonzo to launch surprise attacks on the OB and the TCU, who despite their rabid wariness, was caught by surprise by this tendril of towering flesh that stabbed through their base of operations here in Alonzo. Whether it was to intimidate them. It didn’t work. If anything, they relished the idea of fighting the tainted mass of flesh.
If they were planning to lock the whole place down. Then they succeeded as the TCU and the Bureau declared a martial law approved by the Government. Most of the citizens were placed in house arrest and anyone caught acting suspiciously was granted an invitation to the Head Interrogator requested by the Bureau to facilitate the in-depth examination of the likely culprits.
Despite their rather strange relationship. Kei didn’t risk it and hired Emily as her bodyguard in the duration of this mission.
“Are you sure about this?” I asked.
Kei shrugged and explained. “She’s a professional. She might have qualms, but she doesn’t refuse a chance at earning some cash. Not to mention I bet she’d rather be on our side than be at the citizen-side.”
I scrutinized her face for a moment. She didn’t show it. And she really did that. Of course, she told me to hire her. So, I brought out my transmitter and gave her a call.
“You got her contact?”
“Yeah. It’s common sense to do so. Don’t glare.”
“I am not glaring.”
I called Emily and told me about our position. The first thing she asked was the compensation. I managed to talk her into lowering her prices and she agreed to meet us at the place we were at.
Armed to the teeth, carrying webbings of magazine, supported by an exoskeleton, and carrying a cutting-edge high-caliber rifle with explosive rounds and breeder pack with the ability to sustain fire.
She was in full gear. The way she looks at Kei could be talked about, but she’s here for the money, not for Kei. Thankfully, Boss was somewhat professional enough about the whole thing and focused on the task at hand instead of going about their relationship. They are grown adult women. Sure, they can be unreasonable, and start again. But I wasn’t going to let them do that.
I have to intervene. Stopped them from doing what they did behind the shop Emily was working. I don’t think I’ll convince them, but I can at least tell them to focus on their jobs instead of letting their emotions get in their ways. We can agree on that, at least, so so far it’s been quiet. Emily’s watching Kei’s back while she inspects the towering mass of flesh.
As I was watching the power-armor wearing combatants of the Church. I saw Emily checking Kei's behind unconsciously. Her glassy eyes practically swooning over Kei’s neck. She saw my stare and looked away. Thinking she’s caught already, she approached me with her finger hovering above the trigger.
“Don’t understand why I’m when you’re around,” she told me. “I get that she needs another hand, but surely you can watch her back.”
“Or she’s just cautious,” I said. “We can rely on the TCU and the Bureau, but not that much. They have a bad case of paranoia and once they start thinking about who their enemies are. I want another gun at our side too.”
“You think she hired me because you know?”
Because of an excuse? Maybe Kei really did hire because she wants Emily close. As far as I’m concerned, despite what she said to me, she still cares about her. And she’d rather have her close than not. She got the cash and in a way it made sense. I shrugged to show I don’t really know.
“Could be. Could be not. I don’t mind having another pair of hands. Honestly, it’s best if someone watches our backs while we sort through data and all of that.”
Emily was craning her head around the place. “If Eta’s around. I doubt she'll hire me. Really, she’s making a mess of my head.”
Kei, at least to me, is a successful woman who managed to get an officer of her own at such a young age. She can be clever. She has a steely confidence and yet I have started thinking she isn’t as steely as I thought she is in some manners. She’s not the kind to keep people around her. It took me months to become trusted, it also helped that we managed to survive a man-made god and Elder Vampire, which tends to give me a favorable opinion as her assistant. I know she mourns Eta in one way or another. But she’s still someone who seems to care about her business. Or it could be that she didn’t want to lose momentum and thus used the thought of business to forget about the emotional hits she has gotten lately.
“I think she’d still hire you just in case.”
Even a fool could tell what she wants. And despite the beating Emily gave Kei fairly, I can tell Emily was somewhat glad she’s working with Kei while this chaos was going on here in Alonzo.
Emily gathered her gaze and this time Kei noticed. The two didn’t look away and just stared at each other before putting their gazes back to where it should be. I was somewhat having fun at the sight of them doing this. As long as they don’t brawl it out again, I don’t really mind seeing them make a fuss at whatever feelings they have together. It’s also rare to see Kei this way, so it was a treat.
***
The attack stopped there. Another week passed and there was no development other than the usual investigation and the constant cleanup.
I was back from Asobe to report to Sato at Kei’s request when I found the place we were occupying strangely quiet. As I was climbing the staircase, I noticed the underwear freshly thrown on the side and the slight moans on the bedroom. Not far from the underwear was the rifle Emily carried. All signs point to the two being in the bedroom, so I excused myself and left them to their business.
I was smoking my pipe when I caught two heads leaning on the window, eyes clearly pointed to the rock I was on. I arranged a knowing smile and after more minutes. I sat in the living room to avoid the fog and saw the two walking down as if nothing happened. I would have been convinced if they didn’t leave marks on their necks and the heated smell coming from them.
“It’s not really my business, you know? Could have told me instead of letting me go through the trouble of taking the service train.”
“Yeah, uh, thanks.”
Kei sat while trying to put on a professional demeanor. Emily looked away, pulling on the sling of her rifle and arranging her quickly dressed outfit before somewhat accepting there’s no point in hiding. She took a seat in the kitchen, perusing the cabinet, and making herself cup of coffee.
“What did Sato say?” Kei said.
“He told me it’s fine if we keep on investing in this story. I passed on the initial reports to him and he’s now negotiating for our pay. We aren’t releasing the information with the OB and TCU forbidding it since there’s a likely chance we’re dealing with a demon or possibly a devil.”
“And he said anything else at all?”
“Nothing much really. As it stands, he really seems to be letting us have autonomy as long as we give him the tithe the 7S needs. I do worry about our dealings with the Techno-Lich since so far we’ve not been providing him adequate data on tech-anomalies.”
So, he doesn’t pay us or provide anything other than what we can offer at the moment. A reasonable exchange. The Redmonds however, have been somewhat generous since they manage to somewhat sniff out the need for Mage and have sent two more Mages interested in what was happening here in Alonzo. Honestly, the Redmonds have more dealings with us than the Tech-lich and so far they were using what we offer to them with more delight and interest.
“Good work,” Kei said. “I have done some work too.”
I held off my desire to make a remark and focused on the data she had sorted. I notice the timestamp that marks the last time she edited it. It seems like these two have been busy since the evening. There were also bottles of beer in the kitchen and some snacks. I put the scenario in my head, erased it, then went back to the data she gathered from the TCU who has been tasked with cracking the heart. The Redmond Mages should be in there now, waiting to get a crack on this ritual and see if they could learn anything.
“Looks like they want to get this thing done.”
“Obviously. They have their role, and ours is to analyze what we can and make notes of it.”
I also notice Agent Hayes insisted we don’t interfere for now. I’m not particularly keen on not knowing what they want to do. It’s usually what you don’t see coming that kills you. Ignorance is bliss when you aren’t living in a world of monsters. In this era, to know is to survive.
“We’ll participate if they don’t crack it, right?”
“We will.” Kei declared as if it was given. “We’ve already spent enough time here. We won’t miss this one.”
“Do you want to call Aidan and his freelancers here?”
“No, it’s best if he holds the fort.”
When I returned to Asobe. Aidan was practically managing the freelancers and were working the interns to their deaths. Even told me we needed some chat representative or some bot to manage the inquiry since there are surprisingly a decent amount of people who are interested in anomalies.
“I guess he should. He’s busy with the business and keeping his freelancers aligned to our needs instead of using us to make independent profit of their own.”
Kei nodded and awkwardly adjusted her clothing. It was somewhat distracting trying to talk business when your Boss just had fun. Still, I wasn’t honestly childish enough to poke fun at them and there was a time and place to use it.
Other than that, my quick trip back to Asobe was fruitful and coming back to see there was finally progress was great. You might think we’d do all the jobs ourselves, but it would be foolish to do so. There are others who have better resources. It was more efficient to let others do the big chunk of our job while we focus on what we’re good at. Kei’s office might have gotten profitable as of late, but we can’t compare to the spending power of the people who are hoping to massacre the cultists who have made a mess of the flesh pit mine here.
The flesh pit mines are considered tainted. Alonzo District lost a source of income and I doubt The Church Union’s Inquisitors would stop to think about the effect of this on the people living in this district employed by the company mining the flesh pit here. The need of the many comes first than the need of one district. It’ll take a while before the people here get something profitable again. And the Bureau is particularly harsh on places that have been tainted. They should be glad they aren’t sending Graded Agents and Disciples who are willing to purify this place.
Anyway, all signs leads us to joining the Bureau and the Church on stabbing the heart of the anomaly.
