The rain was as heavy as it was forecasted; the torrent splattered mercilessly on the scurrying passersby and its wind forced the surrounding palm trees to bow in reverence. Lyn stood behind the blurred cafe window, gazing at the scenery with a small scowl on her face.
"Double espresso shot for Lyn!"
The barista's high-pitched voice jerked Lyn from her trance. As if possessed by a sudden sense of urgency, she strode to the counter, grabbed her order, and chugged down her coffee—all within a few seconds. Then, she stared at the tall, burly man next to her.
"Let's go," she said solemnly.
The man was leaning against the wall next to her. His copper skin was a shade of rose gold under the warm bistro lights, while his broad shoulders looked imposing against the cozy, brick walls. As Lyn turned to him, he raised his eyebrows.
"Finally ready?"
"Yeah." Lyn wiped her mouth with the back of her hand. "Just needed something to calm my mind."
Neil nodded. Together, they put up the hood of their raincoat and marched out of the cafe. The water struck Lyn's body like a flood of tiny pebbles, obscuring her vision as she tried her best to follow Neil. She did not like the weather in Miami; this godforsaken place was humid enough as it is, and the rain did not help with that.
After walking by endless rows of bars and drunk people dancing in the rain, Neil finally led her to a much less touristy location: an old, off-white office building.
"He should be in there," —He glanced at his watch.— "and coming out in about five minutes."
"Right here?" Lyn scanned the building as they shuffled to a corner of the alleyway. The two-story structure had an old-fashioned and simple design; it was so modest that it blended into the background. If Neil had not pointed it out to her, Lyn would not have given it a second thought.
"How did you even find him here?"
Neil shrugged. "I have my ways."
"Hm."
By now, Lyn knew better than to probe the cryptic private investigator further. He was as good at his job as he was secretive. She had heard about Neil while she was in jail, and had contacted him the moment she got out.
After a few minutes, Neil gestured towards a middle-aged man walking out of the building. "That's the guy. Recognize him?"
With just a glimpse of the person, Lyn had a flashback to the fateful duel half a year ago. That signature black bowler hat, cheap suit, and slimy face—that was indeed Han's manager. There was no way she would ever forget his, or Han's, face.
"That's him," she growled.
"His name is David Diggerson. He mainly serves clients who can't work with the QA."
"So, shady people?"
"More or less." Neil peered at her with a pair of serene, bronze eyes. "Don't get too crazy on him, Lyn."
Lyn snorted. "I'll be fine. Let's do this." She smashed her hands together and began to follow him.
The middle-aged man trudged along the pavement with an umbrella, oblivious to the fact that two people were trailing right behind him. Lyn kept her head low while eyeing his slouched back warily. After they passed one last group of giggling teenagers, the coast was clear.
"Stay back," she warned Neil, before raising her hands.
With a forceful downwards slam, a bright stream of light struck down from the rain clouds, pummeling into the ground right next to David. The blast from the lightning was so powerful that David fell backward in shock, dropping his umbrella and crashing into a puddle of water.
"Holy shit!" he screamed as he stared at the giant, sizzling hole in horror. "What the fuck, how in the—"
Before he could finish his string of curses, Lyn was already next to him. She grabbed him by the collar and dragged him into an alleyway, away from the main street. Then, she pinned the struggling man to the ground.
"Call for help, and I'll direct that lightning right into you."
David's eyes widened as he recognized Lyn. "You're that... that lightning mage! You're not supposed to be using quester-level magic like this! That's illegal!"
"What do you mean, magic, David? It's raining," Lyn said with a sly smile. "Lightning during a thunderstorm is very normal."
David paled. "W- What do you want from me?"
Lyn ruffled up his shirt even more. "I need you to tell me where Han is."
"H- Han...?"
"The dude you were managing!" Lyn's raging face was inches away from David's trembling one. "He called himself Han Solo? He challenged my team's fighter to a duel, remember?"
"I- I know! I know who you're talking about!" David raised his hands in surrender. "But- But I don't work for him anymore! H- He fired me after losing to your fighter!"
"Well then, tell me everything you know about him. Who is he, where is he from, and where can I find him?"
"P- Please... I don't know anything... He's- He's just a client..." David whimpered. A thought seemed to occur to him and he added, "Oh, oh! He mentioned his real name before! It's a Chinese name!"
"What is it?"
"Oh, erm, well, it's like... something, something, Han...?"
"What?" Lyn exclaimed incredulously. "What do you mean by 'something, something'?"
"I don't know! I don't remember the words! Do I look like I know Chinese?"
"Argh, you're useless! What else do you know? Where is he from? China?"
"I don't know, is every Chinese guy out there from China?" David said in exasperation. "I don't know, man, I've never asked him where he's from! I- I mean, I know he's not from this country originally, but I don't know anything beyond that..."
"What kind of manager are you to not even know where your client is from?" Lyn bellowed into David's face while he cringed in fear.
"I... I mean... you're a team leader too, but you also don't know where your fighter is from, right?" he whispered, but then quickly covered his head when he saw Lyn's livid, I'm-about-to-smash-you-in-the-face expression.
Lyn let out a frustrated sigh. This guy had no useful information; once again, yet another lead hit a dead end. She glared at David in silence for a while, unsure of how to proceed, until Neil chimed in from behind her.
"Why did he hire you as a manager?" he asked. "What was his purpose?"
David seemed relieved that the calmer of the two was doing the questioning now. "I... I don't know! He's loaded with money, and so he just gave me a shit load of money to help him find the best fighters in the world for him to challenge. I- I have no reason to reject an offer like that!"
Lyn frowned. "Why would he spend so much money just to duel people?"
"I'm not exactly sure why—maybe to feed his ego? I- I mean, he has been winning in every single duel I set him up with... until he was defeated by your fighter, of course. And you know what? He fired me immediately after that as if it was my fault!" He rolled his eyes before continuing his rant. "That duel wasn't even suggested by me! He was the one who told me about your team and how he's interested in fighting your team's fighter. At first, I was like, what? I've never even heard of her, why do you want to fight her so badly? And now, well, I guess it makes sense now since it appears that they know each other. But, seriously? Because of your fighter, and because she defeated him, I lost my most valued client."
As David rambled on, more forgotten details from the duel came flooding back into Lyn.
"That's right; Han had said something about looking hard for Cinna, or that he's been training hard for a rematch," she mumbled to herself before picking up the panicky man again. "Did he ever mention anything about her to you?"
"What? No! He's never mentioned anything about his life or anything, and I've never probed! Maybe he picked your team because you were featured on the Quester's Tribune? Oh, please just let me go, I really don't have the information you want..."
They both ignored David's pleas.
"You said he's loaded with money," Neil asked, "do you know where he got the money, then? Is it from quests?"
"I don't know... When someone pays you thousands of dollars in cash, you don't ask questions about where they got them. I- I know he definitely doesn't get the money from quests, since he's not registered with the QA. Although sometimes he does do some open quests, but- but he does that very occasionally, so I doubt he earns much money from that..."
"Open quests?" Lyn perked up.
Open quests were quests not regulated by the QA, and thus anybody—unregistered questers, random civilians, or even outlaws and criminals—could do them. However, doing these quests did not come with the usual safety precautions and insurance like other QA-regulated quests, and they also would not boost one's ranks. Nobody would participate in these open quests unless something really good came out of it. So why would Han do them?
"What kind of open quests does he do?" she pressed.
"Erm, treasure hunts, I think?"
"What? What kind of treasure?"
"I- I don't know, I've never asked. He hasn't found them yet, though."
"You—" At that point, Lyn was about to punch David out of pure frustration, but Neil grabbed her hand to hold her back.
"That's enough, Lyn. I think we got everything we need from this guy," he said calmly. "There's no need to torture him anymore. Let's go."
"But we didn't learn anything useful from him!"
"We learned everything we could," Neil maintained. "Let's go."
David's eyes darted back and forth between Lyn and Neil, while the two of them glared at each other for a long time.
Finally, Lyn caved in.
"Fine," she muttered, before releasing her hold on the man.
Immediately, David dashed away from Lyn and scrambled out of the alleyway, never to be seen again.
Neil peered at Lyn, chuckling at her sullen scowl. "Oh, come on, don't look so glum. Let's go find a shelter and get out of this rain."
ϟ☁ϟ☁ϟ
A/N: And our (least) favorite MC is back! I hope you can sense that she's... a little different? Time did change her a little bit. Would love to hear your thoughts on this Lyn, and what she's doing.
