The statement from the woman who had until then only been observing startled everyone, and created a brief moment of suspicion. The pause stretched, and all that could be felt was the cold breeze of the city while they waited for her to continue.
"If you trust me, I can take you to someone who might very well know who you received the mission from."
The two looked at each other, and the attacker sighed.
"First, why would I even want to find that out? And second, there's no way to trust you."
"Well, you broke the contract by refusing to kill your target. Whoever issued it will find out, and you don't need to trust me, trust the man who spared your life."
The woman's words truly sparked something in the attacker's heart, concern.
"That makes sense. I suggest we at least exchange names. I'm Mira Lordys."
"Luke Varyn."
"Petra."
The silence was no longer the same. No one lowered their guard, but no one stepped away either, because now a shared objective bound them together. Luke's motivations were clear, but nothing was known about what Mira or Petra sought by following him.
Luke fixed his gaze on Petra.
"So, where is it that we can find out about what you mentioned?"
"Follow me."
Luke did not move immediately.
"Why you?"
Petra simply turned her face, already walking.
"Because you don't have another option."
Petra began walking slowly toward the edge of the rooftop they were on, and jumped off, landing perfectly on the ground. The two followed after her, while she walked without a defined direction.
Before jumping, Luke noticed the city he was in. Before, his focus had only been on the mission, and he hadn't realized how large it was. Neon lights cut through the darkness in vertical lines, reflecting off glass buildings that were too tall to feel natural. Holograms flickered above the streets, overlapping like poorly aligned layers.
They landed in an alley, but soon left it and came across a sidewalk.
The city was much more modern compared to the outside. Several people walked wearing hoods, even though it wasn't raining. No one there wanted to look each other in the eyes.
Petra continued walking, as if she already knew the city. Several people bumped shoulders with each other, but none apologized, or even looked back. There were many people on the sidewalk, going and coming.
A few minutes passed, and Petra stopped.
"Let's wait for a ride here."
Mira found it strange.
"You want to take a taxi? With an injured woman and a blood-covered man?"
"Luke still has his cloak on, you can barely see it, and it's not like these people care who gets into the car, as long as we send them their neds."
Luke sighed.
"Look, I don't have anything with me."
"Neither do I, the money I was supposed to get would come from that mission, which I apparently failed."
"A bunch of broke people. I'll pay."
Eventually, a taxi arrived. It was a common car for the time. The three got into the back seat.
"Where are you going?"
"Nell Port Street, number 20."
The taxi driver began typing the address into a panel next to the steering wheel.
"53 neds."
He didn't even look back.
"Card or transfer."
Petra took a wallet from one of her pockets, from which she pulled out a card. It was plain, with only a 14-digit number engraved on it. Petra handed the card to the driver, and he ran it through the panel.
"Done, thank you and enjoy the ride."
The driver returned the card and started the car.
Luke looked at Petra, the system still hadn't reacted to her.
The journey continued, filled with stops due to traffic, and at no point did Luke take his hand off his blade. They still didn't fully trust each other.
[ . . . ]
The system appeared briefly, as if it was about to say something but had given up.
'What was that? Did it notice something? Was it an error?'
Luke grew even more tense, and analyzed the probability of that being a trap. After all, his head was being sought after. And more and more, he noticed the strangeness in the way the system behaved.
Eventually, the three arrived at their destination.
"We've arrived at the location, you may exit to your right."
There it was.
Number 20.
Too discreet to draw attention.
But too organized to be ignored.
There was a doorbell next to an intercom. Petra pressed it, and a few moments later, someone answered, with a radio-like voice.
"Good afternoon, resources and documentation, who is it?"
"Petra."
" . . . "
The door unlocked, while the intercom emitted a call-ending sound.
"Let's go in, our informant is here."
They entered. Luke found the place very familiar. His memories not related to his family were still with him, so he considered that he might have been there with them at some point.
It was like a dentist's office. A pleasant smell, relaxing music, and many plants. They arrived at a waiting room, where there was a man at the counter.
"Welcome, follow me to the back."
The voice was familiar. It was the man who had spoken through the intercom.
He guided them to a door at the back. The door stood out from the rest of the place. It was a heavy metal door that required a password and fingerprint to open.
"So, what do you need, Petra?"
"Do you have records of mission requests?"
"I do, but only from the last month. The older ones go to the city hall."
"I need one from the last twenty-four hours."
The man immediately placed his finger on the scanner and typed a password very quickly. The door opened, and he led the way inside.
"You are all invited to enter. I will find the records, wait over there."
He pointed to a long empty table, and they went there to wait. It was filled with folders and more folders.
Luke was surprised.
"All of this is just from the last month? Wow."
"People really love making others do the dirty work," Mira replied, and added, "And how do you know this guy? It's hard to find reliable government informants."
"He's a good person, and he shares the same ideals as me. We just help each other."
Mira didn't believe it, but accepted the answer.
[ . . . . . . ]
The system flickered again. This time it stayed longer, just there, without saying anything.
It seemed like it knew what was going to happen.
It was trying to say something, but couldn't.
The man arrived with several papers and dropped them onto the table. There were multiple folders, each with a name.
"Which one do you need?"
"I want the one of who ordered the murder of the Varyn household, and the one of who ordered the assassination of Luke Varyn specifically."
"What a story."
"Yeah."
The man flipped through the folders until he picked the two requested ones, and looked inside each of them.
The man looked at Luke while searching for the information in both folders.
"You're the Luke they're talking about?"
"I am."
Eventually, the man stopped running his finger through the lines, and his expression turned into shock.
"Petra."
"Go ahead."
"Well... the person who ordered both of these assassinations was the same person."
The man paused.
"The one who ordered it… was the Varyn household itself."