Outrun – Cyberpunk LitRPG

Chapter 408

The SUV that came to get us slowed to a stop. We weren’t in Little Yukoto like I thought we’d be. Instead, we were in Portside pretty close to the docks. I didn’t even know the Jade Fang had operations outside of Little Yukoto.”We’re here,” a grumpy sounding fang called from the front and pulled to a stop just outside of a blocked street. The place was swarming with Jade Fang to the point it looked like a gang war might be about to erupt.

I popped open the door to the car and slid out. Mira followed close behind me. She was in a casual set of clothes with a plate carrier thrown over top. It took quite a bit of convincing to make her leave her power armor behind and go with something a little less threatening.

Vox hopped out behind us, and jumped up onto my shoulder. The small metal fox made herself right at home. I grabbed her last second just before leaving. Her sensors might be nice to have.

“Wait here.” The enforcer that came to get us motioned back, and then moved through the blocked off street.

The street itself was full of businesses that were temporarily closed. I’d close down too if an army of Jade Fang took up residence right next door. Most everything looked like joy-dens, bars, and small casinos. 

“Is this some kind of gambling street?” Mira whispered to me. The atmosphere of the place was heavy and quiet like a funeral.

I pulled my hood up over my head to block the rain and whispered back to her, “sure looks like it.”

”I could do without the sass.” Mira shifted from foot to foot, and adjusted my bag slung over her shoulder. “What’s in here? Bricks?”

”Chek. Of explosives.” At least one or two of them. It was probably the drone, though. That thing was too heavy. I needed to add a gravitic chamber to the bag so it’d weigh way less. 

“Why the hell—?” Mira cut herself off when her voice echoed off the surrounding walls. 

“Good girl.” I casually patted Vox’s head and ignored Mira’s outburst. “What if I need it? Better to have it, then not to.”

”Just leave it in your, um, space.” She glanced around the surrounding area. “What if it blows up?”

”What are the chances of that?” I asked back in a wishy-washy voice. She shifted even more uncomfortably, so much so that I couldn’t hold in my laughter. “It’s safe, Mira. They’re held in speciality containers.”

”Still.” Mira adjusted the strap of the bag. “You really shouldn’t just keep that kind of thing in your bag.”

”Eh, whatever.” There was worse in there than just a block of explosives. I mean, if even one of my Fireflies exploded, it’d be a bad day. Not only would it melt into her back, but it’d also blow up the block of explosives probably. Or if the Transporter got broken in just the right way, it could open a portal to who knew where… maybe my bag was a little dangerous.

After idling in the rain for a few moments, a group of gangers approached us. Shinobu himself was at the front of the group. “Thank you for coming on such short notice, mikata.”

”No problem.” I waved a hand to my assistant for the night. “This is Mira. She’ll be helping me out since I’m injured.”

”Chiwa. I’ve long heard about you from Shiro.” Shinobu offered a chrome hand toward her. “I didn’t have much of a chance to introduce myself back then.”

When—? Ah, right. When the original Blackout module scorched my brain, he’d taken me to them. They’d met then. Uncle Ezra had been pissed from what I remember, so they likely hadn’t spoken much beyond figuring out what happened.

“I hope it was all good things.” She shook his hand. Both of their knuckles flushed an ugly shade of white from how hard they were shaking. “Thank you for taking care of my bestie all this time.”

Shinobue glanced at me, and released Mira’s hand. “Hopefully, our next meeting won’t be under such dire circumstances.”

“No kidding.” Mira sighed and shook her head.

”And the fox?” Shinobu’s attention immediately locked onto the fluffy mechanical fox perched on my shoulder.

“Next generation scout technology.” I stretched out my non-injured arm, and she smoothly traveled down and sat on my hand. The gravitic chamber built into her small body made her as light as air. “She’s got all sorts of sensors to help the investigation.”

Several of the gangers scattered around and watching us looked impressed by the fox. “A product of Cold Moon, I assume?”

“Not quite.” Although I could probably work out a lesser print and start making robots. I’d already thought about trying to sell them to the military for a nice sum of rayn. Vox traveled back up my arm and once more perched on my shoulder. 

“That’s a shame.” He shook his head.

I glanced between the heavy faces of the Fang. Elders held a heavily respected and revered position with the gang, so one dying wasn’t as simple as a lieutenant in another gang dying. “Who was it?”

“Elder Toro.” Shinobu sighed, and shook his head. Mira and I fell into step just behind him and walked down the street. “Two other investigators were hired alongside you.”

”That’s…” I’d have to work with others, then? Hopefully it wouldn’t be too big of an issue. I shared a glance at Mira. It seemed she was thinking along the same lines. “They both PIs?”

”One of them is. The other’s a retired Crusade inquisitor.” Shinobu glanced at my face. “Do you want a mask? Your position is… unique, is it not?”

”Better than it's been. It should be fine.” Master of Disguise should fully take care of any chance of being recognized. “Actually, could you spare a Fang jacket?”

”Uh, sure.” Shinobu’s brows narrowed, though he didn’t fight the request. “Hideko, go get her one.”

”Yosh.” One of the enforcers that moved with us split off and disappeared into one of the buildings on the street.

”What happened there?” Shinobu asked.

I lifted up my heavily bandaged hand. It was covered so tightly no one could tell the extent of the injury. I had a dozen stims in my bag just in case the pain started to get to me. I’d rather try not to use Cold-blooded to ignore it since I’d have to have the Perk active for so long. “An incident with plasma.”

”Ah, nevermind.” He frowned and rubbed at his metal arm. “I don’t want to know.”

By the time Hideko returned, we arrived in front of a large pachinko parlor. The windows, contrasting sharply with the darkness of the surrounding shops, were lit up vibrantly with dozens of flashing lights as could be expected of a gambling den. 

“Thanks.” I quickly swapped out my poncho for the Jade Fang jacket, and handed Vox over to Mira. 

”We haven’t touched anything since finding him.” Shinobu nodded toward the closed doors of the pachinko parlor. “Everyone that was here has been detained.”

”Nova.” The crime scene shouldn’t be too contaminated then. “What about the other two?”

”Over there.” Shinobu pointed out two people in the sea of Fang. “We were waiting till all three of you got here.”

I eyed my competition. It probably wasn’t great to think of them like that, but I couldn’t help myself. One was an old geezer with white hair and a sharp scowl. Probably the retired inquisitor. The other was a flashy youth surrounded by six or seven bodyguards. He looked like an executive's kid who came out to play. One of the guards held a wide umbrella over his head.

We approached the group. The youth eyed Mira, and completely glazed over me like I wasn’t standing right next to her. “Well hello beautiful. What are you doing after this?”

Mira snorted coldly, and shook her head. ”Practising my castration skills.”

”Ah.” The guy shivered, and took a step back. The guards around him glared at my mikata. “You coulda just said no…”

“Really?” The retired inquisitor scowled even further. “Where’d you get these two? Daycare?”

Mira crossed her arms. “Better than the retirement home. You need to be careful or your dentures might contaminate the scene.”

“Heh—I wish it was a retirement home.” The man’s scowl lifted slightly. “You youngsters really have lofty thoughts of us old folk to think we can all afford one.”

“This is Jimmy Bradton.” Shinobu started the introductions and smoothly shut off the antagonistic remarks. “He’s a retired inquisitor—“

”I prefer Detective Bradton.” The old man’s scowl deeper once more. “Things were so much simpler back in those days.”

Detective? Shinobu definitely said he was with the Blue Crusade Inc, not the Golden Spine Consortium. Unless… maybe he was a detective from back in the old days of cops? He certainly looked like it. Could he even keep up with modern uses of technology? Or would he just be a dead weight like I suspected the other guy to be.

”I’m Seth King, the number one private investigator in Aythryn City.” The guy winked at Mira, and tossed his head full of shaggy hair back. “I usually stream my cases. You might have heard of me?”

”Never,” Mira said in a deadpan voice that almost made me laugh. She really wasn’t going to give him any face, was she? She glanced at me, and then gave her own introduction. “Mira. I’m a Troubleshooter. Don’t need to know more than that.”

Shinobu frowned, though didn’t call me out for my subterfuge by pretending to be one of the Fang. Instead, he just shrugged. “You already know me. I’ve been given authority to handle this situation. The sooner we out the killer, the better.”

”We sure this is a murder and not natural causes, right?” The detective asked. It was the best starting point for this kind of thing. “I arrested Toro decades ago. He isn’t— a young guy.”

At the mention of arresting one of their elders, several of the surrounding Fang glared at the Detective Bradton. Shinobu waved a hand to them. “He was in perfect health. He just had a medical exam earlier today, even. ‘Sides, he was shot three times in the chest.”

If he was shot, then there was definitely a murderer out there somewhere. Unless he shot himself in the chest, maybe, but at that point why not go for the head? 

Shinobu pulled a mag-key out of his pocket and approached the door. He paused and looked over his shoulder toward us. “Seth, you’ll have to leave your guards out here.”

“Fuck, fine.” The rich kid brushed his shoulder like it didn’t matter, and grabbed the umbrella. “You guys go secure the area or something.”

”Aye, boss.” The guards straightened up, and put on an intimidating look. Honestly, they looked terribly out of place surrounded by the gang. Thousand rayn on them going to slack off in some corner instead of doing anything.

Shinobu unlocked the door to the pachinko parlor and opened the way for the rest of us. “He’s in the back office.”

We followed him into the place. It was like a ghost town. Machines were left on with their flashing lights and loud noises. The place felt a bit like a ghost town, to be honest. It was a bit of a weird vibe. Not to mention it reeked of cigarette smoke.

”This way.” Shinobu led the group through the maze of pachinko machines and toward the back. We went up a set of stairs and entered a sparsely decorated hall. At the end of it sat an open set of double doors. 

Everyone had different reactions to the sight on the other side of the doors. Mira looked bored, and only glanced at the corpse. Most of the Fang bowed their heads respectfully, which I followed along with. 

“Elder Toro… he was last seen alive four hours ago.” Shinobu crossed his arms, and stopped just outside of the room. “You need to find the killer as soon as possible, preferably tonight. We don’t care what methods you use as long as you get this done.”

Right… finding his killer by tonight might not be so easy. If he was assassinated, the assassin was probably long gone. Still, I could try. I adjusted my jacket and followed the group into the room.