Chapter 21
1323words
Once outside, I looked up.
The city looked the same as always in the mornings. Flying cars roaring overhead, holographic ads and news streams hovered the in air. I stopped beneath one of the screens and looked up.
BREAKING NEWS:
"Ladies and gentlemen, we have breaking news. The local hero, Bunny Bombi, has gone missing. Details remain scarce, but we do have information from her last sighting. As many of you know, Bunny Bombi was a student of the late Metal Rift. Colleagues report her behavior changed immediately after news of her mentor's death. Witnesses described her as paranoid, out of breath, and repeating the phrase, 'I have to leave before he finds me.'
"That was the last anyone saw of her. This morning, despite pursuit by other heroes, she disappeared without a trace. Authorities are asking for any information on her whereabouts."
I blinked as I watched the broadcast.
Bunny Bombi gone missing. She served no purpose other than being support. What a useless creature.
"Fucking move!"
A man shoved me harshly, breaking me out from my train of thought.
I stumbled to the side, catching myself against the corner of a cracked wall. The random man didn't bother to look back, just kept walking down the sidewalk, muttering curses under his breath. No one else paid any attention either.
Disgusting being.
The Underbelly never stops. Never cares. It only loves the violence. It craves it.
I turned back to the holographic news screen.
Bunny Bombi's face lingered there, frozen in a still image, eyes too wide, smile too forced. I remembered her only vaguely, from scattered broadcasts. She had been loud, irritating, clinging to Metal Rift's shadow.
A headline scrolled across the bottom of the feed: "V.E.I.L. increase patrols in Underbelly, Outlaw Gulch, The Rogues' Row, Shadow Alley, The Slums and Red Light Sector after the disappearance of Bunny Bombi in 24 hours."
Of course. They will rather increase patrol on the worst parts of in this city. You could blame them? It's the worsts place to live.
I turned to leave but I bumped into someone's chest. I stiffened, ready for another insult, another shove.
Instead...
"My favorite student. How are you?"
My eyes widen but quickly went back to normal when I saw Mr. S'dala. My chest feels light the second I see him.
Meanwhile,
In the sublevel's of LeCrane Industries.
Blinding Sun walked in. He walked over to V.E.I.L operatives, two powered enforcers and three advanced drones, stood posted near the vault chamber. Their lenses tracked him without hesitation, recording everything.
Fester LeCrane stood in front of them all. In his sharp suit, sharper grey eyes. His hands were folded behind his back, his posture taut as if every being in his body was strung like piano wire. The man wasn't rattled. LeCranes never showed weakness; not even the global hero, Blinding Sun, could tell what was going through the cold LeCrane's mind.
"You've confirmed what was taken?" Blinding Sun asked.
Fester didn't turn at first. His gaze lingered on the vault door, where technicians still crawled across melted seams, confused at how the impregnable had been breached.
Finally, he spoke. "Three items are gone. An EchoCore chip. A containment tube housing Subject 07."
The words carried to everyone. Blinding Sun frowned. "An EchoCore chip are outlawed for a reason. Whoever stole it could-"
"They could find anything," Fester cut him off, his voice razor-sharp. "No database closed to them. No encryption beyond their reach. Even the satellites can be stripped bare. Yes, I know."
Blinding Sun sighed. "Alright... what is this Subject 07?"
Fester's eyes narrowed. "A creature that's my problem and don't let it out unless you want to die. Just find it."
"...K, and the third?"
Fester's gaze flicked back to the raised platform at the center of the chamber. The pedestal stood bare.
"A cube that contains a red gem."
The V.E.I.L. enforcer stepped in then, voice flat but clipped: "Item was categorized as high-priority unknown. Emitted anomalous pulses. Organic resonance suspected."
Sun's light flickered faintly at his shoulders. "So not just tech. Something alive."
"Correct. So don't drop it."
Blinding Sun's jaw tightened. He shifted his weight. "You're housing things that aren't just dangerous, LeCrane. They're extinction-grade. And you're telling me someone just walked out with all three."
Fester turned then, at last. His eyes locking on Sun with a calm so precise it almost felt like a threat. "You think I don't know what I've lost? Spare me the lecture. I don't answer to you. Not to any of you."
The nearest V.E.I.L. bot swiveled its head, lenses narrowing, but didn't speak. The powered commander stepped forward instead, his black armor shined under the sterile light. "Our priority is containment. Scanners picked up zero anomaly. Whoever bypassed Vera Core did so clean. No trace, no residue."
"Impossible," Sun muttered.
"Yet it happened," Fester snapped. "Someone in this city holds my chip, my asset, and my cube. It V.E.I.L. fails to retrieve them, the fallout will not be on me."
"On the contrary," the V.E.I.L. commander said flatly, "LeCrane Industries is fully liable. You housed outlawed tech and biological weapons beneath Prosperity Plaza. V.E.I.L. oversight was not informed. That is obstruction at minimum."
For the first time, a crack showed in Fester's posture, barely a flex of his jaw, but it was there. "Choose your words carefully. You enforce law. I write the contracts that fund your very existence."
This is why Blinding Sun can't stand Fester LeCrane. He always shuts people up. He has always done this and has been doing this ever since their school years.
"Enough. Throwing threats won't bring them back. You want containment? I'll find who did this."
"You?" Fester said, lips curling faintly. "Do you even know what you're hunting?"
"Doesn't matter. Whoever they are, they walked past every safeguard like it was nothing. Which means they'll slip again. And when they do, I'll be there."
The V.E.I.L. commander's visor gleamed. "We'll be there first."
"Try not to shoot the wrong person," Sun muttered.
No one laughed.
A long, careful silence settled over the chamber. Machines hummed. Technicians picked at the melted seams like surgeons at a wound. Finally the V.E.I.L. commander inclined his head.
"We'll take our leave," he said, voice flat. "We'll contact you if we find your... possessions, LeCrane."
They filed out with perfect, efficient movement, boots on metal, servos whispering, leaving a little less light behind them. Sun turned to go as well, shoulders folding beneath his cloak, but Fester's voice stopped him.
"Once you find Subject 07," Fester said, not turning, "whatever you do, do not break the tube. Do not let it out. That purple suspension? It keeps it weak."
"Why?" Sun's tone said sharply. "You're probably just holding the person in it against their will."
Fester's fingers twitched behind his back. "Fine, let it out. Don't expect any help from me. Even I had trouble containing it's mind."
Sun scoffed. "You? Sure. Funny joke."
At that, Fester's eyes narrowed more, his sharp grey eyes locked on Sun. No sarcasm. No mirth. Nothing. Just sharp and cold.
"I don't joke," he said. "Subject 07 isn't a person. It's a fracture. A mind turned empty like the dead. The second it has a chance to be released, it will kill without any hesitation."
The silence between them stretched.
Sun gut feeling hits him. Something isn't right and it's frustrating him that he can't find out what it is. But he kept his voice calm. "Then maybe the problem isn't the subject. Maybe the problem is the people who caged it."
Fester's lips pressed thin, unreadable. "Believe what you like, golden boy. Just don't make the mistake of treating it like something you can save. Cause you can't. Not this one.
