Marionette

Cosmos, Chapter Seventy Two - Chi no Odori [血の踊り]

The rumbling of the Moped's revving was the only sound that graced Amaya's ears.

The dark, scarcely-lit city streets were the only views that came to her searching gaze.

And the only thoughts that were piercing her panicked, racing mind were questions.

This had to be a sick joke.

Some nasty and cruel impossibility.

How in gods name was she supposed to find one property out of a 40-something kilometer stretch of packed coastal cityscape?! One property out of thousands?! Tens of thousands?! One that didn't look any different from any other, that didn't stand out apart from any other, and didn't bare any signs of recent habitation?

She wasn't some sulphur-yellow lab experiment who could travel at mach speeds!

'What in god's name is their definition of recent habitation?!' The teen practically screeched as she struggled to look away from the road to try and take in her surroundings. 'A day?! A week? A whole freaking year?!'

'Can you please give me the search parameters again, Amaya-san?' Mitsu pleaded.

'I don't have time, damn it!'

She could barely even see the details of the buildings on either side of the street beyond blurry, dimly-lit clusters of concrete whirling by.

Forget within three hours, there was no hope of her scouring the whole coastline within a day.

'Amaya-san, I need the parameters--'

'Not no--'

'AMAYA-SAN!' Mitsu shouted for the albino's attention, causing the teen to jostle to attention.

It was a couple of seconds before the AI continued.

'You need to take a second to catch your breath and calm down, Amaya-san.' Mitsu instructed her, sternly. 'There is a service station 100 meters down the street. I suggest you refuel your transportation. When you arrive, please repeat the instructions you were given so I can identify and run some search parameters.'

The AI's voice drowned out the ringing of panicked thought in her head, forcing the teen to try collect herself once more.

Okay...

'...Fine.' She reluctantly agreed, forcing herself to let out a breath in an attempt at reigning in her worsening panic. 'Yeah, okay... lead the way.'

Because honestly, she didn't even know where to start or even what she was looking for.

She was too wound up, too deeply affected in both mind and body.

There was no rational, logical thinking left in her at that moment.

Mitsu's directions lead Amaya down a dark city street, veering down a sweeping side street branching off towards the right at an upcoming intersection. Up ahead, she was then directed into the forecourt of a modest fuel station, lit dimly with soft incandescent overhead lamps and the bright glowing price board mounted to the front of a tiny little building. The building itself was barely large enough to contain a counter, two refreshment coolers with display windows, and likely a small staff room further back.

Immediately, upon her arrival at one of the fuel bowsers, she saw the faint form of an employee lean over the counter to peer out at her through the large window. Presumably, seeing somebody roll up on a moped at just after 6am wasn't all that frequent around here. A car or truck, maybe, but not a moped.