I grabbed at my side and watched the man die, feeling warm blood flow down. It didn't hurt- just felt cold. Everything felt muted again. Ugh- I hated feeling like this. Like nothing even mattered. I shook my head, trying to get some color back into my vision. Only red seemed to pop.

I didn't have time for this. This guy was probably just the lookout. I bent over, feeling more blood pour from the city at my side, and picked up my weapons. I searched his body, finding a Sentinel Wasp-2. Probably didn't use it in an attempt to keep things quiet. If he had…

I shook myself free of the morbid thought. A large part of me just wanted to leave, but another part of me was furious. Furious that I had been attacked for just walking around. Freezing up as soon as I saw him was a mistake. If I hadn't done that, he probably wouldn't have even done anything to me.

I crept past the hall and found the Parkers' apartment. The door sat slightly ajar with its lock busted off. From within, I could hear the clatter of voices. There wasn't a hint of duress in them. Maybe a TV? I eased open the door and slid in with my Sidewinder raised.

The short entry hall opened up into a small living room space. A woman, wearing the same cleaning uniform as the other guy, crouched over an unconscious man and. woman. The unconscious woman looked like Lynn Parker.

The cleaner standing over them, her eyes zoned out. A wand sat in a hip holster like it was a pistol. I paused for a moment before doing anything. Adept. And judging by the faint tingle of Insight, she was using some kind of magic.

I hesitantly raised my pistol. My only chance of surviving this was if I got the first blow before the woman could cast magic. The adrenaline was making my aim shaky, which was not a good thing when pointing at the two non-targets on either side of the woman.

I steeled my nerves, pushing off the brunt of the shakiness. My finger squeezed the trigger, flexing repeatedly.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Unfortunately, only one shot actually connected from my volley. My aim was thrown way off by my fear of hitting the Parkers. It would truly suck to do all this to save them, only to shoot them myself. The woman let out a startled shriek and toppled over with blood leaking from her shoulder.

Insight triggered, and I felt a piercing chill slice through my chest. I dodged back behind the wall leading into the living room just in time for a literal sword of ice to crash right where I was standing. I was worried about this.

I peeked low around the corner. The woman struggled to move behind a couch for cover, moving away from the Parkers. I didn't even hesitate and blind fired the rest of the mag into her. She cried out once more, then fell silent. All noise in the apartment cut off, drowned by the TV playing in the corner.

Was it over? I waited a minute. I didn't hear anything. Was she waiting for me? Or did I get her? I slowly peeked again. Her still floor lay on the carpet, staining it red. Her eyes splayed wide open in unwillingness.

I let out a shaky breath and slid down the wall. That cool muteness that came over me when I was first stabbed disappeared. My arms and legs turned into trembling messes, dropping my pistol and ruining any attempt to move.

"Heh." A short laugh left me. I winced, feeling the wound in my side pull slightly. Shock? Adrenaline? I wasn't quite sure which it was, but it was damn effective. Ugh- this sucked. I squeezed my eyes shut to block out the violently flickering TV.

It took some time to get calm enough to move again. I grabbed at my side, putting some pressure on the wound. The pain slowly started to bring my senses back. I looked around, vision catching on the Adept's terrified face. A dull throb coursed through my heart.

Killing- it never sat right with me. There was this- this finality to it. It made me an oddity in this damn city, I'm sure. It was all too easy to just fall into the trap murder not mattering. Of becoming just like everyone else.

Still, survival could only be clawed out. This time- this time I definitely had to do it. I pushed away the guilt beating at me. Was this really for my own survival though? I coulda just left after fighting the guy… but if I hadn't flatlined the adept, then wouldn't the Parkers have died? They still might depending on Carone. Then what was the point-

I shook my head free and attempted to calm myself. I could think about this later. For now, I needed to figure out what to do about this- this mess...

My legs were horribly shaky when I stood up. I forced my way out the apartment to the guy's corpse. I grabbed it, feeling Nassau's at the rapidly fading warmth. I pulled him by the arms, dragging him into the Parkers' apartment.

It left a trail of blood, but it blended in with the other fluids and trash that filled the hallway. The twisting neon and encroaching dimness assisted that. Even the scent of Tosta, the most common drug in Aythryn City, covered the coppery tang. Hardly even noticeable. Those who did notice? Not likely to say something. This was East End, after all.

I dropped off the guy's corpse and stared at the scene. Now what? I had two freshly zeroed corpses, two unconscious people, and a boatload of confusion. How did a simple investigation come to this? Should I just ghost?

Warmth escaped, trickling down my side. Regardless, I needed to take care of the injury before anything else. I didn't have bandages, but there should be some around here somewhere. I dug around in the kitchen and the bathroom, finding a medkit in a cabinet.

I took it back out toward the living room. I disinfected and wrapped my side with some bandages. It'd hopefully be all healed by tomorrow with Quick Healing. My shirt though? I'd need to sew it back together when I got back to my container.

Checking the pockets of all parties involved, I took stock of the situation. There were two uncon and two dead, with me smack dab in the middle of it all. I was faced with directly handing over a suspected kidnapping and brainwashing victim to a person who may or may not want to avenge his client… as if my consciousness wasn't stabbing me enough already.

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I called Carone. Really, I shouldn't even be thinking about it. It was the job, and the job was done. I should just leave it alone and then never think about it again… and yet I felt a pang of guilt gnawing at me as if I was doing something wrong in this situation.

What was the point of saving the Parkers from the Adept if I was just going to hand them over? My usual justification for survival didn't offer too many hints… rather it did, but I didn't like them. According to the hints, it wasn't my place to worry about the Parkers. All that mattered was my pay and getting food on my plate.

I tried to think back to how I dealt with this kind of thing in the past, but most of my jobs had been B&Es for the Jade Fang. I never actually saw the people affected by the job, and, well, I tried not to think about it. It was the way of the world. If they didn't want to be robbed, they shoulda locked their doors better.

So I should just treat it the same, right? Just do the job and then leave. Don't think about it. It's not like Lynn was wholly innocent; I was ninety percent sure she was the one who stabbed the client. This was Aythryn City after all; worrying about the damned would only damn myself. And yet I couldn't help but-

"Did you find the… killer?" The annoying voice of Carone came from my phone.

"Um- about that… yes, but there were some… complications." Ugh- the point of no return was rapidly approaching.

"Do tell." The sound of a crackling fire faintly came from his end..

I hollowly stared at the flatlined cleaners. My search of their pockets revealed ID badges for Build-A-Doll, which all but confirmed my previous assumptions. The Adept even had a Tornado Arms Gale-17, and I would bet my bacon it was the same gun from the murder scene.

They were probably the ones who went to the scene and shot the body to cover up the stab wound from Lynn. Build-A-Doll already had badges in their payroll, as evidenced by Lynn's disappearance being covered up, so it wouldn't be too hard to have it marked as a robbery gone south and the coroner to overlook the stab wound. Unfortunately, no one was currently capable of confirming or denying my theories.

I glanced at the sleeping form of Lynn Parker. She was probably only eighteen or nineteen, and yet I was going to potentially end her life with my next statement… Wasn't I no better than her captors? Her tormentors that put her in such a- a terrible situation to begin with? I should've just gone to Build-A-Doll and not gotten caught up in this mess.

Damnit! I squeezed my eyes shut, finally coming to a decision.

"I'm with the killers now, dead. The company that sent them after your client also sent them to clean a witness. The cleaners had an… unfortunate accident when I arrived on the scene. Do you want me to bring the corpses to you, or…" Stupid Shiro! Lying to a fixer was so dumb! All it would take is a look at the corpse to know something was off.

"Interesting. Flick me the location. I'll send over some… cleaners of my own." There was the sound of a small explosion on his end. "Shiro Tsukuyomi, I don't currently have a competent… non-affiliated investigator on my roster. That is, assuming you'd like another gig?"

Was he trying to scare me? Good job, you know my full name. What a slag. "Sure. Just flick a message whenever you need me, though I like more subtle-"

He hung up. Bastard. Well, at least I've got a new source of income. I watched my bank account and felt a bit of exhausted glee as 300 Boswan Pulas entered it. I now had… 312 BP. Still broke, unfortunately. Recent expenses almost put me in the negative.

Was this even worth it? I mean, I did get stabbed in the side… and killed two people… all for three hundred Rayn. I was probably the cheapest paid killer in the world. Heh- what did that say about me?

At least there was a pot at the end of every rainbow. The cleaners didn't have much on them. A few things that might fetch some money. Could probably offload the pistols. Unfortunately, as with all attuned wands, the Adept's shattered as soon as she died. I wouldn't be able to get anything from that.

The true pot of gold though? It was a moral one. There was a small chance the original victims might just get out of this one alive. I shoved a note into the unconscious Lyn''s hand that Build-A-Dall killed Davis. She might not read it, ending up as yet another corpse in the dumpster. At some point though, it was out of my hands no matter how hard I tried.

With that taken care of, I left the apartment. There was nothing there for me anyway.

「Melee Weapons 1 - Acquired」

「Firearm 1 - Acquired」

「First Aid 1 - Acquired」

「Evasion 1 - Acquired」

「Deception 1 - Acquired」

「Criminology 1 - Acquired」

「Brawling 1 - Acquired」

「Tracking - 3>4」

「Perception - 2>3」

Wow, that was a lot of messages. Has it been tracking my progress the past few days? So does it wait until I'm done with whatever it is I'm doing before giving me skill increases? Interesting… Also, I could've sworn I tried to do some of those things back during the data collection period. Did it only give me Skills if my 'level' was greater than one during that period?

I shook my head and headed back for my bike. Instead of heading directly home, I moved for my spot out in the Outskirts. Sure it cut into my remaining Rayn with fuel costs, but relaxing would be worth it.

I spent a while out there, sitting in the sand. Long enough for my radio to die again. I leaned against the metal chassis of my dirt bike, attempting to keep my mind off of things. To settle back down. Didn't really work.

The hot sands reminded me of warm crimson. The dunes and sky twisted, transforming into ghoulish faces of condemnation. The itching in my side grew past the point of ignoring, giving me the perfect excuse to head back and turn in for the night.

— — —

I woke up early the next morning, rubbing at my tired eyes. Sleeping was… well, I finally got there with the help of Lethargic Presence. So not how I saw using that particular Perk, but it worked wonders.

My side was completely flawless. Not even a scar from the wound remained. It made me wonder; what would happen if I removed my implants? Would Quick Healing produce another eye? Then my eyes caught on the scar down my face. That was still there. Maybe old injuries weren't capable of being healed with Quick Healing?

Could I start selling blood? I had an infinite supply with Quick Healing. Wouldn't effect me much… no, that probably wouldn't work. Slab Co's DNA cloning was at the point they could grow test tube limbs for reattachment. There probably wasn't a lack of blood on the market. Better off making Rayn a less painful way.

I checked my phone and saw a text from Mira. I shot back a response before heading to my cabinet for some fresh Silage ExtraBland™. It was probably the only food that I considered worth paying for the blandness. Normal silage was just… thinking about it made my stomach hurt.

Just as I finished eating, my phone buzzed. It automatically popped up into my eye's HUD. "Yes, Mira?"

A cyber audio suite sure would be nice. I could answer calls without even having to verbally talk. Not to mention better hearing. Maybe I should look into new earbuds before then.

"Shiro! Listen, I was thinking; why don't we do something fun? I'm only going to be in town for so long, and… well, you know how it is." Mira said.

I didn't have anything going on, other than the Sentinel papers burning a hole at the back of my mind. Oh, and the Tracking Perk, but that could wait. "Sure. What do you wanna do?"

"Nova! Um… gun range? I got this new rifle I haven't shot yet." The excitement in her voice was palpable.

I wasn't really a fan of shooting, but I didn't want to stomp on her excitement. This might be a good time to test out the Skill system with Firearms. Did I have to actually be in a firefight or could I just shoot at a target to level it? "I'm down. Which one?"

The line froze for a moment. "Listen… I know you don't like going near Blitz Base, but there's this place right there. They have free ammo! All you can shoot!"

Going near the FSA base was not my favorite thing to do. Ammo wasn't all that expensive—food cost more these days—but getting free ammo… maybe I could even pocket some? "Fine… better not be like last time though."

"Well, if you would've just stuck with me you wouldn't have gotten locked in the stockade." Mira used her snarky argumentative voice. Gah! It pissed me off so much.

"I had to use the bathroom!"

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