Wewalked through the crowd, back to my bike and started to drive to the guild. Tessara dug into my stomach with her fingers and it almost made me laugh. I quickly tightened my face in response. That is usually her way of letting me know she was about to say something, though she really needs to find a better way because I'm kinda ticklish.
"What?", I said
"So how'd you meet Garry?", she yelled over the wind
I slightly turned my head so she could hear me better then said, "Well, you know how I used to leave the guild house and not come back for days sometimes?"
"Yeah"
"Well one of those times, when I was about twelve, I had made my way to the oasis and had no idea how to get back, this was when I was still very new to the city. I was hungry, but since I was young, I didn't have any money, so I decided to take someone's wallet," I could feel Tessara trying not to laugh.
"I got caught, and these people were not the most understanding."
"Yeah, the oasis didn't look like it had very understanding people."
"Anyway, they immediately took it back and started harassing me, and as you know, I'm a fighter, no matter the enemy, no matter the odds. Except at that age I wasn't anywhere near what I am now, so I couldn't really defend myself all that well," I said. "Not to mention I forgot my sword, but I carried a knife around."
"I had managed to slash them up a little bit, so they were even less understanding at that point. They also had knives," I continued. "They were all about to attack me at once, but Garry stepped in and stopped them. Then he hit the middle guy right on the head with his forging hammer knocking him out, and the other two scattered. He took me back to his shop and I kinda threw a little tantrum for him stepping in and ending the fight."
I thought back to that moment and his next words echoed in my head. He said, "You're one strong little lady to fight off those punks on your own like that, but know that it never hurts to have a little help here and there." Even to this day I don't exactly believe in his words and yet they stick with me.
"Sounds like a fun little adventure. And I guess he's right — you haven't changed all that much! You still get into all sorts of trouble," she said with a laugh
"Yeah, yeah whatever. We're back now." I pulled up in front of the guild hall and parked the bike. We both got off and headed to my room. "Soooo, what are we gonna do while we wait?" asked Tessara as she plopped herself on my bed. I gave her a disapproving look and walked over to the fridge to see what I had to drink. I couldn't decide, so I grabbed a water bottle and tossed another one to Tessara.
She was not paying any attention and it hit her in the head.
"Hey!"
"Sorry, did I miss your face?", I said with a smirk
"Ha ha, very funny," she said sarcastically. I sat down next to her, turned on the TV, and started flipping through channels.
"WAIT STOP!!", she yelled right in my ear
"Stop what?" I rubbed my ear to try to make it feel better after she screamed in it like a banshee.
"This is the BEST movie ever," she said. I looked at the screen and it was one of the cheesiest action movies I've ever seen. I looked over at her with a bored face, "Really..?"
"Shush, yes really"
I checked to see how much time was left and it displayed the next movie in the queue too.
"Huh, no way the second one is up next, and the third!! OOoohhh they have the whole five movie series queued! Yes! Moviessss! This is going to be amazing!!", she said with utmost excitement.
"Oh yay, I'm so excited", I said, disappointed.
I then heard a knock on my door. I slowly got up and opened it.
"Hello there, Vera!"
"Um, Hi," it was Miko. He has short black hair, light skin and a fit body. He was usually the one that ended up in charge of any guild events or challenges since he is one of most organized people in the guild. His magic specialty happens to be scripting magic. It allows him to create just about any type of magic, so long as he knows the words and has the right script combination, all he has to do is say the words and he can do just about what any other magic user can. Pretty cool trick, not gonna lie.
"Kato has requested you see him"
"Why?"
"Not sure, he simply requested I go get you."
"Alright, I'll be there in a second."
"Ok sounds-" I shut the door before he finished.
"Soooo who was it?", asked Tessara
"Miko, apparently Kato wants to see me"
"Kato? Why is that?"
"Not exactly sure, but I bet it has something to do with our little job we just finished"
"Ohhhh, ok have fun with that"
"Yeah, yeah, sure. I'll be back, just don't ruin my room while I'm gone"
"Ohhh pleasee, you can trust me not to do anything like that"
I opened the door, "I hope so…" I whispered as I closed it. I made my way down the hall towards the middle stairway to the third floor. I walked up to the set of double doors at the top of the stairs and knocked.
"Come in"
I opened one of the doors and shut it behind me.
"Ah Vera, welcome. Take a seat", he said, motioning towards a cushioned mat on the floor. I sat down and looked up at him.
"I assume you know why I called you here."
"I mean I have an idea, but I'm not entirely sure."
"Why didn't you inform me you had taken up a job?"
"I was told the police already had."
"Well they hadn't. Regardless, you know to inform me of any job before you leave."
"Yeah, well, I'm an adult now, so I don't need you to hold my hand."
"Vera, I've told you time and time again — it's not that I don't trust you. It's simply because I need to know where you are so if the city comes to me with something concerning you, I know what it's about and how to respond," he said with slight annoyance.
"We're not owned by the city, so what does that matter? It's not like those corporate idiots care about us or the guild."
"Vera, we live in this city so we have to follow their laws and address issues necessary and or important to the,." he said, anger slowly starting to rise in his voice.
Why? They don't give a shit, so why should we? They always give us the short end of the stick in every situation. We're the ones that get screwed. We have to follow their rules, but they ignore our needs, and threaten our jobs more and more, so why should I care?", I said, standing up fuming.
"VERA, THAT'S ENOUGH," he yelled, "Ugh…" he rubbed his forehead, "Just please, next time, tell me when you have a job. I have enough to worry about. Not for the city, but for me. I promised Jana I'd keep an eye on you if anything happened, so please let me fulfill her request. Besides right now I'm redistributing work within the guild, so I'd like to keep work to a minimum."
" Whatever."
"Vera, no jobs right now. Understood?"
"Yeah, understood," I said, annoyed. I left the room.
I hate when he uses Jana to get his point across. She died so long ago, but it still feels like yesterday. Whatever, it's not important.
I continued down the stairs back to the hallway. If there's one thing I'm good at, it's not following the rules. I might drop this, depending on how serious it is, though I don't necessarily want to go behind Katos' back, especially since he took me in when I was a kid. Still, I'm willing to if it comes down to it.
I went back to my room and went over to Tessara. She was out cold. I grabbed a blanket and covered her. I guess she can sleep here tonight.
I went to the bathroom and came back out to her snoring away. Ok, maybe this wasn't the greatest idea. Whatever, I'll worry about it later. I crawled over her and opened the window next to my bed, then slid out onto the roof of the guild and sat down staring at the city.
It quietly buzzed with life in the warm late summer air. I watched as lights danced across the reflective buildings and the moons in the sky glimmered in front of the gas giant our world revolved around. How far could this go? And how far am I willing to follow that road? I'm not sure, but I've never been one to back down from anything, not after that day — the day that led me to this city alone.
The memory of my old life is fuzzy, but the feelings it created are vivid in my mind. All I felt was fear and heat on my skin as fire raged in the town I once lived in. Screams, smoke and gunfire filled the air.
I quickly snapped my mind back. All of that was irrelevant now, it's in the past. I need to focus on now It's my job to help people and, if I think something is a threat, I will do everything in my power to prevent it from hurting the people I care about. My mind was made up, I'm seeing this through to the end, no matter the outcome. I sat outside in the moonlight and city buzz a little while longer before I crawled back in and fell asleep.
I woke up to Tessara's face inches from mine, she had stopped snoring and was breathing softly. Her breath smelled kinda bad too, like stale barbeque chips. I had no idea how she was sleeping this long, usually she was up by eight if not earlier, but it was almost ten. I slowly got up, put a shirt on, and began to make breakfast.
I checked the freezer. I had three cinnamon toaster strudels left. I guess that would leave one for me and two for her fat ass. I threw them all in the toaster oven and set it for three minutes then went and set up the shower for after.
DING!! The toaster rang, and then I heard a yell. I came out to see Tessara sitting up confused.
"Where am I? Oh, right! Wait, you made toaster strudels?!"
"Yup, and they're cinnamon". Now her eyes really started glowing. She quickly got up and threw all three on a plate.
"Um, one of those is for me, you can have two though."
"Oh yeah, my bad," she said with a small chuckle as she went to take a bite of one and put it on my plate.
"Is that really the game you want to play right now? In the morning, with me?"
She slowly took it out of her mouth and set it on a second plate.
"That's what I thought," I said as I sat down and started eating.
We didn't make it back to the oasis until about twelve. As we got closer, the air grew gray. I parked my bike and smoke was billowing out from the grates. Several fire trucks and police cars were parked outside around the entrance. The firefights and policemen were tending to people on the side walk.
"You don't think -" Tessara began.
"Yeah I think", I said as I scanned the area for Garry. He was nowhere to be found and I started to worry.
I shoved through the crowd to the yellow tape and looked around. Several people were getting treated for burns and a few long black bags and others with oxygen masks. I didn't see Garry anywhere, so that must mean. No, that couldn't have happened. He's here, I just have to find him. I lifted the yellow tape and walked toward the police.
"Excuse me, civilians are not allowed to enter the crime scene", said an officer to my left who was reaching for my arm. I quickly flicked my arm away and hit a button on my wristech to display my luminary registration card.
"I'm a luminary, back off"
"Sorry, but we cannot allow you to pass through, even if you are a luminary. This crime scene is-"
"Shut your lips, before I burn them shut", I said as I made my way towards the other officers.
"I suggest letting her go. she's not joking when she says that," said Tessara, following behind me. I quickly made my way to the other end of the scene, the other officers and paramedics were too busy tending to the injured to notice me. I stood over the bags and a horrible feeling fell over me. The bags were all closed, but they didn't need to be open for me to know. No, what am I thinking, I don't know for sure, not yet. He's out there he has to be, but I'll check the bags just to make sure. I went to unzip the first bag, when I felt a hand grab my arm. I grabbed the hand and sunk my nails into it.
"I told you once already, I'm going to-" I suddenly stopped and turned to see the person's hand.
"I know this might sound dumb, but sometimes it's better not to know", said Tessara, trying to smile. I looked at her hand and let go immediately, there were deep purple marks where my nails were holding. "It's ok, don't worry about me. I'm sorry, I don't mean to suggest you should avoid the truth."
I knew I should apologize for what I did, but I was too concerned with the black bags to bring any words out. I knelt by the first bag and took a deep breath. Then slowly unzipped it to reveal a face. It was a woman. Most of her hair and face was burnt and frayed.
I closed the bag back up and moved to the next one. There were three, and the first one wasn't him, let's hope he's not in either of these. I took another deep breath and unzipped the second bag. It was a man, his face was so burnt he was unrecognizable, along with the rest of his body, and clothes. They were nothing like Garry's, it wasn't him.
That leaves one bag left. I moved over to its side and began to slowly unzip it. Black was all I saw, the head was burned all the way to the bone. I pulled the bag back more to see the rest of the body. It was burned all over, but there was still much of it intact.
It was him.
The clothes gave it away. Though they were mostly charred, they were still recognizable. White and black plaid with jean overalls and goggles melted to his chest.
A wave of sadness and anger washed over me. This was my fault, and after all he had done for me over the years, this is how I repay him?
Memories of him played through my head. Nights of staying out late, working in his shop and blowing things up in my face. I could still feel the soot and heat on my face, but every time I failed or blew something up he'd always laugh and say, "Nice job! Now that you know what not to do, make something even more amazing!"
We spent days wandering the oasis and running from trouble. Eating meals together, even if they were kinda disgusting. He wasn't that great of a cook, and anytime I'd complain he'd say, "Well it's either this, or that bucket of screws. Which do you prefer?", then he'd laugh as I forced whatever he made down.
I guess the food wasn't all that bad looking back now, especially since it was free. So many days spent together when I was younger, I guess you could say he was the father I never had.
Now the only thing before me was the charred body of the man I used to know.
He was targeted for sure, meaning I was right. This was my fault. If only I had never brought that device to him. If I hadn't tried to rely on him, if I had only been smarter or better, this would've never happened.
I noticed something sticking out of his pocket. I reached over and grabbed it. It was the metal plate, and a small drive. I flipped the drive over and saw there was writing on it. Moonfizz was written across it. He did it, he got us the information. I knew I could count on him!
Now it's time to use what he found to help avenge him.
We left the scene before we got into too much trouble. Unnoticed by any officers, we made our way back to my bike.
Anger still filled my mind. Whoever did this is going to pay with far more than their life. Once I find them, I'm going to tie them down, strip their body apart piece by piece and watch as they scream and bleed. And I'm going to keep doing it until I spill every ounce of blood out of their body, once they finally stop screaming I'm going to burn them to ash. Fuck, what am I saying. I need to get my head on straight and focus.
I got on the bike and Tessara hopped on behind me. I looked back one last time and that's when I saw it. A black figure on a nearby roof, looking right at us. It was them — The person from the other night! There was a small shimmer from the sunlight on their face as they turned and ran. They have answers, I know they do. I wasted no time and jumped off my bike.
"Hey wait!!" Tessara said as I ran off.
I ignored her and sprinted to the nearest building, then jumped onto the roof. I caught a glimpse of the figure running across the roofs. I started sprinting as fast as I could over the roof tops. I will catch them, I have to.
I jumped from roof to roof, the figure getting closer and closer as I continued to catch up. I was only ten feet away when they turned to look, the moment they saw me they quickly turned back and started to pick up speed.
I didn't understand how they could be going so fast. I tried to push myself to run faster, but I wasn't gaining near enough speed.
I started to gain awareness of my surroundings. I was so focused on running I wasn't paying attention to where I was going. I looked around and noticed I had hit the point where the streets drop off near the west edge of the east side, so I was running across buildings upwards of fifty floors. Now I had to be careful. One misstep and it would be over. I looked ahead and the figure had disappeared.
No way! How did they disappear like that? I had looked away for barely three seconds. I slowly came to a stop and looked all around, nothing. They were gone. I was pissed. A few hours later we were back in my room. Tessara looked at me, "So did you get a good look at them? Do you know who it is?"
"No, I only got close enough to see their face once, but it was still too hidden. They were definitely the person from that night, though. I could tell."
"Ok, and you're saying they outran you? What? How? I didn't even think that was possible," she said with a small laugh at the end.
"Yeah, whatever. The point is, I'm going to find them, and they're going to tell me everything," I said, more serious than ever.
"Alright, well I don't know about you but I've had enough fun for one day," said Tessara.
"Oh yeah so much fun", I said in a monotone voice, while staring off into space.
"Get out, please. I'd like some alone time."
"But-"
"Out!" I yelled.
"Ok, fine," she said as she got up. She gave me a small sympathetic look and left the room. I sat down on my bed and stared at the floor with my head between my hands. That's the second time they showed up, and the second they were after me. Or something close to me at least.
They were headed towards the goldies. That's more evidence to support it's a corporation. Of course, we still don't actually know, but that would explain how they seemingly know as much as they do about me.
I pulled out the drive and plugged it into my wristech. Numbers fluttered across the screen as it read the information on it. The screen turned to a white page covered in writing.
I started reading it. Most of it was just random useless notes.
Finally, I found what I was looking for. The mineral, it's called talamite. Based on his notes, he couldn't conclude much of anything about it. And there was nothing linking it to any sort of corporation. His shop didn't exactly have the equipment necessary for testing something like this, either.
I decided to spend the rest of the day researching talamite. I found almost nothing. All I found out was it comes from meteorites, which means there's a limited amount. This makes it far more rare than I thought, which means whoever this is either loves astronomy or they have a boatload of money, or both.
Either way, that's more evidence of it being a large corporation. Even if they got to the site first, they would need some expensive equipment. It's relatively malleable making it a good alloy, but there's no records of it ever being used for equipment, tools or weapons.
I continued to search for information, but nothing new came up — just repeated sentences and incomplete tests. It was late by now.
My best plan would be to figure out where it came from, so tomorrow I plan to go to the city center and hack into the shipping and receiving city network. Everything going in and out of the city is kept there. Hopefully, I can figure out who's buying the talamite.