Chapter 350
”So…” I stared at Dev. He looked good, to be honest. Much better than the last time I saw him. Granted, he was recovering from a rather nasty fall back then.
”Zuku.” His eyes looked away from his surroundings just long enough to look me over. Bags clung to his eyes deeper than even Hope’s. The almost feral twitch of paranoia in his eyes calmed for just a beat.
”You look good.” Not as gaunt as before at least. The time in recovery had done good for him. He actually looked kinda handsome now—at least, if it wasn’t for his heavy hunch and stopped posture.
He nodded his head and pushed off from the wall of the gym. We were down out of the way where everyone was working out. “You too.”
”Thanks.” I tried not to notice how awkward the conversation felt. It was almost impossible though. Compared to recent talks with people I knew well, it just felt… uh, off?
I crouched down and checked out the jaeger he brought with him. The metal hound sat on its haunches at his side, ears titled back and head curiously tilted up toward us. After a bit of messing around, I got the access hatch opened and quickly scanned the hound with quick taps of Technical Expertise.
So that’s how they did their limbs? Interesting. And their power core is just a basic cell like I might find in power armor. Not to mention the main processing unit wasn’t all that intensive. Hell, I could probably make one of these if I put my mind to it and got Luna to work out its code.
Its sensors surprisingly weren’t that good. It was almost all in on olfactory senses, so its audio and visual were slightly lacking. With some longer ears, its audio could become way better. Then it’d look closer to a fox, though, so… not that looking like a fox was a bad thing by any means. Should I make a pet robotic fox?
Its shock maw was the most interesting part of the thing for me, though. It was similar to my own shock gauntlets, but they used internal capacitors that’d dump their charge on impact. It made the attack much more dangerous than just the current system I had set up.
Hmm… maybe I could work that in? Or make my own hound. That’d be kinda cool, wouldn’t it? A robot that followed me around and took care of threats for me would be incredibly nice. I wouldn’t have to bother with fighting or anything either.
Maybe I could add a tesla rifle into it too? I was already planning out a design for my Roughrider bike, so I could slim one down and incorporate it into the body. That way it’d give the hound a ranged option without having to worry about carrying around ammo. As long as it was near me, I could recharge it at any time too.
Dev shifted uncomfortably beside me. It seemed even in the heart of Crusade territory, the man still wasn’t comfortable. Not that I could blame him. Not with this whole armor heist pointing toward a Crusade traitor of some kind.
I shook my head. Scheming and designing could come later. I scanned my badge on its sensor and linked it to my name. The access terminal flashed green. Unit CJ29 following Squire Zuku Ichima, under Inquisitor Hope.
The metal doggo stood up and its tail flicked back and forth like it was overwhelmed with joy at seeing me. “Did they upgrade the jaeger’s behavioral programming?”
“I have… no idea.” He shrugged and looked around. “Are we taking my cruiser?”
”I never got one, so chek.” I patted the metal hounds head lightly and stood up. Although I got most of the Crusade’s equipment, a car certainly hadn’t been one of them. “Unit CJ29, follow.”
We headed out of the gym to a nearby parking garage. Dev popped open the back door for our jaeger and then slid around to the front of the sleek, angular vehicle. He opened the door and leaned over the top of the vehicle instead of getting in. “We’re headed toward the apartment building, right?”
“Unless we have more clues, then yeah?” There wasn’t anywhere else I’d want to take the jaeger. Besides, requesting a jaeger was more so so I could scan it than actually finding clues. I doubt it’d be able to track down our mystery thieves.
The way there was silent—or at least as silent as driving through Aythryn City in a Crusade Cruiser could be. Dev turned on his lights and sped the entire time, which might be technically illegal. Not that anyone would stop us. The Crusade were infamous for abusing their power, though we got results, so nobody in power really cared. So what if the little guy was inconvenienced?
This was also my first time in a Crusade Cruiser. At least, while conscious. It was incredibly interesting. A HUD was displayed up onto the windshield of the car, projecting all sorts of information. Everything from a color coded map to indicate crime rates to a bounty board covered in wanted people.
I spent the entire time thinking about the hound, things I’d do to improve it should I be given the chance, and setting up my factory to actually start pumping out Cold Moon Solutions products.
The other half of my mind wasn’t as busy. I mindlessly twirled my finger in lazy loops. Ionized air followed my finger, charging and discharging the air with electricity. Priming the air was my newest practice for my kinetic ability after my talk with Akito, the wind Kinetic.
It wasn’t long till we arrived thanks to Dev speeding through the streets. Problems immediately arose, however. The entire street was sectioned off by Crusade personnel, and a fire raged just beyond the tattered street of East End.
A building was engulfed with light purple flames. Noise clattered down the street as half of it collapsed in on itself, and the fire roared even more fiercely. By some miracle, it hadn’t yet jumped to the other worn out and decaying buildings around it.
“That was it, right?” It could’ve just been a random fire, of course, but it was oddly convenient that there just so happened to be a building ablaze right where we were headed. Not to mention it was, you know, purple. That wasn’t a common fire color at all.
”Yeah…” Dev’s hands tightened on the steering wheel. “They knew we were coming.”
Of course they did. Usually I’d say Dev was just being paranoid, but the fire only just happened to break out after I requisitioned a jaeger to clear the scene. Covering tracks was, like, thievery 101. I’d be disappointed if they made it too easy. Unfortunately, it looked like I was destined to be disappointed.
”This is good.” I watched a crew of firemen spray a foamy water into the fire in an attempt to set it out. Another fireman, this one clad in more ornate clothing, waved his hand. Part of the fire instantly went out. A flame Kinetic, eh? Much better than Carone was back then. That fool—if only he’d paid me more. He really took advantage of my situation, didn’t he?
That guy wasn’t the only one coming out with abilities either. A shark Magus was busy playing with a small shark floating through the air. Every time the Magus tossed the sprite a piece of steak, the shark would spray a tide of water onto the building with magic.
The fire wasn’t just a simple thing, though. It churned with what I was beginning to think was some kind of arsonist chemical specialized to keep the alive and blaze all the more furiously. It wouldn’t surprise me if whoever started the fire was an old hand at burning down evidence.
“How is this good?” Dev’s hand dropped to his pistol. “If they’re infested deep enough to know our movements, then—”
”Then we’ll be able to track them back easier.” I raised a hand to try and calm him down. “Think about it. Right now, it’s all very hush hush, right? Whoever it was just exposed themselves.”
At least, assuming not many people knew about the whole stolen armor thing. The way it was discussed and how Hope reacted suggested that not many knew, though. We now had a list to go through rather than the entire Crusade.
I popped open the door and slid out of the car. “C’mon. It’s not too late to get some clues either.”
I doubted the arsonist stuck around. This wasn’t emotionally motivated, so they likely dipped as soon as the fire took. No point in sticking around if the person was just here to burn evidence.
Side’s that, the arsonist likely wouldn’t lead back to our thief. If I was the one setting this up, I’d pay some random stooge to light the fire and distance myself as far away as possible. And, to be frank, we were likely after someone in the Crusade. No one knew how easy it was to hide and clean up a crime like a Crusader.
“You go ahead. I’ll call it in.” Dev leaned back in the seat and pulled out his phone. “I’ll be right behind you.”
”Chek.” I slammed the door and let out the jaeger. At least CJ29 would stick with me. The hound tilted his head in response. It wasn’t nearly as cute as the sprites or Corvin, but it’d just have to do. “Let’s go.”
I made it all of ten steps away from the car before I was stopped by a fully kitted out Knight. Her helmet reflected silver beams into my eyes that felt oddly blinding. “Halt. Crusade only beyond this point.”
I looked down at myself—right, I forgot my armor back in my apartment. I just saw Dev and completely blanked on that. I was wearing a Crusade coat and clothes, though. “Squire Zuku. Under Inquisitor Hope.”
The sharp edge of the Knight dropped slightly, though she still remained on guard until I fished out my badge and flashed it at her. “Sorry about that, squire… you know it is these days.”
I stuffed my badge back into my pocket. “You know who’s in charge of the situation?”
”That’d be Knight Bruce, over with the fire fighters.” The Knight waved a gauntleted hand off toward the blaze. “Be careful with Embercore, eh? Those bastards aren’t very cooperative on the best of days.”
Embercore… I briefly ran through the corporations I knew off the top of my head. They were quite a large corp with branches across North Arkhanika. Ones specialized in fire prevention and fire response, maybe. “Thanks.”
The Knight moved off to stop someone else from getting too close. I whistled sharply to CJ29 and moved along through the throngs of people toward the forefront of the fire. “Unit CJ29, scent the place. Stay out of people’s way.”
”Woof.” The hound moved away from me to follow my orders.
While the jaeger was busy, I turned to watch the fire itself. The purple flame was oddly pretty burning against the building—
“Put this on, slag.” A rebreather with a face shield slammed into my chest, nearly knocking me over. A knight appeared with an oddly detailed face mask. I was used to the normal, sheer metal masks of the Crusade. This guy, though still almost entirely blank, had knots at either side of his mouth like a gas mask. “The fire’s releasing manganese oxide fumes.”
”Oh.” I took off my hat and slid the mask over my head. “Thanks.”
”Uh, huh.” The Knight stared at me for a moment. “You showed up just a little late, Squire Zuku.”
”You know me?”
“Inquisitor Hope called ahead and said you’d be dropping by.” The knight dropped his hand toward me. “Knight Bruce. Commander Ligh gave the Crusade orders to help you guys however possible for some reason.”
”Squire Zuku—though you already knew that.” I nodded to the flame and completely ignored his probe. “What’s up with that?”
The Knight stared up at the fire for a long moment. The purple flames danced across the reflection of his mask. “They’re running chemical analysis, but it’s probably from that bastard Lavender again.”
Lavender? The name rang some bells. I think I saw him on the screamstreams a couple times. Supposed to be an master arsonist that’d been plaguing Aythryn City for over a decade. “What makes you say that?”
”The fire is purple. That, and my mask is detecting faint traces of potassium permanganate and glycerol. It’s his typical concoction.” The Knight sighed and shook his head. “I should’ve been paying more attention. Could’ve had that bastard this time.”
I whistled sharply for CJ29 to come back to me. Lavender, huh? I had a lead now, at least. There was a high chance Lavender was hired to burn up any evidence and scent profile. It could just be a random arson, of course, but coincidence like that were too rare to take serious. “Who all has had access to this street?”
”Just the Crusade. We blockaded this entire street a day ago or so.” He waved his hand toward the fire fighters. “And now Embercore, but they showed up after the fire.”
Probably wasn’t Embercore. Unless Lavender was actually a fire fighter who got off to putting out his own fires. Wouldn’t be the strangest thing, but I somehow doubted it. “Can you get me a list of who was on duty here?”
”Yeah. Not that it’ll matter. If someone wanted access to the building, they’d easily be able to get past a patrol.” He pulled out his phone and started to work on it. “Oh, if you see Garrick around, tell he owes me five hundred rayn.”
He was right, of course. I myself knew just how easy it was to get past security. Still, it was somewhere to start. I crouched down and slid off CJ29’s access panel. Just like Bruce said, the jaeger picked up potassium permanganate and glycerol. Not much else. The fumes from the fire were choking out its sensors.
I patted the hound and resealed its panels. I then moved back toward the cruiser so I could sit down. There wasn’t much more to do than wait for the fire to be put out.