Inside the Blazing Hand compound, people were tossing and turning every piece of furniture and decoration. Not even the food stored in the fridge was spared the meticulous search for listening bugs. The hunt for the spy had been unfruitful. Any of the members who showed suspicious behavior were taken to the Boss.
Gin and the other gang members were at their wits' end. Suddenly, one of the lesser members enters the room, holding a comm-pad. The member runs up to Gin and hands the device over. "Sir, I think I have found something, you and the Boss need to watch this comm-clip."
Gin grabs the comm-pad and examines its contents, his eyes narrowed. The com-clip showed him something he did not expect to see. Without a second thought, he moved towards the Boss's room. This clip might be proof of the armored man's true identity.
He moved with haste, even ignoring the discomfort on his back. The handprint there was itching with all the moving around. Arriving at the room, he knocks on the door. The Boss's voice came from inside. "You may enter."
Once inside, Gin was greeted with the smell of charred flesh. The burnt body of one of the suspected members lay on the floor. His features could no longer be distinguished. The Boss called for him. "Gin, what have you found?"
Ignoring the dead body, Gin moved towards the area where the Boss was seated. He presented the comm-pad with the video to the man. "This is proof of the armored man's identity, sir."
The Boss was about to grab the device, but since his hand was still smoking, it was probably too hot, and it would destroy the comm-pad. Instead, he asked Gin to play the file. In the comm-clip, a Comm-tuber was showing an edited video of a fight that happened in front of the VR arcade, The Pit.
His face showed a look of puzzlement. "What am I watching here, gin?"
Gin's expression was cold. The man was actually hiding his anger. "This is a fight that happened a few days ago in front of the VR arcade at Riggan's Point. The boy from the droid boutique is in it. He is moving just like the armored man."
The Boss contemplated Gin's words. "You mean to say that the boy is the armored man?"
Gin relived the moments of the ambush in his mind once again. "In the ambush at the alleyway, the armored man moved like that. It all happened in a blur, but looking back, once he appeared, we never saw the boy again."
Standing from the chair, the Boss moves to a table nearby and dips his hand in a bowl with water and Ice. A hissing sound came with the vapor. The man turns to look at his subordinate. "That solves one problem. However, how did he gather information about the attack?"
Gin proposed an answer to the man's question. "He might have hired a cyber-head to hack the cameras around Riggan's Point. Or he might be a cyber-head himself."
The Boss dried his hands with a towel as he pondered Gins' suggestion. "That would certainly explain everything. With the help of a cyber-head, the armored man's faction could have identified every one of your men."
Gin wandered about one of the Boss's observations. "Sir, do you think he has a faction backing him?"
The Boss tossed a knowing glance at his subordinate. "If he were alone, he would not have access to such technologies." The man looks at the corpse on the floor with disdain, as if to point at a piece of crucial evidence. "It has to be the conclave. This one here belongs to them."
Gin stared at the Boss. Watching the reaction of his superior, he wondered if there was beef between the Blazing Hand and the Conclave. Perhaps it was a piece of the puzzle. If he could find out about this group, maybe he could understand what was gnawing at the Boss.
For the moment, he resolved to ask for the next step. "What do you want us to do now, Sir?"
Facing away from the body laying in the floor, The Boss tossed a sharp glance at Gin. "We need to find out everything about that boy. I want to know if the young man got involved with the Conclave or another faction. Go get the cyber-heads, and send somebody to clean this mess."
Back at Riggan's point, it was nearly 1:30 pm, and Mark waited at the park for his friend. He wondered if something had happened. Alex has always been very punctual. The young man was about to call and check on her when he spotted a fancy black sky-car landing nearby.
This vehicle was the one Alex commonly used to get around. Without a second thought, he moved towards the sky-car. Mark wanted to greet the teen as she got out of the vehicle. He was also planning to tease her a bit for being late.
The door at the back opens, letting out a beautiful young woman. Black polished hair cascaded from her head to her shoulders and back. She was wearing a light blue blouse with a white floral print and jeans that accentuated her feminine figure. The girl's face looked angelic, yet she wore very little makeup. Her eyes had an almost mystical feeling with shades of blue and purple contrasting with her fair skin.
Mark was dazzled by the young woman's beauty. He could only stare in awe as this woman walked towards him. The young man had to look twice to recognize the person before him; the changes were hard to believe.
A question fell out of his mouth in amazement. "Is that you, ...Alex?" Mark foregoes his plan to tease her; he could not believe his own eyes. The young man quickly composed himself. To mask his shock and confusion, he cleared his throat and threw in a compliment. "...You look amazing."
Alex's face blushed slightly as she closed the distance. Her eyes drifted downwards, avoiding his eyes. She was slightly trembling as the people around them stopped to look at her. It was as if the girl feared the gazes of those around her, but still pushed herself to be there. These gestures gave her an atmosphere of vulnerability.
Mark understood her; she felt uncomfortable without her usual garments. The young man took off his denim jacket and gently placed it around her. Then he softly patted her head; the gesture seemed to calm her.
For her part, Alex was relieved. She felt exposed until Mark placed his jacket on her. The larger size gave her a sense of comfort. Yet her favorite part was the scent. The garment smelled like Mark and had his warmth. She felt the same way she did back when Mark hugged her in front of The Pit.
The young man smiled at her. The girl no longer felt embarrassed, and her expression relaxed. "Do you feel better now?"
She looked up to meet his eyes. Her cheeks were slightly flushed as she answered his question with a shy tone. "Yes, ...thank you."
Mark took in the sight; he had never seen Alex like this. His heart melted at the sight of her rosy cheeks. Feeling a bit nervous, his voice hesitated as he was proposing a destination. "Do ...do you want to go somewhere?... Yesterday, I found a kiosk that sells rice cakes with jelly inside. Would you like to try them?"
Mark and Alex were unaware that people were watching them at a distance. The head of a teenage girl was poking out of a bush. Livia looked at her two friends while they walked away. With the movement of her hand, she jolted the person beside her. "Did you see that, Steve? I knew Mark was a romantic at heart. The way he put his coat around her was worthy of a comm-grid drama."
The loudmouth teen was grumbling beside her. "I don't see anything from here. Besides, why do we need to spy on them? They are our friends, and this feels wrong."
Livia covered her hair with a scarf. She then put on sunglasses. "Because Steve, playing matchmaker is fun. Now, put on the hat I brought you. We need to disguise ourselves to get closer."
Steve complied while grumbling under his breath. He donned a brown bucket hat along with sunglasses. In his opinion, it was a poor disguise, but Livia was not listening. Her attention was fixated on Mark and Alex.
Alex walked beside Mark in silence; she was concentrating on walking. The girl was struggling to walk in the footwear her mother had chosen for her. They were a pair of white platform heels that made her look taller. She was having a hard time adjusting.
Mark slowed down his pace. He noticed her struggle. The young man extended his hand towards her. "Grab my hand, I don't want you to fall."
Alex grabbed Mark's hand, and she regained balance. A few moments later, she realized what she was doing. The tip of her ears turned red, but she did not let go. Her heart was beating rapidly as she tightened her grip on the young man's hand.
Mark noticed her small, soft hand trembles slightly. He had not grasped the meaning of his action until that moment. Yet he did not let go; his face showed only a smile. "Let's keep going; the kiosk I mentioned is nearby."
Livia and Steve were a few shops behind and witnessed the event. Livia gestured with excitement. "Did you see that? Mark is actually a smooth operator. Grabbing her hand like that."
Steve was exasperated. "Why are you dragging me into this? I could have been repairing mechs and making money. But instead, I'm running around spying on my best friends."
Livia ignored his words. Instead, she grabbed his hand and pulled him along. "Talk later, they are moving away." The lively teen dragged Steve with her usual energy.
An old woman witnessed the spectacle of the two teens and sighed, "Ha, to be young and in love. Those were the days."
Both Livia and Steve heard this. They look at their hands, realizing how they looked. Their faces turned red in embarrassment. Livia quickly released Steve's hand, then spoke as if to ignore what had just happened. "Let's hurry, they are getting away."
Mark and Alex reached the Kiosk with the rice cakes. Mark ordered a tray with Rice cakes and two sodas. They moved to a small park nearby and sat on a bench overlooking a fountain. As they looked around, they saw a few people near the area; the place was practically deserted.
Mark handed Alex a rice cake and gave him a soda. As the girl bites the soft, chewy treat, a hint of sweetness reaches her taste buds. She looked at her cake in surprise. The confection did not look like much, but it was filled with a pleasant fruity flavor.
Near them, inside another bush, Livia observed as the two ate their cakes. She started craving one of the cakes as she watched Alex's expression. Her stomach growled, demanding a taste.
She did not wait for long; Steve had just sat beside her with a tray of cakes just like the one Mark had. Looking at the way Livia salivated, the loud-mouthed teen handed her one, along with a cherry soda. He then turns to look at Mark and Alex. Before biting into a rice cake, he asked Livia for an update. "What did I miss?"
Livia brought him up to speed with the events. "Not much; they are eating rice cakes while avoiding their eyes." As she spoke, Steve's eyes met hers. Remembering the hand-holding event, both of them blushed and looked away from each other.
At the bench, Alex summoned all of her courage. After a deep breath, she looked at Mark, and words started to form on her lips. "I ... I want to tell you something."
Her words were interrupted by three men who approached the bench. They were wearing black suits and Dark sunglasses. The one in the middle spoke next. "Mr. Mark Warren, it is nice to find you finally."
Mark looked at the men with suspicion. He had not seen them approach because he was watching Alex. The young man used his map function to identify the three men. Yet as he tapped on the arrows representing them, Mark learned that the men before him were surrogate units.