Chapter Text
Buzzz.. Buzzz...
The noise of my phone vibrating against the table awoke me. I usually left my ringer off, since the harsh ringtone would always make me jump — and I could easily feel my phone buzzing even in my heavy uniform, regardless if the phone was in silent mode or not. I was tempted to roll the other way and ignore the call, but only a few seconds after the incessant buzzer ended, it started up from another call once more.. and again.. and again.
"Nnn.." Okay, who the fuck is trying to call me right now? I fought the weariness from my tired body and forced myself into a sitting position, rubbing my eyes tiredly. I could easily see the phone's screen picking it up, the device's harsh light feeling far more intense due to the pitch darkness in my room.
"Four in the god-damn morning.." I muttered to myself. I scanned the caller's ID a few times, squinting despite setting my phone's brightness to the minimum. Out of anything it could have been, it was Hera calling me. Why would she bother me so early in the morning? Hell, it isn't even the morning, this is practically still nighttime!
I pressed the accept call button, blinking once or twice before the call went through. "Hera, what the hell-"
"Why didn't you accept my calls earlier?!" Her voice blared through the speaker. "I swear, if you had wasted another second I would have just tampered with your electricity and flicker your room lights on and off until you-"
"I don't know if you know this, but people don't usually wake up at 4 AM, unlike you Beholders who basically never sleep," I replied in a snarky tone. "What the hell do you want right now? If it isn't anything important, I'm going back to bed."
"..Get dressed and get to your A corp section as soon as possible." Hera said, making my blood run cold. "You have an assigned job today, and you're expected to show up to your briefing by 7 AM."
The call immediately went off after her parting words, leaving me staring at my phone's blank wallpaper in the darkness.
"Gotta be fucking kidding me.."
I quickly threw on some clothes, deciding against wearing my actual Arbiter coat — my apartment was, while not right next to my Office, it was still a close enough distance away that I didn't want to risk the chance of someone recognizing me, even if it was early in the morning. I'm sure they had some extra uniforms at base anyway.
Actually.. no, the last time I got a new uniform, it took like 3 separate emails to get through the bureaucracy of the chain-of-command to get myself a custom coat. Better stuff it in the duffle bag.
I slipped on a warm gray hoodie and shouldered the bag strap to carry the duffle bag like a backpack, taking a seat at my couch to check my phone. It was still 4:18 AM, and the Night of the Backstreets was still in full swing at the moment — giving me at least 15 minutes of time to kill.
Honestly, I could have gone outside anyway. As it turns out, the first time I had entered the open Backstreets without my signature jacket during the dark night, I had found that Sweepers didn't dare cross paths with an Arbiter, let alone go anywhere near me; which was even more impressive when you considered how Sweepers appeared in such large numbers that they were basically shoulder-to-shoulder — I had seen comments on a few videos I had watched out of interest describing the event like "waves", as if each Sweeper was a drop of water in a flowing river.
I didn't know if their willful ignorance was due to the fact that they recognized me using the power only an Arbiter of the Head could wield, or if it was because Sweepers could somehow sense the singularities running through my body. Either way, I preferred not to venture outside during their time if I didn't have to. Though my job was that of an assassin, I found the method Sweepers used to.. sweep.. their victims.. a bit nauseating.
While I'm waiting, I should probably shoot Lemon a text too. I already don't spend the most time.. lets just say I don't work too much, okay? He probably wouldn't be happy to see me disappear for a full day once again, but this time-around, I had a reasonable excuse. After all, you can't really just ignore the Head, unless you had a death wish — both for ordinary people, and for us Arbiters included.
"Looks like it's time," I whispered to myself as the clock hit 4:34 AM.
Stepping into the noiseless air outside my apartment, I was greeted by a chilly breeze — I should have worn something warmer, but it wasn't too far of a walk to the closest W corp train station. The Sweepers leave no trace of themselves or any unlucky prey that they might have found. Unlike in the Nests, where the roads are crowded throughout every hour with after-midnight commutes, drunken men singing songs or the occasional Association Fixer patrolling as watchmen, the Backstreets are eerily quiet, even when the Sweepers themselves are gone.
Either the few brave enough to leave a place of safety are travelling as quietly as possible, or the naive and cowardly cower in their homes and buildings for the remainder of the night. The W corp train station had the odd situation of being placed directly between the Backstreets and the Nest of this district — so that both residents of either side could travel freely to the station without either a Nest entry pass or migration ticket, or a permit to enter the Backstreets.
While walking towards the station, I noticed the very faint sound of footsteps echoing from behind — Somebody was trying to follow me, clearly trying to stay hidden. It was probably just some Syndicate member trying to rob me for "protection money" or something, or just.. actually robbing me. Whatever. I don't have the time to deal with it right now, so I'm just going to ignore them and hope nothing happens.
Even at this time at night, the station was still pretty active with people on either side of the border patrol that prevented people from running across the station to sneak into the Backstreets and/or Nest.
"Where to, ma'am?" An obviously tired and annoyed W corp official asked me.
"A corp," I replied without pause.
"A corp? You got the pass for that, miss?" The official looked me over up and down. "You need proof of residence in the Nest along with your Backstreets entry permit, or a Nest Migration Pass, or official proof you've been hired for work inside the Nest." He listed off blandly, narrowing his eyes at me. "I doubt you have any of those three for A corp itself."
Right, I'm not wearing the actual Uniform.. "Just a moment.." I dug around in my pocket, fishing out my actual ID. "Here."
The man raised an eyebrow, quickly snatching the card from my hands and reading it over — before his face paled.
"I-I- I'm sorry for the trouble ma'am. Y-You're free to do whatever you wish, M-miss- ma'am. A- A corp trains over there." He thrust the card back into my hands and retreated a few paces back, as if being quick about it would absolve him of any wrongdoing.
Walking towards the boarding area, I could tell the same unknown guy from earlier was still following me — In fact, whoever was on my tail had gone all the way to the train station with me. I don't think they would be foolish enough to cause a confrontation in the middle of an actual Wing's area, much less one so heavily guarded by patrols and various fixers hired by the Wing to make sure no trouble occurred.
"Hey." I tapped the shoulder of the first person I saw that was wearing a W corp uniform, and looked like they vaguely knew what they were doing. "Do you know when the next train for A corp leaves?"
"Uhh-" The woman turned around with an annoyed expression on her face, before reverting to a customer-service smile. "I believe in about 30 minutes or so, miss."
I nodded. "'Kay, where's your boss?"
Her smile faded a bit. "..Excuse me?"
"Let me rephrase that — where's the person who has the authority over the train controls right now?"
"Miss, if you're planning something nefarious," the woman eyed my duffle bag warily, "I would suggest against it. We have multiple guards stationed in every single section of this area whom are trained to interrupt acts of terrorism, and we have a contract with the Zwei for additional-"
"What?!" I exclaimed. "You think I'm gonna blow up this place or something?!"
The woman shrugged. "It's policy to remind suspicious looking passengers that any attempted hijacking or otherwise trouble caused will be swiftly dealt with. Besides, you aren't the most regular looking individual I've seen."
I rubbed my eyes tiredly, groaning. "Look, will you just show me?"
"..Fine." She replied after a moment of deliberation. "Follow me."
I was led to what looked like an air-traffic control tower on the opposite side of the boarding area, which somehow wasn't entirely out of place — despite the fact that it was located within a train station. She swiped her keycard at the front door and guided me up a few corridors and flights of stairs, before knocking on a rather average looking metal door.
"Come in," someone inside the room voiced.
The woman opened the door to an array of sensitive-looking panels, levers, buttons, and all sorts of machinery and gadgets — all managed by a single, gruff looking man with a stubby, short beard and black ruffled hair.
"Sir, this person-" She gestured down to me, "Wanted to talk to you."
"Oh, it's just you, Captain." The man chuckled. "I was expecting one of those stuck-up wealthy college boys to come barging in here, asking me another stupid question about what to do for this and that."
"It's a wonder most of them make it past the first week," She replied with a grin.
"Hmmhmm." The man hummed in agreement, turning his attention towards me. "And who might you just be, young lady?"
"Turn off the T corp singularity for the next train departing to A corp."
"..What?" He stared at me in confusion. "I don't believe I understand what you mean. The only singularity W corp utilizes is- well, our own singularity, ha-ha." He nervously laughed, trying to play it off.
"Don't lie to me. I know exactly what goes on in those trains in the '10 seconds' you guys advertise," I stated, with mild agitation. "A single train isn't going to be much of a loss for your corp or T corp anyway, especially considering what I could do right now if you refuse to listen to me."
The man sighed. "You know that your memory will be wiped after the incident, leaving you with no recollection of what had happened. Any suffering you would receive would be nullified in the first pla-"
The man suddenly glared at me with an intense look — no, he looked right to the side of me — and at that moment, the "captain" who was still waiting in the room drew a hidden blade from inside her sleeve, grabbing my shoulder with her other hand while extending her other arm to stab me.
..Alright, are we really doing this now?
I whirled around and elbowed the woman in the stomach hard, causing her to stagger a step back, recoiling and gasping for air, dropping the knife. I kicked her once more in the abdomen, sending the figure flailing into the back wall with enough force to shake dust from the ceiling.
Meanwhile, the man lunged for a flip-cover at one of the control panels, swinging it open and reaching for a red button labeled "SECURITY". Like hell I would let this guy make things even more annoying. I lifted my hand, concentrating energy in my palm within a split second — and encased the man within a shimmering pink-and-golden cylinder.
I brought my hand closer, lifting the cylinder over to the collapsed woman and, with a snap — roughly dropped the man onto the floor next to far wall, aside the injured woman. "I told you, to just turn off the T corp singularity."
"Boss.. Urrgh.." The woman coughed up blood, gingerly feeling her ribs.
Her boss defiantly stared up at me. "Even if you're going to kill us.. I won't betray W corp's contract for some manic like you!"
What a troublesome pair.. Is it really that hard to just switch it off?
A pair of footsteps could be heard — one, then two, someone slowly walked down the corridor towards the control room. I turned away from the duo — they probably wouldn't be getting up any time soon, and faced the newcomer.
"I knew you were planning something dangerous, but I didn't think you would wreck this place so quickly." A young man with combed black hair, wearing a leather jacket over his white t-shirt, stood in the open doorway. He had what appeared to be a longsword with no sheath — only straps keeping it attached to his back, while aviator sunglasses accompanied a confident smile.
"You're.." The downed older man groaned out.
"While it may be partially my fault, for not taking out this Backstreets scum before she made it to W corp's station," He grabbed at the handle of his sword, flourishing it theatrically before pointing it at me, "I'll make up this failure right here by executing-"
"Wait, you're the one who was following me?" Seriously, who does this guy think he is, the FBI Head? Who just follows people around all day in the name of catching criminals in the act? I'm not even a criminal to begin with.
"Silence, you criminal!" The man shouted angrily. "How dare you convince this beautiful lady working at W corp, to let a piece of trash like yourself into this building, only to try and kill both of them and sabotage this entire station?!"
Yeah, this is the kind of "righteous justice" person that won't listen to anything I say. And I wasn't even going to kill either of them in the first place. I really, really should have just worn my actual uniform to begin with..
"I, Bane, am a grade 1, unaffiliated Fixer!" The man announced, as if he was addressing a stadium full of people. "And I'll rid the world of-"
Okay, my patience is going fucking to run out.
Krrrrk~
I pointed a single finger towards the man's leg, shooting a line of pink energy straight through his kneecap. "A-AAAAH!" The fixer screamed, falling to the floor and cradling his pierced leg like a newborn baby. " M-MY LEG! YOU BASTARD!"
God, this guy doesn't have a lot of pain tolerance, does he? How'd he even get to grade 1 in a sorry state like this? The dude's acting like I shot a line through his balls or something. I rubbed my face tiredly. Honestly, he's lucky I didn't aim for his balls.
"Bane! How- How dare you injure our hired workers like that?!" The woman from earlier voiced.
"Look- he's going to be completely fine, okay?!" I replied quickly, turning to Bane. "Listen man, can you just.." The fixer screamed out another string of curses towards me, attempting to stem the bleeding from his leg.
"Oh my fucking god," I muttered.
No. You know what? No. I'm not dealing with this. Not at four-and-a-half in the fucking morning.
"Can all of you just SHUT THE FUCK UP ?!" I yelled, stopping the now-crying fixer dead in his tracks. "I'm already so fucking done trying to deal with- with all this bureaucracy while trying to get to my own fucking workplace, and idiots like you- fucking harass me at every damn turn!" I glared at the two W corp employees. "And you two, you guys can't even be fucking bothered to- to listen to a fucking Arbiter of the Head when I ask calmly so many god-damn times, I'm already sick of having to wake up at- Jesus, four in the god damn morning, just to attend a fucking meeting out of nowhere with no warning, and may God-fucking-save-me if I went and decided- to level this god-damn entire building, any other fucking Arbiter would have- fucking, they would have murdered you three for your incompetence by now-"
"Y-You're an Arbiter..?" The tower controller asked.
"YES! What the fuck is so hard to understand about that?! I even got stopped by- your fucking border control at the fucking entrance, like- your workers are god-damn dumbasses-"
"You a-aren't wearing your uniform or anything though, m-miss.." He shakily pointed out.
"..I'm going to actually blow this fucking district up."
~~~
Crunch~ "Mmmm.."
A well-dressed man in W-corp-blue bowed his head in front of me. "I'm terribly sorry for any trouble we would have caused, miss. If we had known there was an Arbiter-"
I waved him off, still chewing. "It's okay, I guess. Though, the cookies do make me feel a little better."
The ruckus those two employees and the uptight fixer made ended up attracting the attention of other workers, who rushed in to defuse the situation. Thankfully, they realized that I wasn't just some terrorist, which was good — I probably would have actually blown my top otherwise. That annoying grade 1 ended up getting fired and dragged off the premises, moaning about his injured leg, and the two other W corp guys were suspended temporarily. Admittedly, those two didn't really do anything wrong, assuming I actually was just some crook.
The Barn guy or whatever his name was can go fuck himself, though.
The man laughed awkwardly, sitting down on a couch opposite mine. "By all means, enjoy the refreshments. Such a thing is a drop-in-the-bucket to our Corporation, if you consider how much it would have cost to rebuild the surrounding area if my employees had angered an agent of the Head."
"Uhhuh." I reached for another cookie — oh hey, this one is lemon flavored. I wonder if Lemon sees other people eating lemon-flavored stuff as cannibalism or something.. Actually, no. Doesn't he drink a lot of lemon juice anyway? ..Wait, does that mean he's drinking what could be considered basically piss to him-
"Anyway, miss, we at W corp terribly apologize for the delay in your travel. If there's anything we could do-"
I swallowed, before taking a bite of the lemon sugar cookie. "You're good, dude. I was just.. pretty tired from having to wake up super early."
"Morning commutes — they get everyone, huh?" The man attempted some small talk, carrying a light smile on his face.
"Mhm.. in my case, I have to be at a meeting at 7." I rolled my eyes. "Something about some stupid briefing — I bet they'll just send me to the Outskirts again to deal with another random group of bandits who try and raid the outer districts."
"Ah, 7?" The man said nervously.
"..What's with that look on your face?" I asked, confused.
"Our A corp trains may be running a little late due to some complications regarding the.. last train controller." He scratched his head. "Those two guys ended up damaging some sensitive internal wiring within the walls while trying to subdue you — they failed, of course," The man exclaimed quickly, "But we had to call in an alternate train controller, and spend some time repairing the internal wiring to get everything up and moving again!"
Nerd.
"Wait, so how long is it going to take me to board the next warp train to A corp?"
"Ah.. maybe, two to three hours?"
I pulled my phone out to check the time, finishing the last of the cookie and reaching for another one.
5:56 AM.
"..Hey, you guys got any breakfast service?"
The man looked surprised. "Huh? Well, some of our senior employees have access to complementary meals at our buffet — I'm sure I can inform the guards to allow you inside, just excuse me for a moment-" He walked some distance away, holding his phone to his ear to call someone.
I took a bite from the cookie I was holding.
God-damnit, I'm still going to be late..