As it turns out, Davis was a poor bastard. The expensive-looking decorations I snagged? Expensive looking. They were quite cheap and I barely got a couple of Rayn each after arguing a lot. The data slate sold for slightly more, but even then I only left the shop with forty extra Rayn in my account. Last time I came to Peter's Pawned Prawns.

After that was done, I headed down to Saint's Plaza. It was a spot kind of close to Absolom Clinic, and one of the biggest street markets in all of Little Yukoto, if not the entire city. There was something for everyone for sale here, even some of the low-end less-than-legal kind. And, the scenery was nice to boot.

Saint's Plaza sat at the foot of the biggest cathedral this side of the city. It was one of the few buildings around that didn't have the ever-present neon and advertisements shining brightly down onto us plebeians. Modesty was the name of the game for the building, yet that very modesty made it stand out against the backlit neon and excess native to the streets.

The shop I headed for was a little place called Yukoto Matrix. Shinobue pointed me toward it when I asked if he knew a place. Apparently, it was where the Jade Fang Netrunners occasionally came for supplies.

I entered Yukoto Matrix, slightly taken aback by the sheer amount of tech everywhere. Everything from replacement CPUs to full-on decks stacked from floor to ceiling. The shelves? Absolutely overloaded like this was some kind of salvage shop. There was so much stuff that even the lights were half-blocked, making the entire place kind of dim.

A rather thin-looking guy stood behind the counter at the back of the room, working on a deck. As soon as I stepped foot in, his dim eyes lit up. "Welcome in. You looking for something in particular or just browsing?"

"Um- my friend said you sold programs?" I was so far out of my field here. I didn't even know what half the stuff was.

The guy pushed aside the deck, clearing off the counter. "Right on, chum. What kind?"

"Access to criminal records."

The guy nodded and vanished behind the desk. He returned with several chips. "I gotchu. Just the Blue Crusade's base-level criminal records and missing persons? Or something a little more… advanced?"

"What are those advanced programs?" He had successfully piqued my interest. My budget was admittedly a bit low, though.

He flashed three chips at me. "They allow access to the whole directory. Very expensive, but useful if you're looking for someone without a criminal history. The high-priced ones even allow access across nodes."

Damn, that did sound nice. And Lynn Parker would definitely be on there… fuck being broke. "Just the base one."

He shrugged and pulled a chip from the bundle. "Seven hundred Rayn. You can always come back later for the other ones."

I paid him and watched the last of my money drain away. So much for having savings. I'd be making it back, at least. Part of it. And access to the Crusade's records would be super useful in the future. Right- if I looked at this like an investment? It didn't hurt as much.

I returned home and ate a light meal of silage, which was as tasty as always, and then plugged the chip into my phone. It downloaded the program down, giving me access to the Crusade's directory.

Surprisingly, there were quite a few Lynn Parkers in the city. Since this was the criminal records, they thankfully all had mugshots accompanying the files. The process was the same as the last. I cut through them until I found the right one.

'Course my Lynn Parker wasn't in the records. What a waste of time and money. How could she not be in the records though? This was Aythryn City, where crime lurked around every corner. She must've lived a sheltered life to not have a record… but then how could she be a doll?

I swapped my query from criminal records to missing persons. After a few more tweaks on my search, I found a file. It was short, and not very sweet. Lynn Parker, Scav kidnapping, deceased. It was a report from a few months ago. I would've just passed on by, but the smiling face of my killer stared at me. This was before she got the Doll chrome too.

She was reported missing a few months ago by her brother. It looked like a Squire, those that were a bit further down the corporate totem pole in the Blue Crusade, had gone to their apartment and asked some questions. The Squire marked the case as closed a few hours later.

I was too tired to think any more about this. The rest of the search would have to wait for tomorrow. It was getting late, so I retired for the night.

— — —

The choppy purr of my motorcycle assaulted my eardrums early in the morning. Rain fell gently, the water lightly striking against my patchy raincoat. The Parkers lived in East End, close to the projects.

I thought about it while going through my daily routine this morning. Why would Lynn Parker, a person I know to still be alive, be marked as deceased on a law enforcement report? And then I realized I was thinking too hard. This was Aythryn City! The answer was obvious: corruption.

That got me thinking. Why would someone want Lynn Parker marked as dead? As a Scav victim no less. The answer I came up with after taking in all the facts? So no one would look for her.

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See, she had doll cybernetics. Doll stuff was some nasty hardware. It overruled the owner's original personality with whatever a client would want. Usually, this worked only on willing people and they could quit the doll override at any point.

That was the usual case, anyway… Take this with a grain of salt, but what if it was magic? I didn't know much about the stuff, but it didn't sound that outlandish. The idea came to me after I looked around Build-A-Doll's site more.

Part of their sales pitch was 'making your nights magical'. Normally, I'd just say it was a cheesy line. Here, though? Their 'About Us' page showed a full roster of Adepts. And I thought I might've felt magic back in the apartment.

The lynchpin for all of this though? They had a section where they'd literally build the perfect doll for the right price. It put an awful idea into my head, one that sounded quite probable.

Here's the theory. A buyer approached and said what they wanted. The company then went and found a matching person to make into a doll. Whether the new 'doll' wanted to be one or not didn't matter with all the magic. It was a perfect system. Add in some corrupt Squires to write off the disappearances?

Okay, so then Davis got his new doll. Something in his apartment caused the magic to break. Or maybe even he himself broke it. He'd did have all that magic stuff, so there was a chance something was actually legitimate. Maybe a talisman or something?

Or Maybe Lynn broke out of it herself. That was doubtful though. If this was a business built upon magic brainwashing like I thought? It was highly doubtful our damsel could break out of it on her own. A business built upon a flawed product wouldn't last long. Especially if the clientele were getting flatlined by said flawed product.

The entire situation was fucked up. Suspected human trafficking, where the victim killed her trafficker, and I was hired to track down the victim? Gah! I felt terrible about this… but it was the job.

Of course, this was all theory at the moment. Unfortunately, Carone likely wouldn't accept theories as a conclusive resolution to this investigation gig. I would either have to speak to Lynn Parker or head to Build-A-Doll to find out the truth. At the moment, talking to Lynn Parker sounded quite a bit better. There was far less of a chance that I'd run into people involved with magic this way.

I pulled into the right street. I had to park quite a ways away. There wasn't a parking garage nearby like there was in other places. I checked the Parkers' apartment location one last time on my Mapp and headed in its direction.

Why was I here? It needed to seem plausible that I would show up. Hmm… oh, I was an orphan here for donations! Always worked. At most, I would be kicked out. Not before checking to see if the killer was there first, though.

Insight tickled at the back of my mind, causing me to stop. This time it didn't take me long to notice the oddity. There was a cleaner van parked out front. Normally it wouldn't be too weird of a sight, but this was close to the projects. Who in their right mind would spend what little money they had on cleaning services?

Something was wrong here… maybe Build-A-Doll sent cleaners? Not the housekeeping kind, but the ones that make people disappear? I felt for my Sidewinder, taking a small comfort in its presence. It could just be nothing. I'd just go up and check, and if it was too dicey I could just keep walking.

With a plan in mind, I entered the apartment building. The elevator was out of order, forcing me to take the stairs. Maybe I should start doing more cardio? I seem to be taking the stairs quite a bit recently.

I was panting for breath by the time I reached the eleventh floor of the building. I took a few moments to settle myself before pushing out into the filthy apartment hallway. I froze for a beat, running face first into a man. A man in a cleaner's jumpsuit.

It took a second to get my brain working again. I moved forward as if I hadn't seen anything. Coincidence? Or was there something much more nefari-

A step came behind me. The step, as quiet as it was, sounded like thunder to my ears after my time with Fox's Paw. I felt a cool tingle, almost like a blade, down my right side. It traced a jagged scratch.

I instantly knew it was Insight, but it felt… different. Not quite painful, but a bit more tingly? Almost- almost like a phantom pain? It faintly reminded me of my time in the rock garden.

I decided to trust it. I threw myself to the side, dodging just as a knife cleanly slide where I'd just been standing. The man, seemingly put off by my dodge, was slow in recovering. It gave me just enough time to turn and face him.

I reached for my pistol, fumbling the grip thanks to another icey cold phantom slash. It was almost like I could feel his attacks before he actually threw them, allowing me to preemptively dodge once more. The guy missed again, though didn't overcommit like last time. Before I could even get my pistol up, he smacked it out of my grasp with his other hand.

"Gah!" I felt my wrist snap to the side with the force of the hit and backpedaled away. The pain brought back that coolness that I felt back in the pavilion and I felt my mind lock in. Insight saved me once more allowing me to flop to the side.

I got yet another preemptive warning through my gut. He let out an aggravated growl and lunged forward, stepping out to increase the force. "Die!"

This time I was prepared. I ducked into his guard and grabbed the knife hand, attempting to redirect the hit into a wall so he would drop it. Unfortunately, the strength of a fifteen, almost sixteen, year old girl who rarely worked out couldn't compare to a trained killer. I barely managed to redirect a part of his force before he stopped the strike.

He grabbed my arm with his other hand, and I could feel the cool phantom pain of Insight across my chest. I couldn't dodge out anymore, so I did the next best thing. I wrapped my leg around his kneecap and pulled. He was still half-lunging with weak posture, allowing me to throw him to the floor.

Two issue cropped up immediately. First, he was holding me so I was also brought down. Second, he was still attacking. His knife cut through the jacket, thankfully not getting very deep.

I slammed my elbow up into his temple, stunning him for a moment. I activated Hidden Hands and reached for my boot. Just as I wrapped my hand around the emergency shiv, he slammed a fist into my stomach. Even with Insight's warning, I could only brace myself for the blow.

"Gah!" I crumbled slightly, though I managed to still pull the shiv. A combo of Hidden Hands and Hidden Weapons kept him from noticing.

He sneered, an ugly look on his already ugly face, and easily pinned me to the ground with a leg. He reared back to plunge his knife deep into my-

I threw my arm forward, ramming the shiv into his throat. Bone grated against the metal, sending horrible vibrations down my arm. I threw whatever force I could muster into it, shoving it as deep as possible.

A look of surprise flashed through his eyes. He stumbled, falling backward. His throat gagged loudly in an attempt to speak, but the rushing blood fully choked him. I didn't let up. I pulled myself out and slammed my foot into the shiv, slicing through the muscles of his neck fully. The shiv cut through, clattering to a pile of trash in a spray of arterial blood.

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