X30: Who'd know?

They had emerged on a street nearby, outside the fight. Looking around, the surface was in chaos as ENFORCERs were crawling all over the place, probably because of the loud alarms. Loyalists were engaged in a skirmish with them. The buildings all around were alight with explosives and gunfire as AGENCY shuttles roared by overhead, gunning down a group of Loyalists that fired down at the ENFORCERs on the streets.

Civilians were running away as a few criminals tried to use the opportunity to loot corpses, houses and establishments. A stray spray of bullets from an AGENCY shuttle nearly skewered Sato as Archius grabbed onto her, throwing themselves into a nearby alleyway. They started off into a run.

"Let's get back to the shuttle," said Sato. "So much for a twenty minute mission, tops…"

"Hey, we got the locations." snapped Archius.

The two avoided the combat as they quickly sneaked their way back to their shuttle, hiding in ghoul-infested alleys and slinking back across the walkways. The Sub Levels haven't changed one bit, still teeming with life and alive. One small shootout won't change anything; and everyone knew that. Not even two blocks away and there were people buying pasties from the stalls. 

"Where the fuck are we going?" asked Sato, keeping close to Archius.

Archius kept his eyes on a swivel as he glanced back towards Sato. "Nothing much, just going for a walk!" He placed a wide smile on his face, before turning back. He dropped the facade. "There are eyes watching us, don't look back. Can you feel them?"

"Huh? No?" Sato whispered as Archius grabbed hold of her arm, dragging her into a crowd as they diverged into a massive marketplace, a small kid bumping into Sato, then into Archius, before tripping over; Sato paused, but Archius kept pulling her forward. It was brimming with light and grit - shouts and sales all about. "I'm a navy coordinator at heart, you think I can detect that?" She grumbled under her breath.

Archius shrugged, "Fair enough, we're far from any CRIS safehouses, we'll have to change disguises here."

"What?" Sato furrowed her brow, pushing forward to walk beside Archius, the two still wearing their light armour. 

Archius' eyes skidded over towards a shop-vendor, with a bunch of beige and dull coloured cloaks for sale. PERFECT, Archius noted. "That vendor, do you have any money?"

"Don't you have any yourself?" Sato mumbled, grumbling as she went to place her hands in her pocket. She paused for a moment, "Huh?"

Without even realising it, she had lost her wallet; of course Archius knew. And he slammed it into her chest. "Keep it safe, that kid from earlier tried to pickpocket you."

"Huh?! Uh… thanks," said Sato, placing her wallet underneath her armour, into one of the interior pockets. "I guess you kicked him over."

"No, I injected Thalesia nerve agent into him," Archius whispered. "Who the fuck will know in this mess?" 

"Archius…" Sato trailed off, before sighing. She wasn't angry, more disappointed at his approach of killing a child.

"What? Death of one child is a tragedy to you?" Archius dropped the facade, glaring at Sato. "I'm guessing that the death of tens of thousands was just a statistic to you."

"Look… I…" Sato cut herself off, before shutting up. Archius turned forward, now wasn't the time for that.

Passing up towards the vendor, Archius placed on a smirk, wiping away the memories. "Oi, oi, oi, you got some cloaks there seems."

His entire personality had changed as he glanced back towards Sato, then back at the vendor, an old man with pale white hair and a long beard. "Yep, there be some cloaks, but for you two? Two hundred a piece. You both look like you need it pretty badly…" The vendor said, eyeing up the two operatives.

Archius' eyes glanced towards Sato, she shook her head. "This is your op, I ain't paying…" Petty, Archius thought. His eyes skidded in the other direction. The eyes were getting closer. He'll need to act fast, but not make a ruckus.

Glancing at the wares, a lot of the vendor's stuff was already gone, with a lot of them being at random. He'd been here for a while, but his cloaks weren't selling, it seems. Kazuki told him something about supply or demand and whatever, he couldn't care less.

"Look, your cloaks don't seem to be selling," said Archius, posturing to look more amicable as he gesticulated with his hands. "I mean no offence to your products, of course! But we need those cloaks, and you have a high supply of it, wouldn't hurt, would it?"

The old vendor mulled it over to himself for a few moments, before nodding his head. "Fine! One hundred and fifty. I can go no less!" he said, crossing his arms. Archius made a strained face, shaking his face and faking a string of thought.

They were getting close. Come on old man, Archius thought, break already. A few moments passed as Sato tugged on Archius. "Fine… I'll pay," she whispered to him. 

Archius ignored her, he won't let his ego or pride be hurt like this. The eyes were getting CLOSER. And the old man wasn't budging. 

Archius had to act. And he lied, "Look, I know a guy down in the…" Archius' eyes scrambled to the name of a bar nearby, across the market, there were a bunch of cloaked men hanging around it, lurking between shadows and light, eyeing up everyone going in and out. "The Wyviraar… He's a good friend. And he is a good friend to you, as well. But…"

Glancing back at the establishment, it looked bad from the outside, but it felt even worse to Archius. He went with his gut feelings and slowly showed his revolver.

"We both know what this means, don't we?" bluffed Archius. He relied on the simple notion that crime was on every corner to try and squeeze some believeability into his empty threat.

The vendor's face slowly pulled back, going pale. "You're with them?"

Archius snatched up the cloaks, putting one on as he shoved the second one onto Sato. The vendor didn't even flinch. "Of course I am. Now, we'll be going." said Archius, his heart racing. His gamble worked, holy fuck it worked! Archius turned away and started walking, with Sato. He smirked.

"Shit, what the fuck was that? Are they still onto us?" Sato worryingly asked. "And you've been down here before?"

Archius paused for a moment, before continuing through the marketplace. "It was a technique called lying, you should try it sometimes. And no, I just betted that criminals would deal in some of the bars," Archius smack-talked Sato. 

"And you betted EVERYTHING on that?" Sato grumbled.

"Oh, please!" Archius started, "They don't teach you in navy-school, but down in the dumps and the cesspits across the galaxy, crims always gravitate towards bars… networking, booze and easy racketeering - what's not to love!"

"Alright… alright…" Sato hushed her voice. "But the eyes?"

Archius scanned through his mind. "No…" He remained somewhat cautious as he slid through the crowd with Sato. "We're safe, at least that's what my instincts tell me."

"Thank FUCK." Sato heaved a sigh, following Archius out of the marketplace and out onto a side-street. "Remind me… to never go on a mission with you again."

"Uh, nah," Archius quipped.

Continuing on, they reached their shuttle, parked where they left it. But as they were about to get onboard, magnetic locks engaged from above - locking the shuttle in place. A shuttle was tracking them. FUCK, IT HAS TO BE THEM! The two raised their guns upwards as a figure dived out. Archius fired a single shot, a bolt deflected off into the walls.

He ceased fire as the figure crashed into the ground in front of them. Fear consumed Archius as Sato pointed towards him. The jet-black hair, golden eyes and burnt, cracked cheek of their boss shone darkly at Archius. Kazuki, to put it mildly, looked far from pleased, even with no visible emotions. He glared at him as he extended out his figure. It felt like he towered over them.

"I thought… this was sanctioned…" said Sato, scrambling backwards with nerves in her voice to not attract her boss' ire "Right, Archius?!"

"Ah… well, about that…" Archius trailed off as Kazuki approached him.

And as he did, he slapped Archius across the face. "What the fuck are you doing!? I heard reports of you two going missing and then reports of a blacksite being shot up."

Archius was knocked back by the slap, rubbing his cheek as he looked up at Kazuki. Even as he shouted at him, his face and voice felt calm and collected, devoid of all emotion. "Relax, we're alive and we have the locations of every single base these Loyalists have set up."

"Fine. I'll let this slide… But be aware that I will not be as lenient on the two of you the next time you worry me." Kazuki grumbled for a moment, glancing to the side. Archius could see some steel repair braces around his nape - he must have been in the middle of something with Eliza. 'Someone, get me Martinez. Scramble all AGENCY Forces on Anagora to full alert and bring backup.' 

"Hey! It was his idea…" grumbled Sato, rolling her eyes as she got caught up in Archius' act.

Archius smirked, it felt nice to know that Kazuki was actually worried about him and Sato - probably more about Sato actually now that he thinks about it. Kazuki looked back. As the two exchanged glares, he noted something behind the sparkless eyes: emotions. And his soul sang the song of anxiety.