Seeking Strays - Chapter 86 - Fog and Revival (Patreon)

My tail thwacked against the booth seat gently. In one hand, I held a steaming coffee cup. In the other, I held a newspaper from Beyond Arthis. There was a soft sense of peace throughout the diner as I looked through the paper.

A picture of a familiar Silver Wolf sat front and center on the newspaper. She had a warm flush of excitement to her pale face, and her arms were wrapped tightly around a cute plushie like she could hardly contain herself. Her pale, bitten short nails were the only hint about the worry she’d just been facing. 

Throughout it all, her red eyes glowed with so much excitement that it made the rest of her face light up. Or, at least, that’s what Quinn said when she forked over the newspaper to me this morning. 

Honestly, I had no idea why the publishers thought it’d be a good idea to put me front and center on the paper. Surely there were other important events they could’ve discussed… but I wasn’t complaining. Not once I started to actually read through it and see all the praise heaped on Cohort 3, the only freshmen cohort to take down their Calamity without any issues. Cohort 4 also managed to take down theirs, but two of them were heavily injured in the process.

I finished the paragraph, and leaned forward to check the bold words on the front of the paper. Hero Canary: “You should see my sister!” It was honestly a good title. Whoever came up with it should definitely get a raise.

”’Scuse me, miss.” A waitress shuffled over to me with a platter full of hashbrowns. “Here you are. Is that Canary Vargriev?”

“You know her?” The paper crumpled as I set it aside. Wait, right, ‘course she knew me. It still threw me off just how far my name spread. 

“Over half the city does… she’s such a cutie, don’t you think?” The waitress had a small, fond smile on her face as she looked down at the newspaper. She casually refilled my coffee cup with one hand, and brushed her cheek with the other. “I’d love to have a big sister like her. You can really feel the love pouring out even from afar.”

”Really?” My tail, dyed a deep red alongside the rest of my hair thanks to the Universal Chroma, twitched back and forth. 

“Can’t you see it too?” The waitress shook her head with a tsk, and patted the newspaper. “One of my cousin’s friends is a reporter. Apparently, she spent three quarters of this interview praising her sister… Sylvie, I think. Honestly, wish they would’ve put a pic of the two of them together in here.”

”There’s one in the back!” I flicked through the newspaper to a back page that actually detailed the practical. Somehow, my interview managed to take its spot on the front. I cheerfully showed off a picture of the cohort and pointed to the lone Silver Wolf standing with her arms crossed. “Ch-check it out.”

The waitress leaned closer to inspect the image. Her smile returned, and she shook her head. “I can really see the resemblance… well, I’ll leave you to it. Thanks for the conversation.”

“No problem!” My cheeks flushed as I stared down at the picture. Did we really look that much alike? I… I guess I can see it. Maybe just a little bit.

Right before the woman could walk away, my brain finally caught up and reminded me why I was here. My tail shot out to brush the woman’s hand lightly. 

“Um…” The woman flinched and looked down at herself in confusion. Her eyes glazed right over my tail. Just to ensure she really couldn’t see it, I allowed the fluffy limb to wave around lightly. Her apron shifted as the motion created a stir in the air. “It’s a bit drafty today, isn’t it? Would you rather sit somewhere else?”

”This is fine.” My tail drooped back onto the booth, and I pulled at my collar lightly. The upgraded variant of my armor allowed me to hide my Apex features at will even without my armor on full display. “Thanks.”

”Mhmm.” The waitress scratched at her head and went off to take care of other customers sitting around the small corner diner. 

My eyes drifted around the room and sharpened. Heh, right. I wasn’t here just to mess around. I was here on reconnaissance, which was why I was fully disguised as a red-headed corpo on her lunch break. The lantern Vesper wanted me to find was just in the back of this diner according to Seek.

I sipped my coffee and checked out the other customers. Most of the people around here were just here for lunch. At a glance, though, I spotted over a dozen gangers scattered around the place in various states of awareness. Whatever was going on here wasn’t a small operation.

I slowly finished lunch, watching every person entering or leaving the place. According to Harbor’s database, this was the territory of a small-time gang known as Revenant. They’d exploded in size recently, and were tied up in everything from firearms to drugs. Something told me that the diner was a front for their main warehouse, which complicated things. 

Busting in as Barghest was always an option. I could put on my armor, charge into the warehouse, and grab what I needed. I was more than a little worried about that option, though. There was no telling what Cerberus would do if I went free lance, so it was better I didn’t have any links to Hades when I made my move. That was fine, though. The armor would just make things easier, but I didn’t need it.

I paid and stepped out of the diner. I calmly crossed the street, crossing into an alleyway covered in graffiti. A tag of a reaper with glowing red eyes sat plastered prominently over everything else. 

Regardless of what I decided to do, I was better off waiting for night. There’d be less people out, and a significantly smaller chance of running into a Guardian. I stretched out slowly under the hazy noon sun. A shudder went through my body as I hit that spot that was just right.

With a burst of speed, I launched myself at the brick wall of the alley. My foot pressed into it, and I spring boarded back off the wall toward a fire escape dangling from the side of the building. My fingers easily locked onto a bar. My muscles barely even strained as I pulled myself up and onto the fire escape.

”Not too bad, huh, Vigil?” I asked my plushie safely tucked away in my jacket. He didn’t reply, though I expected as much. I just shook my head, and moved up the fire escape to the top of the building where I’d have a vantage point over the diner.  

After moving around the roof for a bit, I settled down next to an AC unit, and pulled my hood over my head. It was a good enough spot to sit around and watch the diner till night fell. 

I watched the busy street below for a few minutes before pulling out my phone. I shot a message to Hades to get my inhibitor, and tried to sit back and relax.

— — — 

A strand of red string stretched between my fingers. I twisted the string around, pulling on it to test its durability. With a bit of strength, the red string snapped and dissipated into the air like it was never really there. It was stronger than the last time I created it, though.

Binding… it was only a matter of time till I hit its furthest extent. It was a low-grade technique through and through as far as I could tell. Even the one that made the manuscript didn’t seem all that impressed by it. It was closer to a kid’s toy to practice psion control than something actually helpful.

And yet, I couldn’t help but be entranced by the slightly glowing strands of red as I once more made a set of strings. They were horribly ugly, with black crackling throughout the red like some corrupt monstrosity. There was a weird prettiness in that ugliness, though.

I shook my head, and snapped the last string of Binding. Maybe I’d find a use for it at some point. Regardless, I didn’t want to wear myself out before I hit Revenant, so I quit practicing. Over drawing my psions would just leave me with a massive headache.

”What do you think?” I drew my knees up to my chest, and rested my chin on them. Vigil sat just next to me, carefully protected by an umbrella I managed to scrounge up out of a trash bin when it started to rain a few hours ago.

”It may be useful.” His eyes glowed softly as he met my own.

”Yeah, I was thinking—“ My eyes widened, and I picked up the plushie. “You’re back?!”

”I never left, Operator.” Vigil wiggled slightly in my hands. I almost dropped him in surprise. “This unit’s repairs are partially done.”

I set him down just in front of me on the roof. “Can you… move by yourself?”

”Slightly.” The plushie’s legs slowly stretched out, and his head cutely lifted up to face me. After a moment, he lifted into the air and hovered just in front of me. “Following previous conversations, this unit focused on reaping my anti-grav module.”

“Oh.” My ears pulled back slightly. Why did I feel a little disappointed about that? It was a good thing, really. “I mean, I’m glad you’re back.”

Vigil just looked up at me. He dropped out of his hover, and came to a rest on my knee. His body felt much warmer than it used to… or maybe I just missed him. “You remain the best method of transportation. This unit’s anti-grav module is incredibly draining.”

“Really?” My tail twitched softly as he settled down once more. Anti-gravity, though, huh? A frown briefly crossed my face as I thought about how advanced that kind of tech would be.

Vigil didn’t seem to notice the thoughts rolling through my head. “Where are we, Operator?”

”Outside of a gang warehouse.” I picked him up, and hugged him tight to my chest. With my free arm, I pointed down toward the diner. “They’ve got one of Vesper’s relics.”

”Affirmative.” He settled back down against me. 

Instead of looking down at the diner like he was, my gaze focused on him. Was this really okay? I carried him around ‘cause he couldn’t move by himself, but that wasn’t the case anymore. I didn’t want to selfishly restrict his freedom. “Do you…”

”What is it, Operator?” His head twisted slightly, and the cute wolf looked back up at me. 

”No, nothing.” I shook my head, and looked up at the night sky. It was already incredibly late. The streets had emptied about an hour ago when a dense fog rolled in. Honestly, it was kind of eerie. Even the sounds of the city were kinda muted.

”When you are.” Vigil settled down and went still once more.

”Right.” Something about the fog made my fur stand on edge, but it looked mundane as far as I could tell. Well, mundane except for the fact I hadn’t even seen a car pass by in a while. My ears stuck up alertly.

I carefully put him back into my jacket pocket, and pulled a bandana out of my pocket. Between that covering my face and my Apex features hidden, no way anyone would recognize me. Oh, right. I also carefully controlled the Universal Chroma to make my hair and fur shift to black instead of red. 

With that taken care of, I stood up and stretched out. I shuffled to the fire escape and worked my way back down to the alley. The fog felt… off, almost. My tail slowly started to puff up as I stepped back out onto the street.

“Operator, we appear to have slipped into a sub-space of some kind. Signals are being blocked.” Vigil’s voice calmed me down slightly, and I shook my head to clear my thoughts. “Be wary.”

“I am.” This felt almost like an Overlap. I didn’t feel eyes staring at me like I did every other time I entered an Overlap, though. The fog and the separation, on the other hand… so was this actually just an Overlap?

Before I could talk myself out of it, I crossed the street to the diner.