Two weeks later, I crept along the darkened streets.

In the wake of my raid on the mansion, the Grunters had stopped a lot of their operations. The Torrance Towers club stood abandoned and the fighting pits were closed for a bit.

That left me with few options for locating the remaining suits. I had to destroy six more in order to finish the quest - and, probably, finish the fighting power of the Grunters for good.

That still left me with the challenge of finding Gravitic and Grumman, of course. I had few illusions about my ability to stand off against two ultras together - Dreamspeaker had gotten closer to finishing me than all the other suits put together.

Simply put, even powered combat armor did not put a man in the same league as an ultra. As one anchor put it, even the weakest ultra could potentially hold off the entire police department - which made taking on someone like the Grunters a chancy proposition at best.

Of course, the cops were thrilled that someone had actually fought the Grunters.

I wasn’t equally thrilled. It hadn’t been a laser that had ended Hilary Drake’s life.

Still, there were advantages to being in the cops’ good books. At least with some cops.

I reached the alley and rapped on the window of the parked sedan.

Detective Cassander rolled the window down. “Belessar,” he greeted me. “It’s two a.m.”

“I thought you’d prefer a time with less chances of detection,” I replied.

“For which you keep me from my warm bed and family?”

“You know it’s worth it.”

Cassander sighed. “Here’s the information you wanted.” He handed over an envelope.

“Real, honest-to-goodness paper?”

“It’s electronically untraceable. Like cash. Speaking of which...”

I nodded and handed over an envelope of my own. “Five thousand. As promised.”

The detective opened the envelope and cursorily glanced through the bills. “Pleasure doing business with you, Belessar.”

“See you around, Detective.”

As the detective drove off, I stepped into an alcove and opened the envelope.

Photographs of several different locations. A bar. A hotel. A pay-per-hour parking lot. A VR centre. Behind each were Cassander’s comments in neat letters.

Each represented a suspected Grunter or Blackhat location.

I stashed the envelope in Inventory. Detective Cassander had been a fortunate find - a police officer with a hatred for the gangs and significant gambling debts. Better yet, those debts had been to the Grunters - which meant that the gang had forced him to do them ‘favours’ from time to time.

Favours such as helping hide the Grunter hand in each of these places.

I’d thought, at first, that he’d known about the ranch/mansion. Two seconds with Observe on from a distance had cleared that up. Cassander had been fairly low on the totem pole of Grunter informants - and he’d been outraged to discover the true extent of their depravity. Not to mention low on funds.

Convincing him to fork over information on the Grunters in return for cash?

I didn’t even need Persuasion Points.

I waited a few minutes, then headed off to my second destination of the night.

Maria opened the door in response to my knock. “Belessar,” she nodded. “Thank you for coming.”

“You’re welcome,” I replied. “No security?”

“We have CCTV.” She pointed at the camera. “And a police detail outside, twenty-four-seven.”

“I snuck by them. You need better protection.”

Maria grinned. “Got any more laser guns to spare?”

“Sadly, I’m a little short.”

“Well, you look tall enough to me. Come on in. Drink?”

I parked myself on the couch, taking care not to activate Furniture Destroyer. “Haven’t fitted a mouthpiece for the helmet yet, I’m afraid.”

“Someday, I’ll manage to feed you my cooking.”

“Don’t trust her, Belessar,” came a voice from the kitchen. “We’re lucky she hasn’t poisoned us yet.”

“Hello, Olinda. Is everyone up?”

Olinda stepped out of the kitchen, followed by Kristina. “We didn’t want to miss your visit.”

I took a moment to Observe them.

OLINDA CRUZ

FACTION: FORMER GRUNTER SLAVES

CLASS: FEDERAL WITNESS

HP 85/85

RELATIONSHIP: LOYALIST (+6)

A FORMER ART STUDENT FROM EAST TIMOR, OLINDA CAME TO THE USA AFTER BEING ABDUCTED BY THE GRUNTERS POST THE ALIEN ATTACK ON HER HOMETOWN OF DILI. SHE ENJOYS COOKING AND WANTS TO GO TO CULINARY SCHOOL.

KRISTINA SABO

FACTION: FORMER GRUNTER SLAVES

CLASS: FEDERAL WITNESS

HP 65/90

RELATIONSHIP: LOYALIST (+6)

AS AN EXCHANGE STUDENT AT DILI UNIVERSITY, KRISTINA HAD A STRONG BENT FOR MATHEMATICS AND WAS LEARNING IMAGE PROCESSING. SHE HAS DECIDED TO RESUME HER STUDIES IN THE USA, SUBJECT TO BEING GRANTED REFUGEE STATUS.

DURING HER CAPTIVITY, SHE WAS FORCIBLY ADDICTED TO METH, BUT IS NOW TRYING TO BREAK FREE OFF THE ADDICTION. SOME DAYS ARE BETTER THAN OTHERS.

STATUS EFFECTS: ADDICTION (METH) DETOX.

DETOX: 25% CHANCE OF 10-20 HP LOSS PER DAY.

“Kristina,” I greeted her. “How was today?”

Kristina shrugged. “Difficult. Got the shakes again. Getting better, though.”

“Stand still for a minute, please.” I cast Heal on Kristina. As the golden light washed over her, I could see her HP rise back to 90.

The girl shuddered. “That feels… nice. Tingly.”

“Try not to get used to it. You need to beat the drug on your own.”

The other two nodded in agreement.

The room fell silent for a moment, as the three women seated themselves around the dining table.

Maria was the first to speak. “We spoke to the DA’s office again today. They’re working towards getting the remaining Grunters pinned down.”

“Any specific information?”

“Imbiana’s lawyer let slip that they’re scouting out a hotel in Priam Street. Fairly close to where that school used to be.”

“North Priamist High?”

“Yes, that one. Supposedly some irregularities.”

I frowned. “How did her lawyer get the information?”

“Imbiana’s very persuasive.”

“I hope no-one’s pressuring her to do anything she’s not… comfortable with.”

“Why, Belessar,” smirked Maria, “you wound us.”

Olinda shook her head gravely. “All Imbiana does is break into tears whenever she wants something. Her lawyer’s a soft touch.”

“Or has a soft corner for her,” pointed out Maria. “Don’t worry, Belessar - none of us is going to be forced into a corner without choices again.” The last sentence was said with a hint of steel. “We make our own choices from this point on.”

“And we choose,” added Olinda, “to get you every scrap of information about the Grunters we can.”

I nodded, acknowledging the point.

The District Attorney’s office had filed charges for hundreds of counts of rape, torture, illegal confinement, trafficking, child abuse, and dozens of other crimes against the surviving members of the Grunters - and against Grumman in absentia, with the eighty-odd survivors of the Grunter mansion as key witnesses. With over sixty lawyers, hundreds of policemen, and dozens of journalists meeting them on a regular basis, many of whom were ‘in the know’ about operations against the Grunters, there were always ‘scraps of information’ about their operations passed around.

Between Cassander, the information my ‘loyalists’ gathered, and Nanocloud’s ever-expanding surveillance operation, we were starting to get solid clues on the surviving gangsters’ whereabouts.

“Anything about Gravitic or Grumman?” I asked.

Kristina spoke up. “My dealer reached out to me. He mentioned something about a new lab. Wants money, though.”

“How much?”

“I can get it for free if we need….”

“How much, Kristina?” I repeated. The three jumped slightly.

Maybe I was a bit harsher than I should have been. Kristina gulped. “Five grand.”

I pulled out a wad of cash. “Tell him half now, half if it’s solid information.”

The three women exchanged glances. “You’re leaving two-and-a-half grand with us?” asked Olinda.

“I’m leaving five. If the information pans out, you’ll know, and the dealer will come running for his cut. I’m not making a separate trip just to pay him.”

Maria nodded. “It’ll be solid, Belessar.”

“Good.” I got up to leave. “Mail me when you have the information.”