"Look Takuma, I don't know what to tell you, but the police found absolutely nothing on that rooftop, and I mean nothing" Spud said from across the table.

"Damn it Spud, I know what happened, I was nearly killed!" Tak said angrily. The brown haired journalist sighed.

"Tak, I believe you, but I'm just telling you the facts. Nothing, no body, no robed people, no signs of battle, nothing. They combed the entire city block and only found a bunch of homeless lighting a dumpster on fire"

Tak rubbed his head and looked out the window. For once it was actually sunny outside and he could see the Aeryn bay stretch out north towards the deep ocean. He looked back at Spud. Spud, his real name was Jake, was the man he always went to when it came to information. Being a journalist for Delta City's main newspaper, spud had developed a knack for tracking down bits and pieces of information and sticking them together. And even then, his talent with a camera was legendary.

"I mean nothing dude. I asked around and nothing was happening in that area at that time"

"I guess they covered it up.."

"Are you even listening to me" Spud leaned forward "there is always something happening somewhere. The fact that nobody, and my good sir, I mean NOBODY knows anything about that place on that night makes me concerned"

"So there was a major cover up?" Tak said emphasizing the word major.

Spud nodded. "From what you described, it sounds like you need some heavy shit to move everything out of there"

"So we're talking something big?"

"Something bigger than a simple lower city gang. You said they we're all dressed in the same clothes?"

"Yeah"

"Then at least we know their organized. That's also bad news. From what I've gleamed working with you, those people are the most dangerous."

"Anyone with a gun can be dangerous Spud"

"That why I work with a newspaper" spud looked at his empty cup "I'll be right back"

They we're standing in Jake's pup. Nobody was inside except Tak, Spud and Jake. Everyone was outside enjoying the sunny weather. Spud went over to Jake and got a refill on his soda.

"Anything on that cell phone I gave you?" Tak asked. Spuds eyes lit up and he smiled.

"Hell yeah, I was waiting for you to ask" He pulled out a folder.

"That number? The one listed as Contact, was actually a Fax number"

"What? That makes no sense…"

"That's what I thought. Until I traced the last call made. As soon as I did you wouldn't believe what I found"

Tak waited patiently. Spuds grin couldn't get any bigger.

"It's actually a web key that allows access into a private server"

"Ok….now you're making almost no sense. Why would a phone have a fax number that's actually a password into a private server? And why is this all on the last call made?"

"You're still thinking like-"Spud took the phone Tak had given him to analyze out of his pocket and laid it on the table "-this is still a phone"

Tak folded his arms "Spud, I've seen this brand of phone before." He turned around "Jake! Let me see you cell!" From across the room, Jake pulled out his phone and threw it towards Tak. He caught it and put it next to the other Phone. They we're identical.

"See?"

Spud smiled. "Watch." He pulled of the first cell phones case, revealing a streamlined circuit board. Then he took apart Jake's phone.

"Hey!" Jake yelled from across the room.

"Cool your jets Jake, give me a second." He pulled off the case and showed it to Tak. The differences between the two we're huge. The first phone looked like it had several dozen different microchips and many of the parts we're silver. Jake's was just a single dull looking chip-board.

"We'll I'll be…" Tak muttered.

"This" He indicated the phone "is defiantly not a phone, this thing is a handheld computer in disguise. Your dead man was either very rich or had some powerful friends."

"How rich and how powerful?" Tak asked, examining the inside workings of the mini-computer.

"I could be wearing golden boxers if I sell this" He said sarcastically.

Take thought for a moment. These seemed to be powerful people he was dealing with. First the whole cover-up, then this piece of hardware.

"You mentioned something about a private server."

"Yeah, I managed to access it for about twenty seconds before the computer I was using was choked to death by some weird virus."

"What computer?" Tak asked.

"A public computer Tak, You don't dick around in something like this with something that can be traced back to you. Needless to say the owners of the internet café down the street are going to be very pissed off when they find what happened"

"So please tell me you found something in those twenty seconds"

Spud pushed the folder he had laid out over towards Tak.

"I couldn't grab any of the text files; some weird format almost crashed my computer. The images on the other were in normal JPEG format. I managed to pull photos from the last six days" Spud also flipped open a notepad he was carrying.

"I also managed to track down a purchase someone who had access to the server made four days ago. A boat ticket from Lily Cove Harbor to Port Hope"

"for when?"

"Boat left port yesterday. I'll bet my month's salary that someone on that boat is connected to this incident"

"It's out at sea, nothing we can do about it; now let's look at these photos"

Tak flipped the folder open and was greeted by a large print out of the dead man Tak had seen. He turned the page and found some pictures of random hieroglyphs. He kept browsing until he found something else. A picture of a spiky haired teenager.

"Spud who is-?"

"Ran it through the servers and found nothing" he answered.

"He doesn't exist in the server?"

"That or, much more likely, he's not a Southlander. I couldn't access foreign databases."

Tak looked at the kid's picture, he corrected himself, he looked only to be a year younger than him.

"So we have a picture of our dead guy….and a picture of a unknown…could this be a hit list?"

"I don't know Tak, all I know is something big is going down with all this hardware and anti-intrusion software I've found. You've hit something gold"

"Spud I don't care if this makes a good story or not"

"Yeah I know, I'm in this for the story, but what about you? Sure you got shot at and stuff…but you really have no stake in this..."

Tak put down the file, closed his eyes and thought. Spud was right, he wasn't being paid and this was an incredibly dangerous thing he was getting into. But he still had a reason.

"This man…died for a reason I don't know about. But I sure hope it was something worth dying for." Tak pointed at the picture of the teenager. "I don't know who this kid is, but he could be next. Hell I could not even be involved, just the picture of a random kid. But if there is a slim chance that he's the next target, then wouldn't you do everything in your power to save him?"

Spud eyed him for a moment, and then shrugged.

"I'll never understand you"

Tak laughed and looked outside at the sunny weather.

Wait….sunny weather….It's only sunny when it's hell on the ocean..

"Those tickets we're for Port Hope correct?"

"Yeah why?"

"We'll they leave from Hoenn, they need to skirt the lost islands and go through the Riptide Corridor, Right?"

"Yeah, what are you getting at?"

"Spud, it's sunny outside"

"Oh….whoever's on that boat is promptly going to wish for a bigger boat"