Chapter Thirty Nine: As It Was

Working on his projects, Ronin felt as though time didn't exist, hours and days melting together into a single long session until the device he was developing existed in the world exactly as it did in his mind.

Taking time periodically for team meetings, Ronin was vaguely aware of what was going on in the world around him, something Delta went out of her way to make sure happened.

Things felt like they'd gone back to the way they were...but something felt off, as though there were an inescapable force at work slowly pushing him and his team toward some unknown end. Still scientists in a strange environment, the team continued their research, unfazed even when Trigger announced that he'd no longer be developing weapons, focusing his research endeavors on the scopes and various other accessories that many weapons used. The change in research seemed...superfluous, but if he wanted to spend his time doing that to assuage his conscience, that was his business.

Silas had taken to sleeping in Ronin's room and he suspected it was only a matter of time before Azue joined her, not that he minded. He was very fond of the two of them, though he was loathe to go so far as to try and put a label on that fondness. After Liliana, he was in no rush to try another relationship, despite secretly craving the connection that one brought.

For the first time in almost a month he found himself back on the roof of the building, in the middle of the night now, testing his newest device.

He knew that people had, for a very long time, set fire in garbage bins and other metal receptacles, but that could only provide so much heat, especially in the upper levels where some of the Guildless lived, The Frozen Peaks, Hidden Moon had called them.

The new device functioned in a completely safe manner, taking in air from the space around it and slightly charging any Aether within it to heat it, expelling it as a warm breeze that created a warm space up to a hundred feet around it. It wasn't perfect, but it was safe and might save some lives in the Peaks, and that was enough for him. 

Enjoying the warmth of his creation, Ronin got a call, ringing loudly in his ears before he was able to answer it.

Not recognizing the number, Ronin answered, annoyed, "Hello?"

A high, cute voice spoke to him, "Are you Ronin the Unclaimed?"

 Rolling his eyes, he responded, "How can I help you?"

"I hear you're being a right pain in the High Cathol's ass...I didn't expect you to be so cute."

Her accent, proper and somewhat condescending, proved difficult for Ronin to place as he looked around and said, "Who are you?"

 She spoke slowly now, "You can call me Angel...don't bother looking for me, I'm nowhere you can see right now. Now that introductions are out of the way, I do have a mission I'd be interested to see you complete."

Ronin rubbed his hands together and said, "Send it to Delta, if you know who I am, you know that she receives all of our mission requests and filters the nonsense out."

Coordinates filled his vision as she resumed, "This isn't a mission for the ghosts, this is a mission for the man who sentenced a girl to death."

A picture of Mira in chains filled his sight as Angel continued, "Mira, the little Nekoum you dropped off a building is being executed for failing to protect her cargo, something you're directly responsible for."

"How is it my problem if she's going to be killed?"

Ronin made a note to ask about the Nekoum later as Angel replied, "Marcus made it seem to me that you were a person who cleaned up your messes."

Hearing Marcus's name again caught Ronin's attention and he said, "It's been a long time since I came to the city, your information may be old."

Angel's voice came back, blunt and cold, "This morning is hardly old information."

 Ronin felt as though the air had been knocked out of him...this morning? He'd barely been willing to hope that Marcus was alive, let alone in Neyk...why hadn't he come or try to contact them?

 "He also told me that you may be more motivated by payment, but I won't be paying you in money. If you want to know where Marcus is now and where he plans on going, you'll save that girl and you'll do it now."

Angel's voice left no room for argument and the incentive of information about Marcus left no question in his mind, and though he'd 'been intending to go the coordinates to verify, this price told him the woman was telling the truth...or was a very good bluffer.

Ronin thought for a moment and said, "I'm going now. Send the information about Marcus to Delta so she can verify it. Oh...and Angel?"

She replied, clearly happy she'd won, "Oh, yes Ronin?"

Ronin tapped a few keys in his V.U.I. and pulled up her location, tracing the call back through it's various security measures as he said, "Pray this is correct, because the Peaks are a terrible place to hide."

She began to speak, audibly shaken, "How did you fin…."

He ended the call before she could finish and pulled up the coordinates to Mira, tapping his device and making it fold up on itself as he said to himself, "I get the feeling that tonight's going to be a long night."

As he fell into the darkness of the night, he heard a bell begin to toll and was filled with a terrible sense of foreboding...maybe he'd run instead of walk.