I left Saint behind in the food court for a moment and stalked up behind one of the gangers. At a glance? No telling what gang he belonged to. They had something to do with tie-dye though. I wasn't sure from afar, but this close? They all had on tie-dye shirts under lightweight ballistic armor. Except the guys with subdermal armor. They just had tie-dye on.

I slipped a Dragonfly into his back pocket, flicking it into tracking mode. Almost every function of the bot shut off to avoid detection, only powering back up to send a notification every five minutes. I checked my wrist pad. Assuming this guy went back to base, I wouldn’t have any troubles tracking this group. And once I got close I could remotely operate the Dragonfly and scout out what I was dealing with.

I returned to Saint and pulled him into the basement of the mall, easily bypassing the gang members. Although they were most definitely hired by Medtech, they seemed to be an actual gang and not Operators in disguise. Or, at least, that’s what would make sense.

The gang’s chrome was low quality and they didn’t seem particularly well trained. They had pretty high-quality weapons, but that only mattered if they found their target. And who was I? I’d managed to evade across an entire sub-district while dealing with well-trained cultists that not only had good gear and communication, but also a magical tracker pinging my location. Getting away from the gang was a breeze by comparison.

We moved on down into the city’s infrastructure. I dropped into a storm sewer, splashing lightly. “You coming?”

Saint paused just before the drop, looking down toward me. His gentle brown eyes had a slight red glow to them. It pulsated like a camera? “Are you sure you know where you’re going?”

“Do you want to go back? Haah…” I sighed, peeking out into the rest of the storm sewer. There was a level of water rushing along, but the current wasn’t too strong. ”Better than anyone else in this city. Just hurry up.”

“Ugh- I hate water.” Saint splashed down behind me, noisily staggering around. What a shit city to live in if he hated water. Rain almost always fell here.

The pretty man followed behind me down through the storm sewer. ”Worried it’ll mess up your makeup?”

”Har har… I don’t wear makeup anymore, okay? This-“ He waved a hand at his face. “This is all natural.”

”Outside of the genetic manipulations and chrome, of course.”

Saint shrugged. “Not as much as you might think. My eyes, of course, are chrome. Got some permanent eyeliner too, but the rest is actually natural.”

Here I was thinking he was some kind of test tube baby they perfectly modified for looks. “NV augment?”

He easily followed me through the darkness toward a lifted up platform with a water tight door sealing the way out. ”Yeah. You?”

A mish-mash of Traits and Perks. Being able to see in the dark like this made Panther’s Sight worth it, if nothing else. ”Something similar…”

I unlocked the seal after a minute. It had a weird mixture of mechanical and electric locks, which I short circuited with a touch of my… Electrokinesis? Was that right? Or did I have Electrogenesis? Both? Whatever, I shorted out the electric lock with my Kinetic ability, allowing it to pop open. 

The door led into an airlock, which led further into a cross intersection, each of the doors likewise set up with seals just in case. I couldn’t really blame whoever designed this for their liberal use of precautions considering what was behind each of the doors.

I picked one, which opened out into an underground electrical facility that powered the surrounding blocks. I carefully locked the door behind Saint once he stepped through, resealing it just like I had for the last several.

Saint paused and looked out at the humming room. ”Quite the escape route you planned. Is there any more to it? Or is this the last stop?”

”This was just step ten of my thousand and three part plan.” I checked the door one more time before pushing past him into the room. "We're almost out."

I carefully walked through the room, half tempted to grab onto the transformers and feel the current surge through me. It was like a drug to me after getting my Kinetic ability, one that tempted me anytime I came near something that crackled with electricity. Just one little tou- no, bad Shiro! 

Once we were out and into an apartment building’s laundry room, Saint relaxed significantly. Thankfully, there was no one here to see us stumbling in from the locked access shafts. “How do you feel about being in my report? It’s not everyday someone saves me from assassination.”

He didn’t have a camera… definitely a chrome eye? Must’ve been quite something for all the augments he seemingly had. It didn’t really matter. I hadn’t activated Blinder, so I was definitely there, but Master of Disguise should keep anyone from recognizing me. Still… “No. Blur me out of any pictures too.” 

“Fine, fine…” Saint rubbed his eye. The red glow faded from his pupils.

I hopped up onto one of the laundry machines, wringing out water from my pants. ”What about that clinic?” 

“Cancelled.” He sighed, pulling off his shoes to shake out water. “I have a few more leads to follow up on, but… honestly? It isn’t looking great. Medtech knows how to cover their trail.”

I side-eyed the man. “Are you still planning on writing an article? Even with the assassination attempt?”

He brushed his bangs aside, leaned back onto a dryer, and covered his eyes. “A large part of me wants to just run and hide… but I can’t just let this go on without at least trying, you know?”

Yeah, I knew. It was the same for me. I had to at least try to help Nael out after all he’s done for me. Seeing Absolom Clinic, which had been built up over decades, crumble around him? It’d be crushing. He’d find a way forward, I’m sure. Nael was a survivor like that. But I didn’t want him to be in that position in the first place.

At first I was hesitant about fully committing to Saint’s plan. They sent an entire gang after him though. If they were that committed to silencing him, then his plan had at least some merit. ”I'll infiltrate the gang. Try to find the money trail.”

”Are you sure?” Saint looked worried. “Gangs are-“

“I know what I’m getting into.” I checked my wrist pad. The location of the gang was still loud and clear. Looked like they gave up in the mall and were spread out into the streets near there. “I used to break into Neo-Joker hideouts for fun before they disappeared. A little gang like that? Wouldn’t even be an issue.”

He hesitantly nodded, though thankfully didn’t say anything else about the topic. “Neo-Jokers, eh? Long time since I heard of them.”

”Oh? Do you know what happened?” As far as I knew, they just disappeared into thin air. I tried to look into it, but no one really knew what happened. 

He shook his head. “I was going to investigate, but a bunch of my contacts warned me off. Not long before they vanished though, a carnival moved into Bricktown.“

”A carnival?” Those were… ancient. I didn’t think nomadic carnivals even still existed. Between the Eternal Sandstorm, Dune Walkers, monstrous creatures, and the more human elements? It wasn’t exactly easy to move between city-states these days.

”Yeah. I thought it was weird too.” Saint said. “But I had other stuff I was investigating at the time, so it kinda just slipped my mind.”

“Very weird…” Could be unrelated… but something told me that wasn’t quite the case. Neo-Joker's. Carnival. Some kind of connection?

”Anyway, as much as I would like to sit and chat, I have some other leads I’d like to check out.” Saint pushed off from the dryer. His shoes squelched obnoxiously, causing the reporter to wince in discomfort. “And get a change of clothes.”

I watched him head for the door of the laundry room before calling after him. “Be careful, chek? I won’t be around next time.”

He waved over his shoulder. “Yeah, yeah… I know they’re looking for me now. Trust me, I know how to keep my head down. I have chums all over the city too. Won’t be a problem.”

”If you say so.” What were the chances I had to bail him out soon? Nah, that was just me being pessimistic again. It’d be fine… probably.

Saint laughed lightly. “Cya around, kiddo. Call me if you find anything.”

My expression distorted. I shot him a fierce glare. ”Don’t call me that… and back at you. Keep in touch. Let me know if you need help.”

“Sure.”

— — —

I checked the tracker one more time. Was this the place? The gang was so, so very far from home back in Bukicho. As if I wasn’t already sure of it being a hit, now I was definitely convinced. No way a gang from Portside wound make a move that far away without getting paid a significant amount. Especially not while risking the ire of the Jade Fang.

I stood on top of an ancient lighthouse way after the sun had set. The thing was covered in graffiti, and someone had even got it back up and running at some point. The massive light swirled around the area in shades of blue and pink, making the surroundings look particularly pleasing to the eye.

Before me, massive warehouses stretched out in this sub-district of Portside. Some were heavily guarded, some had bots stationed out front, and some were outright abandoned. The abandoned ones looked like they were barely standing, let alone guarding something important. Gave me similar vibes to the outskirts of Little Yukoto and all the warehouses up there.

I moved my binocs to one warehouse in particular. It was heavily spray painted with a kaleidoscope of colors in a swirling pattern. Home of the tie-dye gang… or, at least, that’s what I was calling them until I figured out what the gang's actual name was. 

They looked easy enough to infiltrate. Ironically, my plan was the exact same as with the Neo-Jokers. They had skylights in the warehouses, and a few of them looked already shattered. Perfect place to get in and cause some mischief.

Perimeter patrols moved around, of course, but nothing I couldn’t dodge. They seemed pretty lazy, wandering around in loose paths without much order. Not much electronic security either. Cameras and a couple turrets around the entrance, but easily avoidable with a bit of my Blinder.

The biggest worry was actually approaching the warehouse itself. They were pushed up next to a spot heavily guarded by PMCs. Probably some kind of corpo storage facility, if I had to guess. No telling if I set off their alarm by accident given the proximity.

I sat down, leaning against the railing and letting my legs dangled over the edge of the lighthouse. I reached into my bag, pulling out my deck. Dragonflies flew out of my bag by the dozen. They whizzed around me for a moment before I set them to fly toward the warehouse.

While they were in motion, I checked on my tracker bot. I was close enough now to receive and transmit commands. I sent a command to move out of the ganger’s pocket. It waited for an opportune moment before buzzing out of his back pocket, flying up to the roof of the place for a vantage point.

The inside of the warehouse was mess of shelves and crates with gangers moving about the space constantly loading and unloading some kind of cargo. Forklifts drove around, their flashing lights creating deep shadows. Other gangers stood around with rifles strapped to their chests on heavy guard.

This wasn’t just a small-time operation. Looked like a relatively knew, although storm gang. There were enough gang members around, at least. I set the Dragonfly up on a vantage point next to a shelf, looking out over a skylight I was interested in dropping through.

The other Dragonflies arrived, which I flew out and through the place to get a better look. The back half of the warehouse was under an even heavier guard, with internal security several times better than what protected the perimeter. I could see why almost immediately. 

The back half was converted into a full on fabrication shop, making what looked like weapons. At a glance? Knockoff arms from Raijin. They had similar enough designs, though I couldn’t find the markings for them. Everything from pistols to rifles were in production as busy workers buzzed around the place. The gang members kept a watchful eye for trouble.

The tie dye gang was heavily in the arms business, it seemed. Arms and hits... not a bad combo. If I was the boss? I’d invest a little more in chrome to upgrade my troops, but what would I know about running a gang? 

Hmm… actually, running a gang might not be that bad of an idea. Could print Rayn if I got into the right business… At that point, I should just start up Cold Moon Solutions again like I thought about earlier. That way I’d be legal, even if it meant dealing with more bureaucracy. I’d finally start living up to my familial obligations by making the business come back to life.

I moved a group of micro drones to the offices. They were much tighter than the rest of the fabrication workshop, and less guarded. Most of the security inside was electronic, which wouldn’t be an issue. Likewise, the office was my goal. I needed information on whoever hired the gang, and I’d probably find it on the boss’s computer. A job with Medtech? No way he'd let anyone else deal with it other than himself.

I scouted out the location a bit more before setting my dragonflies up, dragging their several different views into my HUD. I also set down a bird from the Spectral Flock trait Perk. 

A familiar thrill filled my system. Without a second thought, I threw myself off the side of the lighthouse.