*****A Cursed Existence*****
Entry 12: Plans, Schemes, and Backstabbing; Oh My!
AN: Question: should I remove the beginning AN entirely and only have one at the end of chapters? You decide, ladies and gents, because I've got no clue. Anyway, let's get started…
December 12th, 2182, 5:31 am. (12 hours, 28 minutes later)
"What about Seoloris then?" I asked.
"Oh please, we both know she's not your type," my old childhood friend replied after taking a sip from her juice, rolling her steel blue eyes, pale blue skin glowing in the afternoon sunlight. Her face was one I knew well, for a number of reasons – as far as the memory went, I'd been friends with her since we met at that park one evening a few decades ago now, but as far as my actual memories went… the asari sitting across from me was, in fact, me.
"Tara?" I asked after a short yawn, reaching for my own drink with purple-blue arms.
"She's more interested in turians than asari; probably because of her dad being one," she shot the next option down, making it a total of five classmates now that weren't good enough.
"Baheris?" I tried again, hoping she got the point by now.
"Really? Her? But she's so… snobbish!" my friend said, scrunching her nose adorably, which made me sigh fondly.
"Ehara?" was my final attempt.
"Athame, you really want to get involved in that mess? I heard she was the result of a fling between her mother and some famous and rich matron, all while her bondmate was sleeping a few rooms away. What was the matron's name again… Banhasia I believe? Maybe it was Bensessia, I forget, doesn't matter," she ended, looking dismissive.
"True, but everyone says you and her are practically twins."
She scoffed at that, rolling her eyes. "Oh please, just because we look similar and are the same shade of blue doesn't mean we're identical. Besides, her crest is all wrong: it has a sharper curl at the end, and the spacing is different. Not to mention her eyes being some weird green color."
"Whatever you say," I responded with a shrug, making her deflate from the small rant. "Still, she's pretty, even you can't deny that."
"Maybe, but if you really want to get involved in that mess of a family life, don't say I didn't tell you so."
"Alright, alright, if not her… then what about Miri?" I asked, fighting off a smile as I said it.
"What about…" she paused as it finally clicked, "…me? Huh?" the person in question ended dumbly, almost making me snicker at her expression.
"Well? What about her? She's smart, loyal, energetic, compassionate – an absolute genius with mechanics, business growth, and electronics – and as if all that wasn't enough, she's the hottest student in the academy, and a longtime friend of mine," I tallied off with my fingers, taking more than a bit of pleasure at how each one made her blush grow until it eventually covered her entire face.
"I- you- b-b-but I'm not-" she tried, oh she tried, to say something in response, but froze instead when I placed a hand on her cheek.
"Well?" was all I asked, the warmth of her skin sending pinpricks of excitement rushing through me.
At last, it seemed her brain had rebooted, as she slowly reached up to my own cheek and did the same, the beginnings of tears rolling down her face as she joyfully answered: "Yes!"
And as if waiting for that moment, I was simply awake. A glance at my omni-tool told me it was nearly two hours earlier than I'd set my alarms for. A second later and I felt liquid trailing down my cheek, confusing me, and I moved to wipe the tear away.
Well… that was… new.
Hoping to find something out, I directed my next thoughts in the general direction of where the other Miri resided in my head. Who was she anyway? That's twice now I've lived her memory.
All I got was silence in return.
Fine, be that way, I thought with a huff, slowly standing up, only to stop moving when I actually got a verbal – insomuch as thoughts could be – response for once.
My first, echoed a voice identical to mine, though sounding weaker than it had any right to be, causing me to stand still for a moment longer in realization.
"Oh," was all I could say, immediately feeling bad for having asked. Not knowing how to respond, I simply focused on carrying out my morning routine after that. What was I supposed to say? We shared the same body and brain for God's sake; what even was there to say?
Twenty minutes later saw me dressed and cleaned up, and I went out to get breakfast, hoping that most of my passengers were still asleep. Benezia was the only one that gave me more than two word responses whenever I saw her, while the commandos happily ignored me so long as their mistress wasn't around, and I was happy to keep it that way.
Coming up on the pantry, I happily noted that no one was eating at the moment, and as such opened it up to get a look at what I had left. "Hmm… canned food, some freeze-dried options, a selection of asari MREs… could've sworn I had something decent in here yesterday…" I muttered while digging around.
After a further twenty or so seconds, I found what I was looking for: the asari equivalent to oatmeal. Sadly, my preferred juice drinks were long gone, so water would have to do.
"There we go. Damn though, they're certainly eating a lot…" I said, referring to the commandos. Admittedly, it was expected considering I had a large diet myself, but they'd already whittled down my month-long supplies to a week at most, and that was being generous.
Sighing, I wrote off the food as the cost of transporting five times as many people as I originally intended to, and started the process of turning the not-oatmeal powder into actual food. A minute later and it was done, allowing me to go and sit down at the dining room table after I grabbed a glass of water: the table was round and pressed up to the wall, with one big seat wrapping around two thirds of it that was built into said wall, and could comfortably fit four without trouble.
A few minutes into munching on my breakfast I heard footsteps coming around the corner, and sure enough, someone came walking into the dining area. What surprised me was that it was Benezia coming in. I was further surprised when a pair of her huntresses were following her, not making a sound as they did so.
The Matriarch paused and briefly glanced at the area, noticing me in the process, before gesturing to her guards. One simply moved off to the side, a spot that would give her a clear view of the entire room of course, while the other went to the pantry and opened it. Benezia herself just walked up to the table and sat across from me, nodding in greeting. Not being rude, I returned the gesture.
"Matriarch," I greeted her politely.
"Matron," she said in kind.
"Everything to your liking so far?"
"The accommodations have proven adequate, yes."
"That's good," was all I said, and we settled into comfortable silence for a moment while the huntress that went into the pantry cooked whatever it was she'd found. Judging by the smell, it was the remaining not-oatmeal that I was hoping to eat later, which made me internally sigh.
"Out of simple curiosity," Benezia began, breaking the silence, "what was the reason for your visit to Noveria? According to your VI, you are quite far away from home."
To be fair, saying I was 'far away from home' would be putting it mildly. The only reason I made it to Noveria so quickly was due to the fact that I just had to make a few jumps using primary relays, whereas normal interstellar travel could take days or even weeks, even with secondary relays. We were still almost a full day out from the Citadel, but that was primarily because we had to avoid most Alliance and Hegemony border relays due to an uptick of privateering from both sides on each other's shipping. Naturally, their governments denied any connection to it, but considering the state of cold war between humanity and the batarians for the past decade or so, no one believed it for a second.
Focusing back on the conversation, I thought for a moment how best to respond. "Nothing overly important," was my answer. "I simply wanted to look into the rumors I'd heard regarding some research efforts on the planet."
"Rumors?" she asked, a distinct something in her tone that told me she was interested now, no doubt her mind working to determine what I was referencing and if it was related to her own 'activities'.
Feeling like testing the waters, I decided to reveal some of what I knew. It was a little risky, but any hints I could get would let me know how far along her and Saren were in their plans. This wasn't a game anymore, so for all I knew, they could've moved the timetable up, slowed it down, or cooked up something entirely different by now; the butterfly effect was a bitch like that.
"Yes. Apparently – though I haven't been able to confirm it – Exogeni found something… unusual on one of their colonies. Normally it wouldn't interest me, but with my recent mining successes, I've been thinking about expanding into the colony industry. What better way to make use of wealth than to invest in the future of a new world," I ended, playing on that famous asari tendency for long term planning. It wasn't even that far off from the truth. After the fallout of Feros sent Exogeni's reputation and stock price down the drain, I'd be able to snatch up a huge share of the company for next to nothing considering its actual worth. It wasn't really about profit so much as ownership.
"I see. Congratulations on your recent success, by the way," she commented with a small nod, which I returned, though if I wasn't looking for it, I wouldn't have noticed her mental gears grinding at my words. "Did you accomplish your goal?"
"Somewhat. Their representative was… a nuisance, and kept insisting I speak with someone further up in the corporate chain, but we eventually settled into a deal. It just took far longer than I'd have preferred." Which was true, insomuch as the representative actually put me in touch with his superior, and lo and behold he and I were 'old friends'. The man had apparently invested in some Armali Council stock on my suggestion a few years ago, right before the release of a new biotic amp that brought in billions for the company, so he was more than happy to help. "Humans being human, I suppose," I said with a shake of my head, this time playing off of what little I knew about Benezia's prejudices.
"Indeed, they do love wasting precious time," she replied with a huff, relaxing a little, no doubt due to finding herself in 'like-minded company'. Going off her reactions, she most likely thought I didn't know anything about the thorian. Either that, or her and Saren were already done with it, and as such she didn't especially care if I knew, which was unlikely, but it still worked for me.
The conversation was interrupted by the huntress bringing Benezia her food, to which the Matriarch accepted it and dismissed the other asari with a gesture, before bringing her attention back on me. "If you have no issue with it, perhaps we could discuss possibilities for mutual business growth, or even a potential joint venture. It's not often I encounter one as young as yourself making such impressive investments."
Well how fucking old am I supposed to be?! Is 400 years not enough? Freaking asari…
Rather than give any indication to my thoughts, I merely smiled slightly, cooking up various plans on what to do with the budding relationship I now had with the incredibly dangerous person in front of me. She saw a potential target for indoctrination, one that already held some power and influence, a future pawn in Saren, or more accurately, the reapers' game – I saw someone that didn't know who they were actually dealing with, resulting in being underestimated to an extreme, and as such she would walk right into a trap of my own.
"Gladly," was my response, thus beginning the series of events that would involve me in the coming galaxy-wide mess.
Citadel Presidium, December 15th, 2182, 12:14 am. (2 days, 19 hours, 17 minutes later)
"-also, I want you to quietly start buying some additional Eclipse stock, and forward me the contact info for one of their representatives, preferably from one of the more legal branches. It's about time I got something more permanent set up," I told the pudgy investor in front of me. It wasn't an exaggeration either: he was a volus, after all.
"*kssh* A bold plan. Though understandable, considering your recent capital gains, and the risk they are currently at." As he said it, he started tapping away on a console, doubtless already setting up the basics of my future investment strategy.
While I was loathe to admit it, he wasn't wrong. It was the only real downside to any sort of business in the Terminus Systems after all: you either bought off the locals so they wouldn't attack and raid your business, or you paid someone to scare off and/or shoot the locals instead. Hence investing in Eclipse. It carried the risk that the future Eclipse officer in charge of my mining facilities' security would get too greedy for their own good and decide they could run the place instead, but I could make a contingency plan for that; if it came down to it, something as simple as paying off their lieutenant to 'reorganize the command structure' could probably work. Hell, I could probably just outright buy an Eclipse branch if I really wanted to, similar to what my dear friend Donovan Hock did. They were the definition of a decentralized military-for-hire, after all.
Focusing back on the conversation, I gave the volus a nod. "Precisely. I'd prefer those investments to keep paying off for a few more decades, at minimum."
"Naturally. *kssh* Was there anything else you needed?"
Sparing a second to think, I simply shook my head. "No, that should be everything."
"Then enjoy the rest of your day, Thessia-clan."
"And you as well, Irune-clan."
Turning around, I walked out of Barla Von's office building, Aena immediately following behind as I did. While I'd hoped to have a talk with Von himself, he was in a high level meeting at the moment and as such wasn't available to discuss my finances. Personally, I'm guessing that 'meeting' was a call to his actual employer, but at least his aide was able to handle my concerns.
Normally, I wouldn't have gone to someone I knew directly reported to the Shadow Broker if I wanted to talk anything important, but the old Miri had kinda screwed me there: Von was her preferred intermediary for investments, not to mention one of her regular information suppliers on rivals and whatever else came up, so it would've been suspicious if I suddenly stopped utilizing him. In spite of my concerns, I did have to admit: he was good at his job. The past couple months saw my bank account ballooning to newfound heights, thanks in no small part to investments he'd made automatically based on prior arrangements, though the mining business had certainly been what kick started it.
Calling a rapid transit shuttle to pick us up, I turned to Aena while we waited for it to arrive. In spite of what the game showed, transportation was far from immediate, doubly so for someone without Spectre or even diplomatic level authorization. I could file for the latter if I really wanted to, but I couldn't see myself living on the Citadel anytime soon, so it just wasn't worth the bureaucratic effort.
"So, anything interesting happen while I was in the office?" I asked her, having told the VI to monitor the local emergency coms network while she waited out of simple curiosity on my part.
"Thirty-six calls to C-Sec for attempted robbery, seven for corporate trespassing, five public brawls, three armed robbery reports, and one-" she paused mid sentence, "two home invasions."
I blinked at that, not really knowing how to respond. I was only in there for 30 minutes…
"That was across the entire Citadel, right?"
"No. The Presidium."
…I honestly have no idea how to react to that.
Not saying anything, I just nodded and decided to simply wait for the shuttle to arrive. Thankfully, it only took another twenty seconds or so for that to happen, and after the two of us got in, the car's VI asked for a destination. Entering in the address to the penthouse where I was staying, the shuttle took off into the Citadel traffic, unnerving me with how close we got to some of the vehicles and buildings, but that was simply how it worked. The penthouse itself was owned by a friend of Miri/mine, and as she was off-station she was happy to loan it to me when I asked, free of charge even; I only knew about her and the penthouse because I went digging through my old, pre-merging messages yesterday.
It didn't take us long to arrive, and after scanning myself in at the door (upper class apartment complex and all that) I walked to the first elevator that was available, it being one of three, and after Aena stepped in, pressed the roof button. Thankfully, the extra credits spent on the building weren't just for show, and it actually brought us to the top in a reasonable time: less than a minute to go 64 stories up, and I barely felt it moving. The first time it happened the day prior, I almost felt like celebrating the miracle of an actually decent elevator in Mass Effect.
As for Benezia and her retinue, we'd parted ways the day we arrived, though she gave me her contact information so we could 'continue discussing interesting projects' over the next few months. Well, she said she was hoping we could come to a few multi-year business deals, but I knew better, and I had a feeling she did too; easier to tie me to her and her overlord's goals if I'm in a long-term arrangement with her. Hence my suggestion to start with short-term deals to test the waters instead, which she easily agreed to after a short conversation on the pros and cons.
Stepping out of the elevator, I made for my door, it being the only one on this floor, only to find the haptic interface already glowing green rather than the red it should've been. On top of that, the shades were drawn from what I could tell, as no light was leaking out from under the door – why there was any space under it at all I didn't know, considering it was a sliding door, but rich people have strange tastes I guess – and it was still midday for this section of the Citadel.
Ok, I know I locked this when I left. And didn't I set up the penthouse security to alert me when someone arrived on the floor while I was away?
Red flags started going off as I thought about it, an itching suspicion that something was wrong, so I stopped walking and turned to Aena, who had stopped as well, briefly pulsing pale yellow in concern. It only took another second of thought for me to reach a decision. "Be prepared for an unexpected visitor. Connect to the security systems and lock them down if you can. Oh, and try to detain, not exterminate, if someone else is in there; we aren't back at home currently, and I'd like to avoid the extra paperwork."
Halfway through her glow went from yellow to red, before it shut off entirely, the normally colorful VI looking decidedly off without her typical lightshow up and running. "Affirmative, Mistress. Targeting parameters set to Locate and Disable. Permission to use minimum strength area stunner?"
Quickly trying to remember what that was, I nodded upon having done so; essentially it was a short ranged directional taser field that could be used against most alien species. True, the bigger or more exotic aliens like hanar, krogan, and elcor weren't really affected by it, but for the humanoid ones? It worked just fine. All it was in reality was a modified tech mine overload.
"Permission granted," I told her, mentally psyching myself up too. For the first time since coming to this universe, I surrounded myself in a biotic barrier, glancing down at my hands and arms as they were suddenly wreathed in an ethereal purple-blue glow, soon followed by the rest of my body – I'd practiced with making simple barriers at home, just to get the feel of it, but I hadn't needed to use an actual barrier before now. It felt… nice. Soothing even. Like I was being wrapped in a fuzzy blanket of safety and biotic energy.
Huh. Ok, this is honestly kind of comfortable, not gonna lie. Starting to see why most biotics in the military try to keep at least a simple barrier active at all times. Just feels right. Anyway, focus!
Going back to the issue at hand, and after making sure Aena was ready, I went up to the door and tapped the button. It opened after a moment, the slight delay yet another red flag in my head, and I walked in as casually as an alarmed, and somewhat paranoid, ardat-yakshi with near Matriarch levels of biotic strength could. The glow given off by my barrier was enough to light up the entryway, which allowed me to find and turn on the light switch, brightening the rest of the penthouse to normal levels. Finding the knob for it, I opened the shades halfway, letting some extra light in from outside.
"The door?" I said quietly to Aena, who understood the command and closed the door behind her, followed by doing something I didn't expect: removing the maintenance panel next to it and manually activating the physical locking mechanism, then following that up with replacing the panel and partially welding it into the frame with her inbuilt omni-tool. Now, the only way to open the door was either by unlocking it from the outside via the same method, or removing the now welded panel from the inside and reversing the process. Easy enough to anyone that knew what they were doing, but still time consuming.
"Huh. Smart," I found myself commenting, which caused a brief flash of emotion to appear on Aena's face, and it didn't take long to figure out what it was.
Awww, she's blushing! Wait a minute…
Before I could think on it further, Aena suddenly glared in the general direction of the penthouse study room, which also had a small paper book library inside. "Movement detected, Mistress," she told me in a low voice, one I barely heard.
Making no indication I heard her, I simply turned towards the study and waited, trying to spot who or whatever it was. Unfortunately, all I saw was a blur similar to heat distortion, and I cursed, knowing what it was: active camo. I tried tracking it, but the blur knew what it was doing and had disappeared from my field of vision. Aena though was already moving, rushing straight for whatever it was, and moving far faster than I thought she could. She was almost a blur herself, just of a different type. Apparently her sensors were accurate however, as I could hear the intruder start running, the mech hot on their heels.
That's when I saw it: a small orb just dropped out of nowhere, directly in front of Aena, and it took me a second too long to figure out what it was. "Shi-" I began, only for the flashbang to go off. Fortunately, I had the foresight to close my eyes and look away. Unfortunately, my ears weren't so lucky, and the ringing disoriented me enough that I could barely move, never mind the slight headache it caused. Aena seemingly wasn't much better off, mechanical or not, as her sensors looked to be overwhelmed by the grenade and she jerked erratically every which way, most likely to ensure the assailant couldn't get close to her without her knowing it. It wouldn't last long, a few seconds at most, but for all intents and purposes, she was just as effected by it as an organic.
Seeing that we were debilitated by the grenade, the intruder de-cloaked and went for the door, though if the almost immediate visible frustration was anything to off of, they'd encountered Aena's present. Now that I had the chance, I could tell the intruder was a female or asari, a hood covering their head.
"Having fun, asshole?" I muttered in anger. Well, I think it was a mutter; hard to tell with all the ringing.
It was apparently enough for the intruder to hear, as she turned to me and smirked deviously, pulling out a second flashbang and winding up to toss it. I frowned though. I knew that face.
"The hell is Kasumi doing here?" I again muttered, maybe, confused as to why the self proclaimed 'galaxy's greatest thief' was currently in my temporary home. The words caused her to freeze up and stare at me, but not before she'd thrown the grenade, and either she had decreased the detonation timer, or my reaction time was slowed thanks to the previous one, as this time I experienced the blinding and deafening effects full force. "MOTHERFUCKER!" I practically screamed, feeling the pain caused by it, and had to fight just to remain standing. I'm not fucking Shepard, and few people could shrug off a flashbang without having a helmet or military combat implants.
Around five seconds later, my eyes finally recovered enough to where I could at least see general shapes through the white spots, and I tried finding the thief. Annoyingly, she was long gone, the door open and the panel next to it having been expertly yanked off, in spite of the weld, while Aena and I were blindsided the second time. If anything, this was clearly not the first time she'd had to quickly break open a door panel to make an escape.
"-istress? Are you alright, Mistress?" Aena asked, appearing at my side, my hearing having recovered enough to make out the words, and I could vaguely see what looked like concern on her face, the pulsing yellow of her crest practically glaring at me due to my eyes still readjusting.
"Yeah, I'm fine, I'm fine, just a little pain is all," I told her, rubbing my eyes. "What about you?" I asked after a moment, concerned the flashbangs might've damaged her.
"All systems are operational. The assailant's grenades scrambled my visual and audio sensors with junk data, but they have been reset to normal performance levels." She paused then, examining me further, and I noted her expression turned… not hostile, per se, but perhaps upset. I think? Though at what I didn't know. "Do you wish me to inform Citadel Security of this incident?"
"No, no point to it now. She wouldn't have left anything behind that C-Sec could track," I waved her off, walking towards a bundle on the floor nearby. "Besides," I began, unraveling it to reveal it held a positively ancient looking book. A glance at the cover gave me its title: Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe. I chuckled at that. Kasumi has good tastes at least. "I'm pretty sure she dropped what she was trying to steal."
"Pardon me, Mistress," Aena started, walking up and noticing the book, "but 'she'? Do you know the identity of the intruder?"
I sighed, figuring it wouldn't hurt for Aena to know who it was, and told her. "Her name is Kasumi Goto, a human thief so good at what she does that almost no one has heard of her; which, for a real thief, is something to brag about. To be honest, I've been debating about whether or not I should try and hire her for a project I have in mind, but that was just an idea before now…" I trailed off, Aena seemingly processing what I just told her.
Hell, she just outplayed my own personal terminator like it was nothing, though points off for dropping the package. Ah well, we all have bad days. Consider yourself hired, Miss Goto. Now I just need to contact her, and not scare her off after showing I know her face and name. How to pull that off is the question…
"The hell is Kasumi doing here?" her opponent asked, the asari looking genuinely confused, the words causing alarm bells to go off in Kasumi's head as she stared in shock. Alas, it was too late to go back now, and her flashbang sailed through the air before landing near the alien.
Cursing mentally for letting her professionalism slip, Kasumi immediately turned back to the door panel, pulled out a small knife on her belt, slipped it in a crack, and yanked. Fortunately, the action coincided with her grenade detonating, the noise being blocked by her earphones as the timer linked to its fuse hit zero, and the panel came off without issue. She quickly reached in, found the handle that would open the door (almost all Citadel buildings had something similar installed) and pulled it, resulting in it sliding open. Not wasting a second, she immediately ran out, switched her cloak on again, and made for the elevator. As she arrived at it, however, a little voice in the back of her head played the asari's words back at her.
Kasumi… she knows who I am just by looking at me… exactly who is she? I don't know her, that's for sure! The place should've been empty for another two weeks!
The thief stopped at that, her overwhelming curiosity making itself known, before subtly deciding to see if she could get an answer. Intending to keep up appearances, along with having an easy getaway if the need arose, she called an elevator, waiting until it arrived, and hacked its system: it would now stay put until she got on it, the other two still operating as normal bar the fact that they wouldn't come up to this floor until she allowed them to.
Creeping back over to the penthouse's open doorway, she got close enough to make out the words being spoken and not a millimeter closer.
"-but they have been reset to normal performance levels." The mech stopped talking for a moment. "Do you wish me to inform Citadel Security of this incident?"
Kasumi tensed at that, getting ready to run for it, only to relax at the asari's next words.
"No, no point to it now. She wouldn't have left anything behind that C-Sec could track," she said, causing Kasumi to grin at the surety of the statement, only to frown as she realized the implications of this person knowing enough about her to say that. "Besides," the asari continued, followed by a chuckle, "I'm pretty sure she dropped what she was trying to steal."
What?! No! I know I-
Checking the crook of her back where she normally stashed her *ahem* "borrowed" items, she found the pouch empty, which caused a surge of annoyance to well up, along with self-directed insults in her head. She hadn't done something so stupid since her rookie years.
"Pardon me, Mistress," the mech started talking again, "but 'she'? Do you know the identity of the intruder?"
Here, Kasumi held her breath without knowing it, waiting for the answer herself. Well, she already suspected she knew the answer, but there was a difference between knowing, and knowing. Sure enough, the thief's fears were proven true as the asari responded.
"Her name is Kasumi Goto, a human thief so good at what she does that almost no one has heard of her; which, for a real thief, is something to brag about." Even as she listened, Kasumi felt a little pride at that, in spite of her rising paranoia regarding how this person knew so much about her. "To be honest, I've been debating about whether or not I should try and hire her for a project I have in mind, but that was just an idea before now…"
Kasumi was stunned at the full reveal. The first half left her mind running trying to figure out when and how she'd messed up and revealed so much, while the second half intrigued her to an extent. The list of people who could know her identity was small to say the least, and smaller still were the ones who did. She was picky about her clients after all. More often than not, they only ever knew her by an alias and a fake face; it was remarkably easy to script a digital avatar to take her place in vid calls. The fact this one knew both her name and face, while Kasumi herself was left in the dark as to who they are? Unheard of.
"Ah well, something to figure out later I suppose," the asari said all of a sudden, snapping Kasumi out of her thoughts. "Could you go and see if the door still works? I'll have to let building management know it was damaged, but for now, just closing it is good."
"Will do, Mistress," the VI mech replied pleasantly, and Kasumi slowly began backing away from the door, not wanting to be close enough for it to detect her. A few seconds later, she heard the mech walk up, followed by taking a step outside the doorway, and it stood still for a moment, an area on the side of its head twitching oddly. If anything, it looked like it was listening to something.
Noticing this, Kasumi stopped moving, even going as far as to hold her breath. It didn't help.
Slowly turning left to face Kasumi, the mech glared straight at her just as it had when it first noticed her earlier, the back of its head suddenly igniting in a blazing red with the odd burst of silvery white. It looked like it had a flaming skull and was staring straight into her very being, and if Kasumi was honest, it terrified her.
"Kasumi Goto," it said lowly, dangerously, glare freezing her in place in spite of her still being invisible.
What the hell is this thing!? VIs aren't supposed to be good at intimidation! I should run for it while I still can! Her mind screamed at her, fight or flight instincts working overdrive, but her rebellious body betrayed her, unable to even lift a finger under its wrathful gaze.
"Be grateful for the Mistress' mercy. Should you harm her again, your continued organic existence will come to an end. Now vacate the premises, and return only when asked," it ended, the promise in its words engraved into her memory, a blade having partially unveiled itself from the mech's left forearm.
And just as suddenly as it happened, the mech simply turned right and went back inside. A moment later, the door slid shut, and Kasumi gulped in a lungful of air, now noticing her back had broken out in a cold sweat. She shivered involuntarily, shaking her head afterward to dispel old childhood nightmares of a monstrous Oni coming to devour her soul, and hightailed it for the elevator.
Waiting until the elevator door shut behind her, she breathed a sigh of relief, reveling in the feeling of security offered by the thick metal plating.
Right then, Kasumi, you may have bitten off more than you can chew this time around. Maybe… I should head somewhere other than the Citadel right now. Yeah. Yeah, that sounds good.
Mind made up, she did what she could to relax her still tense body, doing her best to ignore the fear that lingered after the mech's warning. If she was sure of one thing, though, it's that she wasn't going anywhere near that monster for the rest of her life so long as she could avoid it. Kasumi Goto likes to live dangerously, but that doesn't mean she's suicidal.
…somehow though, she had a feeling that she hadn't seen the last of the metal demon and its master, and for once in her life, she prayed her gut instincts were wrong.
Allllright! Finally got to the fun part of this story: the ~plot~
No, but seriously, I've been planning to have Kasumi show up in this story almost since day 1, and it just so happened the chapter that our favorite witty, Japanese space thief finally appears in is also the first one I've written since arriving in Japan. Coincidence? I THINK NOT!
Ok, it was, in fact, a coincidence, but hey, I'm allowed to have fun too, dammit. Now granted, her POV didn't really do her justice given the circumstances, but hey, it was a bizarre situation even by her standards. Anyway, to reiterate what I asked at the top: please, let me know what you'd like me to do with the beginning AN of future chapters, whether that be remove them, keep them, or something else. I'm genuinely curious what y'all think about them.
Anyway, think that's about it. Next chapter: Whenever something's about to go wrong, remember: it's probably the Council's fault. And as always, I hope you enjoyed, and I'll se ya next time!