For a moment, I wondered how, exactly, I had gotten here. And which person should I cuss out for putting me in this position? Shinobu? Nael for keeping me alive? Or myself for stupidly trying to run from the Inquisitor. Knowing my luck, that probably drew his eye more than anything. Why was he even here? Seriously, what shitty luck.

I turned on my heel and smiled brightly at the Inquisitor. “Ha- ha, S-sir. Good to- uh, see you again.”

His silver aura seemed all-consuming as I faced him. It felt like my every act and action were under scrutiny as if he was just waiting to watch me struggle and laugh at my expense. The intense fear and guilt working through me felt… extreme. Too extreme, though incomparable to how I felt when Glitching.

I activated Aetherial Perception just to make sure of my suspicions, and he lit up like a firework. Every part of his armor seemed enchanted in one form or another, possibly with guilt or fear-evoking ones. Or at least that’s what I suspected considering Aetherial Perception didn't do anything but confirm the presence of the aetherialy aligned.

Inquisitor Strumgard coldly nodded his head to me, that infernal mask blocking any of his microexpressions as it reflected my own all too clearly. “Of course it ish! You are- uh- Zuku- hmm… Ichima, right? Shee! I’d never forget my precious Shquire… again.”

Was he- was he drunk? Now that I thought about it, was he drunk the first time too? Everything had been such a haze back then; I barely remembered anything except fear and guilt. And yet, it was hard to tell for sure. He only slurred some of his words, and his ice tone made it even harder. He could just have some kind of weird wisp- doubted. Seriously doubted. He was probably drunk. Or at least tipsy.

“Y-yep… that’s me.” I hesitantly started to walk to him, ignoring my raging instincts. At the very least, Insight wasn’t triggering, so I was probably safe. And running now would only look even more suspicious.

He kicked the mechanical lump one more time before fully turning to me. “I tried to get your contact information from the recordsh to apologize, but your phone line was dishconnected…”

I could practically feel the air turn hostile as he questioned me. I stared at the reflective mask covering his face, wishing I could see through it for some kind of Cue. “Ha- ha… My phone broke. I-I haven’t gone to get a new one yet.”

He nodded several times before reaching for one of his pouches. I half expected him to draw a gun or cuffs, but instead, he simply tossed something to me. “Here.”

Reflexively, I caught the object. It was a phone. A cheap-looking burner phone at that. “Sir?”

“Now I can contact you till you get a new phone. Ah, and don’t worry about the prishe.”

“T-thank you, Sir.” Fucking hell. Why can’t anything ever be easy? Now I literally don’t have an excuse to blow off the scary silver man. Hell, I might as well go buy a secondary phone now to better sell the Blue Crusade identity/ “What- what’re you doing out here though, Sir?”

“Weird, HQ didn’t tell you when they shent you out to me? And why aren’t you in uniform?” His voice came out endlessly cold, halting any hope of trying to get a Cue from it.

I glanced down at my techwear jacket and pants. Definetely not the Blue Crusade uniform... it would be utterly stupid of me to wear that thing around willy-nilly. It was a laughable idea, and whoever came up with it seemed to be quite dimwitted considering the state of the city.

He thinks HQ sent me to him? Well… it certainly made more sense than just randomly showing up thanks to my shitty luck. Seriously… maybe I should look through the Skills again and try to raise my luck with something. “No, Sir. Only to be discreet, hence my incognito clothing.”

“Huh… well, I’m tracking down a clue. Or wash, until this dumb thing shtopped working… don’t shuppose you know a mechanic around here?” He asked as he turned back and kicked it again. His silver greave bounced off with a metallic clang, which saw people all around ‘casually’ retreating. Not that I could blame them.

I walked closer, deciding to commit fully since I was already pulled in. Anything less than a full commitment to being a Squire might draw suspicion. Suspicion I couldn’t afford from an Inquisitor… maybe getting the fake ID wasn’t such a great idea…

What would a Squire do here? Fawn over and talk to their Crusader like it wasn’t an issue? Right, I could do that. And it was a given for me to be helpful. At least, as much as I could be.

The metallic hunk he kicked at was actually a Jaeger, a wolf-like robot used by the Crusade to track scents. It had the same silvery sheen as Crusade armor and looked incredibly sleek. Sharp claws of steel sat on each paw, capable of shredding through people like butter. That is- if their Shock-Maw didn’t get their opponent first.

“I- uh- I know a bit about mechanics. I could take a look?” And hopefully think of a way to inconspicuously escape while I was at it. With the way things were looking though, it was doubtful… looks like I’m going to be a Squire one way or another.

He popped up, seeming to straighten his back. “Jusht my luck! Of course, Shquire Ichima. I knew there was a reashon I picked you from the ashpirants!”

But you didn’t… I knelt next to the Jaeger and started to look it over. After a bit of messing around and trying to figure it out, I managed to open up an access panel on its back. I followed the prompts and scanned my Crusade badge. Seeing as I was the Squire registered to Inquisitor Light Strumgard, who ‘owned’ the unit, Jaeger's systems accepted me as an admin.

The panel popped open, revealing a fancy touch screen. Unit CJ29, at least according to the screen. The screen had dozens of options and settings, including a strobe mode of all things. A bit of rooting around from there, and I managed to unlock its protective ‘fur’ shell and got a deeper look at its insides.

The insides of the little bot were… complicated, to say the least. Thanks to my recent advancements in Tech, I somewhat got an image of what was going on, but most of the random-looking parts, gears, and wires went right over my head.

Thankfully, the problem was a rather simple one. Several bullet shells had gotten caught in some of its servos somehow, completely halting its ability to walk around. That, in turn, seemed to have activated a kill switch inside the Jaeger to avoid damaging said servos with the debris.

I pulled them out, though I really needn’t have. Based on where they were and how loosely they were lodged. Several more kicks from the Inquisitor would have freed the servos and got the thing back up and running.

After finishing up, I closed the Jaeger back up and reactivated it. In an instant, it jumped to its feet as its eyes lit up blue. A holoprojector on its back lit up, covering its back with a holographic Blue Crusade symbol. Lights all across its body lit up, accenting the sliver with the aesthetic blue lighting the Crusade was fond of.

I stood back up and backed away from the machine. “What are you- uh, you looking for, Sir?”

“We, “ he coughed lightly, seeming to draw emphasis onto the word as if to reinforce the idea that there was no escape, “are looking for that thief’s shecond stash of ill-gotten loot.”

That Idism guy? He was already caught though, so why keep moving on this case? Surely there were other crimes out there. Heck, I could point out several happening in view at the moment, let alone point to premeditated ones in gang territory.

The robot wolf walked away from me on its metallic limbs and headed over to the Inquisitor as I processed what he said. Did he just voluntell me to come with him? Damn it all! “A-are you sure he even had a second stash?”

“Of Course! Every good thief has a shecond stash.” He affectionately petted the Jaeger. “And this little buddy will lead ush right to it.”

But I don’t have a second stash… or even really a stash? Damn, am I a bad thief? No- no, I just haven’t had a chance to set one up yet. That’s right. It didn’t speak of my klepping skills, just my organizational ones. Those being bad was an acceptable alternative.

And it’s not like I’ve ever really stolen something I hadn’t immediately sold afterward, so I had nothing to stash in the first place. Maybe I should find a place though… that golden statue back in the Neo-Joker office called to me, and I didn't want to steal it only to sell it. It would make the perfect addition to a new stash and would reward me a perk point.

Hey! That makes a perfect new short-term goal; start up a second stash. And maybe I could start snatching for sport rather than for money. I did enjoy the ‘acquisition’ process quite a bit… Maybe once my income stream was more consistent. I couldn’t exactly sacrifice the time I could be earning money to set up a heist, at least not yet.

The Jaeger’s blue, glowing eyes flashed as it stuck its nose to the ground. “D-did the Jaeger already have a scent before shutting down?”

Inquisitor Strumgard started to move towards the Jaeger, his silver mask flashing the neon around as it moved. “Yeah. Luckily found hish trail jusht down the road.”

I followed as well, as much as I didn’t want to. There was silence as we chased the mechanical wolf. People got out of our way as we walked, scared off by the combination of Inquisitor and Jaeger. It was my first time to walk down a sidewalk and have a complete bubble of isolation around. Kinda nice, if I had to say.

Unfortunately, that silence ended as ‘my’ Inquisitor spoke. “So… have you seen or met my other shquires yet?”

“No, sir…” Shit, I really hope he doesn’t want to introduce me and make me feel like part of the team or something. More people I had to keep up the act around would only weaken my story further.

“Really? I’ve only got… hmm… five, I think?” He asked. “They must be off doing shomething or another. I prefer a handsh-off approach, ash long as you come when I call.”

Why was he asking me how many Squires he had? At least a ‘hands-off approach’ would be beneficial to me, so it wasn’t entirely unwelcome news. “‘Course, Sir.”

Silence returned or about as silent as Aythryn City could get. We walked behind the wolf, stopping every once in a while to ‘sniff’ the air for whatever scent it was tracking. We followed it all the way to the base of Talus Tower.

The gargantuan arcology towered over the surroundings in a similar way to the Big 7’s buildings in the Corporate Quarter. Its vast sides were covered in advertisements and neon, making it difficult to tell where the rest of the city stopped and the building began.

The building, built as a testament to humanity's power and progression, acted as a self-contained city within a city. Every arcology was designed from the ground up to be almost entirely self-sufficient, and Talus Tower was no different. People could live their entire lives from birth to death and interment without leaving the tower even once.

I had never been into Talus Tower, or any other arcology for that matter, but I had heard the tales. Crime and decay were just as prevalent as ingenuity and innovation. The conflicting nature throughout the technological leviathan of a building warned of the dangers of overreaching and neglect, though a look anywhere around the city would reveal the same.

The robotic wolf led us through a backstreet and to a massive plaza. The plaza sat half under the first several floors of Talus Tower and half out, exposed to the air. The place sat absolutely packed full of people and merchants, somewhat similar to Saint’s Plaza though far shadier. Metaphorically speaking, not literally. The entire place reeked of cheap drugs and booze.

Unlike Saint’s Plaza, massive arrays of holograms and advertisements floated around the plaza, some carried around small drones with holoprojectors while others came from stationary ones. The flashing colors lent a chaotic hand to the entire plaza, raising my anxiety just by looking at it.

The Inquisitor chuckled, though the laugh sounded downright hellish thanks to his permanently frozen tone. “Been a while… shome things never change, I see.”

What would a real Squire do in this situation? Hmm… maybe compliment and question their Crusader? “Wow, y-you’ve been here before, Sir? What for?”

“Ah, no need to be so nervous, Squire! And yes, though it wash a long time ago… they brought me in for a day to look over some evidence of a sherial killer.” He waved a hand to the place. “Arcologiesh are bad about breeding ‘em.”

He started to walk, and I hurriedly moved into action only to stop as he froze. “What’s wrong, Sir?”

“Dumb bot broke again…” He nodded his silver head to the Jaeger.

I frowned and crouched at the thing’s side. A bit of finagling later, and I pulled up the metal beast's touch screen. A long paragraph covered the screen as it flashed an angry red on and off. “It lost the trail. Too many wayward scents around here tripped it up.”

He nodded, his silver mask holding perfectly still as it reflected my image. Unfortunately, I couldn’t tell if he was staring at me, or something else. “Right… looks like we’ll have to do this the old-fashioned way then. Come along, Squire.” Before I could even say something back, the Inquisitor plunged into the throngs of people all around the plaza.

For a moment, I contemplated taking the chance to run away. It would make me look too suspicious though, and I had no doubt the Inquisitor would be able to track me down. Seeing as I didn’t have too many other options, I set the Jaeger to follow and unwillingly stepped after the man.

LostRain

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