Darren Atkins stared at the knife pressed lightly against his throat.
Sweat rolled down the sides of his face while his chest rose and fell unevenly beneath his shirt. The matte-black figure crouched before him looked less like a person, and more like something peeled out of a nightmare alleyway.
The hood, the mechanical mask and even the complete absence of emotion in those dark eyes all contributed to that image.
Darren swallowed hard.
"Where did you get the Aetherion?"
Darren blinked rapidly.
"A... Aetherion?"
His voice cracked badly.
"I-I don't know what the hell that is!"
Shore tilted his head slightly.
"Still playing coy."
The knife suddenly spun once through Shore's fingers with terrifying dexterity.
Thunk.
The blade buried itself into the chair between Darren's legs, less than an inch away. Darren's entire body jolted violently.
"HOLY SHI...!"
Before the scream could fully escape, Shore raised a finger to the front of his mask in a quiet shushing gesture.
"Careful," he said softly.
His voice somehow became more frightening when quiet.
"Play coy with me again and the next one won't miss."
Darren froze completely and his breathing became ragged.
Shore leaned slightly forward.
"Now," he continued, "tell me the location or the name of the person supplying you with the Aetherion Compound."
Tears welled in Darren's eyes almost instantly.
"I-I swear I'm not lying," he stammered. "I really don't know what Aetherion is!"
He stared directly into Shore's shadowed eyes beneath the hood.
There was no bluffing there. This guy looked like he would genuinely stab him if the answers stopped being useful.
Shore remained silent for several seconds. Then he retrieved one of the silver-blue vials that he had recovered from the closet.
He held it up between two fingers. The clear liquid inside sloshed faintly beneath the apartment lights.
"This," Shore said, giving the bottle a small shake, "is Aetherion."
He paused.
"Though it appears... that you know it under a different name."
Darren's expression shifted instantly.
Recognition, then relief. A shaky breath escaped him. He didn't fear being able to answer the man's questions, but he did fear, being unable to answer them. Who knew what this crazy ninja guy was after.
"Oh thank God."
Shore narrowed his eyes slightly.
"The name?"
"It's called Titanblood," Darren blurted out quickly. "That's what everybody calls it."
Titanblood?
Shore silently stored the information away. It sounded exactly the kind of street branding people trusted when selling fake miracles to desperate men.
Shore lowered the vial slightly.
"Explain."
Darren nodded rapidly.
"It's supposed to be this crazy performance enhancer," he said hurriedly. "Muscle growth, recovery, stamina. Some guys even say it helps with focus and energy too."
"And the side effects?"
"That's the thing," Darren said nervously. "Nobody's complained about any."
Shore's gaze sharpened slightly behind the mask. It appeared that all of the people he had sold it to so far hadn't yet activated the specific condition to trigger the side effect.
"Where did you acquire it?"
Darren swallowed hard.
"I don't know the guy's real name."
Darren hurried onward before the knife conversation resumed.
"I'm serious! I only meet him once every month. Beginning of the month usually. I hand over his cut of the money, then he gives me the next shipment."
"How are the meetings arranged?"
"Burner messages."
"Explain."
"A temporary messaging app," Darren said quickly. "The stuff deletes automatically after a while."
"Location?"
"It-it changes every time."
Shore listened carefully while Darren continued talking.
"The guy always shows up alone. He's also quite tall. Probably around six foot two and wears a baseball cap most of the time."
"What ethnicity?"
"Valean or Atlesian maybe? Hard to tell properly."
"Hair?"
"Brown. I think."
"You think?"
"He keeps it short... and well, the baseball cap."
"Distinct features?"
Darren frowned while trying to remember. "He's got this scar near his chin. Small one. Like an old cut."
Shore mentally filed the detail away.
"Anything else?"
"He talks quite educated," Darren said. "Not like a thug, but more like some office guy pretending to be rough."
"How did he recruit you?"
"I met him through a gym contact."
"Name."
"I don't know the guy well!"
Shore's hand drifted lazily toward the knife lodged between Darren's legs.
"I SWEAR!" Darren nearly yelped. "I only knew him as Vic!"
Shore paused and Darren looked seconds away from cardiac arrest.
"Did this supplier ever discuss where Titanblood originated?"
"No."
"Did he mention a manufacturer?"
"No."
"Did he ever discuss awakened individuals or hybrids?"
Darren blinked.
"What?"
Shore watched him carefully. There was no reaction or recognition.
Interesting.
"Never mind," Shore said.
Darren exhaled shakily. Shore continued asking questions for several more minutes, such as delivery schedules, payment methods and his customer lists.
Typical buyers.
Darren answered everything with increasingly desperate honesty. It became obvious quickly that he truly was low level.
A middleman that was useful enough to distribute product but disposable enough to abandon if things collapsed.
Eventually Shore leaned back slightly as the interrogation had yielded enough.
Darren stared at him nervously.
"So..." he said weakly, "that's everything."
Shore remained silent and at that silence, Darren swallowed nervously.
"You... you're not gonna hurt me, right?"
His voice cracked embarrassingly halfway through the sentence. "I won't tell anybody about this. I swear. I didn't even know this stuff was illegal-illegal. I just thought it was an under the table performance enhancer that the MDA didn't approve."
Shore answered calmly.
"Indeed."
Darren's face brightened slightly. "You will not be able to tell anyone about anything that happened here at all."
The room suddenly felt much colder and Darren's expression slowly crumbled.
"Oh God... you're gonna kill me..." Tears spilled down his cheeks.
Shore stared at him silently for several seconds a bit speechless. Realization dawned.
His wording had been unfortunate.
"…That is not what I meant," Shore said flatly.
Unfortunately, the mechanical mask filtered his voice enough that the reassurance sounded even more ominous.
Darren looked ready to pass out from fear alone. Shore sighed quietly beneath the mask. What followed was probably the least convincing reassurance in human history.
"You are not going to die."
Darren looked unconvinced. Shore decided further clarification would only make this worse. Instead, he retrieved another small black sphere from his pouch.
Darren's eyes widened immediately.
"Wait wait wait WAIT...!"
Click.
A soft stream of gas released into the air. Within seconds Darren's panic dulled into sluggish confusion.
Then unconsciousness as his head lolled sideways. Shore caught him before the chair tipped over. Efficiently, he removed the restraints and repositioned Darren naturally onto the couch in front of the holo-TV.
Next came cleanup. Shore wiped down touched surfaces carefully and returned every disturbed item exactly where it belonged.
Like nothing had happened.
Finally, Shore approached Darren one last time. He activated another compartment on his gauntlet.
A faint glow emerged from within and a soft mist sprayed outward across Darren's face. Unlike the knockout gas, this substance shimmered with strange luminous particles.
Tiny threads of glowing energy drifted into Darren's skin and vanished.
Runic discharge.
A highly specialized derivative of a Mind-type Rune made from runic tech. Runic energy suspended within a permeable aerosol medium.
Difficult to manufacture and highly restricted to non awakened field operatives. The mist would erase roughly the last thirty minutes of Darren's short term memory.
To him, tonight would end with falling asleep on the couch while watching holo-TV. Nothing more.
The mist wouldn't work on awakened individuals. Truly, the benefits of Aura were much greater that others expected.
Shore observed for several moments to ensure proper integration, then he tilted his head as several thoughts emerged in his mind and was discarded.
Destroying the stash would protect future buyers, but it would also alert the supplier immediately.
No.
Better to leave the bait untouched. Shore returned the briefcase exactly where he had found it. His plan formed quickly afterward.
Darren would continue distribution as normal but the buyers would receive nothing. Shore would intercept every transaction before use and confiscate the compound silently.
No alarms or disruptions which meant that there was no reason for the supplier to suspect surveillance.
And once the beginning of next month arrived... Darren would lead him straight to the source. Or... hopefully what he hoped was the source. Shore glanced once toward the unconscious man sprawled across the couch.
"Congratulations, you've unknowingly become an informant." he muttered quietly beneath the mask.
The holo-TV continued flickering across the apartment walls in shifting blue light while Shore moved toward the fire escape window.
There would be ten days until the next exchange and ten days of thefts, tracking, and long nights crawling through this town like a ghost in tactical boots.
Shore opened the window silently. Cool air drifted into the apartment once more. Then the masked operative disappeared back into the darkness outside.
.
.
Ten days passed.
Ten long nights of silent thefts, rooftop surveillance, and tracking routes through the sleeping town. Shore had intercepted every single vial of Titanblood before it ever reached a customer.
It had required a miserable amount of patience.
The bags beneath Shore's eyes had become darker over the course of the operation. His sleep schedule had ceased to resemble anything remotely healthy several days ago. At this point, caffeine and sheer professional stubbornness were doing most of the heavy lifting.
Still, the mission had remained clean.
Even among non-awakened operatives, Shore had built a reputation for reliability unusually early. At only twenty three years old, he already possessed a solo success rate that many veteran operatives envied.
Some operatives relied on overwhelming force and others relied on support teams. Shore, however, specialized in not being noticed at all.
Tonight would determine whether the last ten days had actually led somewhere worthwhile.
Inside the darkened sedan, Shore sat motionless beneath tinted windows while the digital clock on his dashscreen displayed 1:03 AM.
Outside, the park remained mostly empty.
Cold night air drifted through the trees while old lamps cast pale pools of light across cracked walking paths and damp grass. The distant sounds of downtown traffic echoed faintly through the quiet city blocks surrounding the park.
Shore's eyes remained fixed ahead.
Darren Atkins. The man walked nervously through the park entrance carrying a briefcase in one hand while constantly glancing around.
Shore watched carefully.
A second figure emerged from deeper within the park several moments later.
Baseball cap, hands inside jacket pockets. Even from this distance, Shore could tell the man carried himself differently than Darren.
Controlled and alert.
He was clearly a paranoid person. From Shore's experience, paranoid people made fewer careless mistakes.
The two men met near a bench beneath a dead tree. No one else appeared nearby and Darren handed over the briefcase.
The supplier exchanged it with another briefcase of his own.
A clean swap.
Shore quietly activated his holo-tablet. Tiny camera lenses hidden near the dashboard adjusted automatically.
Click.
Another silent image capture.
Then another.
He carefully documented the exchange from multiple angles while ensuring neither man noticed any reflection or movement from his vehicle.
The supplier spoke briefly with Darren afterward. Casual conversation on the surface. Likely verification underneath.
Shore zoomed in slightly.
The baseball cap obscured most of the man's features, but Shore managed to catch glimpses of the chin scar Darren previously described.
Good.
At least the identity matched.
Eventually the conversation ended.
Darren departed first.
Shore watched him disappear toward the opposite side of the park before returning his full attention toward the supplier.
A thought surfaced briefly in his mind. Once tonight was finished, he would need to revisit Darren again. Darren had received a new supply and Shore had to lift it carefully from the man's hands.
In any case, there was still a chance this supplier was merely another disposable middleman. Shore needed confirmation before escalating the operation.
The supplier began walking away from the meeting point.
Shore exited his vehicle silently.
He was already dressed in his tactical gear beneath a dark outer coat. The hood remained lowered for now while the mechanical mask rested concealed beneath his collar.
The night air felt colder than before.
Shore kept his distance while tailing the man through the dimly lit streets.
The supplier was cautious. Far more cautious than Darren was, at least. Every few minutes he glanced behind himself or slowed near intersections to observe reflections in windows and parked vehicles.
Several times Shore was forced to slip behind buildings or flatten himself within narrow shadows to avoid detection.
Fortunately, stealth was his specialty. Even exhausted, he moved with quiet precision. The supplier never noticed him.
Eventually the man reached a vehicle parked two streets away from the park. A dark compact sedan.
Shore paused behind a nearby building corner while watching carefully. The supplier entered the vehicle and started the engine.
Shore calmly extended his wrist and his gauntlet shifted with a soft mechanical click. A tiny cylindrical device loaded itself into a launcher compartment.
Shore aimed.
Thwip.
The tracker shot silently through the darkness and attached itself magnetically beneath the rear trunk.
No reaction from the driver.
Perfect.
The supplier's car pulled away moments later. Shore activated the tracking feed on his gauntlet screen before calmly returning to his own vehicle.
The pursuit resumed shortly afterward. Again, Shore maintained distance carefully. Never close enough to attract attention.
The supplier drove toward central downtown.
Buildings gradually became taller while the roads widened into cleaner corporate districts lined with illuminated signs and mirrored architecture.
At this hour, most offices were dark. Only occasional windows still glowed with late-night workers. Finally, the tracker signal stopped.
Shore parked several streets away and activated the tracking interface. A secondary camera extended remotely from the attached tracker itself. Static flickered briefly before the visual feed stabilized.
The supplier exited his vehicle. Shore observed through the tiny camera feed while adjusting the zoom. The man looked around once. Then, he walked into a narrow alleyway positioned between a news building and an insurance company office.
The camera angle shifted slightly as the car suspension settled. Then the feed became mostly useless. The alley entrance remained partially visible, but the deeper section disappeared completely from view.
Shore frowned slightly beneath his hood.
That was strange.
Why enter an alley at one in the morning after a covert drug exchange? The location itself made little sense for a stash house.
Unless the alley was merely a transition point.
Shore exited his own vehicle quietly and approached the area on foot. Downtown at night felt entirely different from the suburban district.
The distant hum of electrical systems echoed between skyscrapers while giant holo-ads flickered across glass walls overhead like artificial moons.
Shore reached the supplier's parked car first. He crouched briefly beside it to check if the vehicle was truly empty.
It seemed as if the mystery man hadn't left anything inside. Shore slowly rose afterward and approached the alley entrance.
The narrow passageway sat trapped between two towering buildings, illuminated only by weak overhead maintenance lights.
Trash bins lined the walls.
Condensation dripped from pipes overhead.
The alley was empty.
Shore stopped moving, his eyes narrowed slightly.
That was impossible. There had been nowhere else for the man to go within the visible timeframe.
Unless...
Shore activated another function on his gauntlet. Blue light spread faintly across the device. A scanning pulse swept outward over the alley floor.
The screen on his wrist immediately populated with layered data.
Footprints and residual dirt displacement.
Pressure traces.
New and old movement patterns separated themselves automatically into different highlighted paths.
Shore filtered the data into newest prints only. The supplier's path illuminated across the screen.
From the parked car, into the alley. Forward several meters.
Then...
Nothing.
The trail stopped abruptly near a sewer grate embedded into the concrete floor. Shore crouched beside it slowly.
The metal grate looked ordinary at first glance with rust around the edges and rainwater stains.
Urban decay.
But Shore's trained eyes quickly picked up subtle inconsistencies.
Fresh scrape marks and recently disturbed debris. One side of the grate had cleaner metal where friction had removed accumulated grime.
Someone had opened it recently and... frequently, judging from the wear pattern.
Shore stared at the sewer entrance silently. A cold feeling permeated through his stomach. Drug trafficking alone would not require hidden sewer access beneath downtown.
Not unless the supplier was hiding something far larger underground.
While Aetherion possessed side effects dangerous enough to warrant immediate intervention of LUCID, Shore had unconsciously approached the investigation with the mindset of a conventional narcotics operation.
Middlemen, dead drops and storage units. Street level distributors feeding into progressively larger suppliers.
That was the structure he had expected to uncover.
But standing over the disturbed sewer grate now, Shore slowly realized something unsettling. This operation did not behave like ordinary drug trafficking.
No one transporting the compound carried themselves like desperate criminals trying to make quick money.
He had a very bad feeling.
.
.
AN: I forgot to say Volume 5 Start! In the previous chapter. Also the beginning of this volume will be focused on side characters for a little bit before Jaune comes back into the picture. I decided to write it this way because I realized that I could better expand the lore of the LUCID universe more in this case.