Chapter 95: Chapter 92: Familiar Places, Unfamiliar Faces

Alex looked up at the compound in front of her, heart hammering in her chest. It had been years since she was here, and the building was a far cry from what it had looked like when she had been a member of the Society.

The most obvious change was that the Society’s name was now proudly displayed on the front of the building. Before, the building had been operating under a front business, with the top floor being a hairdresser, if Alex recalled correctly. The basement had been a secret, and was where most of the operatives in that area were housed, as well as where…less than legal items were kept.

The building had been cleaned up and a second floor was added, leaving it almost entirely unrecognizable from the outside. Still…just being there was bringing back bad memories for Alex. Her time in the Society had been a dark one; she had joined out of a sense of frustration with how Haven was run, that a large portion of the world’s population was left in the dark due to unfounded fears and the fact that no progress in anything was ever made.

While she hadn’t agreed with the Society’s methods, she had thought that they would, eventually, be the impetus needed for something to finally change. Or...she had when she had first joined, anyway. The longer she was in the Society, the longer she realized that their efforts were counterproductive, and only reinforced the fears of the close-minded portions of the Council.

But, by then, she had been in too deep. She was a wanted criminal, and all bridges to her previous life had been summarily burned. In the back of her mind, she had known her father would probably take her back, but she just couldn’t stand the thought of proving him right like that. He had always been so overbearing before, and if she had come back to him in that way…she wouldn’t have had a say about almost anything in her life, not for a long time.

In the end, she was glad things had turned out the way they had. She had full autonomy for what seemed like the first time in her life, and that was something she loved. There was an argument to be made that she wasn’t fully autonomous, that no one in the dungeon was, simply by virtue of being dependent on Lilith for her living arrangement, but she didn’t feel that counted.

She was free to leave any time she wanted, and with her skills she would not doubt be able to make a living adventuring. It probably wouldn’t be a glamorous life, but she would be able to provide for herself and Raphi, and that was all that really mattered.

“Alex, are you ready?” Lilith asked, snapping Alex out of her reverie.

“Yeah, I…I’m ready.” Alex said. “I doubt anyone here will recognize me, so…might as well just go, I guess?”

“It’ll be fine.” Lilith soothed. “This place is one of their public fronts and doesn’t have any noteworthy defenses, so even if things go south, I’ll be more than enough to keep you safe. You just let me know if there’s anything you need or want to do, and I’ll make sure you can…do whatever you need.”

“Thank you, Lilith.” Alex said. “It means a lot to me.”

“Don’t even sweat it.” Lilith replied. “So, shall we?”

Alex nodded, and the two entered the building. Inside was a rather stressed receptionist typing away at a computer. “Hi, I’ll be with you in a moment.” She said, not looking up at the entryway. She typed for a few more moments, then looked up. “Thanks for wai – oh.” She paled instantly as she caught sight of Lilith. “Um…w-what can I do for you, miss?”

“I will be touring the premises.” Lilith said. “And if you don’t want me blasting doors open left and right, then I will need your keys.”

The woman reached a trembling hand down below the desk, grabbed something, then brought her hand back up, sliding a keyring over the desk. “I-I don’t have all the keys.” She said. “This only works for the low security doors.”

“I’ll figure something out.” Lilith said. She paused, looking the woman over. “I suggest you go home early today and think about your career choices. If I find you in a situation like this again, I won’t be lenient, understood?”

“U-understood.” The woman said, frantically nodding. “I’ll…um, be going, then.”

Lilith waved her away, and the woman hurriedly grabbed some stuff from the desk, then ran out of the building.

“So, do you want to start from the top and work our way down or start from the bottom and work our way up?” Lilith asked, lazily spinning the keyring around a finger.

“Um…there’s probably not anything important up here, so…start from the bottom?” Alex ventured.

“Start from the bottom it is.” Lilith said. “Could you show me to the basement?”

Alex nodded, taking a look around. “Sure, I can…probably find it. This place is um…a bit different than it was the last time I was here, but I doubt they’ve moved the stairs. They should be near the back, which is…probably through one of these doors?”

Alex walked over to one of the two glass doors towards the side of the room. Those weren’t there when the building was a hairdresser, but surely they hadn’t changed things that drastically. So, she walked up to one of the doors and tried it, only to find it locked. “Um…I might need those keys.”

Lilith tossed her the keys, and Alex quickly thumbed through them before realizing that the door had no keyhole, then swiped the ID card that was attached through the reader. There was a beep, and the door unlocked, allowing Alex to show Lilith into the maze of passages beyond.

It took her a few minutes, but eventually she found the door that was unceremoniously marked maintenance. She fumbled with the keys, found the correct one, then opened the door and revealed a stairway leading down into the basement. “After you.” She said, gesturing downwards.

Lilith nodded, striding down the stairs confidently. She stopped at the landing, casting a glance around the room, then raised a hand, all manner of weaponry flying towards it before disappearing entirely. “Now that those are out of the way, here’s how this is going to go down.” It was around then that Alex reached the landing, peering out into the common room, where a group of shocked-looking people were staring at Lilith.

“You are going to sit there and wait while I perform my investigation.” Lilith instructed. “The Adjudicators are mobilizing as we speak, and will be here shortly to help me comb through any and all documents we find. As a matter of course, I will be looking through your recent memories and ensuring that no documents have been destroyed.

“Should I find that any of you have destroyed evidence, I will be punishing you myself, unless circumstances were extremely extenuating. I already expressly forbade such actions, so I will not be accepting excuses. When the Adjudicators get here, they will deliver further instructions, and I expect them to be followed, understood?”

There was a long silence, then Lilith pointed to one especially nervous person. “You’re going to lead us to where your bosses are.”

“M-me?” The man croaked.

“Yes, you, Ezekiel Brown. Now, hop to it, my colleague and I have a lot of work to be doing, and I would rather our time is not wasted needlessly.”

Ezekiel looked around at his colleagues, and when no one said anything or made any moves to help, began to walk towards a side hallway. “T-this way, m-miss.”

Lilith strode towards Ezekiel, and Alex followed behind awkwardly. She felt like everyone was staring at her, which…they were, but it felt like they were staring at her because they recognized her. It was silly, because she didn’t even recognize anyone in the room herself, but she couldn’t help it.

Lilith, do they…you know… Alex asked mentally.

No. Most of these people are new to the organization. In fact, almost everyone I’ve seen in any of these buildings was new to the organization. It’s like…ninety percent new people. They lost a lot of people after the Shift, and I think they want most of their front-facing people to be new anyway, it’s better for PR.

Oh. Alex replied. Yeah, I…guess that makes sense.

I’ll let you know if anyone is actually getting suspicious about you. Lilith said. So, don’t sweat it.

They walked in silence until Alex spotted a door she recognized. “Stop here.” She said, causing Ezekiel to jump in s hock.

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“W-what? T-this is just the d-dorm room, w-why?”

“Personal vendetta.” Alex replied.

Ezekiel gave a nervous look at Lilith, who nodded. “If she says we’re stopping here, we’re stopping here.”

Alex flashed Lilith a smile, then walked into the room. Like most of the basement she had seen, it was almost exactly like it had been when she had been a member of the Society. The main difference was that it was cleaner, and much less…lived-in. The beds were all made, and only one or two had personal belongings nearby.

As she walked down the rows of beds, she was pleased to find that the one she was looking for was not one of the ones that was currently in use. Even so, it brought back bad memories; this had been the place where she slept when she lived here, and it rarely was a peaceful sleep. It was almost always filled with fear, pain, regret, or some combination of the three.

She gazed at the bed for a few moments, then cast a spell. She watched in satisfaction as the bed caught fire and burned, lasting only for a couple of seconds before being reduced to ash. She cut the flow of Mana to the spell and the rest of the fire vanished, leaving only the smell of fire and the ash in its wake.

“I’m done.” She said happily. “We can be on our way.”

“W-what?!” Ezekiel yelped. “W-why would you do that?!”

Alex waved a hand dismissively. “I have bad memories of this place. I doubt you’d understand, so let’s just keep moving, okay?”

“You heard the lady.” Lilith prompted. “Back on course.”

Once they were back on their journey towards the deeper parts of the facility, Lilith began to speak to Alex telepathically again. Why that bed? Was it where someone you hated slept or something?

I…suppose you could say that. Alex admitted. It was my bed. I just wanted to…permanently distance myself from it, you know? Sorry if it like…jeopardizes your operation or something.

Why would it? Lilith asked.

It’s collateral damage, I guess? It could like…sour your reputation if people heard about it?

I literally threatened to destroy all the doors in this place, I’m not worried about collateral damage. Sure, it’ll sound a little weird, but what are people going to think? That I just really hate beds?

Alex snorted, then quickly caught herself. It can be spun out of proportion. The rumor mill is a powerful thing.

It’s going to be blown out of proportion regardless of what we do here. I’m basically sending in a SWAT team to look at paperwork, people are going to make a lot of unfounded assumptions. At the end of the day, it’ll be a drop in the bucket, your wellbeing is much more important to me.

I already assumed there would be some sort of…heated discussion at the very least, and I’m willing to handle anything up to total destruction of several rooms. If they actually attack us or otherwise provoke me, I’m prepared to go a lot farther. So, yeah, just don’t worry about it.

Thanks, I –

“W-we’re here!” Ezekiel blurted out. They were, indeed, at the door that Alex remembered was where the bigwigs did…whatever they did. They weren’t very transparent when she was a part of the organization, choosing only to come out and interact with the rank and file on rare occasions.

“I-I don’t have access here, so I c-can’t get you in, and I-I um…” Ezekiel stammered, “uh, d-don’t know if the bosses are h-here, though.”

“That’s fine.” Lilith replied. “Please head back to the common room and wait for further instructions.”

“Y-yes!” Ezekiel squeaked, then scampered off back the way they had come.

Lilith tried the door, and it was, to neither of their surprise, locked. “What are the odds that you have the key for it in that keyring?” She asked.

“Slim to none.” Alex confirmed. “This place is usually locked up tight. I’ve never actually been inside myself, and chances are no one else we’ve seen has, either.”

“Let’s not bother trying the keys, then.” Lilith replied. She reeled back, and then, to Alex’s shock, thrust her hand through the metal door, grabbed it, and tore it out of its place in the wall. An alarm started blaring, but Lilith knelt down near some exposed wiring, and after a moment it soon stopped.

“Why did you do it like that?” Alex asked. It was sometimes easy to forget that Lilith was likely the physically strongest thing to ever walk the face of the earth, but then she’d casually do something like this and remind Alex that, yes, she was a Perfect Chimera, and yes, she had a lot of extra stuff on top of that.

“Honestly? I kinda just wanted to see if I could. That and it’s sort of therapeutic to break stuff with your bare hands. Anyway, Mae’s already gone through and checked, there’s no one back here. I imagine all the important people jumped ship long before we got here.”

“Isn’t that kind of worrying? I thought getting to them was the main reason we were doing this in the first place.”

Lilith shrugged. “I know where all the really important people are, so it’s just a matter of time. They can destroy data or hide all they like, I’ll come for them just the same, and I’ll take what I need from their skulls. This is…well, almost theatrics, for the benefit of normal people. Plus, actual hard evidence is easier for normal people to trust than stuff I just take from people’s brains. Anyway, wanna destroy anything in here?”

Alex blinked. “No? I don’t think so, anyway. I got that out of my system with the bed. I’m more interested in just poking around and seeing what’s here.”

“Cool. I guess we’ll split up and search for clues, then. Give me a shout if you find anything, or if you encounter a problem. Nuwa’s keeping an eye on you too, so don’t worry about being blindsided.”

Alex nodded. “Will do.” With that, she left Lilith’s side and began to look through the rooms beyond the door. By and large, they were…boring. There was a living space of much higher quality than the one she had lived in, with rooms that only had one bed per room, a separate kitchen, and even what looked like a nice home gym.

There were a couple of offices, but they had all been stripped clean. There were no papers, no computers, nothing that held any sort of data at all. Eventually, after five or ten minutes of exploring, she met back up with Lilith. “I found nothing.” She said. “You?”

“Same. I had suspected this would be the case, though. Anything else you want to do before we leave the Adjudicators to check the rest of this place?”

Alex shook her head. “I’m as satisfied as I can be, I think. I probably would have gotten more closure if I was actually able to see someone I knew, but…well, we can’t exactly control that, can we?”

“I suppose not.” Lilith said. “Let’s be off, then.”