Jane's body went instinctively stiff at Geno's sudden change of expression, her ears flattening tight against her head — the subconscious tell of someone who'd just registered danger.
Mercifully, Geno's oppressive pressure only lasted for a very brief moment.
"Phew — sorry about that. I have a hard time keeping my temper in check sometimes. That said — I don't want to hear you bring up my private affairs ever again."
The moment Jane had brought up Twiggy, Geno's instinctive reaction had been to assume someone had set their sights on Twiggy and the others.
But when you actually thought it through — these people NOT knowing about Twiggy would be the strange thing.
After all, Geno was currently sitting right at the eye of the storm in New Eridu — it was inevitable that someone would dig into his exploits.
And the moment anyone started investigating Geno, then even with the protection of the Timefield family, there was no possible way they'd be able to leave Twiggy out of the picture.
On top of that — Twiggy seemed to have picked up more than a few rather distinctive new connections recently. It wasn't especially shocking that people inside Public Security knew about her.
As the things Twiggy was getting up to grew more and more outrageous, and as the things she had a grip on piled up higher and higher, Geno — though he never said so out loud — couldn't quite shake the worry that something might happen to her.
Especially recently. Even though Twiggy, on the surface, was acting exactly the way she always did, she kept giving him this sense that she might just vanish at any moment.
Surely it wasn't because Twiggy had been hitting him less often lately, leaving him a bit out of sorts?
He shook his head, casting that absurd speculation out of his mind.
He, Geno, could be henpecked, sure — but he absolutely refused to be a masochist!
"No, this is my fault. I was being too presumptuous."
Jane coiled her tail around her leg to steady herself, and at the same time secretly chastised her own carelessness.
But that mood only lingered for the briefest of moments — after all, as someone who had spent years living the life of a deep-cover undercover agent, controlling her own emotions was the most basic skill she possessed.
"So then, Miss Undercover — what exactly are you still scheming about? Wasn't that pack of Hollow Raiders already brought in and booked?"
Although Jane, now composed again, had shaken off that initial shocked sensation, her tail was still tingling uncontrollably, unable to stop its trembling.
To cover up that flicker of guilty conscience, she spoke with a slight note of deflection in her voice.
"As far as that goes — the truth is, this case isn't actually completely wrapped up yet."
After taking another moment to compose herself, Jane finally returned to that unreadable look she had been wearing earlier.
"And besides — I imagine you, Mister Geno, should be perfectly aware of this already. Here, let me give you a little hint — those automaton soldiers~"
The mechs Jane was referring to were the very batch that Geno had hacked into scrap earlier.
At that point, Geno caught on as well, and at the same time figured out what Jane was planning to do.
Indeed — given that those Hollow Raiders had been able to procure such absurd gear, there was no way Public Security was going to let the matter drop without digging deeper.
And the best way to handle it was to keep posing as that pack of Hollow Raiders, attempt to negotiate with the rebels, acquire more equipment from them — and thereby pull off a classic 'lure the snake out of its hole.'
Still... was it really necessary for her to operate solo again? Wouldn't it have been better to stage the whole show together with Public Security?
And on top of that — why did she also have to drag him along?
"Operating solo makes it easier to win the other side's trust. After all, nobody's going to keep their guard up too high against a single mouse that just so happened to survive."
What she didn't say out loud was — the number of people inside Public Security who knew her actual identity could be counted as a definite minority, which meant those Public Security officers genuinely didn't recognize her.
As for bringing Geno along... well, that was because...
"I'm sure you'd be more than happy to provide me with a tiny little bit of intel support, wouldn't you? Mister Justice-Personified Geno?"
The moment Jane had first laid eyes on Geno, she'd noticed it.
Geno's body was saturated with the scent of ash — that specific kind of smell left behind by fuel that hadn't burned cleanly.
On top of that, his coat carried a number of fine tears and dust streaks. He must have just come out of a fight.
And as it happened, among those damaged mechs, there had been one specific model that breathed fire AND was equipped with blade-edges.
"Those mechs were your handiwork. Which means — either you've got some kind of connection to the people peddling them, or you're investigating these people yourself. Either way, getting a little intel out of you would, on my end, absolutely not count as a loss."
On this point, Geno wasn't about to deny it — if anything, getting Public Security's help had been his goal from the very start.
The two of them, talking as they walked, quickly made their way out of the Hollow.
Right after that, Jane kept on leading the way ahead. As they passed through a little alleyway, she announced that she needed to make a bathroom run, then opened the door of one of the rooms with practiced familiarity.
When Geno laid eyes on her again a minute later, Jane was already in an entirely different outfit.
Sneakers. Baseball cap. Short-sleeved blouse and pleated skirt. And a sun-protection jacket tied around her waist.
A sultry, seductive Thirren woman had transformed in one fell swoop into a lively, cheerful, sporty-youth beauty.
The sheer scale of the before-and-after contrast had Geno sighing internally that it was a real shame she hadn't gone into acting.
"Compared to acting, I much prefer wandering around between the various criminal organizations, and the feeling of playing those villains walking the edge of New Eridu's laws like puppets in the palm of my hand."
Jane's life creed was a simple one. She wasn't some lofty, noble figure, and she wasn't some righteous, upstanding officer.
She was simply a person who, in her own way, kept watch over the peace of this city.
And of course, along the way, indulging a few of her own little personal kinks — well, that was hardly out of bounds.
Teasing a freshly-minted Public Security officer, for instance...
"I'd recommend you change up your outfit too — that way you won't get swarmed in the middle of the street and ringed in like some hunting target on account of a certain family's overwhelming influence."
Geno had to admit she had a point. So he turned his gaze out toward the tide of people flowing past on the street, picked out an unremarkable-looking man at random, then ducked into the room — and the very next second, he'd transformed into that man's appearance.
"How's this?"
The complete transformation, from appearance straight through to voice, left Jane utterly thunderstruck, her dainty mouth hanging open in surprise, unable to close.
"I had no idea you had a trick like that up your sleeve. It really looks like you'd be a perfect fit for my line of work too — want to join? I could be your guarantor."
"Pass. I'd still rather sit at a computer desk and busy myself with numbers and code."
Just as Jane had chosen her own life path, Geno's life was something he himself was going to decide.
If it wasn't a job he actually liked — then it was a flat NO!
"Oh, right — I forgot that you're also a top-notch game designer on top of everything else."
Jane didn't put much stock in that particular evaluation — after all, compared to that identity, the heir to the Timefield family was rather more eye-catching.
Continuing along the street, the two of them — under their disguises — blended perfectly into the crowd, drawing not so much as a flicker of attention.
After that, with Jane in the lead, the two of them arrived at a pharmacy — and the moment they stepped through the door, they heard the proprietor address Jane.
"Well, this is a rare sight. You actually brought someone along to my place."
____
👻🔥Seek: Walnut-chan🔥👻
🔥 New history: Homelander: Founding the Hero Association
Let's hit these goals:
🎯 100 Powerstones = 1 extra chapter for the public!