Of course, it wouldn't be easy to find a new lead. When it was realized that Shiro was, in fact, missing Iverson had Lance and Hunk head the search. This took all of a week for him to sort out. In that time our little posse accomplished a big load of nothing. Reports of what happened at the party made its way to Altea. The headline 'Crazed Drunkies Get into a Shootout' once again proves how incompetent to media can be.
Allura couldn't get ahold of Nyma or Rolo, their warehouse was empty when we went back and there was no trace of a Nyma Hunter or Rolo Beezer in the town files, or any of the surrounding towns for that matter.
It wasn't until we were nearing the second week of nothing that Allura got a lead. More specifically she heard about a guy from a guy who might know about the Galra.
She was supposedly a friend of Lobos and might be willing to help us. Of course, we took this with a grain of salt. But Allura was raring to go so she dragged Keith and I off to a small car shop in the middle of town.
When we got inside the lobby was empty, we tried calling for someone but no one answered. Keith swore he heard music coming from the working area so we went to check that out.
Placed in the center of the cluttered garage was a red 2001 Pontiac Aztek. Keith cringed slightly at the sight of such a car.
"You know usually when people want their car fixed they drive to my shop." An old voice called behind us. We turned around to see a woman wiping off a wrench in a sink.
She walk towards us with a stern face and a hint of a smile. She didn't look like someone who would work in a car shop, her limbs were long and lanky with no real muscle definition to them. Her eyes were startling blue and her hair was a light gray from age. Her clothes were covered in grease and oil. The only real color was a blood red bindi in the center of her forehead.
"You are Ryner correct? An old friend of Lobos?" Allura asked breaking the silence.
I wasn't sure what kind of reaction I expected, anger over the thought of him or maybe she would stall us until more Galra arrived. What I didn't expect was the laugh she let loose.
"That old sot? Yeah, we were friends he used to co-own this place with me before I kicked him out of the deal for keeping his drugs in here. He hasn't spoken to me in weeks, how's he been?" Ryner replied.
"Dead," Keith answered blankly, it was true the identities of most of the dead from the shoot out had been released just yesterday and Lobos' name was glaring back when we read the paper.
Again Ryner surprised me,"And good riddance I say, now who are you guys?"
"My name is Allura and this is Pidge and Keith. We are looking for information on the Galra syndicate."
"No, you're not." She replied.
"Uh, not what mam?" I asked.
"You're not Pidge you're Katie Holt I saw you on the news almost a year ago.
Of course, I know you, you're that girl whose mom died and in the span of a few months lost her brother and father. Aren't you a little young though? It is a school day, are you skipping?" She asked.
I blushed a bit, my academic abilities had always been boasted by my family. I was already applying to colleges before I lost everything, "I quit 'Mam. My mind has been elsewhere lately."
"I read about all your accomplishments in the paper. You were ready to go far, but the worst happens to the best." Ryner replied solemnly, I don't respond. "Course, if you wanted I could help you out, my cousin went to MIT and they still have their textbooks, you could probably borrow them."
My whole life I had wanted to study computer science and whether it be from MIT or a community college I didn't care. The ability to access the world's knowledge with a few clicks was so enticing. Some people could be applying to their first job while others could read a crappy detective fan fiction or it could be done by the same person at the same time. But here was a practical stranger offering me books from MIT for free.
After the shock wore off I nod my head vigorously. Ryner laughs and promises to ask. This woman is a mystery to me. For someone so close to the Galra she is so kind and unlike everything, I knew about them.
"So Ryner you don't know where he moved his business do you?" Keith interjected.
She pursed her lips and set her wrench on the hood of the Pontiac.
"Couldn't tell you for sure, I have a vague idea of where he went but other than that I got nothing. He got a job at the ice cream parlor at the Unilu strip center maybe you could check that out."
"Thank you, Ryner," Allura said, "you don't know the name of the shop do you?"
The two exchanged phone numbers with a promise to keep in touch should anything new arise.
Corran was surprisingly against the whole plan.
"The Unilu strip center is nothing but a vagrant riddled mess. I cannot allow any of you to go there."
"Corran you can't allow or disallow is to do anything, I'm going." I seethed.
"Pidge listen I know you want to find your family, but running into such a dangerous place won't help. The whole place could be Galra infested and you'd end up in the same place as your brother." Corran mediated.
"No Corran, my family is probably dead. What I want to prevent this from happening again." My voice shook.
No one spoke after that.
********
Allura and Pidge later left to get a scope of the area they would soon be infiltrating. They went to the local library to view the original plans of the parlor that Lobos worked at.
Meanwhile, Lance and Hunk came back to the seaside condo to get caught up in the events they had missed. After Keith finished explaining Hunk and Lance shared a look.
"Does Pidge really not have any family left? What about her mom or any distant relatives?" Hunk translated the look for the others.
"I've been wondering the same thing, she's so hell-bent on finding her family that she left home for a year. Wouldn't her mother wonder where she was?" Corran asked.
"That's the thing," Keith said staring out the window, "Pidge really doesn't have anyone. She told me a lot that year it was just us, seeing as I was the only person she could really talk too. Her parents were only children and her grandparents died before she even met them. When her dad and brother disappeared she was alone."
"But what about her mom?" Lance asked, his shoulders were tense and his eyes were moist.
"That I don't know. She never talks about her mom." Keith said looking down.
The four sat quietly in the living room after that. Only the occasional sniff from Lance or Corran was any sign that there was life in the room.
Keith went back to looking out the window, the sun was shining brightly. It made him uncomfortable, whenever something said is revealed the sky should take a piss on the poor inhabitants below. Allowing them to wallow in an equally miserable world. His musings were interrupted when Corran suddenly stood up. He has been watching the walk way and noticed Allura had come back, alone.
"She's gone." Allura said when she got into the house, "Pidge just disappeared."
***********
So what if the Unilu strip was a place of drugs lords and danger? Wasn't that essentially the Galran philosophy?
Corran was delusional, I had put myself in danger a million times over on my crusade.
The library had proved useful at least, the schematics of the parlor were old as balls but it did reveal an underground sewer entrance that could be used to easily and swiftly break in and search for clues.
Should have been easy peasy lemon squeezy right? Well no because the world just loves to make my life difficult difficult lemon difficult.
"Miss Altea, why am I not surprised you didn't listen to me?" A voice said behind us. We had been walking along the boardwalk quietly discussing what we had learned and wondering if we should get some food for everyone when HE showed up.
I turn to see who it is and Allura freezes in place.
With out turning, she replied, "Well Iverson seeing as I didn't listen the first time you can't do anything to make me now."
His one good eye twitched at this, his cheeks colored red.
"I told you to stay off this case, I would have thought that orange haired idiot would have relayed the, ah, entirety of my message," Iverson said.
My hands curled into fists. Allura looked at me out of the corner of her eye, before I could retort she pulled me away.
"I will get you to drop this case, Allura Aleta!" He called after us.
"Why must he be so persistent." Allura sighed. "Ever since I got into town it's all he can do to make me stop looking into this case."
A memory hit me across the face, Takashi was in his own office, door shut having what looked like a heated conversation with mustached man.
"Allura," I said stopping completely, "You and Corran have been in contact with Shiro from the get-go haven't you? And Iverson knew."
She turned to me, "Yes, I have know Shiro for a while now. He was the one to reach out to me about your family. He was the one who delivered the video of my fathers death to me.
"I made the choice to also confide into Iverson seeing as he was a chief, but the second we finished explaining our evidence he threatened us and told us not to keep looking."
She took my arm again and we kept walking, our bodies moved forward but my mind moved back. Why was he so dedicated to preventing Allura from her investigation? Knowing Iverson it wasn't because he was worried, the man cared about two things: his job and his husband. Even with as little interaction I had had in the past showed me this much.
So why, why threaten Allura?
When he left he was going away from the station meaning he was probably on patrol or break. Hopefully the first as that would give me more time.
Allura seemed so distracted that I was able to slip away down a nearby alley way. It took a few minutes before she started calling for me but by that time I was already on the other side of the block.
I had to go in an almost opposite direction to reach the station, I ran the entire way. Which in the ninety-degree heat wasn't fun especially after a stitch developed in my side. I made it to the station in about ten minutes breathing so hard I was doubled over, hands on my knees.
I had long ditched my green sweatshirt and was only in my jeans and a white tank top, which showed how sweaty I was. A few people glanced my way wondering why such a small child was sweating and panting in front of the station instead of being literally anywhere else.
The station itself seemed promising and disquieting. The whole place was closed and dark, something that should never happen. I pushed this aside and began pondering how I would get in.
Iverson's office had a window, but knowing the paranoid bastard it was locked or at least alarmed. Shiro's office, however, was probably more promising.
I snuck around the side of the station, which thankfully was an empty alleyway. The only possible eyewitnesses were some birds digging through a pile of bird seed, Hunks doing probably the guy was such a teddy bear. Of course knowing Lance the seed was also mixed with laxatives so I gave them a wide berth.
Shiro's office had a small window, on which he kept small succulents, man he was one surprise after another. Luckily no one appeared to have messed with or even been in his office in a while, so told by the dust coating the window sill and the brown look to the plants.
His window was locked but with the help of a knife, I was able to unlock it.
The window was relatively low to the ground so I was able to get in and only knock over two plants.
Okay so it was more of a fall into the office that ended with me on my stomach surrounded by dirt and broken pottery, but tomato potato.
I groaned slightly as I sat up and mentally apologized to Shiro, promising to buy him some new succulents. I went to the door and found it locked, one look through the glass showed the only way to unlock it was a key, something Shiro had on him when he disappeared.
"Just great," I mumbled. I looked around to find a new escape root and my eyes fell on a certain something, "Well, when the door won't work try the vent."
Getting to the station ventilation required me to move his desk, which was impossible for me. So I grabbed his desk chair and prayed it didn't turn while I was on it.
I climbed on top of the chair and pushed at the vent. The chair jerked at my movement and I toppled to the ground, my legs were on the ground and my upper body was caught on the chair. My stomach muscles felt like they had been pulled.
I was about to get up when I heard the tale tell sound of foot steps, just outside the door. It was dark and the alley blocked out the light so I stayed as still as possible hoping against hope they would move on.
I tried to keep track of how long they paused at the door. 1 breath, 2. It took ten breaths for who ever it was to move on.
Tentatively I got back up, vowing to be more quiet I carefully climbed back on the chair and pushed the grate open. Using my small strength I pulled myself into the ventilation shaft. I put the grate back in place and crawled over it. I went until I was sure I was at the front of the station and tried to get my bearings.
Iverson's office was opposite to Shiro's but there was no direct route from office to office. The best way to get to it was by taking an outer route. What can I say this isn't the first time I've broken into this station, it is the first time the place is, seemingly, empty.
Of course that being said there is a disclaimer to all this, kids don't do this at home. Vent travel isn't fun. It's small, cold, cramped, and pretty dirty. Also it's confusing sometimes and it kinda feels like the walls are shrinking at times. If you want to break into a place try the back door. Or better yet lo up the building blue prints first to be more creative. If the building is public then so are the records.
Anyways back to the super caper. As I made my way through the vents I mentally sang the mission impossible theme in my head. There was a silver lining to this, I felt totally badass.
I kept looking down the grates as I passed trying to spy the other person. They never showed in my search, so the naive part of me thought they had left. At some point I had to put my sweater back on.
It took the better part of an hour to slowly creep over to Iverson's office. It gave the grate a swift kick and let it clatter to the floor. No footsteps came so I assumed safety. I put my hood on to give me some semblance of a hidden identity. There was an attempt to reach the ground carefully but it ended with my third fall of the day .
"Shit" I hissed, landing on my more injured side. Bruising was inevitable. But whatever the case I made it. Hacking his computer was the easy part.
The password on this one was the same as what I smashed.
His desktop screen was covered in dozens of files. Each labeled with a number. I clicked on each one until I found the file on my family. I was surprised to find my moms missing person file up there, it had happened so long ago.
I counted breaths so as to steel myself back up for this.
Twenty-two, twenty-three.
My chest felt tight and my toes numb, my head spun slightly.
My mom was still a huge soft spot for me. More so than my brother, of course, my dad was starting to get there.
There was nothing I didn't already know on any of them.
I began looking deeper into the desktop. I skimmed through all the files on the computer.
Night has truly fallen.
Finally, something caught my eye. It was an unmarked file, the color was even warped to blend into the background, a milky blue color. It was almost impossible to see except for when I moved the mouse over it.
Excitedly I opened it up, I saw as it loaded it contained a video of sorts. Before I could start watching it a password box came up. I tried the usual, his husband's date of birth, but access was denied.
I tried several configurations to figure out what it could be, all denied. This called for plan B, my hacking chip.
The decryption key was working over time, whatever was on here was very heavily guarded.
My curiosity was peaked. The way my fingers graced the keys thrilled me. I was a certified hacker.
Finally, I made it through, the video popped up and I fought down a squeal of excitement.
It was grainy and took a second to focus in.
"Keep moving." A distant voice said.
The video focused and I saw three figures staggering up the beach. My dad, brother, and another man who looked familiar.
The three kept walking and I noticed my family's hands were bound behind them, the stranger was causally holding a gun.
"You can't keep us out, we'll share the truth, we'll never stop," Matt said pausing to fight against his bonds.
A gasp escaped my lips and I quickly restarted the video and downloaded it onto my thumb drive.
"Hah, and what exactly do you know? Nothing we can't erase." The stranger laughed, with a sinking feeling I realized the stranger was Haxus. His death felt more satisfying all of the sudden.
They moved out of shot and the video stayed there for a while. The moon was full, it was high tide. I heard distinct shouting and a splash. My fathers final moments.
Suddenly the light flicked on, "aha," a voice said. "And what do you think you're doing?" I quickly grabbed my drive and closed the tab.
He grabbed my arm and pulled me out of the room.