The black van took the rear service exit and left the Raytronics Corporation headquarters' surveillance space behind. As they approached the alleyway leading out onto the street, Igor pressed a button on the dashboard. The van's exterior flickered and turned white, displaying the logo of the Alluminate Cleaning Services on every surface.
They drove around the corner and parked by the roadside. Before Raven could question what Igor was doing, half a dozen SLPD anti-terrorism armored vehicles rounded the corner. They were followed by patrol cars with their sirens blaring. Raven peered at the sky outside the window and saw three hovercars flying overhead in formation, their undersides flickering in red and blue.
"Give paper bag from the... that..." Igor spoke in a thick accent and pointed at the glove box. Raven furrowed her brow, but did as she was asked. There were three paper bags in the compartment, likely each containing sandwiches, judging by the weight of the one she took out for him. "You take one, too."
As the anti-terrorism unit prepared to storm the Raytronics Corporation's premises, the regular police started to cordon off the street. One patrol car stopped near them. Igor produced a half-eaten sandwich from his paper bag and took a bite from it. Raven peered into hers and found it prepared with similar bite marks.
"This is an anti-terror operation, clear the area!" Two beat cops in full gear approached their van and called out to them through the megaphones on their belts. Igor rolled down the window and shrugged at them with his mouth full, showing off his sandwich. "You can take your break two blocks down from here. Now move!"
Igor hastily started the motor and drove in reverse, away from the police as they shook their heads at his nerve. Only when he reached a safe distance did he turn the van around. Raven looked over her shoulder and found Neri relaxing in his seat with the unconscious David Song hidden under a blanket. She knew that the Starlight Police Department was notoriously incompetent, but she did not expect to get away without even a chase.
The hulking driver was wholly focused on the road, leaving his alibi sandwich out on the dashboard. Raven glanced at it repeatedly as it swayed with the movements of the van. But her gaze was drawn toward the view opening up before them when they drove up the ramp to the highway. She stared at the city center rising toward the sky with bitter eyes.
There were stars visible even at midday, shining through the rainbow-colored spider-web-like Aurora Stellaris spanning most of the city's sky. Nobody remembered when exactly it appeared, as if it had been erased from humanity's collective memory. But its existence was what gave Starlight City its name. And it was what made this city unique in the world as the birthplace of magic.
Thirteen years ago, the first magical monster appeared in the city. Conventional weapons proved entirely ineffective. But when all seemed lost, one mysterious girl wielding unimaginable magic emerged to slay it. Over the following year, countless more threats, both supernatural and mundane, surfaced in Starlight City. And new magical girls rose to the occasion.
Flameheart was one of those first-generation magical girls, alongside Cloud Eleven, Tidebreaker, Brilliant Spark, and Songcaller. At first, most remained vigilantes, hiding their identities to protect their loved ones from harm. But those who worked with law enforcement enabled research into the supernatural. Within a short few years, scientists developed a synthesis of magic and technology, magitech for short. Regular humans without a hint of magical energy in their bodies became able to use magitech weapons to fight low-ranking monsters.
Raven glimpsed in passing one such monster in an alleyway. It was being fought off by two police officers using 9mm auroraglass bullets. Even a beat cop was able to deal with the lesser creatures that could only manifest in this world by taking over the body of a small animal. Magical girls didn't need to patrol the streets day and night anymore. They could concentrate on the bigger threats.
It was all so tiresome. Twelve years ago, it felt like they made a difference. But these days, monster attacks and the city's defenders' response had become so commonplace that people in the vicinity didn't cheer anymore once the threat was over. In fact, most didn't even stay to watch it unfold.
Routine. That was the word Raven thought of. Even before she and her friends had graduated from high school, this life filled with magical battles had become rather routine. The emergence of monsters and magitech had not changed society. It had become only another point of contention to split people's opinions and make money with. The city even had the leisure to establish a daily ranking for the most effective magical girl.
Flameheart had participated in it innocently, maintaining first place for four years straight since its inception. She had revealed her secret identity alongside her friends, impressionable teenagers who craved attention, signing with the government and corporations to fight magical crime. They had done much good, but sacrificed their integrity as defenders of justice. Sell-outs. That was what fellow magical girls who continued to be vigilantes had called them.
Yet, Flameheart had believed that they still fought for justice, to save the common people from the supernatural, otherworldly threat emerging from the Aurora Stellaris. But reality had no big final battle, after which the heroes rode off into the sunset for their happy ever after. The world continued to turn after the first-generation magical girls died to defeat the deep dweller threat in the Ultradeep Borehole Research Facility. Nothing had changed since then.
In fact, it had only gotten worse.
"That's an ugly expression," Neri said from the back of the van, pulling Raven from her thoughts. They had entered a tunnel, and her face was reflected on the inside of the windscreen. She wore a grimace, a mixture of a smile, sadness, and unending rage. "Thinking unnecessary things again?"
Raven straightened her expression and gave him the silent treatment. Neri shrugged with a scoff and leaned back. They called her the ice queen for a reason. The day she thawed would be the day they died, for only murderous wrath directed at them would make her change her expression for their eyes to see. At least that was the bet he had with Igor.
The van exited the tunnel, revealing the industrial district. Raytronics Corporation had a facility here, like any other magitech corporation headquartered in Starlight City. Raven watched the logos fly by, every one a potential enemy. Some very real enemies. The only people she could trust were those who thought the same.
Soon, they left behind the clean and polished factories and reached a street filled with warehouses as far as the eye could see. The only vehicles sharing the road were big rigs and the occasional specialized self-propelled machinery. Igor turned into an abandoned-looking warehouse complex and drove through its winding roads. Neri looked out their rear window and checked for potential pursuers one last time. It was a simple formality at this point. They were not being followed.
Finally, the van pulled into a messy workshop and came to a stop. Rusted tools and broken machinery lay strewn about its large interior. There were many such cases in this district. A direct result of the rapid rise of magitech rendering some older technologies obsolete. In due time, the expanding corporations would swallow up this area and refurbish it to grow their operations. For now, it was a blind spot, the perfect place for a terrorist hideout.
"Help me out here, big man," Neri called out to Igor as he removed the blanket covering the CEO. He was still unconscious.
"I only driver." The big man in question heaved his large frame out of the van and stretched his limbs. Like a pirate on land, his gait was unsteady as he walked deeper into the warehouse.
"Are you kidding me?!" Neri opened the sliding door and shouted, but Igor ignored him.
"Let me take him," Raven rounded the car and said. Before Neri could respond, she pulled David Song up by the collar and flung him over her shoulder. She walked after Igor, wholly unburdened by carrying the weight of a grown adult by herself.
"... what did I even come along for?" Neri muttered to himself as he closed the van door behind him. He paused and scratched the back of his head before following the black-haired girl with a sniff.
Igor waited by a machine that dwarfed even him. He pressed the emergency power-off button even though it was rusted all over and didn't look like it would ever work again. Then he reached into an opening and fumbled for something. He found the hidden button and pressed it while counting to three. A clicking sound signaled that he had done it right, and he quickly pulled his arm free.
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The machine came to life with a rumble. But instead of fulfilling its now obsolete purpose, it slid aside to reveal a set of hidden stairs leading down to a basement. A rusted metal door with a dusty keypad barred the way forward at the bottom. Igor squeezed his large frame down the narrow opening and input the code with practiced fingers. Finally, the last safety feature disengaged, and they could enter.
The other side of the door was perfectly clean and polished. The hidden basement was more extensive than the small doorway suggested. After Igor entered sideways, he could walk unbothered on the gangway inside. Raven followed with the unconscious CEO on her shoulder. Neri closed the door behind him and pressed a button by the doorframe on the other side. The sound of the heavy machine above sliding back into position echoed through the underground as the trio continued.
The gangway turned into a gallery overlooking a chamber filled to the brim with humming server racks. Thick cables ran across the ground like the tentacles of an eldritch machine god, converging into the base of a black monolith. Its surface seemed to swallow light itself, creating an aura of non-perception. A Thoughtmend Stele. If the corporations knew that one of these was not under their control, they would move heaven and earth to retrieve it.
"Welcome back," came a calm female voice from seemingly inside the monolith. "A job well done."
"It was easier than I thought," Neri commented with a shrug.
"Because Raven did all," said Igor as he climbed down the stairs to the base level.
"Well, my real work begins now..." the blond man muttered under his breath.
As they approached the Thoughtmend Stele, a girl in a wheelchair came into view behind it. She had silver hair flowing over her shoulders and arms like a waterfall. The silver eyebrows and eyelashes were a sign that the color was natural, or perhaps magical. The scarf over her shoulders and the oversized knit sweater only accentuated how skinny she was. A thick blanket covered her legs.
She was Nightingale, Starlight City's one and only nightmare-class hacker and living urban legend.
A black cable seemed to be attached to the back of her neck where her hair parted. A Thoughtmend Brainstem Interface, or TBI for short. It was an experimental magitech implant developed over the past few years, allowing people without inherent magic to interface with a Thoughtmend Stele. Only a handful of people in the world had it, owing to the rarity of the materials necessary and the dangers of the procedure.
"No mention of our little stunt on the networks. Full information blackout. That means we got away with it, for now," said the voice from inside the Thoughtmend Stele. Nightingale stirred and raised a bony hand weakly to reach for her neck.
Raven placed David Song in Neri's hands and quickly bridged the distance to help her out. She turned something at the connection port, then pulled out the cable with three pins, each as long as her little finger. The embedded port in Nightingale's slender neck revealed surgery scars that went down the spine, disappearing under her clothes. Raven put the cable aside and took up a wooden brush to sweep her parted hair back together.
"You don't have to do this," whispered Nightingale, speaking through her own, barely parted lips now. Her eyelids remained closed, the eyes underneath completely still. She sounded very different from the self-confident and feisty voice over the comms. It felt like she could disappear at any moment, her ethereal appearance the image of an existence as fleeting as her shallow breaths.
"I want to," said Raven as she diligently removed the last unevenness in the wheelchair-bound girl's silver hair.
Igor and Neri exchanged a heavy-hearted look. The hulking man went back on his earlier words and helped Neri carry David Song into the next room over, leaving the two girls to themselves.
"Robin returned to her dormitory shortly before you arrived," Nightingale reported.
"I see," responded Raven as she grasped the wheelchair's handles and started pushing Nightingale past the rows of servers toward a door on the opposite side of the room.
"With this, we have taken the first step, right?" The ephemeral girl turned as if to look up at Raven, even though she was blind. "There is no going back."
"Yes," came the black-haired girl's terse answer.
The automatic door opened to reveal a small bedroom, devoid of any decorations, filled with a medicinal stench. The blanket on the medical bed was messy, and the desk and floor were covered with drugs in packets and bottles. Most were already empty, but nobody had been here to help clean in weeks.
"Excuse me." Raven raised Nightingale's arm off the wheelchair handle, then flipped it down. She lifted the girl in a princess carry, her face grimacing as she noticed how light she was once again. Nightingale tried to raise her arm over Raven's shoulder, but couldn't muster the strength. A moment later, she lay on her bed, pouting. "What's wrong?"
"Nothing." The silver-haired girl tried to hide her expression by turning her head away, but Raven could see it anyway. She turned to walk to the desk, but something pulled weakly on the hem of her leather jacket. "You don't have to bottle it up."
Raven blinked. Blind and too weak to survive on her own. Yet, she could see right through her.
"I killed humans again..."
"You had to."
"One of them was a magical girl..."
"A slave to the corporations."
"She was still only in high school..." Raven's expression crumpled, and she fell on her knees beside Nightingale's bed. "I became the monster that stole away someone's most beloved..."
She felt an almost skeletal hand on her head and flinched. To her, it might as well have been the reaper, finally coming for her life, as he should have two years ago. Then, she would be able to see her friends and family in the afterlife again.
But the caress was gentle and surprisingly warm. Nightingale poured all her love into her weak touch. She barely moved her hand, but it conveyed more than the fiercest embrace could have. Raven teared up. She quickly buried her face in the sheets to muffle her voice as she screamed out her grief.
David Song howled in shock when he awoke from the bucketful of cold water being poured over his head. Immediately, he felt his entire body burning from a myriad of needles prickling him at the same time. His hastened breaths only drew painful, freezing cold. He looked around and found himself stripped bare, sitting on a chair in a room illuminated by a weak lamp on the bare, frozen wall in front of him. His wrists were bound to the armrests, and his ankles were tied to the chair legs.
"You have less than five minutes before you freeze to death," came a voice from behind him, speaking with a noticeable foreign accent. It was the man with the blond, slicked-back hair he had seen in the underground parking garage. The one working with Flameheart. He felt thick-gloved hands on his shoulders, offering no warm touch, only a promise of solitary suffering. "The sooner you cooperate, the less likely you will go into shock and become unable to answer. We both don't want that, now do we?"
David Song's teeth clattered uncontrollably, and his whole body shivered violently. The sensation of pins and needles from the cold water freezing across his skin was the only threat he needed. He was a normal person, untrained in withstanding interrogation and torture.
"I-I-I w-w-w-w... ugh... I wi-will t-t-t-ell you anyth-th-thing y-you want t-t-t-to know!" he had a hard time pressing out even a single sentence. Would he be able to tell the torturer what he wanted to hear within those less than five minutes?
"Two years ago, Raytronics Corporation's Ultradeep Borehole Research Facility, the first-generation magical girls. You know the rest. I would like to know, too." The first question got right to the core of the issue. It was what David had expected after seeing Flameheart alive and well, burning his security detail with the power of the sun.
"I-I-I-I don't know a-a-about that! I-I-I... hrk... I was t-t-told to provide the f-fa-facility w-w-without asking q-questions!" he rattled down, trying to force his shivering to stop long enough to formulate full sentences. He understood that the uncontrollable movements of his body were a survival instinct. If it really stopped, he would be close to death.
"Told? By who?" The voice sounded irked. Vague answers would not cut it.
"Th-Th-Theod-deric van d-d-de Riem!" David didn't hesitate to give up someone else's life when his own was on the line. He would have done the same with his wife and children. Such was the conviction of the Raytronics Corporation CEO, or the lack thereof. Nothing was more important than his own survival at this very moment. Everything and everybody else was secondary.
"Theoderic van de Riem, trillionaire, founder and CEO of Starlight Enterprises, godfather of magitech. That Theoderic van de Riem?"
David tried to turn around to look at the blond man, but his muscles wouldn't listen to him. He couldn't even try to rebut his interrogator for wasting time like that. Who else could it be? He felt his shivering grow weaker from the exhaustion.
"When was that?" The voice demanded to know. Officially, the Ultradeep Borehole Research Facility was used by the Raytronics Corporation to test their mining robots in extreme extraterrestrial conditions. But the information they dug up from the company's internal memos showed that it had been abandoned a year prior to the incident, with the hole being sealed with a shield just below the ground level. There were no public records about Starlight Enterprises being involved with it.
"Three... m-months before... the incident," David's speech grew slurred. The shivering had largely stopped, and his head was spinning. His heart pumped painfully in his tightening chest. He could barely breathe now. "P-please..."
"Good, you get to live. If only for a while longer," the voice stated with grim satisfaction. At those words, David felt cold steel on the back of his neck. Then, his entire body jumped, and he blacked out. "Igor."
"Yes, yes," the door to the walk-in freezer opened, and the hulking man stepped in. He lifted the unconscious CEO along with the chair he was bound to and carried him outside. Neri followed him and quickly cut the naked man loose. They placed him on a heated mattress and covered him in a thick blanket. "One more minute and dangerous."
"That's why I'm a professional," said Neri while taking off his thick jacket.
"What if he no talk on time?" Igor seemed unconvinced.
"The same. Just that we wouldn't have gotten our answer yet." The blond man shrugged. "Should I go tell them?"
"Later," the big man said as he toddled out of the room. Neri understood and walked over to the fridge to take out a can of beer.
"The godfather himself, huh?" he muttered as he sat down across the room and observed David Song as he started to shiver again in his unconsciousness. He downed half of the can's content in one go and took a deep breath. There was not a hint of enjoyment in his indulgence. "I hope you know how this one ends, Raven."
