JAYD Cryptic: Chapter 1

Chapter 2 (Very rough draft)

ACE headquarters was less of a station like other precincts and more like a campus. Dominating the area, imposing even contrasted with the skyscrapers of the nearby city center, was the central tower. A panopticon in name and function; City Center remained the most crime free section of Dust. around that was an elegant ring of garden beds and fountains that separated it from the rest of the grounds. It was on a bench resting up against one such fountain that Jade, Araminta, Ysabella, and Dixon had gathered.

"I don't see why it should take so much to go after just another gang," Ysabella tapped the tip of her tail against the pavement in impatient frustration.

"Because it isn't just another gang," Jade replied, her own frustration growing. "Ophello is run by a group of the most creative fucking lunatics this side of the Cracian Sea."

Jade had done her best to avoid Ophello in the past despite her lasting goal of slowly whitling away at gang numbers over the years. Most of the gangs were made up of the desperate and struggling, led into perpetual cycles of crime by leaders that profited off them. Ophello was a bunch of arrogant sadists that took pleasure in proving their superiority, often fatally.

It had been three days since the escape from the Red Rats, during which time the gang had both begun a city wide effort to track the four of them down and, just as quickly, given up. Laying low at headquarters had given them plenty of time to further investigate what leads they had. Araminta had been digging into every last bit of data in the files they'd recovered and then moved straight on to remotely digging up more. Jade had been pushing Nick to release more of the robbery files though she was getting very little other than a bunch of red tape nonsense, and Dixon and Ysabella had been intermittently arguing over the value of the military, at least that's what Jade had picked up of their conversations. At least Nick seemed as frustrated about the red tape as she did.

If they were going to deal with Ophello and live to get anything useful out of it, they would need cooperation and information. They were missing both and already pushing their luck on time as well.

"We can at least run reconnaissance," Dixon spoke up.

"I'm sorry," Araminta replied, "I've been digging for days, nothing but names."

Jade sighed, stretched, and stood up, "It doesn't matter where. If we start looking, they'll eventually find us."

"Well if we're going to finally do something of value," Ysabella uncoiled slowly, "we should try the Upper Ward. The way you describe these individuals sounds very similar to a group that the upper families contract for reconnaissance work."

"Why would rich people need recon work?"

"Because exploiting secrets is much more respectable than murder."

Dixon frowned and huffed slightly.

"What would a Skum-Shiner know about actual recon work?"

Ysabella's eyes glinted as her forehead furrowed with more wrinkles than her usual façade allowed, "I earned more scars making my name than you earned hiding from all the real combat."

"I fought to protect people while you slunk around relocating wealth into your own pockets", Dixon snarled back.

"At least I'm not a puppet for th- ".

Jade took a step between the two, both close enough to each other that an errant bump could make the argument much more interesting for a different reason.

"If we could refocus this onto the people we hate and are supposed to be actively stopping."

They were all interrupted by a sudden, and lately more familiar thrum, of a disturbance. It sounded as if all the noises in the area were being sucked into a void as the air shimmered purple around them. They all braced for it, except Jade. One of the rare benefits to having no magical capabilities whatsoever. Within a few moments at least, it was over, and things faded back to normal.