Clarence led me into the mansion. I'd called ahead, though I wasn't expecting him to just stand patiently waiting at their massive parking lot of a driveway. From there, he led me through the garden's loop and into the home.

"Hey Clarence, how did the letters arrive here?" I entered the door he held open for me. Maybe I could backtrack whatever Courier or postal service that delivered them and get a location to track.

The old guided me along a grand staircase. "Hmm… they didn't come with the morning mail. Unfortunately, the security cameras have been going haywire for months, otherwise, we could reroll the footage."

"Ah, how unfortunate." They probably came in through a Courier then. Whoever sent the letters obviously had enough money to afford a Courier several times a week, so they likely weren't poor. Those bastards charged an arm and a leg for their services.

We moved down a hallway to a rather sturdy-looking door plated in white with gold accents. His hand lightly rapped across the surface. "Sir? Lady Shiro is here to see you."

"Enter." Mr. Abernathy's voice vibrated through the surface.

Behind the door sat a grand study. It was closer to the few public libraries I'd visited than anything. Shelves sat everywhere housing books that looked as if they predated WWIII. No telling how much Rayn was here in just books alone. There were some crazy collectors out there that'd pay thousands to 'acquire' old books like this.

The man himself sat behind a desk that looked about as ancient as the books on the shelves. A terminal, this one see-through, sat on the desk. He glanced at me through it, though otherwise kept working. "Please, take a seat."

I slid in across the desk from him, finding the chair to be rather comfortable. It was the exact opposite of the one in the deceitful drawing room. I sat there, looking around the room and waited patiently for Mr. Abernathy to finish up whatever it was he was working on.

"Sorry about that… the company doesn't know what vacation hours are." He said with a joking smile. The corners of his eyes crinkled in a subtle Cue, showing his smile to either be genuine or crazy good acting.

"No problem, sir."

"Nova…" He leaned forward and pushed the terminal out of the way. "Have you found anything yet?"

"Yes sir. I've eliminated a few suspects and found the perpetrator. He seemed to have been directed to send you the letters by another person though." I didn't directly say who it was, fearful that Mr. Abernathy might take his irritation about the letters out on him. The guy could still prove to be useful, and I didn't want a pawn taken away so soon.

Albert Abernathy smiled broadly and leaned back in his chair. He looked like a thousand-pound weight moved off his shoulders. "Nova! This- this mastermind though… do you have any clues?"

I opened my phone and looked through my notes. "'Course, sir. Do you know anyone whose name starts with a J?"

The man leaned forward onto the desk and tapped on his chin. "My secretary is named Jennifer… There's also Jerreca, the CEO's daughter. I've met her a few times. She's around your age, though."

Could be the secretary, but why try to blackmail her boss? After showing loyalty for twenty-six years, getting rid of her boss would be like removing the ground she walked on. Maybe not Jennifer then… Jerraca could be the one, but it was doubtful for the same reason as the CEO. There were far easier ways to get rid of someone.

As for whether this Jerraca had access to those means? Most definitely. It was best not to underestimate someone, especially not the daughter of ASCorp's CEO. Although ASCorp was slightly in decline during recent years, they were and had continued to be one of the most trusted brands for over a century. Arkhanika's Standard Corporation had some serious firepower on this continent.

"This secretary… Has she been with you for a long time? Or have a reason to get rid of you?" Technically, the letters only requested money, but it wasn't far-fetched to think the end game was to get rid of Mr. Abernathy.

He gazed out at the study, his eyes growing slightly distant. "It's going on twenty-six years now? She became my secretary back when I was just a foreman."

"Can you-"

The door burst open behind me, cutting me off mid-sentence. A woman marched through with a burning fire in her eyes. "Hiring a new maid, Albert?"

"Darling, I was just in the middle of a business discussion… Ah, Zuku, this is my wife, Yasmine." The man waved his hand towards the fuming woman, completely missing the flames of rage. It was almost impressive how oblivious he was.

"Pleasure, ma'am." I offered my hand, trying to be polite. Her anger probably wasn't directed at me anyway-

She glared at my hand like I was a filthy rat trying to touch her 'fair' skin. "A business discussion? Really? With a little twelve-year-old? Why are you lying, Albert? Or is this business related to her being a flatbacker? I'm disgusted."

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I leaned back in my chair, taken back by the pure hostility seeming to pour from her every pore. What was worse? Being called a kid not even into their teenage years? Maybe being called a prostitute? Or maybe even being called a detestable word like 'little'? All three?

None of the above, in my opinion. The worst offense coming from the woman was to Mr. Abernathy, not me. To think his own wife was accusing him not only of being a john, but a pedo to boot. Mr. Abernathy, though, just flashed a kind smile at the woman and winced. "Darling, can we talk about this another time? This is a really important matter."

"It's always another time!" The woman threw her hands in the air and stomped over to the door. "Fuck you, Harlot! I hope you choke on my husband's-"

"Enough!" Mr. Abernathy raised his voice, for once losing his kind demeanor. He didn't look angry though. Just resigned.

His wife harrumphed and strode out of the door, ending her tirade with one last call. "Filthy whore."

I watched her leave in shock. I felt like I just showed up, and then immediately got shot for just being a bystander. That woman needed some help. Like, seriously. So much for having a loving and happy family like Mr. Abernathy said.

"Sorry about that. Yasmine has always been the type to jump to conclusions." He rubbed the back of his neck.

Honestly, I didn't care too much what the woman said. I'd been called worse before, and by people who mattered quite a bit more. At least, at that time. "Don't worry about it."

"Still, that woman… Anyway, is there anything else I can help you with? The sooner this is taken care of, the better." Mr. Abernathy's eyebrows knitted together. "If some of my opponents caught wind of this, it could prove to be disastrous considering the timing."

"The timing?" I asked.

He nodded his head. "The CEO is holding an 'election' for the new President of the corporation amongst all the top brass this month. It's been a bloodbath with everyone trying to discredit the other."

Interesting. I can definitely see how being blackmailed would be bad. 'Course, it wasn't bad that he did something. It was bad that he left enough evidence to be blackmailed with it. Maybe that was why he hired out for this one? To avoid having a paper trail in the company? "I see…"

Mr. Abernathy's head dropped slightly, though he kept his kind smile the best he could. "Yeah…you said you found the one actually sending the letters though?"

"Yes, sir."

"Good…" Relief flashed across his face. "Ah, my family doesn't know about this matter. You mind if we keep it that way? Wouldn't want to scare Yasmine or Cole, my son."

"No problem." Hopefully, this matter would be resolved soon anyway. I had a couple plans I came up with during my short break.

As things stood, my current solution to finding the mastermind was to simply ask them to meet up. Not through my phone, 'course, but through Mr. Kerátas's phone through his terminal's backdoor. Should be easy enough to get them out somewhere

My cover was already blown though… It'd look strange if I showed up again, wouldn't it? Raising suspicions wouldn't be great. Hmm… Well, I could always sneak in. Ole faithful stealth could see me through this one too.

— — —

I returned to the ASCorp Bricktown Supermarket with high spirits. I already knew from last time just how dire the situation here was. They couldn't keep up with the robots, let alone the actual security systems. It'd be all too easy to have free rein of this place.

With that in consideration, I entered the building through the front door. Then, it was as easy as sneaking past the guy watching it, who was distracted by a robot's oil spill, and heading back to the garage in the back of the superstore.

The occasional bot gave me a small fright, but I made my way to the robotics garage otherwise uncontested. Rather, mostly uncontested. There was an unfortunate situation where a robot tried to spew on me, though I managed to dodge the jets of oil with the help of Insight. Whoever set that up had a seriously devious mind.

The store looked moderately worse when I walked through it. Whereas there might've been a few bots still busy cleaning up the last time I was here, now there were none. All of them were in the same state of chaos, making a mess of the whole place. Worse than last time, even. It'd take weeks to get this place cleaned back up.

The garage door was open, so I slipped inside with Perks active. All the workers were busy working, so no one even noticed me slink my way around the room and to the office. I stayed low and listened intently through the office's door. Quiet. He probably wasn't in there?

Nobody noticed me, so I picked the lock on the door and entered the office. It was dark, but my flesh eye rapidly adjusted to the darkness. My night vision had never been particularly good, but now? Now it wasn't even an issue to see out of my right eye.

Moving to the laptop still set up on the desk, I wasted no time waking it up from sleep mode and going to the backdoor. Since I last checked, several messages had gone between them, professing the love between J and K. Rather, the love from Mr. Keratás to J. J, for their part, remained mostly indifferent to his many, many cringe-worthy advances.

I sent a text to J from the backdoor. 'My love, it's been so long since I've seen you last. Can we meet up soon?'

I searched around on the computer while I waited. A reply soon arrived. 'It's only been three weeks.'

What would a hopeless fanatic say in this situation? Hmm… 'Yet every passing second without you is agonizing. You bring life to me, coloring in my drab surroundings with love.'

'Fine. Come to Fisher's Diner tonight, I'll be there.' The reply was cold, almost heartlessly so.

'I'll eagerly await you, my love.' I sent back to J. I closed my eyes, not daring to look back at the swill I just sent for several long moments.

Then, just to make sure nothing went wrong, I deleted the messages and made it look as if nothing happened. I also sent a message to Clarence to tell Mr. Abernathy I managed to set up a meeting. Fisher's Diner, wherever that was, tonight.

Now to get out of here. I stood up from the desk-

The door rattled, and voices came from outside. I looked around for a hiding spot, but the office was spartan. There wasn't anywhere- no, that wouldn't work, would it? I slid under the desk and pressed myself out of the way. A second later, the door cracked open.

Mr. Keratás's voice came from just outside of my vision. "-don't care. The Netrunner will be here in an hour. We can't screw this up, or corporate will have our heads. My head. They're already breathing down my neck since that Crusader started poking around."

An unfamiliar voice spoke up. "I'm sorry, sir. There are just too many out there, and they aren't responding. We'll have to send out all the men to wrangle them up."

"Fine! I don't care if you have to rip some homeless off the street to work, get it done now!" Mr. Keratás… You've got some serious rage issues, my guy. No wonder you're struggling with your love life.

"Sir!" The sound of boots tapping the floor echoed and the door slammed shut. I was so tempted to peek my head out and check the area, but rationality barely managed to hold me in the small alcove under the desk.

It proved to be for the best. Steps echoed throughout the room, walking around. Some papers rustled, and the man stepped around the desk, nearly scaring the life out of me.

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