I pulled into the parking garage beneath my apartment and let out a shaky breath. Something about what happened- it just hit me weird. 'Course I went to relax and ended up even more stressed in the end.

Didn't help that my Rayn was almost all gone. I was at the point where I'd have to klep some pockets if I wanted something. I was much better off just lasering in on my current gig and seeing this through.

The stress picked up even further when I returned to my apartment. The door sat cracked open, and I heard someone moving inside. Did they find me? Were the hunters already locked onto me?! I need to-

To calm down… it might not be mercs hunting down the twenty mil bounty. Maybe it was the landlord? Or- or somebody else? Should I just ghost? No. I just bought this place, I couldn't just abandon my shower. Especially not now, with blood still all over me.

But what if it was a bunch of mercs? I'd be offering myself on a silver platter... maybe I could come to a deal at the very least? It's not a hundred percent that I would be killed if Sentinel found me. Just… just heavily speculated.

I shrugged off my bag and reached inside for the Rhymer- was it worth killing somebody over? I hesitated, my hand frozen in my bag for a long moment. I don't know who it could be or what their intentions were… No. I didn't think it was.

It could very well be my landlord in there. Maybe I really should ghost for now… but my deck and equipment are in there! Without that stuff, I'll have to drop the gig entirely. I'd be broke and potentially homeless...

Gah! Screw it. Shoot first and ask questions-

Just as I was about to make a foolish mistake, my hand caught on the bunched-up glove from Granny Smith. My hesitation mostly vanished when I pulled it and the electro-bola out. I put the glove on and grabbed the bola.

I nudged open the cracked door. I moved in, quieter than a mouse thanks to Fox's Paw, and closed the door. So far, I have only heard one person. There might be more though, so I needed to take this slow and smooth.

"The hell?" A voice came from the kitchenette, though it was barely more than a whisper. I swung wide to give myself space to throw the weapon, catching sight of a guy leaning over my scattered tools and parts.

I didn't hesitate before whipping my hand over my head, the thing caused a slight disturbance in the air as the silver balls followed my hand. I released as if pointing towards the guy, and the bola snapped to him.

I wasn't trained in the proper throwing of a bola much more than some View2 videos. At this range though? It would be harder to miss. 'Sides, the power of the electro-bola didn't come from its initial damage. The electro part was the important bit.

He must've heard something because he turned toward me right as the bola reached him. Right before it wrapped around his arms and chest, his hands clasped something on his chest and an ethereal glow encompassed him-

I slammed my fist closed, sending the signal to the electro-bola.

TZZT!

"Agh!" Electricity arced all along the silver balls and wire. He collapsed and jolted around, slamming his face into the counter with a wet thunk. I continued to hold my fist closed just in case. He was entirely still outside of the electrical twitches.

I eyed the corner of the counter. Was he… was he dead? I hesitantly moved closer, watching out for signs of trickery and reopened my hand. The electricity stopped. I lightly kicked at him with my foot, ready to start zapping again. When he didn't react, I kicked him harder and harder.

Eventually, I was satisfied the thief was down and out. I leaned over and checked his pulse. Not dead, but defiantly not a threat anymore. I kissed the clove. Thank you, Granny Smith! Your electro-bola was damn good!

I tapped his back with my foot once more. "Should I call the Crusade?"

Wait- no… they'd take care of him alright, but I needed information. Why was he here? If he had caught the trail of the bounty, then I needed to start running now. It was only a matter of time before the others caught me. But if he wasn't…

My hesitation only lasted a minute before I slowly dragged him to the living room area and propped him up against the wall. He was affiliated with the aether, so I needed to be smart about this. I looked him over, but he didn't appear to have a wand. Probably a Magus then?

One way to confirm. I searched his pockets, finding a wallet and phone. I pocketed them, 'course, but they weren't what I was looking for. Right- he clutched at his chest didn't he? I looked there next. A small silver amulet of a fox hung from his neck by a silver chain. It glowed faintly thanks under Aetherial Perception.

The thing was a focus. Adepts had wands and Magi had their foci. Magi used magic through a contract with an eidolon- rather, through said eidolon's sprites. In the same way that Adepts used wands to speed up magic, Magi used a focus to speedily summon a sprite to do their bidding. 'Course, they could summon one without a focus, but it was supposedly a long and tedious process worse than an Adept trying to cast magic without a wand.

I took his focus, cutting off any contention he had to the Aether. If he tried to summon a sprite, I could just shock him into submission again.

I took a step back and checked his ID. Feras Schlauer, barely a month into his seventeenth year. I looked at the photo and matched it to his face. And what a face he had. This Feras guy was kinda handsome, in a lithe sort of way. Definitely not my type. My type didn't break into my apartment while I was away.

His looks made sense when I thought about him being a Magus contracted to Fox. It'd shown up in my research over eidolons; Magi could gain certain benefits when contracted to an eidolon alongside the ability to summon a sprite. In Fox's case, it was beauty and agility. Every eidolon had its own benefit, for instance, Wolf granted his contractors increased stamina and endurance.

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I eyed Feras's clothes. He wore a suit that seemed as if it had been nice at one point. It was creased in several places, and the buttons were all undone like he was a drunk who just stumbled out of a bar. Soft lights twinkled under the surface of the suit, though they blinked so fast I couldn't focus on one before it went out again. Hmm… it was broken before I started kicking.

His face was the main selling point though. He had the kind of face I could see on a movie star and could probably blend in with high society easily. A strong chin and perfectly symmetrical face were his predominant features. In a couple more years, I could see him being a real heartbreaker.

Pure black hair clung to his head in a mess as if he hadn't taken care of it in the past week or so. Same thing for the scruff barely poking from his chin. Looked like a homeless vagrant that stumbled into my apartment. I really needed to have a word with the landlord.

He had no chrome, of course. Magic didn't play nice with most tech, for some reason. Magi and Adepts tended to avoid chrome like the plague since it messed with them so much.

The only major demerit in terms of looks came from the gash across his forehead from where he hit the counter. Unlucky scrub. Did no one teach him how to fall correctly?

Did I feel a bit weird checking out an unconscious guy? When it was put that way, yes. I liked to think I was just informing myself about the intruder though.

Why was he here? Everything I'd found only added to the mystery. Was a hunter tracking down the bounty? Had they already found me? I'd just learned about this, there was no way they'd already found me- unless- no. And this guy was alone. No way solo would come after me with twenty million on the line… hmm…

Before doing anything else, I grabbed the Sentinel blueprints and stuffed them in the safest place I could think of: down my shoe. It was a bit uncomfortable, but not unmanageable. That, and they were by far the most expensive item I'd ever stolen, so if I needed to run I'd have them on me. Who knew? If I was desperate I could try giving them over to Polar Moon or Sentinel. Assuming they didn't kill me outright as a 'reward'.

I pulled my SB-17 from the kitchenette and headed back to the guy. There was one way I could get answers, at least. I summoned the canteen and dumped the thing over the guy's head before sending it back to the shadows. "Wake up!"

He shuddered to consciousness and looked around like a feral animal. An intense look of concentration came across his face before it twisted into a grimace. His grimace morphed into a frown and he looked down at himself.

"Looking for this?" I asked and held out the fox amulet.

He looked up at my rifle in fear. "W-what do you want? I-is this about the b-bounty? I already paid it off! Fuck! This is just my luck…"

"What? No- you invaded my apartment." I took a threatening step towards him… or I tried to. I couldn't quite stomp my foot down as hard as I wanted 'thanks' to Fox's Paw. I was getting better at controlling it, but I wasn't quite to that point yet.

"Please! Not the face!" His gray eyes screamed confusion and he shivered in the bola's cord. "W-wait… your apartment? This is my apartment t-though?"

"Oh?" I stared at him with pure disdain. "Was it your Rayn I used to buy this place too?"

He raised his hands placatingly- or at least attempted to. The wire of the bola made that difficult. "L-look, this is obviously some kind of innocent misunderstanding. Can't we just calmly talk this out? And w-why am I s-s sore?"

I casually looked the other way. "I don't know what you're talking about."

I backed away from him a few steps. I also lowered my gun, though I still kept my guard up just in case. And I didn't lower it far, just toward his foot. It wouldn't hurt me to give him the benefit of the doubt.

Well, it could, but… there was a chance it was a misunderstanding. Hopefully, this was all just an innocent misunderstanding… The alternative wasn't great. My hand tightened on the gun's grip. Maybe I should've burned those documents after all?

"Great… um- i-introductions? My name is Feras, but my f-friends call me Face." He tried to smile a bright, flashy smile full of boyish charm. I could see a corpo gal swooning over it, but if anything it made me slightly disgusted? Like I wanted to knock out several teeth?

"Feras, then. Why are you in my apartment?" I asked, ignoring his terrified shivering.

"Um- I came back home?" He shook his head, his eyes trying to portray his innocence even as his shaking body tried to evoke pity. "This is my apartment."

Was I the bad guy here? I dropped the rifle back onto its sling and headed to my bedroom. It was a chaotic mess with my sparse collection of Fang clothes dumped into a pile. After hunting around, I found the contract and walked back out. "I have the contract right here. My place."

"Look, I don't know what's going on here." He shook in the bolas once more.

Hmm… I really looked at him, reading his Cues. He was terrified, yes… but the shivering wasn't right. It was too systematic. Too consistent. He tried to smile. "All I know is-"

"Stop that." I slammed my hand into a fist, sending the signal to the bola. It immediately went off with a burst of electric compliance.

TZZT!

"Agh-! S-sorry. I'm sorry. I'll comply. J-just don't shock me again, demon." He completely stilled, not shaking the slightest bit.

As I thought, an act… a damn good one at that. One of the people I played cards against, assuming they were people and not AI or sprites or something, pulled a similar trick to cheat while I was learning Cue. It took me a long time to figure that one out.

I raised my rifle once more. "Am I really supposed to believe that my apartment just happened to already be owned, and that the owner broke back into it after I moved in?"

"I didn't break in! My key still fits the lock! L-look, you can check. It's in my wallet." He shifted to give me better access to his pocket. "And, um- maybe the landlord probably sold you the place since I hadn't been back in a while? Let's be calm about this. L-look, I even had gear stashed here! In the vents."

I pulled his wallet out of my pocket and ran through it again. Folded underneath the flaps sat a small key. I didn't have my key out at the moment, but it looked like a match. Was this really all just a misunderstanding?

The lazy landlord had probably just put the lock back on the door without bothering to get a new one. People died in Aythryn City all the time, so the landlord might've wanted to start earning some extra Rayn from an 'empty' room. It would also explain that bag I found in the vent.

"Then it's no longer yours since you didn't renew your contract. Simple. It's time for you to go." I slid the key into my pocket. "And I'm keeping this."

"W-wait! You can't just kick me out!" He struggled in the binding of the bola for a moment. I was so very tempted to reactivate the electric bits again.

"Oh?" I walked back to him. I'd have to change the locks after this, but that would cost money. Money I didn't have. Gahh… how annoying. Maybe I could convince the landlord to change it?

"Yeah! I-I don't have any money!" Weird, did I say that out loud? "You'll be forcing me out onto the streets!"

I stared down at him like he was an idiot. "And that's my problem… why?"

"L-look- You're some kinda techie, right? I saw your stuff in the kitchen. We're in the same field! I'm a grifter! J-just give me a couple days and I'll pay you back for the apartment! You know how easy it is for us to get money if the work is good." He was getting quite frantic now.

"Grifter, huh?" His acting skills would fit a grifter, and it'd explain why the contents of the bag had been costume stuff and makeup. Hmm... knowing that, I couldn't help but second-guess everything I'd heard from the guy.

I actually needed someone else for my plan. It was oddly convenient… and weird. I could recognize that fact. It was just too convenient. Things were never this easy…

Eidolons were definitely behind the interface, right? That being said, the guy was a Magus of Fox and I had Fox's Grace, so did Fox pull something behind the scenes? Or was it really just a coincidence? I didn't even know anymore.

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