SORRY ! I DID NOT MEAN TO DO THAT ! I AM SO SORRRY ! SORRY !

Calm down, White Prism. You’re not at fault here. Charlotte stared at the sky, sighing, while her back kept company to the wall at the other side of the desolate street. Her mouth chewed on a gum constantly, changing its movement speed to fast or slow in between thoughts.

I AM AT FAULT ! HAD I CHECKED ON IT BEFORE TRYING ANYTHING , IT COULD BE AVOIDED !

Yes, but there’s no way for you to know that. We never considered that yellow mana was able to stop nerve’s signals to cause a heart attack, and that taking it away would make all those signals to flood the heart, making it to overwork to the point of exploding… It’s not your fault, you did what I requested, I’m the one to blame. I told you, we’re not perfect and experience is what makes us grow.

BUT !

Leave it, if you still feel guilty, then make sure to correct my mistaken instructions next time, but don’t blame yourself even if you can’t. You’re just a newborn, too inexperienced. You are NOT at fault. Charlotte turned her head to the noise produced by the vehicle coming her way, big like a bus but without windows, it had the Alliance’s crest on its front. It stopped behind the black ambulance where the three heartless bodies found their way. Finally here.

She let go of the wall before spitting out the gum, and walked to the smiling whale’s only door to wait for the new arrivals. A group of five walked out of the car, with Farid leading them and Kiri mixed with the other three. The black man with spiked red hair let his group behind as he hurried towards Charlotte.

“Glad to see you’re fine, Hiro.” He said with a smile.

Raising a brow, Charlotte smiled wryly. “Given the circumstances, it’s everything but a nice meeting, Farid.”

“Oh, right.” He brought his hand to the back of his head without changing much of his expression.

“So, what did you call us for?” Kiri asked once her group was close enough. “We’re out in another mission so we don’t have much time.”

“Right.” Charlotte nodded. “Let’s go inside, I’ll explain on the way to the control room.”

Two men of the group stood near the door while the others followed her inside. She called one of her fellow members and asked him to show them the way to the control room. Some of the men, both from Luxuria and the Alliance looked at her group weirdly. She told the three going with her what happened in the place as well as her previous hypothesis, finishing with the event half an hour ago.

“Are you sure about that?” Farid asked as they approached the control room on the third floor.

“Not at all. I just think it’s worth considering it.”

“You called us without being sure of it?” The third agent of the Alliance asked with a frown. “You’ll have to pay for making us waste our time.”

“What? I wasn’t the one who wanted to call you. Also, from what I can see, you guys have no leads to those suicidal attacks, so anything can work for you now.”

Kiri chuckled from the side. “He got you on that one. By the way, why did you say the letter was folded like a bird?”

“Hmm? Wasn’t that the case?” Charlotte tilted her head to the side.

“No, it had that shape. But we never told you that.”

“Really?” Farid asked from the side. “I thought we did.”

“I just checked my records, so there’s no mistake.”

“I wonder?” Charlotte paused right in front of the door the leading man brought them to and lifted her head to the ceiling. “I don’t know, I just thought it was the case. Seeing as how these robo-dogs kept moving without battery I unconsciously turned the letter into a crane so it could make sense?” Intuition, maybe?

“Hah, so because of a lucky thought we’re called!” The man bickered. “I’ll report this to the captain.”

“You tell him after we’re done here. Let’s check what they have.” Farid smiled at him.

“Are you continuing with this? It’s a waste of time!”

“I thought so at first,” Kiri admitted, “but if what she thought is right, then we can have more leads to work with.”

Opening the door, they found Dr. Murakuma, Luxuria’s officer and the man who called Farid’s group inside a room full of screens and touch panels. Their heads were fixed on the biggest screen, talking while a frozen image was displayed, which showed the dead bodies of the guards with blood around them.

“Ahem.” Charlotte brought the attention of the three men to her, interrupting their discussion.

“Oh, Hiro.” Dr. Murakuma was the first to talk, turning to those keeping her company, he said with a soft smile. “You two should be Farid and Kiri, and you are?”

“Daniel, but it doesn’t matter right now.” Farid said. “Is there any news on your findings?”

Dr. Murakuma’s smile turned into a frown as he shook his head. “Sadly, nothing. I believe Hiro told you about what happened in here?” Farid nodded. “Then, apart from that, everything we’ve got are speculations.”

“Share them with us.” Farid said, walking to them.

Kiri stood next to Charlotte while the other man, Daniel, followed Farid.

“I see you’ve a new interesting gadget.” She whispered with a smirk, pointing her eyes to her crotch.

Charlotte turned to her with the corner of her lips turned upwards. “It’s to avoid peeking toms like you.”

After a momentary daze, she chuckled. “That’s fine and all, but the most experienced might notice it regardless, wondering why would you have such a toy over there.”

“Then, I pray I don’t meet one of those experienced ones.” Charlotte shook her head with resignation.

“Heh, your chest’s still a problem. I can tell right away you’re using a strap to reduce your size, though there’s nothing to reduce to begin with.”

Charlotte’s eyes twitched slightly. “Coming from someone as small as you, there’s no need to be angry.”

“I chose this body because I like it, not because I have no other choice, you know?”

Charlotte’s lips opened a bit before forming a straight line. Right, she’s basically a machine… What could’ve happened to her?

“Oh? You knew?” Her eyes opened as wide as they could go.

“Yeah, well, I met someone like you in the past. After the incident, I thought it was weird you’re fine and walking like that, so I had my doubts. You just confirmed it to me now.”

“Oh, a slip from my side, heheh.” Kiri said, turning to the talking men.

“What happened?” Charlotte followed her gaze.

“With what?”

“To you, in the past.”

“Hmm, if you go out with me without any disguise, I’ll consider telling you.”

“It’s not even a certainty, huh.” Charlotte said without energy. Going out without disguise...

“It’s quite delicate to me.”

“I see…”

The two remained in silence while the other grout continued their talk.

“… That’s everything we can get from only looking at these videos and studying their bodies without much equipment.”

“Practically nothing. Can we see the fight against those robots?” Daniel asked to the Alliance’s man with a frown.

“On it.”

The man touched the panel for a while before the screen started showing the happenings of the morning. The displayed scene was of the third floor’s corridor, where the first robot came out of its blind point and barged into a room one of the clients was using. It came out after some seconds, leaving drops of red on the floor. As the first robot reappeared, four more came out of that room, following its lead into the other busy rooms of the floor.

Changing the perspective to the second level, they saw a woman working on the tiles to keep them clean before she turned to the descending robots. She stared at them for a moment before turning around to run. Bullets came out of the first dog’s left side where a barrel dislodged out of its body. Her body stumbled down after three steps with blood flowing out of her head and back.

Charlotte swallowed at the raw showcase.

The Alliance’s guy controlling the screens changed the scene again, showing how two guards on the first floor ran to the stairs. The two were instantly attacked by the five machines as soon as they arrived. The five dogs were already done with the rooms, as they shot their guns into the rooms without care of the noise produced. The first guard was able to shot down a robot before he lost the battle to the other four, his companion destroyed the batteries of two more before distancing himself from them.

The two remaining dogs jumped away from him. Which allowed him a breathing room.

Without notice, the downed robots jumped back and tore his throat away with their steely fangs.

The two good ones walked down the stairs first, with the other three followed them in pack. They arrived to a hall with only three guards remaining, all the guests and workers already gone.

After a short confrontation, the three guards were able to shot down the batteries of the first two machines. They then dismantled the dogs in a show of wits and carnage, suffering small wounds and scratches.

After the skirmish was over, and with rough breathing, one of the guards clutched his chest and fell to his knees. The two others went to his aid, laying him on the floor. At that moment, other guard imitated the first’s action. The remaining one, turned around with his face white and, after two steps, he fell prone to the floor.

Had I been there, I could have stopped this last thing, that acting mana, no, energy? No…Charlotte thought with a frown.I should call this something else, yeah, let’s call this kind of thing magic. At that time, could it have been possible for us to know the real objective of this attack? Possibly… But, what’s their objective? That man shouted freedom that time, it could be connected. Are they trying to free themselves from the city, or is there something else…

“That looks like one of those horror games.” Kiri broke the silence permeating the room, the two of them had walked to the screen to witness the horrible spectacle.

“It’s scary, indeed.” Dr. Murakuma nodded. “Have this kind of thing happened before?”

“No, not at all.” Farid answered with a hand under his chin, bringing the talk to a halt.

“Actually, I remember something weird happened some time ago.” Daniel said, bringing the attention of everyone present. “A group of agents captured someone with weird bottles attached on his torso. He died while they were bringing him to our quarters.”

“Oh, that, but it doesn’t have anything to do with this.” Farid said with a shake. “Why bring it now?”

“That, we’re talking about weird things, so that’s the only weird one I can think of.”

“Weird? It was determined that the man committed suicide, there’s nothing weird with it.”

“No.” Dr. Murakuma interrupted Farid. “If you say there’s something weird then, please continue.”

Daniel smirked in triumph at Farid before a frown painted his face. To think one of those vandals would agree more easily with me than my own companion…

“I spoke to one of the agents that detained him. Actually, he was demoted because of that event and had to stop working in the field for a while, so he was free at that time. He told me that that beggar started to mutter something since the moment he was detained. Once he was inside a car bringing him to our quarters, he started to convulse and died seconds later.”

“That doesn’t appear in the reports.” Farid’s brows knitted down.

“Of course, it doesn’t. Who would believe that? From the autopsy, they said that the man’s brain was fried, like, with electricity, but his body didn’t have any external signs, only his fried brain.”

“What about his blood?” Dr. Murakuma asked.

“His blood? Hell if I know! I was just told that, I thought the man had gone crazy while making excuses; maybe he was telling the truth.”

Dr. Murakuma shook his head.

Farid, on the other hand, had his head turned to his companion with an incredulous expression. “Who was that man?”. He said.

“Hmm, his name is Kaith, though he spoke like a mad man, nothing serious happened to him, he’ll be able to climb back to an agent in a while.”

A loud sigh escaped from Kiri’s mouth. “Not him, the beggar.”

Charlotte, unable to hold a chuckle, brought her hands to her mouth, getting a glare out of Daniel. “I don’t know his name,” he said “but I believe Kaith said he’s been a beggar for five years, before that, he ran a company which drove him to bankrupt, he lived inside one of the poorest sectors of the city as he was seen coming out of Lorin the day before he was captured.”

Charlotte tilted her head before looking at Kiri.

She leaned into her ear and muttered. “It’s to the northwest of the Theocracy’s territory, it’s better to not go there alone, there’s not even a criminal group like yours managing the place.”

“That could be something, I’ll ask those turtles to reopen that case.” Farid said with a nod.

“Hmm,” Dr. Murakuma caressed his neck, “you said he had some weird bottles, no? What were they?”

Daniel’s eyes wandered through the room, after a while, he answered. “I don’t remember…”

Charlotte forced down another chuckle as the right corner of her lips went up slightly.

The men resumed their talk, now discussing how the robots got into the building unnoticed and the actions they took.

Charlotte decided keep herself out of that talk and walked back to the wall. Kiri followed a moment later, a smirk illuminating her face, sending a shiver down Charlotte’s spine.

“You’re having quite the funny time with our Daniel.” She whispered with a teasing voice.

“Hush it.” Charlotte said, keeping her eyes to the talking men.

“Oh? Is he your type?” Kiri said with a raised brow, she then turned around and imitated Charlotte’s behavior.

“What. No way. I just found it quite funny. His lost expression, I mean.”

“You… That group is actually quite fitting for you.” Kiri said with a lowered pitch.

“What do you mean?” She turned her face to Kiri for a moment.

“Luxuria, you know what’s it meaning?”

“Hmm, luxury?”

“No. It’s refers to lust, one of the seven sins.”

“Oh. I was told about that once, I think.”

“You still don’t get it…” Kiri sighed. “You know that the succubus is the representation of lust in most myths, right?” Charlotte nodded slowly. “Then, do you know what they do to their victims?” She shook her head. “They like to play with them, have fun with them, before they steal their lives away.”

“Oh.”

“You understand now? Well, I can’t blame you… You’re basically a newborn.”

Charlotte’s head sharply turned to Kiri with wide open eyes. “W-what?”

“Relax, I won’t tell anyone. Farid didn’t tell me until I swore I wouldn’t put that information in an auxiliary device… Well, I can tell you he found a worrying thing about you, but it was shot down by Olimpia. She had to tell him your past so he wouldn’t go digging in the wrong grave.”

“W-what do you mean in the wrong grave? What did he find?”

“Nothing much, it’s not important, anyway. You can ask her once the next time you two meet.”

“O-okay.”

“Don’t worry about it. I told you that because I believe we’re friends, and it’s best for friends to share what they know about each other so there wouldn’t be a misunderstanding afterwards, right?”

“Alright…” Charlotte said weakly as he eyes spun inside her head. My life is a big, fat lie…

“Let’s go back, Hiro.” Dr. Murakuma said as he walked to the only door of the room.

“Huh? Is it done?” Charlotte said, sure that it would take longer.

“Our work here is done, yeah.”

“That fast?”

“What?” He turned to her with a raised brow. “You want to keep up with the investigations? No, we aren’t here do it, we came only to check the bodies and determine which ones were more important. I only climbed these stairs to check if there was something I could use in my reports. The incident will be handled by those guys.” He motioned his head to the group of men still talking next to the screens.

“Oh, yeah, we work with the bodies.” Charlotte said with a feeble voice.

“You want to be part of the investigation, huh? I can tell those at the top to transfer you.”

“No, no.” She waved her hands in front of her. “It’s too dangerous to be in the front line like them.”

“You said it.” He nodded twice. “Well, let’s go back, these next few days will be hard for us.”

“Alright.” She turned to her talking partner with a wry smile. “Well, you heard him, I’ve got work to do. I hope this goes well for you.”

“Thanks.” Kiri smiled back. “You too. Let’s meet one of these days, ok?”

Charlotte nodded before following Dr. Murakuma. They walked in silence, arriving to the black car without muttering a word. A fastened body awaited them inside. It’s not one of the three guards? She turned to him.

“It’s just one of the victims, I wanted to see if it could help in my analysis, though now I believe it’d be useless. It could still tell us some things, however.” Dr. Murakuma answered Charlotte’s questioning face, making her nod in comprehension.

The road back took more time than going there, the old driver actually knew how to turn the wheels with care. The two spent time without talking, each in their own world. They went into the elevator as soon as the car stopped and arrived to the sixth floor shortly afterwards. The two men manning the car stayed behind to handle the body.

Inside the morgue two of the three dead guards waited to be examined, which Dr. Murakuma did only for a moment before going to the autopsy room. Charlotte followed him while keeping a distance from the body already prepared to be examined, and crossed the room into his office. He put the big glasses covering his face on his desk and then wore his white coat. He started to search through the tools inside the big wardrobe, telling Charlotte which ones to bring.

Forgetting the contact lens inside her right eye, Charlotte started her longest day in the autopsy room.

I never thought I’d get used to it… Charlotte thought while taking the subway back home.

On her left hand was a hot snack she bought before entering the station. She rubbed her irritated right eye with her free hand, now clean of the foreign object. She took it out thanks to the Doctor’s reminder before heading back to her house.

The sun, already on its way down, indicated the fast approaching night. It wasn’t that hot, despite being in the middle of summer.

At least he gave me a break ‘til tomorrow’s afternoon. She thought as she munched. Hmm, I guess I better do it tonight, I wanted to wait until saturday but seeing how things are heating up in the city, the faster I do things, the better I’ll be against the unexpected.

Arriving to her destination, she walked out of the subway and bought another snack from one of the stores on the road along with groceries to make a sumptuous dinner.

They thought those dogs came from the ceiling; I wonder how long it’ll take them to noticed the holes in the restrooms. Those dogs actually covered them quite well. No, maybe the detective from Luxuria already knew they came from the basement but avoided telling those Alliance guys to prevent any information from leaking? No cameras showed the basement, after all. Had it not been for Prism, I wouldn’t’ve known about it either; I’ve yet to see the projection of the building. I’ll work on it after tonight’s adventure. A grin surfaced on her face for a moment without her noticing.

Once back to her house, she left the white plastic bag in the kitchen before going to her room for a change of clothes. The living room had cushions all over the place with an additional small table at the corner, a picture she came to like of the international space station was placed atop it on the wall. Her bedroom had an old looking wardrobe where she stored all her clothes and some other things, inside the bath was a multitude of lotions, ointments and shampoos she never had the chance to use.

Most of the new things weren’t hers, they belonged to Betty who was still in the hospital. There was no use to keep paying for an unused house, so Charlotte convinced her to bring all of her things to her house. The bedroom she wanted to use as a studio had all of Betty’s clothes and belongings. The kitchen had new tools to work with, along with a small oven and a microwave.

Betty was already in a pretty good condition, recovering in two months what would normally take at least four, even half a year if she wasn’t in a good environment. Though Charlotte didn’t proactively help her as she didn’t want more undesired attention, White Prism told her that after what she did it was only normal for her recovery to be boosted.

I hope she doesn’t worry as I couldn’t visit her today. Heck, I didn’t even get the chance to eat, at all; and it’s already well past nine. At least she’s coming out next week.

She started to cook with a hum, free of all the bothering disguises. She moved with only a pair of slippers on her feet, her legs devoid of any cover with only the panties she normally wore under the boy underwear’s gimmick. A loose, sleeveless tank hung down from her shoulders, going to her hips. Her dark brown hair danced in the air as she moved through the kitchen, reaching the upper part of her back.

She sat to enjoy the prepared feast as she reviewed the plan for the night. Hmm, there’re a lot of places I can go to, far from the influence of the big five and the seven groups. But, are they safe enough? Well, as long as nothing extreme happens I should be safe. I wanted to go to the north of the theocracy first, but now I can’t, Lorin was its name, huh? That leaves me with three areas meeting all the criteria, not too far away and with easy access… I’ll let Prism choose a random one.

With the end of the five-course meal, she proceeded to enjoy a long, warm bath.

She wore a blue dress resembling the one Ellen had given her long ago, with frills at its lower part and matching long sleeves. The upper section of the dress was tight and hard, allowing her to go without bra; while the lower part was loose and went down to her knees. It was held by a button bellow her neck and left a gap above her chest. Its back was wide open from above her hips to her shoulders. Around her neck, a silver necklace hanged down to her small cleavage, where a small white crystal was connected. It was White Prism.

Let’s hope this time it goes well. I like this dress.

She fastened a pair black boots over her knee-high white socks. She nodded to herself before covering her body with a ragged, brown coat, full of holes and sewed patches. Two big pockets were hidden on the inside, on which she stored a 20 cm tall crystal in one and five transparent stones in the other.

She inserted inside her left eye a transparent lens with invisible to the naked eye conduits and then stored its container in the pocket where the crystals half a centimeter big were.

Turning the house’s lights off, she covered her head with the coat’s hood and walked to the window with closed curtains. From the other side, lights illuminated the alley between the buildings. Closing her eyes, she prepared the street for her arrival. She then parted the curtains and saw the already dark street.

This’s actually quite scary. She thought as the corner of her lips shivered a little. I’m counting on you, Prism.

GOT CHA ! (•̀ᴗ•́)و ̑̑

Charlotte read through her left eye. Under the box of text, a line with numbers on top of it went from side to side, another similar line was to its side but this one went from top to bottom. The numbers moved along with her sight, indicating coordinates of a gps-like system. She opened the window and climbed it.

Scan every five seconds for around fifty meters. Let’s go. She thought before jumping forward to the vacuum.

Her body relaxed as soon as she started to fall, leaving the subsequent performance to White Prism. She collided against the pavement of the black alley after two seconds, making her knees bend forward a little before rolling to the front. She stood instantly and felt her body to any injury or scratch.

It was much easier than I thought. She thought with a fast beating heart. How was it?

MANA USED: 0.19 %

That’s actually quite a lot. She frowned. Twice higher than expected. You only had to increase my bones elasticity so they won’t break and the muscles’ strength to hold me from falling to the floor… What happened?

TO PREVENT ANY UNEXPECTED DISASTER , I INCREASED THE DURATION BEFORE AND AFTER CONTACT , I WILL DECREASE IT NEXT TIME TO THE OPTIMAL TIME .

Hmm, okay, you’re right, it’s best to avoid them when there’s enough room.

SHOULD I RECHARGE IT NOW?

No. Borrow the mana from those around, I need these five as a safe. They’re bothersome to fill back again. Anyway. She entered the colorless space and willed her window to be closed, three floors above her. This’ll be a long night.

She arrived to her first stop of the night, a subway station which normally was only fifteen minutes away, almost half an hour later. It worked full time and didn’t have any camera around. The cameras were her major worry and the reason it took her so long; she had to travel through the alleys to avoid them. She also had to take precaution from anyone traversing those desolate streets.

She walked to its entrance, frowning at the new message from her daughter.

Going past its gates she heard someone to her right. “Who’re you? What you doing here?”

She turned to the owner of the voice, a man towering past the two meters’ mark and with a grit as wide as she was tall. He wasn’t modified, but some weapons hid on his back. A gun, two knives and a teaser, her little one’s courtesy. The hall was illuminated by a single twinkling bulb in the middle, the normal way to the subway’s platform was closed with a metallic grid. The only way down was beside the big man.

“Good evening.” She said, the pitch of her voice lower than normal and her timbre slightly different.

The man frowned as his muscles tensed.

“I wouldn’t be doing that if I were you.” She cautioned the big man, whose hand was on its way to his back. “About what you asked, I’m of no importance and I’m here to do what one does in a subway.” She showed the man a sweet smile, the rest of her face covered by the shadows.

“Heh, I don’t know who told you about this place.” The man said as his hand returned to his side with a knife. “But this is no place for a kid.”

He pointed the knife her way, slight tremors visible to her.

“My, are you threatening a kid? Stop that, Mr. fatty, can I call you that? I’ll call you that way. Anyway, Mr. fatty, you can’t hurt me with that little thing.” Charlotte started to walk to him after lowering the hand covering her mouth. “No, don’t even think about bringing out the other one, oh, that teaser, no no, it won’t work on me. But that gun, be careful, ok? We don’t want a misfire, not when it could go back at you.”

The knife fell to the floor, making the man close his hand into a fist and feeling for the first time the sweat permeating his body. Turning his eyes to the fallen knife and then to the girl, he realized the small girl was already in front of him, at less than a step away and something he would usually no allow. She walked past him and extended her hand to the locked knob, turning it with ease. Pushing open the door, she then patted the man’s forearm, sending a shiver through his body. He stumbled backwards, not falling only because he was next to the wall.

“Good job, Mr. fatty. I’ll be rooting for you to continue doing such a splendid job.” She took a step before stopping. “Oh, by the way, tell the other three I’ll be down there, I don’t want to bother them, you see.”

As she took the first step of the stairs, Mr. fatty said with a shaky voice. “You need to pay before going in!”

She halted and did half a spin to look at him, she then turned her head up to him, allowing her hood to fall backwards. “But I’m already in.” She said with a smile, her freckled face in full display by the lighted stairs. “Anyway, forget you saw my face, okay?” She turned around and covered back her face. After taking a couple of steps she said without stopping. “You can keep me company downstairs if you want.”