Chapter 21

“The Palace of Midas”

The bright neon sign shines brightly in the darkness of the night as different women come in and out of the flamboyant looking establishment just east of the Metro. It’s unusual for women to get their hair done at this time of the night but since work hours are long and grueling in the heart of the metro, most of the women in the workforce found themselves without any time to pamper themselves. It was a good thing establishments like these exist to cater to these work dedicated ladies as they are open for twenty four hours from Wednesday to Sunday for the hard working women of the metro. Tonight was like any other night as a married looking couple entered the “Palace” for a makeover. The husband had fetched her from her workplace to get her to a beauty parlour as she wanted to get her hair done that night. Of course the lady was gracefully escorted to her seat by the wonderful staff inside the Red venetian walls of the roman inspired interior as the husband sat in the waiting room, pulling out a magazine to pass the time.

For some who are uninitiated with how the metro operates, this would be the end of this scene. But in this city, every customer needs to be catered to, even if they are not your target market.

For every penny that can be earned, will be earned.

‘Excuse me sir? Are you looking for somebody?’

‘Uhh… somebody? I dunno?’

The lady by the counter exits her post as she walks towards the husband sitting across the room. She lifts her already -fabric deficient- skirt, to show a little more skin than the usual as she asked him once more.

‘Are you looking for somebody? Sir?’

The pair wouldn’t be seen again for an hour as they emerged just before the wife had finished her business with her hair, as she comes out looking quite charming and refreshed with her new haircut as she greets her husband, also looking refreshed, saying their farewells for a job well done to the staff.

Another satisfied customer.

And as with business, when one customer leaves another will surely arrive. And just as the door had closed behind the couple, a scruffy looking man entered the establishment.

…

‘Hi, I’m looking for nobody….’ The man said.

The attendant froze as she looked at the man standing by the door. It took her a moment to get back to her senses before she could speak.

‘I’ll get Wendy.’ She said as she rushed over to the back room looking like she had seen a ghost. The man sighed and took a seat near the door, as he rests his back on the seat cushions, exhaling deeply after what seemed to be a hectic day.

‘Wow, you certainly looked better…’ A woman spoke as she appeared from behind the beaded curtain. ‘I was expecting you, Detective Bertrand.’

‘Long time no see Wendy.’ Bert said ‘You look like you never aged. Although you’re starting to look like your old lady when she was the one running this joint.’

‘Shut it old man’ Wendy retaliates, her slender eyes glaring at him like a daughter would when her father would annoy her. Flipping her long silky hair as she turns around back into the establishment. Which confused Bert.

‘Well are you coming?’ She asked in annoyance.

‘Oh, right.’

…

She leads him down the usual hallway and passes by the parlor where some of the customers are already fast asleep while the hair stylists service them. The parlor, being the business that it is, has a small hair washing station adjacent to the main area, The room is snug and looks nothing out of the ordinary until Wendy slides one of the cabinets to the side to reveal a doorway to another room.

‘Where’s this?’ Bert asked.

‘We remodeled.’ Wendy answered ‘We had to use the usual place for “that” side of the Midas’ business plan.’

‘Oh, you expanded? Good for you then!’ Bert replied.

‘Yeah, well I was hoping for the beauty parlor to get the boost but…’

‘Sex sells?’

‘Sex sells…’ She answered. ‘Anyways this is our safety corridor, these other doors lead to “a room” then there’s another one near where we came in that leads to the outside.’ She continued as she handed him a card.

‘What’s this?’ Bert asked.

‘It's a concealed buzzer. One of my little brother’s inventions. It’s two way so if you need cover buzz me or if I spot somebody looking for ya, I’ll buzz you.’ Wendy said as she swiped one of the doors with her card. ‘Also it’s a key.’

‘Huh… wait a sec.’ Bert takes a step back as she opens the door before them. ‘I recognize these passages.’

‘I thought you might…’ Wendy smiles as she proceeds to climb down the stairs on the other side of the door.

‘So you found one of the old tunnels?’ Bert said as he followed her down the steps.

‘No I didn’t, but he did…’ She replies as she points her gaze towards another familiar looking old man in plain shirt and jeans.

‘Hey Lando…’

‘You’re late… what part of midnight didn’t you get?’

‘I took steps making sure I didn’t have any tail, so yer welcome.’

Lando frowns, then chuckles as he pours his old partner a drink. ‘You’re in the hot seat now so you’re always gonna have a tail.’

Bert gave him a sly smirk after taking the glass from his hand. ‘Anyways, wanna hear the intel or not?’

‘Go shoot…’

‘Buzz me if you need me… I’m out.’ Wendy said as she heads back up to seal the room.

‘I got shut out of the evidence locker today and I had to break in. Found out all level 4 access cards were being shut off except for Cisco and Inspector Dumbass.’

‘Ohhhh… Chiefy Chief’s boyz.’

‘Exactly, anyways I found out two things. One that you might know and one that I know you don’t.’

‘Okay? What do I know then?’ Lando said as he sat back in his chesterfield.’

‘Carbine are making military grade body enhancements through an unknown network.’ Bert said as he showed Lando the pictures that he took from inside the locker. ‘Any market place you know of that could accommodate their tech? I’m pretty sure Carbine has never done this before.’

‘None… Wow this is weird, why would they do this though? The only news I knew was them doing prosthetics for medical causes. Which is why I thought the ones we found at the warehouse were from that cause. I never knew they were advanced enough to make ‘em into military grade.’

‘How old is this news from your source?’ Bert asked.

‘Only four months old. And it’s also insider info so you can bet yer balls it’s accurate.’

‘Hmph…’

Bert sits down on the chesterfield adjacent to Lando’s as he pours himself another shot.

‘Can I smoke here?’ He asked.

‘Sure! Why wouldn’t ya?’

‘It’s an old tunnel Lando, this shit’s gonna fill up the room by the end of the night.’

‘Nah it’s ventilated Bert. If it ain’t we’d be dead right now. Anyways… What’s the other thing that I’m supposed to not know about?’

Bertrand pulls out a stick of cigarette from his pack and lights it up with a match that Lando happens to have laying around inside his personalized hangout.

‘The other thing is that we might have a second player in the mix.’

‘Oooh juicy. Who?’

‘I have no idea. Remember the skyline we confiscated the other night?’

‘Yeah why?’

Bert takes a puff of smoke as he slouches his back onto the couch. He gestures Lando to give him his phone back as he scrolls around his files for something.

‘I dunno how we didn’t notice this but…’ He said as he handed his phone back to Lando. ‘Look at the tail lights when we were surveying it at the parking garage.’

Lando was taking a good hard look at the video they took just before Bert reported the car to his squad the night before. It took him quite a while to look but soon enough he did notice something.

‘There’s something blinking in there.’

‘Yeah, I noticed it too at the evidence locker.’

‘Did you get a closer look at it?’

‘Well I couldn’t tell much since it looked like a broken diode but kept looking at it for a bit longer. Broken diodes don’t blink uniformly. I suggest you ask the Lorans if they have some idea of what it is.’

‘Hmm… Yea I’ll do that.’ Lando answered with a big heavy yawn, downing his glass of scotch in one gulp as he lumbers his body towards the computer. ‘I’ll just run these pics through the net, I wanna see if there’s some info we can scavenge from it.’

Buzzzz….

Buzzzz….

Buzzzz….

The pair locked eyes as they heard the buzzing from their cards as the whole room fell into silence. A few seconds more have passed as the buzzing continues.

Suddenly Lando’s phone rings. He picks it up and answers the call, cautiously. Bert looked tense as he waited for Lando to finish talking on the phone.

‘What is it?’ Bert asked.

‘It’s Wendy. She’s asking if we want some late night chow.’

‘God--dam-- whatever… go ahead I don’t care.’

Lando chuckles at Bert who was lying spread eagle on the couch looking like he had just run a marathon as he goes back on the phone to ask Wendy what the menu was.

The pair of them continued to work all of their leads throughout the night. As the city hustles and bustles its way above them. Never stopping its heartbeat. The investigations on Ground Zero continued as the days passed by. New leads and suspects had come up in the news as the police promised answers that never aired and results that never made sense, but to the people of the Metro who couldn’t care less about things besides getting a move on from this “tragedy” so that the 7:30 train once again arrived at 7:30, these details never seemed to cross their radars, as they dread for the damn traffic to end and that “work” could resume in downtown six-one-six. Only a few people cared about such details, and most of the time, they are either the ones who have the most to lose or they are just that curious. Nonetheless, days turned to weeks and soon life began to normalize once again.

For most.

But for some, nothing quenched their thirst without getting to the bottom of things.

‘Pai! How are you?!’

Aida shouts at the top of her lungs as she sees Pai from a distance. The alert levels around the city have eased, giving schools the peace of mind to open their gates once again. Pai turns around and smiles at her, glad to see a friend’s face after more than a month’s worth of silence as she runs over to give him a tight hug, which was disturbed when he felt a huge hand slapping him from the back as Pete rustles his hair while he gives Aida a hug.

‘Bitch are you stealing my boyfriend?’ Said Tisha, her eyes suspiciously peeking behind Pete’s broad body. ‘Shut up! I miss everyone.’ Aida answered, as her eyes started to moisten.

The whole student body was in assembly as the Vice and the Principal greeted them once again as if it was the first day once again. Nothing much had changed and thankfully there were no news of any of their fellow students being harmed in the raids and all was accounted for. There was one news however, that sparked the elation of the student body. The dismissal time had been moved a full two hours earlier as a precaution. Granted that as a consequence, recess would be removed from the schedule, but at the very least they would be leaving classes a lot earlier than they used to. Everything looked bright in Pai’s eyes. As he soaked up the electricity around him, filling him with hope and excitement for what lies ahead. He was elated for the fact that he was seeing his friends once again and he was all the more excited knowing that they are about to have more free time than ever, which only meant one thing.

‘Who’s up for J&B later?’ Pete whispered to the group.

‘Are they even open?’ Aida asked Tisha.

‘Why me? I don’t hold the key?’ She replied as she lifted her head in search of somebody. ‘Keeno might know though…’ She said as she waves over somebody from afar.

Pai turns around expecting to see the radiant energy that Yukino Loran gives out. Especially now that school is back once more with less classes. But he was surprised to see that she didn’t look as invincible as she used to.

‘Hey guys!’ Keeno pepped up as soon as she got near them. She gave everyone in the group a hug, which surprised Pai since he only knows her from afar. Pai can’t help but think that there was something going on behind the scenes with her. Her eyes were tired and droopy, her skin was pale and cold. Even her hair, which he knows is time consuming because of his sister, did not have the usual twin braids, as she wore them long and untied. He could feel that she was trying her best to be her usual self, even if it was looking like it was taking all of the energy she had left.

‘Yeah it’s gonna be open guys don’t worry. Just be hush hush about it okay?’ Keeno whispered.

‘Cool!’ Pete replies ‘Are you gonna come with us? Ya know? First drinks to freedom?’

‘Umm… Im gonna pass.’ She answered flatly. A break in character as Pai had thought.

‘But maybe this weekend?!’ Yukino quickly shifts back.

‘Umm yeah that’s cool.’ Pete said. Tisha on the other hand looked concerned as she broke free from Pete’s arms to rush over to Keeno’s side.

‘I just remembered guys, I have to help Keeno with something. So Pete? Can you cover for me for the next few classes?’

‘What? Why?’

‘Just do it you Big Oaf!’ Her last words before she whisked away Keeno from the group, leaving Pete confused.

‘The fuck just happened?’ Pete asked.

‘Read the room dumbass!’ Aida snarkily replied. ‘Let’s go Pai We have classes to attend.’ She said as she pulled him away from Pete, who was still scratching his head with what happened. The pair of them were making their way towards the stairwell as they bob and weave around the dense pack of students in the area. As Pai only just realized they were actually holding hands.

A soft spot was starting to appear in Pai’s mind.

‘Oh, Hey Aida…’

She suddenly stops as Pai almost bumps her in doing so. Which was weird as Pai thought. She had no reason to. It’s only Neil and Denzo in front of them.

‘I’m guessing you two survived then? Good for you.’ Denzo said.

Pai suddenly felt her grasp loosen and tighten once more as she pulled him away again. At this point he was starting to feel like he was being manhandled for some reason. He looked back as he found it amusing that the two of them were actually talking. As he clearly thought that him and Neil had a rough first meeting. But then he noticed something strange when Denzo held Neil back as he too pulled him in the opposite direction. He turns his gaze back at Aida. She was not speaking nor was she even talking to him which made Pai start feeling old feelings return. Feelings of being left out. Feelings of abandonment. Which made him go from elation to deflation. He knows many things might have happened and he was starting to feel devastated that whatever it was, he was left out of it. Suddenly the soft spot started to disappear and his legs were starting to weaken. He was just on the verge of tears when Aida stopped in her tracks.

She stood there for a few seconds before quickly turning around and giving Pai a tight suffocating embrace. Confusing Pai but comforting him as well. It turns out that he was too caught up in his own emotions to notice that Aida didn’t lead him to the stairs but rather in a quiet spot beside the football field, and that they were alone.

She embraced him tightly and was silent. Pai returned the favor by nervously putting his arms around her as well, and as he did so, he felt her shivering, and her tears started to fall.