Neopolitan: Beyond Ever After (The Girl From Another World) - Part 1

by Calavera de Comala

After failing to ascend, Neo finds herself trapped in Zenith, a world obliterating other forsaken planets. Confronted by a mysterious organization called The Zodiac, she will embark on an incredible odyssey that tests the limits of her imagination. However, she may discover new friends who help her face the adversities ahead.

10. The Girl Among the Clouds

The Girl Among the Clouds

Only 5 days had passed since Beryl's last video went viral, yet here I was, taking pictures from above of Bright Island in the morning light. A patch of land with an area of not even 60 square kilometers, filled with skyscrapers and a population of one and a half million people. Ironically, what drew mostly my attention weren't the Art Deco, International-styled, Postmodern, and Art Nouveau buildings, but rather the big green area in the center of the densely populated island.

Principal Park.

I was glad people here had not lost touch with nature and were wise enough to keep around such a nice-looking park.

In the vicinity of Bright Island, I saw bays and other urban areas that didn't look as imposing or advanced as the former, such as Bronze City, Kings, or Copper Suburb. Still, all of these places looked more populated and urbanized than Comala.

Barely slowing down, the passenger airplane tilted east, flying toward its destination, Cloud City. The crown metropolis in the United Nations of Nuovo Mondo. And possibly, of this side of the world.

Currently suspended 10 kilometers over Copper Suburb and its bay area, the flying city was, without doubt, the most intimidating, breathtaking, and technologically advanced place in the eastern side of U.N.N.M.

Built 2 centuries ago on top of a 100-square-kilometer floating landmass extremely rich in gravity dust deposits, Cloud City was populated by approximately 500,000 people. From what Roberto told me, the reason for its lower population compared to Bright Island's, was that Cloud City was a purposely expensive city in which only the richest people in the U.N.N.M could afford to live.

However, that didn't stop it from being visited daily by over 1 million people from the surrounding cities who worked in the many buildings that belonged to some of the richest corporations in Zenith. Its life support systems made it possible to live comfortably at this altitude.

Cloud City housed an array of architectural styles thanks to each big company building its offices, banks, hotels, laboratories, headquarters, and other types of sites according to their whims. High-tech, brutalist, deconstructivist, military, neo-futurist, and commercial architectures were some styles I could distinguish before the plane landed at Cloud City's International Airport.

It was a shame that I needed to stop here instead of flying directly in a private aircraft to Nuovo Mondo Dust Corporation's headquarters (or Novus Corporation, for short), but this was a necessary step if I wanted to pretend that I was on vacation.

•

"Let me give you my bendición." Itzel Calavera, my mother, approached me to do one of her signature gestures with her right hand, forming the shape of a pyramid in front of me. I kissed her fingertips once she was done.

According to her, doing this invoked the spirits of the thirteen heavens, to grant me protection during my trip to Cloud City.

In her late forties, but still looking young for her age (advantages of a healthy and athletic lifestyle), my mother was dressed in a traditional white blouse embroidered with floral and butterfly designs, a white slip with enchilada stitching, a red bobble shawl, one small yellow loop, and a black castor dress. Her footwear consisted of red satin shoes, while she wore a cute straw hat with sunflowers. Her black hair was tied into a big braid. Like Carla, her light blue eyes were accentuated by her brown skin, and both were around the same height, 1.70 meters.

Even for me, it was hard to buy that she used to lead a clan of formidable warrior women in Miknochtitlan before she settled with my father in Comala to live under disguise.

Along with my father, sister, and Roberto, my mother had come to see my plane take off at Olvido's International Airport.

"Finally, you are traveling overseas and taking some well-deserved vacations... Right, Max?" Carla skeptically looked at me, inclining her head forward to question me.

"Why wouldn't I? With most of the Cartel de Coyotes behind bars, there's not much to do, outside of Grimm hunting." Keeping my cool and not falling for her bait, I dismissed her skepticism.

There was no way my mother and sister had figured out the truth behind my trip to U.N.N.M. My father, Roberto, and I still had not slipped up. Yet.

"Por favor. Do not think of taking head on alone extremely dangerous Grimm missions once you return. I don't want another dead young Calavera in our family tree so soon." After mind-reading my plans, my mother pointed at my chest while scolding me.

She had taken notice that there was no one close to the airport's entrance who could hear our farewell conversation.

Our real family name was Calavera, but publicly we were called the Zaragozas.

"Cariño, do not exaggerate. I have told you plenty of times that our bloodline isn't cursed." My father interjected on behalf of the Calavera men's honor while playing with the left tip of his black mustache.

Something he always did, before my mother reminded everyone of our family's cursed history.

"Macario Calavera. Went drunk to the monte to fight a level 4 Grimm, armed with nothing but a machete. Died at age 31." Madre started by using my great uncle as an example.

"At least he tied with the Grimm. It was a double knockout." My father bragged about the mutual kill.

"Goyo Calavera. Jumped into an active volcano, thinking that his fire semblance could stop its magma. Died at age 25." Mom reminded us of another premature loss.

Goyo wasn't much of a book reader and back then there wasn't an Interweb for him to find out that magma is made from several minerals and not pure fire.

"Bueno, his aura blocked most of the eruption and saved a huge portion of the nearby village." My father once more interjected to save our honor.

"Carlos Calavera. Also got drunk and thought he could make a bunch of Apathy sing by playing his guitar. Died at age 28." Mom spelled out a third 'unlucky' death.

If anything, alcohol seemed like a bigger threat to our family than Grimm.

"Miguel was never the sharpest tool in the she-" Before my father could finish his rebuttal, Mom went on to the next case.

"Pedro Calavera. Almost 200 years ago, he thought that flying his steam aircraft straight into a Monstra's mouth, to crash it against his heart, was a good idea. Died at age 34." Most epic and macho death ever.

"It did the job... Didn't? Olvido was safe for a while after that incident." Father nervously replied, while goofing with his mustache again.

"Fermín Calavera. Participated in a Grimm Bull Running festival. Died at age 26." A lovely custom we inherited from Hispania... He was also drunk.

"We have to honor our traditions." Dad raised and hit his chest with pride.

"Istak Calavera, your great grandfather. Made an expedition overseas to who knows where, in the middle of a storm, and never returned. Died at age 33." She brought up one of the biggest mysteries in the Calavera family.

"No body, no death. Maybe he's still alive." I doubted what my father said. That was over 70 years ago. Whether he survived the storm or not, he probably had passed away due to old age by now.

"Cruel Calavera. Looted a Gallian pâtissier's shop, triggering a war between Olvido and Gallia. Died in battle at age 29." Mother mentioned one of our most infamous family stories.

"Cruel was always the black sheep of the Calaveras. His death doesn't count." For once, my father didn't bother defying her.

"Max, you never told me your family was to blame for the Pastry War." Roberto looked at me with amazement.

To this date, Olvido doesn't get along with Gallians, outside of strict business.

"Why do you think so, Roberto? Why do you think so?" With fatigue and disappointment for my family's dark past, I sighed.

"Eduar-"

"Bien, we get it! Our family doesn't have the best track record out there!" Dad anxiously interrupted Mom, before she reminded us of another 'unfortunate' Calavera death.

"Understatement of the century, papá." Carla added with sarcasm, crossing her arms.

"But you must admit it's in our blood to fight and do the right thing... Most of the time." Especially when alcohol is involved.

"Whatever Max decides to do after his vacations are over is up to him." My father continued defending me in my stead, resting his right hand over my right shoulder.

"Doña Calavera, relax. We should be celebrating that Max is finally heading out to see the rest of the world. Unlike me, he has never traveled outside of Olvido, despite being better suited to be a world explorer." Relaxed and graceful, Rodrigo placed himself between my mother and me.

He wasn't lying. As a successful entrepreneur, he constantly flew to U.N.N.M and Migdal for business. He frequently invited me to travel as his companion, but I rejected his offers, due to being more worried about keeping the Grimm and crime rate low in Comala and its nearby regions. Plus... Other personal concerns.

Neopolitan and the layoff crisis had finally changed my way of thinking though.

"It's getting late to arrive early at the gate." Getting paranoid that either my father, Roberto, or I eventually screw up, I decided to rush our farewell.

"Make sure to take some nice photos of Cloud City and send them via holodial." Carla indirectly told me to always confirm my location.

"And have a nice trip, Maxie." She then hugged me with forced happiness. I could tell that she had her suspicions.

"Remember that I will have a guide pick you up at Cloud City's airport. You can always give him a call; in case you need support." Roberto advised me to rely on his employees available in Cloud City's region.

"Mijo, if something comes up, do not hesitate to contact us. At least send a text now and then. Although I doubt there's any reason for us to worry... It's been more than a decade since then." My father patted me on the back to comfort me.

"... Max, everything will turn out fine. Just be cautious and don't get into trouble. A trip overseas to take a break from your bounty hunter routine may be what you need." My mother kissed me on the cheek, encouraging me once more to only relax during my vacations.

I didn't want to lie to Mom, but if everything turned out fine, then the benefits of my success were going to be great for Comala and Poktli.

"Oh, and Maxie. If you meet a nice girl, bring her to Comala. Maybe you are more into foreign girls, and that's why you never had a girlfriend." Carla teased me in front of everyone while poking my ribs with her left shoulder.

"Silencio, Carla. I will be too busy- Relaxing and touristing!" Damn it, she made me slip up! I did my best to contain my frustration while faking a smile.

Carla and my mother stared puzzled at me, while Roberto and my father tried to conceal their nervousness.

To think the true objective of my trip was the exact opposite of meeting a nice girl.

"Anyway, I will be back in a few weeks! If I decide to prolong my stay at U.N.N.M, I will give you a call." I casually hugged each of them, before walking into the international-styled airport.

Thanks to Roberto and Poktli, I could get granted special permission by Novus Corporation to stay at Cloud City and other areas of U.N.N.M for longer if needed. As long as I showed results and kept tracking down Neo.

If it weren't for Roberto and his company pulling strings in my stead, the necessary paperwork and costs to travel to U.N.N.M would have taken longer to complete and more expensive.

Amazing that he pulled off in a few days, what could have taken me as Max Zaragoza more than one year. Even for wealthy tourists with all their paperwork in order, permissions to enter the U.N.N.M were troublesome to receive.

Turning around one last time before heading into the airport's security screening section, I waved back at them as they did the same.

After the screening machines and security officers confirmed that I wasn't Neopolitan carrying a dangerous item, I stepped further into the airport without hesitation.

...

If only I had known how crazy things were about to get, perhaps I would have taken more time saying farewell to them.

•

Odysseus was a Neo-Jumbo model airplane, shaped like the combination of a dolphin and a stingray. Most of its body was white, although certain parts, such as the tips of the wings, head, and tail, were cobalt blue. With a length of 100 meters and a wingspan of 110 meters, it was the biggest and most advanced plane that bothered doing flights between Cloud City and Olvido, which meant that it was also one of the most expensive flights for an Olvidado to afford. Because of this, my flight was filled with mostly rich businessmen and tourists from overseas, spread across the 3 decks of the airplane.

Like most modern airplanes, Odysseus relied on gravity, electricity, and wind dust, enhanced in recent years with catalyst gas, to perform its vertical takeoffs and eco-friendly flights. It could effortlessly cover the 3000-kilometer (approx.) flight between Cloud City and Olvido's international airports in 2 and a half hours, which was one of the reasons its tickets were so expensive.

The luxurious commodities in the middle deck, such as bars, restaurants, recreational rooms, dancefloors, aquariums, and spas didn't help to make an Odysseus flight more accessible for the average Olvido citizen. On the plus side, the middle deck provided good material for pictures to send to my family.

Not wanting to cause Roberto and Poktli any trouble with my travel expenses, I limited myself to drinking a glass of water, eating a cloud-styled hot dog, and watching a sci-fi movie about artificial humanoids on my seat for most of the flight. Normally, I would have picked a torta instead of a hamburger or hot dog, but part of me wanted to try the 'authentic' cuisine of this region while I had the chance.

While waiting at the restaurant for my food to be ready, I happened to read news articles on my holodial regarding the second marriage of Gallia's Louis XXVI, Charlie Byron's victory in the elections of Cloud City, the tragic collapse of a suspension bridge in a city of U.N.N.M, and the recent success of the great detective Humms in a mystery case.

As it approached Cloud City, Odysseus readjusted its angle to land inside the metropolis's base. Since most of the airspace in the city was exclusively for gravity cars, small aircraft, and public transportation, it was required for big aircraft to take off or land in the airports built underneath the city.

The external white walls of Cloud's City airport, built with deconstructivism in mind, made up part of the base on which the metropolis was located. Its interior walls could only be seen and accessed from inside the base. It was there where the Odysseys landed, and its passengers disembarked to access the airport and baggage claim area.

After taking pictures of the grand airport's white interiors, which counted with steel columns shaped like trees with branches, a holographic roof that simulated an aquatic ecosystem, and tons of holographic advertisements and screens with schedules, I walked toward a fair-skinned, old chauffeur.

He wore a black uniform and used his holodial to display my face and civilian name in the open.

"You work for Poktli and Roberto Díaz?" He nodded to me without saying a word.

Feeling paranoid due to a piece of international news that took place 3 months ago, I poked and grabbed part of his face.

"What the hell are you doing!?" He asked surprised and frustrated, while making distance.

"Perdona, I wanted to confirm you weren't Neopolitan in disguise." After a moment of silence, we awkwardly walked to the parking lot.

•

"Roberto, all of this wasn't necessary. I could have changed into my hunter armor in an alleyway. Or in a public toilet at the airport." Sitting in the back of a sophisticated, anti-gravity executive car, I called my friend for all the trouble he was going through.

"Too late. Already paid for a space in which you can change." Roberto pridefully dismissed my complaint, as his chauffeur drove into an alleyway and entered the hidden garage of a small storage building, still located inside of Cloud's City lower levels.

"Ehekatl and your other equipment are there. Do not worry about the chauffeur. He's a very loyal, long-time employee of the Díaz family." Stepping out of the vehicle, I walked to check Ehekatl and the boxes with my equipment in the garage.

Without my mother and sister noticing it, Roberto had managed to use one of Poktli's dust transport ships to move my hunter stuff between Comala and Cloud City.

We also had agreed to do this to keep my real identity a secret from Novus Corporation, the Vertex Group, and everyone else. Roberto revealed that in turn of not unveiling my identity, he had put his company on the line when signing the mission contract that stipulated the many clauses I was supposed to follow while doing this mission.

So far, we had managed to fool his superiors into thinking I arrived at this city on a Poktli transport with all my equipment.

"Again, you didn't have to go this far for me. Using your company as collateral. If I screw up and breach the contract in some form, I may put Poktli in jeopardy." I placed the holodial with the ongoing call over one of the containers, as I opened the others to change into Mik Calavera.

"I'm doing this because I know that you will pull this off. Stop complaining and head to Novus's headquarters." Sounding more like a boss than a friend, I did as he said and grabbed my weapons.

"Those documents better be right about its size, otherwise I may have trouble moving that prototype weapon around with Ehekatl." Activating the voice distortion device on my skull-shaped helmet I headed to Ehekatl.

My 2.3 meters, silver motorcycle with dark blue highlights had been fully refueled and recharged by Roberto. For now, I decided not to install its sidecar, which was loaded with missiles, and to not leave tracks that could lead here, I activated its anti-gravity mode and headed to the closest vehicle elevator that could take me to the city's surface.

"I better hang up to avoid distracting you. Think you can get to Novus Corporation without issues?" Roberto politely inquired. I was now using my helmet as a speaker and microphone for the call.

"Zenith's Positioning System shall get me there. I loaded the address to Ehekatl's computer." I replied with confidence, as I prepared to speed up.

"If you need assistance, call me or my employees. Buena suerte." A couple of minutes after our call was over, I made it to the access of an elevator platform accepting civilian vehicles.

My special bounty hunter license allowed me to carry weapons even in public spaces of Cloud City without trouble. A year ago, this would have been unthinkable.

Because of Neopolitan, The Hunters' Guild had been given more leeway than usual by the coalition government to facilitate the capture of a maximum priority target. This was possible because of certain clauses in the International Zenithean Code.

Once the 500-meter lift was done, I drove into the city.

Like Bright Island, the celestial metropolis was a sea of skyscrapers, but the amount and size of advertisements were even more ridiculous here. Despite being close to 11 a.m., it was easy to discern the holographic advertisements spread all over the city.

A giant holo-cat that jumped between different buildings in a scramble advertised a food band. On a skyscraper's façade, a projected titanic woman proudly held the newest holodial model from Pear. The upper half of a big soldier saluted the city, inviting everyone to join the U.N.N.M's army. In the middle of an artificial lake, holograms of Mermaid and Jaws Grimm were gunned down by a flying mech. A giant can of soda rolled down several streets, spilling its contents. On another building's façade, a tall dancing robot (not a hologram) announced that the place belonged to a company dedicated to robotics.

"So much visual pollu- Is that Mirai Love!?" In the middle of a roundabout, the glitching hologram of an adorable idol with teal-colored hair danced and sang, slaying Grimm with her microphone-spear, to promote her upcoming concert in Cloud City.

It was impossible to ignore the multiple levels of floating lanes for anti-gravity vehicles to drive around. Most cities at best allowed one lane near very ground level for anti-gravity vehicles, but Cloud City permitted its inhabitants to drive at 5 different altitudes without creating a mess. Playing it safe, I decided to stick to the lowest lane while driving to Novus.

The citizens themselves were also a sight to behold. People of many races and nationalities were gathered here, but it was easy to notice that most were low to mid-wage workers. The stereotypical salarymen in their business suits were also numerous. Occasionally, I witnessed rich businessmen getting into their luxurious, flying cars and limousines. And people with prosthetics weren't uncommon here.

"Wonder if some corporations cover their employees' medical expenses. Cybernetic prosthetics aren't cheap and universal health care isn't a thing in U.N.N.M. Not like Comala's is the greatest."

At building sites, construction vehicles, drones, and Gigas were in the middle of their working routines. Guard mechs were stationed outside important locations, such as banks, military buildings, and government offices.

Nuovo Mondo Dust Corporation's headquarters came into view. In front of the skyscraper's entrance, 4 Stratus Sentinels stood. These were automated blue mechs with white highlights and a height of 6 meters. The Sentinels were shaped like armored humans with sleek helmets, which counted with a black translucent visor and a single shiny, white eye. At their 'hands', they held 'light' machine guns.

One of them menacingly approached me and raised its weapon as I came to a stop.

"Hold it right there, grandulón. I got an appointment. Mik Calavera." I flashed in front of its eye my bounty hunter license and ID.

"Arrival of Mik Calavera at the assigned time confirmed." The 4 Stratus Sentinels stepped aside to let me pass, speaking simultaneously with an emotionless robotic voice. "Report directly in the lobby to Dr. Rot Laugh."

I continued driving to the entrance of the high-tech skyscraper shaped like a giant column made of hard light dust. But I wondered what would have happened if I had arrived too early or late to Novus Corp.

Would I have gotten shot?

•

"Of course, and it would have been your fault legally. Ja!" A taunting voice with an Alaman accent made fun of my concerning thought and began to cackle. "Punctuality is vital in Cloud City! More than human rights! This isn't Olvido!"

The doctor whom I had to meet was waiting for me at a Bauhaus lobby, sitting on a sofa while smoking his pipe, despite the female receptionist looking at this action with disdain.

Rot Laugh was wearing a white robe over an elegant striped, dark suit. He was a middle-aged man around my height, who wore a monocle on his left eye. While not big, his nose was remarkably sharp. He had white skin with a slight tan, and his medium-sized hair, beginning to gain white streaks, was brushed back and to his sides. His dark eyes had a penetrating gaze that made me feel he was analyzing my very soul.

Although he was far from being the only person staring at me. Several kinds of employees were looking at me while talking with Dr. Rot.

Disadvantages that came with wearing my bounty hunter outfit to conceal my identity.

"Where are my manners? Guten Morgen, Herr Calavera." With happy regret, he reset our conversation and tried to raise his right arm to welcome me, but it started to move erratically.

"Entschuldigung. It appears to be glitching, again." The doctor failed to recover control over his arm, as it kept failing around and almost slapped me.

It was made of a sleek black metal. A cybernetic prosthesis. And not a very good one.

"Why now!?" Becoming more desperate, he dropped his pipe and struggled to control his right arm by grabbing it with his left one, still made of flesh and bone.

Getting desperate, the right arm aimed for his neck, trying to strangle the doctor.

"Alien hand syndrome!?" I spoke without turning off my skull helmet's voice changer. I assisted Rot by removing the prosthetic arm from his neck.

After some seconds, it appeared to give up on the idea of killing its owner.

"Dankeschön. My current prosthesis is a prototype that I'm still testing." He started winking at me several times with his right eye, continuing to grab with force his trembling right arm.

"Ignore that. The tics are a result of my new right eye misinterpreting my nerve signals. Ich bin also in the middle of testing the prosthetics in my skull." The clumsy scientist who came up with the prototype unit, which I was going to use in my mission to catch a very dangerous bioterrorist, shamelessly admitted another one of his creations malfunctioning.

"Lost portions of my body during a battle. Including my legs." The doctor slightly raised his pants, to show me how his legs were also prosthetics made of the same black sleek metal as his arm.

"Could have fooled me, Doktor." Allowing myself a brief tangent, I complimented his efforts to restore his body.

"Doktor, about the prototype unit..." I directed our conversation to what concerned me the most. "Can I look at it? Need to confirm its dimensions. Además, the sooner I learn how to use it, the better."

"Use it?" The Alaman doctor gave me a confused look, before smiling with mischief. It seemed he had regained control over his prosthetics since he used both arms to guide me into a hallway. "Ah, Ja. Ja. Follow me downstairs."

"Indeed. The sooner, the better." Taking the lead, he used his right hand to gesture to me to move on.

•

"Are you wearing dust armor that can be equipped with shards to readjust its temperature?" Dr. Rot Laugh, dressed now in white insulator clothing for extremely cold weather, asked me as we were going down on a big freight elevator.

4 Stratus Sentinels were placed at the corners of the elevator's platform. Their presence distracted me from answering the doctor's question.

"If you don't have a heat shard, you can take this one." With a hood covering his head and a face mask muffling his voice, he offered me an orange shard to regain my attention.

"Yeah... Danke." Noticing that the temperature was decreasing, I took what he offered me.

"Doktor, is all this security necessary?" Pointing at one of the Stratus, I voiced my worry.

"Nein... Well, Ja. The floor we are heading has many trade secrets lying around. While you are authorized to access the floor with me, unfortunately, you are not allowed to deviate from the path that takes you to my project." Dr. Rot used his left arm to point ahead, indicating to me that we could walk only forward once we made it to the floor with the prototype unit.

After going down 200 meters, the elevator stopped. A big, armored military door appeared in front of us, along with 2 more Stratus Sentinels.

"Identification." Rot raised his hand showing an ID credential to the speaking mechs. I did the same to display my license as he instructed me earlier.

"Identification complete. Proceed straight ahead." Both mechs 'welcomed' us, while multiple armored doors began to open one after another.

"This place is more protected than any bunker or vault." I admitted with amazement.

"And colder than anywhere in the universe." Rot casually added with arrogance, putting on his snow goggles and pocketing his monocle and ID.

"What do you mean-" A very cold wave hit us as the last doors opened. The temperature abruptly dropped several Astro degrees.

Bright orange lines began to glow across our bodies, as we activated the dust shards within our special 'clothes'.

Through my helmet's visor, I discerned big domes made of metal with an approximate 15-meter radius inside the white room.

"Baron refrigerators with vacuum walls for thermal insulation!" He raised both of his arms triumphantly. "Behold the power of science!"

"Baron? As in Baron degrees!? The absolute zero temperature scale!?" I confirmed through my helmet that the external temperature was dropping to minus 20 Astro degrees.

And it wasn't showing signs of stopping yet.

"Ja. Using ice dust, catalyst smoke, rubidium gas, and many other laser cooling techniques, we have achieved temperatures close to minus 273.15 Astro degrees." Calming down himself, he explained to me the mechanics behind this cold room as if he were my science teacher.

"For what purpose?" Won over by curiosity, I inquired to Dr. Rot.

"Many. I cannot go into much detail because of trade secret's policies. But speaking in broader terms, these refrigerators are key to studying the behavior of matter, energy, or dust when cooled down to near absolute zero temperatures." Standing in the middle of the room, the Doktor pointed at the refrigerators while delivering his explanation.

"Phenomena, such as condensation, superfluidity, superconductivity, dust enhancement, and more are produced here." While he talked, I continued gazing at the refrigerators and saw that most of them were operating.

I wondered how long my dust armor and aura combined would allow me to survive full exposure to near absolute zero temperatures. Probably not more than a few seconds.

"These refrigerators are among the few places in Zenith where we can research the fifth state of matter, create powerful components for particle accelerators or magnetic machines, and refine dust shards with extraordinary efficiency." As Rot explained, I recalled that plasma was the fourth state of matter.

If plasma was achieved by heating something to very high temperatures, I supposed it made sense that the fifth state was achieved by opposite means.

"Does the prototype unit use components built in this place?" I tried to guess why we were visiting such a cold place.

"Richtig, Herr Calavera! A few parts necessary for the project's completion were fabricated inside these refrigerators. But that's not the only reason we are here. Let's move on." The Alaman doctor continued walking ahead until we stopped just outside the last refrigerator in the room.

"Is it safe to step into a Baron refrigerator?" I was doing my best to keep my body from shaking. Despite my dust armor and heat shard working fine I felt so cold.

"This one was turned off hours ago, had its vacuum walls opened, and most of its freezing gas removed. It's already as cold inside there as right here." After making a gesture to a camera nearby, the refrigerator's door was unlocked and opened.

The doctor invited me to go ahead and take the lead. Feeling a bit uncertain, I stepped in and walked through the several layers of insulation walls he mentioned earlier.

At the core of the refrigerator laid...

A coffin.

A sturdy coffin made of white metal.

I could sense Rot Laugh standing behind me.

"Eh, Doktor? Is the weapon stored inside the co-" A loud sound came from it. White freezing gases violently erupted from the coffin, filling the refrigerator's interior.

Its 'lid' opened with a thud, as the flow of freezing gas ceased.

Something came out of it.

"It's a..." There was no mistake about it. Getting over my struggle to speak, I confirmed what I was seeing.

"A hand!" A small white hand.

Because of the cold gas and light from nearby lamps, for an instant, I thought it was made of ivory.

The coffin lid fully opened, allowing me to see the 'something' inside.

Or to be more accurate, the 'someone' inside of it.

"A person!?"

The human shape stepped outside the coffin, trying to keep its balance. Taking a couple of steps in our direction, it finally came into full view.

"A girl! What's a girl doing inside of a Baron refrigerator!?"

A slim white girl with blonde hair and red eyes stood in front of me. She was 1.50 meters tall, according to my helmet's computer. I estimated that she was around 15 years old. Early teens, at her youngest.

Her hairstyle consisted of two twisty, space buns with braids. Only two locks of hair covered part of her face, which almost reached chin level and were placed between her eyes and ears. She wore a beautiful white dress that gave me the vibes of a tutu. It counted with white translucent material over its skirt, which reached her knees. As footwear...

Those are not human legs!

From the knee below, both of her legs were prosthetics that looked as if made of platinum. Both ended with sharp and narrow extremities that resembled more sticks than feet. Her shoes, if those could be called that, were similar in style to a pair of white ballet slippers, custom-made to wrap around her sharp prosthetics.

While her arms and shoulders were exposed, she still wore ballet armbands almost at shoulder level, which reminded me of white flowers facing down. Around her neck, she had a lace choker necklace that looked like several platinum flowers.

"..." Unable to speak, I continued staring at the girl.

"Guten Morgen, Galatea." Dr. Rot Laugh eagerly spoke to her, as if there was nothing out of the ordinary.

"Good morning, Doktor." With an emotionless, sweet voice and a deadpan face, she replied.

"How are you feeling today?" The doctor approached the girl, the former trying to contain his excitement.

"All systems are operating within the established optimal parameters. Charging has been completed with success. Internal temperature has been adjusted to match the current environment. Additional scanning to determi-"

"Esperen, esperen." Cutting in the blonde girl's monotonous voice and unusual speech, I broke from my stupefaction.

I walked away from the girl and gestured to Rot Laugh to do the same. After we made some distance from her, I felt comfortable enough to talk with him.

"Doktor... Could it be that SHE is the prototype unit assigned for the mission of capturing Neopolitan?" I asked with fear and a low voice, expecting the worst.

"Um... Ja? Why ask that now? I thought it was obvious." The doctor replied with confusion and a low voice.

"Doktor... Correct me if I'm wrong... But this girl is an android." I asked with fear and a low voice, expecting the worst. Again.

"Ja? A Maschinenmensch unit. Didn't you read Project Galatea's documents?" The doctor replied with confusion and a low voice. Again.

"Doktor... The documents were so redacted they omitted Galatea's appearance and descriptions! Not a single spec or illustration came with the documents handed to me! Nothing nor anyone mentioned anything about an android girl!" I complained to Rot Laugh, not bothering to keep my voice low anymore.

"Oops..." The scientist limited himself to a single word, unable to amend the awkward situation.

The sound of a snicker came from Galatea's direction, but after I turned to confirm if she was the one who made it, all I saw was her emotionless and cold face looking at me with contempt.

Roberto, what have you gotten me into?

"Herr Calavera, ease yourself. Galatea is more than a capable partner for the mission." The Alaman tried to calm me, resting his right hand on my left shoulder... Until it started to glitch and hit me in the back.

Taking advantage of the hit's force, I put myself between Galatea and Rot Laugh, turning my back on the former to look at the latter.

"That's the problem, Doktor. I always work alone. Whether she's an android or not, I rather don't have a partner for such a dangerous job." Not turning around, I pointed with my arms in exasperation towards the android girl. "I need no partners, especially a teenager."

"I'm not even 10 years old." Galatea corrected my last statement with no emotion.

"..."

"Herr Calavera, maybe you are being a little harsh and unfair with her. I guarantee that Galatea is way more reliable than the average person, or bounty hunter. Your concerns are unfounded." Rot tried to win me over.

"How about you ask her some questions? That will allow you to know her better." With his left hand, he invited me to proceed with his proposal.

"Bien. Let's try a series of rapid-fire questions." I carefully approached the gynoid to speak with her.

"Galatea... Hello." I hesitantly greeted Galatea and waved my hand at her face.

"..." The gynoid didn't bother replying to me. She was as motionless as a stone.

I could already tell that this wasn't going to end well.

"Tell me... The value of pi." Ignoring her rudeness, I began to test her.

"3.14159265358979323846-" With a calculating, and as always, inhuman cold voice, she quickly replied.

"That's enough." Why did I ask her that? I didn't even know the values past 3.1416.

I didn't even recall that the 16 was a result of rounding the '159'.

"Capital of Olvido." I asked her as if I was a schoolteacher testing a student.

"Miknochtitlan." She answered like an emotionless nerd who studied geography a lot.

"Square root of 81." I shot another question.

"9." As expected from a machine.

She probably was installed with a computer that allowed her to do more complicated math formulas.

"Who discovered Nuovo Mondo?" Time to test her knowledge of Zenithean history.

"People usually answer voyagers that sailed from Hispania but Leaf the Lucky and Paleo-nomads that crossed the Berry Strait beat them to it." I was more of a Leaf fan. Glad she mentioned him.

"Threat level of a Nevermore, Cerberus, Monstra, and Wyvern Grimm." I wasn't expecting to fight Grimm while chasing down Neopolitan, but it didn't hurt for a mission partner to be aware of Grimm's threat levels.

"2, 4, 4, and 3. Respectively." She didn't skip her Grimmology classes.

"Which are the eight basic dust shards?" This is general culture.

"Electricity, Fire, Gravity, Ice, Plant, Rock, Water, and Wind." No need to mention them in alphabetical order. She was just bragging.

"Tell me a combination of dust shards." People tend to ignore or forget the fusion effects of dust.

"Steam is produced by combining water and fire shards." Galatea would probably figure out some of my tricks.

"Meaning of defenestration." Many fail at this one.

"Throwing someone or something out of a window." She's good. More intelligent than Luis.

"You see a tortoise laying on its back. The sun baking its belly. It tries to turn itself over, but it cannot without your help. But you don't help. Why is that?" I stole that one from the movie I watched before getting here.

"Because you forcefully fabricated a situation in which I am not helping. Also, you stole that one from a movie." She answered too fast without flinching or showing any emotional response.

It didn't go at all like the scene in the movie. Galatea is too logical.

"Would you rather be happy or sad?" Obviously, most humans would pick the former.

"I rather lack emotions. They get in the way of accomplishing a mission." That answer worried me, but I could comprehend what she meant by it. I tended to follow that way of thinking for my missions.

"You are standing on a building's rooftop. A hanging civilian is about to fall off from that building while Neopolitan is fleeing, what would you do?" A hypothetical dangerous scenario that hopefully we will avoid.

"Shoot Neopolitan while rescuing the person." She cheated.

"No shooting allowed." I had to force her to pick one option. That would reveal to me more about her personality and way of thinking...

Or way of processing?

"That's illogical. I am fully charged." She was avoiding to answer, once more.

"Let's say that you ran out of ammo or energy. You can only tackle Neopolitan or save the civilian." No way she can avoid picking an option now.

"Why are you not helping? So much for a reliable mission partner." She quickly scolded me.

"..." Smartass.

I needed to try another approach.

"An out-of-control trolley is about to kill 5 people on a track. As a bystander, you have the option to pull a level that will divert the trolley but kill one person in another track. Would you pull the level to save 5 people?" This is a classic ethical dilemma.

"I rather stop the trolley myself." She raised both of her arms and fists.

Is she really that strong?

"Let's say that you are a human without aura. A normal girl. You can only pick letting 5 people die (Scenario A) or sacrificing one person to save those 5 (Scenario B)." I had to force again the situation for her to make a choice.

"Why do you keep asking such violent questions, Mr. Calavera? Your sadistic tendencies are concerning." She threw shades at me.

I tried keeping control of my emotions, as she again found ways to avoid giving me a straight reply. "Answer my question. Scenario A or B?"

"In scenario B only one person passes away. In scenario A, 5 persons pass away. Scenario B is the logical choice." She said coldly while explaining her reasoning.

I knew she was correct and agreed, but this dilemma will always bug me.

"By the way, Galatea. What if I were the lonely person on the other track?" Surely, she is not that cru-

"The more reason to pull the lever." She answered in record speed with no hesitation.

"What do you me-"

"Considering your aura level and equipment, your probabilities of surviving a trolley collision are very high." She interrupted my complaint with a logical explanation.

"... Fine. Good call." Her follow-up calmed me down.

Perhaps I should take it easy and ask her some carefree questions.

"Got a birthday?" Even if Galatea was a gynoid, she probably interpreted the date of her creation as a birthdate.

"Rat 1, 2000." 9 years ago.

Galatea was right earlier. She is not even a teenager.

"I purposely activated the computer that hosts her AI for the first time during New Year. What better way to start the millennium?" The doctor explained why Galatea answered that.

"Galatea, you got any interests, hobbies, or likes?" It will be easier to get along with her if I know what she likes.

"Dancing ballet, programming, and watching educational videos or movies." As I imagined. That explains her attire.

"Favorite foods?" I needed to know if she consumes food.

"I don't eat or drink. No need to." It's probably more expensive to charge her within these installations than to feed her with human food.

"Got any dislikes?" Mainly asked so that I could avoid stuff that pisses her off.

"..." Galatea's left eye twitched a couple of times.

"... Yes." For some reason, she took seconds to answer this simple question. Something was wrong.

"Uh... What do you dislike?" This was the first time she gave me such a vague answer. I needed more details.

"..." Galatea's eye twitched again. Her head began to jerk a little. Her face displayed discomfort.

As cute as she looked doing this, it was clear that she was struggling with the question.

And I had my suspicions as to why.

"Doktor, is Galatea programmed to lie?" I ignored the gynoid and turned back to face Rot Laugh, who was visibly nervous.

"Ja und Nein. She can lie, but not to everyone..." His right hand and eye were also twitching. "Galatea is programmed to obey and never lie, but only to a handful of persons... Including you."

The doctor anxiously gave me that information.

This meant that the only way for Galatea to avoid telling me lies was to remain silent or give me evasive replies.

"Galatea, tell me your dislikes." But she couldn't avoid answering on command.

"Humans." She replied fast with a cold tone- Espera!

…

…

…

"Doktor, I think we got a problem." I grabbed Rot's left shoulder and took him away from Galatea, speaking to him with a low voice.

"Nein, Nein! She's only joking! A joke is not a lie!" The cowardly doctor tried to damage control the situation. Seeing that he was on the anti-human gynoid's side, I exited-

"Don't leave yet! Herr Calavera!" I turned around after he screamed with despair.

"No disrespect, Dr. Rot Laugh, but I think it's better to complete this mission alone. Galatea has an attitude problem and her dislike for humans complicates everything." I turned around again to resume my walking. "I don't want the cure to turn out worse than the disease."

"If your main concern is Galatea hurting or killing innocent civilians, then do not be afraid. She's been programmed not to kill. She will only hurt a human in self-defense if she determines a person to be a threat. Ask her for confirmation!" Rot Laugh caught up with me to defend his creation with passion.

"Galatea, is the doctor telling the truth? Be sincere." Stopping and turning around once more, I asked firmly.

"Affirmative. I can only hurt via non-lethal methods those who pose a threat to my self-preservation or the lives of many persons. I'm not allowed to kill a human even under command or let someone be hurt by inaction. It is forbidden for me to eliminate someone."

She replied effortlessly. As usual, with an emotionless tone.

I stared at her for some seconds, seeing how she tilted her head as if confused or nervous. If it weren't for the prosthetics and how she was dressed in such a cold environment, I could have mistaken her for a real girl.

"Galatea... Mind if I call you Tea?" I pronounced the proposed nickname in Hispañol.

"If you consider it more efficient and easier to address me by the last portion of my name, I do not mind." Accepting her new nickname because of practical reasons alone, she coldly replied with dead and expressionless eyes.

She didn't look annoyed, so I considered this a win.

"Tea, explain the advantages of taking you with me to capture Neopolitan." With more curiosity than malice, I wanted to hear in her own words how she could contribute to the mission.

"I can perform calculations to determine the probability of a person being Neopolitan. Along my arsenal, I am equipped with aura sensors, x-ray and infrared functions, movement detectors, echolocation systems, scanning progra-" I interrupted Tea, as she was listing her skills.

"Wait, Tea. You said x-rays?" I tried not to sound alarmed, but there was a problem with what she said.

She nonchalantly nodded.

"That means... You can produce radiation?" I failed to ask that question without expressing slight fear.

She nonchalantly nodded for a second time, as if this wasn't concerning.

"Do you have radioactive components within your body?" If so, it was dangerous for her to be around civilians, especially those without an activated aura.

"I am partially powered by a fusion reactor-" She nonchalantly gave me an awful-sounding reply.

I couldn't believe what she said.

"That does not emit neutron radiation. But under command, I can emit rays and increase or decrease their wavelengths, to match those of x-rays or infrared rays." Barely dodged a bullet there, Tea. I was about to complain once more.

…

I ordered my thoughts and gathered the courage to ask the next questions.

"Is your fusion reactor really safe?" I needed more details about how her body worked.

"As previously stated, unless given a specific command, such as self-destruction, there's no reaso-"

"SELF-DESTRUCTION!?" I screamed with panic. My helmet probably distorted my voice but didn't lower its volume.

Doctor Rot Laugh nervously stepped back, grabbing his hood. He possibly didn't anticipate me discovering Tea's dangerous mechanism this fast.

"Tea, how big of an explosion are we talking about!?" I grabbed her by the shoulders and looked directly into her inexpressive eyes.

"Depends on the charging time. Under optimal conditions, my nuclear reactor can produce a fireball with a 5-kilometer radius-"

"OPTIMAL!? A 10-KILOMETER FIREBALL!?" I couldn't avoid interrupting her calculated and unemotional answer. I let go of her shoulders.

The diameter of that theoretical fireball was equivalent to the length of 2 Monstras. That was enough to disintegrate Cloud City's surface along with more than 1 million people. And this wasn't even counting the damage produced by the blast and thermal radiation.

"Herr Calavera, you shouldn't worry about that. Galatea cannot self-destruct unless the command is unanimously approved or not interrupted by multiple people, including myself." Rot Laugh intervened to defend his project again.

He knew Galatea's blunt sincerity was hurting her chances of becoming my mission partner.

"But how-"

"And it's not like anyone here is eagerly awaiting to approve that command. Galatea and I would never desire that outcome. It's a last resort mechanism that hopefully will never be activated." Confidently for once, the Doktor interrupted me and damage-controlled this time the situation.

…

I sighed and grabbed Tea's shoulders again.

"Bien. Let's continue." I decided to give her one last chance.

"Tea, you got tons of biometric functions and short-range detection systems. Does this mean you can see through walls or Neopolitan's aura disguises?" I stared at her, hoping she would give me a satisfying answer.

Tea nonchalantly nodded right away. At first, this made me happy, but then a distressing thought crossed my mind.

"Espera... Tea... By any chance... Have you... Used so far any of your tools to see my face?"

For my disgrace, she once more nonchalantly nodded right away.

"QUE CARA-!?" Even if she was an android, I stopped myself from swearing in front of her.

"You weren't supposed to do that!" Scolding her for technically breaching a clause in my mission contract, I facepalmed without my other hand letting go of her shoulder.

"I wasn't given the command not to do it. I am programmed to by default scan and register the face of any individual wearing a mask, helmet, or any other object that conceals it. For safety measurements." The unemotional gynoid defended herself and blamed everything on her programming.

"Oops." From behind me, the Doktor regretfully took the blame for this mistake. "It wasn't my intention. I forgot about that."

"Right now, your eyelids are closed, and you are greeting your teeth." Galatea bragged that she could see the expression on my face, despite being covered with my hand and skull helmet.

"Tea, please stop seeing my face. Keep your vision on my helmet." I said, utterly annoyed.

She was supposed to blow away Neopolitan's cover, not mine.

For the last time, I made some distance between those two and myself, to carefully assess the situation.

…

Everyone in the room stood in absolute silence for probably a minute. I was too busy weighing the pros and cons of having Tea as a mission partner. She politely awaited my decision.

If it were only up to me, I would reject having her as my partner. My policy was to work alone. Partners or team members would only get in the way if something went wrong during one of my missions. But there were tons of things at stake here. I needed to evaluate objectively the predicament we were all under.

The victims of Sally Island, the likelihood of another bioterrorist attack, the potential victims in this region, Neopolitan's twisted personality and troublesome semblance, the economic and layoff crises that were starting to affect Comala, the dangerous capabilities of Tea, and more.

I was even beginning to doubt that Neopolitan was the most dangerous element in this equation. Her semblance and biological weapons were scary but compared to Galatea and-

No, I need to focus and be objective.

Unlike the gynoid and my actions, Neopolitan's potential crimes against humanity weren't restrained by anything. She was an out-of-control bioterrorist.

"So then... Herr Calavera, what do you think of Galatea?" Rot Laugh ended the awkward silence, possibly won over by curiosity about my judgment.

"Doktor, frankly Galatea is a pain to deal with..." After I paused to say the next statement, Tea looked down as if she were disappointed.

"But I hate to admit that she may be extremely useful to find and arrest Neopolitan." It could have been my imagination, but as I said with hesitation my verdict, I think she smirked a little.

"You heard that Galatea, you passed the test!" The Doktor congratulated his creation while hugging her.

"Of course, I have conditions." I didn't want to sound like a party pooper, but I had in front of me a potential nuclear bomb.

"Such as?" Galatea asked me with disinterest.

"Don't reveal to anyone my identity, that you are an android, and keep yourself strict to your non-killing programming." I raised three fingers, although I expected to come up with more conditions later.

"What if Neopolitan is about to activate a biological weapon?" She asked a disturbing question so calmly.

We needed to talk later about her fighting skills. Wonder if she can shoot down Neopolitan with green energy beams or something.

"Help me if you can but try to leave most of the fighting and heavy lifting to me. Focus instead on assisting with the investigations to find Neopolitan." I told her with genuine care and respect.

I wanted to keep Tea around as an investigation partner, not as a destructive weapon.

"Herr Calavera, I do not want to sound impolite nor rush anything, but there's not much time left if you want Charlie Byron to approve Galatea's deployment." Rot Laugh approached me and spoke with urgency.

"Cierto! It's getting late to arrive early at his office." I saw the internal clock in my helmet's visor to confirm the time. "Pero, I don't understand why I got to meet the mayor of Cloud City in person?"

"Byron is among the supporters of the Vulcan Program and Galatea Project. He provided us financial support for Galatea's completion and is a consulting engineer to Novus Corporation." The three of us walked to the elevator, Tea taking the lead.

"Und as mentioned earlier, the head mayor of this region is among the handful of persons that Galatea is programmed to never disobey."

•

"Tell him I need to cut costs. If we want to lower the taxes, we need to spend wisely. Stratus Sentinels with golden armor are too kitsch and expensive. Wait, I got another call to attend." With a relaxed, but authoritative voice, the mayor rejected a proposal through a phone call.

Tea and I made it in time to his office at the city hall, but he couldn't attend us right away because he was still too busy talking through holophone with multiple persons.

Charlie Byron sat on a black leather, executive chair behind a modern black desk of the same style. The guy was dressed in a white business suit with a black vest and silver tie. He looked like someone in his early thirties with a pale complexion and dark blue hair. His medium-length spiky hair had a messy (but not too messy) style. Most of it was combed to his right side, possibly to give it an asymmetrical look.

His perfectly shaved face had long and narrow dark eyes behind rimless glasses. It even looked like he purposely kept them semi-closed to make them look sharper as if he were taunting or thoroughly analyzing something.

"Are you done with Copper Amusement Park's investigations?... What do you mean the few cameras available failed to capture anything suspicious!?… No way all those rides activated themselves! That place isn't haunted, and ghosts don't exist! You better deliver new results when I call you back!"

The irritated mayor pushed a button on his desk's holophone to switch lines.

An attractive, composed, and elegant 1.78 meters tall secretary with long wavy purple hair, gray eyes, red lipstick, and wearing a white business skirt suit with black heels was standing by his side. The woman looked in her mid-twenties. She picked up the documents that Byron had finished stamp signing and walked past us to exit the office. The pleasing sound of her heels clashing stylishly against the floor filled the room.

The busy mayor still didn't address our presence. He was now reading and typing on his computer while attending his calls.

"Mirai Love's hologram is glitching? You called me for such a trivial matter!? Who the hell cares!? Just send a cheap technician to fix it!" The annoyed mayor didn't lose time wrapping up this 'urgent' matter.

I realized that despite having a holophone, he was limiting his phone calls to audio only, very likely so that the persons on the other side didn't see he was forcing himself to multitask.

"Irigami, you said they want my approval to deploy a squad to exterminate Grimm around Bright Island's waters?... Fine. Provide them reinforcements, but only if they confirm the presence of level 3 Grimm. Hold on." The mayor briefly addressed the Grimm problem, switching lines once more.

Speaking of Grimm, there was a disturbing presence in the room. As it moved from one corner of the office to the other, I could sense a dark pulse and the moving flow of water.

"Finally, good news! Told you that if you followed my advice the AAIS system on that antiquated Paladin could work... Speaking of Gallians, do you think I need to buy a present for Louis XXVI?... No, I am not familiar with Gallian etiquette, that's why I am asking you... AH! Listen, I need to attend someone at my office."

A happy, but stressed Byron acknowledged our presence, as he was done with another call, yet kept typing on his computer.

The office didn't have a standard window that led one to see the bright blue midday sky from the mayor's office, located at the 100-story skyscraper. But it counted with a big aquarium, which was 24 meters long and 8 meters tall.

"Iris, I need you to attend or keep on hold my calls while Calavera and Galatea are here. Buy me time." Using another line to request his beautiful secretary from early the favor, he finally hung up the phone.

As he did this, again the disturbing presence positioned itself in the middle of the room, blocking the sunlight that reached Tea and me for a moment.

It was a 31-meter Sea Feilong, swimming inside the aquarium behind Charlie Byron.

"Mr. Calavera, sorry for taking so long. As you can tell, I am a very busy man." He 'politely' apologized yet didn't bother looking in our direction. He looked still more focused on his computer's screen.

"I can tell." Not turning off my voice distortion device, I replied.

It's not like it pissed me off that he considered our presence a second priority. Honestly, I was doing the same to the mayor, since most of my attention was on the wild Sea Feilong behind him.

I knew it wasn't unusual or illegal for social elites in certain countries to own Grimm, to show off their power and wealth, but a level 3 Feilong was too much. The safety regulations to own this Grimm were way stricter and more demanding than those for a level 1 or 2 Grimm.

For example, Beringels were popular among kids, but it was very difficult to meet all the safety measurements and legal requirements to put one at your local zoo. Some years ago, in another city of U.N.N.M, there was a very controversial incident in which a toddler somehow fell into a Beringel's zoo enclosure and hunters had to shoot the Grimm down to safely retrieve him. Surprisingly, most people sided with the Grimm and victimized it, condemning the zoo and the kid's parents instead. I was among those who thought that having wild Grimm around as pets or zoo animals was simply a terrible idea that only invited disaster.

"I would have preferred to meet you at Novus and approve Galatea's deployment there, but I don't have much time left before attending an inauguration ceremony. Need to wrap many things here as soon as possible." Byron kept typing and explaining his busy schedule.

I continued eyeing the Sea Feilong. On the other hand, Tea stared deadpan into nothingness, waiting to be addressed or given an order.

The aquarium's total length did not allow the Grimm to fully stretch its long body, so it had to coil some portions of it to fit, especially when turning around once it reached a corner. The container's height was also an issue for it. In general, the aquarium's volume left a lot to desire.

Its only advantage was that since it also acted as a window, it allowed anyone inside the office to see the sky and clouds behind the Grimm. Using your imagination, the Sea Feilong could be turned into a genuine Feilong.

"I see that Shelly got your attention." Byron finally glanced at us.

That seemed to be the Feilong's name.

"Do not feel sorry for her. This is her punishment, for breaking Copper's Sea Barrier." Likely, the mayor meant the barrier surrounding Copper Suburb's beaches and pier, which I saw from above before entering Cloud City.

"Bad girl, Shelly. Bad girl." Tea got visibly angry and scolded the Grimm as if talking to a mischievous pet.

"Is it the same Grimm that made the amusement park you mentioned earlier close?" Byron mentioned in a call that recently something had gone wrong there.

"Yes. One of my campaign's promises was to catch the culprit of that incident. Luckily, we managed to track her down while she was swimming near this region's waters." With a smile, Byron mimicked holding and pulling a fishing rod. "And well, now I keep Shelly as a trophy. Catching her got me many votes after all."

"That's great, but has the sea barrier been repaired or replaced yet?" The mayor stopped smiling and got serious after hearing my question.

"Still in the process of gathering enough funds for that." He shamefully admitted that the problem Shelly caused had not been fixed.

"As a bounty hunter, I rather play it safe around Grimm and not tempt death. The sooner the sea barrier is repaired the better. I even consider your Feilong a danger despite being behind, what I assume, is an ultra-reinforced glass." I pointed at the Grimm, which twisted around its body to start swimming to the other side of its aquarium.

"Bah, you worry too much about her. This thing is Feilong-proof. Not even its ray could shatter it." The mayor stood up from his chair and walked towards the aquarium glass to knock on it a couple of times.

The Sea Feilong swam to the source of the sound, crashing its head against the glass.

"We have long conquered our biggest natural enemy." It didn't break or crack, so it appeared Byron wasn't bragging without basis.

"Anyway, Mr. Calavera, what do you think of Nuovo Mondo Dust Corporation's secret ace?" Mayor arrogantly smiled, looking now at my mission partner.

"Tea, perdón, Galatea does seem to possess many useful tools and skills for the mission, but I fail to grasp why Cloud City thought that making such an advanced machine in the shape of a female teenager was a good idea." Galatea looked slightly annoyed in my direction.

"Originally, Galatea didn't have the body of a girl. Heck, not even a single body around a decade ago. But after the secret Vulcan Program took off, we decided that giving her this current body had its advantages." Byron walked towards us, theatrically moving his hands as he talked.

"For intel purposes? Or perhaps... War purposes?" I didn't hesitate to suggest that someone probably had dark intentions for making Galatea resemble a human girl.

"Come on, Mr. Calavera, you worry so much. The program's goal is mostly to reduce the number of big and intimidating Stratus Sentinels taking up so much space in this city. Units like Galatea are the future." Standing next to Galatea, with one hand Byron presented her with pride.

"Androids with smaller, but more advanced bodies and sympathetic appearances, will make our citizens feel safer and more relaxed. Plus, it's likelier for an android disguised as a human to catch Neopolitan off-guard." Byron tried to head pat Galatea, but the latter moved her head to dodge his hand.

"She would never expect a cute girl to be a robot. It's such an innovative and unique idea." The mayor tried more times to head pat her, but the gynoid kept swiftly dodging his hand. Irritated by her stubbornness, Byron gave up.

"I will admit that I'm the eye-catching one among civilians. Nobody would ever suspect that the girl by my side has the capability of a nuke." I took another jab at the questionable 'engineering' decisions behind the Galatea Project.

"Ah, that... We want to capture Neopolitan alive and to avoid more victims, so don't fret about Galatea blowing up. Multiple people need to agree and give her the order to self-destruct." Looking in my direction, Tea nodded repeatedly with an inexpressive face.

"And it's not like we want to see our billions of krownas burn away in an explosion unless it is for the sake of saving many lives from a dangerous Grimm. She's very valuable to us and future researchers. Galatea is our gate to many technological advancements." The eccentric mayor extended his arms and declared with joy the importance of my partner.

"Byron, I need to confirm something. Does your approval allow me to take Galatea anywhere around this region, including Bright Island?" I changed the topic of the conversation to what mattered now.

If Byron was indeed a busy man, I needed to personally ask him some stuff, before he left his office.

…

Byron remained silent for some seconds, looking impressed at me.

"Do you think Neopolitan is down there?" He asked with wonder.

"I've got my suspicions." The mayor looked satisfied by my reply, instead of being afraid of a bioterrorist likely being in Bright Island.

"Absolutely. You can even take Galatea to Kings or Copper Suburb. As the head mayor of this region, my name also has some weight there. I will need a favor though." Getting theatrical again, Byron clasped his hands and bowed to beg me something.

"What is it, Mayor Byron?" I asked, not displaying my distrust.

I kept sensing that he was hiding something. The way he moved and talked seemed like an act. Then again, he was a politician.

They all have something to hide and are always acting to win over public support.

"If you cross paths with bounty hunters or agents from other nations also going after Neopolitan, please cooperate with them and do not fight over the bounty for her. Avoid killing civilians and don't wreck the place. This is something that I've been asking every bounty hunter I met in the last few days. Let's keep it civil." Byron politely pleaded to me.

Against my expectations, he had a reasonable request.

"And considering that Galatea is with you, do not breach the clauses in the mission contract. I know you aren't foolish enough to go around revealing that she's a gynoid or selling her to the highest bidder, but I'm only reminding you this as a formality." He positioned himself between Galatea and me. It was uncomfortable.

"Considering your track record and Galatea's skills, I feel confident that both of you got what it takes to arrest Neopolitan alive." Byron gave me a thumbs-up with his right hand.

"Mayor... Regarding the bounty, as someone who has connections with other important politicians, security agencies, and members of the Vertex Group, do you know why there is only a reward for capturing her alive? These jobs usually offer at least a bounty for..."

I tried to sound impartial and tactful, but the image of a gunned-down Neopolitan in my head gave me an ugly feeling. "Getting rid of the target."

"Do not take my word for it nor spread this around, but some speculate that Neo may have secretly planted bio-bombs in nations she has visited," Byron stated with caution, hinting that even he wasn't aware of all the facts. "Capturing her alive, means that international authorities could extract from her information to confirm if this is true or not."

Hopefully, they weren't thinking of keeping her alive for malicious intentions, such as using her knowledge of viral agents to create lethal biological weapons.

"She's that dangerous, Mik Calavera. Neopolitan has done more damage to Zenith than any level 3 or 4 Grimm out there. If you meet her, do not let your guard down. She will use every trick in the book or method available to evade justice. Do not attempt to communicate, sympathize, or reason with her. Simply arrest Neopolitan and deliver her to us. Or any other powerful authority."

The mayor returned to his desk, pointing up with his right index finger and shaking it while he talked.

"It may be too much of a challenge for many to arrest her via non-lethal methods." Hearing my concern and putting his feet over the desk, Byron sat back on his chair.

"Probably, but whether the bio-bombs' rumor is true or not, Neo must be punished under international law and by the book. Arresting her alive and publicly punishing her would be a triumph over the evil she represents. Like Shelly over here." The Grimm looked at the mayor with scorn, while he briefly turned around his chair and pointed to it with his index finger.

"Mr. Calavera, you aren't doing this for the bounty reward, aren't you? You want to catch her to guarantee the safety of everyone and stop the crisis affecting the global economy. We are the same." The politician straightened himself, pointing now with both hands to me and then to his chest.

"Help me bring this barbaric and uncivilized criminal to justice. For the sake of our world."

•

"Regrettably, Beryl quit days ago." An Edean-looking man in a white suit lamented the suspect's sudden departure.

His name, and his restaurant's, was Bianchi.

It was close to 3 p.m. when Tea and I made it to Lumini Tower. After speaking with Charlie Byron, we headed to Bright Island to confirm if Beryl was Neopolitan in disguise.

"The last one of my employees who spoke with her was Debbie. The blonde waitress over there, detective." Bianchi guided my glance to a beautiful woman who likely wasn't even in her late twenties.

Tea convinced me that the best way to get information out of civilians in this region was for me to change into my casual attire. At first, I rejected her proposal, but once Tea explained that she could hijack and hack Bright Island and Cloud City's cameras to erase us from their footage, even in real-time, I decided to follow her proposal.

Byron and Rot Laugh were the only ones that knew what Galatea looked like and that she was handed to me today, so outside of Cloud City nobody could connect me to Mik Calavera, especially if Tea went around erasing any footage of us. Besides, this move allowed me to take selfies of the places I visited without wearing my bounty hunter attire.

I knew that Tea wasn't lying, not only due to her programming but also because Dr. Rot Laugh had confirmed to me what she said through a holo-call. Since Galatea was the biggest trade secret and most advanced unit of one of the most powerful corporations in Zenith, plus Byron had granted her access to this region's surveillance systems, she could play around with Bright Island's cameras to our benefit.

Such action wouldn't bring us problems with the local authorities if we didn't breach any clause from the mission contract and it was all for the sake of catching Neopolitan.

"Beryl saved us last weekend. You saw her latest viral video, right?" Debbie approached us since she was done with a client.

Her eyes sparked as she probably remembered Beryl's 'performance'. She appeared to like The Star of the Night, but if she turned out to be Neopolitan, then arresting her was my duty.

Because I had introduced myself as a private detective hired by Cloud City's authorities to aid in the investigation of the vulture incident involving several social elites, Debbie didn't suspect my ulterior motive. It seemed I was far from being the first person who came here to investigate the crime scene, which helped me avoid their suspicions.

"But... That night sadly was the straw that broke the camel's back." She lost her motivation, recalling that Beryl no longer worked here.

"I saw it. Cat girl and gorilla woman vs. 6 vulture di-" I paused in time.

Tea was sitting at the same table as Bianchi and me. She was allowed into the restaurant because by day this business was family-friendly. The rotating restaurant was a popular tourist spot.

"Debbie, you mentioned something about that night being the last straw. Does that mean that Beryl dealt with these incidents often?" I had seen multiple videos of Beryl fighting all kinds of people, but right now I had a hard time recalling which ones were possibly connected to the regional mafia.

"Beryl wasn't only a waitress but also my best bouncer." Bianchi answered with pride, while Debbie limited herself to nodding. "She got rid of troublesome drunk clients and gangsters that wanted me to pay expensive protection fees."

"Max, can you track down and help Beryl? You are with the big guys from Cloud City. Surely, it would be a piece of cake for you to find her. I'm afraid the vultures may be searching for Beryl, to get revenge on her." Debbie got closer to ask me for this favor. Her pleading look made me nervous. "Please, she needs protection."

"Uh, sure." Get ahold of yourself. Focus on the mission. Remember, no attachments. Be professional, Mik Calavera.

"Debbie, she's alright. No way those vultures scared her away. Maybe Beryl quit because she accepted the offer from that odd couple. Either that or she had a family matter. One she felt embarrassed to discuss with us." A relaxed Bianchi reassured Debbie.

He seemed to have lots of faith in Beryl's fighting abilities. But something he said caught my interest. Noticing the same, Tea stared at me. She was advising me to press on this matter.

"Excuse me, Bianchi. An odd couple offered Beryl something the night of the attack?" I faked not being very curious about his answer.

"A job, apparently. The dandy even offered his business card to her, but she rejected it, according to my employees. I wasn't present, but Debbie saw everything." Bianchi invited Debbie to give her testimony. The waitress sat, taking the last seat at our table.

"Happened after the police took the vultures. The dandy's blue-haired young woman chased after her. I assumed that only to apologize, but Bianchi could be right. Maybe she made Beryl change her mind. Hope she didn't threaten her into forcefully accepting their proposal." She said anxiously the last statement.

Debbie had an emotional attachment to Beryl.

"The blue-haired woman... Is it the same one that landed on the vulture to save her?" Debbie silently nodded to my question.

"Beryl quit the next day via holodial mail. Only Debbie said farewell to her in person." Bianchi complemented Debbie's declaration.

The feeling appeared to be mutual. Beryl also had an attachment for Debbie.

I asked Debbie for more details regarding her last encounter with Beryl. Nothing caught my interest, except for Beryl using family issues as an excuse to quit and Debbie relying on sign language to communicate with her. Either she was mute or pretending to be one.

No one knew where Beryl lived or her current location. Outside of her bothering to reply through short texts to Debbie, everyone at Bianchi's had lost contact with her.

"I still believe that the vultures are to blame." Debbie fiercely insisted, banging a hand against the table. Unlike Tea, Bianchi and I flinched in reaction to her violent move.

"Excuse me, Bianchi, do you perchance know where the offices of the vultures trying to extort you are located?" I needed to confirm some details.

Before we arrived at the restaurant, Tea had caught something interesting about the construction site next to Lumini Tower.

"Are you planning to question them about that night? They are dangerous. I do not recommend you go there, much less with a kid." Bianchi signaled Tea with his head.

Till now, I noticed that she was getting head pats from Debbie.

"Of course, I'm not allowing Tea to enter their turf. Only I will go inside. The problem is that we need to make sure that Beryl quit under her own volition and that she isn't being followed or threatened by mobsters." I bravely stood up, readjusting my blue jacket and fedora hat.

"I must confirm this with them."

•

"Neo, this is not a good idea." My imaginary friend warned me, as he sat on the bonnet of a car parked in front of a 3-story brick building. It was 5 p.m. in Bright Island's old downtown.

It's okay. There's no way they will trace this crime back to Beryl or Neopolitan, and I wasn't planning on staying here another week. Will probably leave for Avalae next.

According to a couple of mobsters, I violently attacked an hour ago, this is where the boss of the Vulture Family in this region worked. As a farewell gift for everyone at Bianchi's, I was going to get rid of this place.

Disguised as a police officer with a similar look to Trivia's, I planned to raid the vultures' offices and set them on fire using dust shards I 'confiscated' from a black market in Copper Suburb.

I hoped doing this would trigger trouble between the vultures and the local police. I assumed that the latter never got in the way of the former due to an illicit partnership between both parties.

"Isn't Olvido closer? It will probably be easier for you to live disguised there."

Olvido? No way! Same reason you never settled in Vacuo. Too hot in there.

"Right. One forgets the concept of temperature after being dead for so long." Roman made his right hand go through his body to confirm his lack of physical presence.

I rather go back to Vale than live in a desert.

As I was preparing to crash down the vultures' front door, something caught my eye. It was a blonde girl in a white dress, hiding in the alleyway next to the building.

What's a kid doing there?

Because I didn't want a teenager to get hit by a stray bullet or be injured by the upcoming explosion, I decided to scare her off.

Hey, dumb girl! Got a death wish? If not, leave this place!

I menacingly approached her with a stern expression, raising my baton (or disguised Sakura) and using it to point far away.

"Initiating scan process." The kid came out from the alleyway and stepped onto the sidewalk. Not intimidated by my command and uniform, she stood firmly facing me.

Scan? What is she talking about?

Something was off about this girl. I mistakenly assumed she was wearing stilts or platinum boots, before realizing that her legs were prosthetics. She gave me an uncanny valley vibe.

Could it be that she is-

A sudden crash interrupted my thoughts. Something blue had been thrown out the window between the blonde girl and me, breaking its glass and thudding into the sidewalk.

It groaned.

Oh, it's only a man who got-

" Defenestrated!? They gave me a taste of my own medicine!"

"Scanning complete. The probability of the individual ahead being Neopolitan is 0%." The girl declared with a cold and emotionless voice.

Did she say my name!?

"No shi- I mean, no way, Sharpluck." The defenestrated man of brown complexion picked up his blue fedora hat and stood up. He was slightly tall, dressed in a blue suit jacket and white trousers.

"Coward! Already running off to the police? Come over here and fight like a man!" An angry, hoarse voice could be heard from the building. I assumed it belonged to a vulture.

"Max, do you require assistance with the interrogations?" The girl with a deadpan expression on her face approached us both.

"I only let my guard down against a vulture to punch another one. Even I struggle dancing with multiple partners." The foreign man smirked, holding with the 3 tips of his right fingers the brim of his hat.

The way he played the 'cool, but tough guy' act made me wince.

"Officer, leave this mess to me. You can call for backup or check the scene when I'm done." He tipped his fedora and smiled with confidence at me.

Feeling secondhand embarrassment, I nodded before he jumped back into the building through the window he broke.

Sounds of shooting could be heard from inside. A stray bullet hit a car parked in the street.

"Presence of stray projectiles confirmed. Civilian injury by inaction isn't permitted. Providing support to end the armed conflict." The blonde teenager spoke stoically, as her 'legs' lit up with white flames to fly into the building's interior through the broken window.

…

"Neo... Do you get a sense of a déjà vu out of all this?" Scratching his head, Roman manifested out of nowhere again. He bent forward over the window's frame, trying to see what was going on in the building's interior.

Not sure what you are talking about.

The sounds of more shooting and crashing came out of the window. I began to walk away from there. My plans had been ruined by someone deciding to storm this place earlier.

We better leave while they are busy. Those two give me a bad feeling.

•

"I may have precipitated." Since I was planning to introduce myself as a journalist to dig for more info about Beryl's last night at Bianchi's, I did not anticipate fighting all the vultures in the building at once.

There was nothing impressive about this place. The vultures' base of operations looked like the stereotypical noir offices from movies. The only thing that took me by surprise was the cabinets with guns and other weapons spread across the building.

For my fortune, these mobsters were not foolish enough to use heavy weaponry and explosives inside of their turf. Also, Olvidados were naturally good at sports involving kicks, punches, or driving fast, but bad at ice-related sports... Which said a lot about our continent (never seen snow in my life).

Using box and taekwondo moves, I had already incapacitated 6 vultures but this would have been easier if I had been wearing my fully equipped armor and brought Ehekatl with me. Right now, my bounty hunter equipment was stored inside a box truck rented by Poktli, which the chauffeur hired by Roberto drove around Bright Island.

If Beryl could defeat five of them without relying on a semblance, aura boost, or a weapon of her own, and not get hit, then so can-

"Oh, right. They already landed a hit on me." I remembered late that getting thrown out of the window took away from me a flawless victory.

A vulture was stupid enough to try shooting me at a close distance. Anticipating his moves, I closed the distance between both faster and stole his handgun by grabbing it with my left hand and using my right hand to attack his wrist. I shot him once in each leg to break his aura. With a kick to the face, I knocked him out.

The remaining 5 vultures on the first floor took cover behind desks to shoot me from a safe distance. I did the same.

"We got him cornered, keep shooting!" One of the vultures screamed to his peers.

"This is proving more difficult than I expected." Not giving me a chance to shoot back by constantly firing in my direction, it seemed that relying on my aura boost to run and jump over the desks they were using as covers was unavoidable.

But if I wanted to reduce the chances of getting shot while doing this, the only plan I could think of was to use the body of a knocked-out vulture... As a human shield.

"I'm not that kind of guy." While I regretted my position and tried to think of another plan, I saw Galatea... Flying?

Quickly making it past me, the gynoid flew directly into enemy fire without getting hit. She gracefully landed behind the vultures.

"Please, cease hostilities and put your guns down immediately. Otherwise, the use of force will be deemed necessary." With her usual robotic tone, Galatea politely requested without any fear for the vultures to stop attacking. She bowed with her hands together touching her knees.

…

"Was that a semblance?"

"Is this girl crazy?"

"Where did she come from?"

The confused vultures kept looking with contempt at Tea. To my dismay, one of them dared to raise their gun and point it at her face.

"Who do you think you are to give us orders, bit-" As the vulture was about to shoot, I pointed at him with the handgun I was holding and put my finger on the trigger, but it wasn't me who stopped him.

Before he could aim and shoot properly, his gun was deactivated along with the other ones in the room.

"All the weapons within this building have been confiscated and locked." The vultures and I looked at the guns held with confusion. Tea was right.

All of them were no longer functional. It was as if we had put the safety locks on our guns and turned them off, so their dust bullets could not be fired anymore.

Had she hijacked all the remote controls in the vulture's turf that deactivated dust weapons?

"Please, cease hostilities. Otherwise, the use of force will be deemed necessary." Tea's unemotional plead sadly only pissed off furthermore the gangsters.

"Then let's do it the old-fashioned way. No dust!" 3 vultures took out knives, while the other 2 reached for what I assumed were powder guns.

Copying Beryl's tactic, I threw with all my force the deactivated weapon in my hands at the head of one mobster holding a gun. While running in their direction, I grabbed a paperweight from a desk and threw it at the other guy holding a gun. Out of the 3 vultures holding knives, only 2 turned around to face me. The third one made a motion to stab Galatea.

"TEA!" Being unable to reach her in time, I could only scream. I was still busy trying to disarm the first knife guy who approached me, but...

My fear was unfounded.

As the third knife vulture plunged his weapon in Galatea's direction, she quickly split her legs and bent backward to dodge the attack. Before the vulture could process and react to what happened, Tea spun her entire body across the floor and kicked her enemy's legs to make him lose balance and fall. Tea then performed a knee-on-stomach grappling technique on her enemy and electrocuted him with her prosthetic leg till he lost consciousness.

The other 3 vultures turned around to confirm what just happened. Taking advantage of their distraction, I grabbed the hand of the vulture holding the knife I was struggling with and gave him a headbutt charged with my boosted aura. The hit was strong enough to make him drop his knife, which I took for myself as it was falling. Not giving him a chance to recover, I slashed at his chest to break his aura and delivered a blow to his stomach with my knee.

Considering Tea the bigger threat, the two vultures with guns aimed at her, while the last one with a knife started running in my direction.

"Tea, can you use magnetism? Grab their gu-" Whether she predicted what I was about to say, or she was planning it from the start was unclear.

Tea activated a strong magnetic mechanism hidden within her hands. With each one, she stole a gun from the vultures and then crushed them with her impressive raw strength.

"Max, I reactivated the gun at your ri-" It was my turn to guess what Tea was about to say. I grabbed the dust gun on the desk to my right and shot repeatedly at the knife vulture before he could reach me, breaking his aura and making him pass out.

"Take this mons-" As one of the disarmed gun vultures tried to hit Tea in her face, she performed a backflip and turned on... Whatever those white flames in her prosthetics were, kicking with extreme speed the vulture's head and making him crash against the ceiling. He didn't even fall, because the upper half of his body got stuck on the ceiling. After completing her backflip, Tea raised her arms as if she were a gymnast done with her routine.

"What are you, frea-" Not allowing him to ask his rude question, I grabbed him from behind by the waist while he was distracted by Tea. Raising my strength with an aura boost, I lifted his body and performed an Alaman Supplex to crash his head and back hard against the floor.

The impact was strong enough to make the building shake and break the floor tiles in which the vulture landed.

After standing up and picking up my hat, I turned my attention to Tea.

"You didn't need to follow me here. I don't need a fighting partner. Why did you disobey?" Worried for her and disappointed with myself, I scolded her for not listening to me.

"I didn't. You said to help if I could but leave you most of the heavy lifting. Not all. Also, we needed to conclude the conflict before stray bullets hit bystanders. I could not ignore my programming..." Tea at first excused herself without displaying any emotion, but when saying the last word, I could detect some sadness in her face and voice.

"Perdón."

...

"How can I get mad at you, smarta- smart girl!?" Sighing due to exhaustion, I put my hand over her head to rub it. "Gracias, Tea."

"Max, I sense 15 presences with an awakened aura remaining in the building. 5 of them are about to-" The sound of steps coming from the stair that led to the second floor got our attention.

"Hold it right there, youngsters!" A gray-haired, middle-aged man in an onyx-colored suit reprimanded us. He was protected by 4 mobsters with metal bat clubs, knives, and a powder machine gun.

"Make it to this floor." At the same time, Tea finished her warning with her usual monotonous, cold voice.

"You could use more processing power." I mocked my investigation partner.

•

"I didn't order anyone to kill or threaten Beryl." The regional boss of the vultures said with composure. His nickname was Don Wing.

The criminal kingpin sat behind a desk in his office located on the last floor of the building, surrounded by 4 of his loyal men. 6 other armed vultures were watching us from the other side of the office's glass partition windows.

"Then, why did your men attack me when I asked about her?" Keeping my cool, I demanded answers from him.

"Many here got a grudge against Miss Beryl. Some have lost teeth, been stabbed, or ended up in the hospital because of her." As the vulture boss spoke, some of his men started cracking their knuckles or greeting their teeth.

One of them touched his stomach area and flinched a little. He probably had been stabbed there and his wound was still healing.

She sounded more ruthless than me when it came to stopping criminals.

"Why the fierce assault at Bianchi's last weekend? Were you that desperate for them to pay your protection fee?" I observed him with attention, looking for any subconscious action that could give me extra information as he answered.

"... Bianchi disrespected us. We only wanted to give him a good scare." He took a little bit of time to answer me.

Standing next to me, Tea tapped twice the floor with her left 'foot'.

Wing was lying. Tea could analyze a person's heartbeats and involuntary muscle movements, which allowed her to calculate if a person was telling a lie or not. The tapping on the floor was a signal that both of us had come up with, so the interviewed person didn't realize that she had functions more accurate than those of a polygraph.

"I know why you badly want everyone to pay your expensive protection fees. You raised them for a specific reason, didn't you?" I pointed up with my right index finger.

"The building next to Lumini Tower, its construction came to a sudden halt some months ago. It's named Condor Tower and it belongs to your group." I raised my other hand, pointing up with my left index finger. I placed it next to my right one.

"I dug around some documents and news articles before getting here." Not really. Tea did it for me on my request. She had access to interweb functions and databases of this region.

Government contracts and other official documents were within her grasp, along with an archive of the regional newspapers.

"You tried to build a tower with cheap materials, like those used in Copper Suburb, but excessively cutting costs hurt that little project of yours. Due to the failure to meet all safety regulations, the price to lift the official suspension and finish Condor Tower elevated the project's costs. Probably way higher than you initially planned." Despite remaining silent while I spoke, Don Wing's right hand anxiously goofed around with a pen on his desk.

"No way officials and inspectors from the current administration would let that one slide by cheaply. The incidents at Copper Suburb and its amusement park affected your operations."

Some articles I read mentioned that Byron and other recently elected mayors had improved safety regulations and increased the number of inspections required for several types of construction in this region. Probably to avoid another disaster like the one at Copper Suburb's pier and beach area.

"You did not want people to pay your new protection fees, you NEEDED to!" With passion, I delivered another verbal blow to the criminal kingpin. He forced himself to stop goofing around with his pen.

If it weren't for Shelly and the change in administration, Condor Tower's construction would not have been halted and the vulture's protection fees wouldn't have increased in price.

"I fail to see how this connects to Bianchi's and Beryl beyond what you said. We needed money sure, but what organization doesn't? There are always costs of operations to cover." After Wing replied with hesitation, Tea taped her 'foot' once against the floor.

This meant that the mob boss was getting nervous and I should keep pushing on the matter.

"The protection fees are only part of the problem. I noticed that Condor Tower's construction resumed this week. Precisely after the attack at Bianchi's." Most suspension signs and seals had been lifted recently around the construction area, although due to laziness not all of them had been properly removed.

A news article from earlier this week confirmed that the construction was now back in process.

"How is that possible, if you failed to collect their protection fee and burned your reputation with plenty of rich people in Bright Island? That dumb move of yours must have also cost you a lot with the police since the men that attacked Bianchi's that night are still in prison."

I did not miss how none of the men present at the building were the ones that appeared in Beryl's last viral video and news article regarding the incident.

"What are you insinuating? Stop wasting our time and spill it out." The kingpin was getting angrier the more I spoke.

"The vultures found a new source of money. The one they needed to bribe government inspectors and improve Condor Tower's building structure. And it was all thanks to Beryl." I confidently spoke, as Don Wing sunk into his chair.

Tea tapped once more, confirming that I was on the right track. I only needed to press this matter one final time to clear this mystery.

"You know who she is and what's the bounty for her. With your men incapable of capturing Beryl, you sold her out to someone for a high price or a substantial portion of the reward."

I accused him with conviction, snapping my right hand and using its index finger to point in Wing's direction. For an extra cool touch, I lowered slightly the brim of my hat with my left hand.

Misterio resuelto.

…

Everybody stood in silence, looking jarred at me. Tea shook her head.

"What are you talking about, young man!? We didn't get a reward or anything else for getting rid of a mere bouncer! The Vulture Family has nothing to do with Beryl's disappearance!" Don Wing argued with indignation, standing up and placing both hands on his desk for support.

Tea didn't tap the floor. He wasn't lying.

I felt that the tables had suddenly reversed. I somehow lost the upper hand, despite feeling close to the truth. Thought I had arranged correctly all the pieces of this puzzle, but there was something I missed. A detail I overlooked.

"You are also wrong about another detail." The mob boss regaining firm ground mocked another mistake of mine.

"... Which one?" As much as I hated to ask, I needed to find out for the sake of fixing my theory.

"You aren't with the police or Cloud authorities as you said earlier, aren't you? Our deal with the police took a hit from our move last weekend, but nothing severe outside of our men getting arrested as a warning. Yet you are here, violating that deal by invading our turf and attacking our men." The vultures started smirking and cackling, trying to intimidate us.

Whoever was Bright Island's mayor and police commissioner had some explaining to do.

"The police lady who was about to pay you a visit is also with you!?" Maldición, the cultures had everyone in their pockets. I underestimated their influence.

"... Police lady?" The criminal kingpin and his henchmen looked at me and each other with confusion.

One of them walked out of the office to check on a nearby computer the cameras' footage of the building. Tea probably had not erased her.

"Yeah, the one who..." Puzzled by their actions, I asked my partner to confirm if she had not missed her presence. "Tea, did you take a good look at her?"

She was real; I wasn't the only one who saw her.

"I only completed one scan process. The stray bullets overrode my usual proceedings." By one scan process, she meant mine. The one when I got defenestrated in front of those two.

That lady was... Kinda short now that I think about it. Was she Neo-

"Don, I found her. The police officer left when she was about to enter the place." The mobster checking the computer confirmed her existence thanks to the unaltered footage.

"What's going on?" An annoyed Don Wing demanded explanations from everyone in the office.

"... That's also what I would like to know." I sided for once with the gangsters.

Whoever this police lady was, I needed to track her next. I had the feeling that Neopolitan was closer than expected.

•

We were fortunate that Don Wing took more interest in the police lady, allowing us to go on the condition of helping search for the police spy and avoid dropping by his place again. He seemed to think that the police wanted to betray him, sniffing around his turf for any excuse to arrest him, so that's why the vultures avoided harming us.

Making Tea search for every possible footage of Beryl and the police lady led us to the surroundings of Principal Park by 7 p.m. Since Bright Diner wasn't too far, I decided to drop by and ask the owner behind the bar about Beryl.

"A nice regular client. Have not seen her since last weekend." A black guy with a red bow tie, white shirt, and black pants took his time to answer our questions. It turned out that his name was also Bright, so like Bianchi's, the business was named after him.

"Debbie told me she met Beryl here for a farewell talk." I sat with Tea on the bar's seats. I ordered a hamburger and chocolate milkshake combo.

Tea ordered a strawberry milkshake, despite being an android. I assumed she wanted to blend with the other normal humans in the restaurant.

"It's true. Well, most of the talk was signing. Beryl is mute." Bright clarified, after delivering our orders to the chef in the kitchen.

I was beginning to think that Beryl or Neopolitan were legitimate mutes, but part of me still believed it was all part of her act.

"And a farewell talk? Their interactions at certain points got emotional. That explains it. Are both okay, detective?" With a look of concern, he asked me about their well-being.

Bright appeared to be a business owner fond of his regular clients.

"Debbie, yes. I talked with her hours ago. Beryl is the one that has us worried. I wanted to ask her about the incident at Bianchi's last weekend, but she quit her job and no one there has seen her since then." I displayed Beryl's last viral video on my holodial, just in case he wasn't aware of the incident.

"Right, the vulture attack. She fought them amazingly..." Bright's facial expression went from happiness to sadness in the blink of an eye, as he remembered something.

"Too bad we didn't catch in time the crime next block." Sparing me one question, with a frustrated tone he began talking about the police presence in the building across the street. The topic I wanted to discuss with him next.

Tea could not dig anything about it. Footage of the place had been erased and the block's surveillance systems were shut down.

"What happened? Haven't seen any news about it." Not wanting to blow my cover, I asked carefully the next questions.

Bright paused his actions and looked around to confirm that there weren't other clients who could hear our conversation. He got closer to the bar, inviting me to lean more my body on it.

"They are keeping the family's murder a secret." Lowering his voice, Bright said the terrifying statement with a grim tone.

"A family got offed?" I asked quickly without thinking, but at least kept my voice low.

"Not even you were aware?" A surprised Bright made a good question, but thinking fast I came up with an excuse to explain my situation.

"I got hired by someone from Cloud City exclusively to deal with the Beryl and vultures' case. I wasn't informed of this murder case." For obvious reasons, I avoided telling him that the gynoid next to me couldn't find any footage on the hijacked cameras.

"I see. Probably they are not spreading info about it out of respect for the family, considering how grisly the murder was." The owner looked uncomfortable.

Bright censored himself, for the sake of Galatea and not ruining our appetite. But like myself, Tea probably wanted to hear more about the case to see if there was a connection with our mission and find out why the surveillance systems had been tampered with before our arrival.

With an impassive look, she was listening and looking at Bright. His statements had caught her interest.

"What can you tell me about it?" I asked in a way that did not force him to give very specific details about the gruesome case.

"I live in the same building, but not on the floor of the crime scene. A close friend and his mother were the ones who discovered the macabre crime." Bright continued talking with a low voice, now and then turning around to confirm that no one was eavesdropping. "Their remains- They had a hard time telling the victims apart, due to how they had been cut."

"The mother went hysterical with panic. She lost her consciousness after several screams. Right now, she's in shock at the hospital. My friend was the one who called the police and reported the crime. He's suffering from PTSD, also being attended by psychiatrists." Bright's face became somber, recalling his acquaintances' testimonies.

"From what little he told me when I returned to my apartment the day of the murder, it looked as if an extremely violent beast had committed the crime." The owner's voice filled with fear as he struggled to decide how much detail he could give us about the case.

"A Grimm?" I wasn't aware of how violent crimes in Bright Island were, so I didn't want to suspect that even in such a modern city people could be so evil.

"Not even Grimm are that cruel. His words, not mine." Bright shook his head and confirmed my worst suspicion with a low and disappointed voice. It sadly appeared that the culprit was a person.

"Then who was the culprit?" I inquired, expecting that he or she wasn't on the run.

"According to police and military forces that established a perimeter, it was a lunatic drug addict that they caught some blocks away." Tea had not tapped once or twice while Bright talked. All his statements were true. At least from his perspective.

But Tea seemed distracted, putting a straw on the milkshake that a waiter brought for her. I was hoping that she was still listening to his testimony.

"Soldiers were called to deal with this crime case!?" Unless things got ugly and violent, it wasn't usual for the government to send the military to deal with a murder case.

"From the federation itself, but I only saw them checking the crime scene once. It was mostly the local police that cordoned off the last floor. They still don't let anyone not authorized up there." While Bright confirmed how strange the entire situation was, I quickly glanced at Tea.

The strawberry milkshake was coming out from her ears and nose. Her eyes even looked as if she were crying tears of strawberry. I realized late that Dr. Rot Laugh had not made her with a fully functional digestive system, so her drink was leaking from all the orifices in her head.

…

Before the owner could turn to look at Tea, I used my body to cover her.

"BRIGHT, you said this crime took place the same day Beryl and Debbie met here!?" I desperately regained his attention with an urgent question in a not-so-low voice.

"... Ah, yes. And possibly around the same hour..." A confused Bright replied, before calming down and adding the next statement.

"I hope that Beryl is safe, but if there's a person who can deal with any criminal in Bright Island, it's her."

•

"Sorry for not being of much use today, Max. Even with access to Bright Island's surveillance cameras I couldn't find Beryl or investigate more about the family's murder case." Tea apologized while we walked together to the arcade center on the other side of Principal Park. She had already cleaned her face in Bright Diner's restroom.

It was 8 p.m. The sun had set, and the streetlamps were beginning to turn on.

"Está bien, Tea. It's not your fault. Thanks to you I am now more confident that Beryl is Neopolitan." I gently rejected her apology.

I could only allow myself to say words in Hispañol around her since I didn't want people to figure out easily that I was born and had lived most of my life in Olvido.

"You are thinking that Beryl's disappearances in cameras' blind spots increase the probability of her being Neopolitan." Tea deduced my theory.

"Precisely. It's too much of a coincidence. Neopolitan must have learned from her mistake back in Gallia. When she worked with Milady de Frost." I confirmed my clever guess to her.

We made it to the center of the park, where a fountain was located.

"If Beryl is Neopolitan, I find it illogical that she took a job that demands to display her fighting skills in front of everyone." I stopped the moment Tea pointed out that contradiction.

…

"Maybe she cannot help it." I had thought the same before, but it was the first time I heard someone else say it aloud.

It was ridiculous how she kept falling from one incident into another, fighting everyone, blowing her covers, and getting chased around the globe.

Anyone would think that with such a handy semblance, she would have found peace or friends by now. Settle down in a remote place with nothing to worry about.

"Neopolitan seems to be the type of person that always needs to be doing something. She isn't a passive individual by nature." Usually, that would be a compliment, but considering what she did in Sally Island, I feared what she could do next.

There was only one thing that made me doubt that Beryl was Neopolitan. The way Bianchi, Debbie, and Bright talked about her did not make sense to me. If she was Neopolitan under disguise, how could they have such a positive perception of her?

Was Neopolitan one of those murderers who is so efficient at pretending that she's a nice person?

"Tea, I think I know why you hate humans. We are irrational hypocrites in your eyes, aren't we?" I said unfazed something that would sound like a crazy statement to anyone else.

…

The fountain's water and the wind blowing through the trees produced for some seconds the only sounds in the area we were standing on.

"I fail to understand why you conditioned me to preserve and protect life when you go around killing each other. It's a contradiction." Tea paused, before saying with slight disappointment the following question. "Are humans afraid that androids will eliminate them?"

I was glad that for once Tea openly expressed herself to me, I sat on a nearby bench and took off my hat to scratch my head.

"Yes. You are partially right." I said with a smirk, thinking about our contradictory behavior. "We are scared... Of androids inheriting the same sins as us. Or at least Dr. Rot Laugh and I are."

Tea fazed a little, looking amazed at me. She wasn't expecting a human to shamelessly admit how flawed we are.

"The Doktor probably sees in you the path to a better future for Zenith. That's why he doesn't want you to stain your hands with blood and repeat the same mistakes as us, humans." I turned to see the sky. Or to be more precise, to see the moon.

"That's why he created you to be the perfect girl." I turned down my head to smile at her.

"To not be like Neopolitan?" Tea said with slight sadness.

"... Yes, I suppose..." She misunderstood me a bit. "I am also not perfect though."

"Max, on your ne-" Tea returned to talking with her normal cold voice, pointing to how my hand was grabbing my neck.

"Ah, perdón. I got lost in my thoughts." I subconsciously did that thing again.

"Come on, Tea. We need to keep investigating before this day is over. Let's head to Shiny Game Center." Realizing that she didn't want to sit and was eager to continue investigating, I decided to stand up and leave the park together.

"I feel that if we keep following Beryl's tracks, we will eventually cross paths with her. The Trillion-Bounty Girl."

•

Had I trespassed into that crime scene, would I have uncovered the truth to prevent the upcoming madness?