“I’ve seen what the GPD Elite officers do on TV, and it’s mindblowing. But it really tells you something, doesn’t it, that they’re their own separate force? It’s like even the cops themselves admit it. Whenever one of them is actually good at their job they’re like, ‘Whoa buddy, I think you need to leave. You are not a normal cop.’”

  “Corporal?” asked Evan.

  “Huh?” Jessie cursed herself. She had almost started to doze, even with a cup of hot tea on hand. She and Evan had been very third wheel all evening. This precinct had a few low level Elites on shift already, as well as a sergeant from the ranks of the regulars. They didn’t need an Elite corporal stomping around in any real way, but she’d sworn to herself she wouldn’t see Jett Fulgen harassed, or worse, by any hotheaded officers. She’d randomly patrolled the halls, occasionally peeking in on Jett, who had apparently fallen asleep. She’d managed to intercept a couple of officers skulking toward the jail; they had abruptly turned back when they saw her striding toward them.

  Eventually Jessie and Evan had parked themselves in the security room, in chairs behind the actual officer on duty, a very young man probably fresh out of the academy. He seemed simultaneously terrified and starstruck to have two elites inches away.

  Jessie yawned. “Yes, Officer De la Cruz?”

  “Are we going to keep this up?”

  “I am. You can go home any time you want, Evan. Captain Tetsumi said we could take the rest of the night off if we wanted.”

  “Yeah, but…” He chewed on his lip. “I thought you hated that guy. Fulgen. But you’re doing this for him. Why?”

  She waved her hand. “Call me sentimental. We never got along, but his parents were friends with my parents. I’m pretty sure our fathers were best friends, actually. So yeah. I don’t think my dad would want me leaving Alex Fulgen’s son to the wolves, even though half the time I want to punch him myself. Shones, that sounds so tenuous when I say it.”

  “No, not at all. I have a lot of siblings and cousins, Corporal. That’s like, half of my relationships.”

  “That… sounds nice. My mom almost died giving birth to me, so I was it. The lonely heiress. Shit, I really am tired.”

  They both started as Jessie’s radio beeped. It was Captain Tetsumi. Jessie quickly clicked it on. “Yes, captain?”

  “Corporal? Are you still at L5-I12?”

  “You know better than to ask, captain. What’s up?”

  “I’ve had an unusual request. G-Tech has taken an interest in your lover.”

  Evan fidgeted uncomfortably. Jessie just rubbed her forehead and sighed. “Fulgen?”

  “The very one. They’re sending some of their agents down to question him. Team Snowcrest, along with their police liaison. They also want to see the effects you confiscated from him, if possible.”

  “They think he’s a sorcerer? He’s a runebander. I saw his band myself.”

  “Hell if I know, Jess. They’re being cryptic and weirdly urgent. Can you just be ready to receive them when they arrive?”

  “Ten-four.”

  “Snowcrest?” said Evan. “Isn’t that G-Tech’s top of the line?”

  “It is.” Jessie pursed her lips in thought. “That’s who Fu works with now, if I’m not mistaken. And, small world, I once knew their field commander too.”

  “Chris Eisner? The Ice Guardian? Shit corporal, is there anyone you don’t know?”

  “Hold on.” Jessie spotted movement on one of the monitors. It was the staff entrance. Two suited individuals entered and quickly showed badges to a couple of officers who came to greet them. There was a tall black man and a short lavender-haired woman. Jessie clicked the radio on again.

  “Say, captain? They aren’t here already, are they?”

  “Remember, we will try to solve this without bloodshed first,” Brick growled.

  Mantis rolled her eyes. “For the tenth time, darling. I’m a psychopath, not an idiot. I’ll follow the mission parameters until… I mean, ‘unless’ things change.”

  They had their fake badges, their fake keycards, their fake orders, their fake names, and their fake stories. They had gotten right into the precinct and had been escorted to the booking officer’s desk. The officer raised an eyebrow as he looked over Brick’s release form. “Ah yes, Jett Fulgen. ‘Red.’ He came in to a lot of fanfare just a couple hours ago. You need his runeband?”

  “We need something else that might have been confiscated along with it,” said Brick. “It may or may not have been identified as an artifact. It could be related to a case we’re working on. A stolen item.”

  “I remember it. It gave out the weakest blip I’ve ever seen on the aether reader, then nothing. I wasn’t sure, so I put it in the same tray as the band just to be safe. A beaten up old locket?”

  “It might be concealing something else,” Mantis said with an edge of impatience. Brick shot her a glare.

  “All right. Well, everything seems to be in order. I’ll go get it for you.” He disappeared into the evidence room.

  “A lot of interest in Fulgen tonight, isn’t there?”

  Brick nearly jumped. An ugly, violent look crossed Mantis’s face, but she got ahold of herself. They turned to see a pink-haired Elite standing behind them. Damn it.

  Brick’s heart raced, but he gave his best lazy shrug and noted her rank insignia. “Evening, corporal. A lot of interest, you say?”

  “Let’s just say you two officers aren’t the first to inquire about him.”

  The alarm bells grew louder in Brick’s head. What the hell did that mean? Were G-Tech making a move? If so, they’d have to use the failsafe for sure. Trying to sound casual, he said, “Well, is it all that surprising? A man like that skids all around the Grand City for months, no obvious reason except to dick around? What are the odds?”

  The Elite smirked. “You’d be surprised.”

  “Anyway, it’s a longshot, but we have a description of the item. It’s similar to what was checked in for this ‘Red’ fellow, and we have to do due diligence.”

  “Is there any way I can help?”

  “We’ll be in touch if you can. Thank you for your concern.”

  The Elite regarded Brick flatly. He could practically feel the tension radiating off Mantis, and he could swear the temperature in the room was dropping. Was she gathering ice aether? People like her were experts at masking, but she was paranoid and had a rocky history. He silently prayed this interaction wouldn’t turn south. And that he’d get a new partner after this was over.

  “All right then,” she said finally. “Good luck.”

  She disappeared down a hallway just as the booking officer returned. “This is the tray, officers. Sorry. I thought that thing was in bad condition before, but…”

  He set the little tray on the counter in front of them. There was a Rune Slayer band and… a jumble of metal pieces. Brick requested and got a pair of rubber gloves, picked up two of the larger pieces, and was able to fit them together, forming most of one of the upper curves of a heart shape. He let it drop back into the tray. There were no signs of any gem, and the locket’s chain was completely gone.

  “Damn,” he muttered.

  “Well,” said Mantis with a disconcerting smile. “That’s unfortunate.”

  “Damn it Mantis, this isn’t funny,” growled Brick a few minutes later as he opened the trunk. The crazy woman was giggling like a child, grinning like she’d just won the lottery. “There’s an Elite corporal in there, and she didn’t have a runeband! That means she’s a full sorcerer!”

  Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation.

  “Oh, we can handle one sorcerer.” She formed a ball of ice in her hand, then crushed it as she made a fist. “I could probably handle a small squad of them on my own.”

  Mantis took one crew case. Brick took the other, then snatched up the special case before Mantis could grab it. “Don’t even think about it.”

  Brick opened his crew case. In it were a dozen disc-shaped devices with red glowing lights in their centers, like miniature UFOs. “I’ll deploy three to cover our backs. You toss three in as we go back inside. Don’t deploy any more unless we have to. We head straight for the jail, find the target, get the amulet, and get the hell out!”

  “I hope he doesn’t go down too easily,” Mantis said, almost wistfully, as she checked her handgun.

  Brick bit off a response. The two sorcerers marched back toward the staff entrance.

  Wally paced back and forth in front of the diner, the servos on his new legs whirring with the motion. Distantly, he reveled in the ability to pace again. The prosthetics were holding up well, even after all of the running and jumping he’d done to make it here. But more pressingly, he was trying to decide what to do. Maybe he was overreacting? Maybe he shouldn’t do anything? Sometimes it was impossible to tell.

  He had multiple backdoors into the city’s transportation net. He’d initially done it as a challenge. In fact, he almost reflexively hacked into any system he encountered. It was basically a hobby. Jett had come up with the idea of manipulating the timing of traffic signals to his benefit. That was innocuous enough. Then of course, earlier that same evening, he’d looked up both train schedules and the position tracker of a particular train.

  Wally retained certain other capabilities that he never planned on using. Tonight, he changed his plans. He looked up the license plate on the black car he’d seen a short while ago. It was registered to the GPD. That made perfect sense.

  It had been registered minutes before.

  The date on the entry didn’t say that; it said it was registered several months ago. But the database log told a different story. The change had just happened. There could be good reasons for that. It didn’t necessarily mean anything. But the two people had acted so odd. Studying the precinct building, talking back and forth. Almost like they were casing the place. Moving things to the trunk. Why do that across the street? Why not when they pulled up to the precinct itself?

  But Wally knew he tended to overreact. He’d always been anxious by nature. He watched a lot of TV and played a lot of video games. Maybe he was looking for drama. But this was real life. In real life, people didn’t stumble across evil plots they could foil. They didn’t connect the dots and find hidden meanings in an operations log. At least, not people like him.

  Wally heard a humming, whirring sound approaching, but he didn’t think much of it until the giant robot crunched to the sidewalk just a few feet away. He nearly flew off his feet. He probably would have, if he’d had normal feet.

  “Hey bud, you ok?”

  Wally gasped. It wasn’t a robot, but a woman in a robotic suit. One of those mechsuits he’d read so much about. She stood about seven feet tall within the armor. There was a gun attached to the right wrist and a wicked retractable blade on the left. The only part of the woman’s actual body he could see was her face behind a transparent shield. Dark skin, violet eyes, hair a darker shade or purple. One side of her head was shaved, and her hair draped fetchingly down the other side.

  She was beautiful.

  The woman noticed Wally’s own metal-encased legs and frowned for a moment. She seemed to shrug, though it was difficult to tell with her shoulders mostly hidden. “Nice kicks,” she said, her voice coming out of a small speaker. “You’ve been clompin’ around out here like a toy soldier, so I wanted to check on you. What’s your name?”

  “Uh.” What was it? “Wally.”

  “Hmm. Okay, Wally. Name’s Fushigi, but people call me Fu. I’m with G-Tech.”

  “Oh, wow.”

  “So. You? Trouble? Yes, no?”

  “Oh, no. That is, I’m not sure.”

  She pursed her lips. “Then maybe I’ll stick around until you are sure. What’s up with the metal pants? You make those?”

  “Um, yeah. I’ve been in a wheelchair for about three years, but I made these.”

  “No shit?” Fu was suddenly interested. “Like, by yourself, and they let you walk? That’s badass.” She struck a pose in her mechanical suit. “I built this. Well, mostly. It’s heavily modified from the base unit we originally got.”

  Wally suddenly felt inadequate. Sure, he’d miraculously fixed his own lameness, but she’d built something on a much larger, head-to-toe scale. Of course, she might have a budget higher than a few hundred minari for tools here and there and some junkyard parts. His heart thrashed. Not only was she gorgeous, she was a gearhead? He should say something to keep her interest.

  All he came up with was “Uh, why are you here?”

  She raised an eyebrow. “Oh, you mean why am I not blasting some evil sorcerer holding up a bank or something? My team and I have some business across the street. I got bored keeping pace with them, so I got permission to scout ahead. The others will be here in a few.”

  “Business at the precinct?” Wally shuffled his cybernetic feet. Should he ask her about the black car? “W-what kind of business?”

  “Honestly, not completely sure myself. Some skid punk got picked up earlier and the higher-ups want him for something.”

  “Jett?”

  She looked at him appraisingly. “Jett Fulgen. ‘Red.’ That’s right. You know something about him?”

  “I’m his roommate.”

  “Hmm.”

  There was a long silence. She was clearly waiting for him to elaborate, but he wasn’t sure where to begin. He opened his mouth… and suddenly his lips started moving, seemingly of their own accord. “I saw this weird black car and two people got out of it and looked at the precinct building and they put briefcases in the trunk but I don’t know why and then I looked up the license plate and it said it wasn’t new but it actually was and I don’t know what it means or if it means anything and sometimes I’m paranoid.”

  Sheesh, that was exhausting. When was the last time he’d said that many words in a day?

  And it was a garbled mess. He was expecting Fu to burst out laughing. Instead she was looking at him with alarm.

  “You said they put briefcases in the trunk? They moved them from the cab of the vehicle to the trunk? What did they look like?”

  Wally shrugged. “Plain, black. There were three, I think. One of them was bigger than the others.”

  “And you said there was something wrong with the license plate? Repeat that part slowly.”

  Wally felt a chill at the woman’s sudden change in demeanor, and he searched for words. “I’m a computer programming hobbyist. I looked up information on the plate in a particular way.”

  “So you’re a hacker. I don’t give a shit! Tell me about the plate!”

  “The plate was legitimate and registered to the GPD, but it looked like the plate info itself might have been hacked into the system. Made to look like an old entry.”

  She cursed. Wally heard a click. Her voice was muffled when she spoke again. She must have turned off the external speaker and was communicating with someone, but while her voice was muffled, he thought he caught what she said.

  “Hey, boss? I think someone beat us here.”

  Back in the security room, Jessie tapped her foot and thought.

  “You okay, corporal?” Evan asked.

  “You saw and heard that exchange on the monitors, right?”

  “Yeah. Those guys have an interest in Fulgen too? Really weird.”

  “More than weird. It doesn’t feel like a coincidence.”

  “Hey uh, Corporal Faxton?” the security officer’s voice cracked. “Those other two are back. I think something’s wrong.”

  Jessie looked up at the screen. Her jaw dropped. The two suited individuals were running back into the building, guns raised. The woman’s hand flicked out, and three black objects scattered across the floor. The suits then opened fire into a group of officers . A scream rang out, and someone yelled, “Shit! It’s a clown car!”

  The three black discs burst, forming spheres of energy three feet around. Those dissipated, leaving dark forms in their place. They were soldiers, curled up in a fetal position so they would fit inside the small bubbles. They got to their feet. They wore armor from head to toe, and they carried assault rifles. They also fired at the officers. The tall man then activated a glowing red aetheric shield, absorbing the return fire easily. The woman shot a glowing blue ball of energy. It struck one of the officers. He froze in place. Then he froze quite literally, frost forming across his body and clothes until he was nothing but a human shaped block of cloudy ice. The woman shrieked in glee, formed an icy claw on one of her hands, and pounced, smashing the poor man’s head so it shattered.

  “Sorcerer attack!” the security officer was shouting over the precinct’s intercom. “Booking office! Multiple officers down! Two… no, three clown cars in use! They’re heading toward the jail! Initiate lockdown!”

  “What is with this night?” Evan whined, pulling his sidearm.

  “I don’t know if we can hold against this,” said Jessie. “Tell them to be ready for evac! De la Cruz, on me!”

  She pulled her own gun and carefully stepped out into the hallway, looking both ways. At one end the officers of the precinct were already converging to try to fend off the attack. At the other was the jail.

  “Something wrong, Corporal?” Evan whispered.

  “Fulgen has something to do with this,” she replied. “I know it.”

  “Which way, then?”

  Jessie felt torn. Her sense of duty, to the city and to the badge, screamed at her to rush to help the officers with the defense. But another voice said something else. It was the artifact hunter inside of her. The part of her that came from her father.

  “Listen to me, Jessie. When they’re after the prize, you have to beat them to it. The more blood they’re willing to spill to get it, the harder you have to fight to keep it out of their hands. Nothing else matters.”

  There was the other thing too, of course. She’d promised herself she’d protect Jett. He was an insufferable ass. She absolutely couldn’t stand him. But damn it, she wasn’t going to see the prick burned to death, or murdered by skidpunks, or beaten by cops. So after all that, would she see him gunned down by assassins like an animal in cage? No. No way in hell.

  “Jail,” she said, and she pulled out her radio.

  “Mayday, captain!” she yelled as she and her partner ran. “The precinct is under attack! Multiple sorcerers with crew cases! We need immediate backup! I think they want whatever G-Tech wants!”

  “Oh, damn it!” Tetsumi swore. “We’ll have to bring help in from another precinct! Hold them off as long as you can! Team Snowcrest should arrive soon!”

  Jessie entered the jail, skidded around a corner, and bolted toward the holding cells for new intakes. Most of the detainees in the half full jail were awake after the announcement. They were screaming in panic and rattling the bars of their cells. For a second Jessie thought she saw an orange light coming from Jett’s cell, but it vanished before she could figure out what it was.

  “Jessie?” Jett also was awake, and he clutched the bars.

  “No messing around, Jett! The precinct is under attack! There are a lot of people with guns and at least two powerful sorcerers! My people are dying back there!” She gripped the front of his hoodie. “And I don’t know why, but I have a feeling they’re trying to get to you! Can you think of any reason why that might be?”

  Jett just stood there a moment, mouth agape. Then his jaw snapped shut, and for a moment he stared at nothing. He gently brushed her hand off his shoulder, took a step back, and cleared his throat.

  “So,” he said. “This is gonna sound weird. But something funny happened a little while ago–”

  “YOU SON OF A BITCH!”

  HOST STATUS: LORD CRESTFALL (ERROR)

  [BREEDING SCHEME ABORTED] Su Ian Hoo woke up male, uninjured, and infinitely more spiteful.

  [FOREKNOWLEDGE ACTIVE] She knows exactly who holds the hammer.

  [OBJECTIVE] Dismantle the Chancellor's plot using pure, unadulterated chaos.

  

Cursed into a useless peacock, then murdered and reset—Lord Crestfall is done with destiny. This time, the "Immortal Scam" is taking no prisoners, only grubs, and certainly no breeding partners.