“A prison?”

“Well, more or less,” Aline mused. “Not anything like what you’re thinking of, probably.”

“And we have to travel through there, right?”

“Yeah,” Jade laughed. “It’s… interesting. You’ll see for yourself soon enough.”

“Not as soon as you would have if we had been caught in the Glass Heart though,” Aline joked before the group turned quiet. Maybe it was too soon to joke at the misfortune of the others.

To break the awkwardness, Nina pressed the button by her seat to show them that they were indeed travelling at a fraction over 1,200km/h. She had been concerned during their escape from KF-14 that the capsules may be stopped and searched, but she relaxed once she saw how far away they had moved. As there were so many towers in Neo Luesa, it was impossible for them to increase the suit patrols at every station. Now that they had been whisked away, finding them would be like finding a needle in a haystack. Or so she hoped.

Her thoughts turned to the weight of the pistol that she could feel against her ribs. If they were caught, would she need to use it? Would Jade and Aline start firing, or was it better to give up and at least come out in one piece? Sure they would have their weapons confiscated and be dropped to the badlands below, but wouldn’t it be possible to wait for the rest of The Cloud Orchestra to come and pick them up?

“It’s possible, but easier said than done,” Aline replied when Nina asked her the question. “We do have a hangout of sorts at a place called Juicer, but getting there isn’t so easy. The badlands have their own societies, their own towns, and their own businesses. SuTSU don’t care about what happens to anyone there, so it has developed all in itself. Just like the lower floors here, they don’t bother with the people that live in the badlands.”

“You do not want to go down there by yourself,” Jade stressed. “You can imagine what happens to a defenseless girl who lands in the middle of a pack of wolves.”

Nina swallowed. Maybe it was better to be shot by SuTSU forces after all. There were plenty of fates that were worse than death, and it sounded like the plate below them had more than just a few to offer. Sticking close to Svanda when it was their time to pass through the badlands was starting to seem like a pretty good idea.

Not wanting to take any more risks than needed, the group only took a single break during the return trip. While Jade complained that the already long trip was made even worse due to a lack of snacks, it was obvious that she agreed that they should be laying low at The Cloud Orchestra as soon as possible. Much to their relief, their capsule stopped in JE-22 without an issue before the trio made their escape through the tunnel from the small store on the far platform.

“I haven’t been this glad to be back for a while,” Aline said as they entered the apartment behind The Cloud Orchestra. After making their way to the office, Nina sighed in relief as they pushed through the door.

“I’m sure glad to see you all,” Reina said as she glided out of her office. “I was worried that we wouldn’t get through to you in time.”

Nina saw that everyone else from The Cloud Orchestra was sitting at their desks. Jade had already sent a message through that they had made it out safely, but the lingering concerns were washed away once they had stepped through the door. Even Saela was smiling, although she was sure that it was only because Jade and Aline had returned safely. Even if Saela wasn’t completely genuine, seeing the smiles from the rest of the group made Nina feel warm. After having nothing to do with her own family from an early age and a consistent lack of friends throughout her life, this was the first time in a while that she felt as though someone cared about her wellbeing. Sure you could say that her superiors at her office job cared about her wellbeing, but that was because she needed to be well to work. Her issues as a person had always been something that they couldn’t care less about.

“Thanks,” Nina said as her hands fidgeted together in front of her. While this was usually the time where she would retreat to her bedroom before diving under the blankets, she strangely didn’t feel like it. Instead, she walked past a beaming Reina before taking her place at her desk that Svanda had shown her before she had left.

“Welcome back,” Svanda smiled as she pat Nina on the shoulder. “It wasn’t a close call, was it?”

“Actually, it was,” Nina replied before quickly explaining their brush with the suits only a few streets away from Glass Heart. Reina sat down at the empty desk across from Svanda’s before listening with interest to Nina’s story, concern crossing her face as the suits were mentioned.

“They didn’t check your bands?”

“They didn’t ask us,” Nina replied.

“I had us walk on their right,” Aline replied with a different answer to Nina. “It should be fine, I don’t think it was possible for them to see from there.”

“On their right?” Nina asked.

“We walked along the left wall, remember?”

“Yeah, why does that matter?”

“Look at your band.”

Nina took off her armband. She had never really paid much attention to it, besides that it was orange and had a big barcode on it. There was, however, one extra feature that she had forgotten about. Along with the barcode that could be scanned, there was another thing that she realised would have caused some problems. Printed above the barcode was text that read ‘JE-22,’ something which would have narrowed the gigantic haystack that was Neo Luesa down to only 45 floors of a tower.

“Good thinking, you should be clear then,” Reina breathed a sigh of relief, although she was clearly impressed by the quick thinking. They didn’t want SuTSU snooping around any closer than they were now for any reason at all. “Did you complete the delivery before SuTSU turned up?”

“By about five minutes,” Jade frowned. “I didn’t even get to finish my first drink.”

“If the job was complete then I can charge the account regardless of what happened afterwards,” Reina smiled before her expression turned sour. “The whole issue is going to be a headache that I don’t want to deal with though. I’ll have to cross check their associates and ours in case the source of the leak is somewhere in the middle.”

“I bought the general news package, it’s here,” Aline said as she waved the memory stick above her head before dropping it onto her desk. Before Reina could respond, however, a different hand had leaned over to pick it up.

“Don’t mind if I do,” Trim laughed as she slid the stick into her computer before trying to open the drive. “What’s the password?”

Aline looked over to Reina for approval. Seeing her nod, she leaned back in her chair. “gh03.”

“Thanks,” Trim replied as she clicked her mouse a few times before the files started to extract. “Did you look yet?”

“No, I didn’t have time before we got the message from Euris.”

“Thank her later,” Reina smiled. “I don’t know what she was up to or how she got it, but I’ll have to reward her.”

“Me too,” Aline said as she remembered the close encounter. “If you don’t mind though, it’s been a long day. I’ll go and take a shower.” Seeing Reina nod, she stood up before disappearing up the stairs. Seeing that she was leaving, Jade hopped up from her desk before bouncing up the stairs behind her.

Reina and the group watched them go before she turned her attention to Nina. “Tell us more about this SuTSU squad that stopped you. They didn’t give any clues to how they knew where they were going?”

Nina explained about how the man that was leading the squad had been dressed differently before recalling his opening line about glassware. Seeing Reina frown, she continued to where he had stopped them while describing his features. When she added the last part about seemingly being recognized, Reina seemed to be lost in thought.

“I don’t know who he is,” she said after Nina had finished. “But differently coloured uniforms are worn by higher ranking members of SuTSU. The fact that he recognized you is strange though.”

Nina didn’t know why that would be an issue, especially after she had said no. He hadn’t pressed the issue and seemed to take what she said at face value. Like Jade had mentioned, it would be almost impossible to forget someone that looked like that in the first place. She certainly wouldn’t be forgetting about him any time soon.

She thought that maybe she should ask for Reina’s approval to spend a couple of days by herself while she was here. Surely she had been left feeling slightly guilty after her first job had almost ended up being her last. All Nina would have to do was reinforce the idea that the three of them needed to lay low for a while. It wouldn’t be great if a SuTSU sweep ran into any of them after their descriptions were potentially handed out.

“Is there any way that Euris can see if there was a report submitted about us?”

“Maybe,” Reina sighed. “It depends on whether they only keep it on one of their internal networks or not. Information from inside an internal SuTSU network is too expensive for us.”

“Loan Euris out to Network and get her to ‘borrow’ their files,” Svanda suggested with a smile.

“I don’t know what would be harder, borrowing the database of the most powerful non-SuTSU information network on the plate or getting Euris to leave her office.”

“Probably the latter,” Trim chimed in as she withdrew the memory stick from her computer before tossing it through the air to Reina. Seeing that she caught it, she got up and stretched. “It’s interesting reading, but there’s nothing useful. Now that the girls are back, I’m going out.”

“So am I,” said Saela as her head popped up from behind the partition. After quickly scowling when her gaze met Nina’s, she turned on her heel and moved towards the airlock, using the front entrance as she usually did.

“She’ll come around soon,” Reina smiled. “Hopefully,” she added as she watched Saela disappear down the hallway before turning to Nina. “But now you should get some rest,” she said as she stood up before stepping back into her office. “We’ll keep our eyes out for anything that might be a problem, so lay low for a couple of days.”

Nina nodded in response before stifling a yawn. Now that the group had broken up, the muted atmosphere left her suddenly feeling tired. It had been a long day, and a shower and some rest would probably do her good. She didn’t think that there would be any issues because they had escaped without leaving a trace, but being cautious wasn’t a bad idea either. If what Jade and Aline had said earlier was correct, they would probably be leaving Luem soon anyway which would help keep them occupied while SuTSU looked in the wrong place.

After taking a second glance at Reina who had inserted the memory stick into her work computer and was now reading the contents, Nina sighed before heading up to her room to have a shower. The book that she had started before she left was waiting for her, and something told her that now she might have a couple of days to get through it.