Why an orphanage?
"What makes you say that?" I ask genuinely curious. I'm pretty sure I'd remember some mysterious mastermind contacting me and anyone watching me would have to be incredibly skilled to not be spotted. Though if they were watching through cameras or something I guess I wouldn't notice.
"Think about the way the team was put together. Dede was blackmailed and they're criminals. Likely found on some sort of criminal database or maybe Mainframe came across them while looking for someone else. Either way they're clearly not the first she found." I find myself nodding at that before Tommy continues.
"Marianne's reputation proceeds her and I'm fairly certain Mainframe doesn't know her so she's unfamiliar too. Lumi on the other hand doesn't have any acquaintances and I frankly have no idea how Mainframe found her." I continue to nod for a moment before realizing something.
"Wait how do you know Lumi has no acquaintances? You know her?" I ask now interested in our teammate more than our boss.
"Yeah she's a famous cursed child for squirrel-kin but that's not the point I'll tell you about her later." He says brushing my question off for later before continuing.
"The problem is us. I don't see how she could've found us. I'm not particularly famous in any circle by choice and while some clients might recognize me they'd be the only ones to recognize my name." Then he looks me straight in the eyes.
"As for you. You're not all that famous or skilled quite frankly. No offense" I nod a little reluctantly just because he's right doesn't mean I enjoy hearing comments like that.
"So how did she find us. Marianne has her reputation, Dede are criminals and Lumi is a loner but a skilled one. While I don't know how she found Lumi I have to guess that she didn't know her from the beginning given the way Emily interacts with her which just leaves…" He trails off and I once again finish the sentence for him.
"Us" I say with a little tilt of my head. He's right I don't have a large reputation, I'm not on any lists as a criminal even if I have committed illegal acts before and I'm not particularly skilled in any area such that she'd recognize my talent.
Tommy's the same. I imagine if she wanted an information broker or even an infiltration artist I imagine there are better ones. I mean she could have known us through Emily but I doubt Emily would recommend us if they already had better candidates.
"My theory is that Sophie introduced us before her demise but it doesn't quite make sense so I'm holding off judgement for now. That said I think she knows more than she's telling about Sophie's disappearance and that grinds my gears." Says Tommy as his eyes stop smiling.
"Judging by that look you have an idea." I say somewhat wary. I'm pretty sure Mainframe could be monitoring us because like Tommy said she seems to be a little paranoid so I'm going to try and make my agreement look incredibly vague if I do agree to his plan.
Tommy appears to sense as much and smiles a little while continuing. "I say we stay on with Mainframe after this. Then we do whatever's necessary to get Sophie's information out of them." His smile is dark and his eyes plotting. Something he usually hides from the rest of us.
Having sent Tommy off at the tavern area I walk home through the streets thinking about what Tommy said and paying very little attention to my surroundings. "Whatever's necessary huh?" I mumble as I find myself in front of my bed.
Our conversation actually lasted quite a while now that I think about it and it is probably time for bed. So I flop down into my little pod and watch as it changes my clothes into my pyjamas and puts my normal clothes into the little compartment on it's side.
I'm not so certain I'm willing to oppose someone like Mainframe just because she's not offering me all of the information. I've had clients who withheld information from me all the time and this isn't much different. Actually it's exactly the same.
Though there were times when those clients were up to no good my instinct tells me that this is not one of those cases and I'm willing to trust it. Which means the question is do I want to know about sophie's secret life so much I'm willing to put my life in danger and oppose a potential ally to get that information.
That question haunts my thoughts until eventually I'm in my pyjamas and music similar to the one I played in the ship starts playing from all around me. This time though it's extremely familiar to me. Since this is one of my playlists I recognize it well and the familiar nature of it gives me comfort.
Enough to close my eyes and fall into slumber. Over the next several days I continue to puzzle out my own answer to Tommy's question and test out my new toys. The results are rather satisfying and allow me to escape from my thoughts a bit. That's how much fun it is.
The "whoosh" of wind resounds through the speakers in my combat suit as I fly through the sky in a deserted field on my home planet. Sure there aren't many of these left but there are some and I've been using them as testing sites.
The ground around me once a luscious green is now dotted with spots of brown as I see the craters formed as a result of my tests. Deciding to create another such crater I fire off the laser cannon from my shoulder that came with the combat suit.
Laser cannons are usually used on battleships and thus are designed to pulverize the hull of a similar ship. So it's no surprise to me that my one shot of this devastating weapon was enough to create a crater roughly the size of my apartment in the floor beneath me. I decide to descend and take a closer look so I disengage the thrusters and feel myself plummeting to the ground.
The artificial gravity in the suit stops me from feeling the G-force all that much as I suddenly start sinking like a rock. No less than a few seconds later I see the ground approaching at a tremendous speed and I engage the thrusters.
Normally thrusters don't like to be turned off and suddenly turn on to deal with this kind of force and yet. I suddenly see myself instantly halt mid-air as though gravity has no hold on me whatsoever and I laugh to myself overseeing the crater in greater detail.
The ground underneath me might've appeared brown from the sky but taking a closer look at it from here there's actually a thin layer of glass coating the surface and even the ground underneath that still hasn't leaked all the thermal energy from the blast and is basically magma.
I hover there and cackle to myself like a maniac. "This is insane hahahahahha. I'm practically a one woman battleship." I act like a real villain despite myself. Then I draw the laser sword from my waist and do a few strikes mid-air. Despite the lack of footing that should make my strikes far less powerful than before the stability of the combat suit makes it so I'm practically standing on solid ground and…
Another "whoosh" rings throughout the clearing as the sword slices through the air at such a speed I had to watch the feed through the enhancement monitor inside the helmet to see it. Essentially my human brain can't keep up. So the suit's keeping up for me and displaying it quickly in a way I will understand.
"This is amazing. My old combat suit couldn't compare to this. I'm really a battleship in human form hahahah" Ok so Soph might've been rubbing off on me a bit too much here. Am I really becoming like her. Well…. Who cares.
This is fun. Just as I'm readying myself to continue flying around I receive a message in the suit. When I look at who it's from I drop my smile immediately for a more serious face. The logo is Mainframe's.
"Looks like it's finally time then." I mumble to myself now talking as the mercenary Amelie rather than the excited orphan girl. I reply to the message showing them my location as marked by the suit itself and de-activate the suit.
As soon as I do I hear a weird buzzing noise. Like thousands of bees just appeared around me. This only lasts for a second or two before I look down and find myself in my usual black and red attire once more.
This time I've got an outfit that shows a little more than before. I usually wear more comfortable stuff like this when I'm not getting ready to work but at the same time since there isn't any sort of fancy client this time I think this outfit will suit my purposes just fine.
On my top half is a low neckline dress/vest with shoulder straps showing essentially everything from just below my shoulders. Obviously it hides all the important parts but everything from just below the collarbone to the top of my head is exposed.
On my arms is a pair of laced sleeves ending in leather gloves. The lace mainly consists of various depictions of a rose with red petals and black stem with similarly black thorns. Though the detail would be missed from far enough away.
On my lower half is a form fitting pair of shorts with a pair of tights covering the rest of my legs. I don't care so much about modesty but even I'm not stupid enough to wear a skirt that can do anything it wants in combat but I still want to show off a little so I went for shorts in stead.
On my hip is a belt with a number of tools. All my new toys are there. The laser, the sword even the button to activate the combat suit. All on my belt. It also helps the shorts stay there since they're actually a little big for me. I tended to wear handouts from the older ones at the orphanage a lot and when I became an adult and left I took them with me. This is one such pair.
My shoes meanwhile look rather out of place. They're professional looking with black leather and if they weren't covered in mud from my recent escapades I'm sure they would look very business like. Unfortunately I've been using them to train so they have dots of mud here and there even if the combat suit protected them a little.
Having confirmed the combat suit's retreat to my belt and the clothes I'm wearing I start running 100m dashes back and forth in the field trying to steady my footing with all the craters. I don't actually know if it's 100m but my rough guesstimate is all I've got and I use this as training for running on unsteady ground.
I hadn't got out of breath by the time the ship showed up to collect me. I was actually so focussed on avoiding the potholes though that I didn't notice the ship until it was only a little before landing at which point I could hear it clear as day and whipped around to see it.
It looked exactly the same as the ship we used to get back from the temple on Donavore. So presumably this wasn't the ship that was going to take me into the field. Meaning we're all going to have another meeting first I'd guess.
The ship was that same joystick like shape and landed on it's side once more. Just like before the furthest left part of the ship and the furthest right deployed little stands almost like a bike's and then landed on the ground before opening a door closest to the left stand.
Out of the door came the same type of robot as before. Their eerily average face and weird silicon hair being somewhat comforting for me after seeing the robot in the weird mastermind tavern Tommy took me to.
It's good to know that these robots are standard quality with Frame Products Ltd. I'd be surprised if their products were worse than anything else on the market even if this isn't their area of expertise but it's good to know they excel even in robotics.
As I thought as much the robot's silent eyes almost appeared to urge me to hurry up and enter the ship. That's strange. Were robots supposed to have enough intelligence for that? Maybe It's just me hallucinating or something? It's not hard to misinterpret the looks in people's eyes I guess.
Thinking so I once again walk towards the ship and see the ramp extend out from just under the door as I near it. I don't pause for a second as the ramp comes down and I walk up the ramp the moment it touches the ground in front of me.
Once again I feel the ramp give under my feet and I hear that sound metal makes when it's bending a little. A sort of "whup whup" sound. The kind you get when you shake a metal sheet. Followed by that sound I continue up the ramp and enter through the door.
Once I'm through the robot behind me simply ignores me and heads into the door to my left once more. Meaning that the robot's most likely the one piloting the ship. I look to the right for a moment thinking about heading to a cabin but decide against it.
I'm on a serious job now and I can't just relax before I get there. Plus I have somewhere to wait. So I decide to stand around next to the door and get some stretches and exercise in. I use the long hall to my right as a sort of track and run up and down it for the entire journey with the ship.
Clangs ring out from my leather shoes tapping on the metal floor as I run from one end touch the wall on the other, then return and repeat. This continues until there's a slight shake that runs across the whole ship. By this point I'm winded and sweating. Not heavily but it was still quite the workout. I decide to take a drink on the way to the destination or perhaps during the meeting.
The robot soon steps out of the same door it went through when it brought me onto the ship and opens that same door to reveal completely different surroundings. I grimace instinctively upon contact with the outside air.
Salt hits my face alongside a wind so loud and stifling I can't even hear the "whup" of the ramp that I step down to set foot on the planet. This is Donavore isn't it? Well that's annoying. I'm going to have to clean up my hair again. Here I thought I'd never see this place again.
Another thing I wasn't expecting to see again was the temple in front of me. The massive wailing doors as I call them stand just as imposingly as before and while the temple does appear to be the same I notice something that's missing.
"Where's all the damage?" I mumble to myself as I look around the temple. Not only is the damage from the storms gone but the place also appears to have had a makeover since I was last here. It's only been a few days but…
The whole temple is now white once more instead of the greyish colour that the salt deformed it into. The flecks of paint, salt and gravel that were once covering the walls are now gone and all that's left is an extremely smooth marble like material.
There still aren't any windows and the whole building appears to just be a solid stone depiction of a temple but that's standard with buildings nowadays given the introduction of holograms. Though I'm not sure holograms would work so well in this weather. It appears the people renovating the place thought the same since there isn't a hologram over the building.
I walk up to the wailing doors and I decide to carefully open them with the lightest touch I can manage. The rings on the massive wooden doors were once rusted but now appear to have been cleaned up and look polished to a sheen. Except the slight amount of salt covering their surface but on a planet like this it really can't be helped.
I turn one of the rings and give them the slightest push. I hope for the door's wailing to be fixed and prepare myself for that wailing once more and thankfully enough there's no wailing this time. Instead of a chorus of tortured souls all I hear is the clunk of the ring as it moves the metal fixing the door closed and then eery silence as the doors open.
"Ok I'm not sure if that's better or worse." I mumble to myself. Having heard the doors previously it now feels like all of those souls have been forcibly shut up or something and I'm starting to feel seriously weirded out by these completely normal doors.
Inside I find the place to be completely different from how I remembered it. Before this massive entry hall was completely empty. Nothing but stone. Stone walls, stone ceiling even stone floor. Now though it's completely changed.
The floor is covered in a carpet so blue it could be mistaken for a sky. Actually that appears to be the point as I can see a number of cloud like shapes on the carpet spread out in different areas. The walls are covered in all sorts of different decorations.
The room is still uselessly large but it feels almost cramped with the number of decorations and assorted items there are. Stories are carved into the walls in some places, others there are pictures stuck to the wall of children playing on beaches and other such peaceful scenery.
There's even a depiction of Malarie talking with all the races together in a conference hall and looking rather like the deity she's supposed to be. It appears to be the only thing of religious significance as the rest is just the opposite.
There's some sort of table drawn on a piece of paper and hung on the wall. I mean the table you can produce with word processors not the type you place your breakfast on. With a number of columns having different labels on them. Things like 'praise points' and 'villain points' are some of the columns named and it appears the rows are all empty at the moment.
"Did they take me to the wrong place?" I ask myself quietly as I look around. This is more like a school or orphanage than it is a meeting place for secret mercenaries to meet up and discuss committing illegal acts. Actually now that I think about it, this really does remind me of the orphanage back home if taken to a larger scale.
All we need now is the secret training area and the tiny director's office no one goes near. Out of pure curiosity I look around and spot a familiar sign. It reads 'Director's office Entry is not permitted' and is attached to the door Emily went through when she stayed behind the first time.
"You've gotta be kidding me." I mutter in shock looking around for the secret training room or something. Fortunately I don't find anything obviously pointing to the training room and sigh in relief. Well at least they didn't completely mimic the orphanage or we'd have some serious issues here.
As I'm thinking that I glance around confused for the place I'm supposed to be. Thinking about it, I don't actually know what I'm doing here. I'm pretty sure it's going to be a meeting before the mission starts but… Looking around I don't spot any obvious meeting spots for mercs.
Suddenly I hear a voice a ways to my side and turn in that direction. Standing where I turn my eyes is Emily. She's wearing the usual company uniform with a hoodie over it. The hoodie is once again red with white accents. Her joggings she's wearing under that however are also red and white and they exude a far more casual air than when we first met her.
The brown fuzzy ears on her head however are pointed straight up and clearly alert so while she might look more casual she's clearly ready for anything that might happen today. Her tail is swishing behind her like a metronome as per usual. Actually I don't think it's once changed it's pace since I've met her. That's… Kind of scary in it's own way actually.
"Hey Emily do you know where we're supposed to meet because I was brought here and…" I pause and gesture around the room which is clearly covered in decorations and not meant for secret meetings. Seriously who would even bring a bunch of mercs hired on a secret job to a place like this anyway.
"Ah that." She says with a gentle smile instantly understanding what I'm talking about. Her answer however completely subverts my expectations and only makes me more confused.
"This place is going to be an orphanage by the time you return so we've already started decorating. Do excuse our forwardness." She explains and then starts walking away as though I should understand everything from that alone.
"ok then" I mumble to myself clearly not understanding anything more than she wants me to follow her. We head into the area labelled director's office earlier and inside I find everyone I was expecting already here. Surprisingly I'm the last one here this time.