When I stepped out of the processor, and bato the street, things were a lot calmer than before. That probably had to do with the half-dozen armored vehicles parked around the area and the practical army surrounding them.
Helen just looked at me. “You don’t do subtle, do you?” she asked.
“I gave up trying months ago. About the same time I started produg full-blown armored vehicles in order to move my troops around,” I replied as I approached my truck.
“Wait, where are you going?! We still have to track our target!” Helen shouted as she rushed after me.
“To pick up Mr. Stabs-A-Lot. There are half a dozen foxes chasing him, and Bandit is keeping me apprised of his progress,” I said as I slid into the back seat. “Get iruck.”
Helen scowled at me, but still climbed into the passenger’s seat. “How you be so sure he’ll be successful?” She asked.
“Humans rely on their eyes more than any other sense, which is why that fug adaptive camo was so effective. Model Twenty-Ones, and to a lesser extent model Nines, use simir tricks, but they’re not infallible. The foxes use olfactory, and auditory, clues to identify anomalies, and unfortunately for our man he’s got my st all over him,” I expined. “Not only is Bandit trag him, but gaining. Is he close enough for you to isote the aug frequenyx?”
“I’m currently isoting everyone in the general area, but I’ll narrow down the radius as Bandit gets closer,” Nyx expihrough Dusty.
“Wonderful! No problem then,” I decred. “Bob! Get iruck!”
“I hope you’re right,” Helen muttered.
—
When we finally arrived at the location Bandit identified, we found the foxes bringing out our invisible assaint. At least, parts of him.
“Is that an arm?” Helen asked.
“It's cyberid the asshole was trying to stab me with it not even thirty minutes ago,” I replied as I pushed open the door and jumped out. “Don’t ask me to feel sorry for the guy.”
“I’m not, it’s just…” she stared at the orphaned limb for a long moment. “How… did it get removed?”
“Bandit did pick up a thermal axe before he ran off, so he probably used that,” I replied. “But I expect it has to do more with the fact that he’s css III now, and exert some serious force with that tiny little body.”
As we stepped into the alley I found Bandit standing right over our mystery assaint, axe on his shoulder. Behind him, the remaining foxes were busy ripping open a sewer grate. “I uhh… Didn’t have anything to restrain him with,” Bandit expined when he saw us. “So I had to get creative.”
“Smming him face first into the pavement is creative?” Helen asked, as she rolled the man over. His face was pletely smashed up.
“The boss wanted him alive,” Bandit replied with a shrug.
“Make sure you tranq him while you’re down there,” I told Helen. “The st thing we need is for him to get up again.” She nodded, and started busying herself with the body, so I turned back to Bandit. “Did you find anything useful?”
“Naw, this idiot was doing everything in his power to stay off the grid. No personal possessions, barely any rept clothes… hell, he barely had any supplies down in that hole of his. My boys are double cheg, but it looks like it’s clear,” Bandit replied, kig the man lightly. Hele him.
“So, we’ve got nothing? No name, ID, or any idea whatsoever why he was here?” she asked coldly.
“We’ve got him, and Nyx got into his augs,” I replied. “Nyx, you find anything in there while you were rooting around?”
“He ected to a third-party message server. The system seems to be set up to obscure the work traffid purge all logs as soon as sessions are plete. I’ve set up processes to monitor the server, a the instant someone ects,” Nyx reported. “It was also set up to fry our friend’s brain if the system was promised, but I disabled that.”
“So… extremely careful not to leave any evidence,” I firmed. “I’m guessing this guy has training to resist torture too. Maybe Mirage get something through his cyberics if he ’t get him to talk.”
“They’ll get him to talk,” Helen muttered. “They have plenty of tech desigo pry answers out of people.”
“Why… do they have that tech?” I asked. “It’s ly required antithesis-hunting gear.”
“Because not all threats are alien,” Helen replied. “Mirage’s words, not mine.”
“Somehow, I’m not even surprised,” I grumbled. “Let's get uest’ into the back of one of the IFVs, so we drop him off at the Family HQ. Do you thihe only one running around?” I asked Helen.
She shrugged. “No way to know, unless more u happens.”
“Great…” I muttered. “Bandit, send some of your boys around to all those gold processors. Might as well keep an eye on them.” Every single fox saluted in unison. “And don’t do that… it’s eerie”
I waited until Bob had picked up the assaint before heading back to the truck. Although we’d mao get our man, and in record time too, I had a feeling this was only the beginning.
—
When we drove into the Family garage I was surprised to find Mirage waiting for us, along with a couple dozen goons.
“Did you tell him we were ing?” I asked Helen. The truck was still settling, but it looked like the group was getting ready to rush us or something.
“I did, and I mentioned we picked up a suspect, but I didn’t think he’d be waiting outside,” she replied.
“Bob, get our friend out of the back while we talk te,” I muttered as I slipped out of the truck. “Mirage… usually I o call ahead, and wait around for like an hour, in order to see you. To what do I owe this honor?”
“You know damn well why I’m here,” Mirage growled. “You somehow found a suspect for all the fug disasters we’ve been been fag the st few months in a couple hours. I want answers, before things get worse.”
“Just because someone crawled up into your ass doesn't mean you have to take it out on me,” I snarled back. “I’m not one of your fug ckeys. You’re lucky I even agreed to help you at all.”
I guess he must have really touched a nerve because all the bears around me went from standing idly to semi-anized lines matg Mirage and his goons. My bears werely guns hot, but they were obviously prepared for aany of Mirage’s goons flinched, and looked back at their boss. Even though they probably had access to some samurai tech, if this somehow came down to a fight it was obvious who would win the first round.
“I’m sorry,” Mirage immediately apologized. “I’ve been under araordinary amount of stress tely, I didn’t mean to take it out on you.” I hadn’t noticed when I first jumped out of the truck, but he looked extraordinarily tired. Like he hadn’t slept in weeks.
“Apology accepted,” I said. “I guess I over-reacted as well.” As I rexed, the bears went from a stao a more passive one which, in turn, caused the Family members to rex. At least for a moment, then Bob showed up.
“We did mao find someone messing around, but fuows if he’s the only one. You’ll have to keep an eye on the industrial sectors for a while.” As Bob dropped the man into the waiting hands of the security detail, Bandit walked up behind him and hahe man’s limbs to someone else. “Umm… some assembly may be required.”
“Get him inside and plugged into the system,” Mirage muttered. As the man was dragged away Mirage turned back towards me. “I do appreciate your help with this. As much as I hate to admit it, your… unique approach to things tends to get results when all other methods fail.”
“So that’s why you let Helen out? To lure me into helping?” I asked.
“ly. Helen does have many tacts in that part of the city, and might have been able to achieve the same results, I just figured you’d… like to help if I let her out,” Mirage admitted.
“You realize I’m right here,” Helen huffed.
“I’m aware, I’m just talking to a jackass right now,” I admitted without turning away from Mirage. The two of us stared at each other for several long seds. “Are things really as bad as Helen made them out to be?” I finally asked.
Mirage sagged. “Maybe worse. Would you like to e in for a few minutes? I promise, no tricks, just the facts. We could really use some more help.”
“I’ll give you thirty minutes, and make no promises,” I grumbled. “This better be worth it.”
Mirage gave me a tired smile. “It is, trust me.”
