Guanxi

Chapter 2: Micha and the...Living Armor?

Micha awoke in her hotel room with her clothes still on and faceplanted in her pillow. She sniffed her jacket and instantly regretted inhaling the scent of dirt and grime. She rose up and unrobed to put her garments through the cleaner box in the room's corner, leaving her in the nude while she waited for her one set of clothing to be cleansed.

Which, unfortunately, was when Narcisse called. Picking up the call revealed that he was in his office and reading over some documents "Ah, Mi--Oh. I can call later."

"No, it's fine. Where's Tyrone?"

"Asleep still. His flight back home was rough."

"Ah...Well, getting right to business, I've found nothing."

"The case has just begun, do not fret." Narcisse stated as he wrote a note for himself.

Micha forced herself down to lay flat "Yeah, yeah. How're things on your end?"

"I'm getting many different reports featuring women with the description you gave me, but I'm unable to sort through them thoroughly without sacrificing time I must devote to my official cases."

"Alright then, we'll check in tonight."

"Understood. Don't work yourself too hard."

"Says you."

"I...Well, see you." Narcisse said bashfully.

Micha smiled as the call ended. She couldn't wait to meet her stoic childhood friend in person once she was done here.

Micha was doing her best to find a tangible starting point for this case. She'd prowled the streets and given a description of the girl she saw, but no dice. Nobody had seemed to have seen her anywhere in the local area when the hall exploded, and worse yet the streetcam footage she bribed out of an officer gave her nothing as well.

So the only option she had left were unsavory sources, San Rosa's gangs and dark networks. Information would be a quarter of the reliability she wanted, but better than nothing. Through them she was able to get about twenty-five different fake stories meant to lure her somewhere, but one story stood out to her.

A picture was provided of her suspect, or someone with a good enough resemblance, walking along the backstreets of a ghetto in the southern part of the city. She was with three other people, but the camera footage was taken behind a display window and from afar. All she could make out was that there was a tall suited Asian male, a man with a hairbun, and another girl.

Whether this was forged or not Micha had to check it out. When she got to the ghetto there were a fair few people either ogling at her height or at her cyberized upper lip. One was far more likely than the other. She supposed that they didn't get enough tall ladies around here, augmented or natural. Micha posed a little bit by running a hand through her mid-length maroon hair and placing a hand on her studded belt. She enjoyed attention when it wasn't detrimental.

She eventually set off down a backstreet filled with overgrown greenery and ill-kept edifices, keeping her hands out and ready to deal with anyone who might jump out of the plentiful shadows. Thankfully no one did, but as Micha arrived at her meeting point she kept her guard up.

Within an old Italian restaurant sat the guy who'd sent her the photo, a local mafioso named Gimeno. No one knew his last name.

"So you finally arrive. I could've popped out for a round at the batting cages in the time it took you to get here!"

"I'm sorry, I ran into trouble on the way here." Micha replied as she showed off her knuckles.

"So you got into a fight, should've expected that to happen. Let's get this done already."