The next day, after waking up for a ginormous lunch and dinner the prior day and heading to sleep early, Sali woke to the smell of eggs, bacon, and pancakes. She washed her face, brushed her teeth, then gargled mouthwash but after she was done, almost as if she floated downstairs, Sali found herself staring at a stack of food almost as tall as her.
Indulging her inner beast, she tore into the pancakes while drinking syrup straight from the bottle. After she was done with half the stack, she dove into the giant bowl of eggs and the plate of bacon that was on the side. It took her around thirty uninterrupted minutes to finish it all but her stomach still growled in protest. It was only when she opened the fridge to chug milk straight from the carton that she finally noticed Briggs staring at her from the corner of her eye. She nearly spit up the milk at his sudden appearance.
"Shit. Don't do that. You nearly gave me a heart attack," she put the milk back and fluffed her silk pajamas in defense.
"Wear something more breathable than what you wore the day before yesterday," Briggs showed off a tube with a mechanism attached to it that he had made out of things that he had gotten from the hardware store.
"What are you gonna do with that? It looks clunky," Sali covered her mouth before she burped.
"It's a dart gun. It should have around 120 or so feet of range if I built it correctly," Briggs unplugged the air canister that was connected to the base of the pipe and put it all away in a duffel bag that was filled with modified aluminum canisters. He made sure to slot everything into a bubble wrap cushion.
"Why do you need all of that?"
"It's so I can stay back and provide support when you need it while you handle your quest. I figured, since you are the one receiving divine assistance, you should be the one to deal with everything. Especially since I wouldn't be able to see all the updates that you might get along the way," Briggs smiled like a demon as he mentally calculated the amount of trouble that Sali could get into if she wasn't careful.
"I get it. I think. Are you going to eat the rest of the food?"
"I already ate half earlier this morning, that's all for you," Briggs narrowed his eyes. Overnight, Sali grew half a head taller. That sort of inhuman growth could only be supported by a similarly monstrous amount of nutrients and rest.
"Nice," Sali finished her breakfast then washed the dishes before she went back upstairs to get dressed. She wore shorts and a plain white tee with fresh sneakers that she had never worn before. Instead of searching for him when she got downstairs again, she yelled out loud, "Briggs, where are you at!?"
"Study!"
Sali went into the room and noticed that Briggs was thumbing through the books that were on the shelves.
"What are you doing?"
"Preparing," Briggs grabbed one of the books and placed it in the duffel.
"What for?"
"Your quest, what else," Briggs walked out and outside as Salimoon followed.
"Why do you need a book?"
"You'll see when it comes up," Briggs said.
"Hm, alright," Sali followed him to the truck and they headed off. At first she didn't know where they were going but after driving a few dozen minutes and rounding a certain block a few times, she realized that they were where she met those wannabe thugs.
"We're here," Sali said.
"Yes we are, is your quest updating or anything?"
"Let me check," Sali changed her system to the quest menu and tried to see where those young men were, only for the tracker that said (1.b) to end up on the sidewalk where she last met them. She checked (1.a) and it ended on the corner of the street, in the middle of the road where the woman drove off toward.
"Uh. It ends rather abruptly. Both of the markers," Sali explained the situation.
"It sounds like your quest markers only show you where to go when you are already near a lead. That's unfortunate," Briggs found parking on the same block and put the seat back so he could lay down.
"What are you doing?"
"Resting while I have the chance. You are the look out. Wake me up in a few hours," Briggs could lay down due to the tinted windows that made it hard for anyone to see inside the truck other than its height. That said, he didn't rely on just that and pulled out an eye mask and wired headphones that were connected to a cd player from the duffel bag.
"Look out!? Damn, are we doing a stake out? I don't want to do that," Sali exhaled sharply and groaned as she did so. Briggs did not answer as he turned off the truck and placed the keys on the mantle.
'Damn. What do I do here? I don't want to sit down doing nothing. What if those kids are at school or worse? I have to do something. Maybe I could do a circuit around the area, see if something changes,' Salimoon got out of the car and walked around to prevent herself from atrophying after an hour of doing nothing but looking around. She went around the entire block and was about to reach the truck again when the (1.a) quest marker moved. It snapped behind her and hovered over a car that had turned onto the one way street. She ducked down and noticed that the car pulled into one of the street parking spots. It was only two cars away from the truck.
The woman who stepped out had long hair that was swept back and to the side in a single massive braid. She was tall and thin and wore a big vest and boots that further enhanced her size so she would tower over most people. Sali couldn't see her face so she flitted from one side of the street to the other and crouched behind a car in hopes that the woman would turn her way.
'The quest marker isn't on the woman, it's on her car,' Sali noticed something that seemed wrong. Thankfully, the woman turned and walked down the street.
'Ah, its kidnapper lady,' Sali recognized the woman as the freak who tried to pull her into her car on Saturday. It was Monday now so shouldn't this woman be at work at this time? Then she thought about it.
'What if she is at work right now,' Salimoon silently rushed to the woman's car after she had walked away and looked inside the window. There was a golden arrow pointing to a briefcase that was at the foot of the passenger side seat. She checked the doors and obviously they were locked so with nothing else to do, she followed the woman. Closely. Using some of the tricks that Briggs taught her, she matched the woman's gait and stepped only when and where she did. The scene looked like any other mother and child walking together but it was clear that there might've been some type of game that they were playing. The child moved in a zig-zag pattern to avoid being seen by the woman.
After some walking, they entered an apartment building. The woman checked her watch and took the stairs. She stopped on the fifth floor and waited by the staircase door that she held slightly ajar to hear the commotion from the hallway. Salimoon couldn't see anything since she was at the bottom of the flight of stairs but she heard it thanks to how loud the other people were.
"Nona, let's go, I'm going to be late for school," Sali would've been surprised to see a piercing-less Thrasher holding the door for an old woman and a child who looked adorable in a onesie. His hair was slicked back and his prep school clothes were freshly ironed.
"Fish, there's no need to rush. We always leave at this time," Nona said.
"Fishy, ups," the child rubbed his eyes, grabbed some slippers from the shoe rack then held his arms out to be carried. Thrasher, or Fish as he was called, picked up the kid and walked back out of the apartment.
"But we always get to my school a few minutes late," Fish urged.
"Alright, I'll hurry up," Nona locked the door and headed to the elevator, following her rushing grandson. The instant that the elevator dinged close, the woman opened the cracked staircase door and walked to the apartment that Fish, Nona, and the child had been standing at. She went in her boot and pulled out a roll. In practiced movements she inserted something into the keyhole of the door and fiddled around until she heard a click.
'A kidnapper and a thief. This woman is multi faceted,' Sali ran behind the woman.
'Who is behind me,' The woman spun around as panic settled into her heart.
"What are you doing here? It shouldn't be possible," she hiccuped at the familiar face.
"Hello there lady. I see that you're sneaking into this house, do you want me to be your lookout," Sali laughed and crossed her arms as the woman blanched and froze like an opossum in a dangerous situation.
"You, what are you doing here, it shouldn't be possible," she pointed and shook.
"You said that already but if you must know, I'm offering my help lady, what else does it look like," Sali pointed out.
"No. I don't need your help. And don't tell anyone that I did this. Better yet, what do you want so you can forget that this ever happened and go home," the woman practically pleaded with Sali.
"First, tell me your name," Salimoon smiled, seemingly ruthlessly, as she knew that this woman was on the ropes.
"Audrea. That's my name, now what do you want so you can leave me alone and forget what you saw," Audrea asked.
"I want to know how you are associated with the Hearth Networked Services," Sali stepped forward once with an innocent smile. The woman saw only a demon as she took a step back, unable to understand how this child knew about something that was supposed to be a secret, for the most part. She hiccuped again. They were both in the entry way of the apartment by the time the woman gathered herself from the constant backpedaling.
"How do you know about HENS child," before Sali could say anything, they both heard the elevator ding. The woman pulled Sali inside and almost slammed the door. At the last moment, she pulled her strength back and locked it all in one motion. That was until she heard footsteps run down the hall and stop at this door.
She hiccuped again, picked Sali up, and ran inside. She picked a door at random and rushed in. It was a bathroom, thankfully. She jumped behind the curtain and listened to the front door open. The only problem was that she left the bathroom door open when it was closed previously. Salimoon furrowed her brow as she heard someone enter the apartment. She could barely hear this person over Audrea's heartbeat.
"Damnit, where did I put my backpack! I can't believe I left it," the voice belonged to Thrasher, to Fish, or whatever his name was. The issue at hand was that he was in the apartment again and that was bad news for the two intruders.
Thankfully, he rushed past the bathroom to one of the two bedrooms and caused a commotion. After a minute or two, he said, "Found it!" Fish was about to walk past the bathroom toward the exit when he suddenly entered after a brief pause. He looked in the mirror and examined himself.
"You are a cool badass despite what other people think and say at school. Keep your straight A's and one day, you'll go somewhere Fish. Don't make the scholarships go to waste," he sighed then rushed out. The door locked and he was gone.
Audrea let go of Salimoon and stepped out of the shower.
"So Ms.Audrea, how are you associated with HENS," Sali said.
"I'm with Poland's new ABW not HENS. We keep them in check, balancing the evil that they cause with the good that we do," Audrea elaborated.
'Briggs should know what that is,' Salimoon didn't know Polish acronyms like that and frowned.
"I see, what are you doing here then?"
"Absolutely not, how do you know about HENS, child. And what is your name?"
"Can you keep a secret Audrea?"
"I can," Audrea left the bathroom and went to search the bedrooms. She had less than an hour to search the entire house. There were only two rooms beside the bathroom, one with a bunk bed and one with a full sized bed since that was all that fit in there alongside a rather robust dresser and tv stand. There was another tv in the living room but it was even bulkier than the one in the small bedroom. Audrea checked the bunkbed room, which happened to be a converted master bedroom, first and went through the things that were in there.
What she was looking for, Salimoon didn't have the slightest clue. She waited a bit, for Audrea to get upset and worried as she found nothing. She was tempted to look at her quest markers to expedite the process of finding anything but right now, she decided to be cheeky with Audrea.
"Do you know any famous families in Africa?"
"No, am I supposed to?"
"No, but that's good. I am Salimoon De Monte. Don't look me up. My family is probably going to, or most likely already is, use HENS to try and find me," Salimoon had a good feeling about this woman and told her to be wary.
"Why would you tell me your real and full name if you didn't want anyone looking into you?"
"I had a feeling that you would remember what I looked like and tell someone at your ABW thing and have that person or people look into me. I just wanted to tell you that you don't have to do that. And if you are going to look into the De Montes, do that without bringing me up," Salimoon spoke rather succinctly.
"I understand what you are trying to ask me but I can't, in good conscience, overlook who you are, what you know, and why you are here following me," Audrea stopped surveying the room and really got into the details. The first thing she did was open the closet and check everything in there, especially the walls for hidden compartments. Salimoon watched her do her job and shook her head as she looked at the quest markers for any updates. There was a new path, (1.c).
Silently, Sali checked out what it was pointing to and opened a sock and underwear drawer. Taped to the inside of the dresser with duct tape was a small burner phone. She scanned through the contacts as the first thing and noted that there was only one number. She committed it to memory before saying anything.
"Yo, Andrea, were you looking for something like this?"
The woman practically lunged toward the clunky phone and scanned it with her eyes.
"So Ms. Audrea, what exactly are you investigating these kids for? I heard that their street names are Thrasher, Cuts, and Mark," Salimoon watched as Audrea wrote the number down on a small notebook that she kept in her other shoe.
"That's classified information, Salimoon and place this back where you found it," Audrea began to search the rest of the room after carefully placing the phone that had tape on it back in Sali's hands.
"Does it have anything to do with trafficking," Salimoon said. Audrea paused her actions and hiccuped.
"Ah, so that's a yes," Sali watched the woman tear apart the room in silence. She couldn't find anything else while Salimoon's quest marker didn't change again, suggesting that there was nothing else to be found or whatever else that could be found was hidden too well. Actually, the marker did change, the newest one (1.c) vanished after she touched the phone and viewed the number.
"You're not very good at retaining information. What if you get kidnapped and tortured for information. Your employers will not have a good time if your information is taken," Salimoon suddenly had a thought.
'What if she's not a field agent,' she narrowed her eyes and stared at Audrea who was putting everything back to how she found it after she realized that it would be impossible to put everything back in order at the end of her search.
"Are you supposed to be here Audrea? I mean, are you investigating these kids illegally?"
"What," she hiccuped.
"Makes you say," she hiccuped again.
"That?"
"Woman please, are you a pencil pusher acting like a secret agent?"
"I passed all of my tests with exemplary results. I just haven't been given any formal assignments. Besides, it's a new position. Also, I'm on vacation," Audrea looked like she was about to cry as she turned to Salimoon.
"Well, what is it?"
"It's a new position and I had to use my saved up PTO before the new year due to the new policies and actually, you know what, why am I even defending myself, you are just some kid that shouldn't be here. Why are you here? And how do you know about HENS? You shouldn't know about that unless you are part of the network or you are against it," she wiped her eyes and led the way out of the master bedroom. Sali followed her out.
"I know about it because I am on a quest to remove the evil in this city. Starting with what really pisses me off. I followed you because you seem to know something that I don't about this whole situation. Other than answering your questions, I've been thinking about this but do you live in the area?"
"What?"
"Do you live in Hajnówka?"
"No. I live in Warsaw because of my work. It's three hours from here but, uh, no I'm not telling you," Audrea went into the smaller bedroom and checked the situation there. It smelled of Vicks and mothballs.
'Hmm. Long distance could work. It's drivable,' Sali thought to herself before she pressed onward.
"Are you in a professional relationship Ms. Audrea. Like, do you have partners in crime or informants or anything like that," Salimoon raised an eyebrow. At the same moment, the woman found an old shoe box full of cash. There were thousands of złoty worth of bills in the box. Audrea wrote down how much and placed the box back before she went through the drawers. Having seen what Sali did to find and return the phone out of the corner of her eye, she checked the walls of the dresser.
"I'm not telling you young man," Audrea said after some time.
"I'm a lady, Ms. Audrea. And are you sure? I was thinking of introducing you to someone," Sali had the image of sleeping Briggs on her mind.
"Why would you do that? No, this is neither the time nor the place to talk about something like this," Audrea rolled her eyes and turned her head away to hide her embarrassment.
"I figured that you wouldn't want to look into me and my real family if you were more involved with me and my found one. The best way to do that is by joining us. The best way to do that is to have you enter a relationship with the man that is taking care of me. The only issue is that there is another candidate in mind but she can't really help me. Additionally, you seem pretty up to standard. You have morals, at least, since you are willing to use your vacation time to look into possible criminality," Sali crossed her arms as Audrea moved to the living room.
"How old are you?"
"I'm four, going on five but my real age is closer to 42, 43," Sali said.
"Right. If you didn't want to tell me, you didn't have to lie."
"I didn't lie. I was 37 when I died in my last life. It was close to my birthday. Then I got this life."
"So you're crazy. Or an imaginative kid. No, you're definitely both."
"Hah. Whatever, I'm not a kid. I do want to introduce you to the man who's been taking care of me though," Sali said.
"What does he do, what's his name? Is he involved with HENS and is that how you know about it," Audrea went through the living room and kitchen as she spoke with Salimoon.
"Well, he used to be an assassin for the HENS," Sali laughed inwardly as she decided that she would set Briggs up with someone like this since Taylor didn't seem to be his speed. It felt like she was playing matchmaker for a younger brother that was bigger than her.
'Why would you tell me that? An assassin huh? Now I have to look into you when I get back to the office, otherwise I'm not doing my job,' Audrea swallowed what Salimoon said and thought to herself rather than respond. After spending another 15 minutes in the apartment, she decided that it was time to go and unlocked the front door. She peaked her head to make sure the coast was clear before waving Sali out.