It Begins Now
Seele had not expected her night to begin para-dropping from the Hyperion down into Arc City. Much less so without a parachute to paradrop with. The two leapt out of the lower decks landing docks and into the dark night, wind whistling through their ears, the scent of moisture thick and prophesying future rainfall.
"AHHHHHHHHHH"
Seele could not help herself. The scream came unbidden. But she did as Bronya had instructed her earlier and kept her eyes open, the hololith arc constructed of pseudo-matter that protected them. Descent vectors. Target co-ordinates. Time until terminal velocity. A wealth of data streamed across Seele's vision. She was unfortunately tearing up from the experience and it all seemed a blueish blur.
"Your hand."
Bronya's voice buzzed in Seele's comm bud sitting in her ear. Not needing to know where her… friend. Yes that was what Seele was going with right now. Not needing to know where her friend was, Seele reached out and felt the firm, confident grip of Bronya. That grip filled Seele with a confidence that only one other person could match.
A very jealous person who snatched up Seele's other hand a second later.
"Stupid girl thinks she take all of you away from me. You were mine long before she tore the tape off your lips."
Seele ignored the grizzling of her other half. Brackets appeared in her hololith vision, indicating the area the duo needed to be within. Tipping their arms and body around, the pair moved into the square pillar of light.
The bitumen beneath was approaching faster than Seele liked. She swallowed hard.
"Bronya-nee-san. Are you sure this is the best idea?"
The moonlight betrayed the faint smile Bronya wore.
"The Bronya thinks this is the most interesting."
Seele liked that smile. That hint of something bubbling beneath the surface. Bronya was opening up more and more each day. She was willing to suffer her tears just to see that adventurous, ambitious look in the woman she…
Seele focussed on the mission brief. Get into Arc City quickly. Travel to the location via bike to minimise detection, hence the night paradrop, secure the civilians and exfiltrate. Expect resistance and respond in kind.
"Be ready in five, Seele."
Either of Seele's hands were squeezed tightly. Tonight Seele's companion was feeling especially jealous.
5
4
3
2
1
Project Bunny 19C appeared beneath Bronya. Rebuild. A parting 'gift' Seele had given Bronya along with a promise. A promise sealed with a kiss. Seele marvelled at what Bronya was able to do with the robot. The sleek mechanical construct shifted forms from hulking humanoid into sleek motorcycle. Bronya slipped into the riding position, her free hand pulling Seele behind her. Once her butt was firmly planted on the bike seat Seele wrapped both hands around Bronya and did her best to only squeak rather than scream as the wind buffeted them.
"Bronya-nee-san, what now? We're still falling."
"Falling is just driving vertically."
"That doesn't make any sense, Bonya-nee-san."
The engine beneath Seele hummed into life. Seele didn't understand that much about machinery or computers. That was Bronya's strength. She still understood that Bunny was a bike like no other. A road of pseudo-matter streaked out from the front wheel of the motorcycle, the shallow arc shifting the vehicle from vertical to horizontal.
Seele squealed again of course.
The bike, travelling well past any rational speed limit, was deposited on a road with no traffic. Beyond the cameras of the ever paranoid Arc City Security Forces. It was into the moist air of a building storm the two rode, speeding toward a possibility Bronya had fatefully calculated.
"So you think that World Serpent have been kidnapping people that Heliopolis was secretly experimenting upon?"
Bronya nodded. The two had stopped the bike a block from the apartments they were heading toward. One could never be too careful. Project Bunny had dematerialised for now. The two woman moved on quiet feet, sticking alleys and shadows on approach. They had no idea what they were walking into.
"Dah. Kiana's own investigations corroborate the information and what Matushka told me. There were people that Heliopolis had been watching. Patients that interested them. They couldn't take them at the time."
Seele bit her thumbnail as she thought over it.
"We didn't think fast enough," Seele surmised. "And they knew we wouldn't. We don't know anything about them. But they know everything about us. All our weaknesses. Our plans. Our strengths. Our weaknesses."
Bronya nodded.
"They have spies everywhere. The Hyperion is compromised. They know we were busy with the Herrscher of Sentience and the aftermath."
Bronya swore in several language. Enough to make Seele blanch.
"Bronya-nee-san, none of that please."
"Sorry, Seele. The Bronya is just frustrated. The Bronya should have known that Arc City would not be abandoned. World Serpent would have maintained a presence. And now so many people are missing or dead. Because the Bronya did not think things through. Mr Welt would be disappointed."
"You were amazing to even realise this much, Bronya-nee-san."
"Nyet. Matushka needed to prompt the Bronya."
Bronya sighed.
"The Bronya still has much to learn about being the Herrscher of Reason."
The conversation between the pair trailed off. There wasn't much more to say. The air was getting thicker. The sky would break soon. Not a proper storm. But certainly drizzle. The smell of ozone filled the air though no lightning flashed above. Seele could feel it in her bones. Something was coming.
'Am the only one getting a bad feeling?'
'No, Other Me, I feel it too.'
'Going to do anything or just play dumb?'
'I'm going to trust Bronya-nee-san.'
'Of course, you would. Well I'm going to think of something constructive.'
The presence faded. But Seele could feel a lingering echo in the back of her mind. Whatever she was doing, she was very focussed on it.
The two women stopped at the exit of the alley. They remained cloaked in shadows and assessed the situation. Across the street was the apartment complex. Bronya dropped a case by her side and activated several drones. Two she sent forward to start taking out any nearby light sources with precision laser strikes. Another found an external security camera, clamped itself on and began to carefully backtrace the network, performing a classic man-in the-middle cyberattack, the micro-processor running through numerous encryption permutations used for the data feed. The days of coaxial camera feeds were long gone. Now everything was network based and that created all manner of vulnerabilities for a smart enough hacker to exploit.
"What do you see, Bronya-nee-san?"
Bronya shared the hololith visual feed between herself and Seele. The two saw the multitude of the apartment complex's external and internal security camera feeds.
"No immediate signs of entry," Seele sighed.
"Seele, do not relax yet. World Serpent are experts. They would not leave any normal trace. The Bronya wonders if even the security feed history has been scrubbed. We can only see that it is quiet now."
Seele bit her lip. Bronya was right. They were not safe. Not the two of them. Or the family.
"I want… I want to go look."
Seele glanced up and down the street. All external light sources had been snuffed out. That didn't protect against thermal or Honkai detectors. Which was why Seele was so important to this mission. She took a deep breath and slowly exhaled. Looked up the building. The drones had taken out external light sources so that Seele could do one thing. Hide on a balcony. The power to the apartment complex was still active. Lights from bedrooms, bathrooms and televisions streamed out from shutters, curtains and the thin gaps of blinds.
"That one, Seele."
Seele followed Bronya's finger, her hololith tracing an Augmented Reality arc to the destination. A small balcony six stories up. With another breath Seele was ready.
'Are you really just going to hop up there?'
'Yes'
'Idiot. Do you know how -noisy- that will be?'
'It won't be. I have been practicing. The Hyperion has a room for training. I can get past almost any sensor now.'
'Well don't come crying to me for help if the fight you're starting gets messy.'
The energy bubbled inside of Seele as she focussed on that balcony, on that specific point behind the metal security perimeter, beside some foliage from a few outdoor pots, out of sight.
The Phase Warp was instantaneous. One moment Seele crouched beside Bronya. The next she crouched on the balcony. On quiet feet Seele skulked forward. Being so high up the family hadn't bothered to lock the door. She slid it aside and softly entered the house. Then saw the mess. The very recent piles of clothes thrown on the ground. Shoes and socks scattered everywhere. Pill bottles discarded. They had left. Quickly.
Seele put a finger to her ear bud.
"They're not here, Bronya-nee-san."
Bronya paced around the rooms and corridors of the recently abandoned apartment. By her estimation they had missed the family by two or three days. How they had been tipped off was something she would not waste time on. Instead she needed to piece together where they were and how to locate them. World Serpent had likely beaten them here. But with very little evidence both sides would be at an impasse. Nothing in the family's internet browser history to indicate if they had left to stay with relatives. No obvious destination maps or pamphlets. Photo's from previous family vacations still up on the walls. Nothing conspicuously missing.
'No. They packed light. Which means either someone they are confident staying with or a location nearby. Somewhere they can better restock. Clothes and supplies that would be unfamiliar to a profiler.'
Bronya looked down at the pill bottles and clothing.
'Smart. This isn't the first time. An orgy of evidence. The mess covering the cleanliness. It looks like a panicked escape. But the rooms are the same. Clothes tossed around. Personal belongings scattered about. A panic. But look closer.'
Bronya stopped in the room of a child. Neutral tones. Unassuming posters and toys. The clothing of a pre-pubescent child. Again very neutral. This had Bronya begin to question the medical information collected from World Serpent. The pieces in this puzzle were fuzzy. They kept overlapping one another. Quantum. Out of phase until observed.
'They have run before. From powerful and dangerous people. If they are attached unwillingly to Project Stigma then it could be inferred, though I lack any evidence, that there is more to this family than previously recorded.'
The tap-tap of light feet carried down the hallway and stopped at the doorway.
"The milk went off yesterday," Seele confirmed.
"They have been on the run 24 hours at the most. We need a way to find them."
Bronya left the bedroom and marched into the kitchen. She could reason this out. It was a matter of taking the data around her and putting the pieces together.
Seele left Bronya alone. She didn't want to be rude and interrupt Bronya when she was thinking. Bronya had those distinct crinkles around the corners of her eyes when thinking hard on something. Instead Seele tip-toed into the room. It felt a little bad to be going through someone else's house uninvited. But they were doing it for a very good reason. Still, Seele felt some shame.
"Sorry for breaking in," Seele whispered. "I promise we didn't steal anything"
'And now when all alone you resort to talking to yourself'
"Bronya-nee-san is busy and shouldn't be disturbed."
'Not like you to say something rather than think it.'
Seele turned a little pink. Feeling flustered she stood up and did a quick loop of the room. She wasn't going to answer her other half's question. Even when the mocking laughter filled her ears. Instead she checked the built-in wardrobe. The desk. The bedside table and large bed. It all felt normal for a young child. Plain but normal.
Which was why Seele felt so much niggling at her mind. She crouched beside the bed and had a look underneath for anything important that might have been left behind.
'That old cliché of something found in the shadows beneath a bed.'
'Well if you aren't going to help me then please go somewhere else. It's really important that we find this family and you're being very distracting.'
Seele looked up from the bed and to built-in wardrobe. To the mirrored doors. Seele looked back at her. And over her shoulder Seele looked back at her. Another Seele hovered over one shoulder. A Seele with crimson red eyes and a malicious smile. Someone with a wicked chuckle always perched on her lips.
Velliona stared back at Seele, crimson eyes narrowing.
'It feels like you want Bronya around me than you do me.'
'No. No. It's not like that. It's just that right now we have really important things to do. I want to help Bronya-nee-san. I promise we can play another time. But right-'
'- shush. Check under the bed again.'
'Pardon?'
Velliona had already slipped into the darkness beneath the bed.
'Oi. Under here you idiot. Your dumb luck was right. There's something discarded here. Hurry up and grab it already'
Dropping flat to the ground, Seele extended a hand out and scrabbled around in the darkness beneath the bed. Eventually she felt something small and precious.
Why precious?
Seele couldn't articulate why but that was the first thought that came to mind. Withdrawing her arm, Seele rolled onto her back and held up the curio. A cute little hairclip. Set with a flower.
'A pearl flower, if you haven't already figured it out'
Seele gave a nod of thanks to Velliona. The ethereal girl loomed over Seele.
'We found your evidence, great detective. And it's nothing to help find these children. Haaa there's something funny about it thought. I can't put my finger on it. Any ideas, little Holmes?'
Velliona's voice faded into the background. Seele turned the pearl flower hairclip over in hand. Let it slide between hands. She could feel it. Feel something. An inkling. An intuitive understanding.
Julius.
Johan.
Jules.
Johana.
Named tumbled in Seele's mind. She couldn't see the faces. Not because she hadn't seen them. Family photos adorned the walls. But the faces she saw weren't there. Were never there.
The room was neutral. Plain. The clothes were neutral. Plain. The toys were neutral. Plain. But not grey. Just plain. The sort of plain that could switch. Change. Suit either side.
"A boy. And a boy. Or a boy. And a girl. Or a girl. And a girl."
'What are you muttering about? The photo's clearly show two bo-'
Burnt dinner. Darkness. The smell of decay. Leaking roof. Sleeping bags in a circle. It looked safe. Felt safe. Mum. Dad. Both said they were safe now.
Safe in a cage. Bars of desperation. The lock is fear. The key is resignation.
'Seele. Seele. Seele!'
Seele sat bolt upright. Her hand was bleeding. One of the points of the flower had pierced her palm where she had held it tight. Looking down at the crimson touching the petals it started to fall into place. Seele couldn't explain it but she knew.
'They're like us! I can feel it. They change forms. Boy or girl. Shapeshifters. The parents wanted to hide it. I know… I know where they are!'
'Seele you're making no sense. You can't just -guess- where they are after holding a hairclip. And what about shapeshifters?'
Seele was on her feet before Velliona could continue her complaints. Dashing down the hallway and into the lounge.
"Bonya-nee-san!"
Bronya looked up from her pacing.
"Seele? Is everything alright? You look- your hand! You're bleeding."
Seele shook her head. Closed her eyes and held the hairclip. Then spun around in circles until she was properly confused before stopping. Pointing towards the twins.
"They're that way."
One hand pointed confidently back the way the two women had come on the bike. Seele was about to explain when a sickly feeling gripped her. This wasn't like when she overused her abilities and began to partially phase. Something darker. Slicker. Poisonous. A shadow that writhed within the shadows. Sunk its fangs deep and wounded all in its path. It was nearly there. The family were trapped. A meal to be devoured.
Seele hated the Serpent.
Bronya didn't have a chance to argue. Seele had already grabbed her hand and was running. Jumped the guard rail around the balcony with Bronya beside her. Phase Warped the pair to the ground where Project Bunny waited.
"We have to go. Now! They're in danger."
Bronya didn't ask. Just trusted. She always trusted.
Time was against them. How had this all started? How had they ended up this situation? Where they would decide the fate of several innocents. Children who would live, die or experience a fate worse than death.
Where does this story begin?
This story begins now.
