Location: Shopping Area

Time: Wednesday, Noonish

“Are you sure this is the right way? If you’re just messing with us I’ll definitely kill you.”

Sara was talking to the high school girl. Not the first one, the second one. The one that noticed Sara.

Sara decided to skip some things. Embarrassing things. There was an unavoidable mistake. Something Sara couldn’t do a thing about. Not Sara’s fault, right? Right. Sara did Sara’s job. Sara took the Oldridge girl.

Turns out there were two. An impossible prediction.

Sara took the useless Oldridge girl, not the princess. According to Mock the Oldridge girl Sara took wasn’t worth anything. Her capture wouldn’t be able to cause any kind of commotion. The accidental hostage wasn’t worth anything either.

Sara should say again, definitely not Sara’s fault, but a problem. Sara’s bath was delayed.

Hatta seemed to be expecting things to go that way though. He had new plans. First he would have the BAA lockdown some conference. That was supposed to keep the MID off our tracks. Right? Right.

The Knave would go after the princess Oldridge girl.

Then Hatta needed to talk to the prince. To many loose ends.

Finally, Sara and Red had to find a new way to blackmail the Prime Minister. A new way to cause a commotion.

Sara didn’t know how. Red didn’t know either. Mock helped. She said the other girl, the second hostage, her head was hard to read. Almost a nullifier, but not all the way. Probably how she noticed Sara.

Anyway. That girl knew about information. She knew a woman who knew lots of information. All of it, for a price.

So Sara made a deal. Right? Right. Take Sara and Red to the information lady, and she could go free. A good deal. Almost as good as an éclair.

And the other girl. The useless Oldridge girl. For some reason Mock wanted to keep her alive. Sara would have rather killed her. To hide her mistakes, right? Right.

But with her alive the Knave could use her as an anchor for his augmentation.

“Well I hope it’s the right way. It’s my sister’s office, you know? Forgetting how to get to my sister’s office would be totally abnormal.”

“We’re not worried about you forgetting, we’re worried about you lying.” Red didn’t trust her either.

“Don’t worry, lying in this situation would be completely abnormal.” She stopped walking. “This is it.”

She walked into the building that was in front of us. Sara and Red followed. She immediately turned left and went through another door. It led to the stairs.

“I hope you don’t mind the stairs. You could take the elevator if you want, but I’m taking the stairs. I’ll never ride another elevator for the rest of my life.”

“What floor is it on? I’m taking the elevator. I’m not like you, peasant girl. There’s no reason for a person of my peerage to take the stairs.”

Red answered before Sara could. If Red took the elevator that meant Sara had to take the stairs to follow the girl.

“Third.”

Sara and the girl walked up three flights of stairs before meeting back up with Red. His face was annoyingly smug. More than normal. Right? Right.

After walking through another unlabeled door the girl approached a woman sitting at a desk.

“We should have a consultation appointment with Alexis.”

The woman put down her magazine and looked toward a monitor.

“There’s an appointment scheduled for Allison Albright, the Duchess, and the Red Queen for 12:55.”

Scheduled? Sara didn’t make an appointment, but it was no surprise. Everything works out for Sara, even appointments.

Red checked the time on his watch.

“I’m not waiting around for ten minutes. We’re going in now.”

“Well, your appointment isn’t until 12:55, so you can’t go in yet.”

A mistake. A big mistake. Even Sara wouldn’t tell Red what to do like that. He’s not like Sara. When he gets upset his personality is bad. Right? Right.

“You’re telling me to wait? I don’t wait. I go wherever I want, whenever I want. Every path is open for me. You’re lucky I’m a man of such high class. If I wasn’t, I would’ve killed you at the mere suggestion of having me wait. But fortunately for you, I can control my raging passions. Although I don’t think I’m patient enough to hold back a second time.”

“So, I’ll say it again. We’re going in now. And before you respond, let me remind you of the stakes. I’d hate for you to say the wrong thing because of a misunderstanding. If you tell me I can go right in, nothing will happen to you. But if you tell me to wait a second time, I’m going to have to find something to occupy my time for the next ten minutes. I’m not a big reader, so I’ll probably spend it brutally murdering you.”

Nothing like Sara at all. A total brute. Sara would never be so rude to a stranger. Sara is sweet as pastries.

“Alright, alright. I just need you to fill out-” She started to hand a clipboard across her desk.

“I really don’t think you’re getting this.”

“Never mind. She’s through that door.”

The woman pointed to a door behind her. Sara’s glad Red didn’t have to kill her. He always makes a mess.

The three of us walked into the room the woman directed us to. It was big, empty, and some of the walls were windows. At the far end of the room there was a woman sitting at a desk. Her face was really messed up. She even had an eye patch.

Sara had never seen anyone actually wear an eye patch before. It didn’t look as entertaining as Sara was imagining it would.

“If I recall correctly your appointment was scheduled for 12:55. What’s the point of having a society if we can’t follow basic protocol?” The eye patch woman looked disappointed.

“It’s completely abnormal to schedule an appointment without both sides’ approval, so let’s call it even. And my name isn’t Albright, it’s Liten. I’ve told you a thousand times, but I changed it to Mom’s maiden name after the divorce.”

“Good to see you too, Allison. You don’t come by nearly enough anymore.”

“This isn’t exactly the best place for a high school girl to wander into. Besides, I’ve been busy. I’m not like you. Normal people have to study in order to keep their grades up.”

“Then shouldn’t you be at school?”

“I was, but I ended up getting taken hostage. I convinced them to let me go if I brought them to you. Although I’m sure you already knew as much.”

“Maybe, but either way, I’m glad you came. We’ve all got something to gain here. I’m almost certain you’ve recently come across some information. And don’t try to sell it to me. Remember who paid for your fancy uniform and the food in your stomach.”

“I don’t want money, I just want to help a friend. It was 244 Peach street, in Irving.”

An address? Sounded familiar.

“Good. Now leave. I’d love to spend more quality time with you, but you’ve got a busy day ahead of you, and I don’t want to turn my office into a battle ground. I’d suggest the park.”

“I’d been planning on it. I need to call Hana anyway.” The girl turned to face Sara and Red. “Alright, I brought you. Can I leave? It’s normal to follow through on deals.”

“Yes, you can leave. I’m not the kind of lowly scoundrel that would go back on his word. Begone now, peasant girl.”

Red said she could leave, so Sara didn’t need to decide.

If Sara did have to decide, Sara would have just killed her.

“Now, what have the two of you come here to discuss? Tourist hotspots?” The eye patch lady folded her arms as she spoke.

“Give us a target. We need something to make the Prime Minister look bad, but it can’t hurt the senate. Something important enough to make him panic. And it needs to be safe enough that a small team could hit it.”

Safe to say Sara didn’t understand all the details of our mission. Something about the Prince working with the people who used the people. The Prime Minister was bad, and the MID were really bad. Somehow Sara was supposed to cause a panic, but things kept going the wrong way.

Basically, Sara let Red do the talking, and the planning.

“And why would you need to know something like that?”

“I thought you were the one who was supposed to answer questions.”

“How very true, so let me try and answer my own. I’m guessing you work for a certain aggressive power located to the west of us, and your boss struck a deal with Velstand’s senate. The only problem was the Prime Minister not wanting to play ball. So you need him out. That’s why you wanted the Emin girl, to discredit him, and his daughter, to blackmail him. Now you need something else. Something specific, the kind of thing you can’t plan on such short notice.”

“What’s it matter? Can you help, or not?”

“Information always matters, but I understand. You’re in a rush, and I was being nosy. You don’t get far in this business without being nosy, but being too nosy will just turn everyone away. Is that what you’re going to pay me for the information?”

The information lady pointed to the bag in Red’s hand. It was a bag of money.

“Perhaps. We still need to discuss a price.”

“No need. I have the information you want, and the price is all the money in that bag.”

“What? You can’t just say that. You don’t even know how much is in here. I only brought this much because I didn’t know what you’d charge.”

“And now you know. I’ll charge that amount.”

“This is ridiculous.”

“Is it? Think about it from my point of view. Did you bring all the money you smuggled into the city?”

“Of course not.”

“Then why did you bring the amount you did?”

“I thought this was the maximum amount the information could be worth.”

“So you valued my information yourself. You decided its maximum value. And you don’t seem to know this about me yet, but my information is perfect. So it only makes sense I’d charge the maximum amount.”

“Whatever. Just give her the money already. Sara is tired of hearing about this.”

Sara doesn’t like talking about money. It’s boring and reminds Sara of the women she lived with before. Sara hates it so much she never gets change after buying pastries.

“Alright, fine. This amount of money doesn’t mean much to a man such as myself anyway.”

Red threw the bag to the information lady. She tried to catch the strap of the bag, but she was a few inches off.

“Guess I still haven’t gotten used to it yet.”

“Like I care. Now tell us what we want to know.”

“The Federal Archives Building in the Lux district. The Archives Building itself isn’t that important, so the security will be light. But the basement is home to the communications vault. The server there contains all electronic messages listed as classified and above. If you get someone to hack in you’ll have access to any scandalous message the Prime Minister might have sent throughout his career. And unless the Prime Minister wants everyone to find out what’s down there, he’ll have a hard time justifying an immediate counterattack to stop you.”

“That’s it?”

“Surprised? Were you expecting my information to come as a riddle or something? You don’t get many five star reviews by being cryptic.”

“And you’re sure this is accurate? How do you know all this?”

“I’m sure. And if you want to know my source you’re going to need to bring me a second bag of money.”

“So, we’re done?”

“Expecting something else? My services don’t come with a continental breakfast.”

“It’s just, this is strange. It’s hard to trust you with how casual you are about this. You’re betraying your city, all of the Free Cities, and for what? Money? You don’t seem concerned about what will happen next.”

“Why wouldn’t I be casual? This is my job. And I don’t recall betraying anything. Maybe it’s just a cultural difference, but I don’t feel the need for any irrational love just because I was born here. I could’ve been born anywhere. Just because this specific piece of earth was under my feet when it happened doesn’t mean I owe anything to this city.”

“And you shouldn't be so quick as to discount the motivation of money. I’d be a lot more worried about someone that wasn’t motivated by money. Money can get you everything. So if there’s nothing more to discuss you two can be on your way. But I’m starting to think there is something on your mind.” Mid way through she stopped looking at Red and Started looking at Sara.

“I don’t mean to brag, but I’ve been known to give great advice. And since you just gave me a hefty bag of money, I’ll give it to you for free.”

She knew Sara was troubled. She really did know everything. Sara wasn’t used to having worries, so the information lady could help, right? Right.

“Red, Sara needs to stay to talk to the information lady.”

“That works perfectly for me. Gryphon knows about computers, so I’ll have to plan something with him. I should probably contact Enki for support as well. He owes us a favor after all. Either way, your particular brand of crazy would only make planning this harder. Just make sure you’re ready to move in a few hours.”

After Red left Sara was Ready to start talking.