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SHADE

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As if things couldn\'t get any worse, it seemed as if the Gods had other things in mind in keeping them all on their toes. And that was him sugar-coating it as well.

"Things just have to keep exploding on us, huh," Shade sarcastically scoffed as he spied at the growing plume of dark smoke on the other side of the city. "I just know that one of us is responsible for that one."

"Is it Shizu then?" Shen hopefully asked.

"More than likely," Shade lightly chuckled. "Still, that also means that we\'ll have an even bigger target on our backs now. We\'re practically blowing up the city at this rate, and we didn\'t even mean to do any of it."

It was an operational disaster of epic proportions. They had no plans on destroying the city itself. He was pretty sure that they were even supposed to stay idle for a few days while taking random Contracts and making money. From there, they\'ll then launch their investigation regarding the secret weapon that Marquee supposedly had.

But then, it just all had to fall apart harder than the old Vestygian Royal Family.

"We don\'t?" Shen innocently asked, acting more like how she looked than her age. "Then wat da hell did you do to da warehouse earlier?"

"That was an accident," Shade shook his head as he explained. "I was investigating the place because I saw something suspicious, and one thing led to another. The next thing I knew, the entire thing had exploded into a ball of burning pink goop."

Truly, he was cursed by that family\'s propensity to get into trouble. He could only guess that by association, he also inherited the bad luck that they carried along with them wherever they went. Sure, they were hypercompetent and very dangerous individuals, but how in the world did they constantly get into these sorts of situations in the first place when they were supposed to be retired?

"What was that about anyway?"

"Look, can you stop asking questions for a while?" Shade snapped at the girl, his eyes still trained on their surroundings as he led the way. "We\'re far from being safe, and don\'t forget that we\'re probably already designated as enemies of the state."

Shade let out a sigh as she felt their mechanic freeze at his words, only to nod behind him as he and Maruki slowly navigated the dark alleyways of the city. Centrax was currently abuzz with activity. First, the warehouse, then the other mysterious explosion located by the edge of the city, it really felt like the capital city was under attack, and the nation was out in full force as these so-called Academics littered the streets with their obvious [Manifests] tucked behind whatever it was that they were wearing.

"But we haven\'t done anything yet?" Shen naively pointed out. "If it was an accident, then why hide?"

"It\'s because we\'re foreigners, and we don\'t have the benefit of the doubt that any Marquean would get in their own homeland," Shade explained, clicking his tongue as he quickly signaled for them to keep quiet.

Raising his hand up into a fist, his companions followed his lead as he snuck them all through a rather crowded part of the city. The streets were filled with curious onlookers, and Shade took advantage of this by making themselves as inconspicuous as possible, even going so far as to use [Rozen] to make sure that nobody would think much of their presence.

Once they were back in the darkness of yet another alleyway, Shade sighed as he came up with a plan. "Okay, we\'re all split up, and that other explosion is surely where the Princess is. And even if that isn\'t the case, then maybe Lady Guidance or Moriya will be there as well."

"So we\'ll go there and get them?"

"That\'s correct," Shade nodded. "We\'ll have to move quickly or else we\'ll get caught out, however, and I don\'t think we can take on an entire nation\'s army of Somatics all by ourselves." Looking at Maruki, he then asked, "As for you, are you okay? Don\'t think I didn\'t notice you practically vibrating with eagerness earlier."

Maruki opened his mouth to speak for a brief second before he promptly closed it, settling with a nod in an effort to reduce his noise production. Shade sighed. Truly, his friend was the most honor-bound man he had ever known.

"Just... follow my lead, okay? We don\'t have to take fights we can\'t win," he stressed out, hoping that his duty-obsessed friend would actually keep to himself. "The Princess is out there somewhere, and we won\'t be able to reach her if we just ran across the street and announced that we\'re there to keep her safe."

"Keep who safe?"

His eyes widened. That voice was most definitely not a part of their group

Turning around, he had his [Rozen] at the ready when he saw the woman that interrupted their strategic session. Only, it wasn\'t just some random woman. No... It was Nicole Alset munching on a piece of bread with a few other things hanging around her arms.

"What\'re you guys doing hiding in here?" she innocently asked, wholly unfazed despite him and Maruki practically aiming deadly weapons at her. "I would\'ve thought that you\'re all in your own inns right now. It\'s practically midnight."

Shade blinked at their acquaintance as she casually went and walked to Shen. Giving the girl a pat on the head, she then turned around and kept on chewing on her food.

"Hey, I asked you a question," she pouted, a small frown gracing her admittedly beautiful face. "And where\'s Shizu and Moriya and Guidance?"

He didn\'t know how to respond. Was this woman seriously that clueless as to what was happening? "Never mind that. Why are you still out here with all of this commotion happening?"

There was no other way for him to address her. She was a liability waiting to happen, and they needed to get rid of her as soon as possible. Shooting Maruki a knowing look, the tank deftly positioned himself behind the woman, preparing himself to incapacitate her in case negotiations break down. Likewise, Shen had taken herself out of the equation by keeping quiet, the mechanic\'s face morphing into one of conflict as she gripped her wrench with enough force to make her knuckles turn white.

Inwardly sighed, Shade prepared himself for a mental battle. There would be no innocents dying tonight out of their incompetence.

"Oh, that? I was just let go a few minutes ago," Nicole cheerily announced. "Apparently, some projects exploded out on the streets and a few Academics were sent out to contain the situation."

"That\'s... the only thing they told you?"

"Yes? Explosions happened all the time," the Marquean shrugged. "I\'m sure it\'ll all blow off in a few hours."

Shade blinked. Was she being serious? "So you think that everyone being out on the streets in full force is nothing to worry about?"

"That? Again, it happens all the time," she scoffed. "I know I\'ve exploded my room a few times during my experiments. Whoever\'s responsible for this will probably just have to pay a fine, especially with how big these explosions are."

Shade didn\'t know what to think about what he just heard. On one hand, it was good that Nicole didn\'t think that anything was wrong at the moment. On the other hand, the fact that she sounded as clueless as a baby kind of made him doubt that she was even a normal functioning adult.

"So... are you just going to go home then?"

"That was the plan until I saw you three talking in here," Nicole giggled. "I\'m not really one for sleep, and I have a feeling that helping you will help me help you help me get my innovation back together."

...What?

"You mean... that Null Generator thing, right?" Shen asked, her own confusion evident in her tone.

"Yep!" she cheerfully replied. "I already have my license to sell my services to you lot, and I fully intend to do so!"

There was a part of Shade that wanted to just rebuff the woman and tell her to just leave them alone. But somehow, for some reason, he felt that doing so would be detrimental to their cause.

"If I told you where our [Rig] is, would you make your way there and wait for us?" he pensively asked.

Hearing his question, Nicole visibly hummed aloud before replying. "I\'ll have to pack my bags first, but I\'ll make my way there as soon as I\'m able," she eagerly answered. "I wanna get started with retrofitting the entire thing to use my Null Generator. Just think of all the possibilities!"

"Quiet down, Nicole," Shade quickly shushed her, using a bit of [Charm] to get her to calm down. "Do that then. We still have some unfinished business here, but we\'ll make our way back to the [Rig] as soon as we\'re able."

"Okay then," she nodded, now using a lower tone as requested. "That means I get to eat whatever food you have stored in there too, right?"

"Yes," Shade quickly nodded. "Now go home before you get caught out with us."

Practically pushing her out the alleyway, Shade sighed as he watched the woman leave. Seriously, was she that clueless, or was she simply pretending?

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