The portal winked out behind Nestra as she took her blade out. Someone had been there. She looked around the empty factory. No one in sight. No sounds. Only her panicked breaths. Near her bag, someone had placed a small chair with a rudimentary screen. A camera aimed at the portal entrance now only showed her. She approached the screen, curious. The screen was glitching hard. It only showed panicked lozenges and streams of light where she was supposed to be, as if her very existence could not be captured. For a moment. she watched the kaleidoscope of strange shapes before placing her mask back on. As expected, her human face showed normally. That could be useful. There was another envelope on the chair. She opened it. “Well done! Quest reward: grew a little stronger. Next quest: grow even stronger! A robot dropped two bowls of rice and a variety of reddish dishes, including grilled bullfrog legs in pepper that emitted a small trace of mana. “Monster meat?” Nestra asked. “Surprised? This is a government restaurant. Sometimes, we get scraps off of the gleams’ tables. It also gives us some privacy, which we will need. Eat while it’s hot.” Kim didn’t immediately reply. Instead, she picked a small dark square from a fancy handbag, placing it on her napkin. Nestra obliged and tried the monster dish. It tasted… fine. Pretty good. Not exactly filling. Her thoughts wandered while Kim’s eyes glazed over, a sign she was interfacing with something. Her true teeth were black and serrated which implied a carnivorous diet… but she’d never eaten something without her mask and didn’t feel particularly hungry. Just, never truly sated. Perhaps she ought to figure out what her diet was. Please don’t let it be anthropophagy. “Right. We are set. This is a jammer, just as a precaution. I will not use small talk because, let me be frank, your psychological profile shows it would be a waste of time.” “Well,” Nestra replied, somewhat miffed, “I can appreciate it as a show of respect.” “But you would be wary of me buttering you up.” Kim sustained Nestra’s glare. “What did the profile tell you besides that?” “That you are an opinionated, persistent woman with strong principles and an instinctive distrust of those who have social power over you. That you have low interpersonal relationship skills due to emotional detachment leading to low cognitive empathy. You are, however, not cruel or mocking and you show respect to others provided they return it. Based off that, I am willing to be perfectly honest with you and I expect the same in return.” “Most people who say they’re ‘perfectly frank’ use that cover to justify being assholes.” “I did not drag you here to be an asshole to you. That would be woefully unproductive.” “Riel. Thanks. I’m relieved.” “I dragged you here because someone, or a group of someones, have fucked the TPD and the mayor’s office so incredibly hard the council voted unanimously to go after them. As one of the aforementioned fucked people, you may have an interest in seeing that justice be done.” “What? Ok, you’re sending conflicting messages here. Someone from your office told me to shut the fuck up in my incident report.” “The Internal Affairs’ first response has been and will always be to cover their own asses, especially when it exhibits the purple bruise of someone else’s boot. That doesn’t mean that we are happy about the whole situation.” “Not going to bow to the corpo overlords?” “Hilarious, Miss Palladian. Contrary to what you seem to expect, we do our best to live in harmony with the various corporations and the guilds that form symbiotic relations with them, for the good of all mankind.” Kim smiled in the way a teacher would smile when dealing with a very slow child whose imbecility was slowing down the class. Not that Nestra was sore or anything. “We need to give strong incentives to powerful raiders so they keep clearing portals instead of carving kingdoms like African warlords. That implies a certain amount of leeway, like the ability to carve a corporate kingdom so they can play kings without the city turning into a fucking warzone. Does that make sense, Miss Palladian?” “Consider me schooled. Why are you telling me that?” “I am telling you this because someone went and kicked the bullet ant hill. Now we have to retaliate or everyone else will get ‘ideas’ and we don’t want to bother Shinran with disciplining duties.” Nestra frowned while Kim helped herself to some tea. “I thought Shinran was a healer?” “Shinran is A-class. It doesn’t matter what he was originally. Any A-class raider can and will take on a guild single-handedly. And you don’t want to bother him.” Nestra remembered Shinran the one time they’d met. He was a bald Japanese man with strange, light blue eyes, and a pleasant smile. She didn’t figure him to be a violent person at all. He’d been very calm and empathetic when he’d told Nestra she was just as intended without a core. He was so kind she’d even felt a little better. “You. Do. Not. Want. To. Bother. Shinran.” “Alright. So. Retaliation?” “You are wondering where you come in.” “That’s what I implied, yes.” “Have some tea. I was getting to it since it also answers one of your previous questions. The initiative to regain control of district fifteen will fall to Gidung and Hong Wang’s guild but while they are suited to fighting gleams and gangers, they are unwilling or unable to police baselines, especially baseline on baseline crime. For this, TPD will send newly formed groups of criminal investigators who will work in pairs. I am formally inviting you in.” “Yes, you. I have a perfect partner in mind for you. Someone with a lot of experience but whose physical abilities have decreased over the years. Obviously, Gidung, sorry, I meant to say, whoever spent over fifty million credits in unmarked augs and weapons will want to control the land and the narrative. Your purpose will be to keep an ear to the ground and get me leads.” “I’m sorry. Did you say fifty MILLION?” Kim raised a hand. She took a bite of rice and bullfrog before continuing. “Yes and no. Most of the corpo-grade equipment we found was low-end and defective or obsolete in many ways. Set for replacement, probably. It was still worth a fair bit. It must also have cost resources to erase all traces of origin, including in the softwares.” “They were a little sluggish for augs,” Nestra agreed. “And we are lucky it was the case. I didn’t want to do small talk because I did not wish to build a rapport before giving you the opportunity to fling that offer back into my face.” “Riel. Is the file that judgemental?” “No but my professional background leads me to always expect the worst.” Nestra watched Kim, trying to gauge the woman as she took dainty bites of the dishes around them. Kim was not an enigma. Threshold was like one of the world cities of old, before the integration. It attracted the most talented scions of the fortress cities of the mainland like moths to the flame. Overachievers flocked to the banner, turning the mightiest raiders community in the world into a powerhouse of bureaucratic efficacy. There was a reason Nestra could live alone and safely, getting enough money for a balanced diet, fun, and a retirement plan. Threshold was a beacon of civilization in a torn world. The cradle of mankind’s future. Top achievers like Kim were both a dime a dozen and the best possible candidates at the top of the civil hierarchy, at least when it came to the municipality and some corps. Guilds were another can of worms. So the conclusion was obvious. Kim was serious in her offer because she believed the cost of helping Nestra was worth the investment. She believed it enough to possibly put her future on the line because this was probably the hottest project of the year and if Kim fucked it up, she would finish her career managing school bus schedules. That’s what Nestra got from the situation. “What do you expect me to achieve on the ground? I’m not trained as a detective. I’ve never even set foot in district fifteen except for that operation.” “It doesn’t matter. Just by being present and reporting, you are creating an environment where Gidung doesn’t have full control. You might pick up a thing or two as well while you’re there. Wait, let me rephrase. I expect your partner to pick those details, and I expect you to watch his back while he does so, because let’s face it, you do not have the negotiation skills required for the job.” “So I’m what, a bodyguard?” “A partner, please. Shinoda is, well, let’s just say his life expectancy will be fairly short without assistance.” “What’s stopping the hostiles from just putting a high caliber round between my eyes?” “They’ve already won, Palladian. They don’t want to start another game just quite yet. They need to make money from security contracts, and that’s hard to do if you kill your employers’ agents. Of course, they’ll probably try to intimidate you. You’ll probably be attacked by low criminals as well. That’s why you will be cleared for your whole gear, including your sword. Also, we will provide you with a, what was the term?” “A ‘oh shit’ button?” “Precisely. We will have users on standby to assist you. Go there, be visible. That’s all we ask.” “Isn’t the place a death trap?” “You were not in the hottest zone so it is difficult to express the bloodbath this operation turned into. The gangers were decimated. I am not exaggerating. We estimate that at least two in three died during the battle. The locals will see order return and they will be scared. I expect attempts on your lives but nothing systematic.” “So it will be dangerous.” “And that is why I requested you specifically. You have carte blanche on what sort of weapons you want to keep you safe. Just watch out for collateral damage.” Nestra considered the question. It was a risky job but, to be honest, she needed a cover. If she kept going around at night without an obvious source of income, maybe that would place her on a list. If she was a detective, however… They always kept weird hours. Not to mention, she could learn a lot about who got her teammates killed. Who bought off Bard. “Ok, I’m tempted. When would I start?”