Early Friday morning; December 13, 29476
With a slight sigh, she oopened the refrigerator's door to take a cold beer inside, before walking to the couch in the living-room, sitting heavily on the dark cushions. She just had to raise her head a little to be able to see the holographic display mounted on the term, on the other side of the room, its lights regularly flashing and dancing. Another tiring day was now behind her, a day that had really been full of... surprises. Finding out that this cave in Clon**** had been full of angry Clanners instead of the few scum she was expecting to run into had been the least of all - all in all, she had easily outrun them, as usual, not even looking back to see which of them was trying to follow her in the narrow white passages. The hardest of all had been this hour spent in Rompa's, comforting this poor fellow who so much wanted to die - it had reminded her of Heiji so much that preventing herself from crying in front of him had been harder than ever. She had been glad, at least, to notice that a quick trip to Reclaim had managed to put his ideas back when they were supposed to be; next time, he'd think twice before 'tripping' on his sword and find himself in a mess at the other end of the world.
High time I take some rest... the Fixer distraitly thought, opening her can of beer. The hot shower she had just taken fortunately seemed to have some effect on her, and she thought that, maybe tonight, she could leave work aside a little and really sleep - screw the Grid monitoring, the inquiries, and all the rest. She stayed sitting in the couch for a long moment, dreamingly fixing the ceiling, thinking that she may even fall asleep right there. A few more minutes before the program compilation was over, and she could upload it to her deck; after this... well, good night, sweet dreams, and all that followed.
The term display suddenly flashed, attracting her attention, as one of the Nezumi rotes she had sent in the Grid was coming back to her. With another annoyed sigh, Jen slowly got up from the couch, walking toward the term, to see what it had found. Several strings of text, explaining what Nezumi had found, then turning into a graphic interface so that the young woman would be able to understand it better...
The Fixer slumped on the chair, her fingers automatically beginning to run on the datapad again; the more she was reading, the more stunned and horrified she was becoming, her lips silently moving, forming words that she couldn't let out. She almost felt as if her heart was missing a beat when Heiji gave what could have been the equivalent of a mental start, frightening her; he was reading too, of course - seeing through her eyes - and, fortunately or not, understanding faster and better than her. Oh no. No. No... The inner voice was muttering, again and again. Look at this, Jen-chan. This schemes... not matching anymore. It's changed. Altered...
"...Like a sort of virus..." she whispered, remembering what he ahd told her, not so long ago. Of course, she wasn't a Doc and never had been, but long years spent hacking here and there, and above all, long years spent with Heiji, had taught her their lot of useful things. The human brain wasn't meant to understand directly the complex schemes that were forming the cell patterns, just as it couldn't understand machine language without having to alter itself to what could be a point of no turning-back; but the Nezumi program, once told what to look for, would decrypt and analyze every correspondence and difference, allowing both Fixers, the dead and the living one, to see - to see, and to understand.
"...Who the hell let this friggin' psycho of a BASTARD on KA!" Jen suddenly screamed, hitting the desk with her clenched fist, sending a wave of pain in her whole hand and forearm. It took her a moment to clear her mind of the shock she had received, and when she had done so, she realized in astonishment that she had taken on her clothes again, buckled her holster at her waist, and was now running through the dark streets of Trade District.
Wait, wait, gal, wait - get a hold on hyerself again, dammit! she thought, coming to a halt. She didn't even know what she was doing, where she was headed to. The only thing that mattered, the only thought pounding in her head, was to find Raquel, although she could very well see that the Agent's link was silent on her comm. No wonder - it was almost 5 am, and she was of course in bed, or so Jen hoped.
Aya!...
But Aya Nakazawa was silent too, and so the Fixer began to browse through the lists she had of all the people who could help. She was emembering of all the reports Raquel had sent... of the od things that were happening since the past week and even before this... of Saar's disappearance, of the conversation she had had with the woman she now considered as a sister... of the way she had to rub this dan wound, the helll with it, what's happening, what this psycho's done to her, damn, damn... what's happening!... Drawing a long, deep breath, she tried to calm herself, and quickly waked to the whompa leading to the Entertainment District; that was the place she'd find someone, though she wasn't really intent on letting much of this affair slip out for the moment. Nezumi had caught her attention again, and she briefly opened a link with the module which, from the Grid and from her personal term at home, was going on with the analyzis it had begun to show.
<Subject located, coordinates 870 x 400, moving. Follow signal?>
<Yes>
As usual, the streets were still quite animated, as people coming from and to various part of the planet, no matter what the timezone, were making their way and minding their businesses in the capital. Jen ran past the Bronto Burger, past the north Grid terminal, reaching the street leading to Rompa's, for the second time since the day had begun. She knew what she'd find there, although not in which circumstances, and she was becoming quite anxious now. Don't panick. Dont panick. He won't do anything to you. I won't let him, Jen. I won't. He can't. Heijihimself knew he was sounding awfully awkward, but she still thanked him for trying to comfort her.
And there he was - the man - this frigging psychopath who had dared to touch Raquel. She had spotted him as soon as she had walked into the bar, and what he was up to... Fear crept in her stomach for a second, before she suppressed the feeling, not allowing her to show any weakness. Not to him, not to this freaking nano-mage hissing to the ear of on of the poor customers. Ah, yes, she recognized her, even if she hadn't talked to her - Westernmary, was her callsign? A pretty girl in a long red dress, a girl that had ben in earlier in the evening, sitting not very far from her own booth. He had his hands on her... his mouth, against her neck... doing to her what he already had to...
"You!" Jen growled between her grinded teeth, drawing her Gamma Ejector in a quick move and pointing it at the man's head. He froze, turning to her in a slow gesture that was awfully frightening. His eyes, reddish eyes ina death-pale face marked with wrinkles, half-hidden by the shadowy hood.... He turned, hissed, and suddenly ran away, toward the bar's exit. But running from a Fixer... She hoped the girl would be alright, and immediately followed, knowing it was her chance to catch him, running, running past the door, through the streets again, her gun still in the hand. He was leading her to the sewers, and she allowed herself a quick smirk; the sewers had no secrets for her, and in fact, it didn't even surprise her. If what Raquel had written in her report was true... if what Nezumi had found was true... he was certainly as afraid as herself was, though not for the same reasons.
5.30 am...
((written by Demenzia))
))
A Message Marked In Blood
