The police eventually showed up, ten or so minutes after the crew finished their interrogation. Several citizens were being interviewed, and a few others were being cared for by medics who arrived right at the same time.
Linda was driving, as Kurome didn't feel all that up to taking the wheel; heck, she was busy lying in across the back seat, lost in her mind from the look of it.
"So..." Warechu broke the silence. "What do we tell the boss, chu, or is it bosses now?"
"Not sure." Linda said, slowing down as she turned. "Dude just said to deal with them. I didn't exactly think any further ahead."
"No surprize there." His taunt didn't have as much life in it as usual, made more apparent as he brought up what was on his mind. "Then again, I'm not sure anybody was ready for all that, chu." He hummed, rubbing his rounded chin. "I haven't seen anybody actually try to waste one another since the days of ASIC, but even then it was usually only the goddesses who were targeted."
"They targeted us too!" Linda flung out with a small huff of irritation. "All we were doing was trying to resurrect the deity of sin."
"Yeah... I've been meaning to ask about that." Warechu lazily faced the chosen driver. "Why was it we had to bring her back again?"
"To keep the pesky goddesses from shutting down our operations, duh!" Linda would have rolled her eyes, but being the driver meant she couldn't exactly do that, at least not without risking a potential crash, and after the shootout back there she wasn't feeling all too keen on more chaos just yet. "With them gone we'd be free to sell pirated games to our hearts content."
"Yeah, but if nobody's around to stop piracy, wouldn't they just pirate the stuff themselves, chu?" Warechu crossed his arms. "I mean, yeah, I was in the biz too, but I got away with it because of how underground it was. My customers wanted stuff that worked on official hardware, and getting the equipment necessary is not only expensive, but blatantly obvious too. People would instantly recognise what you're up to, and you'd lose your respect. If that wasn't the case though, and there were no goddesses to stop 'em, they'd just do it themselves. No risk to having a bad rep at that point, as who was going to stop them? The police?" He scoffed. "Well they work for the goddesses too! No goddesses, no coppers, chu."
"Yeah, okay, I guess you have a point." Linda grumbled, slowing to a stop and turning to look back. "Yo, Kurome, we're here."
"Huh?" The woman blinked, sitting up in a sluggish state. "What?"
"We're here, you know..." Linda waved her hand towards the front window. "Our new crib."
"Oh... yeah." Kurome shook her head, seemingly to fight off whatever thoughts invaded her mind. "Yeah, okay, let's go."
"Ease up a little." Linda tried to brighten the mood with a grin. "We can chill inside, now let's go greet the place."
Stepping out of the vehicle, Kurome looked up to the massive building, finding a small bit of visual relief in how clean and somewhat stylish it looked. The walls were a pristine white, and for some reason the various balconies above kind of looked like clouds. There was just something so freeing about the place, like she could fly away at a moment's notice.
If she still had full access to share energy she probably could, but that still hadn't shown itself as of late, only its revolting darker counterpart. Once upon a time she adored it, that feeling of complete and utter control her delusion offered. To see those before her, and those who had wronged her, choking and gasping for breath as she crushed them beneath her heel; it was a flavor of sweetness unheard of.
However, her time as voiceless soul in the back of her better half's head had changed that. It had restored to Kurome her lost memories, as well as infecting her with guilt once more. Insanity is what she'd dubbed it, that bitter resentment which lingered at the back of her throat. Plenty had hated her, and some even tried to kill her, which ultimately resulted in the death of her first real friend. But time had forged those individuals into something new, and as Uzume traveled, she eventually met up with those few naysayers once again.
They'd lost their edge, those still alive, and the more violent of them were not only harmless, but even remorseful of their past actions. She'd discovered how time worked its mercy on her name,
"Hey cool!" Linda's cry of joy ripped the dower woman from her negative journey, and she turned to see her excitable partner pressed up against what looked to be a vending machine. "They've got the fancy stuff in here!" Linda looked back with such child-like joy. "I can't even read half of it!"
The other patrons of the lobby stared, and Kurome had yet again contributed to the eventual bruising of her face with how hard she slapped herself.
"Keep it cool, chu." Warechu crossed his arms at her side, wearing a more scolding expression. "We just got here, so try to uphold some elegance and cla-COMPA!"
His whole body looked to stretch and bend as he flew through the air, waist first, and planted himself flat against the wall; directly over a painting of a blond woman dressed in white. Kurome never expected to see the cartoons Linda was so fond of play out in real life, but then again, she never expected to be a separate entity again either, so she chalked it up to the usual bullshit.
"Excuse me, ma'am?" Kurome turned, and saw how the well-dressed woman seemed concerned. "Are your children alright?"
"Brain damage; it's terminal."
She ignored the aghast face of the lady and peeled Warechu from the wall before making her way to the front desk, all the while dragging the currently K.O.'d rat along the velvet carpeted floor.
"I was told to ask you for our room key." The careless vixen threw out casually, recalling the text from Lonk earlier that day - right before their drive towards trouble.
"Oh!" The woman's shock was reserved as she spoke. "Would you happen to be Kurome Ankokuboshi?"
"Yes..." She spoke, now wary of the woman. "You've heard of me?"
"Yes, master Lonk spoke of your." The woman reached below the desk, all the while Kurome was stuck on the word 'master'. "Here." She handed out a key, and Kurome took it; turning it over to reveal the room number. "All costs are covered - naturally - and your room has been both fully furnished, and stocked with perishables. The only thing untouched is your personal belongings, which he suggested you might wish to unpack yourselves."
"Yes, Thank you." Kurome pocketed the key as her caution dulled. "Fifth floor, right?"
"Yes ma'am, the very top floor."
Kurome nodded, and giving Warechu a good flick, inflated him once more as she went over to get Linda. Weirdly enough, she'd seen the size of the place from the outside, and if the fifth floor really was the top floor, she began to wonder just how big the rooms themselves were. From the top you'd have a full view of a decent portion of the streets, and with the roof right above, as well as each room looking to have its own balcony, there was plenty of space to take a breather and get some air, or just relax in the sun.
"We're headed up." The gothic maiden confirmed as she turned Linda by the shoulder, catching sight of the slight shade of embarrassment dusting her puffy cheeks. The girl tried to speak, but Kurome shut her up real quick. "No talking with your mouth full, it's rude. Now come on."
Keeping an even pace, the group made it to the end of the hall and stepped into the elevator, and from there on it was a swift ride up; elevated by the relaxing lift music. Such internal puns were a great source of fun for Uzume, but for Kurome, she found it just a tad bit tedious. Regardless of minor automated annoyances, the doors pulled open and allowed them to step out. The ceiling was... impressively high up, and Kurome had to pull both Linda and Warechu along by hand; their constant skyward view would have them bumbling along otherwise.
They stopped before a normally sized door - a stark change from all the open space afforded vertically - and taking out the key, Kurome slid it easily into the lock. A click later and she was opening the door.
The duo froze, all the while Kurome simply bore a smirk.
"My tail's feeling a little tingly, chu~"
"Hell yeah! Now this is a level up!"
"Not bad." Kurome let out, watching as the other two rushed inside.
The room was sleek as all heck, with the walls and some sides of the furniture maintaining a simplistically future-esque style. The silver outer color of the couches and chairs matched the walls, and with the large windows matching the latter in scale, it made the bright evening sunset feel victorious; something appreciated by all of them. Kurome walked in, noting the set of open stairs to her right, and following the spiral presented to her the balcony hanging overhead; the second floor. It had no walls, relying on it's height for privacy, at least from her view down on the main floor.
She saw Linda leaning over the railing, lazing comfortably. It was a bit of a dangerous drop, but then again so were most escalations when it came to humans.
"Guys!" Kurome threw her sights to the space below the overhang, and saw Warechu rummaging around in the cupboards of the open kitchen. "There's so much stuff here, chu!"
"True that!" Linda threw down, her face holding this sort of devious smirk. "Bedrooms are up here in the back. They got walls, but each one's bigger than the living room back home!"
That explains the size. This complex was turning out to be a pleasant surprize. sending her eyes towards the deep red of the couch cushions, Kurome made her way over and plopped her backside into place. Leaning back, she kicked her feet up on the rectangular coffee table, and stared at the massive television imbedded in the wall. She spied a small remote to her side, and reached for it.
"Awesome place, right?"
Kurome did not jump, she merely decided to stand and stretch is all. Lonk laughed anyways, burying himself deeper into the other end of the couch.
"When did you get here?" Kurome questioned, sitting back down as she was finished with her 'stretching'.
"Your boss and I ended things at the café on the other end of the mall. Everything went swell by the way, and we worked out a bit of a deal." his expression melted into a smug showing of amusement. "So imaging stepping out of the place, and hearing gunfire?"
"The idiots were... a bit trigger happy." Kurome relaxed her body again, clicking the buttons on the remote, and powered on the TV. She started channel surfing as she spoke, and as if summoned Linda was lying on the floor with her head on her hands as she stared up. Instinctually, Kurome ended up focusing on the animation programs. "We dealt with them in a civilized manner, as you asked."
"Good on you for sticking to the rules." His face gained this sort of... oddity to it. His smile was less taunting and more genuine. "I wouldn't have blamed you for killing one or two of them, but taking them all out without a single casualty period, well, that takes skill." He paused, and his grin turned cheeky again. "Well... this is usually the part where you thank me for the praise."
"Why?" Kurome offered a blank look. "You didn't tell me anything new. I already know I'm the only sensible one around here."
Linda froze up, but Lonk's free-spirited laughter thawed her out, turning her more towards a state of a rubber band in terms of stature. Kurome chose instead to smirk, and stopped her channel search on one of Linda's favorite shows; the one with the colorful talking horses or whatever.
"Yo, called me out." He shrugged. "Guess you ain't so easy to pull a fast one over." He leaned over and nudged her with his elbow. "So where'd you get those smarts? I'd like to send some of my personal guys over; they can really use the training."
"Isolation will do that to you." Kurome said as she rolled her eyes. "But even then, I doubt they'd ever compare. I guess you could say I spent decades honing my skills."
"Bummer. Oh well, you win some, you lose some." He crossed his arms behind his head. "Speaking of, I was planning on asking for your help with another mission soon, but after today, I'm not quite sure if you'd feel up to it."
Kurome made no outward movements, merely staring carelessly as the colorful characters on screen danced around with their magics and such. Internally she was curious however; another mission so soon, and especially after one so violent and risky as the last. It sounded like he was giving her an out, a choice as to whether she'd take the work or not. He wanted her to say yes, his phrasing made it obvious, but even so he gave her a choice.
"Depends." Kurome decided she'd at least hear him out. "What type of job are we talking about?"
"Well." Lonk then, much to her own internal surprise, seemed to shrink in on himself. He tapped his index fingers together, and his voice became rocky as the words tumbled out. "I was kind of hoping you could come with me on a trip tomorrow."
"A trip to where?" Was he really asking her on a date already? Because if he was, it was pretty poor timing. Lonk only made this worse on himself as he put on a shaky, almost embarrassingly desperate sort of smile.
"Well... Zaeda, the other co-owner of our organization alongside me, has scheduled a video call for tomorrow, and she wants to see the quality of my agents." He rubbed the back of his head with a defeated look now. "Unfortunately, the guys I brought over weren't exactly... 'experts' in the field. I was hoping they'd get better, but so far they're still lacking."
"So you want us to fill in as your professional crew?" Kurome let out, and seeing him perk up confirmed it.
"Yeah! Now, don't get me wrong here, I do care about the dweebs-"
Beating them for stupidity is caring? She was questioning it, but thinking it over, she'd have probably done the same in his position, and so she just carried on listening.
"But I wanted to impress my girl by showing her some quality members of the group; really hit it home that I have what it takes to strike out on my own and expand the business!"
Your girl?
"Your girl?" Linda mimicked her dark partner's thoughts to a scary degree; enough for said partner to question it a second. The grassy-topped gal continued speaking however. "You saying she's your girlfriend?"
"Yeah." His appearance drooped a bit. "And I don't want to disappoint her, ya know?" He strengthened his resolve a little. "She doesn't think I'm ready to run my own part of the Lerulians yet, and I want to show her that I can!" He faltered a little. "It's... it's just that I've had some bad luck with the others."
"Bad luck, huh?" Linda smirked, turning back and easing up on the previous shock from her tone, laying out a smooth flow of reserved certainty. "Bah, don't dose on it too much. Everyone's faced trashy moments from time to time, so it isn't anything to keep you up at night. Besides..." Linda crossed her arms behind her head, lying on the floor in a lax manner. "We're - not to toot our own horn here - pretty good at what we do."
We? Again, Kurome was left thinking over the truth of that statement, but lightened up on it as she turned to Lonk. The guy looked to be eating it up... or he was just so desperate for a yes that he'd do anything; Kurome couldn't quite tell right yet.
"Huh..." He raised a brow in an almost teasing sort of motion, smiling in that backwater kind of way. "So you're saying you'll do it?"
"I'd have no problems with it." Linda said, only to lose a little bit of her bravado for a second. "But this is a group decision; you gotta check with Kurome and Warechu first."
Lonk hummed, turning to Kurome, and before he could speak she gave her answer in the usual monotone voice, yet behind it was a hint of... something.
"A simple greeting's nothing, so I have no objections. Hey, Warechu!" She called out, barely turning to see him peek his head from behind the kitchen counter. "You in? I know you heard everything."
"I'm always up for more cash or rep, chu."
"Everyone's in agreement." Kurome confirmed, facing Lonk's excited - yet somewhat cocky - smirk. "So when's this all going down?"
"I'll call you tomorrow!" He basically shouted, hopping off the couch and rushing out the door. As it slammed shut, Linda, with all the wisdom of the ages, posed the more introspective thought.
"Should we be worried?"
"Probably." Kurome quipped, flicking back up the volume as a new show started.
Linda flocked to it with the focus of a sniper.
Author's note
...
Oh no, here we go already.
Yes, this one's a bit of a short chapter this time, but not much happened either. Next time we get the more exciting bits, such as meeting with this 'Zaeda' and figuring out her deal. I'd say be hyped, but I'm feeling drowsy at the moment, so only give a little hype.
See you next time.