As expected, the waiting room was completely empty, most people had already fled or were in the process of fleeing the entire building. Taking a peek out of the main door, the rest of the store was almost deserted, just a few employees still running in between different areas in a controlled frenzy. There must have been some incredible amount of preamble to the explosion that the duo had missed earlier for everyone to already be gone by now.
Already fast at work, Cipher's right glove was off and draped over his shoulder. Extending out of his wrist was that same periwinkle cable, now plugged into the computer network of the entire store. The screens in front of him flipped panels a couple times a second, his blue eyes glowing with a level of luminescence similar to the soft overhead light of the studio. Utilizing the building's hardware and systems to scout the area, both of his sets of fingers moved and twitched in tandem like some sort of skilled puppeteer controlling two marionettes.
"Be advised, Lady Kanashima. More bogeys approaching. Unknown affiliation."
"I think these are just gang members. They're searching for somebody though."
Returning back to Cipher's side, Kanashima tried to understand what exactly he was doing with his Intrinsic. His eyes were simply staring into an empty space beyond the holographic screen of the computer, moving from side to side, busy as ever. His fingers continued to twitch and flicker around, manipulating things she had no business of knowing.
"The explosion was from directly outside the door. Likely some sort of car bomb. Highly likely this is just a terrorist attack, still don't know what they're searching for."
Wow, he's really focused. He seems so serious now.
His body weight shifted from one leg to the other, and then back again. Eyebrows furrowing in some sense of confusion, the effeminate fingers traced little shapes in the air. The only ungloved hand allowed the fingertips to shine periwinkle light into the air, visibly following each movement. Kanashima was intrigued, but more confused than anything. There was obviously something that he was interacting with that she wasn't supposed to see, but he was so focused on the subject, whatever it was, in that empty space. What took so much focus away from all of his surroundings and needed such amounts of careful manipulation?
"Be Advised, Lady Kanashima. Several bandits now on your floor."
"There's nothing that makes it seem like they're looking for us specifically. Maybe just looking for valuables? Anyway we're not in obvious trouble."
Glancing from the door and then back to her partner, a confused visage now adorned her marred face. Voices of the Void hadn't been wrong so far, and it just switched from calling them bogeys to bandits. She still wasn't too sure on the difference and what either of them meant, but that had to have meant some sort of change. Ideally, it just meant they were now identified as whatever, but if they were, the voice didn't tell her.
"We could probably just hole up here, let them pass, and then we'll be on our way to Mirren. We're going to need all of our energy and charge for whatever's in store for us there anyway."
Her peer's reasoning made sense, after all there was no reason to risk themselves if they weren't in immediate danger, as he said. This wasn't even part of the agreement that she made with Serafin, this would just be some sort of extraneous event that had no impact on her first and last mission. It was still unclear why they were taking her around and getting her so much equipment for just one mission, but she couldn't complain when she was the one receiving it for free. The only question she had was why, but that would probably have to come at a later date.
Despite the resignation and the stated need to conserve energy, his wrist cable was still plugged into the store terminal. His fingers were still moving in similar ways, conducting an orchestra in the open space of the room. Whatever he was doing, it was providing valuable information, likely more vast and detailed than her own informative property. All she knew was that the building was teeming with whoever these people were, and they were on each floor. The difference between bogey and bandit likely had some clue inside of it, but she didn't understand.
It's odd, I feel weirdly calm in this moment too.
Even though the cafe duo were stagnant in one of the various side rooms, the mounting pressure seemed to be affecting one of her other properties. It wasn't evident what made this amount of pressure extreme, or the circumstance stressful, but it was still responding positively and giving her a sense of clarity. She just had no clue what to do with her heightened mental abilities, after all, they were just going to sit tight and let this whole ordeal blow over, granted if they never check the side rooms. The next iota of information supported the claim.
"It just seems like they're looking through all of the displays? There's a lot of kuai wrapped up in some of those products, but I thought they would just be looking for something more."
The sound of a door latch opening grabbed both of the unlikely duo's attention, jolting their heads upward to the still closed metal door to the rest of the store. Staring for a brief moment in confusion, a cough into a hand brought them out of their confused stupor, and they redirected their gaze behind them to the actual open door.
Leather gloved hand still on the door knob, Goldweaver's best in house tailor, Ray was standing there in all of his glory. An opaque bag handle sat in his other hand, the front reading the name of the store in that same complex cursive font that Kanashima struggled to read. His eyes looked in between the two before his brown eyed gaze settled on Cipher, asking another silent question. Receiving a nod in response, he stood quiet for the information update.
"Car bomb on street. Bunch of people in the store, affiliation unknown. Probably gang members. It feels like they're searching for something but they're focused on the displays."
"No current threat to us?"
"No. Honestly I think we can hole up here for a little bit until it passes over."
"Good idea. Here, finished this piece. Might be helpful to get it to you now."
The tailor tossed the garment of clothing inside the bag towards the one handed girl, her violet eyes widening. There was only so much a clear state of mind could do for her reaction time, she still had to catch something with one hand. Letting it fall to the floor, she picked the branded clothing bag up off the ground by the hanger sticking out. His brown eyes drooped down in a little bit of disappointment, his hand reaching out ever so slightly at his work.
"No… the wrinkles."
"What would clothes do for us here?"
"Why, you want to keep wearing the oversized cafe polo?"
That felt unnecessary.
Managing to wiggle and free herself from the shirt a little faster this time, the black uniform fell to the ground once more. The bag fell soon after right next to the other piece, tore open at the top. She brought the fixed piece up all the way next to her head, turning to look at one of the mirrors situated in the waiting room.
"Serafin really doesn't fuck around. Reinforced threads, tough leather. Hood, facial covering, just really anything you need."
"Standard issue armor. Really beautiful. You always do such great work, Ray."
"Don't I know it? I'll finish up the rest of the work. Hey Blueberry, you got any movement in that Intrinsic of yours?"
Inside the coat's branded packaging came with a standard issue mesh shirt also cut to size for her small torso. After fitting it onto her torn up chest, she moved around to pick up the heavy and reinforced jacket. As she worked her hindered arm through the left sleeve, she turned to look at her tailor in his brown eyes, a questioning expression glinting across her own violet pearls.
"Anything at all that aids your movement. Can even be a property… but I doubt it."
With the black tech coat now resting on top of both of her shoulders, she opened up her menu once again, her eyes grazing over the names of the abilities, not bothering to expand any of the descriptions. Shaking her head, the holographic panel of light closed in her eyes.
"Oh… No."
"Okay. Good luck you two. Don't do anything stupid and stay here. Once it blows over will be fine. Will Mirren be alright?"
"Yeah, should still make it in time."
With the conversation coming to a close, Ray retreated back into the studio and Cipher redirected his attention back towards the same empty space, his wrist still connected to the department store computer. Locking the front door, Kanashima walked up to stand on the side of her coworker, staring at the same blank space. It was obvious he was seeing something there that she couldn't, perhaps it had something to do with his own virus.
"They're opening side room doors now. Should still be okay. All of those were left unlocked."
"What are you doing?"
Failing to respond for a minute, his fingers continued to twitch and fiddle with whatever he was looking at, still completely focused on his Intrinsic. Allowing his eyes to rest for a little bit, her partner looked up from his spot of attention and towards her. There was a sense of security, he probably didn't have to focus too much on everything that was happening inside the building. Besides, it was taking a toll on his virus enhanced brain with the amount he was pushing the Intrinsic. If he wasn't careful, there'd be hell to pay when they got to Mirren.
"My Intrinsic. I'm a scout support type. Anything with a network, connected to electronics, I can connect to, read, and understand. This entire building, like many others, is intertwined by a system."
Nodding at the sufficient response, Kanashima turned to look at the door again. In a way, it was a significantly more advanced version of the voice inside of her head feeding her information. An intrinsic like that was certainly useful, the applications of it were incredible. Maybe that was why he was so good at reading what was wrong with her body. Likely the reason why Serafin called him over that night when she hopped into the simulacrum.
"A combat Intrinsic usually gets paired up with one like me, and vice versa. For the past two months, I've been working with Sera, but now that you're here, we'll probably get paired up! Isn't that great?"
"So Serafin is a combat too?"
Staring at her blanky, her current partner managed a simple nod of affirmation in response to her innocuous question.
Still only one mission. Why does everyone feel like I'm already knee deep?
"Be advised, Lady Kanashima. Breaching charge detected on your door. Take cover."
Quickly relaying the information from the voice to the taller cafe worker, she surveyed the room once again. The chairs wouldn't provide much protection, if any at all, and any area even close to the door had to have been out of the question. The receptionist desk was a good idea, but Cipher was already moving to crouch behind it. The trash can in the corner was far too small to provide any real shock absorption, and so was the similarly sized potted plant.
Why are they trying to bust it open? Are they looking for something in here? Is it Wild Eyes connections? Ray?
"Lady Kanashima, Explosion imminent. 3… 2… 1…"
A single meter away from the thick receptionist desk, it was evident that she wouldn't be able to join the other half of the duo in time. On reflex, she felt her circuits flood with violet electrons like she had done all those times before just in time for the explosive to blow the door off the hinges.
"Move in! The last report says she was in here! Go Go Go!"