Chapter 13: To Organize the Mayhem II

They had been three strong members, though they had no particular relationship of note among each other. That made it seem like this killer was just targeting veteran Phantoms at random, at first.

The only thing she had been able to take from all this so far, was that they were slowly moving up in their hierarchy. First, a defected member. Then veteran scouts. That day, they had finally started to target CleanBiz enforcers.

That week they’d lost those three, next week they’d lose some others, and so on. There were no leads. No scent for her to go from, either. Was this all truly as useless as it seemed?

It was almost as if to say ‘If you don’t give me what I want, I will keep moving up toward more and more valuable members.’. And yet, no demands had been made. Not even a hint of their motive. At least, overtly speaking.

Jade’s research assignment had been in vain, in the end. The gangs in all of the other regions were not willing to even negotiate their own intel, much to her chagrin. In that department, they were completely stuck.

Whoever… Whatever that thing was, it was certainly trying to set them off. It wanted to lure them out, make them more erratic in their search for the culprit. Maybe it simply wanted to strike fear into their hearts. As if to tell them not even the veteran members were safe from its claws. And she and the rest would remain completely oblivious to the random attacks, as isolated members would continue to be picked off, nothing she and the other Phantoms could do about it before it was too late. It pissed her off.

She was the cursed White Lady, the one everybody feared in Seagate’s nocturnal haven of pleasure and pain. She was sure one day, she would be owning much more than just Seagate as well. So that was why…

A wall shattered behind her. Nothing there, though. She’d probably been too hard on the restaurant’s structure during that fight. But ultimately, what was done was done.

As for that criminal… She could not allow it. The moment death became possible again, all other setbacks were likely to return as well. Allicin was absolute, she knew well. She could not allow that. It was unacceptable to let someone, a coward who couldn’t even face her head on all the more, trespass in her paradise like that. To step on her soil like so was the most pure of insults, thus she had resolved to bring that enemy down, no matter the cost.

And yet, no matter how much she searched, she could find nothing. She’d gone everywhere, abandoned warehouses and apartments, deserted landfills, and even along the empty borders of the city. But in spite of that, she still had no idea how to solve that mystery. That imminent threat remained, aiming for her gang.

She heard the dull noise of high-speed wagons approaching far in the distance. The UDSD had been fast in their response, which actually surprised her, considering how intoxicated most usually were during those hours. She’d half-expected most of their forces to have crashed and burned along the way. And maybe they had, she just hadn’t seen it. Still, their response was much quicker than usual. That night, for a change, those buffoons had probably been paying proper attention to their security cameras.

***

They approached the severely damaged entrance to the family restaurant, flashing their lights at the walls and doors. There seemed to have been a lean figure standing in the middle of it, but in the blink of an eye it was gone. There was nothing on the outside. A few of them clumsily stumbled out of the vans to inspect the place, and two of them entered. The others had stayed behind, inspecting a small card they’d spotted on the floor.

It read ‘4D4H 7H95 245K 3RV6’ on the front. On the back was written a single phrase: ‘Clean up this mess.’

Heavily inebriated, they cursed and complained among each other for a short while, but eventually got to work.

High above them, the girl was now sitting at the edge of the building, watching from afar as they ran around. She grabbed her phone and called a certain number.

«Mistress? Is that…? »

“Yeah. The patrols are already on cleanup duty. You guys were slow.”

«N-No, you misunderstand, we saw the notification, and we were already heading…! »

“I know, I know. It’s fine. I felt like doing your job just this once, since I was nearby. No hard feelings here.”

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«Ah… P-Please forgive us, we will be faster next time! » the boy on the other side let out a nervous laugh.

“You better make those words reality, Trent.”

«Yes, ma’am… »

She finished the call, staring at the walkway down there once again. There were still a few pieces of broken glass on the pavement, but damage control seemed to be starting fairly well. Unable to spot any of the patrol members, even through the windows in the vans, meant most of them had already moved inside.

Before she could put away the mobile device again, it started to ring on its own, the small screen indicating an unknown number. She let out a low growl, but forced herself to put it back next to her ear again, accepting the call anyway.

«Hello, Emily. » a ragged, somewhat amused voice resounded in her ear.

She took a deep breath and started speaking, letting out a forced, disturbingly high-pitched version of her voice.

“Hi, Mr. Chairmaaan! How’s the week in the office been??”

«Why, great. Great as always, my dear! I assume you and your friends have been handling little Seagate well? »

“Yes, sir! Everything is in order here.”

«Oh, you have no idea how happy it makes me to hear that, honey. Just make sure you don’t let anybody misbehave over there, okay? You guys are already too old to go around misbehaving, aren’t you? »

“Hahaha! That’s hilarious! Don’t worry, Mr. Chairman, I can take care of the place. Laundering business is at its best this time of the year, no looting has gone noticed, and enhancer sales have only gone up throughout around here, hehe. Additionally, all profits in protection payments and other varied services have gone up by over 10% this month, and your most influential contributors in the city are all happy and thriving. All stats will be relayed to you in detail on Friday this week just as usual! We will be sure to inform the board on their monthly share of the gains soon enough as well, after our commission has been properly calculated. I mean, it’s already April, right? As you can see, there’s no need to fret!”

«I know, I know.” he laughed with her. “You’re a big girl now, aren’t you? I can barely believe you’re the same kid I enlisted half a decade ago! An then Cujo passed away. It was a tragic evening, that… I knew you’d make a great leader even then, but you’ve done nothing but assure me of your competence since the day you were appointed upwards. You have no idea how proud that makes me. »

“Oooohhh, thank you! I always try my best~.”

«You do. And I must say you’ve had quite the knack for managing our fair city, especially in the face of the most… unusual situations. Speaking of which, there is a small matter I would like to discuss with you for a few minutes. Do you mind? »

“No, of course not! You can feel free to tell me anything, Mr. Chairman, your wish is my command.”

«That’s what I like to hear, my dear Emily. Now, listen well. There’s something I wanted to talk to you about? »

“Ehhh? What is it?”

«There have been sightings of a mysterious figure around the West District lately. Someone who has been taking some… not very savory actions. Since the beginning of last month, our security forces have been trying to track this individual, with varying results. Simply put, we couldn’t quite find them in the end, but judging from footage we have captured, it seems they were headed toward Seagate City. In fact, the last we saw of them was three weeks ago, inside the city. They were attacking some of yours. I trust you’re aware of what I’m referring to.»

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