Feras called the next day. I thought it’d take a bit longer, but he moved quicker than expected. So much for it taking two days. This time around, I picked the location. Big Mike’s, ‘course. Where else would I go for a meetup? Although… Maybe once I got the speakeasy fully set and ready to go, I could start meeting there instead. Keep it all within my own territory.
Feras stepped into the restaurant, and shook his head harshly. Water flicked out in every direction like he was a dog. A dematerialized sprite sat perched on his shoulder. I only spotted it thanks to Aetherial Perception, but otherwise it would’ve been entirely invisible to me. It seemed he learned his lesson after nearly dying back at the Mortas Motel, and always had a sprite with him nowadays just in case.
His eyes snapped up to me, and he crossed the restaurant to my corner booth. “I’ve got some good news and bad news, Zu—Shiro.”
I tossed my scrambler onto the table. It blinked red twice at me, so I leaned for and subtly arced electricity into its battery. Must’ve forgotten to charge it. “So you said on the phone.”
The fox sprite hopped off his shoulder and stretched out. His two tails wagged gently behind his sleek form, and he subtly nodded to me. He looked like the same sprite from the other day. What was his name? Shrey? Something like that, I think.
Feras waved to Big Mike and flashed his fingers to order. The big chef eyed us for a moment and then slid over to the grill to get to work. It was just us in the restaurant today. It was a bit of an off time for people to eat. “So, the good news is they agreed to cut my client a deal. Or, at least, the manager I talked to agreed to get us the deeds.”
Deeds plural. It seemed my request for more than one property went through. I’d have to be careful here. I had some rayn, but definitely not enough to buy out land all over the city. Not that I’d even want to, anyway. Sure, I could probably find a use for it, but that was a lot to manage.
”You didn’t go to someone higher up?” I frowned and crossed my arms. Would they even have the authority to move the deeds?
“Not like I could just call up the CEO.” He gave me a deadpan look like I was expecting way too much out of the guy. “This guy’s legit, though. He’s middle management and looking to get a leg up. You know the type.”
I did, indeed, know the type. They were the kind that wanted stuff done to move up, but didn’t want to fork up the rayn for it. ”What are the chances he doesn’t hold his end of the deal up?”
Feras didn’t immediately answer. Instead, he crossed his hands in front of himself and stared out the window. “Maybe… twenty percent?”
”Thats pretty high…”
“With what he wants, I can work him to get that much lower.” Feras seemed rather confident in that. “Down to less than one.”
“So what’s the bad news, then?” I grabbed my cup of cola off the table and lightly slurped at it. “You said there was bad news, right?”
”Yeah.” He paused for a moment and then shrugged. “Well, not necessarily bad news. It’s just how that saying goes.”
Big Mike crossed the restaurant, and we both went silent. The big man slid a salad onto the table. I stared down at the weird, leafy green substance, and then glanced back toward him. Why the hell did he need to fire on the grill for a salad—no, before that, why did Feras order a salad?
”Thank you.” Feras grabbed a fork and lightly stabbed it into the stuff.
“What the hell, man?” I jabbed a finger at his bowl of green heresy. Who goes to a burger joint and orders a freaking salad?
“What?” Feras paused mid bite and twisted his fork to point it at me in retaliation. “I’m going to get fat if you keep dragging me around and making me order a bunch of stuff.”
That… Well, he may have a point there. Still! I eyed the betrayed look the fox sprite sent him. “Aren’t you a Fox Magus? Isn’t this, like, against her rules or something?”
I tried to envision Fox eating a salad, but the only image that churned up was the silver vixen’s staunch refusal. Most of the fox sprites I’d seen seemed like they’d also refuse a salad. Maybe only Vulpes would take a few hesitant bites, and probably only out of courtesy.
”Please, not like she’s a dictator.” He frowned and stirred his salad idly. “Although, I heard Bears Magi have to get drunk at least once a weak, so it wouldn’t be entirely outlandish.”
Chek, that sounded like Bear. My thoughts drifted back to to the lumbering giant covered in glowing runes. Even while taking care of Fox, he didn’t stop drinking. “We’re getting off track.”
The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
“And whose fault is that?” Feras sighed and took a bit of his food. “Anyway, like I was saying, the manager’ll get us four of them in exchange for a small favor. At five million a piece, he’s asking for twenty million.”
Just over my budget… by, like, seven million rayn. That wasn’t a small amount of money, and not something I could just turn up. “You couldn’t get it lower?”
”That was the lowest he’d go.” The fox magus shrugged. “I tried, but he insisted Smith and Sons would need to at least recoup their investment.”
Well, I could buy two of them if nothing else. I might be able to turn some rayn up elsewhere too. Maybe I could take a couple of my Roughriders out to a night market and try to sell there? There’d probably be a couple people willing to buy a flyer for the cheap prices I charged, even if a bike design wasn’t up their alley. “Which ones?”
My HUD flashed, and he sent me a text with the list of locations. The speakeasy was included, ‘course. There were three other locations with most of them located right around my stash. One was an apartment building in Little Yukoto along the highway, the next was an office just next door to it, and the last was a warehouse in Portside. Not a bad haul if I could get everything. Probably drop the apartment and office if I had to choose, though.
“I take it you’re interested?” Feras chuckled and shook his head. “Your eyes practically lit up just now.”
”Oh.” I blinked and rubbed a hand across my cheek. Here I was thinking I had a good poker face—no, I did have a good poker face. I just didn’t have my guard up. “What’s the favor?”
”He wants a master list from Artoras Construction with all their properties and managed assets.” He smirked and nodded at my unasked question. “They’re a child company of Artoras Solutions.”
Artoras Solutions… It'd been a while since I heard that name. The last time was just after Feras and I just met, actually. They were the company that was supposed to handle IT for the place I was hired to break into. Somehow, it was oddly fitting that I was going to hit them again with Feras.
“Do we have any idea where they’d keep it?” I imagine they wouldn’t just have a spreadsheet I could copy onto a drive. I’d likely have to get in there and work my magic to steal something like that.
”Probably in their HQ?” He sent a map ping to me for a location in the Corporate Quarter. “Cracking the servers won’t be a joke, though.”
“Obviously.” Since they were a child company of Artoras, they’d likely have a few suite of runners protecting the place. Artoras wasn’t the best IT company in the city, but they were good enough to have a large business. Not just anyone could get past them.
Luna—she’d probably be good to get through it if I could get her in. Getting the girl in and out, though, would be much more difficult then if I went in myself. It looked like I’d have to speed up production on that metal fox companion before I made my move. Should probably call the gang in too, and see if they had any inputs.
“That’s way out of my league.” I sighed sadly and put on a show. Contrary to my inner thoughts, my expression twisted into one of resignation. “Nightshade?”
”Probably for the best. We struggled with just getting into Ajay Insurance, and this kind of thing’ll be way more difficult than that.” He reached across the table and patted my shoulder.
Shrey sat up and approached me with his tails sticking out straight. I dipped my head so my hair covered my face, and subtly winked at the sprite. His worry immediately vanished, and he hid his actions by moving for the window instead.
“Look, if you or Nightshade need anything, just ask. I’ve got some connections, so I might be able to hook you up.” He offered. “I owe you one, anyway. Though I doubt I’ll be any help to a master-thief like her.”
I wiped the resignation off my face and sighed. “Last I heard she was in NeoVerma. I don’t know if she’ll come.”
NeoVerma was the closest still standing city-state to Aythryn City. It was somewhere north of here. For once, a map didn’t come to mind when I thought of the city. Had I really not looked at a single FSA map or North Arkhanikas map since getting Eidetic Schematic? Woah.
”At least she’s not too far.” Feras ran a hand through his hair, and stared down at his salad. “If she’s out, I might be able to scrape together a team. The whole deal hinged on her doing it discretely, though. The manager won’t be pleased if we have to go loud.”
“Just—just give me a minute to think.” I sipped at my cola once more, and stared out the window.
”Take your time.” He went back to eating his salad like some kind of cow. My lip curled slightly, though I hid it with my hand.
I did think, naturally, just not directly about the gig. Instead, my thoughts drifted to what I’d wear for the job. Now that there were people actively looking for my alter ego, it probably wouldn’t be a good idea to wear my usual getup, chek? Whatever. I could talk to Mira about it. She’d probably jump at the chance to play dress up with me.
Breaking into Artoras Construction, though, would be a little different. I pulled up their net page on my phone. I might be able to take advantage of a gap when security was the only one there? Or maybe even get Saint to work on getting in. He’d somehow be able to do that, probably. It wouldn’t surprise me if his cousin’s best friend’s brother’s wife worked there, so he’d have an in.
Mira… yeah, she’d probably be useless for this one aside from acting as a cheerleader. Not that I’d leave her out. She was already in on the gig by this point, so I could probably have her hang around like we did for the failed job on Mickey. Backup would be nice just in case.
Luna and I would have to bear the brunt of the work. Hopefully she was good enough to get through the Artoras runners undetected. I’d have to ask to make sure, but if not I had some other methods I could try. For instance, eliminating the Artoras runners. If there was no one to defend the place, then it’d be all the easier to get through.
I was a little worried about the job, but not too bad. At least, not yet. I’d need a better idea of what we were working against before I could start stressing over everything that could go wrong.
After several minutes, I sighed and stood up. “I’ll call her. I… I’ll text you later. If she’s in, we shouldn’t have to worry much about anything except the deal itself. If not, we’ll need to make a plan.”
”Naturally…” He glanced at me. “Stay safe, Shiro.”
”Chek, you too.” I kept my slightly despondent vibe active up until I made it safely back to my Roughrider and flew into the sky. It was time to get the team back together. Hopefully nothing would go horribly wrong this time around.
